The Celestial Core burned in Li Tian's grip, its light searing through the darkness of the chamber. Blood pooled beneath him, black and viscous, as Elder Qiang's blade remained lodged in his chest. The world narrowed to the gem's kaleidoscopic glow, its facets reflecting fragments of a thousand possible futures—Li Tian as a conqueror, a savior, a corpse. Su Lin's scream echoed distantly, muffled as though underwater.
*This is it*, he thought dimly. *This is how it ends.*
But the Core had other plans.
A pulse of energy erupted from the gem, shattering Elder Qiang's barrier and hurling the old man across the chamber. The blade in Li Tian's chest disintegrated, reduced to ash, as the Core's light flooded his body. Agony followed—not the hot, jagged pain of the wound, but a cold, celestial fire that scoured his veins. He gasped, back arching, as the poison in his blood met the Core's purifying energy. The two forces clashed, tearing through him like rival storms.
***You are flawed***, a voice intoned—not the serpent's mockery, nor the temple's whispers. This voice was older, deeper, the rumble of tectonic plates. ***But you are worthy.***
The chamber dissolved.
---
Li Tian stood in a void, stars wheeling beneath his feet. Before him stretched a bridge of light, leading to a throne carved from a single black diamond. Upon it sat a figure clad in armor that shimmered like liquid night, his face obscured by a helm shaped into the visage of a snarling dragon. At his feet lay a thousand shattered weapons, their blades etched with names Li Tian could almost recognize.
**"The Magic Emperor,"** Li Tian breathed.
The figure inclined his head. **"A title given by those who feared what they could not understand."** His voice was a blade dragged across stone. **"You hold my Core. Do you know what you ask of it?"**
Li Tian stepped forward, the bridge trembling. "I ask for strength. To protect those I care for."
The emperor laughed, the sound like bones breaking. **"A noble lie. You crave power to mend your weakness. To outrun the ghosts of your past."** He gestured, and the void shifted, revealing moments etched in Li Tian's soul—his master's corpse cooling in the rain, Su Lin's tears as she begged him not to leave, the temple's shadows swallowing Zhang Wei's laughter.
Li Tian's fists clenched. "What do you want?"
**"Truth."** The emperor rose, his armor creaking. **"The Core is not a tool. It is a covenant. To wield it, you must surrender the lies you cling to. Your righteousness. Your guilt. Your *humanity*."**
The throne vanished, replaced by a mirror. In its surface, Li Tian saw himself—eyes glowing with starlight, skin cracked and bleeding light, the Core embedded in his chest like a second heart. A god and a monster, fused.
**"This is your future,"** the emperor said. **"Will you pay the price?"**
---
Back in the chamber, Su Lin watched in horror as Li Tian's body convulsed. The Core's light had engulfed him, cocooning him in a lattice of crystalline energy. Cracks spread across the chamber floor, and the air hummed with a frequency that made her teeth ache.
"We need to pull him out!" she shouted, lunging forward, but Zhang Wei grabbed her arm.
"Look at his chest!"
The black veins receding. The wound closing. But as the poison faded, the Core's light began seeping into Li Tian's skin, etching glowing sigils across his flesh.
Elder Qiang stirred nearby, his face ashen. "The Core is merging with him. If we interrupt now, it will kill him."
"You don't get to decide!" Su Lin rounded on him, sword levelled. "You *stabbed* him!"
The elder met her gaze, his own filled with a sorrow deeper than the temple's shadows. "The temple showed me visions. If he claims the Core, he will bring ruin upon us all. I sought to spare him that fate."
Zhang Wei spat. "By murdering him? Real heroic, old man."
A groan cut through the tension. Li Tian's eyes flew open—no longer brown, but blazing silver.
---
**The Visions**
Li Tian knelt in a field of ashes, the sky choked with smoke. Cities burned on the horizon, their screams carried by the wind. Before him stood a figure in white robes, their face obscured by a mask of jade.
*"Master?"*
The figure removed the mask. It was Su Lin, her eyes hollow, a sword of ice piercing her chest.
***This is your doing***, she whispered. ***You could have stopped it.***
The scene shifted. Zhang Wei, aged and scarred, led an army of hollow-eyed cultivators. ***You left us***, he growled. ***You chose power.***
Again. Elder Qiang, kneeling before an altar, his hands drenched in blood. ***You see now***, he said softly. ***Some burdens cannot be shared.***
Li Tian screamed, but the visions kept coming—a torrent of futures where the Core's power corrupted everything he touched. Yet beneath the horror, a thread of clarity: the Magic Emperor's voice.
***The Core reflects the heart. Your fears. Your desires. Master them, or they will master you.***
---
**The Choice**
In the chamber, Li Tian's body began to rise, suspended in the Core's radiance. The sigils on his skin pulsed, and the chamber itself seemed to breathe with him.
Su Lin stepped closer, ignoring Zhang Wei's warning. "Tian! Fight it!"
His head turned, those silver eyes focusing on her. For a moment, recognition flickered. "Su Lin… I can't… hold on…"
"Yes, you can!" She reached for him, her fingers brushing the edge of the crystalline lattice. Pain seared her hand—frost and fire—but she didn't pull back. "You're not alone! We're here!"
The lattice shuddered.
Inside the storm of visions, Li Tian clung to her voice. The Core's energy pressed down, demanding surrender. *Become more. Become less.*
But then—
A memory. His master, years ago, teaching him to channel qi. *"Power is a river, Tian. If you try to control it, you'll drown. Flow with it. Become it."*
The Core's light flared.
---
**The Awakening**
With a sound like shattering glass, the lattice exploded. Li Tian dropped to his knees, the sigils on his skin fading to faint scars. The Core lay before him, inert once more—but different. Smaller, duller, as though a piece had been carved away.
Su Lin fell beside him. "Tian! Are you—?"
He looked up. His eyes had returned to brown, but flecks of silver lingered like stardust. "I'm… here."
Zhang Wei loomed over them, broadsword still trained on Elder Qiang. "What the hells happened?"
Li Tian touched his chest. Beneath his robes, a scar in the shape of the Core pulsed faintly. "I made a choice."
The elder approached, trembling. "You rejected its full power."
Li Tian stood, swaying only slightly. "No. I took what I needed. Not what it wanted to give."
The chamber quaked. Cracks split the walls, and starlight bled through the fractures.
"The temple is collapsing," Su Lin said. "We need to go. *Now*."
As they fled, Li Tian cast one last glance at the Core. It shimmered, a single phrase etched into its surface—a phrase only he could see.
***The covenant remains.***
---