Zetian awakens aboard the flying Vermilion Bird at night, soaring over the ocean with Yizhi beside her and Helan asleep nearby. Their hands are entwined; she pulls hers away, still angry at Yizhi's betrayal regarding her pregnancy, but recognizes they must cooperate to return to Huaxia. She presses her ear to the Bird's back and hears a faint hum, and Yizhi suggests Shimin's spirit may have somehow transferred into the machine, recalling how he piloted it alone during the Black Tortoise ambush.

Yizhi explains that Helan is struggling with Huaxia's stronger gravity after life on the trade station. They observe debris from the destroyed Heavenly Court burning across the sky and worry about Melian evacuees landing among defenseless civilians. Zetian fears Qin Zheng's retaliation against her allies, particularly Wan'er, Taiping, and Yizhi's siblings, and questions whether stabbing him doomed Huaxia.

Yizhi gently tells her the light had gone from her eyes under Qin Zheng's rule and only returned when she struck him. Zetian, tearful, refuses physical comfort, unwilling to trust him again. She resolves to keep her phoenix half-pendant and her claim as Empress, reasoning that Qin Zheng cannot publicly denounce her or execute her allies for at least another month without delegitimizing their child. She plans to race back, warn the Iron Widows and Phoenix Ladies, and reveal the truth about the Hunduns and their world.

At daybreak, the Vermilion Bird lands on an unfamiliar beach beyond Huaxia's Great Wall. Yizhi and Helan collapse on the sand, weakened by gravity. The Bird's eyes dim as if dying, but when Zetian touches its chest, red light splits open and a metallic, winged humanoid figure emerges, wearing a beaked mask resembling the Bird's Heroic Form. It steps free, and when Zetian asks if it is Shimin, the figure responds in a low voice: "Mei-Niang?"