*Chapter 37: Veils of Deception**

The arena's shattered illusions bled into reality, its golden pillars now cracked and smeared with blood. Li Tian clutched the wound at his chest, the phantom sting of the masked cultivator's blade a cruel reminder of his naivety. Around him, the surviving tournament participants staggered, their eyes wide with betrayal. The Frostbite Abbess's glacial qi lingered in the air like frost on a grave, her allegiance to the Shadow Sovereign now laid bare.

Mei Ling hauled Li Tian upright, her flames dim but defiant. "Save the brooding for later. We've got company."

Across the ravaged arena, sect heirs and rogue cultivators formed uneasy alliances. The Verdant Lotus heir, Yuelan, stood flanked by vines that pulsed with poisoned thorns. Beside her, the Iron Citadel's mechanized champion, Kuo, revved a chainblade fused to his arm. Both glared at Li Tian—not as enemies, but as reluctant equals in survival.

"The Sovereign's puppets are still here," Yuelan hissed, her voice like rustling leaves. "That masked freak could be anyone."

Kuo's mechanical eye whirred, scanning the crowd. "The Abbess' betrayal means the Frostbite Monastery's out. We stick together or die divided."

Li Tian pressed a hand to the Celestial Mirror. Its surface, once dull, now flickered with faint light—a sign that the Sovereign's hold on the arena was slipping. "The tournament was a trap to harvest our qi. We need to disrupt the Nexus feeding him."

Luo Chen's blade gleamed with freshly applied soulfrost. "And become targets for every cultivator here? Clever."

A gong shuddered through the air, its tone warped and hollow. The arena walls shifted, revealing a labyrinth of pulsating veins—the Sovereign's living Nexus, embedded with stolen qi.

**Round One: The Harvest**

The remaining cultivators—twenty in total—were herded into the Nexus labyrinth by spectral overseers, their forms flickering like candle smoke. The rules were simple: reach the heart of the Nexus or be drained by its siphon traps.

Li Tian's group moved as a unit, Mei Ling melting through sinewy walls that bled black ichor. Kuo's chainblade shredded shadowy tendrils that lashed at them, while Yuelan's vines detected traps in the shifting floor.

"Left," Yuelan ordered, her thorns retracting from a pressure plate. "There's a—*down!*"

A swarm of qi-siphoning beetles erupted from the walls, their mandibles snapping. Luo Chen's ice encased the swarm, but the Nexus absorbed his energy, cracking the frost.

Mei Ling's flames turned the beetles to ash. "This place eats our power. Conserve it."

Li Tian activated the Mirror, its light repelling the Nexus's hunger. "Stay close. It can't drain what it can't touch."

The group pressed on, passing the corpses of those less cautious. A Verdant Lotus disciple lay withered, her qi sucked dry; an Iron Citadel warrior's mechanical limbs sparked uselessly.

At a crossroads, they encountered the masked cultivator.

"Persistent," the figure taunted, shadow blade materializing. "But the Sovereign prefers his meat tenderized."

Yuelan's vines struck first, only to wither at the blade's touch. Kuo's chainblade met shadow steel in a shower of sparks. Li Tian lunged, the Mirror's light searing the mask—

—and revealing a sliver of pale skin beneath.

*Xiaoling's complexion.*

He faltered. The blade grazed his throat.

"Pathetic," the masked one sneered. "She's already dead. You just can't let go."

Mei Ling's fist, wreathed in white fire, slammed into their side. "Shut. *Up.*"

The cultivator dissolved into smoke, their laughter echoing. "Find me at the heart, Li Tian. Let's end this."

**The Council of Shadows**

In a hidden chamber above the arena, the Frostbite Abbess knelt before a pool of void energy, her glacial qi fracturing under the Sovereign's will.

*"You promised my son's return,"* she hissed.

The pool rippled, showing a young man with frostfire eyes trapped in endless night. *"And you shall have him—once Li Tian's qi is mine. His connection to the Mirror makes him the perfect vessel."*

The Abbess clenched her staff. "The other sects suspect."

*"Let them."* The Sovereign's voice dripped with malice. *"Their greed will bind them. Even now, the Verdant Lotus plots to claim the Nexus for their own."*

**The Heart of Betrayal**

Li Tian's group reached the Nexus heart—a chamber throbbing with stolen qi, its walls lined with pulsating cores. The masked cultivator awaited, flanked by three Shadowspawn behemoths.

"Last chance," they said, blade aimed at Li Tian. "Join him, or watch them die."

Mei Ling's flames roared. "We'll take option three: roast you alive."

The battle was chaos. Kuo's chainblade sheared through a behemoth's leg, Yuelan's thorns poisoned another. Luo Chen dueled the masked cultivator, his ice clashing with shadow.

Li Tian reached for the central core, the Mirror's light guiding him. As his fingers brushed it, visions assaulted him:

- *Xiaoling, chained in void, her screams silent.*

- *The Abbess' son, begging for death.*

- *Himself, wielding the Nexus's power, the world burning.*

"No." He channeled the Mirror's energy into the core, reversing the qi flow.

The Nexus screamed. The cores ruptured, qi flooding back to its owners. The masked cultivator staggered, their blade shattering.

Li Tian tore off their mask.

Beneath it was not Xiaoling, but the Abbess' son—his eyes voids, his mouth stitched with shadow.

"Free… me…" he gasped before dissolving.

**The Aftermath**

The arena collapsed, survivors fleeing through crumbling exits. The Abbess appeared, her staff aimed at Li Tian. "You took him from me *again*."

Mei Ling stepped between them. "You sold us out. Now live with it."

The Abbess fled, her frost trailing tears.

Yuelan and Kuo nodded to Li Tian. "This isn't over," Kuo growled.

"It never is," Li Tian replied.

As they left, the Sovereign's whisper followed: *"You've only delayed the inevitable."*