Chapter 125: Echoes of the Furnace, a Blood-Soaked Path Through Thorns

A cold will, brimming with absolute malice, pierced into the root cage like billions of icy needles! The Doctor's will descended in person, locking onto the last spark of life within the emerald-green light shield! On the walls of rotting vines, the sharp wooden spikes that had just formed, coursing with dark-purple runes, coiled like venomous snakes poised to strike, radiating an aura of annihilation!

The glow of the jade shard in Xiang Lingna's hand flickered wildly under the terrifying pressure, like a candle flame in the wind; the protective light shield rapidly thinned and wavered! Xiang Lingna's little face went paper-white, her body swaying on the verge of collapse; maintaining the shield had already drained her heart and strength!

"Hold on, girl!" Copper Beard glared with bloodshot eyes, struggling to stand, but the searing cracks of crimson spreading from his crystallized severed arm to his shoulder sent tearing agony and burning heat through him, making it impossible for him to exert any force!

Uncle Suolin's eyes were also filled with despair; facing the crushing will of the Doctor's true body, any resistance seemed so pale and powerless.

Wrench stared at the rotting wooden spikes outside the light shield, aimed at him and glinting with deadly light, yet a flash of the earth-spirit's signature madness at death's door crossed his bean-sized eyes! "Boss! Your arm! That red glow! Can it blow?!"

Blow?

Wrench's words were like lightning splitting the darkness! Copper Beard suddenly looked at his crystallized severed arm, glowing like molten lava! The violent geothermal energy surging within had long been on the verge of losing control, like a furnace ready to explode at any moment! Rather than being pierced and crushed to death by the Doctor's roots...

"Take Xiang Lingna and Lin Mo... get back!" A beast-like ferocity exploded in Copper Beard's single eye as he roared at Wrench and Uncle Suolin! He stopped suppressing it; instead, with the last of his strength and will, he madly channeled the devastating energy within his crystallized severed arm, compressing it, compressing it again, directing it toward the end of the severed arm—that crystallized conduit connected to the Life Altar, now riddled with cracks!

"No! Uncle Copper Beard!" Xiang Lingna seemed to understand, crying out in terrified sobs.

But Copper Beard could no longer hear. His consciousness was drowned by the violent energy and the extreme agony. His entire crystallized severed arm became a blinding crimson light source, radiating terrifying heat and energy fluctuations! The surrounding rotting roots seemed to sense the lethal threat too, contracting and squeezing madly, wooden spikes poised to strike!

"Give me—BREAK THROUGH!!!"

Copper Beard let out the last roar of his life! He drove the furnace energy compressed to its absolute limit into the end of the crystallized conduit—not aimed at the roots, but—slammed viciously into the writhing, rotting earth beneath his feet!

BOOM——!!!!!!!

An indescribable explosion erupted within the narrow root cage!

Crimson geothermal lava, mixed with violent spirit-rune energy, burst forth from the end of Copper Beard's crystallized conduit like a volcano suppressed for ten thousand years! In an instant it swallowed the ground beneath his feet!

HISS——!!!

The hardened, corrupted earth was melted through like butter! The violent torrent of energy surged downward with unstoppable force, piercing straight through! Wherever it passed, rotting roots, vines, and moss were instantly vaporized! A massive crater, its edges flowing with crimson lava, appeared beneath them!

The shockwave of the explosion sent Xiang Lingna, Lin Mo, Wrench, and Uncle Suolin flying! The emerald-green light shield shattered instantly! But the core of the explosion drove downward; they were only pushed aside by the blast and did not take a direct hit!

And Copper Beard's figure vanished in a flash within the crimson light of the explosion, plunging along with the patch of ground he'd stood on into the molten abyss below! Only that final roar still echoed through the passage!

"Boss——!!!" Wrench hit the ground, letting out a heart-wrenching wail.

Xiang Lingna was flung by the blast, slammed into the vine wall, and knocked senseless; the jade shard slipped from her hand and flew away, its glow completely extinguished. She stared at the bottomless crater flowing with lava, her little face streaked with tears and an unbearable, disbelieving grief.

Uncle Suolin was also knocked to the ground, his silver-grey eyes filled with shock and sorrow.

Yet Copper Beard's self-destructive strike unexpectedly tore open a path to survival!

The explosion not only melted through the floor of the root cage; its tremendous force blew a massive breach in the vine canopy closing overhead! Revealing the dark-red sky-light outside and a far more expansive space! More importantly, the torrent of explosion energy seemed to have pierced through multiple layers of structure; from below came the faint sound of rushing water!

A "passage," burned out by the lava, slanting downward, covered in charred marks and flowing lava, appeared before them! Scorching and dangerous, yes—but it was the only way out!

"Below... is that water? An underground river?" Uncle Suolin struggled to his feet, staring into the crater.

"Go! Hurry! Don't let Boss's sacrifice be for nothing!" Wrench, his face streaked with tears, erupted with astonishing strength; he scrambled toward where Xiang Lingna's jade shard had fallen, snatched it up, and together with Uncle Suolin, hauled the unconscious Lin Mo and the grief-stricken, dazed Xiang Lingna, charging toward the lava-scorched slanting passage!

They tumbled and slid down the scalding slope, littered with sharp lava fragments! The searing heat roasted their skin; broken crystallized shards tore their clothes and skin, but the instinct to survive overwhelmed everything!

Above, the Doctor's will descended in a storm of fury! Countless thick rotting roots, etched with dark-purple runes, like enraged giant pythons, poured madly through the breach, pursuing the sliding group!

Plop! Plop! Plop!

One after another, the four crashed heavily into a stretch of cold, swift water, thick with the stench of rust and rot! The tremendous impact made Xiang Lingna choke on several mouthfuls of water, and Wrench nearly got swept away!

This was a wide underground river! The water was murky beyond description, a dark-red hue, giving off a piercing fishy smell. Both banks were steep rock walls covered in massive rotting roots. Far, far overhead was the breach Copper Beard had blown open, with churning roots and dark-red sky-light faintly visible.

"Cough, cough... Quick! Drift with the current! Get out of here!" Uncle Suolin struggled to the surface, wiped the filthy water from his face, and pointed downstream. The Doctor's roots had already pursued down through the breach, plunging into the water like countless giant pythons, churning the murky river!

The four had no time for grief; they swam desperately, racing downstream with the swift current of the dark river! The cold water temporarily slowed the roots' pursuit.

The shock of the icy river jolted Xiang Lingna back to partial awareness from her grief. She clutched the still-warm jade shard Wrench had pressed back into her hand, gazing into the deep darkness ahead; in her ears, the sorrowful drumbeats and the cry for help from the Wang Ting core still seemed to echo.

The blood-soaked path Uncle Copper Beard had blown open with his life... could it lead them to the imprisoned core? And what awaited them ahead—hope, or a deeper despair?

The swift dark river carried the battered survivors and their heavy grief, rushing into the unknown darkness.