Chapter 1019: Stargazing Platform

Passing through several massive energy gates, an even more vast, even more ancient stellar force slammed into his face, bearing a soul‑shaking pressure. The scene before him cleared instantly, and Han Wuxian was forced upright by his bearers.

He saw it—the Stargazing Platform!

It was a circular platform floating in the void at the center of a massive hall, its surface made of countless strange crystals that shimmered with silver starlight, etched with incomprehensibly intricate runes—ten thousand times more complex and profound than the Star Prison Array in the cell.

Surrounding the platform were nine towering black stellar pillars that rose to the dome, each topped with a human‑head‑sized radiant crystal core radiating a different elemental stellar power; their lights interwove into a three‑dimensional star‑map lattice that enveloped the entire Stargazing Platform.

In the very center of the Stargazing Platform, a complex pedestal formed of pure starlight held a solitary object suspended in stillness.

It was an ancient star disc about a foot square. Its whole body glowed a deep, dark gold, its edges heavily worn, exuding the patina of ages. The disc's surface was not smooth but riddled with countless ultra‑fine, naturally formed grooves and ridges, each forming a miniature map of stellar trajectories.

These trajectory maps were not static; they drifted and shifted slowly, as if alive! The core of the disc was shrouded in a layer of dense, un‑dissolvable, seemingly solid chaotic starlight—its exact shape invisible, only the terrifying energy capable of tearing the void could be felt, along with a summons that resonated violently with the star‑diagram seal inside Han Wuxian, originating from the same source!

Star Sea Diagram!

The object sought by Qinghe Fairy!

Han Wuxian's heart hammered in his chest, nearly bursting out! The intense resonance slammed into his spirit like a tsunami, causing the simulated "light" within him to flare instantly, almost breaking through his disguise!

He forced himself to suppress it, deliberately lowering his eyelids to hide the scorching light and deep‑seated hatred that threatened to burst from his eyes.

At this moment on the Stargazing Platform, aside from the two Star Scar Guards bearing him, there was only one other person.

Ling Xuyu.

He stood with his hands behind his back several zhang away from the Star Sea Diagram, his deep‑blue stellar‑track robe shimmering with profound luster under the glow of the Nine‑Luminary Star Core. He did not look at Han Wuxian, but focused his entire attention on the chaotic starlight at the diagram's core, his gaze intent and tinged with a barely perceptible fervor.

"Bring it up and fix it at the Star‑Summoning Position," Ling Xuyu said without turning his head, his voice flat as if ordering the handling of a laboratory specimen.

The two Star Scar Guards lifted Han Wuxian onto the Stargazing Platform. The flowing starlight crystals beneath their feet felt warm yet exerted a powerful suction. Roughly, they dragged Han Wuxian to a specific recessed slot at the platform's edge, etched with intricate spirit‑summoning runes, and pressed him in like a specimen.

Within the slot, several supple yet incredibly sturdy star‑light chains instantly rose, automatically coiling around Han Wuxian's neck, waist, and legs, securing him firmly in a half‑kneeling posture, facing the central Star Sea Diagram.

Simultaneously, a powerful suction emanated from the runes beneath him, frantically drawing out the already feeble energy within his body, especially that simulated "Light‑Path Stellar Power," forcibly channeling it toward the Star Sea Diagram!

"Ugh!" Han Wuxian let out a muffled groan of pain; the extraction intensified the agony in his arms and made maintaining his disguise even harder. He felt that speck of "light" inside him being forcibly stripped and stretched, like a thin filament trembling as it drifted toward the chaotic core of the Star Sea Diagram.

Ling Xuyu finally shifted his gaze from the Star Sea Diagram to Han Wuxian. His eyes were cold and indifferent, as if looking at fuel about to be thrown into a furnace.

"Begin," he said lightly, his voice echoing across the cavernous Stargazing Platform.

He raised both hands, his ten fingers fluttering like butterflies through blossoms, swiftly forming a series of exceedingly intricate and profound seals! He muttered incantations, spitting out ancient, obscure syllables. As he moved, the entire Stargazing Platform trembled with a booming vibration!

Buzz!

The Nine‑Luminary Star Cores atop the nine stellar pillars suddenly erupted with unprecedented brilliance! Nine stellar light columns of differing attributes, yet equally vast and mighty, thundered down, precisely injecting the nine designated nodes along the platform's edge.

The billions of runes etched across the platform ignited like a star‑river, all lighting up instantly! Silver radiance flowed and coalesced across the crystal platform like liquid, eventually forming a massive silver light pillar composed of countless moving runes, completely enveloping the central Star Sea Diagram!

The chaotic starlight in the core of the Star Sea Diagram roiled violently under the stimulus of this vast power! An indescribable ancient, immense pressure, as if born from the universe's inception, spread outward, turning the faces of the two Star Scar Guards bearing Han Wuxian pale, causing them to involuntarily step back a few paces.

"Source‑Trace: Resolve!"

Ling Xuyu let out a low shout, his double‑handed seals snapping toward the direction where Han Wuxian stood.

Boom!

The massive silver light pillar enveloping the Star Sea Diagram seemed to find an outlet; a silver beam, refined to a thickness of an arm yet radiating an aura that pierced all illusion, like a spear of judgment, suddenly split from the pillar, tearing the air and, at a speed beyond thought, slammed toward Han Wuxian fixed at the Star‑Summoning Position!

Target: his chest! The source of that faint "light" filament!

The source‑trace analysis has begun!

The power contained in this beam far exceeds the earlier detection techniques! It aims not only to dissect but also to forcibly trace the origin of Han Wuxian's power, imposing a connection and analysis with the chaotic seal at the core of the Star Sea Diagram, even… to detonate!

A line between life and death!

At the instant the silver beam was about to pierce Han Wuxian's chest!

"Now is the moment!"

Han Wuxian's tightly shut eyes snapped open! No trace of weakness or near‑death remained, only a madness that would burn everything and a calculation chilled to the extreme!

He had been waiting for this moment! Awaiting the Star Sea Diagram's power to be drawn to its utmost, awaiting Ling Xuyu's entire spirit to be immersed in this source‑trace analysis, awaiting the connection instant that could destroy him yet also hold infinite possibilities!

He no longer suppressed the simulated "light" within him! Instead, he unleashed all remaining will, together with the faint strands of his true light source that had been painfully awakened by the Star Prison Array's stellar power, and the star‑diagram seal left by Qinghe Fairy, like a maximally compressed bomb, detonating everything!

Boom!

A surge of "Light‑Path Stellar Power"—ten times stronger than his previous feeble, dying state, a hundred times purer, bearing the ancient authority of the star diagram—erupted suddenly from his chest! The force was like a volcano dormant for ten thousand years, instantly breaking through the extraction of the Star‑Summoning Position and even briefly warping the star‑light chains that bound him!

This sudden, pure and mighty burst caused the incoming silver source‑trace beam to momentarily stall.

And in that split‑second flash, less than one‑ten‑thousandth of a breath!