Starfall Nine Heavens

At 11 p.m., in the western district of Jiangcheng, the streetlights in the old streets and alleys were dim and yellowish.

Lin Fan tightened the throttle, and the electric scooter made a few creaking noises. The platform showed two more takeout orders: spicy hot pot from room 304, building 7, Jinxiu Garden, and milk tea from 22 Chunhua Road.

He glanced at the time and frowned. If he went overtime again, the platform would deduct money and give him a bad review, meaning he'd worked for nothing today.

A cold wind blew into his faded jacket. His father had bought it for him three years ago when he could still stand; the cuffs were already frayed. Lin Fan tightened his collar, and images of his home flashed through his mind—his mother should have just finished her Chinese medicine and was sitting at the sewing machine altering clothes. His father would be in his wheelchair, reading by the light of the eight-year-old lamp. And his twelve-year-old sister, Lin Xiao, would be doing her homework at the dining table—that table served as a dining table during the day, a desk at night, and also his mother's sewing table.

Just then, my phone vibrated. My mother sent a voice message: "Fanfan, hurry home after you finish this delivery. Mom made you some white fungus soup, it's keeping it warm in the pot."

In the background, there was the father's strained cough and Lin Xiao's urging: "Brother, come home quickly."

Lin Fan didn't reply to the message. He put his phone back in his pocket and turned into a narrower alley.

He knew this road well. The walls on both sides were covered in graffiti, and there weren't many people around at night, but it would still take him seven or eight minutes to get there. He had been delivering food for two years, and the streets and alleys of Jiangcheng were practically etched into his bones.

The aroma of spicy hot pot wafted from the insulated box, mixed with the sour smell from the depths of the alley.

He twisted the accelerator again.

Just then, a sharp screech came from ahead.

"Hiss—"

It wasn't a cat meowing, a dog barking, or a drunkard swearing. The sound was like metal scraping against glass, or the final hiss of something being choked.

Lin Fan instinctively gripped the brakes, and the wheels scraped against the slippery road surface with a muffled screech.

Another screech, clearer than before, and it felt like it was getting closer and closer to him.

Accompanying this was a woman's suppressed rebuke, and something like... the sound of a sharp blade cutting through the air?

Lin Fan felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively ducked behind a roadside trash can. The stench emanating from the can assaulted his nostrils, but he ignored the nausea and peered out through the crack.

In the alley, a tall, black figure was fighting with a... thing.

The thing was about half a person's height and had no fixed shape. Sometimes it writhed like asphalt on the ground, and other times it extended several tentacles with sharp claws. A crack appeared at its core, filled with fine, sharp teeth, and a pale purple mist swirled around it. When the mist touched a wall, the plaster peeled off; when it fell to the ground, white foam appeared on the surface.

"What the hell is this thing...?"

Lin Fan's mind went blank. Although it had never been officially reported in the news, in the past six months, rumors of "monsters" and "abnormal events" had been increasing in urban legends and on secret online forums. He had always thought they were made up by idle people to attract traffic, until now he witnessed it with his own eyes.

The black figure was a young woman, around twenty years old, none other than Su Wan. She wore a close-fitting black combat suit and held a silver longsword in her hand. Her movements were so fast that they almost left afterimages. Each swing of her sword brought a flash of cold light, and when the blade struck the monster, it made a "hissing" sound, like a red-hot iron being thrown into water.

The monster cried out in pain and shrank back.

Lin Fan covered his mouth, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew he should turn and run, but his legs wouldn't obey him.

Just then, the monster suddenly expanded, and several tentacles shot out wildly in all directions. One of them went straight for the alleyway he had come from—

There, a little girl of about four or five years old was skipping and hopping along, calling out, "Mommy, hurry up!" Not far behind, a middle-aged woman carrying shopping bags was chasing after her.

"Don't run so fast, little one! Be careful not to fall."

The whiskers were less than five meters away from the little girl.

Before Lin Fan's brain could even process what was happening, his body had already moved. He swung the delivery box in his hand and smashed it against the tentacle, while simultaneously pushing off the ground with his right foot and lunging towards the little girl.

The takeout box hit the tentacles, spilling food and soup all over the floor. The tentacles tilted slightly to one side.

That tiny bit saved the little girl's life.

The tip of the whiskers grazed Lin Fan's left shoulder, tearing a hole in his clothes and exposing his skin. A cold and painful sensation seeped into his bones.

Just then, a drop of blood splattered and landed on the jade pendant on his chest.

That jade pendant was a family heirloom; my father said he wore it "for good luck."

Lin Fan felt the jade pendant suddenly become hot, so hot that he almost cried out. But then, a cool current of air surged out of the jade pendant, rushing straight to his head through his blood vessels.

The excruciating pain in my left shoulder has actually lessened considerably.

Even more strangely, his perception changed—he could even "feel" the woman's sword behind him, like a beam of light, ready to cleave through the darkness at any moment.

The monster was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting that an ordinary person would be so unharmed after being hit by it.

Just this once.

A silver figure darted over. Su Wan's sword drew a complete circle in the air, leaving a faint trail of light where the tip passed.

"Purify Evil Round Slash".

As her voice faded, the silver light receded.

All the tentacles were severed at the root in the same instant. The monster let out a short hiss, its body convulsed violently, and then exploded with a "bang," turning into a cloud of purplish-black ash, which was washed away by the rain.

The alley quieted down, leaving only the sound of rain and Lin Fan's heavy breathing.

He slumped to the ground, his left shoulder burning with pain, but the cool current still flowed through his body, suppressing most of the pain and dizziness. He looked down at the jade pendant on his chest; the few drops of blood had seeped in, but the surface was clean and unmarked.

Su Wan sheathed her sword and strode towards Lin Fan. Rain soaked her hair and shoulders, revealing a cool and beautiful face. She first glanced at the crying little girl behind Lin Fan, then her gaze lingered on Lin Fan, pausing for a moment on his bloodied shoulder and the hand he instinctively clutched at his chest.

"You're injured." Her voice was flat, revealing no emotion.

She knelt down and gently touched the area around his wound with her fingers. Lin Fan then noticed that her hands were very white, with long, slender fingers, like those of a professional pianist. Immediately, a warm sensation flowed into his shoulder, and the bleeding stopped.

Then she stood up, walked to the mother and daughter, muttered something, and a faint white light emanated from her fingertips. The white light enveloped the two of them.

The young mother's eyes suddenly glazed over, and her voice softened: "Daughter, the rain is getting heavier... Why are we standing here... Come on, let's go home."

She picked up her daughter, turned and left, as if nothing had happened.

Lin Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

Su Wan turned to him and stretched out her hand, the white light still emanating from her fingertips.

"etc--"

She ignored him and continued to press her fingers against his forehead.

Just as her fingertips touched Lin Fan's forehead, that cool current surged up again, protecting his consciousness.

Su Wan's fingers paused.

She frowned and tried again; the white light was even brighter. But Lin Fan's eyes remained clear, though filled with fear, there was no sign of them being "dusted."

"The spell... failed?" The "Tranquility Technique" that erases temporary memories is an ordinary spell, but it has never failed to kill an unsuspecting ordinary person without spiritual power.

She muttered to herself, her brows furrowing even more deeply.

Lin Fan wanted to ask something, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt dizzy. The cool air emanating from the jade pendant receded like a tide, and the pain in his left shoulder and the dizziness from blood loss rushed back. Everything went black before his eyes, and he knew nothing more.

Su Wan supported his fallen body and checked his pulse.

He was just unconscious.

She quickly cleaned up the traces at the scene, then slung Lin Fan over her shoulder and disappeared into the night in a few leaps.

At the same time, on the other side of the city.

Deep in the old street, the antique shop "Chenyuan Pavilion" had already closed. But deep inside the shop, a hidden door slid open silently.

Behind the door was a secret room, the four walls lined with ancient books and various strange artifacts. In the center of the room, on a stone platform about half a person's height, was a fist-sized grayish-white crystal, which looked dusty and lifeless.

Just as Lin Fan's jade pendant became hot and a cool current surged out—the deepest part of this stone, which had been silent for countless years, lit up for a moment.

For a fleeting moment, the light became so faint as to be almost invisible. But it was indeed bright.

"Whoosh!"

In the corner of the secret room, a figure that had seemed to blend into the darkness suddenly opened its eyes.

He was a man in his fifties, dressed in a gray Zhongshan suit, with a refined and scholarly air, but his eyes were as deep as an ancient well. He was none other than Lu Xiuyuan, the master of Chenyuan Pavilion.

He stared intently at the faint starlight within the crystal, his pupils contracting sharply. His face froze for a moment, then gradually revealed an expression that had been suppressed for a long time and was almost turning into madness.

"This...this is..."

His voice was hoarse, trembling in a way that even he himself couldn't believe.

"The Light of Stars? Thousands of years... Could it be... really..."

He stood up abruptly, his figure blurred, and he vanished from his spot. The next moment, he was already standing on the roof of the Dust Fate Pavilion.

The night wind howled, ruffling his graying temples. Lu Xiuyuan closed his eyes, and his divine sense, like an invisible giant net, instantly spread out, covering most of Jiangcheng.

He was searching. Searching for any trace of the same aura as that starlight, searching for any unusual fluctuations.

Every corner of the city, every blade of grass and every tree, the sleeping people, the cars driving at night, the faint spiritual energy in the earth's veins, the darkness growing in the corners... countless pieces of information flooded into his senses.

But there was no result.

Apart from that faint pulsation of the starstone, there were no other special traces. It was as if that glimmer of starlight was just an illusion, or came from a distant, unreachable other side of time and space.

The starstone lit up. Though only for a moment, and the light so faint as to be almost invisible—it truly lit up! For thousands of years, since the ancients left the admonition, "When the starstone shines, destiny is revealed," this stone had never reacted in any way!

He opened his eyes and stood on the rooftop for a long time. The night wind cooled his hot blood, but it couldn't extinguish the fire that had just ignited in his eyes.

"No matter where you are... I will find you."

He spoke in a low voice, each word carrying immense weight.

Three o'clock in the morning.

In the underground chamber of Chenyuan Pavilion, a luminous pearl emitted a soft, cool light. The air was filled with the scent of ancient books and nanmu wood.

Su Wan stood in the center of the secret room, still damp from the rainy night in the old city. She recounted the events of the previous few hours in a clear, unhurried voice.

"...The Tranquility Technique was completely ineffective against him." She frowned slightly as she finished speaking. "Moreover, his left shoulder was directly scratched by the demon's tentacles, yet the wound showed no signs of being corroded by demonic energy. This is illogical for an ordinary person."

Lu Xiuyuan had his back to her, his fingers silently calculating beneath his sleeve. The Tranquilizing Technique was ineffective, and he was unaffected by demonic energy; neither of these was unusual. When Su Wan mentioned the specific time of Lin Fan's injury, a sharp glint flashed deep in his eyes.

That time... almost perfectly matched the faint tremor in the star stone. "Could it be him?" Lu Xiuyuan fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

"Understood." Lu Xiuyuan turned around, his face once again displaying the gentle expression Su Wan knew so well, as if the sharpness he had shown just moments before was merely an illusion. "Xiao Su, take me to see this child."

"Uncle Lu, you're going personally?" Su Wan was somewhat surprised. Lu Xiuyuan hadn't participated in fieldwork for several years.

"After all, it happened in the city, and the person was someone who resisted the Tranquilizing Technique and the erosion of demonic energy. It's always good to go and see," Lu Xiuyuan said with a smile.

Su Wan didn't ask any more questions: "Yes."

Looking at her standard but slightly aloof posture, Lu Xiuyuan waved his hand: "Xiao Su, you don't need to be so polite in private. The shop's rules apply to the outside world; behind closed doors, we're all family."

Su Wan's facial features softened, and the corners of her lips turned up slightly, revealing a faint but genuine smile: "I've got it, Uncle Lu." She stepped aside to lead the way, her posture still standard, but the "Uncle Lu" she uttered lacked some of the tightness of a business deal and was filled with warmth.

Lu Xiuyuan smiled, said nothing more, and walked out first.