Chapter 121: Embers of the Spark, Dirge of the Wang Ting

A cold, all-despising will pressed down like billions of icebergs collapsing! At the center of the Annihilation Rift, the giant eyeball formed of pure decay energy fully solidified, a black hole devouring everything spinning deep within its pupil! The terrifying pressure cracked the corrupted earth inch by inch, instantly withering the newborn Star-Grain Wood forest! The air solidified like lead, every breath bringing a tearing agony to the lungs!

The Doctor! His will-body is about to cross the final threshold, to truly descend!

Xiang Lingna collapsed to the ground, her little face pale as paper, so awed by the world-ending pressure that she couldn't even cry out. Wrench curled up clutching his head, meaningless babbling spilling from his mouth, his "Survival Arm" groaning under unbearable weight. Copper Whiskers' massive body was hunched, leaning on his rune-engraved chisel, his single eye fixed dead on the sky, filled with indignant fury, the cracks at his crystallized broken arm spreading wildly under the pressure!

Only Lin Mo!

His spine was still ramrod straight! His scorched, broken body was like a sturdy bamboo in a raging wind beneath the world-ending pressure! The stardust crystal on his chest — that faint light did not die out, but instead, under the ultimate pressure, burst forth like a final flare into an unprecedented, blindingly glaring milky-white flame!

This flame was no longer gentle, but filled with resolve, defiance, and a will to fight to the death! Like a star about to burn out, erupting with its final radiance before destruction!

"Home..." Lin Mo's voice was low and hoarse, yet it exploded like sudden thunder in the depths of every soul! His gaze swept over Xiang Lingna, Wrench, Copper Whiskers, swept over the grove of Star-Grain Wood saplings behind him that symbolized their last hope (though they were withering), and finally locked dead onto the cold giant eye in the sky!

"Never... give up!"

Hum—!

The light of the stardust crystal was driven to its absolute extreme by Lin Mo's will! A milky-white beam so condensed it defied description, like a spear of judgment thrusting against the heavens, tore through the solidified air, ignored the terrifying pressure, and carrying an unstoppable resolve, shot fiercely toward the cold giant eye at the center of the Annihilation Rift!

Stardust! The final spark!

This beam contained all of Lin Mo's vitality, contained the Order Anchor's last guardian will, contained the remaining power of the Sea of Stardust! It was the most defiant cry a tiny living being could make in the face of a world-ending catastrophe!

Wherever the beam passed, the surging aura of decay was instantly purified and pierced! Even the terrifying pressure seemed to have been torn open with a gap!

Pshhh—!

The condensed stardust beam struck the center of the giant eye's cold pupil with perfect precision!

Time, seemed to freeze at this moment.

That all-despising giant eyeball — the black hole spinning deep in its pupil suddenly stalled! A faint, milky-white crack, like a spiderweb, instantly spread out from the point of impact! Covering the entire pupil!

Roar——————!!!

A roar that transcended the material plane and rang out directly in the depths of every soul, filled with pain, shock, and towering fury, swept across the entire Withered Land! It was the pained howl of the Doctor's will! He clearly had not anticipated that this seemingly ant-like existence could launch an attack that wounded his very origin!

In the sky, the massive Annihilation Rift violently twisted and fluctuated because of this sudden, origin-striking attack! Its expansion momentum was broken once more! The glass-shatter-like patterns along the rift's edges instantly widened! The entire passage became extremely unstable!

"It... it worked!" A wild, joyous light erupted in Copper Whiskers' single eye! Lin Mo's all-in gamble had shaken the very foundation of the Doctor's descent!

However, the light of hope vanished in an instant.

The giant eyeball's pupil suddenly contracted! The spreading milky-white cracks were forcibly covered and repaired by an even denser, almost solid dark-purple decay energy! Though the cracks remained, the power of the stardust beam was clearly insufficient to destroy it completely!

Lin Mo's body swayed violently, the light of the stardust crystal on his chest flickering like a candle in the wind, instantly dimming to near-extinction! His face was pale as gold paper, and he suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood! His body could hold on no longer, and he slowly fell backward!

"Brother Lin Mo!" Xiang Lingna cried out and threw herself toward him.

Copper Whiskers' eyes nearly split with rage as he tried to rush over and support him.

But it was all too late.

In the sky, the giant eyeball — its cracks repaired — was thoroughly enraged! Its cold pupil locked dead onto the falling Lin Mo, and a dark-purple energy beam, more condensed, more vicious, and filled with pure destructive intent than before, madly gathered deep within the pupil!

This was the Doctor's will's furious strike! Its target was Lin Mo himself! He would utterly erase this ant that dared wound his origin! And destroy that stardust crystal that made him feel threatened!

The dark-purple destructive beam tore across the sky, carrying the aura of annihilating all things, and arrived in an instant!

Xiang Lingna threw herself over Lin Mo, trying to use her small body to block it. Copper Whiskers' rune-engraved chisel erupted with a final emerald light, attempting to intercept. Wrench closed his eyes in despair.

At this critical moment—

Boom!

A muffled, faraway sound, as if from the deepest depths of the earth, yet like the beating of an ancient war drum, echoed without warning across the entire Withered Land!

This sound did not travel through air, but acted directly upon the soul! Filled with endless sorrow, indignant fury, and... a faint yet unusually clear summoning!

The instant the sound rang out—

The dark-purple destructive beam aimed at Lin Mo, as if it had struck an invisible wall of sighs, twisted and deflected violently less than a meter in front of Lin Mo, and slammed fiercely into the corrupted earth beside him! Blasting out a bottomless crater with dark-purple lava flowing along its edges!

The giant eyeball's pupil suddenly contracted, for the first time revealing a trace of uncertain alarm! It swiveled sharply, locking onto the deepest part of the Withered Wang Ting!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

That muffled drumbeat rang out again, each beat clearer than the last, each beat more urgent! As if a heart that had lain dormant for countless ages was awakening from death, beating its final pulses!

At the same time, from the deepest part of the Withered Wang Ting, within the twisted silhouette formed of countless rotting giant vines and withered giant tree remnants, a single point of extremely faint yet incomparably tenacious emerald-gold light, like dawn piercing through thick clouds, stubbornly lit up! Though the light was weak, it carried a primordial majesty and a guardian's will, and produced a strange resonance with the stardust fire about to go out on Lin Mo's body!

Deep in the Wang Ting, there was still resistance! Still uncorrupted power awakening! That sorrowful drumbeat, that point of emerald-gold light, was the proof!

The Doctor's will let out an even more furious roar, the giant eyeball fixing dead on that point of light deep in the Wang Ting. Dark-purple energy gathered madly around the rift, clearly preparing to unleash an even more terrifying attack to utterly crush this final resistance!

Supported by Xiang Lingna, Lin Mo struggled to raise his head, his ice-blue pupils reflecting that faint emerald-gold light deep in the Wang Ting, the corner of his mouth curving into a blood-stained arc.

The spark has not yet died out! The battle has only just begun!