An endless dark palace stretched into the void, its only light seeping through a massive fissure above—a cascade of starlight, faint yet eternal.
Dozens of bronze pillars, towering hundreds of meters high, pierced the gloom like ancient sentinels guarding the heavens.
"...Seventy-nine, eighty, eighty-one."
"Indeed, it follows the Eighty-One Cosmic Principles. Beginning at One, ending at Ten, cycling endlessly—order unchanging, eternity unbroken."
A figure stood atop one pillar, silhouetted against the starlight. Though his face was obscured, his eyes gleamed as they swept across the ancient hall.
The starlight revealed glimpses of the palace’s structure—a celestial altar fit for an emperor.
Eighty-one bronze pillars encircled the space, their chains coiling like serpents toward the center, vanishing into a mist-shrouded abyss.
Within, golden threads formed a cross, intersected by four sun-like sigils aligned with the eight trigrams （ Bagua）: Qian, Kun, Xun, Zhen, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui.
The air was frigid, frost creeping up the pillars.
The man raised a hand, dispelling the chill with a gesture, yet the loneliness in his eyes remained.
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Suddenly, he stiffened.
A searing heat erupted from his left shoulder, spreading like hellfire through his veins.
A crimson mark—a swirling cloud of flame—glowed through his robes, pulsing with bloody radiance.
"So, you sense it too?"
Xiao Chen laughed bitterly, his voice tinged with desolation.
The mark had appeared when he was six, haunting him for twenty-four years.
It granted him unparalleled power, propelling him from obscurity to the pinnacle of martial mastery.
Yet it also devoured his body, a demonic bargain.
"This palace... hidden beneath Kunlun... Is this my fate?"
He coughed, his cheeks flushed with feverish red.
" A great master who has been famous for 30 years, but I don't know who I am?.How laughable!"
The mark flared, burning his bones. He winced, then steeled himself.
"Rise by the storm, fall by the storm. This is my final chance—to reclaim my past, to unravel this curse!"
He leaped onto the chains, darting toward the inner sanctum.
Over the years, he had even begun to harbor a haunting delusion—that this body was never truly his.
As the spectral palace from his dreams emerged more vividly, that unsettling conviction grew ever stronger.
Yes, Xiao Chen found this group of palaces based on countless identical dreams.
Abruptly, he halted.
His pupils dilated suddenly, and he was so startled that he didn't dare to breathe, and the clanging of chains was extra loud in this silent space.
The inner chamber seems to stretch out into a boundless plain. Countless colossal beasts lay chained at the center, their bodies pierced by iron links, bowed in submission.
In their center stood a three-eyed behemoth—a hundred meters tall, its petrified hands raised toward the heavens, empty eyes fixed on the roiling clouds.
Xiao Chen froze. Even as a warrior who’d faced armies and crossed battlefields, this sight chilled him.
The beasts seemed sacrificial offerings, bound in an ancient ritual.
His gaze locked onto the behemoth’s palms.
Resting there was a silver compass, its surface etched with intricate patterns. Starlight danced within it, casting ethereal glimmers.
"The celestial projections... influenced by the cosmos itself?"
Xiao Chen stepped onto the behemoth’s hand, drawn to the artifact.
A name surfaced in his mind, unbidden: "Star Atlas."
Xiao Chen’s mind reeled in shock.
What is this Star Atlas?
Why did that name suddenly come to me?
As if in a trance, he lifted his hand and brushed it against the Star Atlas. A chill seeped into his palm……
Then, agony erupted. His left shoulder burned as if his soul were being ripped from his flesh.
Behind him, violet light exploded—radiant and searing as the sun. The chained beasts disintegrated into dust in an instant.
Xiao Chen paled.
Before he could react, the mark on his left shoulder erupted with violet light, summoning celestial flames that struck him like divine retribution.
In that moment, the Milky Way blazed above, and starlit fire engulfed the ancient palace.
Amid the chaos, a towering but vague figure emerges—a figure gazing at the cosmos, solitary and indomitable.
That day, Kunlun’s peaks shattered. A silver pillar of light pierced the heavens, vanishing into the void.
Notes：
I Ching (Book of Changes). The system comprises the Eight Trigrams (八卦) and the Sixty-Four Hexagrams (六十四卦), forming eighty-one symbolic configurations that embody the universal laws of transformation and evolution governing all existence. This framework is revered as a profound philosophical exploration of cosmic phenomena, offering penetrating insights into the workings of the universe. Historically, it has served as a guide for human conduct, decision-making, and understanding the interplay between humanity and the cosmos.
- Qian (乾)represents the sky,
- Kun (坤)represents the land,
- Xun (巽)represents the wind,
- Zhen (震)represents thunder and lightning,
- Kan (坎)represents Water,
- Li (离)represents fire,
- Gen (艮)represents the mountain,
- Dui (兑)represents swamps.