Xuanyuan Tian Ji Awakens!

The instant the jade coffin hit the ground, the side hall changed.

The stone slabs beneath your feet trembled violently.

It wasn't the muffled rumbling from the depths of the palace like before. This room itself was shaking.

Cracks spread from the base of the jade platform, crawling up the four walls, crawling up to the dome overhead.

You took a step back.

Useless.

The walls shattered.

The floor shattered.

The dome shattered.

None of the broken stones fell. Instead, they dissolved directly into nothingness.

It was as if an invisible hand had erased the entire side hall from reality.

The ground vanished beneath your feet.

Weightlessness.

But you did not fall.

You hovered in a stretch of void.

All around you were stars.

Stars that blotted out the sky and covered the earth.

Dense, packed points of light surged in from every direction, filling every corner of your vision.

You had seen many starry skies.

Those of the Canglan Realm, of the Great Thousand Worlds, of the Chaos Void.

Never had any been like this.

These stars were not on the horizon. They hung at a distance where you could touch them just by reaching out.

Each one radiated a warm white light.

As if alive.

Breathing.

Watching you.

The four words Eternal Starry Sky appeared out of thin air in your mind.

You did not know where the thought had come from.

But you knew it was not wrong.

This starry sky had existed for longer than Weiyang Palace.

You withdrew your gaze and looked straight ahead.

The jade coffin was still there.

It floated at the center of the starry sky, its lid already sliding open by itself.

Xuanyuan Tian Ji's body slowly rose from within the coffin.

Her eyes were closed, her long hair scattered loose,