MTLNOVEL Chapter 36: *Chapter 36: The Grand Tournament of Flames**
The Arena of Eternal Embers loomed like a crown of fire atop the floating city of Xuanji, its obsidian pillars wreathed in perpetual flame. Cultivators from a hundred sects thronged the streets below, their banners clashing in the sulfurous wind—Verdant Lotus orchids entwined with Frostbite icicles, Iron Citadel hammers crossed with Phantom Veil daggers. At the center of it all stood Li Tian, his right arm encased in soulfrost bandages, the ghost of the Eclipse Gauntlet's power a dull ache in his meridians.
Mei Ling elbowed through the crowd, her flames reduced to smoldering embers under the arena's suppression arrays. "Remind me why we're here again? Oh right—because you've got a death wish."
Luo Chen adjusted the glacial sigil on his blade, its edge dulled by the arena's dampening field. "The tournament's grand prize is a single wish granted by the host sect. If we win, we could purge the Sovereign's corruption from your arm."
"Or find Xiaoling," Li Tian said quietly.
A gong's reverberation silenced the crowd. Above the arena, the Grand Arbiter materialized—a wizened figure clad in ash-gray robes, his voice amplified by the crackling braziers.
"The rules are simple," he intoned. "Three trials: the **Ascent of Blades**, the **Mirror Maze**, and the **Duel of Eminence**. Die, and your sect forfeits its standing. Win, and claim glory in the eyes of heaven!"
The crowd roared. Li Tian's gaze snagged on a competitor across the plaza—a girl with Xiaoling's face, her eyes hollow voids.
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**Trial One: Ascent of Blades**
The first trial unfolded on a vertical cliff face studded with jagged spirit swords, each pulsating with elemental energy. Competitors raced upward, dodging blade eruptions and rival ambushes.
Li Tian scaled the cliff with spatial pulses, his injured arm trembling. Ahead, a Verdant Lotus disciple unleashed a cloud of neurotoxic pollen.
"Down!" Luo Chen's ice wall deflected the poison, but a Phantom Veil assassin materialized behind Li Tian, dagger aimed at his frostbitten arm.
A whip of fire yanked the assassin into the abyss. "Stay focused, princeling," Mei Ling growled, her flames fraying at the edges.
Near the summit, the Xiaoling look-alike floated past, her feet never touching the stone. "*Gege*," she whispered, her voice a distorted echo. "*Why did you leave me?*"
Li Tian faltered. A blade erupted, gashing his thigh.
"Don't listen!" Luo Chen hauled him up, frost sealing the wound. "It's an illusion!"
They breached the summit as the gong sounded. Half the competitors had fallen. The Xiaoling double watched from the shadows, smiling.
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**Trial Two: Mirror Maze**
The second trial plunged them into a labyrinth of shifting mirrors, each reflection a warped version of their deepest fears.
Mei Ling confronted a pyre of her clan's corpses. "You let us burn," they accused.
"I *survived*," she snarled, incinerating the mirror.
Luo Chen faced his younger sister, her corpse frozen beneath a lake. "Your fault," she wept.
"No longer," he murmured, shattering the ice—and the illusion.
Li Tian's trial was crueler. Xiaoling stood whole, offering him the Eclipse Gauntlet. "Take it," she urged. "Save me."
The Celestial Mirror flared at his chest, revealing the trap—a Phantom Veil sigil hidden in her palm. Li Tian shattered the mirror, but not before her dagger grazed his ribs.
"You're not her," he hissed.
The maze dissolved, leaving twelve survivors. The Xiaoling imposter applauded from the shadows.
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**Political Poison**
In the interlude, sect leaders courted finalists. Lady Ruolan approached Li Tian, her lotus crown dripping antidote. "A pity about your arm. The Verdant Lotus could restore it… for a price."
"Your poisons or your lies?" Mei Ling blocked her path.
Ruolan's smile sharpened. "Choose wisely, Tian. The next trial is lethal to cripples."
The Abbess intercepted, glacial qi frosting Ruolan's robes. "The Frostbite Monastery claims Tian. Challenge us, and your disciples will freeze before they bloom."
As Ruolan retreated, the Abbess pressed a soulfrost vial into Li Tian's hand. "This will stabilize your arm for one fight. Use it wisely."
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**Trial Three: Duel of Eminence**
The final trial was a series of one-on-one duels in elemental arenas. Li Tian's first opponent was General Teng's heir—a hulking youth with a mechanized arm crackling with Sovereign tech.
"Father sends his regards," the heir sneered, detaching his arm into a spinning saw.
Li Tian ducked, spatial pulses redirecting the blade. The soulfrost vial burned in his palm. *Not yet.*
The heir lunged, but Li Tian pivoted, using the arena's lava geysers to warp space. The sawblade spiraled into magma, and a well-timed pulse hurled the heir after it.
The crowd roared. The Xiaoling look-alike watched, unblinking.
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**The Semifinal Curse**
Mei Ling dueled a Phantom Veil specter, her flames purging their illusions. "Boring!" She incinerated the specter's cloak, revealing a terrified acolyte. "Next!"
Luo Chen faced a Frostbite traitor—a disciple who'd mocked his glacial lineage. Ice clashed until Luo Chen's blade found his heart. "Honorless," he spat.
Li Tian's semifinal opponent was the Xiaoling imposter.
"*Gege*," she cooed, her form flickering between sister and shadow. "Strike me, and you kill her soul."
The crowd stilled. The Abbess's vial trembled in Li Tian's grip.
"Don't hesitate!" Mei Ling shouted.
The imposter lunged, her dagger aimed at his frostbitten arm. Li Tian shattered the vial.
Soulfrost surged through him, spatial energy exploding. He froze her mid-strike, fingers closing around her throat—and recoiled.
Her memories flooded him: experiments in a shadowed lab, the Sovereign's laughter, Xiaoling's screams.
"You're… a vessel," he rasped.
The imposter smiled. "And you're too late." She dissolved into smoke, her final whisper lingering: "*Find me.*"
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**The Final Gambit**
The tournament concluded with Li Tian and Mei Ling as finalists.
"You'd better not hold back," Mei Ling grinned, flames reigniting.
Li Tian's spatial pulses clashed with her inferno, the arena quaking. In the end, he feigned a misstep, letting her flames pin him.
"Winner: Mei Ling of the Shattered Peaks!"
As the crowd cheered, Li Tian met the Abbess's gaze. *The wish is yours.*
But the Grand Arbiter's announcement froze the blood in their veins:
"The Shadow Sovereign commends your performance. The real tournament begins now."
The arena's flames turned black.
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