The moment the Star Seed infant’s fingertip touched the center of Lin Xuan’s brow, the Little Girl in the bronze mirror suddenly opened her eyes. The Astrolabe in her hands erupted with silver radiance; the nine Star Lotuses withered in response, and the infant spirit at their cores dissolved into streams of light, merging into the mirror’s surface. The scarred Star Mark on the back of Lin Xuan’s neck began to burn, resonating unexpectedly with the twin-mark on the Little Girl’s forehead.
"So, you are the true eye of the formation..." The young Artifact Spirit’s fading voice echoed from within the mirror. The Little Girl stepped barefoot out of the Ice Coffin; the Star Mark blossoming beneath her feet aligned perfectly with the Taiji formation on the seabed. The Astrolabe in her hand suddenly detached, embedding itself into the wound on Lin Xuan’s chest—the very spot where the First Generation Patriarch had implanted the Star Seed three hundred years ago.
The Little Girl’s pupils split into dual colors. Her left eye reflected the carnage of the Star Palace’s Spirit-Nurturing Hall, while her right eye pulsed with the Heaven-Burning Fire of Qingqiu. With a light tap of her fingertip against the void, nine copies of Su Jiuli leaped from the mirror, their tailbones linking together to form a Soul-Locking Array. A surge of unfamiliar memories flooded Lin Xuan’s consciousness: he saw the Little Girl suspended by iron chains in the forbidden grounds of the Star Palace, carving her…
Chapter 23