Chapter 88: The Soul Mark

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: The Soul Mark

In another unnoticed corner, Phoenix silently slipped an arm around Leon’s shoulders, lifting Leon up under the arms to support him—the person who had also fainted from exhaustion right after Jeremy.

Phoenix groped around in the dark, found a flat coral slab, and gently laid his teammate down.

A few more days passed, and the five youths gradually grasped the life-and-death rules of this twisted spatial zone. The cycle here was divided into twenty-four grueling hours.

The first twelve hours were a peaceful deep sea. Once these twelve hours ended, all the seawater would evaporate in the blink of an eye, and marine creatures would instantly mutate into freakish magical beasts. A blinding sandstorm would rise, kicking off the next twelve hours of the survival slaughter chain.

During the period of the magical beasts’ berserk state, compared to the magma rift from before, the only saving grace of this place was that the ground didn’t turn into a sea of fire incinerating everything when night fell. In addition, they gained twelve precious hours of rest to recover their physical strength. Weighing it on the scale, their current situation was still slightly more bearable.

Since the entire team had lost their sight, the risk of blindly groping around to find an exit or the next rift was too great. Furthermore, no one could guarantee whether the next area would be heaven or hell. Therefore, the group unanimously agreed to camp on the spot, deciding to use this place as a farming ground to grind enough for one thousand demon soul crystal cores—fulfilling the quota Griffin had assigned.

Who knows, if they finished the mission early, that cold-blooded teacher might show some mercy and let them out?

At the bottom of the deep sea, the pack of mutated magical beasts had long since vanished without a trace.

Jeremy skillfully tore strips of cloth from his clothes, tightly bandaging the ulcerated wounds torn open by monster claws. Once finished, he leaned his back against a large rock, relaxing his muscles and letting out a heavy breath.

Compared to the first few days of being pushed to the point of draining their magic power leading to forced comas, the combat pressure today fell within the threshold his body could shoulder. Thanks to this, Jeremy’s mind had the space to ponder over the yet unsolved mysteries.

His slender fingertips unconsciously rubbed the back of his left hand. Ever since escaping the bizarre tower, the burning heat on his skin had subsided, but in its place, a bumpy scar forming a totem had risen on the back of his hand.

The pattern of this scar closely resembled the carvings on the wall inside the tower. Initially, the skin was raised quite high and bumpy, making it hard for one to ignore. But as time passed, the totem seemed to be merging as one with his body. Right now, only when touching it forcefully could his sense of touch vaguely feel the shallow outlines. He guessed that in just a few more days, it would sink completely beneath the skin.

Currently, what this totem symbolized remained a massive question mark. But the phrase "Blessing of the Ashlife" left by that wisp of residual thought undoubtedly referred to the legendary Ashlife Flower.

The most ironic thing was that the core meaning of that flower was precisely "Death"...

Could there be another, deeper layer of meaning?

Jeremy lifted his head, facing his teammates: "Do you guys know what the meaning of the Ashlife Flower is?"

"Death." Leon answered curtly.

"Death." Phoenix echoed.

Once those two finished speaking, the space fell back into silence. Evelyn and Lucius didn’t speak up; perhaps the two didn’t specialize in researching medicinal herbs or exotic flora, so they weren’t well-versed.

"Then did any mark appear on the backs of your hands? A shape exactly like the totem in the tower."

"Yes."

This time, all four simultaneously confirmed.

Mentioning the cursed event in the tower, Leon’s mood flared up again with irritable flames. He took a deep breath, suppressing his frustration: "The mark that residual thought embedded into our bodies is definitely nothing good. I bet it’s directly connected to his damn dying wish."

Jeremy had only heard Yusha vaguely mention the concept of the "Heaven’s Orbit Matrix," but when it came to delving deep into the nature of forbidden arts, he was completely clueless, naturally not daring to blindly judge the function of this totem.

But Phoenix was different. Thanks to the profound depth of Phoenix’s family heritage, Phoenix’s understanding of forbidden magic matrices far exceeded the other four. Although inherently lazy and hating long-winded explanations, Phoenix knew that if Phoenix kept silent now, the whole team would fall into a deadly trap.

Remaining silent for a moment, Phoenix suppressed the drowsiness and slowly spoke: "The mark on your hands is called a ’Soul Mark’. Before we fulfill the matrix creator’s dying wish, it will absolutely not disappear. As for what the dying wish is... according to ancient records, the Soul Mark will automatically provide guidance. But the activation time is random; no one can predict it."

Leon had early on recognized Phoenix’s encyclopedic brain since they were trapped in the tower. He didn’t question the reason, just taking the opportunity to ask further: "Then what if, hypothetically, we ignore it and don’t fulfill it? What are the consequences?"

The other three also perked up their ears, waiting for this crucial point.

Phoenix: "Once the guidance appears, it will start a countdown. If the deadline passes and the dying wish remains unfulfilled, the soul of the mark bearer will be permanently imprisoned in the nightmare abyss, never to be reincarnated for ten thousand lifetimes."

The four teammates: ...Should they celebrate because at least they didn’t blow up on the spot?

Leon smirked maliciously, his tone razor-sharp: "Then that ’Blessing of the Ashlife’ that old residual thought babbled about, plus the ’predestined path of destiny’. The former implies death, the latter is destiny. Put together, doesn’t that mean ’destined to die’? Forcing us to risk our lives working for him, and even bestowing a curse—is that old geezer acting out of pure boredom, or is there a problem with my level of understanding?"

Jeremy nodded in agreement. This analysis perfectly matched his own thoughts. No matter how you listened to it, it reeked of dark intent. But logically speaking, if you were asking someone to fulfill a wish for you, no one would curse their benefactors to die in a ditch. It wasn’t as if they harbored some deep, bitter grudge against him.

Phoenix: "I also cannot be certain of the true intent. But a Soul Mark carved onto a person is equivalent to a blood contract. As long as the final deadline hasn’t arrived, it will not trigger a backlash. Conversely, if my family’s records are not wrong, hidden within this Soul Mark could very well be the power inheritance of the matrix creator himself."

Power inheritance... Hearing this, the tense atmosphere finally eased up a bit.

Jeremy recalled the conversation from that day. According to the residual thought, they were just a bunch of brats who accidentally activated the matrix, not the "people of destiny" he had been yearning for at all.

Since they weren’t the chosen ones, did they have the qualifications to inherit the power?

Evelyn seemed to have also caught up with his train of thought, proactively speaking up: "We are just fated people who accidentally wandered in, not the ’people of destiny’, will the Soul Mark still agree to bestow the inheritance?"

Phoenix nodded, then suddenly remembered everyone couldn’t see, so Phoenix gave an affirming "yeah": "When the guidance is activated, the inheritance seal should also be lifted synchronously."

Random activation, random inheritance...

Well, the puzzle could be considered half-solved. As for what the content of the dying wish or the power inheritance was like, they would just have to wait until judgment day came knocking to find out.