Water dripping from the bowl's rim exploded onto the ground, creating faint blue sparks. Lin Yue bent to pick it up, only to see delicate oracle bone script emerging from the bottom. The words seemed to come alive, swirling across the porcelain surface, echoing the Sanskrit inscriptions on the base of the armillary sphere. "This is impossible..." Her fingers traced the bottom of the bowl, suddenly touching a raised area—a miniature relief of a celestial sphere, its needle pointing to the inscription "3 ke of the hour of Mao" in the center of the bowl.

Ah Fu's sword suddenly hummed, and dozens of dark shadows rose from the abyss. The leading figure, a black-robed man wearing a bronze mask, held a chain wrapped around the end of a broken blade—the fragment of a sword passed down through generations in Ah Fu's family. "The prophecy in the astrology book... So you are the 'Time Reverser,'" the black-robed figure's hoarse voice tinged with frenzy. The chain swung out with a clang, entangling Xia Zichen's ankle.

Lin Yue slammed the bowl down onto the bronze box, and the oracle bone script and Sanskrit script collided with a clashing sound, emitting a dazzling golden light. A sound like a crying baby echoed from the abyss, and the black-robed figure's mask shattered, revealing a face that bore a striking resemblance to Xia Zichen. "I am his elder brother, the one who should have inherited the destiny of the stars!" the other man roared, chains piercing his palm. "Do you think that unravelling the samsara system will bring peace? The true king has long been hidden among you!"

Xia Zichen's star patterns flickered violently. The moment he broke free from his chains, the Big Dipper on top of the armillary sphere materialized, pinning the black-robed figure to the stone wall. But this was only a brief moment of suppression. The cracks in the abyss expanded at a visible speed, and more black-robed figures crawled out. The air was filled with the smell of rust and blood.

"Miss Lin, try to use your pocket watch to adjust the time!" Ah Fu suddenly shouted. The star pattern on his chest was resonating with Xia Zichen. "It's painted on the mural that the Twelve Immortals used the armillary sphere to control time. Maybe..." His words were interrupted by the muffled groan of the chain piercing his shoulder.

Lin Yue stuck his pocket watch into the groove in the bowl. When the hands reached 3:30 AM, the entire underground palace began to rotate in reverse. The black-robed figure's movements slowed, and the black mist in the cracks solidified into ice crystals. But then spiderweb-like cracks appeared on the watch glass, and the backlash of time's reversal caused blood to gush from Lin Yue's nose.

"Enough!" Xia Zichen suddenly hugged her, and the star pattern light enveloped the two of them. "You can see the past and the future. This is why the Samsara Bureau chose you." His voice was reassuring, but it trembled suddenly the moment it touched Lin Yue's memory - deep in her memory, she unexpectedly saw a scene where the twelve immortals sealed a "king", and the face of that king... was exactly the same as Xia Zichen's.

"No! Impossible!" Xia Zichen stumbled back, the star pattern's light flickering. The black-robed figure, pinned to the stone wall, laughed wildly, "Do you know the truth now? Back then, my father forcibly transferred my star power to protect you! The Twelve Immortals noticed something was wrong with you, and that's why they set up this thousand-year reincarnation trap!"

Ah Fu, clutching his wound, stood between the two men. His sword suddenly glowed with a strange silvery-white light. "No matter the truth, Master Xia gave me this life!" He swung his sword to cut through the approaching black mist, only to see the same oracle bone script as on the bottom of the bowl emerge on the blade. "Miss Lin, this sword... seems to be responding to that bowl!"

Lin Yue's temples throbbed, countless fragments of memories exploding in her mind. She recalled seeing similar oracle bone inscriptions on fragments of ancient books while studying the armillary sphere at a museum before her time travel—an ancient text that recorded "spacetime anchor points." "Perhaps... this bowl and sword are part of this spacetime anchor point!" She grabbed Ah Fu's sword and pressed both it and the bowl onto the bronze box.

The underground palace trembled violently, and the armillary sphere vanished into the earth in a stream of light, replaced by a suspended star map. Twelve star tracks connected to twelve glowing points, one of which prominently marked Lin Yue's modern spacetime coordinates. The black-robed figure suddenly broke free from the starlight's restraints, his chains swirling towards the star map. "You think you can control spacetime? You're nothing but pawns on the chessboard of the Twelve Immortals!"

Xia Zichen gritted his teeth and charged forward, the star pattern turning completely pure white. "Even if I'm just a chess piece, I'll be the one holding it!" As he grappled with the black-robed figure, the light points on the star map began to collapse, and a turbulent flow of space and time swept in. Lin Yue felt her body gradually become transparent, and the ticking of her pocket watch grew clearer and clearer in her ears.

"Hold my hand!" Ah Fu thrust his sword into the star map, and the sword and bowl burst into brilliant light. "The astrology book says that those who go against time can restart reincarnation!" His voice was torn into pieces by the turbulent flow of time and space, "But it requires sacrifice..."

Lin Yue watched the afterimages of Xia Zichen and the black-robed figure perishing together, then watched Ah Fu's gradually fading form. She clutched her pocket watch tightly. As the final ray of light flickered, she finally understood the true purpose of the Samsara Bureau—not sealing, but selecting. To select those willing to sacrifice themselves to protect time and space, and grant them the power to restart the cycle of reincarnation.

"I do!" Her cry echoed through the underground palace, and the pocket watch, bronze bowl, and Ah Fu's sword merged into one. Time and space froze in that moment, then instantly restarted. When Lin Yue opened her eyes again, she found herself back in the museum, but now she held a bronze pocket watch engraved with a star pattern, and the hands of the armillary sphere in the display case were pointing to an unfamiliar time.

Familiar footsteps echoed in the distance, and two figures appeared at the entrance to the exhibition hall. Xia Zichen and Ah Fu smiled at her, the star patterns on their chests faintly visible. Lin Yue gripped her pocket watch tightly, knowing that a new cycle had begun. This time, she was no longer a passive time traveler, but a guardian who held the key to time and space.