Chapter 170: Root Nodule Uprising, A Flicker of Humanity

The Rot-Claw Guardian's insectoid compound eyes flickered with an icy red glow. Its mouthparts opened and closed, emitting a high-frequency shriek. Its thick hind legs kicked off the ground, and its massive body, trailing a stench of blood, lunged straight at the shadow where Xiang Lingna was hiding! The chitinous carapace ground together with a piercing screech, and the shadow of death descended in an instant!

In the nick of time, Xiang Lingna's survival instinct overwhelmed everything else! She stopped trying to disguise herself, and the wisp of chaotic energy within her was completely detonated! Her scorched-black left-hand fingernails instantly grew sharp, carrying an ominous faint glow of interwoven dark purple and emerald green, and she drove them viciously into a relatively thin dark-purple energy root tendril on the pit wall beside her!

"Break — for me!"

Sssliiit!

The violent chaotic energy surged wildly along the root tendril! This secondary tendril, responsible for transmitting energy to a certain region, simply could not withstand such a violent clash of opposing energies, and was instantly torn apart and melted through! Thick, viscous, dark-green sap spurted from the broken end!

Awooo—!

The Rot-Claw Guardian lunging at Xiang Lingna abruptly faltered, letting out a pained howl! The rupture of this tendril seemed to have affected part of its energy supply or its control circuits! But this hesitation lasted only a brief instant; the red light in the guardian's eyes flared fiercely, and it pounced with even greater fury!

Yet, this single instant was exactly what Xiang Lingna needed!

The instant the tendril snapped, she rolled violently to the side! The guardian's razor-sharp bone claw grazed her back, tearing open her already tattered clothes and leaving several searing bloody gouges across her back!

Xiang Lingna ignored the pain, used the momentum of her roll, and scrambled on all fours toward the cave entrance up high! The writhing root tendrils at the cave mouth sensed a living thing approaching and immediately coiled around her like venomous snakes!

"Get lost!" Xiang Lingna growled low. Her left hand, carrying chaotic energy, slammed viciously into the coiling tendrils! A sizzling, corrosive sound rang out, and the tendrils recoiled violently as if electrocuted! She seized the chance and wriggled into the cave like a loach!

Almost the instant she entered the cave, the Rot-Claw Guardian's massive claw slammed brutally against the cave mouth! Stone fragments flew, and the entire cave trembled!

The cave interior was not large, filled with a heavy miasma of corruption and a strange, bitter-fresh medicinal scent. A thin, small female elf was curled up in a corner. She was in slightly better condition than the "nutrients" outside; the dark-purple patterns on her skin were fainter, and a trace of faint spirit still lingered in her eyes, but she was equally withered and weak. She stared in terror at the Xiang Lingna who had burst in.

Xiang Lingna's gaze was instantly drawn to the inner wall of the cave. Several palm-sized crystal fragments, emitting a soft silver-white glow, were embedded in the stone wall like stars! They were fragments of the Wang Ting core! Though their light was faint, they stubbornly resisted the corrupting miasma inside the cave, forming a relatively "clean" zone. This glow resonated with the stardust halo of the identity badge in Xiang Lingna's hand, heartening her.

What excited Xiang Lingna even more was that, as she approached these fragments, the jade fragment at her heart thrumbed with a powerful resonance! At the same time, through the jade fragment, she clearly sensed that the fluctuation belonging to Lin Mo deep within the massive root nodule core below had also become a little clearer because of the proximity of this Wang Ting power! Though still chaotic and agonized, it undeniably existed!

"Lin Mo-gege…" Xiang Lingna murmured to herself, hope kindling in her eyes.

Just then, the sound of the guardian's frenzied battering and howling came from outside the cave! The entire cave was on the verge of collapse! More footsteps came from below — clearly, other guardians had also been alarmed!

"Who… who are you?" the elf in the corner asked weakly, her voice hoarse.

"No time to explain!" Xiang Lingna spoke at top speed. She rushed to the stone wall, her scorched-black left hand pressing against the largest Wang Ting fragment. "I need the power of these fragments! Do you know how to take them down? Or strengthen their power?"

The elf looked at the mixed yet strangely ordered (stardust) aura on Xiang Lingna, then at the identity badge in her hand that also emitted a faint glow. A flicker of hesitation crossed her eyes, then hardened into resolve: "They… are bound by the power of the 'Pale Demon'… unless you destroy that 'Heart' outside, or… use a stronger force of Order to resonate…" She pointed at several dim elven runes carved into the stone wall beneath the fragments. "Those are ancient Moon Goddess soothing runes… but they require pure natural power to activate… I… I'm too weak…"

Destroy the root nodule? Xiang Lingna couldn't do that right now. Resonate? She only had chaotic chaotic energy and faint stardust…

Just as Xiang Lingna was burning with anxiety, the wisp of chaotic energy within her throbbed again, this time pointing toward the back of the cave — a stone wall that looked relatively flat. Behind that wall, something seemed to be calling to it.

Ignoring the elf's shock, Xiang Lingna walked to the stone wall and pressed her left hand, carrying chaotic energy, against it. The wall was cold and rough, but after her energy seeped in, it was as if some switch had been triggered!

Hum!

The surface of the stone wall rippled, spreading out like water patterns, and astonishingly revealed a blurred image, like a holographic projection!

In the image was赫然 that massive Rot-Claw root nodule! But the viewpoint was projected from within the root nodule's core! Xiang Lingna saw countless dark-purple energy conduits缠绕 a blurred humanoid light figure like shackles — Lin Mo's soul projection! And at the chest of Lin Mo's soul projection, a point of faint yet pure milky-white stardust light was flickering with difficulty, wrapped in countless dark-purple shackles!

What horrified Xiang Lingna even more was that, on the other side of the root nodule core, the image revealed a massive chamber constructed of dark-purple crystal. Suspended within the chamber was a blurred "Pale Humanoid" formed of pure dark-purple energy. Countless threads of energy spread out from the humanoid, connecting to the root nodule and the outside world! Could this be the Doctor's true-body projection? Or a control node?

The instant Xiang Lingna saw this "Pale Humanoid," deep within the root nodule core, the countless shackles binding Lin Mo suddenly blazed with a blinding dark-purple light! A tremendously powerful suction force transmitted, its target aimed straight at the point of stardust light at Lin Mo's chest! The Doctor was accelerating the extraction!

"No!" Xiang Lingna cried out involuntarily! The chaotic energy within her and the jade fragment instantly ran amok from the stimulus of this sight and the extraction! The silver membrane at the stump of her right arm burst with a "pop"! A dark-purple energy tentacle suddenly shot out!

This rampaging energy slammed viciously into the Wang Ting fragments on the cave wall!

Boom!

The silver-white light and the dark-purple chaotic energy collided violently! The entire cave shook violently! The stone wall embedded with fragments groaned under the strain! The battering sounds of the guardians outside grew even more frenzied!

"What have you done?!" the elf cried in terror, staring at Xiang Lingna and that rampaging energy tentacle.

Xiang Lingna was also stunned — she had only meant to stop it! However, the collision did not produce destruction. A strange scene unfolded! The silver-white light of Order from the Wang Ting fragments did not reject Xiang Lingna's chaotic energy; instead, like a sponge, it absorbed a portion of the violent energy! The fragments' glow instantly brightened, even taking on an extremely faint emerald-green tint!

At the same time, in the image of the root nodule core below, the point of stardust light at Lin Mo's chest, which was being frantically extracted, seemed to have gained an extremely faint respite because of this sudden energy collision and the strengthening of the fragments' glow! The speed of extraction seemed… to have slowed, just a fraction?

A flash of inspiration struck Xiang Lingna! A frenzied thought surged up: use her chaotic energy to "feed" these Wang Ting fragments? Use this chaotic power to "contaminate" and "activate" the Order fragments, thereby interfering with the Doctor's extraction, and even… resonate with Lin Mo-gege?

The notion was outrageous, brimming with uncertainty. But looking at Lin Mo's soul projection writhing in agony in the image, and at the guardians about to break through the wall outside, only a do-or-die madness remained in Xiang Lingna's eyes!

She no longer suppressed the energy tentacle shooting from her right arm. Instead, she guided the wisp of chaotic energy within her, mixing it with the stardust halo of the identity badge and the power of the jade fragment, and actively, viciously, slammed into those silver-white-glowing Wang Ting fragments on the stone wall once more!

"Lin Mo-gege! Hold on!!!"