The fishing line of the elder in the straw raincoat suddenly tightened, and Lin Xuan felt as though his three souls and seven mortal souls were being ripped from his body. Su Jiuli's severed tail suddenly ignited with her innate fox fire, and the fierce flames burned along the fishing line toward the bronze bell. The old man gave a light chuckle, and with a gentle flick of his fishing rod, he scattered the fox fire, while the cries of thousands of Resentful Spirits echoed from within the bell.
"Star-Fishing Old Man!" Su Jiuli's pupils constricted sharply. "The monument-guarding elder who defected from the Star Palace three hundred years ago!"
Amidst the agonizing pain of his soul tearing apart, Lin Xuan brandished the Astrolabe, yet the Greedy Wolf Star Mark grew dim and lifeless the moment it touched the fishing line. The bamboo hat of the Star-Fishing Old Man was blown back by the fierce gale, revealing a face covered in stardust—those twinkling fragments actually corresponded one-to-one with the Twenty-Eight Mansions on the Astrolabe!
"Good grand-disciple, why do you not bow upon seeing your grand-master?"
The old man flicked his finger against the fishing line, and Lin Xuan's sea of consciousness suddenly flooded with unfamiliar memories: on the night of the Star Palace's destruction three hundred years ago, it was precisely this person who had used the Big Dipper Fate Disk to extract the Destiny Soul of the Star Palace Master! The Astrolabe sensed the aura of its enemy, and the seven mansions of the Vermilion Bird rotated of their own accord, yet the gushing Separation Fire was entirely absorbed by the wine gourd at his waist.
"Star Lord, run!" Su Jiuli's nine tails were all severed, and she blood-sacrificed the Heaven-Burning Array. "This is the Star-Devouring Pot, specifically designed to restrain the Star Palace!"
The fishing rod of the Star-Fishing Old Man suddenly split into countless branches, each fishing line tied with a bronze bell at the end. Amidst the sound of the bells, Lin Xuan caught sight of the lingering shadow of his past life—that person had a galaxy in his left eye and a sea of blood in his right, and was being pierced through his shoulder blades by seventy-two star chains.
"Clang!"
The Astrolabe suddenly broke free from his control, and the Greedy Wolf Star Mark turned into a bloody dagger that stabbed into Lin Xuan's chest. The images that surfaced through the intense pain made his whole body tremble: the Star-Fishing Old Man turned out to be the First Generation Patriarch Grand Elder of the Star Palace, who had refined himself into the Artifact Spirit of the Fate Disk in pursuit of eternal life!
"Do you understand now?" The Star-Fishing Old Man yanked the fishing line. "The Star Palace was always the cauldron nurtured by this old man!"
Su Jiuli's fox blood seeped into the veins of the earth, and a mournful cry of the Black Tortoise True Spirit echoed from the bottom of the abyss. Seizing the opportunity, Lin Xuan grabbed the blood-stained Astrolabe, and the Twenty-Eight Mansions Star Chart suddenly spun in reverse. Cracks appeared on the fishing rod of the Star-Fishing Old Man, and those bronze bells shattered into fine powder one after another.
"Xuanming, return to your position!"
Lin Xuan roared as he shattered the Doumuxie star mark on the edge of the Astrolabe, and the Black Tortoise True Spirit burst out of the ground. The Star-Devouring Pot of the Star-Fishing Old Man soared into the air, and what spewed from the mouth of the pot were actually the lingering souls of the Star Palace disciples swallowed three hundred years ago!
"Master..."
A familiar face drifted out from among the crowd of souls, and the hand with which Lin Xuan held the Astrolabe trembled violently. Su Jiuli suddenly bit her fingertip, drawing a Qingqiu forbidden spell in the void using her blood as a guide: "With my eight tails, I sacrifice to the Gate of Reincarnation!"
Amidst the karmic fire blazing from her severed tails, a Giant Bronze Gate emerged. The instant the gates opened, the lingering souls of the Star Palace rushed into the door as if receiving an imperial decree. The Star-Fishing Old Man swung his rod in fury, yet the fishing line passed right through Lin Xuan's etherealized body—Su Jiuli had used her very last tail to execute the technique of shifting the stars and exchanging the constellations!
"Take him away!"
The fox fire wrapped around the Astrolabe and crashed into Lin Xuan's chest, shoving him into the rift of the Gate of Reincarnation. The Star-Devouring Pot of the Star-Fishing Old Man suddenly exploded, and from the bottom of the pot fell half a jade pendant engraved with the Greedy Wolf Star Mark—which fit the branding on Lin Xuan's chest to perfection!
"So it was you..." The Star-Fishing Old Man laughed maniacally. "The prophecy of the Greedy Wolf swallowing the sun actually fulfills itself right here!"
The moment the Gate of Reincarnation closed, Lin Xuan saw Su Jiuli being pierced through the shoulder blades by the fishing line. Her blood-stained fingers traced the trajectory of a star chart in the void, and her lip movements clearly spelled out: "Qingqiu... Forbidden... Ground..."
Amidst the spinning world, Lin Xuan plunged into the icy waters. The Astrolabe in his hand sensed a certain summons, guiding him to swim toward the abyss. After parting layers of water weeds, the scene before his eyes left him breathless—nine dark iron chains bound a Glazed Coffin, and the features of the woman inside the coffin were identical to those of Su Jiuli, except for an extra Star Palace Forbidden Seal between her brows!
"Splash!"
The chains suddenly shook violently, and the lid of the Glazed Coffin slowly opened. The instant that woman opened her eyes, the Greedy Wolf Star Mark on Lin Xuan's chest suddenly tore away from his body, turning into a bloody dagger pressed against her throat:
"Three hundred years, and Senior Brother is still just as impatient..."