The labyrinth breathed.
Li Tian's torchlight danced across walls of black basalt veined with gold, the stone flexing imperceptibly as though the mountain itself clenched around them. Behind, the entrance had sealed with a groan, leaving only the bone key's faint glow to guide them.
"The air tastes like rust," Bo whispered, his qi-sight darting nervously. "And something… watching."
Old Guo's staff tapped the floor. "Step only where I step. The tiles remember weight."
They advanced in single file, the corridor narrowing until Renshu's shoulders scraped stone. A click echoed.
"Down!" Li Tian barked.
Scything blades erupted from the walls, shearing through the dark. Daiyu shoved Bo aside, her sleeve tearing. Jin's dagger jammed the mechanism, sparks flying.
"Trap one," Jin muttered. "How many more?"
The labyrinth answered.
---
**The Hall of Whispers**
The corridor opened into a vaulted chamber, its ceiling lost in shadow. Pillars carved with anguished faces lined the room, their mouths gaping. As Xia stepped forward, the nearest pillar exhaled—a voice from her past.
*"Xia,"* her dead mentor crooned. *"You let the wards fail. Their blood is on your hands."*
Xia froze. "It's not real… It's not—"
"Earwax," Renshu growled, stuffing moss into his ears. "Works against siren bats."
Li Tian's corruption flared, the Codex's whispers drowning the hallucinations. "Stay focused! The exit's—"
The floor vanished.
They fell into darkness, landing in a chute that spiraled deeper. When they tumbled to a stop, Daiyu's torch revealed a new horror: the walls pulsed with organic ridges, their surfaces slick with viscous fluid.
"We're inside the mountain's guts," Old Guo said.
A rumble shook the chamber. From the shadows emerged a guardian—a hulking amalgam of stone and petrified bone, its joints screeching with each step.
"Scatter!" Li Tian ordered.
---
**The Golem's Dance**
The golem's fists cratered the ground where Renshu stood moments before. Daiyu's arrows chipped its carapace, each hit spraying shrapnel. Jin scaled its back, daggers probing for a core.
"Left shoulder!" Bo shouted, his qi-sight piercing the stone.
Jin's blade struck true. The golem shuddered, its chest cavity glowing. A crystal heart pulsed within.
Li Tian lunged, his corrupted arm absorbing the golem's retaliatory strike. Bones cracked, but the Codex's veins flared, mending them with black fire. He tore out the heart.
The golem collapsed.
Xia rushed to Li Tian, her healing qi clashing with the corruption. "You're burning through your lifespan!"
He pulled away. "Save your strength."
---
**The Mirror of Regret**
Deeper in, they found a circular room lined with mirrors. Each reflected not their faces, but their deepest shames.
Jin saw his brother dying in a bandit raid, cursing his cowardice.
Renshu watched his forge burn, his family trapped inside.
Old Guo faced his village's massacre, his warnings ignored.
Li Tian's mirror showed the village burning, Mei Ling's corpse clutching the shattered Spirit Gathering Array. The Hollow Star's voice oozed through the glass: *"This is your future. Unless you let me in."*
"No." Li Tian shattered the mirror.
The room shuddered. A doorway appeared, its frame edged with serrated teeth.
---
**The Split**
The labyrinth split them.
A collapsing corridor separated Li Tian and Xia from the others. "Regroup at the heart!" Old Guo's voice faded as stone sealed shut.
Li Tian pressed onward, Xia's qi-lamp flickering. The corruption's veins now reached his jaw, his left eye clouded black.
"You're fading," Xia said.
"Not yet."
They entered a chamber where the walls dripped liquid shadow. The Hollow Star's laughter echoed.
*"Welcome home, Keeper."*
---
**The Guardian of the Deep**
The floor dissolved into a chasm, revealing a cavern below. There, coiled around a pedestal holding a crystalline key, lay the guardian—a serpent with scales of molten obsidian, its eyes burning with the Hollow Star's light.
"The final lock," Li Tian breathed.
The serpent struck.
Xia's barriers shattered. Li Tian's blade sparked against its hide. The corruption surged, empowering him to grapple the beast, but its fangs pierced his shoulder.
The Hollow Star's power flooded him.
*"Yes,"* it purred. *"Embrace me."*
With a roar, Li Tian tore out the serpent's throat.
The key was theirs. But as the chamber trembled, the walls began to close.
---