Chapter 309

As the roar of the rotating bronze wheel ground the regretful tears in the pond to dust, the one hundred thousand hanging coffins began to tremble in unison. Lin Xuan’s Astrolabe was irresistibly drawn to the center of the wheel, and the characters of the *Classic of Returning Tribulations* on its surface slithered like living snakes into the grooves. With every ancient seal that sank into place, a cultivator’s remains, hollowed out by the Soul-Devouring Gu, rose from the bottom of the pond. The Star Marks on their bones perfectly aligned with the trajectory of the Bronze Divination Bamboo Slip held by the Stone Statue Infant of Qingqiu. The fragmented body of the Nether Palace Master suddenly exploded. The Mother Gu tore itself free from the flesh, its carapace burning with the Star Marks of all the past patriarchs. Its hundred legs hooked onto the rim of the wheel, and its mouthparts spat out a toxic fog laden with the secrets of the Star Palace. Within the mist, a vision manifested: the First Generation Patriarch carving out the tail bone of the Celestial Fox Ancestor—the very tail bone that was now glowing with crimson gold deep within the wheel.