Stellar Tribulation

Li Wei's newfound fusion of qi and nanobots left him unstable. Kara dragged him to a derelict temple buried beneath Neo-Xi'an's sewage tunnels—a relic of the old world, its stone pillars carved with cultivation runes now defaced by glowing graffiti.

"This is the Celestial Forge's safehouse," Kara said, barricading the door with a rusted energy core. "Don't touch anything. Especially that."

She gestured to a crumbling statue of a robed figure, its face smashed off. Li Wei's qi stirred—the statue radiated dormant energy, a zhen (阵) formation from his era.

"A guardian array," he realized. "Broken, but still alive."

"Yeah, and it hates strangers," Kara said, tossing him a protein bar labeled Elysium Nutrient Paste™. "Eat. You look like a glitching hologram."

Li Wei ignored the bar, pressing his palm to the statue. The runes flared, and a spectral voice boomed:

"Identify: Disciple of the Azure Dragon Sect."

Memories flooded him—the statue's face reformed in his mind. His own face, aged and scarred.

"You," he breathed.

"Designation confirmed," the voice said. "Initiating legacy protocol."

The temple shuddered. Hidden panels slid open, revealing a trove of ancient artifacts: jade slips, spirit stones, and a sword sheathed in blackened qi-steel. Kara whistled.

"Jackpot. The Forge's been digging for this stash for decades."

Li Wei lifted the sword. Its blade hissed, etching frost into the air. "Xue Long (雪龙)—Snow Dragon. My second disciple's blade. But how…?"

"Time's a flat circle here," Kara said, suddenly solemn. "Elysium's been looting cultivation relics to build their Ascended. This temple's one of the last places they haven't corrupted."

A hologram flickered above the statue—a star map, its constellations warped. One pulsed crimson: Xiǎo Huǒ (小火) System.

"Warning," the temple intoned. "The Nine Heaven's Cores are compromised. The Prisoner stirs."

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Kara decoded the hologram. "Xiǎo Huǒ—it's a derelict Elysium research station. The Forge thinks they're holding a 'core' there."

"The Nine Heaven's Cores sustained the celestial realms," Li Wei said. "If Elysium has one…"

"They're using it to power the Ascension Protocol," Kara finished. "We steal it, we slow Veyra down. Maybe even fix your…" She gestured to his flickering veins.

"And if it destroys me?"

"Then I loot your corpse and buy a moon villa."

They infiltrated Xiǎo Huǒ via a garbage freighter. The station orbited a black hole, its hull scarred by claw marks the size of starships.

"Something's wrong," Li Wei said. "No guards. No life signs."

The station's core chamber was a cathedral of flesh and steel. Walls pulsed like a heartbeat, and the air reeked of burnt ozone. At its center floated a crystalline orb—the First Core—cracked and oozing black fluid.

"Li Wei…" the Core whispered in his disciple's voice. "You abandoned us."

He stepped forward. Kara grabbed his arm. "It's a trap. That's not a core—it's a mimic."

Too late.

The Core exploded into tendrils of corrupted qi, slamming Li Wei into the wall. Kara fired, but her plasma bolts vanished into the void.

"You think you're the first cultivator Veyra caught?" the mimic hissed, forming a distorted mirror of Li Wei's face. "We all screamed. We all broke."

Li Wei's nanobots flared, stabilizing his qi. He channeled Snow Dragon, its blade singing with hoarfrost. "You are not my disciple."

"No," the mimic laughed. "I'm what's left of him."

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The fight was a dance of annihilation. Li Wei's hybrid energy disrupted the mimic, but every strike cost him—his blood boiled, nanobots and qi tearing him apart.

Kara hacked the station's systems, triggering containment protocols. "We need to leave! This whole place is a sacrificial altar!"

The mimic cornered Li Wei, its form shifting into a young man in Azure Dragon Sect robes—Li Wei's disciple, Chen Yun, eyes hollow and bleeding.

"You left us to die," Chen Yun wept. "Why didn't you save us, Master?"

Li Wei faltered.

Kara shot the mimic point-blank, her pistol overloading. "It's not him! It's just Elysium's sick programming!"

The blast destabilized the core. The station began collapsing into the black hole.

"Take my hand!" Kara yelled, grappling hook latching to a fleeing escape pod.

Li Wei seized the fractured First Core, its edges slicing his palm. "I will free you," he vowed to the mimic's fading screams.

They barely escaped.

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Back in the temple, Li Wei fused the First Core with his unstable dantian. Agony ripped through him—visions of his disciples' final moments flooded his mind.

Chen Yun, leading refugees into a celestial rift.

Elysium's ships descending, harvesting their souls.

Veyra's voice: "The old world must burn to feed the new."

When he awoke, his golden core had reformed—a fractured orb of qi and nanobots.

"You've been out three days," Kara said, her human arm now bandaged. "And you're not gonna like this."

She played a stolen Elysium transmission. Director Veyra's voice:

"Anomaly LW-8892 has bonded with Core #1. Initiate Harvest Protocol. Send the Iron Judges."

Onscreen, three titanic figures materialized—hybrids of cultivator souls and planet-cracker mechs.

"The Iron Judges are coming," Kara said. "And they'll raze the Undercity to ash to find you."

Li Wei rose, Snow Dragon humming with storm energy. "Let them come."

"There's more," Kara said quietly. She activated a hologram of a star system—eight more cores pulsing. "Veyra's not just after you. She's targeting anyone with ancient qi signatures. Starting with them."

The hologram zoomed in on a frozen planet. A village of robed figures meditated in the snow—cultivators, alive and untouched by technology.

Li Wei's hand tightened. "Where is this?"

"A sanctuary world. The Celestial Forge calls it Míng Tiān (明天)—Tomorrow."