The moment the Samsara Key at the artifact spirit's fingertips sank completely into the Star Mark at the back of Lin Xuan's neck, all nine Artifact Refining Furnaces simultaneously spewed green smoke. The souls sealed within the furnaces opened their empty eyes, every pair of pupils pulsing with a blood-red astrolabe—identical to the Forbidden Seal on the artifact spirit's brow!
"Does Senior Brother know why every reincarnation leads to the same destination?" The artifact spirit gently stroked the mottled fox-paw marks on the Artifact Refining Furnace, and the furnace walls suddenly projected scenes of myriad times and spaces. In one of the mirror images, Lin Xuan saw himself: in his twilight years, sitting upright upon the Star Palace throne, trampling the corpse of the Black-robed man underfoot, while Su Jiuli's lingering soul was being refined into a new Samsara Key!
The cluster of Bronze Pillars in the abyss suddenly collapsed, turning into streams of light that poured into Lin Xuan's sea of consciousness. He was forced to witness the final outcome of countless times and spaces—every single time, the artifact spirit would turn on him at the very last moment, driving the Samsara Key into his Star Mark. The soul of the old woman in green suddenly drifted out from the Artifact Refining Furnace, the Forbidden Seal on her chest shooting out silver radiance: "Fool! She is truly the First Generation Patriarch's..."
Chapter 20