Chapter 138: Survival in the Rotting Marsh, Whispers of Stardust

The bone-piercing cold and the exhaustion that sank into her very marrow wrapped around Xiang Lingna like icy chains. She curled up on the cold rock, the fishy reek of the dark-green river mingling with the sickly sweet stench of rot from the forest, making her retch again and again. The numb, stinging pain from the grey, withered patch on the back of her hand—eaten away by the Rot Claw—felt like countless tiny ice needles stabbing into her, and that numbness was creeping slowly and inexorably up past her wrist.

Fear and despair surged over her like a freezing tide, nearly swallowing her whole. Big Brother Lin Mo's fate unknown, the Wrench swept away by the rapids, Lei En's whereabouts unclear, Uncle Copperwhiskers and Uncle Suolin left behind forever at Wang Ting… She was all alone, saddled with this damned corruption and a single shard, stranded in this godforsaken place.

"Can't… can't give up…" Xiang Lingna bit hard on her own lip; the pain pulled her scattered wits back together, just a little. Priestess Liyana's gentle, resolute face surfaced in her mind. "The forest… no matter how hopeless… still hides life within…" she whispered, repeating the words the Liyana Sect had taught her, as if she could draw strength from them.

She forced herself to study her surroundings. The dark-green river was the only relatively "open" stretch, but the current flowed with an eerie sluggishness, and unknown dangers might lurk beneath the surface. On either bank rose steep rock walls, thickly coated in slick, slimy moss, climbing upward to meet that twisted, grotesque forest. The phosphorescent skull-flowers blooming within the forest made her instinctively feel they were extremely dangerous.

"Need… a safe place… to treat the wound…" Xiang Lingna looked at the grey, withered back of her hand and knew she had to try to drive out or suppress the rot's corruption as soon as possible. She recalled how, at the Glimmer Camp, they had used the Star-Grain Wood and the shard to suppress the corruption inside Lin Mo.

She carefully pressed the emerald shard against the grey, withered back of her hand. The shard was warm and smooth; a verdant light flared up, and a gentle breath of life seeped slowly into her skin. Hiss—! Like a branding iron pressed to ice! Beneath the grey skin, the dark-purple corruption energy was instantly roused, madly resisting the emerald light of life! The violent sting made Xiang Lingna grunt; fine beads of cold sweat broke out across her brow. Light and purple gleam clashed fiercely, waging a brief tug-of-war beneath her skin. The grey, withered patch temporarily stopped spreading, but to drive it out entirely was far beyond what her current strength could manage.

"Water… the bank is too dangerous…" Xiang Lingna panted, looking up at the steep rock wall. She spotted a small, inward-dipping stone cave about seven or eight metres above the river's surface. Its mouth was half-concealed by several thick vines, also draped in dark-green moss, hanging down over it—a relatively hidden spot.

Climb! This was the best shelter she could find right now!

Xiang Lingna carefully tucked the emerald shard into her mouth (it was warm and smooth, not uncomfortable), clamping it between her teeth to free both hands. She flexed her stiff, half-frozen limbs, bore the sting in her right hand, and began to climb the slick, icy rock face. The moss on the wall was wet and slippery, offering almost no purchase. She could only rely on the jutting edges of rock and the vine roots that looked reasonably sturdy.

The climb was brutally hard. The freezing rock scraped her skin; the slick moss made her feet slip several times, each moment a brush with disaster. The numbness from the corruption in her right hand made gripping even harder. More than once she nearly lost her hold and slid, her heart pounding so wildly it felt ready to leap from her chest. Sweat mingled with the icy river water and soaked her clothes, making her shiver until her teeth chattered.

It took her nearly half an hour of gruelling effort before she finally hauled herself up to the cave's edge. With the last of her strength she tumbled inside, collapsing onto the floor, gasping for air, her lungs burning painfully. The cave was small—barely enough to crouch in for two or three people. The floor was cold rock, but at least it was dry, and for now it kept out the damp chill of the riverbank and that ever-present sense of being watched from the forest.

Xiang Lingna leaned her back against the cold cave wall and took the emerald shard from her mouth. The shard's glow seemed a little brighter in the cave's relative dimness. Once more she pressed it to the grey, withered back of her hand, focused her mind, and called up what little natural affinity she had left, guiding the shard's power against the corruption. This time, with a relatively safe environment, the effect seemed slightly better. The emerald light, like a thin, steady stream, slowly and continuously washed at the edges of the grey patch. Though it could not root it out, it succeeded in pushing the numbness back to the back of her hand, temporarily halting its spread.

Exhaustion crashed over her like a landslide, like a tidal wave. The drain of treating the wound and the extreme tension on her nerves left her unable to hold on any longer. She hugged her knees, buried her face in the crook of her arm, the emerald shard clutched tight against her chest, feeling its faint warmth as her consciousness slowly sank into darkness. Just before she lost consciousness entirely, a hazy, weary, chaotic fragment of thought seemed to flash across time and space, vanishing deep within her mind:

【…Cold… so cold…】

【…Liyana… Sister Ai Li… where are you…】

【…The Rot Claw… devouring… stardust… so heavy…】

【…Shard… Lingna… don't be afraid… wait for me…】

It's Big Brother Lin Mo! He's not dead! He's still alive! Somewhere out there, enduring tremendous agony, but still fighting! That hazy thought, like a meteor across the night sky, briefly yet with blinding clarity lit up the despair in Xiang Lingna's heart, and as she drifted off to sleep, the corner of her mouth unconsciously curved into a faint, tear-streaked smile of hope.

And downstream on the dark-green river, several kilometres from the stone cave where Xiang Lingna was hiding, on a muddy stretch of riverbank, a figure was struggling to drag itself out of the icy water. It was Lei En! The elven ranger was soaked to the bone, his leather armour torn in several places, his face scraped and raw, his silver hair plastered messily against his pale cheeks. He coughed violently, spitting up river water he'd choked on, his emerald eyes warily scanning this unfamiliar forest that reeked of ill omen.

"Damn… separated…" Lei En cursed under his breath, quickly checking himself over. Of his weapons, only a bone blade at his waist remained; his shortbow and quiver had been lost in the rapids. He tried to reach out with his senses to nature, but the forest's will here was twisted and hostile, violently rejecting his affinity. He could sense neither Xiang Lingna nor Lin Mo.

Just then, his keen ears caught an odd sound! Not the bizarre shrieks from the forest, but… the scrape of metal and a low, whimpering cry laced with pain and fear! From the dense thicket just ahead!

Lei En's eyes hardened. Like a panther melting into the shadows, he crept forward in utter silence. Pushing aside a clump of huge ferns that reeked of something foul, the sight before him made his pupils contract!

On a muddy clearing, the Wrench was being set upon by several grotesque monsters! The creatures resembled enormous, corrupted lizards, but with sharp bone spikes jutting from their backs, tails like flails, and dark-green corrosive slime drooling from their mouths. They moved with swift, coordinated strikes—clearly no ordinary beasts!

The Wrench's situation was dire! His mechanical arm, the one that had been blown apart, was now only a twisted, snapped metal skeleton dangling uselessly at his side, the wound still seeping blood. In his other hand he gripped a rock, waving it futilely; his body was covered in claw marks and burns from the corrosive slime, one leg seemed injured too, his movements stumbling. Backed against a twisted great tree, he was desperately fending off the creatures' lunges—about to be bowled over and devoured any second!

"Goblins!" Lei En barked, without a moment's hesitation! The bone blade cleared its sheath in an instant; his body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, trailing a streak of emerald, straight at the monster closest to the Wrench! The elven ranger's agility and combat skill, in this strange corrupted land, revealed their edge for the first time! The bone blade drove precisely into the monster's eye socket, and he twisted viciously! The creature let out a piercing, anguished shriek!

Reinforcements had arrived! The Wrench had snatched life from the jaws of death!