As the meteorite chains descended from the fissures in the Xuanwu star shell, the three hundred and sixty Star Sand Soul Lamps suddenly dimmed. On the surface of the bronze altar tethered to the ends of the chains, the First Ancestral Witch’s heart-gouging engravings began to seep blood-red Star Sand. The grains coalesced into the "Dui" hexagram—a cryptic prophecy not recorded in the *Star Vow Bone Slip*—while the Star Eclipse Spots lurking deep within the script vibrated in resonance with the Obsessive Soul bell.
"The altar is devouring the Star Sand!"
Su Jiuli’s phantom stirred the Star-Ash Fireflies, and a projection of the Star Ruins altar suddenly emerged within the sacrificial shrine. Lin Xuan leaped onto the top of the altar, stepping across the chains; the Four Symbols star explosion triggered the phantom of Xuanwu, and the resulting torrent of Star Sand erupting from the cracks in the tortoise shell shattered three of the meteorite chains. The falling fragments of the chains coalesced into the Guixu Blood-Crying Stele, and the First Generation Patriarch’s oath inscribed upon it fissioned with the altar's hexagrams into nine distinct star marks.
Chapter 437