*Chapter 34: Veins of Betrayal**
The Frostbite Monastery's sanctum was a labyrinth of ice and shadow, its corridors humming with the whispers of dead disciples entombed within its walls. Li Tian paced the confines of his glacial chamber, the Eclipse Gauntlet on his arm now sheathed in a brittle casing of enchanted frost—a temporary dam against its corruption. The Abbess' artificers had worked through the night, their chants weaving through the air like serpents of mist, but the relic's core still pulsed with the Shadow Sovereign's taint. Xiaoling's face haunted every flicker of its dimmed diamonds.
Mei Ling leaned against the doorway, her arms crossed. "The ice witches are hiding something. One of their acolytes tried to 'accidentally' lead me into a crevasse this morning."
Luo Chen, sharpening his blade with a shard of soulfrost, didn't look up. "The Monastery's loyalty is as stable as spring ice. We need leverage."
Li Tian pressed his palm to the Celestial Mirror, its surface reflecting not his face, but the Abbess' chambers—a scrying trick he'd mastered through the Gauntlet's frayed connection to time. "Then let's find some."
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**The Council of Thawing Secrets**
The Monastery's war council convened in a circular chamber where frozen ancestors stood sentinel along the walls, their eyes replaced with glowing sapphires. The Abbess presided, flanked by her Frostwardens—elite cultivators whose breath frosted the air even in the glacial cold. Present too were the sect envoys who'd lingered after the failed ambush:
- **Lady Ruolan** of the Verdant Lotus, her venomous orchids now frozen in a decorative crown.
- **General Teng**, his mechanical arm whirring softly as he picked apart a icehare served on a silver platter.
- **The Silent Twins**, their shared gaze fixed on Li Tian like twin blades.
"The Shadow Sovereign's vanguard approaches the Wastes," the Abbess declared, gesturing to a map carved into the ice table. Glowing runes marked sect territories, half already darkened. "Our alliance must strike before he corrupts the Leyline Nexus."
Lady Ruolan plucked a frozen petal from her hair. "And who leads this strike? You?"
"Li Tian wields the Gauntlet," the Abbess said coolly. "He will destabilize the Sovereign's forces. Our armies will cleanse what remains."
General Teng's fist clenched, gears grinding. "You expect us to follow *him*? A stray with a broken relic?"
Li Tian leaned forward, the Gauntlet hissing. "The relic isn't the only thing broken here." He nodded to Luo Chen, who slammed a frost-encased body onto the table—the acolyte who'd tried to kill Mei Ling. The corpse's robes fell open, revealing a shadowbrand burned over his heart: the Sovereign's mark.
The chamber erupted.
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**Unearthing the Rot**
Mei Ling's flames melted the ice around the corpse, revealing fresh wounds. "This idiot wasn't working alone. Your Monastery's infested, Abbess."
The Frostwardens drew their blades, but Luo Chen's glacial qi iced their boots to the floor. "The brand is recent. Which of your disciples sold their souls?"
The Abbess' composure cracked. "This… is not possible."
Li Tian rose, the Mirror's light casting long shadows. "Isn't it? You've been so focused on purging the Gauntlet, you didn't notice the rot under your nose." He pressed his palm to the table, channeling the Gauntlet's fractured power. Time rippled, replaying the acolyte's final moments—a whispered meeting with a hooded figure in the catacombs.
The vision cleared, revealing the Silent Twins' frozen snarl.
Lady Ruolan laughed. "Oh, this is rich. The Phantom Veil's puppets, groveling to the Sovereign?"
The Twins moved as one, daggers materializing in their hands—but Li Tian was faster. The Gauntlet froze their temporal flow, leaving them trapped mid-lunge.
"You'll regret this," they hissed in unison, their voice like grinding glass.
Li Tian wrenched the hooded figure's identity from their minds—a name that made the Abbess pale. "Elder Nuan. Your second-in-command."
The Frostwardens recoiled. One spat on the ice. "Lies! Elder Nuan served the Monastery for centuries!"
"Then let's ask her," Mei Ling said, already striding toward the door.
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**The Catacomb Confession**
Elder Nuan's quarters were a shrine to the Monastery's history—tapestries of forgotten battles, shelves of frozen scrolls. The woman herself knelt before an ice mirror, her reflection showing not her aged face, but Xiaoling's.
"You," Li Tian breathed.
Nuan smiled, her breath frosting the glass. "She's lovely, isn't she? The Sovereign's masterpiece." She traced Xiaoling's cheek. "He promised to return my son if I served him. A fair trade."
The Abbess' glacial qi spiked. "Your son died in the Third Sect War!"
"And yours didn't?" Nuan shot back. The Mirror flared, revealing a memory—the Abbess' heir, a young man with frostfire eyes, leading a charge against the Shadowspawn. "You think I don't know why you agreed to cleanse the Gauntlet? You want to rewind *his* death. You're no better than me."
Li Tian's Gauntlet pulsed, resonating with the ice mirror. Xiaoling's reflection reached out, her voice a whisper: *"Gege… help me."*
Nuan seized the moment. Her dagger, forged from a shard of the Mirror itself, pierced Li Tian's temporal shield. The Gauntlet screamed, its frost casing shattering as corruption flooded back.
Chaos erupted. Frostwardens turned on each other, half loyal to Nuan, half to the Abbess. Mei Ling dueled a disciple wielding chains of living frost, while Luo Chen shielded Li Tian from Nuan's onslaught.
"You'll join her, boy," Nuan hissed, her dagger grazing Li Tian's chest. "The Sovereign needs your blood to—"
The Abbess' staff impaled her from behind. "Enough."
Nuan collapsed, her blood freezing midair. The ice mirror cracked, Xiaoling's reflection fading.
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**The Cost of Truth**
In the aftermath, the Monastery's halls ran red with thawing blood. The Abbess stood before her son's tomb, her voice hollow. "You think me a hypocrite."
Li Tian flexed the Gauntlet, its corruption now mingled with frost. "I think we're all liars here."
She turned, her glacial eyes burning. "Elder Nuan's betrayal has weakened us. The sects will withdraw their support unless we give them a victory."
"Then we give them one." Li Tian activated the Gauntlet, its fractured power revealing a vision—the Leyline Nexus, where the Sovereign's forces gathered. "We strike here. Together."
The Abbess gripped her staff. "And if it's a trap?"
"Then we'll be the ones springing it."
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**Whispers in the Dark**
That night, as the Monastery prepared for war, Luo Chen found Li Tian in the crypts.
"Nuan wasn't the only traitor." He tossed a shadowbranded pendant on the ice. "Found this in General Teng's quarters."
Li Tian's jaw tightened. The Iron Citadel's mechanized troops, the Verdant Lotus' poisons—all tainted. "We can't trust any of them."
"We never could." Mei Ling emerged from the shadows, her flames tinged with void-black. "So what's the plan, princeling?"
Li Tian studied the Gauntlet, its diamonds reflecting the faces of allies and enemies alike. "We let them think they've won. And then we burn them all."
Far below, in the heart of the Leyline Nexus, the Shadow Sovereign smiled.
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