CHAPTER 28 — THE LABYRINTH THAT BREATHES
The floating platforms narrowed as the team ventured deeper into the Hollow Abyss. The cracked sky above now pulsed with rhythmic flashes—like the Abyss itself had a heartbeat.
Jason Wu wiped dust from his cheek. "This place is getting more… alive."
Leon shivered. "Alive is bad. Why is everything here always alive?"
Wei Qing glanced sharply at the shifting stone under them. "Because we've entered the Inner Layer. Creatures here are formed from spatial residue. They adapt. They learn."
Longwu Sword hummed with amusement,
["Lovely. Walking into a living maze. Boy, if something starts whispering your childhood secrets, run."]
Jason muttered, "You're not helping."
Li Xueyin held her talisman compass high. The needle spun wildly as arcs of blue lightning crackled overhead.
Lan Yuren approached her. "Can you stabilize it?"
"Not fully," Xueyin answered. "But I can dampen the fluctuations so we don't fall into a collapsing pocket of space-time."
Leon raised a shaky hand. "I would prefer not to fall into any pockets. Or space. Or time."
Jason patted his shoulder. "Relax. If anyone gets swallowed first, it's usually me."
Leon stared. "…That doesn't make me feel better!"
---
### THE BREATHING WALLS
The floating path split into three separate bridges—each leading deeper into a labyrinth of suspended stone walls.
Jason froze.
The walls were moving.
Not a drift. Not a shift.
They expanded and contracted… like lungs.
Li Xueyin whispered, "This is the Spatial Lattice Core. The labyrinth restructures itself every few minutes."
Jason frowned. "So a wrong turn means…?"
Lan Yuren answered grimly, "You get crushed when the walls inhale."
Leon squeaked. "W-WHY WOULD ANYONE COME HERE?!"
Longwu replied,
["Because humans do stupid things when they want rare treasure."]
Jason stepped forward, testing the nearest wall. Qi rippled across its surface, matching his movement like an echo.
Wei Qing narrowed her gaze. "Jason… it's responding to you."
Jason blinked. "To me?"
"Specifically your qi signature," Xueyin added. "The Abyss is reading you."
Longwu muttered,
["Of course it is. Everything in this place wants to eat, recruit, or study you. I miss the days when no one cared."]
Jason inhaled sharply.
If the Abyss responded to him… it might allow a path.
He placed his palm on the breathing wall.
It pulsed back.
Like a greeting.
Lan Yuren tensed. "Jason, step away—"
The entire labyrinth shifted.
Stone platforms extended toward Jason like teeth forming a bridge, while other paths collapsed noisily into the void.
Jason's pulse quickened. "I… think it chose a route."
Li Xueyin stepped beside him. "Then we follow it."
Wei Qing nodded. "Everyone move. Before it reshapes again."
They advanced, the shifting walls creating a narrow corridor that flexed with each step.
Leon whispered, "This is the worst dungeon ever. Zero stars. Would not explore again."
---
### SPATIAL DISTORTION
Halfway across the pulsating corridor, a sharp vibration rolled across the ground. Jason felt it in his ribs.
"Earthquake?" Leon asked hopefully.
Wei Qing shook her head. "Spatial distortion. Something is forcing a rift open nearby."
Lan Yuren's expression darkened. "Guardian?"
Li Xueyin checked her compass again. The needle spun in circles so fast it blurred.
"No. Not a guardian."
Jason asked, "Then what—"
A tear ripped open in the air itself.
A jagged line of white light burst forth, slicing across space. The team scattered instinctively as the energy split the floating platform in two.
From the tear…
Something crawled out.
At first Jason thought it was a beast. Then he realized it was worse.
A humanoid silhouette—made entirely of fractured light, as if someone stitched a person from broken mirrors. Its joints crackled with unstable energy. Its head turned in sharp, unnatural jerks.
Leon whispered, horrified, "What… is that?"
Li Xueyin's face turned pale. "A Rift Wraith… but corrupted. This one's unstable."
Longwu hissed,
["That is not a creature. That is a walking error message."]
Jason lifted his blade. "It's hostile."
The wraith snapped its head toward him.
Then it screamed—a sound like a thousand shards scraping metal.
Jason winced. "Definitely hostile!"
---
### THE ATTACK
The wraith lunged with impossible speed.
Jason blocked with Longwu—but the impact sent vibrations through his bones. The wraith's arms crackled with white-hot spatial energy that tore through the surrounding stone.
Wei Qing thrust her spear, but the wraith phased partially out of reality, allowing the strike to pass through harmlessly.
Leon gasped. "It can turn intangible?! That's cheating!"
Lan Yuren barked, "Coordinate! Jason, force it to stay solid!"
Jason gritted his teeth. "Easier said than—"
Longwu's voice boomed,
["BOY! CHANNEL THAT FOOTWORK YOU LEARNED BACK IN CHAPTER SEVEN!"]
Jason blinked. "Chapter se—oh. Right!"
He shifted his stance, channeling the counter-mobility technique Elder Chen taught him—one that disrupted flowing qi patterns.
Jason struck low, not at the wraith's body but at its movement rhythm.
The wraith flickered—then solidified.
"NOW!" Jason yelled.
Wei Qing and Lan Yuren attacked simultaneously. Leon stabbed the wraith's leg, shouting something incoherent but brave.
Xueyin unleashed talismanic chains that wrapped around the creature's unstable joints.
Jason leapt, Longwu blazing.
"END!"
He slashed through the wraith's core.
*SHHHRAAAAKKK—*
The creature shattered into fragments of fading light.
The corridor fell silent.
Leon wheezed. "I… I stabbed a dimensional monster. I need a medal. Or a nap."
Jason exhaled. "Everyone okay?"
Heads nodded.
Li Xueyin stepped close, checking Jason's arm. "You took the worst of that strike. Are you seriously—"
Jason smiled weakly. "Still alive."
Longwu snorted,
["Barely."]
---
### THE HEARTBEAT AHEAD
As silence settled, a deep *thump* echoed through the labyrinth.
Another pulse.
Then another.
But stronger. Closer.
Wei Qing whispered, "That… wasn't the walls. That came from deeper in."
Li Xueyin swallowed hard. "We're near the Heart Nexus."
Lan Yuren tightened his grip. "Then prepare yourselves. If a corrupted wraith was guarding the entrance…"
Jason finished the thought.
"…what's guarding the heart?"
The labyrinth inhaled.
And the world shifted again.