Ah Fu's sword blade was already curled. He looked at the expanding vortex of black fog, and his voice was filled with determination: "Miss, Master Xia, run to the back of the armillary sphere! I remember the mural said..." Before he finished speaking, a sharp claw condensed from black fog brushed past his ear, leaving a half-foot deep groove on the stone wall.
Lin Yue supported the frail Xia Zichen as they stumbled away. The star-track patterns on the bronze surface of the armillary sphere oozed a dark red liquid, snaking like veins. She suddenly remembered the armillary sphere model she'd seen in the museum before her time travel—a mechanism hidden within the base! "Quick! There might be a secret compartment underneath!" She kicked open the Vermillion Bird relief on the base, revealing a bronze box engraved with Sanskrit.
The moment Xia Zichen's fingertip pressed against the bronze box, the black mist suddenly stopped. The black-robed phantoms screamed like children. The leading figure transformed into a pale human face, its features twisted and snarling, "You think the immortal left behind a mere seal? How naive!" Before he finished speaking, the Big Dipper on top of the armillary sphere suddenly flipped, and a beam of light shot up into the sky, enveloping everyone.
A translucent figure of an old man emerged from the beam of light, his white beard moving without a breeze. "The millennium has come. The reincarnation scheme we twelve immortals set up all those years ago has been waiting for this moment..." The old man looked at Lin Yue, a hint of surprise flashing in his cloudy eyes. "Soul from another world, you hold the key to breaking fate."
"What key?" Lin Yue was about to ask when Xia Zichen's entire body suddenly shook violently, and the star pattern's light suddenly surged. He huddled on the ground in agony, "Oh no! That power is devouring my spiritual energy!" The black mist seized the opportunity to close in again, devouring the light column into spiderweb-like fragments.
Ah Fu suddenly ripped open his shirt, revealing a star pattern on his chest that resembled Xia Zichen's. "Mr. Xia, do you remember that astrology book we read together a few months ago?" He bit his fingertip, and blood dripped onto Xia Zichen's forehead. "Life for life, I'll give it a try today!"
"Stop!" Lin Yue violently grabbed Ah Fu's wrist, blood splattering across the bronze box. The Sanskrit text began to reassemble itself. She suddenly remembered the pocket watch she'd brought with her during her time travel, and tremblingly pulled it out. The moment the watch chain touched the bronze box, the beam of light transformed into a sky of stardust. Twelve streams of light shot out from the stardust, piercing the eyebrows of the people.
The old man's shadowy figure laughed long and hard. "So that's how it is! The medium between time and space is the key to unlocking the cycle of reincarnation!" A resentful roar rose from the black fog, but gradually dissipated under the burning stardust. However, the armillary sphere didn't stop spinning; instead, it sped up, and a huge crack opened in the ground, revealing a bottomless abyss of darkness.
"It seems this is just the beginning," Xia Zichen muttered to himself as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. At this moment, the star pattern on his body, which had originally shone with a dazzling light, gradually transformed into a soft moonlight color, as if foreshadowing some kind of change that was quietly taking place.
He gazed into the distance, his eyes penetrating the layers of fog, seemingly able to see the "king" hidden in the depths of the darkness. As time passed, the mysterious aura became clearer and clearer, as if it was constantly approaching him.
Xia Zichen turned and looked at Lin Yue, who stood beside him. A complex glint flashed in his eyes, a mixture of doubt, inquiry, and an indescribable emotion. "Perhaps, your time travel to this era wasn't a coincidence," he said slowly, his voice low and magnetic.
At that moment, a dull roar echoed from the abyss—the sound of chains snapping. The sudden, resounding noise startled everyone. Just then, a bowl fell from her collar. Lin Yue remembered that it was something she had brought with her from the modern era when she traveled through time. Perhaps this could be a turning point in her life. Suddenly, this bowl seemed to become her only support in this strange world.
She looked around at the resolute faces of her companions, and a strong sense of mission suddenly surged within her. She realized that this crisis spanning time and space had only just begun. And they, at the center of this storm, were destined to face countless challenges and unknowns.
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