60: Star marrow gives birth, the wheel of destiny begins to appear

The scarred hull of the star dome ark let out an overburdened groan amidst the violent energy currents where the Chaos Sea of Fire met the Star Marrow Sea.

Su Wanzhao's aura was like a candle flickering in the wind, while the tribulation imprint on Chen Feng's chest burned with bone-chilling malice.

The moment the towering waves of Liquid Stellar Dao Laws swallowed the lonely ark, the Nascent Primal Fate Wheel Phantasm in his sea of consciousness suddenly let out a four-colored roar—Guixu Primordial Yellow, Ice Soul Extreme Cold, Desolate Blood Ancient Savage, and Chaos Blazing Flame perfectly merged for the first time.

Amidst the torrent of star marrow, a Fate Wheel Phantom shrouded in newborn starlight slowly rose from the depths of Chen Feng's dao foundation; wherever its light shone, the myriad daos submitted.

The sinister laughter of the tribulation remnant soul and the cold scan of the Celestial Court Edict Heavenly Net simultaneously pierced through the burning star vault... The star dome ark, a broken ark carrying despair and a glimmer of hope, tossed violently in the turbulent energy vortex formed at the boundary of the Chaos Sea of Fire and the Primal Star Marrow Sea. On the hull's surface, the protective imprint left by Zhang Shouzhuo's burnt-out will flickered unsteadily, its strength having dropped to 27%. Every slap of the energy tide dimmed the imprint's light further, as fine cracks spread like a spiderweb. The ship's keel let out a tooth-aching 'creak,' as if it would be completely torn apart by these world-extinguishing chaos dao laws in the next second.

Inside the cabin, the oppression was suffocating. Su Wanzhao lay beside the cold guixu star core, her aura so weak it was almost non-existent. At the edge of the charred hollow in her chest, the dark red patterns formed by the tribulation Path of Slaughter curse writhed and deepened like living things, greedily sucking her remaining life force and even beginning to erode the Primal Source Power Chen Feng had transferred to sustain her life. That invisible hourglass representing the countdown of her life felt like every grain of sand falling weighed a thousand catties—only eighty-nine double-hours remained.

Chen Feng sat cross-legged beside her, the muscles of his bare upper body knotted, sweat mixed with streaks of blood sliding off his taut skin. His eyes were tightly shut, his brows locked in a painful furrow, and his chest heaved violently. In the center of his chest, the dark red imprint left by the Punishment Calamity emitted an ominous heat and stinging pain; every pulse felt like a red-hot branding iron being pressed down hard, trying to bore into his bone marrow and contaminate his newborn Primal dao foundation. More terrifyingly, deep within the imprint, a cold, tyrannical will filled with endless slaughter was accelerating its recovery, its clarity far exceeding before—the recovery progress of the tribulation remnant soul had quietly crossed the 12% threshold! That will, like a maggot in the bone, greedily peered at the secrets of the four-colored disk within Chen Feng through the link of the curse, carrying a desire to destroy everything.

“Ugh...!” A sweetness hit Chen Feng's throat, and he forcibly suppressed the rising blood. All his focus was submerged in the depths of his sea of consciousness. There, the Nascent Primal Fate Wheel Phantasm, representing the core of his Primal dao foundation, was spinning frantically at an unprecedented speed! The heaviness of Guixu Primordial Yellow (the fusion of darkness and the xuanhuang fragment), the extreme cold of Guixu Ice Soul (primordial ice soul fragment), the savage vitality of the Desolate Blood Origin (Primal Desolate Blood Fragment), and the incinerating violence of the Chaos Fire Core Origin (Primal Fire Core Fragment)—four distinct and even conflicting source powers were now violently colliding, tearing, and merging within the framework of the phantasm disk. The light at the edge of the disk flickered wildly, and the solidity of the phantasm swayed frantically at the critical point of 42%, threatening to collapse at any moment. Especially that streak of dark red representing the Chaos Fire Core; its proportion had broken through the 39% warning line, its scorching and violent power attempting to overwhelm the other three colors and drag the entire disk into an abyss that would incinerate all things!

“Balance... I must find the point of balance!” Chen Feng roared in his heart, his intent acting like the most precise carving knife, frantically guiding and smoothing the four powers. The Xuanhuang Origin Point sank, turning into a heavy base plate to suppress the unrest; the Ice Soul Origin's cold mist spread, doing its best to cool the fire core's violence; the Desolate Blood Origin was like a resilient vine, growing stubbornly in the gaps of the collisions, providing surging vitality as a buffer. Every adjustment of his intent was accompanied by soul-tearing pain, but he did not dare to relax in the slightest. Su Wanzhao's life, his own dao foundation, and the survival of the ark all depended on this!

At this critical juncture, the star dome ark jolted violently, as if it had struck an invisible giant wall!

“Warning! Star Marrow Sea Boundary reached! Detected ultra-high intensity liquid stellar dao law torrent! Rejection reaction index surging!” The ark's remaining early-warning formations let out a piercing shriek.

Looking out through the porthole, the endless violent flames of the Chaos Sea of Fire suddenly vanished, replaced by an indescribable, soul-shaking 'ocean.' It was not water, but 'seawater' flowing with pure Liquid Stellar Dao Laws, emitting the brilliance of billions of stars! This seawater appeared in a magnificent yet dangerous deep blue nearly approaching black, with countless fine, dazzling source light points flowing within it like star sand. Giant energy vortexes spun silently in the sea, each vortex pulsating like the breathing of a stellar embryo, emitting a heart-palpitating, majestic power and ancient will. It was the existence of this 'ocean' that isolated the erosion of the Chaos Sea of Fire and formed a natural barrier.

However, this barrier was not friendly to intruders. Almost the instant the ark's hull touched the Star Marrow Sea, an irresistible rejection force erupted! It was as if the will of the entire ocean had converged to utterly crush and purify this tiny foreign object!

Rumble—!

The entire star dome ark was like it was being gripped and kneaded by an invisible giant palm! The hull let out a despairing metallic groan of distortion, and the damage level instantly soared to 79%! The protective imprint's light flickered violently, instantly falling below 20%! Everything inside the ship, including Su Wanzhao and Chen Feng, was violently tossed up and slammed down by the massive force.

“Pfft!” Chen Feng could no longer suppress it, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out, spots of crimson landing on Su Wanzhao's paper-pale face. In his sea of consciousness, the four-colored phantasm disk, already on the verge of collapse, was struck by this terrifying rejection force, causing it to shake violently as fine cracks began to appear at its edges!

But at this edge of impending destruction, a sudden change occurred!

When that rejection force containing the majestic power of stellar dao laws slammed into Chen Feng's body, the four source powers within him that were originally in violent conflict and on the verge of imbalance were actually 'pressed' together by this terrifying external pressure from a higher level!

Buzz—!

A grand hum originating from the deepest part of his dao foundation, as if the world were being created, suddenly erupted from within Chen Feng! This sound did not ring in the physical world but vibrated directly on the level of laws!

The phantasm disk in his sea of consciousness, which had been on the verge of shattering, suddenly burst with unprecedented light! The depth of Guixu Primordial Yellow, the azure of Ice Soul, the bronze of Desolate Blood, and the dark red of the Fire Core—the four source powers no longer conflicted. Instead, under this massive external pressure, they followed a profoundly mysterious trajectory and truly and perfectly merged for the first time! The phantasm disk solidified instantly, its solidity skyrocketing to over 50%! A clear, stable outline of a disk containing the artistic conception of birth, death, rotation, and the return of myriad daos to guixu finally took shape completely!

An even more startling change occurred deep within his dantian's dao foundation. Those four originally independent Primal dao foundation origins—the Xuanhuang Origin, Ice Soul Origin, Desolate Blood Origin, and Fire Core Origin—at the same moment the four-colored disk formed, seemed to receive a supreme summons. They vibrated violently and then crashed into the very core point of the dao foundation!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a silence as if all things were returning to their source.

A 'point' of chaos beginning and starlight gestation was born at the collision. Immediately after, this point of starlight suddenly expanded, stretched, and rotated!

A brand new phantasm, emitting an indescribable ancient and noble aura, rose slowly from the depths of Chen Feng's dao foundation! It was no longer just a projection in his sea of consciousness, but a substantial prototype that truly existed at the core of Chen Feng's dao foundation!

This phantasm was shaped like a disk, yet it was more condensed and profound than the projection in his sea of consciousness. The entire disk displayed an all-encompassing chaotic base color. The edge of the disk was formed into a deep ring of darkness by the power of Guixu Primordial Yellow; the inner circle clearly flowed with the four source powers: the azure of Ice Soul, the bronze of Desolate Blood, the dark red of the Fire Core, and a newborn color born from the fusion of the four and the absorption of a trace of Star Marrow Sea dao laws—a pure, brilliant starlight color that seemed to contain the endless vitality of stars! Although this starlight color was weak, it was like the finishing touch, making the entire disk instantly 'come alive,' filled with the possibilities of gestation and evolution.

Primal Fate Wheel! The name of this Fate Wheel Phantom naturally surfaced in the depths of Chen Feng's soul. This was the true source prototype merged and gestated from his four Primal dao foundation origins under the pressure of life and death and the stimulation of the Star Marrow Sea dao laws! It was the foundation leading to the path of transcendence!

The moment this Nascent Primal Fate Wheel Phantasm rose, an indescribable 'momentum,' seemingly originating from the beginning of the universe, quietly spread out with Chen Feng as the center. This 'momentum' was not overbearing, yet it carried a natural status that stood above the myriad daos. It was weak, yet incomparably pure.

A miracle occurred.

The torrent of Liquid Stellar Dao Laws that had been violently striking the star dome ark, intending to utterly reject and crush this foreign object, actually experienced an extremely brief stagnation the moment it touched this weak 'momentum'! It was as if a surging beast tide had encountered an invisible sovereign's wall; that destructive rejection force suddenly weakened by at least thirty percent! Although it remained powerful, it no longer carried a destructive will of relentless death, appearing more like a scrutiny and... hesitation?

The pressure on the star dome ark decreased sharply, the distorted hull making a 'creaking' sound as it bounced back, and the light of the protective imprint stabilized at a precarious 19%. Although it still tossed violently in the Star Marrow Sea like a leaf in a raging tide, it had at least temporarily avoided the fate of being instantly torn apart.

“The Fate Wheel... has appeared!” Chen Feng suddenly opened his eyes. Deep in his pupils, the four-colored rotating phantasm flashed and vanished, and at the very core, a point of newborn starlight was dazzling. Ignoring the tearing pain in his body and his nearly exhausted soul power, he immediately looked at Su Wanzhao.

He saw that at the edge of the hideous charred hollow in Su Wanzhao's chest, the originally frantically spreading dark red lines of the Punishment Calamity curse suddenly contracted as if burned by an invisible iron the moment the weak yet high-status 'Fate Wheel momentum' from Chen Feng spread over! The speed of erosion clearly stalled! Although the curse imprint still existed and the will of the tribulation remnant soul was still letting out silent, angry roars deep within the imprint (recovery progress 13.5%), this brief delay was already a sliver of breathing room in a desperate situation!

Chen Feng did not hesitate. Enduring the weakness of his newly formed dao foundation and his soul being exhausted to the point of death, he carefully guided out the power of the Primal Fate Wheel that had just stabilized—especially that strand of newborn starlight source carrying the aura of the Star Marrow Sea—and slowly transferred it into Su Wanzhao's extinguished guixu star core remnant.

Buzz... A weak resonance sounded. That dead, cold star core remnant actually trembled extremely slightly when it came into contact with this strand of life starlight containing the star marrow dao! It was like a cold, stubborn stone being thrown into a hot spring; on the surface, there seemed to be an extremely fine, almost imperceptible flash of starlight!

It worked! Although it was so weak it could be ignored, this was undoubtedly the only good news in months! The source of the Star Marrow Sea could truly trigger a response from the extinguished star core remnant!

However, before the wild joy in Chen Feng's heart could rise, a terrifying will originating from deep space—cold, ruthless, and carrying the meaning of absolute order and judgment—suddenly swept across this chaotic star region like an invisible giant searchlight!

Buzz—!

The entire Star Marrow Sea seemed to tremble slightly under this will. The Punishment Calamity curse imprint on Chen Feng's chest became scalding hot like an ice cube thrown into boiling oil, emitting a piercing dark red light that clearly marked him and the star dome ark he was in!

Celestial Court Edict Heavenly Net! Full-domain scan!

A cold countdown ticked frantically in Chen Feng's heart: only less than seven double-hours remained until the next, more precise locking scan! And the sinister laughter of the tribulation remnant soul, filled with endless malice, also drilled into his mind through the curse imprint like a venomous snake:

“Found you... bug... Star Marrow Sea... burial ground... I shall... return...”

The star dome ark rose and fell in the energy undercurrents of the Star Marrow Sea like a fragile floating weed in the eye of a storm. Inside the ship, Chen Feng stared at the curse imprint on Su Wanzhao's chest that was temporarily suppressed by the starlight, and felt the strange, flickering resonance between the newborn Nascent Primal Fate Wheel Phantasm in his body and the external Star Marrow Sea. His fingertips dug deep into his palms. The Fate Wheel had appeared, and the star marrow was gestating, while the god of death behind him had already stepped to the beat of the countdown, pressing closer step by step.