MTLNOVEL Chapter 30: *Chapter 30: Legacy of the Unbroken**
The air outside the collapsed temple tasted of ash and static, the sky streaked with lingering traces of corrupted starlight. Li Tian slumped against a weathered monolith, the fused shard of the Celestial Mirror blazing against his chest like a second heartbeat. Mei Ling crouched nearby, nursing a burn across her forearm, while Luo Chen methodically chipped dried serpent venom from his blade.
"Still breathing, princeling?" Mei Ling rasped, though her smirk lacked its usual bite.
Li Tian flexed his hand, spatial energy rippling around his fingers in unfamiliar patterns. "Barely."
The shard pulsed, its light intensifying. Before he could react, the ground dissolved beneath them.
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**Sanctum of Echoes**
They materialized in a void dotted with floating stone platforms, each inscribed with a fragment of the Magic Emperor's history. At the center loomed a spectral figure—a younger version of the Emperor, his eyes twin voids swirling with starlight.
*"To claim my legacy,"* the apparition intoned, *"prove you can bear its weight."*
The platforms shifted, forming a bridge of fragmented memories. Li Tian stepped forward, but Mei Ling seized his arm. "This reeks of a trap."
"All paths do," Li Tian said, pulling free. The first platform flared to life.
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**First Trial: The Sovereign's Crown**
Li Tian stood in a war-torn courtyard, the Magic Emperor's crown hovering above a pyre of burning scrolls. A ghostly general knelt before him. *"Seize the crown, and your enemies will kneel. But the scrolls hold the names of every life lost to claim it."*
Li Tian reached—then froze. The Mirror shard burned, revealing Xiaoling's face among the flames. *Power without purpose is a pyre,* her voice whispered.
He extinguished the fire with a spatial vortex, ashes swirling like snow. The crown dissolved. *"Sacrifice recognized,"* the trial echoed.
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**Second Trial: The Blade of Unity**
Luo Chen materialized beside him, gripping a sword forged from glacial ice. Ahead, an army of shadows advanced. *"Slay them all,"* the trial commanded.
Li Tian studied the horde—faceless, but their movements mirrored Mei Ling's fiery grace and Luo Chen's icy precision. *"They're reflections,"* he realized. "Stand down!"
Luo Chen's blade wavered. "They'll overwhelm us."
"Then we fall together." Li Tian shattered the sword. The shadows stilled, saluting before dispersing.
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**Final Trial: The Mirror's Demand**
Li Tian stood alone before the spectral Emperor, the Celestial Mirror now whole in his hands. *"Wield me,"* it whispered. *"Erase the Shadow Sovereign. Save Xiaoling."*
The vision unfolded—Li Tian, all-powerful, reducing enemies to dust. But in his wake, Mei Ling and Luo Chen lay lifeless, collateral to his ruthlessness.
"No." Li Tian slammed the Mirror to the ground, cracks spreading. "I won't trade lives for vengeance."
The Emperor's specter smiled. *"The legacy is yours."*
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**Awakening**
Li Tian gasped, back in the ashen valley. The shard had fused completely with the Mirror, its surface now etched with constellations.
Mei Ling stared at him. "You were glowing like a damned lantern."
Luo Chen nodded to the horizon, where a new star burned. "The Emperor's sanctum."
Li Tian rose, the Mirror's song clear now—a map to the artifact, and a warning. The Shadow Sovereign's laugh echoed in his mind, familiar and cruel.
"We move at dawn," he said.
The trials had ended. The war had just begun.
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**End of Chapter 30**