158: Chapter 158 The Hammer Listens to the Stars, It Listens to Fate, Not the Wind

The starlight in the Star Dome Palace's outer corridor was even more brilliant than before. Chen Fan, carrying Xiao Chan's spiritual body, stepped onto the Cloud Steps, every pace feeling as if it were aligned with some ancient rhythm.

Though he had lost all five senses, he could "see" the starlight splashing into fine dust at his feet, like someone had scattered gold powder onto the silk of destiny.

Xiao Chan's body was impossibly light; he could "touch" the protruding joints beneath her clothes and feel her breath against his neck—so shallow it was almost fading away.

"The Star Map has shifted," Xiao Chan suddenly spoke, her voice as thin as a thread of silk.

Only then did Chen Fan notice the star trails on the dome were slowly shifting, the once orderly silver lines twisting into a tangled mess.

At the end of the cloud pillars, before a ruined monument, a withered old man had appeared at some point.

He sat cross-legged on the rubble, holding half a star plate in his hands. His silver beard fluttered in the astral wind. "The Seventh Sigil moves, the Heavenly Gate will crack... in ninety years, the outer stars shall descend."

Chen Fan paused in his tracks.

He remembered the legends of the Silent Star Monk—the old monk who could stop the stars from moving. He counted the stars every night, and his words were more accurate than system announcements.

"If you take the sigil, the star trails will collapse, and the mortal realm will be left without protection." The old man looked up, his cloudy eyes reflecting the entire starry sky. "It is still not too late to turn back now."

Xiao Chan stirred in his arms.

Chen Fan "saw" droplets hanging from her eyelashes; they weren't tears, but star dew.

Her fingers gently gripped his collar, like a dying butterfly clutching at its last straw. "I won't survive past midnight... keeping the jade pendant would be a waste anyway."

Chen Fan's Adam's apple bobbed.

He thought of Su Shuang lying by the cliff. That faint pink fox tail mark on her neck—it must be covered by her wind-blown hair right now, wasn't it?

He recalled the warning from the system prompt that "Su Shuang's soul fire is weak," and remembered the crisp sound of the chains snapping when the hammer of the thunder god struck the cloud pillars—the response hidden in the slight trembling of Su Shuang's eyelashes.

He "heard" the system's hum coming from within his spiritual body, like salt being thrown into a hot pan of oil: taking the sigil was a gamble; not taking it was a loss.

Xiao Chan raised her hand, her fingertips touching the jade pendant on her chest.

Silver light wrapped around her fingertips as she began to chant, her voice sounding as if it drifted from a great distance: "star sigil returns to its master, soul fire as the guide..." The jade pendant hummed as it left her body, turning into a silver thread that burrowed into Chen Fan's chest.

Intense pain split his spiritual body like a thunderbolt—he "saw" countless Star Maps exploding in his sea of consciousness and heard muffled booms coming from the directions of the seven main cities. Seven pillars of light pierced through the clouds, converging into a torrent before the Gate of Kings.

"Maximum variable detected—Chen Fan, ID 001. Initiating Purifier protocol. Server-wide wanted status active!"

The electronic voice of the system announcement exploded in every inch of the air.

Chen Fan "heard" the cries of surprise, angry curses, and sharp intakes of breath from players worldwide, like a pot of water suddenly coming to a boil.

The star sigil on his chest burned, and countless red-name markers appeared before his eyes—the Scavenger's scythes, the Fate Breakers' poison needles, and the poisoned daggers of the Shadow Pavilion's death soldiers were all stabbing toward the Star Dome Palace's outer corridor from all directions.

"You have become a variable."

The Shadow King's voice pressed down from above.

Chen Fan looked up and "saw" a Thousand-Faced Man standing at the peak of the starry sky. Every face was changing: there were cold Law Enforcers, frenzied Avengers, and numb puppets, yet they all chanted in unison, "Only by being sealed within the Gate of Kings can this chaos be quelled."

Phantoms surged out from the Star Map.

Chen Fan's pupils constricted—every phantom was himself: one in silver armor enforcing the law, one kneeling in submission to the system, and one looking down indifferently at all living beings.

Their auras were identical to his, and even the weight of their hammer of the thunder god was exactly the same. But Chen Fan "touched" a flaw—every phantom's heartbeat was half a beat slower than his, like a pendulum that had been paused.

"critical hit system surge: [Critical Hit Foresight · Initial Activation—Can predict critical hit nodes within 0.5 seconds]."

Just as the system prompt sounded, a surge of heat rose from Chen Fan's chest.

Though blind, he "saw" a pale gold countdown appear on the chest of the third phantom from the left: [Critical Hit Determination: 0.5 seconds later, Third Phantom on the Left · Chest].

"I might be blind, but my hammer is faster than the heavens," Chen Fan let out a low growl, and the hammer of the thunder god swept out.

The wind generated by the hammerhead tore through the astral mist, accurately striking that phantom's chest—[Skill Critical Hit × 8.3]!

The moment the phantom shattered, Chen Fan "saw" the Shadow King's constricted pupils hidden within the splashing silver light.

The offensive of the remaining phantoms stalled for 0.2 seconds, like puppets whose strings had been pulled away.

He took the opportunity to shield Su Shuang behind him, pointing the thunder hammer at the Shadow King, his spiritual body glowing slightly from the surge of critical hit energy: "You say I'm a bug? Then today, I'll tear these rules apart!"

The Silent Star Monk suddenly stood up, the star plate shattering under his feet with a "crack."

He bit his fingertip and drew blood-red runes on the ground, astral power snaking into the lines like a living thing: "The movement of stars cannot be stopped, but it can be delayed!" A blue light rose at the palace gate, temporarily blocking the Shadow King's phantoms outside—for only three breaths.

Chen Fan took a deep breath, the critical hit energy within his spiritual body beginning to surge wildly.

He could "feel" the energy of the Heart Returning Blast condensing at his fist, like he was holding a small sun.

The star sigil on his chest resonated with the critical hit system, and the pale gold countdown appeared once more: [Critical Hit Determination: 0.5 seconds later, Center].

The Shadow King's thousand faces frowned simultaneously.

He could "see" the light at Chen Fan's fist growing more intense, as if it were about to suck in all the starlight in the Star Dome Palace's outer corridor.

Chen Fan's spiritual body was glowing, expanding, and breaking through some boundary he had never seen before—the cracks in the rules.

"Go!"

Chen Fan's fist thundered out.

Within the astral mist kicked up by the fist's wind, the Shadow King's true body showed a look of panic for the first time.

He tried to dodge, but "saw" that the light from Chen Fan's fist was faster than his thousand phantoms, more ruthless than the system's determination, and more unreasonable than all the rules.

The notification sound of the critical hit system exploded in Chen Fan's sea of consciousness; this time there was no multiplier, only an infinite hum.

He "saw" the phantom on the Shadow King's chest begin to shatter, like a mirror struck by a stone.

And deep within those cracks, some older, more malevolent existence was opening its eyes—but Chen Fan's fist had already arrived.