The moment Lin Xuan gripped the blood-stained tail scale, the Big Dipper Star Chart on the bronze doors suddenly reversed. The essence leaking from the door's seams congealed, staining the Star Mark on his body an ink-black hue. The headless corpse surged forward, its shattered bones piercing Lin Xuan’s back—embedded within the bone was his own life-bound sword, which he had broken with his own hands three hundred years ago.
"Senior Brother, still so soft-hearted."
The voice of the Nether Palace Master emanated from within the door, raspy like the grinding of metal. As Lin Xuan’s blood flowed along the bone sword into the bronze gate, the lines of the Star Chart suddenly came to life, transforming into nine ouroboros-like black snakes that began to gnaw at the doors. Su Jiuli’s tail scale suddenly ignited with the sacred fire of Qingqiu, and within the flames, a vision of her trapped in the Soul-Refining Cauldron appeared—and inscribed at the base of that very cauldron was the name of the First Generation Patriarch of the Star Palace!
"Po Jun!"
Lin Xuan roared, crushing the tail scale, and wings of starlight burst forth in a blinding radiance. The figure of the Nether Palace Master emerged from the door, holding Su Jiuli’s fox fire soul essence in his hand: "Did you think Qingqiu guarded the Heaven-Mending Array for generations out of duty? They were always merely sacrificial offerings raised by the Star Palace!"
The Star Palace Ruins shook violently, and seventy-two Calamity Stars transformed into chains, binding Lin Xuan’s limbs. From the cavity of the headless corpse, half a scroll of the *Star-Burning Record* flew out, and tucked between its pages was the Destiny Soul talisman of Su Jiuli! Through the runes, Lin Xuan saw the truth: three hundred years ago, on the night of the Star Palace’s blood sacrifice, the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Clan had been lured into the killing array by the starlight of his own previous incarnation!
"Do you understand now why fox fire can ignite the Star Mark?" The Nether Palace Master crushed the soul essence. "Their souls were always the finest lamp oil!"
The Soul-Refining Cauldron materialized from the void, and the boiling blood marrow of ten thousand immortals within it condensed into blades. Lin Xuan was dragged toward the rim of the cauldron by the Calamity Star chains, his Star Mark beginning to flake away. In this moment of crisis, a fox’s howl erupted from within the bronze door—it sounded like Su Jiuli, yet it carried an earth-shattering malice!
*Crack!*
The doors burst open, and nine fox tails wreathed in black flames swept away the Calamity Star chains. The woman who emerged bore the exact likeness of Su Jiuli, yet upon her forehead was the blood-red Forbidden Seal of the Star Palace. With a light tap of her fingertip, the Soul-Refining Cauldron turned and swallowed the Nether Palace Master whole!
"Imprisoned Dragon..." the Nether Palace Master struggled within the blood marrow, "you dare to betray us!"
The woman reached up and tore away her skin, revealing a true face covered in Star Marks—it was none other than the Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch, whom Lin Xuan had carved the heart from three hundred years ago! The Big Dipper Star Chart on her back detached, overlapping with the chart on the bronze door to form a complete celestial cycle. "Senior Brother, this play is reaching its finale."
The Star Palace Ruins began to collapse, and countless Star Remains coalesced into a giant gluttonous wolf. In the starlight storm, Lin Xuan saw fragments of memory: he had not carved out the Yaoguang Star core to suppress evil, but to prevent the Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch from opening this forbidden door!
"Star Fall!"
The Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch unleashed all nine tails, and the black flames incinerated the void. Lin Xuan snatched the drifting fox fire soul essence and injected the remaining Star Mark into the headless corpse. The corpse’s forehead suddenly split open, revealing a vertical eye; within the pupil pulsed the sealed Yaoguang Star core!
"Boom!"
The moment the giant wolf collided with the nine-tailed black flames, the bronze doors shattered completely. Emerging from within was not the Nether Palace Master, but the remnant soul of the First Generation Patriarch of the Star Palace! In the palm of the old man rested a Fate Disk, where the Seven Stars of the Big Dipper were all keyed by fox tails.
"Good disciple, does this blood marrow of ten thousand immortals suit your taste?"
The remnant soul of the First Generation Patriarch suddenly merged into Lin Xuan’s Star Mark, and the fox fire soul essence in his hand flew uncontrollably toward the Fate Disk. The Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch laughed hysterically, tearing open her own chest to reveal a pulsing, blood-red star core. "Does Master know why I released the Black Tortoise True Spirit all those years ago?"
The star core exploded, and the mournful cry of the Black Tortoise echoed from the bottom of an abyss. The Star Palace throne beneath Lin Xuan’s feet dissolved into light, condensing into a brand-new Astrolabe in his palm—the twenty-eight mansions on its face were all marked by fox tails, and embedded in the Dubhe position was the Tail-Tip Gold Bell of Su Jiuli!
"No!" The remnant soul of the First Generation Patriarch twisted in agony. "You have actually used the lifeblood of Qingqiu..."
The Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch’s body began to dissipate, her black-flamed tails coiling around the Astrolabe. "Senior Brother, it is time to sever the cycle of reincarnation." Her final gaze overlapped with Su Jiuli’s. "Remember, the wolf never travels alone..."
In the intense light erupting from the Astrolabe, Lin Xuan saw the truth of three hundred years ago: the First Generation Patriarch, seeking eternal life, had refined the Star Palace disciples and the Qingqiu fox clan into the yin-yang anchors of the array. The Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch had released the Black Tortoise True Spirit to destroy the blood sacrifice formation!
*Bang!*
The Astrolabe shattered completely, and the First Generation Patriarch’s remnant soul let out a final, frustrated roar. Lin Xuan gripped the newly formed Astrolabe, only to find a fox-shaped groove in its center—the exact shape of Su Jiuli’s soul essence! The void began to collapse, and a giant hand covered in a Reverse Scale reached out from the Soul-Refining Cauldron—
On the surface of the blood-red star core pulsing in its palm, the gluttonous eye of the Nether Palace Master slowly opened!
"The game... continues..."
As the lingering echo faded, Lin Xuan fell into the broken void. The Astrolabe in his hand guided him to a certain place, and after parting the mists of Star Remains, the sight before him shook his soul to its core—the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox stele stood atop the Star Palace Ruins, and suppressed beneath its base was half a torso clad in star robes!
The Ice Soul Sword was plunged into the heart of the torso, the name *Ling Shuang* carved into its hilt. The moment Lin Xuan grasped the hilt, blood-red seal script suddenly appeared on the stele:
"The disloyal disciple Lin Xuan, who murdered his master, shall be suppressed here for three hundred years..."
The Astrolabe emitted a mournful sound as the Twenty-Eight Mansions chart reversed itself. In his dizziness, Lin Xuan saw a vision of the future: he stood atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, his feet resting upon the nine-tailed remains of Su Jiuli. And at the highest point of the firmament, the phantom of the First Generation Patriarch was slowly coalescing...