Chapter 136 - Interlude 3: Two Phoenixes

Deep in the Everburning Cinder Immortal Realm, a dark mountain smoldered releasing a steady stream of putrid gray smoke. The slopes of the mountain were cracked and broken with towering knife-shaped cliffs and vast fields of broken rock and rubble. In a few places, clusters of green could be seen where plants managed to push their way through the layers of ash and broken rock to find purchase on the blasted ground but the wide swaths of barren land suggested that any hope those plants might have to prosper were doomed from the start. 

Nestled up against one of those towering cliffs, several pagodas, pavilions and other assorted buildings formed the core of the Myriad Flames Soul Sect. Despite the intense heat and toxic air, disciples of the sect moved freely about the sect grounds in robes that ranged from the dull yellow of mortal initiates to the dark crimson of powerful immortal core disciples and even the occasional dark purple and black of a sect elder. 

One figure stood out as unique among the many people moving about the sect. Unlike any of the gathered disciples, the young woman with crimson hair wore a multicolored dress that billowed in the hot breeze flowing across the desolate mountain. The crimson, azure, and emerald silks of her dress blended seamlessly with the multicolored aura of flame she wore to ward off the toxic gasses that her body had never acclimatized to on any of her rare visits to the remote sect. Still, despite her clear status as an outsider, her passage through the sect was followed by a wave of deep bows, hushed whispers, and near reverence from the members of the sect who encountered her. 

At the heart of the sect, in a room inaccessible to all but the elders of the sect and a select group of outsiders, another woman stood forlornly before a half-finished portrait. Dark purple and black hair tumbled from her head in waves that seemed to move of their own accord as her dark amethyst eyes regarded her incomplete work. Slender fingers held a charcoal pencil loosely, as though the woman barely remembered that she still held it. 

"Auntie Hei," the young crimson-haired woman in the multicolored dress called when she entered the room. "Your favorite niece has come to visit." 

"Feng An," the dark-haired woman said, a smile instantly blossoming on her lush purple lips. "It's been a long time since you've visited. Are you finally going to take your Auntie Hei's invitation to join the sect here while you wait for your mother to be reborn?" While her voice had started lightly, by the end it was all she could do to mention the young Phoenix's mother. How many years had she been waiting? How many lifetimes?

"Auntie Hei," Feng An said, trying to suppress the excitement she felt at the news she'd come to share. "Mother has been reborn. Mother Qi sent me to come let you know." 

"She's been reborn already," Hei Huang said softly, the charcoal pencil tumbling from her fingers. "What are her words this time?" she asked, desperation coloring her normally elegant voice. 

"Mother has six words this time," Feng An beamed with pride. "I helped with the ceremony. This time, her words are Scroll, Song, Saber, Earth, Alchemy, and Fire. Mother Qi says that this time, Mother should be able to pick back up her side of your Soul Pact."

"Fire," Hei Huang said, dropping to her knees and letting her flowing black dress pool around her. "But she doesn't have Darkness. Jun Biyu had 'Night' but it wasn't enough for her to endure our Soul Pact. My flames burned her so badly before we were able to release her," she sobbed. "What if it's like that again? What if the only person I was ever meant to match up to was my Mistress Di Congbai? What if none of her next lives can ever…"

"It's okay Auntie," Feng An said gently, rushing to the elder woman's side and wrapping her arms around her. "Uncle Zhang Li came home, Auntie Cang Bai made him. He's been reading the cards and he says that Mother isn't human this time, that she's inherited the bloodlines of a powerful dragon and a bird of flame. That's why Mother Qi is so sure that you'll be able to restore your Soul Pact once Mother returns to the Immortal realms."

Staring up at the half-finished portrait of her long-fallen Mistress, tears flowed freely down Hei Huang's face. That she survived Di Congbai's death was already a miracle. A Soul Pact between a Phoenix, like her, and a human was meant to end in both of their deaths. She'd used her own chance at rebirth to save her Mistress's life before either of them had become immortals and their souls had been bound together ever since. Before her death, the Thirteenth incarnation of the Myriad Paths Immortal Empress had brought her treasured companion to this realm and built a palace just for her. The formations here along with the natural flame energy that complimented Hei Huang's nature allowed her to live on even though she should have died along with Di Congbai. 

The millennia since then hadn't been easy. Qi Yue had helped establish the Myriad Flames Soul Sect here for no reason other than to ensure that Hei Huang didn't have to remain in this dark and fiery place alone. Hei Huang had thought that she'd only need to wait for her Mistress to be reborn to reunite and return to her side, riding on her shoulder during the day and being held by her at night, just like it had been in the past. It hadn't turned out that way though. Hua Jue was an Artist and she found it difficult to even be near the dark aura of flame that Hei Huang radiated to say nothing of picking up their Soul Pact. Sheng Cheng Fa had been even worse. The woman who would go on to be titled the Divine Sword Immortal Empress had been given the words Holy, Sword, Justice, and Light. Nothing in her being could tolerate a Soul Pact with Hei Huang. 

That was why it had hurt so much when Jun Biyu had finally made it to her. After waiting two whole lifetimes, her Mistress had been reborn with the word 'Night.' Everyone hoped that it would be enough to reform the bond but the Night contained far too much that wasn't Darkness and Hei Huang's black flames had tried to burn away those things as though they were impurities in an alchemist's concoction. Now, hearing that her Mistress might finally be able to take her away from this place… she almost didn't dare to hope. 

"Why did you come here Little An?" she finally managed to ask. "Wouldn't it be better to have waited until your Mother returned to the Immortal realms to come to me? I don't know if I can bear the weight of hope until she ascends." 

"Actually, I'm here to bring you to her," Feng An said with a radiant smile. "Mother Qi says that I'm strong enough now, I can carry Mother's half of the Soul Pact for a few years to bring you to her. Uncle Zhang Li says that it will be more than ten years before Mother is able to ascend so I'm supposed to come to you to learn about Dark Nether Flames so I'm not harmed by them when I take up the pact."

"Little An," Hei Huang said becoming so emotional that she couldn't hang onto her human form any longer. In a wave of black and purple flame, she transformed in an instant from a beautiful woman into a resplendent Dark Nether Phoenix. Feathers so dark they destroyed light that would reflect off them covered a slender body with graceful wings that spanned more than ten meters spread wide to hold her aloft. Purple flames swirled around her, dancing wildly along with the tempest of emotions in her heart. "Little An," the Phoenix finally said, looking down upon the only other Phoenix who had bound herself to her Mistress, even if the younger bird didn't do it with a pact the way she had. "I will teach you but these flames are the purest form of destruction. Are you sure you want to add them to your own?"

"Aunt Hei," Feng An said confidently. "I already accepted that when I told Mother Qi that I'd help. If I can bring you away from here even one year early and give you even one more day with Mother… It's not fair that you've been trapped away from her for so long," she said, tears finally spilling from her own eyes as she felt engulfed by the loneliness of the other phoenix. "It's time that you see Mother again."