Chapter 37 – The Phoenix Legacy Revealed
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The morning sun filtered through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, casting golden streaks across the dark marble floor. Bai Xueqing stood at the edge of the balcony, the jade chip in her hand glowing faintly under the sunlight.
Mo Chen emerged from the kitchen with two mugs of coffee. He offered one silently. She accepted, gaze still fixed on the horizon.
"That symbol," he said at last, "I've seen it before."
Xueqing turned to him. "In a tomb beneath City B. Three years ago, right?"
He raised a brow.
"I read the classified reports," she said simply.
Mo Chen gave a low laugh. "You really are terrifying."
"Tell me what you know," she said.
He nodded, sitting beside her on the lounge bench. "The tomb wasn't just ancient—it was protected by technology thousands of years ahead of ours. The walls had inscriptions not even modern scanners could decode. And on the sarcophagus…"
"A phoenix," Xueqing finished. "Carved in jade, identical to this."
She handed him the chip. Mo Chen examined it closely, his fingers brushing hers.
"It's more than an heirloom, isn't it?"
She took a breath. "It's a seal. Passed down through my maternal line. In my previous life, I never knew who I was—only that strange things always happened around me. After my rebirth, I began putting the pieces together. My mother was the last daughter of the Phoenix Clan, descendants of a bloodline that once ruled from behind the curtains of ancient dynasties."
"And now?" he asked, voice quiet.
"Now I am the last." Her eyes glittered, not with sadness, but resolve. "Xu Yanshang is after the seal. He believes it can unlock something buried—something tied to the power he's so desperate to control."
Mo Chen placed the jade chip back into her hand and closed her fingers around it. "Then we guard it. And we end him."
She blinked. "You say that like it's simple."
He smirked. "I didn't say it would be easy. Just inevitable."
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Later that evening, Xueqing entered the safe room under Mo Chen's estate. Digital displays and biometric locks surrounded the reinforced vault wall. She placed the jade chip inside a new case, which then slid into a lockbox coded to her heartbeat.
Behind her, Lin Nuo peeked through the door, munching on popcorn.
"So let me get this straight," he said. "Our boss lady is an ancient phoenix queen, and we're basically guarding the key to a secret power buried under City B?"
"Roughly accurate," Mo Chen said, crossing his arms.
Lin Nuo nodded, popping another kernel. "Cool. Just let me know if we're resurrecting any dragon emperors or ancient beasts. I'll need to update my will."
Xueqing laughed softly. "No dragons. Yet."
"But you're not denying it," Lin Nuo said, backing away dramatically.
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The team was growing stronger, the secrets deeper.
But the fire in Xueqing's eyes had never burned brighter.