The Huogehuazi Sect's Ancient Library loomed before Ai Baoni like a monument to boring orthodox cultivation, its pristine white walls practically BEGGING to be decorated with some nice skulls or at least a few tasteful chains. She adjusted her black robes, now featuring silver spikes she'd added using specialized spiritual metal techniques, and checked that her backup eyeliner was secure in her dimensional pouch.

"This is it," she whispered to Shadows-Upon-Shadows-Darknight-Void, who had somehow acquired a tiny bat wing overnight in addition to its three heads and extra regular wing. "The forbidden section MUST have some techniques that speak to my inner darkness."

The raven ca-cawed in agreement, then promptly died by flying into a spirit-warding formation, before it died, an unholy screech - first C, ascending to F sharp, the forbidden tritone of the ancients. So very ge-de.

Using her special talent for sneaking around dramatically - a hereditary trait from her mysterious father - she slipped past the main hall where other disciples were studying boring texts like "The Path to Orthodox Cultivation" and "A Thousand Ways to Be Boringly Perfect Like Ha Li."

The forbidden section was sealed with multiple spirit arrays, but Ai Baoni had spent weeks preparing for this moment. She pulled out several items:

Ai Baoni approached the barrier, her body contorting into the "Misunderstood Cultivator Seeks Forbidden Knowledge" position - left leg extended at precisely 42.7 degrees, right leg somehow phasing through dimensional space to create a perfect triangle with her torso, while her arms traced the forbidden seals of "Teenage Rebellion" and "Proper Adults Just Don't Understand."

Her raven, perched on her shoulder, arranged its three heads into the ancient formation of "Multiple Heads Judge You Simultaneously" - each head tilted at a different prime number of degrees, their collective angles somehow creating a perfect spell diagram for summoning teenage angst.

Three black candles made from the wax of ghost bees; a lock of hair from her definitely dead mother; her latest diary, written in blood, it was red ink, but she CALLED it blood; a jade pendant that was supposed to be white but she'd dyed black using questionable cultivation techniques

"Oh spirits of darkness," she intoned, arranging the items in a circle, "grant me passage into the realm of forbidden knowledge! Also, if anyone's listening, Ha Li totally doesn't deserve his position as head outer disciple!"

Nothing happened.

"Ugh, WHATEVER!" Ai Baoni kicked the spirit array in frustration. Surprisingly, it shattered.

"... that works too," she muttered, stepping through the now-broken barrier. Her raven, freshly resurrected and sporting a tiny mohawk, followed.

The forbidden section was everything she'd hoped for - dark, dusty, and full of ominously glowing scrolls. "Finally," she whispered, "some good cultivation material!"

She began pulling out scrolls at random: Ghostly Cultivation: Because Who Needs Living Friends? Advanced Techniques for Channeling Pure Angst into Spiritual Energy; So You've Inherited a Mysterious Dark Legacy; 101 Uses for Forbidden Spirit Techniques (Number 66 Will Shock You! Sect Masters HATE Number 7!)

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"These are perfect!" Ai Baoni clutched the scrolls to her chest, accidentally smudging her special darkness-enhanced makeup on them. But before she could read them, a voice cut through the darkness.

"I knew you'd come here."

Ma Fen stepped out of the shadows, his crimson robes somehow managing to billow despite the complete lack of wind inside the library.

"Ma Fen!" Ai Baoni gasped, her heart doing a complicated aerial maneuver. "I... this isn't what it looks like!"

"You mean you're not stealing forbidden texts to advance your unique path of darkness while simultaneously rebelling against the sect's orthodox teachings and potentially unleashing ancient powers that were sealed away for very good reasons?"

"Okay, so maybe it is exactly what it looks like," she admitted.

Ma Fen moved closer, and Ai Baoni noticed his eyes had an unusual red glint. "What if I told you... I've been waiting for someone to break into this section?"

"What?"

"These scrolls," he gestured to the texts in her arms, "they're part of a larger collection. The Ancient Arts of the Dark Phoenix Demon Emperor."

Ai Baoni's ever-changing birthmark began to tingle meaningfully. "But that's-"

"Your ancestor? Yes. And possibly mine too, unless that would make our growing subplot weird, in which case we're not related."

Before Ai Baoni could process this revelation, a new voice rang out. "Well, well, well."

Ha Li stood in the doorway, his white robes literally gleaming with righteous energy. Behind him stood several other disciples, all wearing expressions of perfectly cultivated disapproval.

His left leg extended at precisely 47.3 degrees, torso twisted impossibly so his chest faced forward while his hips remained perpendicular to his extended leg. His right arm crossed his body diagonally, fingers splayed in the ancient Orthodox Hand Seal of Supreme Judgment, while his left arm curved behind his head like a swan's neck, jade ornaments catching the light in a display of perfect righteous energy.

"I knew you were troubled, Ai Baoni," Ha Li said, his voice dripping with orthodox condescension, "but breaking into the forbidden section? This is, like, totally courting death!"

"How DARE you steal my catchphrase!" Ai Baoni snarled. In his anger, his spiritual energy surged, causing all the candles in the library to turn black and flicker dramatically.

"Your unorthodox ways end here," Ha Li declared, pulling out a sword that was perfect in every way. "We're taking you to the elders!"

He suddenly snapped into a new pose - right knee bent at exactly 73 degrees, left leg extended straight up toward the heavens, defying both gravity and common sense. His upper body folded at an impossible angle, creating the shape of a perfect Orthodox Cultivation Calligraphy stroke, while his arms formed the ancient "Double Phoenix Wings of Proper Protocol" position.

Ma Fen stepped between them. "No, you're not."

"Ma Fen! You're defending her?" Ha Li's perfect features arranged themselves into an expression of shocked betrayal. "But what about our arranged marriage?"

"WHAT?" Ai Baoni's screech of surprise caused her raven to die again, this time from pure shock.

"It's not what you think," Ma Fen said quickly. "It was arranged by the elders to unite our bloodlines and prevent an ancient prophecy from coming true. But I never agreed to it!"

"Of course you agreed! We're perfect together!" Ha Li's voice took on a dangerous edge. "Our children would have the highest cultivation potential in the sect! They'd never accidentally summon vengeful spirits or dye their cultivation robes black!"

Ai Baoni clutched the forbidden scrolls tighter. She had to make a choice - surrender the texts and return to the boring path of orthodox cultivation, or embrace her destiny as the prophecized ge-de cultivator she was meant to be.

The answer was obvious.

"RAWR!" she screamed, channeling pure darkness through her meridians. The forbidden scrolls in her arms began to glow with an ancient power, responding to her unleashed angst. Her raven, choosing the perfect dramatic moment to resurrect, burst back to life with FOUR heads this time.

"YOU'RE ALL COURTING DEATH!" she declared, and for once, she really meant it.

To be continued with extra darkness.