Chapter 45: Fragments and Fire

  The chamber quivered as raw power flooded the air, the cracked stone floor searing under the pressure between them.

  Elder Vayer wiped a smear of blackened blood from his mouth, dark crystal eye burning brighter. "So the jade chooses you," he rasped. "Fool. It will destroy you before it saves you."

  Tianming’s breath came ragged, but his grip tightened around the jade fragment, now a beacon of wild light against the gloom. "Better destroyed by my own choice than live as your slave."

  Without another word, Vayer struck.

  The shadows around the elder warped and twisted into a dozen spears of void, each one shrieking through the air toward Tianming. The ground itself seemed to collapse under the weight of the attack.

  Tianming moved. His body blurred—one with the storm inside him.

  The jade pulsed, casting golden patterns across his skin. He weaved between the spears, every step guided more by instinct than thought, the marks on the chamber floor cracking beneath his feet.

  One spear grazed his side, cold burning worse than fire, but he pressed forward.

  Closer. He had to get closer.

  "Fracture!" Vayer bellowed, slamming his palms together.

  The chamber split—reality tearing like fragile paper. Tianming staggered as the ground shifted, throwing him toward a pit of swirling blackness.

  In that instant, the jade’s light flared, and a memory not his own flashed behind his eyes:

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  A figure cloaked in stars, standing at the heart of a shattered world, jade cradled in bloodstained hands.

  Tianming, a voice echoed—not Elder Vayer’s, but something ancient, deeper.

  The Abyss marks you... but you are not bound. Remember who you are.

  He gritted his teeth, heart hammering. "I'm Tianming!"

  He slammed his palm into the shifting ground, forcing it still through sheer will, anchoring himself back to reality.

  The golden glow from the jade condensed into his hands—a weapon forming.

  A sword—no, a fragment of something greater. Its blade was jagged, unfinished, but it pulsed with living fire.

  Vayer's face twisted in rage and hunger. "The Celestial Fragments..." he hissed.

  "You weren't supposed to wake it yet!"

  He lashed out again—this time with chains of black fire, trying to bind Tianming where he stood.

  Elsewhere, deeper in the Sanctum—

  Lei Xueyan smashed the last spectral beast aside, blood dripping down her arm. Her breathing was sharp, controlled, but desperation gleamed in her eyes.

  "He's close," she growled.

  Zhen, weaving through the shifting hallways, shadows spiraling from her fingertips, grunted, "I can feel the fight. He's holding on... but not for long."

  Behind them, Jiang Chen finally shattered the barrier with a thunderous crack—energy bleeding from his fist.

  He sprinted forward, eyes blazing with deadly focus.

  Hold on, Tianming.

  We're coming.

  Back in the chamber—

  Tianming roared, slashing forward with the fragment-sword. The blade met Vayer’s chains—and shattered them.

  A shockwave rocked the room, sending debris flying like shrapnel. Tianming surged forward, golden flames licking across his arms, burning with something purer than mere technique.

  Vayer screamed as the flames scorched him, melting the black crystal embedded in his eye. He reeled back—but not in defeat.

  Instead, he smiled.

  "You think you've won?"

  He raised his hand—and the mark on Tianming's arm flared violently, trying to seize control again.

  Tianming staggered, the pain stabbing deeper than any wound.

  But something changed this time.

  The jade fragment in his hand resonated—and the mark cracked.

  Hairline fractures ran through it, breaking the control Elder Vayer had once wielded.

  Tianming looked up, golden light pouring from his eyes. "You're not the master of this power anymore."

  The flames around him surged higher.

  Vayer took a trembling step back—for the first time, real fear clouding his face.

  "You..." the elder rasped, "You're breaking the Covenant..."

  Tianming lifted the fragment-sword.

  "No," he said, voice low, burning, unbreakable.

  "I'm rewriting it."

  He dashed forward, the sword cleaving through the final strands of the mist chains, toward the heart of Elder Vayer’s power.

  Just as he struck—

  —the chamber doors shattered behind him.

  Lei Xueyan, Zhen, and Jiang Chen burst through the wreckage.

  "Tianming!" Lei Xueyan cried.

  At that moment, golden light engulfed the chamber—and everything blurred into white fire.

  End of Chapter 45.

  Next: Chapter 46 – "Shatter the Covenant"

  – The true purpose of the Sanctum awakens. Elder Vayer's final gambit unfolds. Tianming faces a choice that could change the entire fate of his world.

  The world shall soon know

  Tianming is not just a cultivator prince

  He is the Sovereign of Celestial Ascent