Chapter 131: Embers of the Spark, Gate of Thorns

Indescribable agony swept through Lin Mo's soul! Like billions of red-hot steel needles piercing every inch of his consciousness from the inside out! The order's protection of the stardust, the corruption's destructive erosion, the absolute pressure of the Doctor's true form—three diametrically opposed yet equally terrifying forces clashed and tore wildly within his body and will on the brink of collapse!

The annihilation tentacles coiling toward him from the Doctor, like the final straw that broke the camel's back, brutally stimulated the most primal survival instinct buried deep in Lin Mo's soul! It also stimulated the unyielding guardian will branded into the deepest part of the stardust crystal by the Order's Anchor!

At the edge of this extreme pain and destruction, a mutation beyond comprehension occurred!

Hum—!!!

The stardust crystal on Lin Mo's chest, about to be touched by the annihilation tentacles, suddenly erupted with an unprecedented, chaotic and violent light! This light was no longer pure milky white, but interwoven with eerie dark purple patterns! The Corrupted Claw Mark pulsing on his right arm also erupted with dark purple ghostly light at the same time, but within this ghostly light, strands of wandering milky white stardust electric arcs appeared!

Stardust and corruption! These two diametrically opposed forces that should have annihilated each other, under the absolute external pressure and destructive threat of the Doctor's true form, and forcibly kneaded together by Lin Mo's will on the brink of death, actually formed a brief and extremely unstable—symbiotic state!

A chaotic, violent aura filled with destructive power suddenly erupted from Lin Mo's body!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!

The Doctor's annihilation tentacles coiling toward him, at the instant of touching this chaotic aura, were as if encountering some kind of "natural enemy" of the same origin yet even more chaotic, violently twisting and recoiling, the annihilation runes on their surface becoming dim and disordered! As if the aura Lin Mo was currently emitting had some kind of "contamination" and "rejection" effect against pure annihilation energy!

"Hmm?" The vortex-like head of the Doctor's true form seemed to ripple, emitting a thought-sound syllable tinged with surprise and suspicion. He clearly had not anticipated this situation.

In this brief stalemate and mutation—

The Wang Ting core imprisoned within the crystal pillar, that massive emerald-gold light cluster, seemed to seize this once-in-a-thousand-years opportunity! It emitted an unprecedented, mournful battle hymn like billions of living beings singing in unison! The entire light cluster, heedless of the burning from the annihilation chains, frantically burned its own essence!

Boom—!!!

A condensed beyond description emerald-gold light pillar, carrying the resolute will to perish together, erupted from the core of the light cluster and slammed brutally into the inner wall of the crystal pillar imprisoning it! The target was not the Doctor, but—a certain energy node where the crystal pillar's base connected to the river bend space!

Crack! Rumble rumble—!!!

At the base of the massive crystal pillar, the hard rock and sealing runes were instantly torn and pierced through by this essence-burning light pillar! A massive breach, its edges flowing with emerald-gold flames, appeared at the bottom of the crystal pillar in the river bend space!

Within the breach was not rock or energy, but a rotating emerald-green vortex emitting intense spatial fluctuations and pure life aura!

"The Path to the Outside?!" Xiang Lingna struggled to raise her head under the pressure, looked at the emerald-green vortex, and cried out in shock! She remembered the door leading to the outside in the Sanctuary! How similar this aura was! This was an escape route to the outside, to the forest, forcibly opened by the Wang Ting core burning itself at the final critical moment!

"Go!!!" A faint yet incomparably clear thought came from the emerald-gold light cluster, filled with urgency and a final blessing! 【... Carry... hope... live on...】

The chance! The final chance to escape!

"Wrench! Take Xiang Lingna and Lin Mo and go!" Beside Uncle Suolin's corpse, a faint yet familiar voice rang out! Was it Uncle Suolin? No! It was the last trace of undispersed Moon God power on his corpse, mixed with residual will, issuing its final guidance!

Wrench was awakened by this voice, looked at the emerald-green vortex, then looked at Lin Mo at the center of the storm with his chaotic and violent aura, and Xiang Lingna collapsed not far away. The goblin's survival instinct instantly overwhelmed everything! He let out a strange cry, burst forth with unprecedented speed, scrambled and crawled toward Xiang Lingna, yanked her up in one motion, hooked Lin Mo's clothes with that twisted "survival arm," and desperately dragged him toward the emerald-green vortex!

"No! Brother Lin Mo, he..." Xiang Lingna struggled, wanting to get closer to Lin Mo.

"Go now! He still has a chance! If we stay, we all die!" Wrench roared, almost dragging and pulling Xiang Lingna and Lin Mo together toward the vortex!

The Doctor's true form was briefly disturbed by the chaotic aura emanating from Lin Mo, and was also drawn to by the Wang Ting core's self-destructive attack. When he came to his senses and saw Wrench dragging Xiang Lingna and Lin Mo rushing toward the Path to the Outside, his cold fury erupted like a tsunami!

"Annihilate!" The true form swung that greatsword outline composed of pure annihilation energy! A dark purple sword light spanning across space, powerful enough to tear apart planes, carrying the aura of erasing everything, brutally slashed toward the three fleeing figures! At the same time, more annihilation tentacles coiled toward Lin Mo at the center of the storm!

The sword light arrived in an instant! It was about to shatter Wrench and the others along with the emerald-green vortex!

At this final critical moment—

Boom—!!!

The chaotic and violent aura on Lin Mo's body suddenly exploded! His tightly shut eyes snapped open! His pupils were no longer ice-blue flames, but one side burning with stardust white flames, the other side pulsing with corruption purple light! Chaotic and terrifying!

He let out an inhuman roar, violently raised his right arm branded with the Corrupted Claw Mark, now wrapped in stardust electric arcs, and instead of blocking the sword light, slammed his fist brutally into the ground beneath his feet!

Thud—!!!

A flood of chaotic energy mixed with stardust order, corruption erosion, and pure destructive will poured violently into the river bend's ground through his fist!

The entire river bend space was like experiencing a magnitude-ten earthquake! The ground undulated violently like waves! With Lin Mo at the center, a massive crater instantly collapsed downward! Countless chaotic energy streams erupted from underground like fountains, slamming brutally into the descending annihilation sword light and the tentacles coiling toward him!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Violent energy collisions erupted in midair! The annihilation sword light was knocked off course by the impact of the chaotic energy streams, slashing brutally into the river bend's rock wall and tearing open a bottomless massive rift! The tentacles coiling toward Lin Mo were also scattered!

And Lin Mo himself, under the effect of this recoil force and the ground collapse, like a kite with its string cut, fell toward the direction opposite to the Path to the Outside—that massive rift abyss carved out by the Doctor's sword light!

"Brother Lin Mo—!!!" Xiang Lingna let out a heart-wrenching cry, watching helplessly as Lin Mo's figure disappeared into the darkness of the rift!

Wrench took advantage of this final chaos, exerted every ounce of strength, and slammed Xiang Lingna and himself, along with the dragged Lin Mo (his unconscious body), brutally into the rotating emerald-green Path to the Outside!

The emerald-green light instantly swallowed the three of them!

The Doctor's true form let out an angry roar, terrifying annihilation energy swept across the entire river bend, destroying everything that remained! The emerald-gold light cluster within the crystal pillar, after emitting one final mournful wail, completely dimmed, leaving only the chain-wrapped, dead silent remains.

The vortex of the Path to the Outside fluctuated violently in the Doctor's fury, rapidly shrinking and disappearing.

The river bend space was left with only collapsed ruins, rampant annihilation energy, and the terrifying figure of the Doctor's true form emanating towering fury. He slowly drifted toward the rift abyss where Lin Mo had fallen, his vortex-like "face" looking down at the darkness.

Two of the prey had escaped, but that most "interesting" sample had fallen into his rift. And below the rift, connected to the most chaotic and dangerous region of the Withered Forest's ley lines, was also... the altar where his annihilation ritual would ultimately be completed!

Deep within the rift, a deathly silence. Only the thick scent of decay surged upward.

The Doctor's true form hovered at the edge of the rift, seemingly waiting for something, or perhaps sensing the state of that "sample" below. A cold thought echoed through the ruins:

【... The vessel... will ultimately... return to... annihilation...】

And at this moment, at the edge of the forest far from the ruins of the Withered Wang Ting, a flash of emerald-green light appeared, and Wrench, Xiang Lingna, and the unconscious Lin Mo tumbled out in a sorry state. They had finally escaped from underground, but what lay before them was not a vibrant forest, but a dark place shrouded in withered fog, deathly silent and dangerous. Xiang Lingna knelt on the ground, looked at Lin Mo still unconscious in her arms, then looked toward the dark purple annihilation light pillar shooting skyward from the direction of the Wang Ting, her small face filled with the blankness of having narrowly escaped death and bottomless sorrow.

Lin Mo... is still down there!