The keel of the Star Remains boat crushed the pitch-black waves as seventy-two Candle Dragon eyes drifted slowly in the deep. Lin Xuan’s fingertips brushed the blood-weeping totem of the Jiao Clan on the gunwale, and the Xuanwu Star Mark beneath his skin glowed with a faint, cold blue light. Suddenly, the floating corpses of the Jiao people turned their necks; the Reverse Scales beneath their jaws trembled in unison, emitting a humming sound like clashing metal.
"Ding—"
The old man in the straw raincoat flicked his fishing rod, the bronze bell shattering three floating corpses. A crimson sea snake, crawling out from the rotting flesh, coiled around the gunwale. On its scales, the secret script of the Star Palace seeped black blood: "The Blood Puppet Guards have scented the Star Lord." Before the words faded, thousands of bone arrows shot from the submarine vortex, their tips engraved with the forbidden spells of the Tianji Pavilion!
Lin Xuan drew his fingers across his Star Mark, and Xuanming heavy water condensed into an ice shield. The moment the rain of arrows touched the surface, the spells on the shafts ignited. Within the ghostly green flames, the face of Lu Xiaopang’s grandfather appeared: "Remnants of the Star Palace... shall be purged!"
"The Lu family really is hiding something!" Lin Xuan shattered the ice shield, the flying ice blades severing the snake swarm. The Astrolabe suddenly broke free from his control, plunging into the churning ink-colored waves. As he leaped into the sea, he caught a glimpse of golden blood seeping from the secret script at the boat's hull—the forbidden arts used to reverse the *Star Burning Records* were being tampered with by some force, and the last line of small seal script had transformed into the Star Mark totem of the First Generation Patriarch!
"Clatter!"
From the depths of the underwater vortex came the sound of chains straining, each roar causing the Xuanwu Star Mark to dim. In the undercurrent, Lin Xuan witnessed a horrific sight: seventy-two massive bronze pillars erupted from the sand, bound by dark iron chains studded with the corpses of Merfolk. Their spines had been extracted and replaced with Star Palace secret silver, etched with Soul-Devouring Gu spells!
"Three of the Dragon-Prison Chains have snapped!" The old man tore open his straw raincoat, revealing a chest swarming with Soul-Devouring Gu. "Quickly, use your Star Blood to recast the array core!"
Lin Xuan sliced his wrist, the blood beads coalescing into a phantom of Xuanwu in the seawater. As the phantom reared its head and roared, a green light exploded from the center of the bronze pillars, and the Astrolabe floated up from the sand sea, carrying a pulsing heart—its surface covered in dragon scales, its rhythm perfectly synchronized with Lin Xuan’s Star Mark!
"The Dragon Heart of the North Sea Jiao Monarch..." The Nether Palace Master’s voice emanated from the heart. "The old fool really did hide it here!"
The old man suddenly lunged, his fishing line wrapping around Lin Xuan’s neck. "The Star Lord’s bloodline is truly the best sacrifice!" The bronze bell at the end of the line morphed into a ghost mask, its fangs biting toward the vital point of the Star Mark. Lin Xuan grabbed the line with his other hand, and Xuanming heavy water surged back along the thread. The Soul-Devouring Gu on the old man’s chest burst one by one, the spatters of dark purple pus forming half a map of Qingqiu in the air!
"You are the true watchdog of the First Generation Patriarch!" Lin Xuan snapped the line, and the Astrolabe surged in power. The Dragon Heart suddenly burst, but instead of blood marrow, it unleashed a sealed half-fragment of Su Jiuli’s Destiny Soul! Wrapped within that soul light was a tail scale, its underside engraved with the Forbidden Seal of the Star Palace—identical to the Greedy Wolf Mark on the back of Lin Xuan’s neck!
The bronze pillars began to move, arranging themselves into the Greedy Wolf Devours the Sun formation. The seafloor sand and stone were whipped up by a hurricane, revealing the base of a buried altar. Embedded in a groove on the altar’s surface was a broken sword, its hilt wrapped in a faded Qingqiu silk ribbon—the very ornament Su Jiuli had used to bind her hair three hundred years ago!
"So, you had it planned all along..." The phantom of the Nether Palace Master rose from the array, holding the destiny sword from Lin Xuan’s previous life. Wherever the sword pointed, the seawater froze into an ice cage. "Do you really think reversing the *Star Burning Records* can change your fate?"
The Xuanwu phantom smashed the cage, and Lin Xuan leaped onto the altar, clutching the Astrolabe. The moment his fingertips touched the broken sword, the seafloor fell deathly silent. The seventy-two Candle Dragon eyes opened simultaneously, their pupils reflecting a scene from the Forbidden Land of Qingqiu: the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox stone statue crumbled, and the Black-robed man suppressed beneath it tore through the void. A Tail-Tip Gold Bell wrapped around his fingertip emitted a clear, crisp chime—
"Ding-ling!"
Lin Xuan’s blood froze in his veins. As the Black-robed man raised his head, the Taotie eye on his forehead wept tears of blood; his face was exactly identical to Lin Xuan’s own! The man waved his hand lightly, and the phantom of the Nether Palace Master dissipated like mist, leaving only a cold sneer echoing in the deep:
"I have waited... for you... for a very long time."
The Star Remains boat suddenly veered off course, and pitch-black Star Marrow seeped from the script at its bottom. In his dizziness, Lin Xuan saw fragments of the future: the Black-robed man sat upon the throne of the Soul Palace, stepping on the reassembling corpse of the First Generation Patriarch. And the sun and moon hanging high above the Nine Heavens were slowly transforming into a pair of giant Taotie eyes!
The seawater suddenly boiled, and the Xuanwu phantom let out a final mournful cry before dissipating. Lin Xuan gripped the shard of Su Jiuli’s Destiny Soul, and the Astrolabe guided his gaze to the back of the altar—where a new prophecy was etched in Jiao blood:
"When the Greedy Wolf devours its master, the Nine-Tails shall burn to ash."
Beneath the pitch-black surface of the sea, a second wave of bone arrows had quietly taken form. The spells flickering on their tips were no longer the mark of the Tianji Pavilion, but the long-lost Sky-Burning Pattern of the Qingqiu Fox Clan...