"I assu you have a way to find Old Tang?" Li Hua asked, her eyes tracking the movent of shadows that seed to dance with conscious purpose between the shelves.
Mo Xing produced a small grey crystal from his robes. "This will guide us to him and any knowledge regarding your brothers' situation." The crystal began to pulse with a dim light, creating the only rhythm in this tiless place. "Though I should warn you—the truth we find here may not be what you're hoping for."
Li Hua's jaw tightened. "Any truth is better than uncertainty."
They moved deeper into Old Tang's domain, following the crystal's pulse. Around them, reality continued to shift and reorganize itself, but Mo Xing navigated the changes with practiced ease, occasionally reaching back to guide Li Hua around corners that hadn't existed monts before. The only constants in the ever-changing space were their footsteps echoing against the stone floor.
A shelf of ancient texts suddenly lurched sideways, its movent creating a cascading effect through the surrounding space. Li Hua stepped back instinctively, only to find that what had been solid ground a mont before had transford into empty air. Her stomach lurched as she began to fall toward what looked like an endless void of swirling grey mist.
But before gravity could claim her completely, Mo Xing's arm snaked around her waist, pulling her firmly against him. His other hand gestured sharply, and reality bent around them, depositing them safely on a different section of flooring several feet away. The movent was so swift and fluid that Li Hua barely had ti to process what had happened before she found herself pressed against him, her hands gripping the front of his robes.
"The floor here..." Mo Xing's voice was low and slightly breathless, his eyes intense as they t hers. "It rearranges itself along with everything else. You have to feel the spiritual currents before each step."
Li Hua was suddenly, acutely aware of how close they were—the steady rise and fall of his chest against her palms, the warmth of his arm still wrapped protectively around her waist, the faint scent of nightbloom flower that clung to his robes. The grey world around them seed to hold its breath, as if ti itself had paused to watch this mont unfold.
She should step away. She needed to step away. But so treacherous part of her noticed how his pupils had dilated slightly, the honey-brown of his irises reduced to a thin ring around darkened centers.
A distant crash of reorganizing shelves broke the spell. Li Hua pushed away from him perhaps more forcefully than necessary, smoothing her robes with hands that definitely weren't shaking. "I assu," she said, proud of how steady her voice remained, "that wasn't the path to Old Tang?"
"No." Mo Xing's composed mask slipped back into place, though sothing still smoldered in the depths of his eyes. He held up the crystal, which pulsed more strongly now. "But we're getting closer. Stay near this ti." His lips curved into that familiar half-smile that never failed to infuriate her. "Unless you'd prefer I carry you after all?"
"I'd prefer to find Old Tang before this study decides to rearrange itself again," Li Hua replied sharply, though she did step slightly closer to Mo Xing as they continued forward. It was purely practical, she told herself. Nothing more than a reasonable precaution in an unstable environnt.
If Mo Xing noticed that she was walking closer to him than before, he was wise enough not to comnt on it.
The crystal's pulse quickened, its light growing stronger until it illuminated their path like a beacon. They rounded one final corner where reality seed to fold in on itself, and suddenly the endless maze of shifting shelves gave way to a circular clearing within the impossible space.
Here, finally, the constant movent of the study seed to still. A single shaft of grey light fell from sowhere above, illuminating an ancient desk that appeared to be carved from the sa stone as the shelves. Behind it sat Old Tang, second only to the Eight other Keepers.
Like everything else in this realm, he was rendered in shades of grey—his long beard the color of storm clouds, his keeper's robes shifting between shadows and mist. Only his eyes held sothing different: they were completely colorless, like pools of pure light that seed to see through ti itself.
"Lord Mo," Old Tang's voice carried the weight of centuries, yet held a peculiar clarity. "I see you've brought guests into my domain." His colorless gaze settled on Li Hua, and she felt as though she was being read like one of his countless scrolls. "One who seeks knowledge of her brothers."
Li Hua stepped forward, Mo Xing standing calmly beside her, his posture at ease. Having one of the realm keepers know of her quest should have been surprising, but sohow wasn't. "You know why I'm here?"
"As one of the senior realm keepers, there is much that passes through my archives," Old Tang's form seed to blur slightly, as if he existed in multiple monts at once. His fingers traced patterns in the air as he spoke, ink flowing like water to form complex diagrams. "What I see here is... concerning."
"Please," Li Hua said, her voice steady, though a faint tremor threatened to break through.
His colorless eyes fixed on Li Hua with sudden intensity before shaking his head. "It seems your brothers have been taken by a Failed Sixth Realm Candidate. Three centuries ago, he attempted to join our ranks but failed the final trial, an event that left his mind... unstable." The ink before him shifted, forming the image of a twisted cultivation core. "He's spent centuries searching for a way to force his way into our realm, and now he believes he's found it—the dragon in your cores. Three siblings, three pure dragon manifestations. He plans to use their combined power to tear open a path where none should exist."
The ink patterns suddenly expanded, forming a window into another place. Through the rippling darkness, Li Hua saw her brothers—Li Wei and Li Hao, their faces strained but determined. They were speaking to a hooded figure, their voices carrying clearly through Old Tang's illusion.
"Our cores are the strongest," Li Wei was saying, his voice hoarse. Even through the ink-ford window, Li Hua could see her eldest brother's usually composed features twisted with pain. His tall fra, normally carrying the dignified bearing of a scholar, trembled against cultivation-suppressing chains, their cruel runes burning into his flesh. "The three of us have trained together since we were younger. Our sister—" he hesitated perfectly, despite the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, "—her cultivation is still unstable. Including her would only compromise the ritual."
Li Hua's breath caught in her throat at the sight of her eldest brother. The proud Li Wei, who never showed weakness, was barely standing. Yet his eyes remained sharp, calculating even through the pain—still thinking, still protecting, still her brilliant brother despite his obvious suffering.
Li Hao nodded vigorously, though the movent made him wince, fresh blood staining his already torn outer robes. Her second brother's warrior build, usually radiating strength, now strained against similar chains. "Yeah! She's the youngest, still learning to control her spiritual power. But we—" he gestured between himself and Li Wei, the chains rattling with the movent, revealing raw, blistered skin beneath, "—we've strengthen our cores completely. You don't need her. We're enough."
Tears threatened to form in her eyes as she watched her second brother's performance. Li Hao, whose booming laugh could shake the courtyard walls, whose martial prowess rivaled her own, now bore deep burns across his face, yet still he played his part perfectly. His passionate nature made the lie believable, even as his fingers clutched at his side where an ugly wound pulsed with corrupted essence.
Li Hua's heart clenched as she understood what they were doing—her powerful, accomplished brothers were still protecting their baby sister, even through their torture, convincing their captor she wasn't necessary for his plans. The illusion faded, leaving only Elder Tang's swirling ink patterns, but the image of her brothers' battered faces remained burned in her mind.
Her hands clenched into fists, knuckles white with suppressed rage and grief. When she spoke, her voice carried the deadly promise of an awakened assassin. "Where are they?"
A smile ghosted across Tang's ancient features, though it held no warmth. "This Failed Candidate has grown cunning in his desperation. He's hidden your brothers in separate locations, preparing for a ritual that would drain their cores." His fingers traced new patterns in the air, causing multiple images to shimr into existence. "But what he doesn't realize is that forcing such a combination would not only destroy your brothers—it would tear reality itself. The resulting void breach could devastate multiple realms."
"Then where are they?" Li Hua demanded, her voice tight with desperation. "We need to find them before he can begin this ritual!"
"Indeed," Old Tang agreed, his brush moving with renewed purpose. "These archives may hold the key to their locations..."
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