The sealed scroll trembled in Li Tianming's hands as he sat cross-legged within the secluded grove atop Moonshadow Cliff. The wind murmured through pine boughs, and moonlight fell like silver threads across his shoulders. Mei'er lay curled beside him, asleep, her breath steady and aura faintly glowing from the newly formed lunar bond.
Tianming ran his thumb across the obsidian wax seal. The sigil—a broken circle with an inverted star—radiated a strange chill. Elder Su Lanyin had spoken with both urgency and restraint. Whatever lay within the scroll was dangerous not just for the knowledge it contained but for the changes it would invoke.
He broke the seal.
The parchment unfurled slowly on its own, releasing a pulse of ancient qi that made his system flare.
> [Archive Recognized: Forbidden Scroll #37 — "Chronicle of the Celestial Fracture"]
> [Warning: Viewing classified data may expose user to existential threats. Continue? Y/N]
He chose yes.
The script upon the scroll rearranged itself into readable lines, but the language was archaic, saturated with divine metaphor and esoteric allusions. The system translated swiftly, line by line:
> "When the sky bled and the heavens wept, the Seven Star Thrones shattered. From their fragments rose the Celestial Court—but not all followed. The Black Sky Mirror was born of defiance, and those who peered too long into its reflection were consumed."
> "The Starbrand Carriers were marked—first saviors, then betrayers. Their power became a curse, and from them descended the Eclipse Children."
> "The Crimson Moon Sect was built on the remains of one such fallen Throne. The Spirit Fountain beneath the sect is a shard of that very celestial seat."
Tianming's breath caught.
> [System Alert: User Proximity to Starshard Core – 91%. Hidden System Interface Available. Activate Starshard Fusion Mode? Y/N]
He paused.
Could this be the source of his system's origin? Had it not been coincidence, but fate—his arrival in the sect, his inheritance of power?
He pressed Y.
A soundless pulse surged outward. The grove trembled. Distant birds shrieked and fled into the dark.
> [Starshard Fusion Mode Unlocked. Tier I: Lunar Interface – Assimilation Protocols Active. WARNING: Host Subject Mei'er Interference Detected. Initiating Joint Stabilization... Success. Passive Trait Acquired: Starflare Resonance. Cooldown: 7 Days.]
Tianming gritted his teeth as a surge of energy tore through his limbs—burning, reshaping, reforging his internal meridians. The night sky above twisted. For a moment, he felt as though he stood not on the ground, but upon the surface of a vast, glassy moon.
Mei'er stirred, groaning.
Her eyes opened, glowing faintly. "You opened it."
"I had to."
Tears glimmered in her lashes. "Then the stars will find you."
"Let them try."
---
A Stirring Sect
Elsewhere, the Crimson Moon Sect began to hum with unease.
Rumors spread of the eastern dormitory's destruction, and elders worked overtime to conceal signs of the skirmish. The infected bodies had vanished overnight. Elder Yan's name was never spoken again—only noted as "absent due to seclusion."
But disciples whispered.
And fear, once seeded, grew fast.
Feng Qingxue confronted Tianming beside the Vermilion Lotus Courtyard.
"You've been hiding something," she said. "More than just a girl and a few rogue disciples."
He met her gaze evenly. "I have. But only because the truth would make the sect burn itself from the inside out."
She folded her arms. "And yet you walk into fire."
"I'm not alone anymore."
Wei Jian stepped from the shadows. "We've begun tracking energy echoes beyond the valley. Something is drawing corrupted beasts closer."
Tianming nodded. "The Starshard."
He showed them the scroll.
As Qingxue read, her face paled.
"This… rewrites everything."
"No," Tianming said. "It reveals what was always there."
Wei Jian's voice was flat. "We must secure the Spirit Fountain. If the shard is beneath it…"
"It is," Tianming confirmed. "And it's not dormant anymore."
---
The Spirit Fountain Beneath
At midnight, the Moonlit Alliance gathered beneath the ceremonial temple atop the Spirit Fountain.
Few knew that the fountain's basin extended deep underground—into a subterranean vault sealed for centuries.
But Mei'er knew.
"I hear the shard singing," she said. "Below. Beneath the stone veins."
Using the scroll's embedded runes, Tianming unlocked a hidden path behind the fountain's inner sanctum. The tunnel spiraled down, ancient and dust-laden.
Every step sent pulses of energy rippling through Tianming's bones.
The deeper they went, the more the world twisted.
Carvings lined the walls—murals of winged figures casting down silver blades, of moons breaking apart in storms of starlight, of a mirror swallowing a sky full of stars.
And then—
They arrived.
A chamber. Vast and circular. At its center floated a crystalline structure suspended above an ancient pedestal—rotating slowly, weeping liquid light.
The Starshard.
Mei'er fell to her knees, weeping silently. "Home… it feels like home."
Tianming stepped forward.
But before he could reach it—
The shadows stirred.
Figures emerged from the dark edges of the chamber. Ten. No—twelve.
Masked. Robed. Branded with the inverted star.
One stepped forward. "You should not be here."
Tianming readied his blade. "And yet, here I stand."
The man removed his mask.
Elder Ji.
The master of the Outer Hall.
"You were not supposed to awaken it yet," he said. "But perhaps it is better this way. Perhaps… we let the shard choose."
He raised a hand.
The Starshard pulsed—and a beam of light struck Tianming directly in the chest.
> [Judgment Trial Initiated. Subject: Li Tianming. Starshard Protocols: Alignment Assessment. Outcome: Pending.]
Tianming collapsed.
The world went white.
---
Judgment
He stood on a shattered battlefield of stars.
Before him hovered three celestial thrones—two broken, one whole. Figures made of light watched him.
A voice echoed.
"What do you seek?"
"Truth," Tianming said.
"Even if it kills you?"
"Yes."
"Even if it kills others?"
He hesitated. "If they stand in its way—yes."
The thrones shifted.
"Then you are not pure."
"No," Tianming said. "I'm not. But purity never saved anyone. Will did."
Silence.
Then—
"So be it. Rise, Starforged."
A star flared in his chest.
> [Judgment Complete. Title Granted: Starforged Initiate. New Ability Unlocked: Celestial Rend. Passive Trait Gained: Cosmic Defiance. Starforge Tier I Achieved.]
---
Return
Tianming gasped as he came to.
The cultists had drawn back, eyes wide.
Elder Ji whispered, "He… he survived judgment?"
Tianming stood, starfire burning in his eyes.
"Yes. And now I bring it."
He raised his blade.
And in that moment, the war for the truth behind the stars truly began.
---
[End of Chapter 12: Starburned Truth]