Chapter 105

The tribulation mark on the forehead of the charred fox corpse grew like a vine, and as the undercurrents swept Star Sand across the remains, it emitted a sharp sound like metal grinding against metal. A sudden, piercing pain shot through the cracks in Su Jiuli’s spine, causing primordial chaos to erupt and solidify into bronze chains that bound the corpse. The ends of these chains extended deep into the sand at the bottom of the abyss, dragging forth a Wu Clan altar. The nine bronze Soul Lamps at the center of the altar had long since extinguished, their bodies covered in Star Orbit carvings that shared the same origin as the tribulation mark. She stepped through the waves, closing in on the corpse. The moment her fingertips touched the tribulation mark, the seawater froze into translucent Star Sand crystals. These crystals refracted a secret from thirty thousand years ago: the First Generation Patriarch stood upon the altar, using a bone dagger to gouge out the heart of the Black Tortoise True Spirit, refining the pulsing flesh into a bronze cauldron. The droplets of blood oozing from the fangs of the taotie pattern on the cauldron were identical in origin to the primordial chaos she was currently bleeding into the seawater! "The tribulation mark consumes its master... the cycle of karma..."