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### **Chapter 2: The Phoenix and the Storm**
#### **1. The Devoured**
When Chen Zhen awoke, he wasn't dead.
He floated in a viscous, golden fluid that stung his eyes and filled his lungs with the taste of burnt copper. The lightning dragon's belly—if this *was* a belly—stretched around him like a cathedral of pulsating membranes, veins glowing with the same violet energy he'd seen in the Himalayan abyss.
*"You're a stubborn one,"* rumbled Shanggu Julong's voice. The old man materialized beside him, translucent as smoke. *"Most mortals dissolve within minutes here. But you… you *adapt*."*
Chen tried to speak, but the fluid choked him. Julong flicked a finger, and the golden soup drained away, leaving Chen gasping on a floor that felt like living cartilage.
*"Where—?"*
*"My descendant's stomach,"* Julong said cheerfully. *"A temporary vessel. He's taking us somewhere… quieter."*
Above them, the dragon's hide turned translucent. Chen recoiled.
They soared through a war-torn sky.
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#### **2. The Titans' Duel**
The realm below was a patchwork of madness—forests burning with blue fire, rivers flowing upward into fractured moons, and armies of scaled humanoids clashing beneath banners stitched from lightning. But Chen's eyes locked on the two beings dominating the horizon:
- **The Golden Dragon**: Its armored scales shimmered like liquid sunlight, each claw trailing storms. Chen recognized it—the same creature he'd seen battling the crow before his fall.
- **The Three-Legged Crow**: Wings of molten gold spread wide, its third leg gripping a sword forged from a dying star. Flames dripped from its beak, scorching the earth where they fell.
Their auras collided, warping the air. Even insulated by the dragon's gut, Chen felt the pressure crack his ribs.
*"Why are they fighting?"* he croaked.
Julong's smile didn't reach his eyes. *"For the same reason ants war over crumbs—habit. That dragon is Shanggu Feng, my great-great-grandson. The crow is Lou Tian, heir to the Phoenix Throne. Both think the other stole a relic."*
*"Did they?"*
*"Does it matter?"*
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#### **3. The Fallen**
The battle crescendoed. Shanggu Feng's lightning met Lou Tian's solar flames in a cataclysm that bleached the sky white. Chen's borrowed wisp of dragon energy flared, shielding him from the blast's worst effects—but not the horror.
Shanggu Feng's left wing tore free, dissolving into ash. Lou Tian's crow-form staggered, one eye reduced to a smoldering crater. Still, they fought—pride outweighing survival.
*"Idiots,"* Julong muttered. *"They'll kill this realm's last stable leyline."*
Chen's stomach lurched as their dragon vessel dove toward the duel. *"What's happening?!"*
*"My descendant hungers."*
The lightning dragon's maw yawned wide, and Chen finally understood Julong's metaphor.
They weren't spectators.
They were the ambush.
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#### **4. The Catalyst**
The lightning dragon struck like a serpent. Its jaws snapped shut around both titans, severing Shanggu Feng's tail and crushing Lou Tian's star-forged sword. The crow shrieked, phoenix fire erupting in a last desperate blast—but it was too late.
Chen's world spun as the dragon swallowed all three: two warring beasts, and the plane seat Chen still clung to like a lifeline.
*"Now comes the fun part,"* Julong said.
The dragon's gut convulsed. Chen's seat shattered. He tumbled into a maelstrom of lightning and fire, the dragon's stolen energy fusing with the titans' ravaged souls.
*"Breathe,"* Julong commanded. *"Or don't. It won't change much."*
Chen's skin blistered. His bones glowed. Somewhere in the chaos, Shanggu Feng's voice roared:
*"TRESPASSER! YOU DARE CLAIM MY LEGACY?!"*
Then—
Silence.
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#### **5. The Tri-Soul Court**
Chen woke in a featureless void, naked and whole. Shanggu Julong stood before him, solid now, flanked by two translucent figures:
- **Shanggu Feng**, his dragon form reduced to a scarred man in tattered gold armor, one arm ending at the elbow.
- **Lou Tian**, his crow feathers molting to reveal a lean youth with fire-kissed hair and a sword strapped to his back.
*"Welcome to the negotiation,"* Julong said. *"You've stolen their souls, Chen Zhen. Or rather, *I* have. They're… displeased."*
Shanggu Feng lunged, but Julong flicked him aside like a gnat. *"Enough. You've squandered your second life already."*
Chen stared at his hands. They flickered—solid, then translucent, threads of dragon lightning and phoenix fire weaving under his skin.
*"What am I?"*
*"A crucible,"* Julong said. *"A temporary home for these two fools. And my experiment."*
Lou Tian snorted. *"Experiment?"*
*"Yes. To see if a soul raised in a *void world*…"* —Julong nodded at Chen— *"…can withstand the rot devouring this realm."*
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#### **6. The Bargain**
Julong's proposal was simple, monstrous, and inescapable:
1. **Chen Zhen** would harbor their souls, their sealed power fueling his ascent as a cultivator.
2. **Shanggu Feng** would teach him the Shanggu Clan's stormforged techniques.
3. **Lou Tian** would impart the Phoenix Tribe's flamewalking arts.
4. In return, Chen would one day rebuild bodies for them both—if he survived.
*"And if I refuse?"* Chen asked.
Julong gestured to the void. Beyond its edges, Chen glimpsed his world—Earth's blue marble—cracked by a hairline fissure leaking violet energy.
*"Then your realm dies first."*
Shanggu Feng spat. *"You'd trust a *mortal* to restore us?"*
*"No,"* Julong said. *"But I trust his fear. Look."*
He snapped his fingers. The void rippled, revealing Li Na and Xiao Peng asleep in their beds… while tendrils of Julong's violet energy coiled through their window.
Chen's choice dissolved.
*"I accept."*
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#### **7. The Awakening**
Pain returned first—a good pain, like muscles reforged. Chen woke on a stone slab in a bamboo grove, his body humming with foreign energy. Shanggu Julong sat nearby, sipping tea.
*"Welcome to the *real* work,"* he said, tossing Chen a wooden sword. *"Lesson one: Don't die."*
Beyond the grove, thunder boomed. The war for this broken realm hadn't paused for Chen's resurrection—and now, it was his to survive.
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