### Fractured Legacy
Lin Tian's breath fogged in the Arctic chill as he slumped against the vault wall, amber scars spiderwebbing across his chest. Xia Qingyue's frostfire flared around them, a fragile shield against the Sovereign's Burden devouring his meridians. "You're burning too fast," she whispered, her voice raw. "Even the Luck System can't reverse this."
A hologram flickered—Lin Xue, her neon-pink hair dull under the glare of corrupted data streams. "I cracked the Patriarch's archives. There's… something you need to see." The projection shifted, revealing a symbol: a nine-pointed star encircling a black hole. "Your mother's records aren't human. They're written in *stellar glyphs*."
The screen zoomed into a celestial map, its center a planet named **Xingyu**, where cities floated atop inverted mountains. "Her surname, **Ji**, belongs to a dynasty there. They're not just cultivators—they're **starborn**."
---
### The Anchor's Call
Beneath the Forbidden City, in a chamber sealed for millennia, they found it: the **Stellar Anchor**. A monolith of iridescent metal, its surface etched with constellations that hummed in resonance with Lin Tian's blood. As he pressed his palm to it, the room dissolved into starlight.
A woman's voice, warm and resonant, enveloped him: *"My son, if this reaches you, know that I fled to protect you. The Ji Clan's enemies hunt our bloodline. Take our legacy… and prove yourself worthy."*
The Anchor erupted in light, tearing a portal through reality. From it stepped **Ji Yanling**, Lin Tian's maternal aunt. Her robes shimmered like condensed starlight, and her gaze pierced him with the weight of a thousand galaxies. "You've your mother's eyes, nephew. But eyes alone won't survive what comes next."
---
### The Starborn Truth
In the Ji Clan's sanctuary—a pocket dimension within the Anchor—Ji Yanling revealed the past:
- **The Ji Dynasty**: Rulers of Xingyu, wielding qi refined from dying stars.
- **Lin Tian's Mother**: A prodigy who defied General Kun, her betrothed, to shield Earth from a celestial war.
- **The Celestial Trials**: A rite to awaken starborn meridians, reserved for true heirs.
"Your mother hid you here, but the Trials *must* be faced," Ji Yanling said, her tone brooking no argument. "Without them, the Burden will consume you… and Xingyu's warlords will claim both our worlds."
Xia Qingyue stepped forward, frostfire crackling. "And if he dies in these Trials?"
"Then Earth dies with him."
---
### Threshold of Stars
The sanctuary shifted, walls dissolving into a cosmos where nebulae swirled like living paint. Before them stood three gates:
1. **The Gate of Echoes**: To confront ancestral ghosts.
2. **The Gate of Balance**: To harmonize celestial and earthly qi.
3. **The Gate of Ascension**: To prove worthiness of the Ji name.
Lin Tian's scars blazed silver as starlight qi surged through him. "I don't care about thrones or dynasties. But if this saves Huaxia…" He glanced at Xia Qingyue, then stepped toward the first gate.
Ji Yanling's voice halted him. "The Trials will test more than strength. They will bare your soul. Fail, and Xingyu's enemies will feast on your essence."
The gate's surface rippled like liquid midnight. Lin Tian inhaled, the scent of ozone and stardust filling his lungs. Behind him, Xia Qingyue murmured, "I'll be here. Always."
As he crossed the threshold, the universe folded inward.