The moment the starlight of Yaoguang Star pierced through the fox fire, Su Jiuli’s body transformed into thousands of flickering fireflies. Lin Xuan watched with tearing eyes as those motes of light submerged into the Star Core sword, and the nine-tailed crest on the sword's spine suddenly came to life—each phantom fox tail held a shattered Forbidden Seal from the Star Palace!
"The falling of stars and the extinction of paths are but a grain of sand in the cycle of reincarnation."
The Forbidden Seal on the Nether Palace Master’s forehead split open to reveal a third eye, its pupil reflecting the headless corpse amidst the Star Palace Ruins. The Star Core sword in Lin Xuan’s hand suddenly trembled, and the Taotie eye on the hilt began to weep black tears—that was the regret he had left behind three hundred years ago when he carved out his own heart!
"Clatter!"
The vortex of reincarnation unleashed seventy-two shackles, pinning Lin Xuan before the throne of the Star Palace. The Nether Palace Master walked across the void, his fingertips lightly caressing the severed neck of the headless corpse: "When you cut off my head and suppressed it in Jiuyou all those years ago, did you ever consider the cycle of cause and effect?"
The Star Core sword suddenly flew toward the corpse of its own accord. The moment the blade sank into the severed neck, thousands of broken swords throughout the ruins chimed in unison. The star-locking nails embedded in Lin Xuan’s spine were all blasted away, and Star Marks crawled up his vertebrae to his nape—there, a Reverse Scale brand identical to that of the Nether Palace Master emerged!
"So, you are actually..."
"A defective version of my true self?" The Nether Palace Master tore open the Reverse Scale on his chest, revealing a pulsing, blood-red Star Core. "Three hundred years ago, to break the Greedy Wolf Star fate, you sealed your evil thoughts into the Yaoguang Star, yet you never knew that I had already devoured the Star Core and been reborn!"
The Star Palace Ruins shook violently, and the headless corpse slowly stood up. Within the chest cavity of the corpse, Lin Xuan saw a familiar fragment of an astrolabe—it was exactly what the Tail-Tip Gold Bell of Su Jiuli had transformed into! The corpse raised its hand to grip the armrest of the throne, and the entire ruins began to collapse and rearrange, coalescing in the void into a new Greedy Wolf Star.
"Now, let things return to their rightful owner."
The Nether Palace Master pressed the blood-red Star Core into the corpse’s chest, and the star map behind the throne suddenly surged with life. Lin Xuan saw images of his past life leading his disciples in a bloody battle; those falling stars were, in fact, immortal cultivators who had been devoured!
"Does Brother know why the Star-Fishing Old Man has been able to live for three hundred years?" The Nether Palace Master gathered Calamity Star sand at his fingertips. "He is nothing more than a puppet I forged using your left eye!"
The Star Core sword suddenly let out a fox’s cry, and the nine-tailed crest on the sword’s spine transformed into the lingering shadow of Su Jiuli. Her blood-stained finger touched the space between Lin Xuan’s brows, and the Reincarnation Mantra flowed backward: "Lin Xuan, see through the illusion!"
In the midst of agonizing pain, his consciousness cleared. Lin Xuan finally saw the truth: the so-called Nether Palace Master was merely the embodiment of his own evil thoughts, which he had sealed away in the Yaoguang Star. And that headless corpse was the very "Greedy Wolf fate" he had severed with his own hands!
"It is too late..."
The Nether Palace Master and the corpse merged into one, the nine-layered pupils opening on his forehead. The Star Palace Ruins transformed into a giant Taotie maw, swallowing Lin Xuan along with the throne. From the darkness, the maniacal laughter of the Star-Fishing Old Man emerged: "The marrow of ten thousand immortals has been gathered. Welcome, Star Lord, to your rightful place!"
The Star Core sword suddenly decomposed and reorganized, Su Jiuli’s firefly-like form reappearing on the sword’s spine. Her Tail-Tip Gold Bell emitted a crisp, clear chime, drawing the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox monument from the forbidden lands of Qingqiu across the void. The Heaven-Mending Sutra inscribed on the monument transformed into fire-patterned scripts, branding the "Star Burning Record" onto Lin Xuan’s body.
"With my remnant soul, I sacrifice to the cycle of reincarnation!"
Su Jiuli’s phantom suddenly ignited, and the fox fire poured into the blade along the Star Marks. Dragon scales emerged on Lin Xuan’s hand as he gripped the sword, and wings of starlight unfurled from his back—this was the innate ability of the Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch from three hundred years ago!
"Break!"
The blade pierced through the Taotie eye, and the Star Palace Ruins exploded with a deafening roar. The Nether Palace Master retreated in the light blast, his chest's Star Core spiderwebbed with cracks. Just as Lin Xuan prepared to strike, the Ten Thousand Immortal Blood Array appeared beneath his feet—the seventy-two Calamity Stars had completed their final sacrifice during that moment of devouring!
"Look closely! This is the true Greedy Wolf Swallowing the Sun!"
The Nether Palace Master crushed the Star Core, and a giant palm covered in Star Marks reached out from a rift in the void. Lin Xuan’s blood suddenly froze; on the ring finger of that giant palm was a bronze ring, clearly engraved with the emblem of the First Generation Patriarch of the Star Palace!
From beyond the Nine Heavens came the sound of breaking chains, and the sealed Yaoguang Star suddenly dimmed. The Star Core sword in Lin Xuan’s hand shattered into pieces, and the Taotie eye on the hilt rolled to the ground—reflected within its pupil was the image of Su Jiuli, imprisoned in a soul-refining cauldron within the Nether Palace!
"The game has only just begun..."
As the lingering echo of the Nether Palace Master faded, the Ten Thousand Immortal Blood Array beneath Lin Xuan’s feet suddenly reversed. The broken walls of the Star Palace Ruins began to reassemble, condensing in the void into a massive bronze gate. The aura spilling from the cracks in the door made his soul tremble—it was a pressure a thousand times more terrifying than the Nether Palace Master!
Fragments of the Star Core sword suddenly flew toward the gate, piecing together the Big Dipper Nine-Star map on its surface. As the final shard clicked into place, a familiar fox cry echoed from within—a cry originating from the same source as Su Jiuli’s innate fire, yet carrying a cataclysmic, violent fury.
Lin Xuan’s Star Marks were suddenly overrun with eerie black spots, and the sigh of the Imprisoned Dragon Star Monarch echoed in his ears: "Push open this door, and you shall know why I had to carve out your Yaoguang Star Core three hundred years ago..."
The moment his fingertips touched the gate, the headless corpse beneath the throne suddenly raised its hand. Its bone-deep fingers, covered in star-spots, were gripping tightly onto half a blood-stained fox scale from Qingqiu!