Moonless night, high winds, cliff's edge.
Lin Chen leaned against the rock wall, gasping for breath. Excruciating pain in his chest—the injury left by Zhao Hu's Blazing Fire Palm. His left hand tightly clutched his lower abdomen, where his father's Star Pattern secret was hidden.
"Lin Chen, hand over the secret, and I'll spare your life!" Zhao Hu's sinister laughter came from the woods.
Five Outer Sect disciples surrounded him in a fan-shaped formation. The lowest cultivation was at Condensation Stage Level 5, the highest—Li Si at Condensation Stage Level 7, ranked within the top thirty of the Outer Sect.
"Zhao Hu, your father didn't even have the right to look up in front of my father back in the day," Lin Chen's voice was hoarse. "Now that you've climbed to a higher branch, you dare covet the Stellar Peak inheritance?"
"You're asking for death!" Zhao Hu erupted in fury, taking a step forward. His palm glowed with crimson firelight. "Blazing Fire Palm · Mountain Incineration!"
The palm strike scorched the air, heading straight for his face.
Lin Chen retreated hastily, but his injuries slowed him down by half a beat. The palm imprint brushed past his shoulder—fabric charred black, skin seared.
"Pfft—" He spat blood, staggering. Gravel tumbled over the cliff.
"Brother Hu, mighty!" The lackey Zhang San flattered.
Zhao Hu's second palm followed closely: "You brought this on yourself!"
At the brink of life and death, Lin Chen remembered his father's words: "Awakening the Chaos Stellar Body requires desperate emotions to ignite."
Desperation... ignition...
He no longer retreated; instead, he stepped half a pace forward, clenched his fist—no spiritual power, only the meager cultivation of Condensation Stage Level 3.
"Haha! Using a mortal's fist to resist the Blazing Fire Palm?" Zhao Hu laughed wildly.
The laughter abruptly ceased.
Beneath the skin of Lin Chen's glabella, silver patterns suddenly turned hot. The heat spread; a "crack" sound from within—seal? Shackles?
Moonlight converged, condensed at his glabella, transforming into a pale silver stellar mark.
The size of a fingernail, ancient and mysterious.
Zhao Hu's palm force halted three feet from his chest, blocked by an invisible power—cold and vast, like the night sky.
"This is..." Zhao Hu was horrified.
Lin Chen was astonished. Stellar power surged within him, not spiritual power, but a more fundamental force.
"The first glimmer of dawn..." he murmured.
"Stop him!" Zhao Hu roared. "All together!"
Six people pounced, martial skill lights flickering.
Lin Chen turned, gazing into the bottomless abyss.
Jump, perhaps die.
Don't jump, certain death.
"Father..." He leaped.
"No—" The furious roar was drowned by the wind.
Body plummeted rapidly, the weightlessness making his heart drum like thunder. Cliff walls blurred into grey shadows.
The mark on his glabella heated again, the heat outlining a complex pattern—nine stars, specific trajectories, chaos at the center.
"Nine-star alignment, chaos begins..." Eight characters surfaced in his mind.
The fall accelerated; he closed his eyes, awaiting impact.
But—
His body lightened, as if falling into water, passing through a membrane. The wind sound vanished, absolute silence.
Opened his eyes.
Not the cliff bottom.
A massive underground space. Fluorescent stalactites overhead, smooth black stone floor. Cave walls carved with patterns—stars, sun and moon, runes, human figures?
Stood up, unscathed. Injuries reduced by more than half.
"Where?" His voice echoed.
The stellar patterns on the cave wall glowed faintly as his gaze swept over.
Approached, star chart—nine stars aligned, central tower-shaped structure.
"Nine-star alignment... Stellar Tower?"
The mark on his glabella grew intensely hot.
The star chart burst with light, nine stars lit up one by one, the tower building radiating golden light.
Golden light converged, condensing into an illusory figure—hands clasped behind back, gazing at the star chart.
Back view.
"Father?!" Lin Chen trembled.
Turned around.
Lin Xiaotian. Aged, temples streaked with white, eyes weary yet relieved.
"Chen'er, you've finally come."
"Father! You're still alive?!"
"This is just a divine sense imprint from ten years ago," the phantom sighed. "The real me is trapped in the space-time turbulence of Meteorite Valley."
"Space-time turbulence? How do I save you?"
"Not yet," he shook his head. "You're too weak. At least Spiritual Light Realm to have the qualification to step into Meteorite Valley's core."
"But..."
"Time is short." The phantom was solemn. "First, your Chaos Stellar Body has initially awakened. But to fully activate it, you need the complete inheritance of 'Chaos Stellar Scripture'—within the Stellar Tower."
"Where is the Stellar Tower?"
"On the day of nine-star alignment, the Stellar Tower manifests itself. Three years from now, the fifteenth of August."
Three years.
"Second, beware of the sect leadership. My disappearance was no accident; someone orchestrated it—right at the highest echelons of the Azure Cloud Sect."
Lin Chen's heart sank.
"Third, most importantly," the phantom gazed deeply. "The Star Pattern on your glabella is not decoration; it's a key."
"A key?"
"One of the keys to open the Stellar Tower." He paused. "But similar Star Patterns exist not only within you. On the day of nine-star alignment, all Star Pattern bearers will gather. Then, friend or foe, life or death, all depends on strength."
Lin Chen gasped.
"Remember, before you're strong enough, do not expose the Star Pattern. Zhao Hu and his ilk are not worth worrying about; what's terrifying are—the old monsters in the shadows."
The phantom began to blur.
"Father!"
"Chen'er, cultivate well." A final smile. "I'll be waiting for you in Meteorite Valley. When you reach the Celestial Phenomenon Realm, we father and son... shall meet again."
The phantom dissipated.
The star chart's light extinguished, ordinary stone carvings.
Lin Chen stood dazed, for a long time.
His father was still alive, trapped in space-time turbulence.
He was a key bearer.
Three years, the Stellar Tower would appear, competing with other Star Pattern bearers.
He must become strong.
Strong enough to enter Meteorite Valley, strong enough to save his father, strong enough to survive.
"First, get out of this cave."
He walked to the center; a teleportation array was carved on the ground. In the center of the array, a jade slip.
Picked it up, pressed it to his forehead.
'Basic Stellar Body Refinement Technique'.
The foundational cultivation method left by his father.
Stored the jade slip, stepped into the teleportation array.
Light enveloped him.
"Hum—"
After a dizzying spin, he stood behind a thicket at the foot of the back mountain.
Looked up; the moon slanted westward.
Faint human voices in the distance—Zhao Hu was still searching.
"Condensation Stage Level 3... not enough, far from enough."
Clenched his fist, determination in his eyes.
"Then let it begin tonight."
"Starting with this 'Basic Stellar Body Refinement Technique'."
"Three years from now, on the day the Stellar Tower appears—"
"I'll make everyone know: Stellar Peak has not perished yet!"
Night deepened.
The youth stepped under the moonlight, disappearing into the woods.
He didn't know whether death or dawn awaited him at the cliff bottom.
But he knew, from tonight onward, fate would change completely.