The Airspire Herb glowed faintly in Li Tian's palm, its prismatic petals casting fractured light across the Hermit's weathered face. Around them, the vale hummed with uneasy energy, as though the land itself recoiled from the herb's unveiled power.
"You've plucked the flower," the hermit said, her voice like wind through dead leaves. "But to wield its truth, you must brew it under the gaze of the Bloodmoon Viper."
Jin spat. "Another beast? You said the herb was payment enough."
The hermit's hood tilted toward Li Tian's corrupted veins, now creeping toward his jawline. "The viper guards the Pool of Echoes, where the herb's essence aligns with the stars. Fail, and your rot becomes its feast."
Xia stepped forward, her hands still trembling from the Stormfang's lightning. "Where is this pool?"
"West," the hermit said, her staff pointing to a fissure in the vale's cliffs. "Where the living and the damned drink side by side."
---
**The Bloodmoon Viper's Domain**
The fissure opened into a cavern lit by bioluminescent fungi, their sickly green glow reflecting off a black-water pool. At its center stood a stone altar, its surface etched with constellations. Above, a shaft in the ceiling revealed the night sky—the bloodmoon looming, swollen and malevolent.
"Charming," Jin muttered, eyeing the skeletal remains littering the pool's edge.
Li Tian placed the herb on the altar. "Bo, scout the perimeter. Renshu, guard the entrance. Xia—"
A hiss echoed through the cavern. The water rippled as a serpentine head emerged, scales glinting like freshly spilled blood. The Bloodmoon Viper's eyes were twin eclipses, its fangs dripping venom that sizzled where it struck stone.
"It's not just a guardian," Old Guo whispered. "It's a curse given form."
The viper struck.
Daiyu's arrows glanced off its scales. Renshu's hammer blows sent shockwaves through the water, but the viper moved like liquid shadow. Xia hurled healing qi, trying to seal its wounds, but the creature regenerated faster than she could damage it.
Li Tian's blade flared, the Codex's corruption answering the viper's malevolence. "Distract it! I need to brew the herb!"
---
**The Brewing Storm**
At the altar, Li Tian crushed the Airspire Herb into a stone mortar. The petals dissolved into luminescent sap, its glow intensifying as bloodmoon light filtered through the ceiling. The viper's tail slammed into the altar, cracking the stone.
"Faster!" Old Guo shouted, his staff deflecting a venomous strike.
Li Tian mixed the sap with water from the pool. The concoction bubbled violently, emitting fumes that seared his lungs. The viper recoiled, its hiss tinged with fear.
"Now!" Xia cried. "Drink it!"
Li Tian gulped the brew. Agony erupted—his veins lit like fuse wires, the corruption screeching as the herb's essence clashed with the Hollow Star's rot. The cavern spun. Visions assaulted him:
*A labyrinth of obsidian, its walls breathing.
A crown of frozen flames hovering above an abyss.
The Hollow Star's voice, sweet as poison: "You cannot outrun what you are."*
The viper lunged for his throat.
Daiyu's last arrow pinned its head to the wall. Jin's daggers found its heart. Renshu's hammer shattered its spine.
As the viper dissolved into black mist, the pool's water stilled, reflecting a map of stars that etched itself into Li Tian's mind.
---
**The Hermit's Revelation**
Dawn found them back at the hermit's grove. Li Tian's corruption had receded to his collarbones, the veins dormant but not gone.
"The pool showed you the path," the hermit said, not a question.
Li Tian nodded. "The third ruin lies beneath the Shattered Peaks. A labyrinth."
The hermit produced a bone key from her robes. "The Sanctum's children built traps to deter the unworthy. This will open the first seal." She pressed it into his hand. "But know this—the labyrinth feeds on doubt. What you fear most will walk its halls."
Xia frowned. "Can we trust her?"
The hermit laughed, a sound like cracking ice. "Trust is the first trap." With a wave of her staff, she vanished, the vale's illusion dissolving into barren rock.
---
**The Weight of Shadows**
Camped at the peaks' base, the group prepared for descent. Bo scouted the entrance—a yawning crevice strewn with carvings of starved figures.
"Cheery," Jin muttered. "Think the Flame Emperor's dogs will follow?"
"They're already here," Daiyu said, pointing to a scrap of red fabric snagged on a thornbush.
Li Tian tested the bone key against the crevice's hidden lock. "We move fast. The labyrinth shifts with the moon."
As the gate groaned open, Xia touched his arm. "The herb's vision… you saw the crown. What does it mean?"
Li Tian stepped into the dark. "It means the Hollow Star isn't the only monster down here."
---