Chapter 166: Forest of Rotting Claws, Whispering Thorns

Cold, sticky, carrying the scent of rotting, sweet, fishy earth wrapped around Xiang Lingna. Every labored breath was like inhaling burning sawdust; the toxin of the withering fog corroded her lungs, bringing a searing sting and waves of dizziness. Her body felt as though it had fallen apart; a drilling pain and a sense of emptiness came from the broken stump of her right arm; the violent chaotic energy within her, after forcibly tearing through space, had fallen into a brief silence, yet it left her as weak as a newborn cub. Worst of all, the identity token that had given her guidance and protection had fallen a few steps away, being slowly devoured by dark-purple moss that radiated an ominous aura; the milky-white stardust halo struggled within the dense, corrupted fog, like a candle in the wind.

"Identity token..." Xiang Lingna uttered a weak murmur, struggling to crawl toward it. But merely moving her fingers exhausted her strength, and blackness washed over her vision in waves.

Creak... creak...

A teeth-grinding sound, like dry wood rubbing, drew near from afar. Xiang Lingna laboriously rolled her eyes; through the thin fog, she saw three tall, twisted figures stumbling toward her.

They might once have been elves. But now, their bodies were like sapless deadwood, covered in thick, dark-green moss and mottled, bark-like tissue. Their limbs were stiff and twisted, like the branches of an old tree. Where their faces should have been there were no features—only a deep cavity oozing dark-purple slime. Within that hollow, two pinpricks of crimson light, like the eyes of a malicious ghost, locked onto Xiang Lingna and the faint stardust glow beside her.

Withered-Wood Guardians! Elven remains thoroughly corrupted by the withering fog! One of the most dangerous predators in the forest!

Fear seized Xiang Lingna's heart in an instant. She couldn't even run now! She instinctively tried to summon the power of the Emerald Fragment, but only a faint throbbing came from her chest. The fragment's power had been consumed too greatly in the previous eruption and spatial transit, and had fallen silent.

What should she do?!

Just as Xiang Lingna despaired, her left hand unconsciously pressed against the cold, damp earth beneath her. What her fingertips touched was not pure corrupted moss, but beneath the moss... the sensation of an extremely faint, yet unusually tenacious root!

Hmm—

A thread of will, so faint it was almost imperceptible, filled with pain, tenacity, and a trace of familiarity, traveled along that root into Xiang Lingna's fingertips like a gossamer strand!

【Pain... bondage... darkness...】

【Light... the light of order... has it come again...?】

It was the sensation from the Thorn Corridor! Those plant rootlets that had not yet been fully corrupted, still bearing the forest's will! They actually existed even in the depths of this heavily corrupted forest?!

Xiang Lingna's heart gave a sudden leap! A bold thought took shape in an instant! She stopped trying to reach the identity token, and instead sank the last wisp of her spiritual power entirely into that faint root her fingertip touched! She imagined the feeling of communing with the vines in the Thorn Corridor, and transmitted her remaining, faint life aura belonging to the Emerald Fragment, mingled with compassion for the forest and a desperate will to survive, flowing over like a trickling stream!

"Help me... just like in the corridor... drive them away..."

The root's will sent back a violent fluctuation, brimming with longing and struggle:

【Can't... too weak... Rot-Claw... shackles... too strong...】

【Unless... tear open... shackles... like... before...】

Tear open the shackles? Xiang Lingna understood in an instant! These rootlets were also bound by the Doctor's Rot-Claw power (Annihilating Rot)! Just like the situation at the Thorn Corridor node and the underground shelter! Only by destroying the Rot-Claw node binding the rootlets could they be freed—and they might even be able to help her!

But where was the Rot-Claw node? She could barely move now!

Creak! Creak!

The Withered-Wood Guardians were closer! The nearest one was less than five meters from Xiang Lingna! It raised high an arm like a dead branch, yet abnormally sharp and keen at the tip, aimed straight at Xiang Lingna's skull! The air was thick with the stench of corruption and pure killing intent!

A hair's breadth from life and death!

Xiang Lingna's gaze swept sharply over the feet of the three Withered-Wood Guardians! In the faint glow of the Emerald Fragment, she keenly noticed that where the roots of their soles connected with the ground, several extremely fine energy threads, flickering with dark-purple runes, writhed like living things and plunged deep into the earth! The energy fluctuation of these threads shared the same origin as the Rot-Claw power binding the rootlets!

The node was on them! Or more precisely, the Rot-Claw shackles controlling them were the node extensions binding the rootlets in this area!

A flash of wild light sparked in Xiang Lingna's eyes! She had no strength to attack the Withered-Wood Guardians, but... she could "guide"!

She instantly changed the intent she used to commune with the roots, infusing it with strong directionality and urgent plea for help:

"Attack! Attack those purple threads beneath the guardians' feet! Those are the shackles binding you!"

The roots' will instantly became violent and ravenous:

【Shackles! Tear them apart!】

【Light... guide... us... attack!】

At the very instant the Withered-Wood Guardian's sharp arm was about to thrust down!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The ground around Xiang Lingna exploded violently! Dozens of tenacious roots, covered in withered bark yet flowing with a faint silvery-white sheen, burst from the earth like long-ambushed venomous snakes! Ignoring Xiang Lingna, they drove with the pain and fury accumulated over countless years straight into the ankles of the three Withered-Wood Guardians and the dark-purple energy threads beneath their feet!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle——!!!

The roots pierced the moss-covered ankles of the Withered-Wood Guardians, piercing those dark-purple energy threads! A faint light of order, emerald-green and silvery-white, erupted at the tips of the roots, clashing violently with the dark-purple Annihilating Rot!

"Roar——!" All three Withered-Wood Guardians let out a howl like rotting wood snapping! Their movements froze abruptly! Their crimson eyes flickered wildly! The Rot-Claw shackles binding them had been attacked, plunging them into brief chaos! The arm thrusting toward Xiang Lingna also halted in midair!

Now!

Xiang Lingna exploded with the instinct for survival, summoning every ounce of strength in her body to roll violently to the side!

Thud!

The Withered-Wood Guardian's sharp arm drove viciously into the spot where she had just lain, plunging deep into the earth!

Xiang Lingna was still trembling with fright, but her will to survive held her up. She saw that the attacking root closest to her was being steadily pushed back in its clash with the dark-purple threads; the tip of the root was beginning to be corroded and carbonized. And the Withered-Wood Guardian under attack seemed to be recovering from its confusion—its crimson eyes locked onto her once more!

No good! The roots' power was too weak! They couldn't tear the shackles apart completely!

Xiang Lingna's gaze instantly locked onto the dark-purple moss a few steps away, the moss covering the identity token! The radiance of stardust flickered stubbornly beneath the moss!

The identity token! The power of stardust! That was Brother Lin Mo's power! It was order! The bane of corruption!

An even wilder thought surged up! She would use her own body as bait and bridge!

Xiang Lingna stopped fleeing, and instead crawled on hands and knees toward the Withered-Wood Guardian that had been attacked by the roots and was trapped in brief confusion! Her target was the energy thread at its feet, the one flickering with dark-purple runes that was fiercely battling the roots!

"Hold it!" Xiang Lingna shouted in her heart to the roots!

That attacking root seemed to understand her intent, and abruptly coiled around the Withered-Wood Guardian's ankle and that energy thread, locking them tight!

Xiang Lingna crawled to the Withered-Wood Guardian's feet! The thick stench of corruption nearly choked her. She stretched out her relatively intact left hand, ignoring the giant foot of the Withered-Wood Guardian that was regaining movement and slowly lifting to stomp her, and with every ounce of strength in her body, grabbed viciously at the dark-purple energy thread that was wrapped by the roots and exposed!

What met her hand was a bone-chilling, snake-like sensation! A powerful corrosiveness and spiritual contamination instantly spread up her arm!

"Ah!" Xiang Lingna let out a pained scream; the skin of her left hand was instantly corroded and turned black! But she held on with a death grip!

At the same time, she desperately focused her spirit, guiding the dormant power of the Emerald Fragment within her! A faint emerald glow struggled to light up at the location of her heart! She wasn't going to use this faint power to purify, but... to guide!

"Stardust... guide!" Xiang Lingna cried out toward the identity token!

As if answering her call!

Hmm!!!

The identity token, covered by dark-purple moss, suddenly erupted with the last wisp of exceptionally pure, milky-white stardust radiance! This radiance pierced through the covering moss, and like a sword, shone precisely on Xiang Lingna's left hand that was gripping the dark-purple energy thread!

Sizzle——!!!

Like a red-hot iron block doused with ice water! The instant the stardust light touched the dark-purple energy thread, a blinding flash and a shrill sound of annihilation erupted! The pure power of order dealt tremendous damage to the Rot-Claw shackles!

"Roar!!!" The withered wood guard let out a piercing roar, its body convulsing violently! The shackles binding it were severely damaged!

And even more critically! Xiang Lingna's left hand, gripping the thread, became the battlefield where the Starfall Light clashed with the energy of the Rotting Claw Shackles! The violent conflicting energy surged along her left hand, slamming brutally into her body!

"Ughhhhh—!!!" Xiang Lingna felt her body as if it were being torn apart! The agony far exceeded anything before! Yet amidst this excruciating pain, the dormant Chaos energy within her seemed to be violently "struck" by this external, pure conflicting energy, forcibly activating a trace! Though still wild, it was no longer dead silent!

It was this activated trace of Chaos energy!

Wild light exploded in Xiang Lingna's eyes! She no longer suppressed it, but instead guided this trace of Chaos energy, mixing it with the faint life force of the Emerald Shard, and poured it fiercely down her left hand into that energy thread, already severely damaged by the Starfall Light!

"Break for me—!!!"

Crack!!!

Like a taut harp string snapping! That dark purple energy thread, struck from both inside and out, shattered instantly, dissolving into specks of dark purple light dust!

The Rotting Claw Shackle node binding this withered wood guard—was destroyed!

"Gah..." The withered wood guard's movements instantly froze, its crimson eyes' light extinguished. The moss and bark-like tissue covering its body withered and peeled away rapidly as if losing support, revealing the rotting, dilapidated elven skeleton beneath. Its massive form crashed down, crumbling into a pile of dead branches and fallen leaves.

And with the destruction of this shackle node, Xiang Lingna felt a faint sound, like a shackle snapping, "click," coming from deep beneath the ground. The intent transmitted by the surrounding attacking roots instantly became much more relaxed and grateful; the Rotting Claw power binding this area was weakened!

More importantly! That trace of Chaos energy activated within her did not settle after destroying the shackle node; instead, as if finding an outlet, it began to slowly circulate through her meridians! Though it brought waves of tearing agony, it also restored a tiny bit of strength to her body, which had been weakened to the extreme! Like injecting a potent yet dangerous stimulant!

"Hah... hah..." Xiang Lingna collapsed onto the cold rotting leaves, gasping heavily for air, her left hand completely blackened, the pain piercing her heart. But she had survived! Relying on her own madness and a bit of luck!

She struggled to crawl toward the identity tag. The dark purple moss covering it had withered and fallen off under the illumination of the Starfall Light. Xiang Lingna, with her blackened left hand, trembled as she picked up the identity tag. The tag was scalding hot, its light dim, yet it still emitted a faint warmth.

The other two withered wood guards seemed stunned by the sudden "death" of their companion and the destruction of the node, their crimson eyes flickering with confusion and vigilance, temporarily halting their advance.

Xiang Lingna leaned her back against a massive withered tree, seizing this precious moment to catch her breath. She looked at the faint Starfall light in the identity tag in her hand, felt that trace of dangerous Chaos energy circulating within her body, and then gazed into the depths of this heavily corrupted, deathly silent, and terrifying forest.

Which direction is Sister Liyana's Crescent Moon Forest? Where was the wrench swept away by the spatial storm? Brother Lin Mo... where exactly is he?

The starlight of the identity tag flickered slightly, seemingly pointing toward a certain direction in the forest. At the same time, that trace of Chaos energy within Xiang Lingna transmitted a vague, attracted sensation, pointing to the same direction.

There... something seemed to be calling out to the Starfall and the Chaos... Was it the resonance of the Wang Ting fragment? Or... a greater danger?

Xiang Lingna tightened her grip on the identity tag and struggled to her feet. The blackened left hand sent piercing pain through her, yet her eyes were unusually resolute. She had no retreat. Only forward, seeking the fragments, seeking companions, seeking the hope to awaken Lin Mo.

Dragging her battered body, she stumbled step by step, moving toward the direction jointly guided by the Starfall and the Chaos, deeper into the withered forest, limping forward. Her figure was soon swallowed by the thick, churning gray-green withering mist.

And behind her, on the land where she had destroyed the shackle node, several thorny seedlings, extremely young and protected by roots, bearing a hint of gray-green buds, were struggling to penetrate the corrupted moss, extending their first leaf, symbolizing unyielding life, toward the extremely faint, bleak daylight filtering through the mist.