*Chapter 68: The Edge of Oblivion**

The Skyrend Pass lived up to its name—a jagged gash splitting the mountain's face, its upper reaches clawing at clouds tinged iron-gray with impending snow. Li Tian's group stood at its base, their breaths pluming in air so thin it burned. Before them, the path coiled upward like a frozen serpent, vanishing into mist.

"Last chance to turn back," Jin muttered, tightening his daggers' straps.

Xia crouched, pressing a palm to the icy stone. "The mountain's qi is... hostile. It resents trespassers."

Old Guo's milky eyes tracked unseen currents. "The pass wasn't carved. It was *bitten*. By the clash of the Magic Emperor and the Hollow Star."

Li Tian adjusted his pack, hiding the tremor in his hands. The Codex's corruption had reached his collarbones, black veins pulsing in time with the mountain's glacial heartbeat. "We climb. Watch for—"

A thunderous crack split the air. Above, a shelf of ice sheared free, plummeting toward them.

"Scatter!"

The group dove as the avalanche roared past, burying their supplies under tons of debris. Daiyu cursed, her bowstring snapped by flying shrapnel. Renshu dug frantically for their water skins, now shattered, their contents frozen mid-spill.

"Well," Jin said, brushing ice from his hair, "at least the Flame Emperor's dogs will have trouble tracking us now."

Li Tian stared at the ruined path ahead. The avalanche had exposed ancient steps carved into the mountainside—and the skeletal remains of a previous expedition, their bones fused with glittering black crystal.

"Hollow Star corruption," Old Guo whispered. "This place is a tomb."

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**The Ascent**

The steps were a trial of frost and vertigo, each riser slick with ice that sang when touched. Bo led, his qi-sight navigating patches of unstable stone. Halfway up the first switchback, Xia faltered, her healing core flickering.

"Leave me," she gasped. "I'll slow you."

Renshu hoisted her onto his back without breaking stride. "You patched my lung after the scorpion attack. We're even when your feet touch ground."

The higher they climbed, the heavier the air pressed—not from altitude, but from the mountain's suffocating qi. Li Tian's corruption fed on it, a parasitic rhythm syncopating his pulse.

Daiyu nocked her last arrow. "Movement. Two o'clock."

A pack of ice wraiths materialized—translucent simian creatures with claws of living permafrost. They screeched, a sound like glaciers calving.

"Hold formation!" Li Tian ordered.

The battle was brutal and silent, the thin air stealing their cries. Daiyu's arrow froze a wraith mid-leap, its shattering body pelting the others with shrapnel. Jin danced through their ranks, daggers shearing frost-flesh. Renshu fought one-handed, Xia clinging to his back as she hurled qi-infused needles.

Li Tian's blade carved arcs of molten gold, but his strikes grew sluggish. The Codex's veins glowed feverishly, leeching strength. A wraith's claw grazed his ribs, and the corruption *surged*, consuming the frostbite in a burst of black flame.

"Chief!" Xia shouted.

"Keep moving!" Li Tian snarled, masking his horror.

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**The Bridge of Sighs**

At dusk, they reached the pass's crux—a natural stone arch spanning a chasm so deep its bottom swallowed light. The bridge's surface was a mosaic of frozen tears, each step etched with the final thoughts of those who'd fallen.

*"Turn back,"* the stones whispered. *"Turn back."*

Bo crouched, trembling. "The qi here... it's alive. It hates us."

Old Guo ran a gnarled hand over the carvings. "The bridge judges. One misstep, and it wakes."

Jin eyed the span. "Can't we go around?"

Li Tian studied the abyss. "This is the only path marked on the Sanctum map."

They crossed single-file, arms spread for balance. The bridge groaned, its whispers rising to screams. Halfway across, Xia froze.

"Do you hear that?" Her voice trembled. "It's... singing."

The melody coiled through Li Tian's mind—a lullaby from his childhood, one his mother had hummed before the Flame Emperor took her. The Codex's corruption writhed, amplifying the memory.

"Illusion!" Old Guo barked. "Focus on—"

The bridge *moved*.

Stone became serpent, the arch coiling to fling them into the void. Daiyu fell first, her scream cut short as Jin caught her wrist. Renshu anchored himself through sheer mass, Xia clinging to his neck. Bo clawed at shifting tiles, his qi-sight overwhelmed.

Li Tian stabbed his blade into the bridge's flesh. Black blood oozed, freezing instantly. "It's a guardian wyrm! Strike the third scale from its head!"

Old Guo's staff found the weak point. The wyrm shrieked, its form reverting to stone. They scrambled across as the bridge cracked, chunks plummeting into darkness.

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**The Price of Command**

At the summit, the storm broke—a blizzard that stole breath and bearing. Through the whiteout loomed a cavern mouth, its edges claw-marked.

"Shelter!" Bo shouted.

Inside, the walls throbbed with bioluminescent fungi. Li Tian collapsed against a stone, his corruption visible through tattered robes. The group stared.

"How long?" Xia asked quietly.

"Long enough," Li Tian said.

Jin kicked a frozen puddle. "So what? We carry you the rest of the way?"

"You lead," Li Tian said, tossing the Sanctum map to Daiyu.

Silence. Then Renshu laughed, the sound echoing. "You're asking a huntress, a smith, and a thief to finish a sage's quest?"

"No." Li Tian met each gaze. "I'm trusting *cultivators*."

Old Guo's staff glowed, revealing new carvings—a valley beyond the pass, rich with golden flora. "The Hermit's Vale. Where the Airspire Herb grows."

"The cure for soul corruption," Xia realized.

Li Tian shook his head. "The Sanctum first—"

"The Sanctum will devour you as you are," Old Guo interrupted. "We detour."

The group turned to Li Tian. Not for orders, but consensus.

Snow howled through the cavern entrance. Somewhere below, a Flame Emperor horn answered.

"We detour," Li Tian conceded.

As they prepared to descend, the mountain shuddered—not in fury, but approval.

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