*Chapter 38: The Crown of Thorns**
The Grand Celestial Tournament's final stage unfolded beneath a sky stained crimson by the setting sun, its light filtering through the fractured arena like blood through cracked glass. Li Tian stood at the center of the combat platform, the Celestial Mirror humming against his chest, its surface now etched with faint constellations that pulsed in time with his heartbeat. Around him, the surviving cultivators—those not devoured by the Sovereign's schemes—glared with a mix of awe and venom. He had become a symbol: a rogue prodigy who'd shattered the Nexus, a threat to the sects' carefully curated hierarchy.
Mei Ling leaned against a shattered pillar, her flames coiled lazily around her arms. "You've got admirers, princeling. Half the arena wants to bed you; the other half wants you dead."
Luo Chen's glacial blade rested across his knees, its edge still smeared with shadow ichor from their last skirmish. "The Frostbite Abbess's accusations have spread. They call you the Sovereign's pawn."
Li Tian ignored the whispers slithering from the crowd. Let them talk. The Mirror's resonance had grown sharper since the Nexus's collapse, its whispers now a chorus of warnings. *Enemies in daylight. Daggers in the dark.*
A gong thundered. The arena's overseer, a skeletal figure draped in robes of starlight, floated to the center. "The final trial begins! Champions, step forward!"
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**The Arena of Echoes**
The combat platform shifted, its stones rearranging into a labyrinth of mirrored walls that reflected not faces, but memories. The rules were simple: defeat your opponent, or be consumed by the echoes of your past.
Li Tian's first match was against Yuelan, the Verdant Lotus heir. Her vines slithered across the ground, thorns dripping with neurotoxins. "Your luck ends here, rogue."
The mirrors flickered, revealing Li Tian's deepest regret—Xiaoling's fall, her hand slipping from his grip as the void claimed her. Yuelan smirked. "Pathetic. You fight for ghosts."
Li Tian's staff struck the ground, spatial energy rippling outward. The mirrors shattered, and with them, Yuelan's confidence. Vines lashed at him, but he warped space, redirecting their poison into the earth.
"I fight for the living," he said, disarming her with a twist of his staff.
The crowd roared as Yuelan collapsed, her thorns withering.
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**The Poisoned Feast**
Victory brought no respite. That evening, sect envoys descended on Li Tian's quarters with offers laced with threat.
Lady Ruolan arrived first, her venomous orchids replaced by a smile as sweet as rot. "The Verdant Lotus could shield you from the Abbess's lies. For a price."
Li Tian didn't look up from cleaning his staff. "And that price?"
"The Celestial Mirror." Her gaze lingered on his chest. "A trifle, for protection."
"Leave," Mei Ling growled, flames licking her knuckles. "Before I forget you're not worth the ash."
Next came General Teng's successor, a hulking mechanized cultivator whose voice grated like grinding gears. "The Iron Citadel desires your spatial techniques. Refuse, and we'll extract them."
Luo Chen's blade frosted the air. "Try."
Only when the envoys left did Li Tian's facade crack. The Mirror flared, its light revealing shadowy figures massing beyond the arena. "They're coming. Tonight."
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**The Blood Moon Ambush**
The attack came at midnight. Blood Moon assassins, their masks carved with weeping crescents, slithered through the walls like smoke.
Mei Ling met them in a whirlwind of fire, her laughter sharp. "Miss me, Jiao Long?"
The assassins didn't answer. Their leader, a lithe figure with a whip of braided shadows, lunged at Li Tian. The Mirror deflected the strike, but the backlash scorched his ribs.
Luo Chen dueled two assassins at once, his ice shattering against their void-infused blades. "They're not here to kill us. They're here to *mark* you."
Li Tian understood too late. The whip's tip grazed his wrist, branding him with the Sovereign's sigil—a jagged star that pulsed with malevolence.
"The sects will see that and hang you themselves," the assassin hissed before dissolving.
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**The Trial of Ascension**
Dawn brought the tournament's final trial: a duel atop the Pillar of Heaven, a mile-high spire slick with ice and ancient blood. Li Tian's opponent was General Teng's successor, Kael, whose mechanized body now bristled with stolen Nexus qi.
The crowd's jeers faded as Li Tian climbed. The higher he rose, the heavier the Mirror became—its resonance with the Sovereign's brand a drumbeat of dread.
Kael attacked without preamble, his chainblade screeching against Li Tian's staff. "You're a stain on the sects' honor!"
Li Tai's spatial dodges grew sluggish; the Sovereign's brand leeched his strength. Below, Mei Ling's flames battled Iron Citadel reinforcements, while Luo Chen guarded the pillar's base against Verdant Lotus assassins.
"Give up!" Kael roared, his blade shearing through Li Tian's defenses.
A memory surged—Xiaoling's voice. *"Gege, sometimes you need to fall to rise."*
Li Tian let go.
The Mirror's light erupted as he plummeted, spatial energy reversing his momentum. He slammed into Kael, their combined weight cracking the pillar.
"Honor?" Li Tian drove his staff into Kael's core, shattering the Nexus qi. "You sold yours long ago."
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**The Crown's Weight**
Victory was ashes. The overseer crowned Li Tian with a circlet of frozen starlight—the tournament's prize, and a beacon for every enemy he'd made.
Mei Ling spat blood onto the arena floor. "Congratulations. Now every sect wants your head."
Luo Chen's gaze swept the crowd, where the Frostbite Abbess watched from the shadows. "We need to leave. Now."
As they retreated, a familiar figure blocked their path—the masked cultivator, their void blade gleaming. "The Sovereign sends his regards."
Li Tian's brand burned. The Mirror flared, and the battle began anew.
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