The Azure Expanse stretched endlessly under a blistering sun, its silver sands shimmering like a sea of shattered mirrors. Li Tian led the group on foot, the Sky Chariot grounded behind them—its resonance array crippled by the desert's oppressive energy. The air rippled with heat, distorting the horizon into a watery mirage. Every step sank into the sand, which hissed as though alive, whispering half-formed words in a language older than the stars.
"This place reeks of the emperor's tricks," Zhang Wei muttered, squinting at the dunes. A scar from the Crimson Talons' ambush still raw on his cheek. "How much farther?"
Li Tian glanced at the Celestial Core's pulse glowing faintly beneath his tunic. "The ruins are close. But the desert warps distance. Stay alert."
Su Lin tightened her scarf against the grit-laden wind. "The illusions grow stronger. I keep hearing… voices."
Elder Qiang trudged silently at the rear, his staff leaving faint trails in the sand. "The sands feed on doubt. They will test us each in turn."
---
**First Mirage: The Oasis of Bones**
A glint of water sparkled ahead—a turquoise pool fringed by palm trees. Zhang Wei lunged forward, parched lips cracking into a grin. "Thank the heavens!"
"Wait!" Li Tian grabbed his arm. "Look closer."
The oasis wavered. The palms melted into skeletal hands clawing at the sky, the pool a bubbling pit of black sludge. Zhang Wei recoiled. "Stars damn this place!"
The sand beneath them shifted. Skeletal figures emerged, robed in tattered silk, their eye sockets burning with azure fire. Ancient guardians, their jaws unhinged in silent screams.
Su Lin drew her sword. "Illusions made flesh?"
"Or flesh made illusion," Elder Qiang said, raising a barrier of flickering flame. "Destroy the core between their ribs!"
Li Tian lunged, dagger piercing a guardian's chest. The bone collapsed to sand, but three more took its place. Zhang Wei roared, cleaving through two with his broadsword, while Su Lin danced between strikes, her blade shattering cores with surgical precision.
A guardian latched onto Elder Qiang, its fingers clawing his throat. Li Tian pivoted, hurling his dagger—only for the blade to pass through the elder as though *he* were the illusion.
"Li Tian!" Su Lin's scream snapped him back. The guardian dissolved into sand; the real Qiang stood unharmed meters away.
"The desert preys on your fears," the elder said, voice strained. "Trust nothing. Not even your eyes."
---
**Second Mirage: The Ghosts of Regret**
At dusk, the temperature plummeted. Frost crusted the sand, and the wind carried whispers—voices from their past.
Su Lin froze. Ahead stood a young girl in a bloodstained dress, her face a mirror of Su Lin's own. "Sister…" the girl wept. "Why did you leave me?"
"Lian?" Su Lin's sword trembled. "No—you're dead!"
Li Tian gripped her shoulder. "It's not real. Focus on my voice."
The girl's form rippled, becoming a man in scholar's robes—Li Tian's master, Lǜ Zhì, his throat slit and eyes accusing. "You failed me, Tian. You let me die for nothing."
Li Tian's Core flared, its light piercing the mirage. The specter shrieked, dissolving. "Keep moving! Don't engage!"
Zhang Wei wasn't so lucky. A hulking figure materialized before him—his father, armor shattered, guts spilling from a battlefield wound. "Weakling," the specter sneered. "You'll never be a true warrior."
"Shut up!" Zhang Wei swung his sword, but the blade passed through. The specter laughed, driving him to his knees.
Li Tian slammed his palm into the sand, unleashing a wave of celestial energy. The frost shattered, the ghosts wailing into nothingness. "They feed on guilt! Silence your doubts!"
Zhang Wei panted, eyes wild. "Easy for you to say, Core-boy."
---
**Third Mirage: The Crimson Tide**
Moonlight bathed the dunes in silver. The group huddled in a hollow, sharing a canteen of brackish water. Without warning, the sand erupted. Crimson Talons surged over the ridge, blades glinting.
"Ambush!" Su Lin shouted.
Li Tian parried a saber strike, but his dagger met no resistance—the attacker dissolved into smoke. Another Talon lunged at Zhang Wei; his broadsword cleaved only air.
"They're illusions!" Elder Qiang barked. "Ignore them!"
But one blade bit true. A Talon captain's dagger sliced Li Tian's arm, blood darkening his sleeve. "Illusions with teeth?!"
"The real ones are here!" Su Lin dueled two Talons, their steel ringing solid. "They've followed us!"
Chaos reigned. Phantoms and flesh-and-blood foes blended seamlessly. Li Tian's Core burned, sharpening his senses. He spotted the Talon leader—the scarred woman—hiding among her mirage doubles.
"There!" He lunged, dagger aimed at her heart. She blocked, grinning.
"Clever, Celestial Dog. But not clever enough." She whistled, and the dunes trembled. A colossal sandworm burst forth, its maw a spiral of razor teeth.
---
**The Titan Beneath**
The worm swallowed two Talons whole, their screams cut short. Li Tian grabbed Su Lin, dragging her aside as the creature dove. Zhang Wei hacked at its hide, but his blade bounced off scales.
"Aim for the gullet!" Elder Qiang unleashed a fire sigil, searing the worm's maw. It recoiled, giving Li Tian an opening. He channeled the Core's energy into his dagger and leapt, driving the blade into the worm's throat.
Celestial light erupted. The worm thrashed, dissolving into sand that rained down like a storm. The Talon leader fled into the dunes, her snarl fading on the wind.
Exhausted, the group collapsed. Li Tian's arm bled freely, the cut tinged with venom. Su Lin tore her sleeve, binding the wound. "We need shelter. Now."
Elder Qiang pointed north. "There. A true oasis."
Li Tian squinted. No mirage this time—a cluster of date palms swayed in the distance, their roots cradling a spring of clear water.
---
**The Heart of the Expanse**
At the oasis, they drank greedily. The water healed their wounds, the venom receding from Li Tian's veins. But the respite was short-lived.
As moonlight peaked, the sand parted, revealing a staircase of black stone descending into the earth. The entrance to the underground city.
Zhang Wei groaned. "More climbing?"
Li Tian traced the ancient runes etched into the steps. "This is it. The next ruin."
Su Lin frowned. "It's too easy. Where are the guardians?"
As if summoned, the sand around the staircase shifted. Stone statues emerged—jackal-headed sentinels wielding khopeshes of celestial bronze. Their eyes glowed with the same azure fire as the desert's illusions.
Li Tian rose, dagger in hand. "Earn your rest, Zhang Wei."
The brawler grinned. "Now you're talking."
The sentinels attacked.
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