Chapter 18: Trial by Fire
The council hall was colder than Mei Xiao remembered — not in temperature, but in the way dozens of eyes sliced through her as she stepped inside.
Old men in heavy robes sat like judges in a stone courtroom. The air was thick with incense and suspicion.
She walked beside Murong Jing He, but not behind him.
This time, she made sure to walk as his equal.
"Sit," Elder Han barked.
She didn't. "I'll stand."
Murmurs spread like wildfire.
Jing He said nothing — just watched.
Elder Wei leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Is it true? Did you awaken the Phoenix bloodline?"
"I opened a scroll," Mei Xiao said coolly. "It glowed. I didn't."
"A scroll sealed for centuries," Elder Han snapped. "And it responded to you."
"That's not a crime, is it?" she tilted her head.
"It is," another elder said, "if it makes you a threat."
Jing He stepped in then, voice calm but iron-strong. "She is under my protection. As clan leader, her safety is my command."
"And if she becomes more Phoenix than human?" Han shot back. "Will you still protect her — or do what your ancestors swore to do?"
That question hung in the air like poison.
Jing He didn't answer immediately.
But Mei Xiao did.
"I'm not your enemy," she said, her voice quiet but steady. "Not yet. But keep treating me like one, and we'll both find out if I burn."
Gasps. A few elders recoiled. One dropped his scroll.
Jing He hid a smirk. Barely.
But before anything more could be said — a figure stormed into the hall.
A girl. Dressed in traveling robes, dusty, out of breath.
Her eyes locked on Mei Xiao.
And then—
"You… it's you," the girl whispered. "The mark—your mark—my dreams warned me about you!"
Mei Xiao blinked. "Excuse me, what?"
The girl fell to her knees. "The Phoenix… it's real. The seal was never complete. And now... they're coming for you."
Jing He moved fast, stepping forward. "Who are you?"
But Mei Xiao was still staring at the girl. Because on the girl's wrist — hidden beneath torn cloth — glowed the faint shimmer of a second sigil.
Not Phoenix. Not Obsidian. Something older.
Something watching.