The laughter died slowly—like embers cooling after a wild feast-fire. One by one, the chuckles faded into thin, taut silence. Even the floating candles above dimmed as if sensing the shift in mood.
Jiang Yunxian sat unnaturally still for once.
Well—trying to sit still.
His fingers twitched. His lips trembled. His eyes darted from Xing Yue to Rong Qi and back again as though begging someone to rescue him from the seriousness settling on the room like a heavy cloak.
Xing Yue prayed—actually prayed—that he would just keep his mouth shut.
Rong Qi had long abandoned prayer. He simply hoped the man would faint.
Emperor Long Junlan no longer stroked his beard. His hand hovered near it, the urge visible in the way his fingers twitched—but Jiang Yunxian's earlier comments had traumatized him beyond movement.
"Why did you come here in the first place?" Long Junlan asked, voice echoing through the vast, brightly lit crimson hall.
Xing Yue stepped forward stiffly. "Would… would you like me to tell you that?"
"I suppose the star god has her own burdens," the emperor replied. His dragon-shaped pupils narrowed slightly. "But I want the man beside you to speak. Let him give me the details."
Jiang Yunxian blinked.
Then straightened.
Then coughed—dramatically.
Xing Yue's soul left her body.
Rong Qi mentally set himself on fire.
"We stole…" Yunxian began.
Xing Yue slapped a hand over her eyes.
I do not know this man. Please, Emperor Long Junlan, punish him alone. I have nothing to do with this fool.
Her inner plea echoed like a prayer into the heavens.
Rong Qi, watching helplessly from the lapel, contemplated his life choices.
Why didn't I burn him while I still lived in his body? I could have ended him then. Saved myself from this humiliation. But no—I had to leave him alive. Foolish me. Foolish...
"Stole?" Long Junlan's eyebrow twitched once.
"Well… I wouldn't exactly say 'stole'," Jiang Yunxian said, rubbing the back of his neck. "But you could call it that. My feathered phoenix companion is in desperate need of returning to his true form. He's a beast, like all of you here. So naturally, I pitied him and—uh—borrowed the Phoenix Scroll."
Long Junlan stared.
A long, empty, ancient stare.
Yunxian stared back, nodding as if the emperor should praise him for such compassion.
Xing Yue wondered if fainting would spare her the shame.
Rong Qi wondered if rolling off Yunxian's shoulder and dying again would be acceptable.
"So," Long Junlan finally said, leaning back on his dragon-bone throne, "why come to me?"
"That," Jiang Yunxian sighed, "is when I regretted my life decisions."
He gestured toward Rong Qi who peeked from the lapel like a traumatized quail.
"It turns out my feather friend here—from the glorious beast clan, mind you—doesn't know how to speak the beast language."
Inside the lapel, Rong Qi flared red. "I do know how to speak. I don't know how to read."
"Exactly," Yunxian said. "His illiteracy increases daily."
Xing Yue closed her eyes.
Rong Qi prayed for death again.
Long Junlan blinked slowly.
"So what you want," the emperor said, "is for him to be tutored."
Yunxian nodded vigorously. "Exactly! Finally, someone who understands me."
"And you know we don't do anything for free. Especially when your story… involves stealing."
"Oh, I can sell him to you," Yunxian said casually.
"YUNXIAN!"
Xing Yue's voice cracked.
Rong Qi combusted in tiny sparks.
"What? I'm kidding!" Yunxian scoffed. "But I can—"
A dual glare from both companions pierced him so sharply that he swallowed the rest of his sentence whole.
"Look," he said, throwing up his hands, "as long as you help him, I can do anything for you."
Long Junlan's golden eyes gleamed like molten metal.
"I do have a task."
Everyone froze.
"I want you to retrieve something for me—from the Yanli Continent."
The temperature dropped.
Xing Yue stiffened.
Rong Qi's feathers dulled.
Even the air felt heavier.
Before anyone could object, Jiang Yunxian clapped. "Great! Where is that? What am I looking for? Point me in the direction—I'll go!"
Long Junlan didn't smile.
"You will retrieve the Heart of Yanshi," he said. "A celestial relic forged from the first ember of the world. If awakened in the wrong hands, it could ignite all realms into nothing but ash."
Xing Yue's stomach twisted.
Rong Qi shivered violently.
The Heart of Yanshi wasn't just powerful.
It was forbidden.
"And if you fail," Long Junlan continued, voice low, "your phoenix friend will perish. His soul will scatter into the winds."
"No problem," Jiang Yunxian answered instantly, without fear, without hesitation. "Just make sure he becomes the phoenix monarch he keeps bragging about when I return."
Rong Qi choked.
Xing Yue nearly slapped him.
"I will go with him," Xing Yue said quickly, stepping forward. Her eyes flashed like stars streaking across the night. "I cannot let him go alone."
"That would be ideal," the emperor nodded. "Return with the relic. Do not fail."
Jiang Yunxian grinned.
Xing Yue trembled.
Because this place—this throne, this emperor, this request—
It felt like fate repeating itself.
A mission leading into the unknown.
A relic that could destroy the world.
A shameless disciple with no memories, only his personality.
A star god chasing shadows of destiny.
And somewhere between all of it—
Something was whispering that this was only the beginning.
___
Outside the Azure Scaled Court, the morning air shimmered faintly with the iridescent sheen of the palace walls, catching the first light like molten sapphire. The immense courtyard stretched out in quiet majesty, dragon-carved pillars rising like ancient sentinels, their scales glinting with an almost imperceptible azure hue. The scent of incense—earthy and sweet—wafted through the air, mingling with the faint warmth of sunbeams that danced across jade tiles. A gentle breeze stirred the flowing banners above, making them ripple softly like tranquil waves.
Xing Yue stood near the edge of the courtyard, cradling Rong Qi in her arms. The little phoenix feather, curled against her chest, let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh in its sleep, warmth radiating faintly as embers would from a dying fire. Her eyes, sharp yet shadowed with concern, scanned the entrance of the Azure Scaled Court, waiting. Each second stretched as if time itself had slowed, and the world around her seemed to quiet in reverence—or in warning.
Long Junlan had requested a private word with Jiang Yunxian, leaving Xing Yue to wait outside with nothing but the murmurs of wind and distant birdcalls to fill the silence.
That's when Lianhua appeared, seemingly emerging from thin air. Xing Yue had sensed her presence long before her form materialized—a shimmer at the edge of perception, a sudden stillness in the ambient magic of the courtyard. Lianhua's human form coalesced from the morning haze, her eyes like liquid jade, reflecting the courtyard's delicate luminescence.
"You look troubled," Lianhua said softly, her voice a low murmur that seemed to harmonize with the very air around them.
"I'm not troubled," Xing Yue replied, though her tone carried an edge of forced certainty. She shifted Rong Qi in her arms, careful not to disturb the small, sleeping creature whose ember-like glow had dimmed into the gentle warmth of rest.
Lianhua's gaze sharpened, inspecting her. "Then… what's wrong? Afraid?"
"The Star God is never afraid," Xing Yue said, voice steady—but there was a subtle tremor, a flicker of unease she could not hide completely.
Lianhua hummed, lifting her chin slightly as she sniffed the air, her gaze piercing. "But you are not a Star God, for what I can see," she said gently but with the weight of truth, as if the words were wind carving stone.
"What do you mean?" Xing Yue asked, her grip tightening slightly on Rong Qi's soft feathers.
"What happened to your immortality? It looks… tampered. Diminished. Wounded in ways that are not your own." Lianhua's eyes softened slightly, but the concern in them was undeniable.
Xing Yue's lips pressed into a thin line. "Just a fight," she said. "I'm not worrying about myself. I'm worrying about him."
Lianhua's eyes narrowed, her voice dropping to a murmur of warning. "So… you do admit you are afraid?"
Xing Yue said nothing, lowering her gaze to the ground beneath her. The jade tiles reflected the morning light faintly, the shifting shadows making her silhouette look smaller, more fragile. The world around her, with its immense dragons and floating palace banners, seemed suddenly vast and unyielding.
"Listen," Lianhua said, stepping closer, her hand brushing Xing Yue's shoulder lightly, as if to tether her to the present, to the courage she had hidden beneath her calm exterior. "That man in there… he does not listen to anyone. If anyone should be worried, it is for whatever he is about to face. And the path he walks… is far beyond what your mind can measure."
Xing Yue's gaze rose, meeting Lianhua's. "How would you know that?" she asked, a note of defiance in her voice despite the tremor of worry.
Lianhua's lips curved faintly. "I may not know what happened a hundred thousand years ago—I was nothing but a wisp in the womb then—but from what I have heard, that place… it is not as terrible as you imagine. And he knows it too. He always has."
Xing Yue exhaled slowly. She knew. She had always known that Jiang Yunxian possessed a recklessness that bordered on invincibility—or madness. Yet knowing this truth did little to quiet the anxious knot coiling in her stomach.
"Just let it flow," Lianhua said softly, tapping Xing Yue's shoulder twice. The touch was light, but it carried a warmth that lingered like sunlight through autumn leaves. "You might not know now… but perhaps you will find it is a journey far beyond the fears you hold dear."
Before Xing Yue could respond, before she could form a question or even a protest, Lianhua's form shimmered, blending with the drifting snow-like clouds she summoned around herself. The delicate frost swirled, catching sunlight in diamond-like sparkles, and in a blink, she had disappeared, leaving nothing but a faint trace of cold in the warm courtyard.
Rong Qi stirred, blinking sleepily as he nestled closer against Xing Yue's chest. His tiny beak opened in a soft yawn, feathers ruffling in the faint wind, and the ember-light of his soul pulsed gently with renewed warmth.
Xing Yue lowered her gaze to him, a small, unspoken smile tugging at her lips. Even in the weight of uncertainty, in the vastness of the world that awaited them… he was here. Safe, if only for a moment.
And for now, that was enough.
The Azure Scaled Court loomed behind her, the distant roar of dragons hidden within its walls reverberating faintly through the courtyard. Banners fluttered, casting shadowed patterns over the tiles. Somewhere beyond, Jiang Yunxian and the Beast Emperor continued their private discourse—a conversation that would shape the fates of beasts, men, and gods alike.
Xing Yue straightened, adjusting the feathered phoenix in her arms. The morning wind caught her sky-blue robes, making them flutter like the surface of a calm sea touched by sunlight. She inhaled slowly, feeling the scent of incense, stone, and distant forests mingle with the warmth of Rong Qi's embered body.
And with that, she stepped forward, readying herself to meet whatever trials awaited, knowing that fate had already begun its work—and that Jiang Yunxian would walk straight into it, as fearless and careless as ever.