Chapter 127: Cage of Despair, Echoes of Stardust

The cold breath of death seized their throats. Clutching the unconscious Lin Mo, Xiang Lingna had just squeezed through a gap in the burning emerald-green root tendrils alongside Wrench and Uncle Suolin, bursting into the vast space of the Wang Ting's core cage—when the sole path of life behind them instantly sealed under the crushing might of the Annihilation Giant Palm, becoming a wall of decay flowing with dark-purple runes.

Before their eyes lay a suffocating sight.

The space was as vast as the hall of an underground titan. The vaulted ceiling hung high, with waterfall-like tendrils of decay dripping dark-purple pus. At the center, a colossal crystal pillar dozens of meters in diameter thrust up from the earth, piercing straight into the dome! The crystal pillar was not pure—its interior was filled with murky, dark-purple energy fluid, like living tainted blood. And at the pillar's core, a massive, ceaselessly pulsing emerald-gold orb of light was bound and imprisoned by countless dark-purple energy chains, each as thick as a python, flowing with Annihilation runes! That mournful drumbeat was emanating from this orb of light, yet now it brimmed with utter agony and fury! This was the core will of the Wang Ting!

And before the crystal pillar, the Doctor's projection—formed of pure dark-purple Annihilation energy—hovered in midair. It had no facial features, only two abyssal gazes that looked down with cold indifference upon the intruding ants. The sky-obscuring Annihilation Giant Palm it had just pressed down was now, bearing the will to erase all existence, slowly and irresistibly crushing toward the area where Xiang Lingna's four companions stood! The palm had not yet arrived, yet its terrifying pressure had already frozen the air and caused the hard rock of the ground to crack inch by inch!

No dodging! No escape! Before this absolute power of Annihilation, any resistance appeared pale and laughable!

"It's over... it's all over..." Wrench collapsed to the ground, his bean-sized eyes filled with nothing but utter despair.

Uncle Suolin leaned on his broken longbow, his silver-gray pupils reflecting the crushing shadow of destruction overhead, the corner of his mouth revealing a bitter smile of release. Xiang Lingna held Lin Mo tightly, her small face pressed against his cold chest, tears sliding silently down, the jade shard clutched in her hand radiating a faint yet stubborn warmth, as if making a final farewell.

At the instant the shadow of the Annihilation Giant Palm was about to utterly devour them—

Hum!

The stardust crystal on Lin Mo's chest, its glow faint to the point of nearly extinguishing, suddenly erupted with a final—and most intense—pulse! A beam of milky-white light, condensed to the utmost, did not shoot toward the giant palm, but toward the imprisoned emerald-gold orb of light within the crystal pillar at the cage's center!

This beam contained all of Lin Mo's remaining will, the final struggle of the Anchor of Order against the instinct of corruption, and even a trace... of an ultimate summons from the Sea of Stardust for life and order!

The beam struck the emerald-gold orb of light with pinpoint precision!

There was no violent explosion, no clash of energies. Only a strange, deep resonance!

Huum——!!!

The imprisoned emerald-gold orb of light shuddered violently! The drumbeat it emitted was no longer mournful, but had become a high-pitched, furious war cry brimming with the will to resist! The entire crystal pillar swayed violently! The murky dark-purple energy fluid within churned like a boiling cauldron! The Annihilation chains wrapped around it groaned as if unable to bear the strain!

Lin Mo's stardust beam, like a stone cast into dead water, had utterly awakened the long-silent rebellious will of the Wang Ting's core! Two powers equally ancient, equally devoted to guarding order, at this moment produced a resonance that transcended time and space!

This resonance, like an invisible shockwave, instantly disrupted the energy structure of the Doctor's projection! The slowly descending Annihilation Giant Palm jerked to a sudden halt! Though it did not dissipate, the Annihilation runes flowing across it flickered into momentary chaos!

It was this single instant of hesitation!

"Core! Help us!" Xiang Lingna, divinely inspired, let out a blood-weeping cry! She slammed the jade shard she clutched tightly in her hand hard against the ground!

Hum!

The jade shard erupted with an unprecedented emerald-green radiance! This radiance was not an attack, but transformed into a pure life-coordinate signal that stabbed fiercely into the earth!

Almost simultaneously, from the core of the imprisoned emerald-gold orb of light, an even more condensed emerald-gold beam burst forth, ignoring the crystal pillar and chains that bound it (the chains shuddering violently), and precisely bombarded an empty patch of ground not far in front of Xiang Lingna!

Boom!

A deep pit was blasted open in the ground! Revealing beneath it a surging underground river tributary, radiating a faint blue glow! The river water was bone-chillingly cold, yet carried a strange, pure aura! More importantly, the channel of this tributary seemed to lead toward the base of the crystal pillar!

"Jump down!" Uncle Suolin instantly understood the core's intention! This was the sole path of life! The space beneath the core might temporarily allow them to evade the direct bombardment of the Annihilation Giant Palm!

Without the slightest hesitation! Wrench was the first to scramble and tumble toward the blasted deep pit, plunging into the icy river water! Uncle Suolin followed right after! Xiang Lingna gritted her teeth, clutching Lin Mo, summoned her last ounce of strength, and leaped in!

Plop! Plop!

The icy river water instantly engulfed them. The bone-piercing cold and the rushing current tore at their bodies. Xiang Lingna held Lin Mo in a death grip, held her breath, and was swept along by the current into the dark river channel.

Almost at the very same instant they hit the water—

Boom——!!!!!!!!!

The Doctor's Annihilation Giant Palm, seething with towering fury at being toyed with by ants, slammed viciously down upon the very spot where they had just been standing!

An indescribable roar and energy shockwave erupted within the underground space! The entire core cage shook violently! The tendrils of decay hanging from the dome snapped and burned like dead grass! The ground was stamped with a giant palm imprint several meters deep, its edges flowing with dark-purple lava! The terrifying shockwave poured madly in along the river channel entrance!

Xiang Lingna felt only an irresistible, colossal force slam into her from behind! As if she had been struck by a high-speed train! Her vision went black, and clutching Lin Mo, she was hurled violently deeper into the river channel by the raging current and shockwave! Her consciousness instantly blurred; she only remembered that just before she completely lost consciousness, she seemed to see the faint stardust glow on Lin Mo's chest trace out, within the water, a vague, gentle silhouette of silver hair and pointed ears...

Priestess Liyana... Sister?

The icy darkness devoured her final consciousness.