The Gate to Immortality

The air inside the Celestial Pagoda was heavy, thick with a suffocating energy that seemed to press against their very souls. The faint glow of runes lined the stone walls, pulsing like a heartbeat, as if the pagoda itself was alive and watching.

Xiao Lian steadied her breathing, her fingers twitching near the hilt of her dagger. Every inch of her body ached from the earlier battle, but there was no time to rest. Not here. Not when survival hinged on their next steps.

Ji Ren stood beside her, his sword still stained with black ichor from the void wraith. He wiped it clean with a torn piece of his robe, the sharp scrape of metal against fabric echoing through the chamber. His eyes, dark and intense, flicked toward her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, voice low but steady.

Xiao Lian shook her head. "I'll live."

Qin Ziyan leaned against a cracked pillar, chest heaving as he caught his breath. Sweat dripped from his brow, but the usual cocky glint in his eyes was gone. Instead, his gaze lingered on the runes, watching them shift and pulse.

"This place is wrong," he muttered. "It feels... alive."

"SIS," Xiao Lian whispered, barely moving her lips. "What are we dealing with?"

"Analyzing the pagoda's structure," SIS responded, voice crackling with static. "Warning: Energy readings are inconsistent. The pagoda's internal mechanisms change based on the participants' actions. Core signature detected at the highest level. Potential reward: cultivation inheritance of unknown magnitude."

Xiao Lian's chest tightened. A cultivation inheritance…a power that could push someone beyond mortal limits. It was enough to turn any disciple into a legend. Enough to make the sect's twisted ritual worth it.

Ji Ren's jaw clenched. "That's why they brought us here. They're gambling on one of us surviving long enough to claim that inheritance."

"But why?" Xiao Lian asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why go through all this trouble?"

Qin Ziyan pushed off the pillar, straightening despite the exhaustion written across his body. He glanced at Xiao Lian, his expression unusually serious.

"This isn't just about power," he said, voice dropping lower. "Someone — something — is watching us."

The words settled like a stone in her stomach.

Before she could respond, the runes on the walls flared with a blinding light, and the floor beneath them shifted. Stone tiles rearranged themselves, creating a spiraling staircase that led upward into darkness.

"We don't have a choice," Ji Ren muttered, already moving. "Let's go."

They ascended in silence, the only sound their footsteps echoing through the endless tower. The air grew colder, and a heavy fog began to creep along the edges of the stairs.

Then came the growl. Low, guttural, and inhuman.

A shadow shifted in the mist above them, large, hulking. The fog swirled, parting just enough to reveal a beast with crimson eyes and jagged, obsidian claws. Its body was a mass of blackened sinew, pulsing like molten lava.

"A hellhound," SIS whispered. "Ancient guardian. High threat level."

The creature lunged without warning, its claws carving into the stone as it slammed into Ji Ren. He barely blocked with his sword, the impact sending him skidding back.

Xiao Lian reacted on instinct. She hurled a dagger, the blade finding purchase in the creature's shoulder, but it didn't even flinch.

"Move!" Ji Ren shouted, shoving her aside as the hellhound swiped again.

Qin Ziyan unleashed a barrage of energy spikes, the blasts rippling through the air, but the beast absorbed them like water on sand.

"We can't kill it!" Xiao Lian gasped, her mind racing. "It's not a normal beast!"

"SIS, there has to be a weakness!"

"Scanning... Weakness detected: The creature is bound to the pagoda's core. Sever the connection, and it will collapse."

"The core," Xiao Lian breathed. "We have to keep moving!"

Ji Ren didn't hesitate. He charged, blade slashing to keep the beast at bay, while Xiao Lian and Qin Ziyan sprinted up the staircase. The hellhound roared, its form flickering like a dying flame, torn between attacking and defending the core.

By the time they reached the next chamber, their lungs burned, and their legs threatened to give out. Ji Ren stumbled in after them, blood trailing down his arm, but alive.

The room stretched out in a vast expanse of floating platforms, with the core suspended in the center, a massive, pulsating crystal radiating with blinding light.

"This is it," Xiao Lian whispered.

But before they could move, the air shifted. A figure appeared in front of the core, stepping out of the shadows like a ghost.

It was the sect master. Or rather, what remained of him.

His body was emaciated, skin stretched too tight over jagged bones, eyes hollow and glowing with the same light as the core. His mouth curled into a twisted smile.

"You've done well to make it this far," he rasped. "But the inheritance is not freely given."

Xiao Lian stepped forward, heart hammering. "You orchestrated this whole thing — sacrificed disciples for what? Power?"

The sect master's smile widened, splitting his face like a cracked mask.

"Not power," he whispered. "Immortality."

He lunged.

Ji Ren intercepted him, their blades clashing with a screech of metal. The impact sent shockwaves through the room, shattering nearby platforms.

Qin Ziyan tried to circle around to the core, but the sect master moved with unnatural speed, knocking him aside like a ragdoll.

Xiao Lian's mind spun. The sect master wasn't human anymore, he was a living extension of the pagoda itself.

Which meant he couldn't exist without the core.

"SIS," she whispered, gripping her last dagger. "Show me the fastest way to destabilize the core."

A glowing path lit up in her vision.

Without hesitation, she ran.

The sect master turned, his eyes locking on her, and he lashed out with a bolt of energy. Ji Ren threw himself in front of her, taking the hit with a guttural groan.

Xiao Lian didn't stop.

She reached the core, her heart pounding so loudly it drowned out everything else. With every ounce of strength left in her body, she drove her dagger into the crystal.

The world exploded in light.

The sect master let out a scream that reverberated through the tower as his body disintegrated, crumbling into ash. The core shattered, sending shards of energy cascading through the room like falling stars.

Then everything went quiet.

Xiao Lian collapsed to her knees, her chest heaving. Ji Ren dragged himself over, bloodied and battered, but alive.

"We did it," she whispered, her voice shaking.

Qin Ziyan groaned from across the platform, coughing but breathing.

But before any of them could celebrate, the fragments of the core began to reform — not into a crystal, but into a door.

A gateway.

It shimmered with an otherworldly glow, and through it, a figure loomed.

Something ancient.

Something waiting.

Ji Ren stared at the door, his voice raw.

"This isn't over," he said.

Xiao Lian swallowed hard, her fingers curling into fists as she forced herself to stand.

"No," she said, her voice steady. "It's just beginning."