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Chapter 96 - *Chapter 95: The Celestial Mirror’s Price**

The relic chamber pulsed with an otherworldly hum, the air thick with the scent of ozone and scorched metal. Li Tian stood before the Primal Core, his obsidian hand trembling as he channeled its energy into the swirling vortex of molten Voidsteel and Starroot sap suspended above the altar. The Celestial Mirror's frame—a circular lattice of celestial silver—glowed white-hot, its surface reflecting not the room, but fragments of the Magic Emperor's memories: a towering obsidian spire, a crown of frozen flames, and the Hollow Star's gaping maw.

"You're pushing too hard," Xia warned, her healing qi a fragile barrier against the backlash radiating from the Core. "Let Ming finish the inscriptions."

Li Tian gritted his teeth, his corrupted veins flaring as he forced the molten mixture into the frame. "The inscriptions require the Core's *bond*. Only I can…"

A searing pain lanced through his skull—the Hollow Star's laughter, sharp as shattered glass.

*"You think this trinket will save them?"* it sneered. *"I will crack it open and feast on their souls."*

The vision shifted: the Celestial Mirror shattered, Elder Ming's golems reduced to ash, the Bastion's Veil collapsing under a tide of voidspawn. Li Tian roared, primal energy erupting from him in a shockwave that rattled the chamber's foundations.

"*Enough!*"

The vortex solidified. The Celestial Mirror hovered above the altar, its surface a swirling galaxy of starlight and shadow.

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**The Guardian's Burden**

Elder Ming entered as the chamber's glow dimmed, his vine golems recoiling from the Mirror's light. "So this is your solution? A window into the abyss?"

Li Tian slumped against the altar, blood trickling from his nose. "A shield. It's linked to the Veil—amplifies spiritual energy, repels corruption. But it needs a master." He met Ming's gaze. "You."

Ming's gnarled hand hovered over the Mirror. The surface rippled, showing the Bastion's marketplace bustling with life, then flickering to a nightmare: children fleeing molten rain, the Primal Core devouring the sky. "It shows possibilities," he murmured.

"And weaponizes them," Li Tian said. "Channel your qi. It'll respond."

Ming's staff glowed as he tapped the Mirror. Instantly, the relic's light intensified, revealing hidden flaws in the Veil's lattice—weak points where Nightblade assassins had begun carving sigils.

"The eastern node," Ming hissed. "They're here."

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**The Hollow Star's Gambit**

The Nightblades struck at dusk, their shadows blending with the marsh fog. Ten assassins converged on the Veil's eastern node, blades dripping with blight venom.

"Now!" Ming commanded, raising the Mirror.

The artifact's surface reflected the assassins—and unleashed their own corrupted qi back at them. Shadows twisted into serpents, biting their summoners. The lead assassin screamed as his venom melted his flesh, his final curse swallowed by the Mirror's glow.

In the relic chamber, Li Tian watched through the Mirror's bond, his corruption flaring in tandem with its power. "It works," he breathed.

"At a cost," Xia said, her fingers pressing against his blackened wrist. "Your life force is tied to it. Every use drains you."

Li Tian pulled away. "A price I'll bear."

---

**The Parting Gift**

At dawn, the village gathered. The Celestial Mirror floated above the central plaza, its light a second sun. Farmers, cultivators, and even skeptical sect envoys stared in awe as Ming demonstrated its power—summoning a barrier of starlight that repelled a coordinated qi strike from Renshu's hammer squad.

"The Bastion stands *unbroken*," Ming declared, his voice amplified by the Mirror.

Li Tian stood apart, his pack laden with Voidsteel tools and Starroot elixirs. Yan Mei and Goran flanked him, their squad of elite cultivators already mounted on armored Sky Shrikes.

"You could stay," Xia whispered, her hand brushing his. "Let Ming handle the Expanse."

Li Tian's star-flecked eye darkened. "The Mirror is a shield, not a solution. The Core's corruption must end at its source."

He approached Ming, offering a final artifact—a Voidsteel amulet etched with the Mirror's sigils. "If the Hollow Star breaches the Veil, crush this. It'll fuse the Mirror's energy with the Core. A last resort."

Ming pocketed the amulet, his gaze unreadable. "And if it destroys us all?"

"Then we'll burn together."

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**The Journey's Edge**

As Li Tian's Shrikes ascended, the Celestial Mirror pulsed—a farewell, or a warning. Below, the villagers' cheers faded into the wind. Ahead, the Bleak Wastes stretched endlessly, their cracked earth bleeding residual qi.

"Three weeks to the Expanse," Goran growled, tightening his bone staff's straps. "If we survive the Scorchwind Plains."

Li Tian glanced back once, the Bastion's light a shrinking star. The Hollow Star's whisper slithered through his mind, softer now, almost eager:

*"Come, Little King. Let us end this."*

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