NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: *Chapter 46: The Price of Ascension**
The Scorched Expanse's sun beat down like a hammer on an anvil, its heat warping the air into liquid waves. Li Tian trudged at the head of the alliance, the Aeternum Core burning against his chest like a branding iron. Its power surged through him in erratic pulses—one moment invigorating, the next draining. His fingers, once steady, trembled around his spatial staff. Behind him, the sects dragged their wounded through the dunes, their whispers sharp with doubt.
"He's slowing us down," Lady Ruolan muttered to General Kael, her blightbane parasol wilting. "If the Sovereign strikes again—"
"We're dead regardless," Kael snapped, his mechanized arm sparking. "That Core's our only edge."
Li Tian ignored them. The Core's whispers drowned out their voices anyway—Xiaoling's pleas, tangled with the Sovereign's taunts. *"Gege… it's killing you."* *"Let it. Embrace the void."*
A sandstorm loomed on the horizon, its dark tendrils clawing skyward. The Mirror at Li Tian's belt flared, its fractured surface reflecting not the storm, but Xiaoling's face. *"Turn back,"* she urged. *"He's coming."*
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**The Ambush**
The Sovereign's assassins struck at dusk, rising from the sand like vengeful ghosts. Cloaked in shadow and wielding blades of crystallized void, they slithered through the alliance's ranks. A Frostbite disciple screamed as sand scorpions burrowed into his flesh; a Verdant Lotus archer collapsed, her throat blooming with black thorns.
"Form ranks!" Kael bellowed, his artillery scorching the dunes.
Li Tian ignited the Core. Golden light erupted, vaporizing three assassins—but the backlash buckled his knees. Blood trickled from his nose, hot and metallic.
"Pathetic." A shadowy figure materialized, its voice Jiao Long's. The Eclipse Gauntlet on its hand glowed, time itself stuttering. "The Core was never meant for you."
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**The Dance of Decay**
Li Tian parried Jiao Long's temporal strikes, each clash aging the sand to glass. The Core's energy healed his wounds but deepened the cracks in his meridians. Xiaoling's voice crescendoed: *"Stop! You'll die!"*
"I don't… have a choice!" He warped space, ensnaring Jiao Long in a gravity well.
The assassin laughed, reversing time to evade. "The Sovereign gave me eternity. What can you offer?"
"*This.*" Li Tian slammed the Core into the sand. Light devoured the dunes, searing Jiao Long's Gauntlet to slag. She vanished, cursing, as the storm swallowed her.
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**The Sacrifice**
In the aftermath, the alliance huddled in a canyon, their numbers halved. Li Tian slumped against a rock, the Core's glow dimming. Xiaoling's spectral form flickered beside him.
"You're fading," he rasped.
She touched his cheek, her hand cold as moonlight. "The Core is bound to my soul. Every time you use it, I unravel."
Li Tian's grip tightened. "Then I'll destroy it."
"And condemn the alliance?" Her smile was sorrow. "There's another way. Let me… merge with it. Fully."
"No!" He recoiled. "That's what the Sovereign wants!"
"It's what *I* want." Her voice hardened. "Or would you rather my soul linger as his pawn?"
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**The Binding**
At dawn, Li Tian relented. The sects formed a wary circle as he pressed the Core to his chest, Xiaoling's soul swirling into its heart. Light seared the canyon, etching her face into the Core's surface. Her voice echoed, now part of the artifact: *"I'm with you. Always."*
The power stabilized, but Li Tian's qi crumbled. He collapsed, veins glowing gold and black.
Ruolan crouched beside him. "Can you stand?"
"Does it matter?" He laughed weakly. "The Core's yours now. Use it well."
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**The Storm Approaches**
As the alliance marched north, a scout spotted banners on the horizon—a rival faction's sigil, a serpent devouring the sun. Kael grimaced. "The Sun Eaters. They've come for the Core."
Li Tian, carried on a litter, stared at the sky. Xiaoling's voice hummed in the Core. *"Rest, Gege. The storm is mine."*
He closed his eyes, the desert's heat fading to cold.
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