Chapter 1

By the law of the Phoenix Clan, whoever cultivated into a golden phoenix would rule.

To please my mother the empress, I sealed myself away in cultivation, enduring agony as I forced myself through one searing transformation after another.

But at the very moment I was evolving into the golden phoenix, a crowd broke through the doors of the cultivation chamber, and while I was defenseless they struck and destroyed my spiritual core.

Not only did the evolution fail, my spiritual power was drained away entirely. I was left crippled.

I could not bear the blow, and I lost consciousness completely.

When I opened my eyes again, my family was nowhere to be found. Afraid my mother would come to despise me, I dragged my weakened body out to look for her.

I never expected to find her in the back garden, celebrating with my stepfather.

"My lady, you destroyed Ruby's spiritual core? And gave her power to Cecilia?"

The stepfather was stunned, and secretly delighted.

"I had no choice. I was forced into it."

"Cecilia isn't clever the way Ruby is, and she isn't even my own child. Without the pure bloodline of the Phoenix Clan, the other clans would never respect her."

"But if I passed Ruby's cultivation to Cecilia, her fate would change."

"Even with nothing left, Ruby is still the most honored princess of the Phoenix Clan."

"And this was Greg Driscoll's idea. Without his help, I could never have handled Ruby on my own!"

...

1

The smile fell from my face in an instant. It felt like a bolt of lightning had torn through me, every organ screaming in pain.

A single tear struck the cold stone underfoot, and I nearly buckled and dropped to the ground.

After my father died, my mother sent me away to live with the Fox Clan.

Living under another's roof, I passed every day in fear.

But she never once came to see me. A little fox girl told me she had taken a new husband, that she had a new family now, that she had long since forgotten me.

She even mocked me, saying my mother stayed away because she was afraid I would ruin the happiness of her new family.

So I was afraid it was true, and every day I pushed my cultivation harder.

Beaten, driven out, cursed at, I forced myself to keep going.

I kept thinking that if only I grew strong enough, my mother would learn of it and come take me home.

Later, I truly did grow strong. When the Phoenix Clan fell into danger, I used it as a reason to hurry back and lift the crisis for her.

Only then did she look at me properly and let me return to the clan.

But I knew she did not truly want me home. She only wanted my strength to hold the surrounding clans in check, to guard against invasion.

I did not care. I only wanted to come home, and I would make her accept me from the bottom of her heart.

Not long after, my childhood companion, my betrothed, heard the news and came.

He was dazzled by how I had changed, and every day he thought up new ways to make me smile.

He said: In this life, apart from you, I will never love anyone else.

His wife could only ever be me, Ruby Flores.

But this scene before me, what was I hearing?

The one who destroyed my core was my mother. The one who drained my power was Greg Driscoll.

Betrayed at once by the two people closest and dearest to me, I simply could not bear it.

And in the garden, my mother was still speaking her cruel words to the stepfather.

"That reminds me, there's one more thing I forgot."

"What's got you so worked up?"

"The crown prince of the Dragon Clan can only marry the Phoenix heir. Now that Cecilia is the one who has cultivated into a golden phoenix, by rights she should be the one to marry him."

My mother paused, saying nothing.

I clenched my fists, hoping to hear it from her own mouth.

That out of guilt for destroying my core and draining my power, she would make amends, break the clan law, and let me marry Greg.

But she hesitated for only the space of a single blink before her brow smoothed.

"Well! It's come to this. There's nothing to do but let Cecilia marry Greg. Dragon and phoenix united, to hold the four directions in check."

"But what if Greg refuses to marry Cecilia?"

"That..."

My mother had no answer to that either.

But I knew my last thread of hope had been destroyed. I would never again wait to receive a shred of fairness or care.

Then, all at once, the air went dreadfully still, every lesser creature pressed low under an overwhelming pressure, none daring to raise their eyes.

A shaft of golden light tore across the sky, and a phoenix cry rose in the loudest, most piercing shriek.

I knew. Cecilia Flores had used every bit of my spiritual power to cultivate herself into a golden phoenix.