The moment the bronze wick flared, Lu Xiaopang stepped out from the firelight. His newly formed body was covered in the totems of the Wu Clan, his features a perfect replica of the First Generation Patriarch. Cracks in the tortoise shell he held began to ooze Star Blood, tracing the crumbling Star Orbit of the Nine Heavens upon the void—every fracture pointing toward the Bronze Dice at the center of the altar. In Lin Xuan’s arms, the frail remains of Su Jiuli suddenly trembled. Ashes from the Marriage Contract slipped through his fingers, coalescing into three hundred Bronze Nails that drove themselves into the Ice Coffin!
The sound of the coffin lid shifting was like a dragon’s roar, as the Xuanming True Water poured in from the Guixu Eye of the Sea. Within the watery veil, the true tomb of the First Generation Patriarch emerged: nine Bronze Pillars pierced the corpse of a Celestial Fox, their surfaces carved with scenes of Lin Xuan’s recurring heart-gouging across his many lifetimes. The Little Girl’s remains suddenly let out a shrill scream; the sacrificial inscriptions on her thoracic bones peeled away, revealing the Celestial Fox Ancestral Soul contract beneath: "Feed the stars with your soul, nine lives as the sacrifice."
The Astral Instrument Spirit channeled the Bronze Nails, and the phantoms of Su Jiuli sealed within the nails formed a collective Wu Clan seal. Blood Cauldrons rose from the four corners of the altar, and amidst the boiling Star Marrow within them fl…
Chapter 39