*Chapter 26: Whispers of Betrayal**
The cavern's pale sunlight dimmed as the Labyrinth's hum deepened into a dissonant chorus. Li Tian stirred, the Celestial Mirror cold against his chest—a silent warning. Around him, his allies slept fitfully. Mei Ling's fingers twitched, sparks dancing in her palms even in slumber. Luo Chen's sword lay unsheathed across his lap, frost creeping over its blade. Wen Zhao murmured fragments of incantations, his brow furrowed.
*The Labyrinth is waking,* Li Tian realized.
---
The first illusion struck without mercy.
Mei Ling jolted awake to the stench of burning timber. Before her sprawled the ruins of her childhood sect, flames devouring the charred remains of her master's pavilion. A phantom voice slithered into her ear: *"Your fire saved no one that night. Why pretend you can control it now?"* She lashed out, infernos roaring from her fists—only to scorch empty air.
Luo Chen stood knee-deep in a frozen lake, the ice cracking beneath him. His younger sister's face stared up from the depths, her hands pressed against the glassy surface—a memory he'd buried centuries ago. *"You let me drown,"* she whispered. His sword trembled in his grip.
Wen Zhao stumbled through a field of withered herbs, the corpses of patients he'd failed to save littering the ground. *"A healer who brings death,"* they croaked in unison. His vials slipped from numb fingers, shattering like his resolve.
Li Tian's illusion was crueler. His sister, Xiaoling, stood whole and alive, her laughter echoing through their ancestral garden. *"You were supposed to protect me,"* she said, blood blooming across her robes as the vision twisted. The Mirror flared, its light searing the hallucination away.
"Fight it!" Li Tian roared, slamming his staff against the stone. The resonance shattered the illusions momentarily. His allies staggered, their breaths ragged.
"What in the Nine Hells was that?" Mei Ling snarled, flames wreathing her arms.
"The Labyrinth's heart," Wen Zhao panted, retrieving a cracked vial. "It preys on regrets. The elixirs… they're fading."
A low growl reverberated through the cavern. From the shadows emerged three Obsidian Wraiths—semi-corporeal beasts with claws that blurred between realms.
"Flank left!" Li Tian barked, already moving. Mei Ling's fire engulfed the lead wraith, but its form scattered like smoke, reforming behind her. Luo Chen's sword flashed, ice sealing its shadowy limbs. Li Tian twisted space, compressing the creature into a singularity that collapsed with a thunderclap.
Wen Zhao hurled a vial, golden liquid splashing across the third wraith. It screamed, dissolving into acrid mist. "Temporary solution," he warned. "More will come."
---
They didn't have to wait long.
As they navigated a narrow chasm, the thunder of boots echoed ahead. Jiang Zixuan's Azure Thunder Sect emerged—twenty cultivators in storm-gray robes, lightning crackling at their fingertips.
"The stray dogs chose a clever path," Jiang Zixuan drawled, his gaze lingering on Li Tian. "Pity it ends here."
Mei Ling stepped forward, flames dancing up her arms. "We'll see who—"
Li Tian gripped her shoulder. "They want us exhausted. Don't take the bait." He nodded toward a fissure in the wall—a tight escape route. "Fall back. Now."
The group retreated under a hail of lightning bolts. Luo Chen froze the fissure's entrance behind them, but Jiang Zixuan's laughter followed. "Run, little rats! The Labyrinth loves cowards!"
---
Hours later, in a hollow veiled by Wen Zhao's cloaking elixirs, tensions erupted.
"Since when do you give orders?" Meiling rounded on Li Tian. "I could've burned that pompous blowhard to cinders!"
"And died when his lieutenants swarmed you," Luo Chen said coldly, cleaning his blade. "Li Tian's strategy preserved our strength."
Wen Zhao frowned at his dwindling elixirs. "Strategy won't matter if the Labyrinth drives us mad first. My stores can't…" He trailed off, eyes darting away.
Li Tian noted the evasion. *The traitor.*
"We press onward," he said. "The Spire's apex is close. Wen Zhao, redistribute the remaining elixirs."
The healer's hands shook as he passed out vials. When Li Tian's fingers brushed his, the Mirror pulsed—a single, icy throb.
---
The final assault came at dawn.
A pack of Voidfang Wolves, larger than those they'd faced before, cornered them on a crumbling bridge. Below yawned an abyss even the Labyrinth's illusions feared.
"Mei Ling! Ignite the right flank!" Li Tian ordered. "Luo Chen, freeze the alpha's joints!"
The battle was chaos. Wolves dissolved into shadows, reappearing mid-lunge. Mei Ling's fire grew erratic, her focus fraying. When a wolf materialized behind Wen Zhao, Li Tian warped space to intercept—but Luo Chen's sword pierced its heart first.
"Move!" Li Tian shoved them across the bridge as it collapsed. They landed hard on the far side, the wolves' howls fading into the chasm.
Breathless, Mei Ling studied Li Tian. "You… anticipated their attack patterns."
"I observe," he said simply.
Wen Zhao chuckled, high and strained. "Observe this." He pressed a jade token into the ground—one bearing the Azure Thunder Sect's sigil.
The betrayal struck faster than lightning.
Jiang Zixuan's forces erupted from hidden tunnels, weapons drawn. Li Tian barely parried the sect leader's electrified blade. "Did you think a half-dead healer could resist our offers?" Jiang Zixuan sneered. "The Heartstone is mine. You're just the bait."
As steel clashed around him, Li Tian's mind raced. *Wen Zhao's trembling hands. The missing elixirs. The too-convenient ambush.* He'd miscalculated—but so had Jiang Zixuan.
The Celestial Mirror blazed. Li Tian's staff struck the ground, spatial ripples throwing attackers off balance. "Retreat to the upper pass!" he commanded.
To his shock, Mei Ling and Luo Chen obeyed without argument.
---
They regrouped in a stalactite forest, wounds dripping onto pale stone. Wen Zhao was gone, swallowed by the chaos.
"You knew," Luo Chen accused, though his blade remained sheathed.
"I suspected," Li Tian admitted. "But doubt would've shattered us faster than the Labyrinth."
Mei Ling spat blood. "What now, oh wise leader?"
He gazed upward, where the Spire's peak pierced the gloom. "We win."
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**End of Chapter 26**