The air in the temple's central chamber hung thick with the acrid scent of smoldering stone. Li Tian leaned against a cracked pillar, his hand pressed to the faintly glowing scar on his chest—the mark left by the Celestial Core. The gem's power still hummed beneath his skin, a restless tide that both invigorated and unnerved him. Across the chamber, Su Lin and Zhang Wei sifted through debris, their faces smeared with ash and exhaustion. Elder Qiang stood apart, his back to the group, studying the jagged fissures that now split the temple's walls like claw marks.
"This place won't hold much longer," Su Lin said, kicking aside a shard of obsidian. "We need to move."
Li Tian nodded, pushing himself upright. The Core's energy had closed his wounds, but his muscles still ached as though he'd been trampled by a herd of spirit beasts. "Did anyone find anything useful? Scrolls? Relics? *Directions*?"
Zhang Wei held up a broken tablet, its surface carved with faint, spiraling script. "Just this. Looks like someone threw a tantrum and smashed it."
Elder Qiang turned, his robes stirring the dust. "Let me see."
Reluctantly, Zhang Wei handed over the tablet. The elder traced the glyphs with a bony finger, his brow furrowing. "This is Old Celestial script. A warning… or a map."
"A map?" Su Lin perked up. "To what?"
Before Elder Qiang could answer, the ground lurched. A section of the ceiling collapsed, crashing down in a roar of stone and splintered crystal. Li Tian yanked Su Lin aside as debris sprayed the spot where she'd stood.
"The temple's crumbling faster," Zhang Wei growled. "We need to go *now*."
"No." Li Tian's voice cut through the chaos. He pointed to the far wall, where the collapse had exposed a hidden passage. "There. That's our path."
The others followed his gaze. Beyond the rubble, a narrow corridor sloped downward, its walls lined with bioluminescent moss that cast a sickly green glow. Carvings adorned the stone—serpents coiled around stars, warriors kneeling before a figure shrouded in shadow.
"The Magic Emperor," Elder Qiang whispered.
Li Tian's scar pulsed. "Let's see where his road leads."
---
The corridor wound deeper into the earth, the air growing colder and denser with each step. The carvings grew more intricate, depicting scenes of conquest and creation: a hooded figure raising mountains from the plains, forging rivers with a sweep of his hand, and binding celestial beasts with chains of light.
"Cheerful chap," Zhang Wei muttered. "Bet he threw great parties."
Su Lin ignored him, running her fingers over a mural of a sprawling city. "This isn't just any empire. Look at the architecture—those towers, the bridges… I've never seen anything like it."
"Because it's gone," Elder Qiang said. "The Magic Emperor's capital was erased from history after his fall. The sects scrubbed his name from records, burned his temples. All that remains are ruins like this one."
Li Tian paused at a depiction of the emperor standing atop a mountain of skulls, a glowing orb—the twin of the Celestial Core—floating above his palm. "Why build a network of temples if he ruled an empire?"
"Power," the elder replied. "These temples weren't places of worship. They were anchors. Each one drew energy from the land, feeding it back to him. With enough cores, he could've become a god."
"But he failed," Su Lin said.
"Or someone stopped him," Li Tian murmured.
The corridor ended at a circular chamber, its domed ceiling lost to shadow. In the center stood a stone dais, and atop it, a pedestal holding a sphere of polished onyx. The air around it shimmered, warping like heat over a flame.
Zhang Wei whistled. "Another Core?"
"No." Elder Qiang approached cautiously. "A relay. A device to communicate between temples."
Li Tian's scar flared as he stepped closer. The sphere's surface rippled, and suddenly, the chamber vanished.
---
**The Vision**
Li Tian stood in a desert under a black sun. Around him rose seven obelisks, each carved with the same serpent-and-star motif. At their center knelt a figure in tattered robes, his hands bound by chains of lightning. The Magic Emperor.
**"You've come far, inheritor."** The emperor's voice was a dry wind. **"But you've only found one thread. There are six others."**
Li Tian tried to speak, but no sound came.
The emperor raised his head, revealing a face that shifted endlessly—young, old, male, female, human and beast. **"My temples were meant to unite the world's energy. To break the heavens open. But fear made them tombs."** He gestured, and the obelisks crumbled, revealing caverns beneath. **"Free me, and I will show you true power."**
The vision shattered.
---
Li Tian staggered back, gasping. The others stared at him.
"What happened?" Su Lin demanded.
"A… message." He touched the relay sphere. It was warm, vibrating faintly. "The Magic Emperor's spirit is trapped. His temples—there are seven. This is one. The others are buried, like this one was."
Elder Qiang's eyes narrowed. "And the cores?"
"Each temple has one. Together, they could do what he failed to." Li Tian's voice hardened. "We need to find them before someone else does."
Zhang Wei crossed his arms. "Or maybe we smash this one and call it a day."
A low rumble shook the chamber. Dust rained from the ceiling as cracks spread across the walls.
"The temple disagrees," Su Lin said dryly.
Elder Qiang pressed his palm to the relay sphere. "There's a way out. The temples are connected. This device can open a path—but only to another ruin."
"Where?" Li Tian asked.
"The coordinates are scrambled. It could be anywhere."
The floor beneath them groaned. A fissure split the dais, snaking toward their feet.
"Decide!" Su Lin shouted.
Li Tian gripped the relay sphere. The Magic Emperor's words echoed in his mind. *Six others.* The Core in his chest pulsed, a hungry, eager rhythm.
"Do it."
Elder Qiang chanted, his hands weaving a complex sigil in the air. The sphere glowed, and a portal of swirling violet light tore open beside them.
Zhang Wei cursed. "You sure about this?"
"No," Li Tian said, and jumped.
---
The world dissolved into chaos. Li Tian felt weightless, bodiless, as colors and sounds bled together—screams of long-dead warriors, the roar of collapsing stars, the whisper of sand shifting over forgotten graves. Then, impact.
He sprawled on cold stone, the others landing in a heap beside him. The portal snapped shut behind them, leaving them in darkness.
Su Lin ignited a qi-fueled torch. The light revealed a vast, hexagonal chamber, its walls lined with alcoves holding skeletal remains. At the far end loomed a statue of the Magic Emperor, this one intact, his outstretched hand clutching a staff topped with a familiar gem—another Celestial Core.
But it was the floor that stole Li Tian's breath. Carved into the stone was a massive map, its continents unrecognizable, connected by glowing lines that converged on seven points.
"The network," Elder Qiang breathed.
Zhang Wei squinted. "That squiggle looks like the Western Peaks. And that blotch—the Crimson Waste?"
Su Lin crouched, tracing a line. "These temples… they're spread across the realm. Even the ocean."
Li Tian stepped onto the map, his boots scattering dust from ancient cities. "He was building a cage. Or a weapon."
A sound echoed—a deep, resonant *thrum* that vibrated in their bones. The statue's staff began to glow, and the Core within it pulsed in time with the scar on Li Tian's chest.
"Uh," Zhang Wei said. "Did we wake it up?"
The skeletal remains in the alcoves began to rattle.
Su Lin drew her sword. "Worse."
Li Tian faced the statue, the Core's energy surging through him. "We'll fight. We always do."
As the first bone warrior lurched into the light, he wondered if the Magic Emperor was laughing.
---