The purple crystal beacon pulsed in the center of the barren vault like an exposed heart.
With every beat, a faint wave of distorted gravity rippled through the empty chamber, making the dust motes freeze in mid-air. Deep violet light flickered across the cracked stone floor, tracing thousands of micro-fractures where the off-world runes had fused directly into the planet’s tectonic bedrock.
“Step back, Little Peach,” Lin Mo said, walking toward the obsidian pedestal.
He did not touch the jagged violet crystal with his bare skin. Instead, he activated his vision, looking beneath the surface of the runic frequencies.
[Pure-Heart Eye Activated: Scanning Cosmic Artifact.]
[Artifact: Blood-Tax Star Chamber Interstellar Usury Beacon.]
[Origin: 100-Planet Astral Trade Road / Outer-Sky Nebula Hub #1.]
[Signatory: Emperor Ji Wudao, 12th Sovereign of Azure-Cloud Star #099.]
