Chapter 171: Chaos Resonance, the First Glimpse of Moonshadow

Violent, chaotic energy mixed with dark purple, emerald green, and milky white light surged like a runaway flood, slamming into the Wang Ting core fragment embedded in the stone wall!

Hum—!!!

This time, it was no longer violent collision and annihilation. Those few silver-white fragments, as if injected with a stimulant or dyed in an alien hue, erupted with an unprecedented, blinding radiance! But this light was no longer pure orderly silver-white—it took on a strange, ever-shifting chaotic halo—silver-white as base, emerald green and dark purple writhing and spiraling within like living things, with a faint wisp of milky white stardust enveloped at its center!

The entire cave was utterly illuminated by this chaotic light! The elves in the corner were blinded by the intense radiance and cried out in alarm. The violent impacts outside the cave also paused!

Xiang Lingna felt her soul seemed pierced through by this light! A violent tearing sensation spread from her body into the depths of her consciousness! She saw the scene on the stone wall become crystal clear!

The Rotclaw Root Nodule Core. Countless dark purple energy shackles entwining Lin Mo's soul projection hissed like they were being corroded by strong acid under the intense light—light originating from the Wang Ting fragments but "polluted" by chaos! The runes flowing along the chains flickered violently, dimming and brightening erratically! The Doctor's frantic extraction of Lin Mo's stardust essence was forcibly interrupted!

"Ugh—!" In the scene, the purely dark purple energy-formed "pale humanoid" shuddered violently, emitting a silent, furious roar of shock and rage! The energy threads connected to it writhed wildly, clearly suffering backlash!

Even more shocking to Xiang Lingna was the faint stardust glow on Lin Mo's chest—upon the weakening of the shackles, it seemed to catch its breath and greedily absorbed the incoming Wang Ting fragment light, now suffused with the chaotic halo! The stardust's glow visibly strengthened slightly! Though still bound by the shackles, it no longer flickered as precariously as before!

Did it work?! Xiang Lingna's heart surged with wild joy! This unbelievable method actually worked! Her chaotic energy, resonating with the Wang Ting fragments and the stardust, truly could disrupt the Doctor—and even nourish Lin Mo!

Yet this power was a double-edged sword. The energy tendrils surging from her right arm, pushed to full output, grew even more violent, frantically draining her already scarce lifeforce. Her meridians burned as if aflame; her consciousness began to blur. Outside the cave, the Rotclaw guards, after a brief pause, roared with even greater fury and rage—their impacts doubled in force! Rocks from the cave ceiling began to crumble and fall!

"Hold on! They're afraid of this light!" The elf in the corner suddenly cried out; though weak, her eyes blazed with hope, "The Moon God runes… perhaps they can guide this power!" She struggled to crawl to the stone wall, summoning her last strength to press her withered fingers against the dimmed elf runes, whispering an ancient, faint incantation.

Hum…

The elf runes flickered with an extremely faint glow, as if in response. The violent chaotic light stream released by Xiang Lingna seemed to receive a trace of guidance, becoming more focused, no longer scattering uselessly against the cave walls.

But this guidance was like a drop in the ocean. The guards were about to break through! Xiang Lingna's power was draining rapidly! The cost of forcing the energy was that the dark purple energy tendrils on her right arm began to turn against her—like venomous snakes, they spread upward from the wound, corroding her shoulder! Agony plunged her vision into darkness.

Was it all about to fail?

Just as Xiang Lingna fell into despair—

"By the name of the Moon God! Thorns, obey! Bind!"

A cold, commanding feminine cry, like moonlight piercing layers of mist, suddenly rang out from outside the cave!

Instantly, countless emerald green thorn vines, covered in silvery-white light and unbreakably tough, surged like living serpents through the cracks of the nearly shattered entrance! They ignored the pervasive corruption within, striking with precision and speed to coil around the Rotclaw guards smashing against the entrance!

Plos! Plos!

The thorns' spikes easily pierced the guards' chitinous carapaces; the vines themselves erupted with potent purifying order energy, searing the corruption within the guards like red-hot irons! The guards shrieked in agony, thrashing wildly, yet could not break free!

A tall, elegant figure appeared at the entrance forcibly held open by the thorn vines—holding a staff entwined with green vines and moonlight. Silver hair cascaded like a waterfall, pointed ears erect, emerald eyes like icy pools, now burning with cold fury! It was Priestess Liyana!

Behind her, several other elf warriors, radiating natural energy and wielding bows or staves, swiftly entered—arrows and nature spells instantly locked onto the remaining threats within the cave!

Priestess Liyana's gaze swept the cave in an instant: the violent chaotic light, the Wang Ting fragments blazing on the wall, the scene on the wall showing Lin Mo's struggling soul projection, the dying elf compatriot, and… that human girl leaning against the wall, her right arm wrapped in terrifying dark purple energy tendrils, face as pale as paper, yet gazing at her with disbelief and faint joy?!

Priestess Liyana's pupils contracted sharply. She recognized the mixed yet familiar energy signature on Xiang Lingna—bearing Lin Mo's aura (stardust) and a trace of familiar order (thorns)! And she saw the identity token clutched in her hand, emitting a faint stardust glow!

"You?!" Priestess Liyana's voice trembled slightly. The Thorn Corridor's resonance… the zero distress signal mentioned Xiang Lingna… and here she was! Appearing before her in this way!

No time for questions. Priestess Liyana raised her staff; pure moonlight and natural power surged into the cave like a tide, instantly suppressing the pervasive corruption. Her gaze fixed on the scene on the wall—when she saw Lin Mo's bound soul projection and the "pale humanoid," her eyes ignited with unprecedented cold fury!

"Wrath of Nature!" Priestess Liyana cried out, pointing her staff at the "pale humanoid" in the scene on the wall! A hyper-concentrated emerald beam—infused with moonlight purification and thorn strangulation force—shot through the "channel" of the scene, ignoring spatial barriers, slamming into the Doctor's projection deep within the root nodule core!

"Despicable worm!" The Doctor's projection in the scene roared in shock and rage, hastily gathering dark purple energy to block it!

Boom!!!

The silent shockwave of energy collision seemed to transmit through the scene—the entire cave shook violently! The image on the stone wall instantly became wildly distorted and blurred!

At that moment, Xiang Lingna could no longer hold on—her inner power utterly depleted, her vision went black, her body slumped backward. The violent dark purple energy tendrils on her right arm, freed from restraint, surged like a runaway horse, swelling violently, radiating destruction, sweeping indiscriminately through the cave—including the newly arrived Priestess Liyana!

"Watch out!" One of Priestess Liyana's elf warriors cried out.

Priestess Liyana reacted instantly, swinging her staff to summon a soft moonlight shield before her. Yet, as the out-of-control chaotic energy tendril touched the moonlight shield, it did not explode violently—instead, like snow meeting sunlight, it emitted a "hiss" sound, and its violent momentum was miraculously dissolved and neutralized in part?!

This strange change stunned Priestess Liyana. She looked at the unconscious Xiang Lingna, then at the scene on the wall—though distorted, still stubbornly present. In the scene, the faint stardust glow on Lin Mo's chest, during the moment the Doctor's projection was distracted by Priestess Liyana's attack, seemed to brighten slightly… and… those closed eyes twitched ever so slightly?!

A faint, fragmented thought, as if crossing space, brushed weakly against Priestess Liyana's and Xiang Lingna's unconscious minds:

【Li…yana…Xiang…Lingna…?】

【Light…Thorns…Chaos…Key…?】

The cave was in chaos, the crisis temporarily eased but far from over. The guards' roars and the elf warriors' battle cries echoed from outside. Priestess Liyana stared at the unconscious Xiang Lingna and her out-of-control yet strange power, at Lin Mo's soul projection in the scene that seemed to respond—and for the first time, her exquisite face wore a complex expression: heavy and solemn, confused, yet tinged with awe.

Thorns, chaos, stardust, Wang Ting fragments, Lin Mo's soul… what had happened to this human girl named Xiang Lingna? Was this power a hope of salvation—or a deeper trap? And what did Lin Mo's faint response mean?