Chapter 193: Echoes of the Wang Ting, the Throne of Thorns

Inside the stone hall, energy surged like a boiling torrent! The crystal on Lingna's right arm was like a star-gate gone out of control, madly drawing on the power of the Origin Crystal, then mixing it with chaotic properties and turning it into a destructive flood, forcibly pouring it into Priestess Liyana's body. Priestess Liyana's body became a tragic battlefield, where the dark-purple Annihilation Crystal and the emerald natural energy slaughtered each other fiercely; every collision made her twitch violently, and the flame of her life guttered like a candle in a gale, on the verge of going out.

Above the dome, the Doctor's will-projection lost its last shred of patience. His pale fingers pointing at the Origin Crystal slowly curled inward, and an even more terrifying pressure of annihilation, like a millstone made solid, ground brutally down upon that emerald crystal whose light had already grown dim! The crystal let out a groan it could no longer bear, and fine, dense cracks appeared on its surface! The radiance of the entire stone hall declined sharply, and the pure natural domain tottered on the brink of collapse!

"No—!" Lingna let out a desperate howl. She could feel the Origin Crystal about to crumble, which meant the disappearance of the last sanctuary, and also meant that the life-channel she was forcibly maintaining would backlash in an instant!

At the very instant this destruction descended, the ancient runes glowing on the ground beneath Priestess Liyana suddenly became clear! It was not a single radiance, but a colossal formation woven from countless tiny thorn-vines and crescent-moon carvings! A will that was vast, bleak, and steeped in endless ages, like a slumbering giant beast, slowly opened its eyes!

Hum—!!!

The entire stone hall shook violently! The star-gleam crystals embedded in the dome all burst forth with dazzling light at once—no longer gentle ornament, but like countless sharp swords piercing the gloom! This light was not chaotic; it swiftly gathered and flowed, weaving itself above the long-withered remains of the giant tree at the center of the stone hall into a rotating emblem of thorns and crescent moons, composed of pure starlight! The emblem shed a waterfall of pure star-gleam, instantly pouring into the emerald Origin Crystal below that was on the verge of collapse!

Crack! The crystal that had been about to shatter, under the infusion of star-gleam, saw its cracks actually heal at a speed visible to the naked eye! Its light became steady once more, even more condensed and profound than before! The annihilation pressure the Doctor had ground down upon it was brutally scattered apart by this sudden flood of star-gleam!

【What?!】 For the first time, the Doctor's will-projection showed a clear, furious shock! This ancient guardian will… actually still retained such power?

An even more astonishing change occurred upon Priestess Liyana's body! The moment the star-gleam radiance fell and touched the violent energy within her that Lingna was forcibly pouring in—energy mixed with Origin and Chaos—the thorn-and-crescent formation beneath her blazed brilliantly! A gentle yet overwhelmingly irresistible guiding force arrived, and actually began to actively guide and comb through the chaotic energy stream Lingna was pouring in!

Lingna felt the pressure on her right arm suddenly lighten! That violent energy was no longer a headless fly, but was gently received and transformed by the formation's power, becoming more refined and orderly, then ceaselessly poured into Priestess Liyana's limbs and every vessel! The dark-purple patterns on Priestess Liyana's body surface, under the dual suppression of star-gleam and formation energy, rapidly contracted like a retreating tide! Though the dark-purple crystals on her forehead and over her heart remained stubbornly fixed, the throbbing light was clearly weakened, and their resistance greatly diminished!

"This is… Wang Ting's… last… guardian will…" Zero's data-stream carried a tremor, "Activation condition… Moon Priestess bloodline… and… pure high-tier energy… Lingna's chaotic energy… was… transformed?"

Lingna was dumbfounded too. She watched Priestess Liyana's pained expression visibly ease, and a faint luster of life shine through beneath her ashen skin, and a wild joy of having survived a calamity welled up in her heart. Her gamble… had actually stumbled by accident into activating the guardian power deep within the Wang Ting ruins?

"Quick! Guide the energy! Help the formation!" Zero urged urgently.

Lingna immediately gathered her spirit, no longer forcibly pouring, but cooperating with the formation's guiding force, carefully guiding the Origin energy (mixed with chaotic properties, but already initially purified by the formation) absorbed by the crystal on her right arm, like a trickling stream, gently pouring it into Priestess Liyana's body. Sister Ai Li stood guard tensely at the side, her tightly clenched fists trembling slightly.

Above the dome, the Doctor's will-projection, after its initial furious shock, swiftly regained its coldness. 【A deathbed struggle… borrowing the will remaining in the ruins? Too bad… far too feeble!】 His hands pressed down in the void, and even more terrifying annihilation energy gathered in the projection's hands, no longer aimed only at the Origin Crystal, but covering the entire stone hall! He would use absolute power to thoroughly crush this last pure land and everyone within it!

However, at the very instant he was about to launch his strike of destruction—

Priestess Liyana's tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open!

No longer the ashen, lifeless eyes from before, but like two pools of clear, bottomless emerald-cold water! Deep in her pupils, a point of pure moon-glow lit up, then swiftly spread, dyeing her entire irises into a resplendent silver-green! An indescribable dignity and ancient aura spread out from her frail little body!

The thorn-and-crescent formation beneath her erupted with unprecedented radiance! The star-gleam power of the entire stone hall seemed to have found its master, madly converging upon her! She slowly raised one hand—not pointing at the Doctor above the dome, but… pointing at the long-withered remains of the giant ancient tree at the center of the stone hall!

Following her motion, those jet-black remains, silent for who knew how many ages, actually emitted a low hum! Thick dust on the surface of the remains rustled down, revealing beneath a jade-like, crystalline wood-grain texture! Under the illumination of the thorn-and-crescent formation's radiance, under the infusion of gathered star-gleam power, from the roots of that dead giant-tree remains, at a speed visible to the naked eye, sprouted a single… tender green bud!

Though the bud was small, it contained an unimaginable, majestic breath of life and an ancient will of order! It swayed gently, scattering drops of emerald light-fragments.

Priestess Liyana's gaze finally turned toward the Doctor's projection outlined in star-gleam above the dome. Her voice was ethereal and fleeting, yet carried a soul-piercing power, echoing through the stone hall, as if the ancient reverberations of countless spirits:

"Desecrator… the elegy of the withered Wang Ting… shall be ended by the newborn thorns."

Following her words, the bud sprouting on the dead-tree remains suddenly blazed! A thorn-vine phantom, condensed to the extreme and carved as if from emerald, entwined with pure moon-glow star-gleam, ignored the distance of space, and in an instant pierced through the Doctor's will-projection!

Sizzle—!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a light sound like a hot knife cutting through tallow. At the spot where the Doctor's pale projection of light was pierced by the emerald thorn-phantom, it instantly crumbled and was annihilated! The star-gleam rays composing the projection rapidly dimmed and vanished, as if the power had been cut!

"Impossible... the seed... could actually... sprout?!" For the first time, a thread of incredulous shock entered the Doctor's cold mind, and then it was utterly severed.

The star-gleam crystals of the dome returned to a soft, faint glow. Within the stone hall, the Doctor's oppressive will had vanished without a trace, leaving only refined natural energy and the breath of life flowing quietly. The Origin Crystal shed a warm green light, and the bud on the dead-tree remains was a tender, dripping green.

Sister Ai Li and Lingna stared at this scene dumbfounded. The silver-green brilliance in Priestess Liyana's eyes slowly faded, her body swayed, and she collapsed softly once more, but her breathing was steady, and the sickly ashen pallor on her face had mostly faded, leaving only deep weariness. Only those few dark-purple crystals on her forehead and over her heart remained stubbornly embedded, though their light had dimmed considerably.

The crisis… was temporarily lifted? Lingna looked at the crystal on her right arm, which had returned to her control; the dark-purple runes on it seemed to have dimmed somewhat as well, but that cold touch and the inner "hunger" had not vanished. She looked at the bud symbolizing hope on the dead tree, then at Priestess Liyana, unconscious but with steady breath, and her heart was filled with a mix of feelings.

Zero's voice broke the silence: "The Doctor's will-projection… has been routed… but its main body… must have been alarmed… this place… is no longer safe…"

Sister Ai Li swiftly checked Priestess Liyana's condition: "The crystals… are still there… but the erosion… has been suppressed." She looked up at the bud and the withered giant-tree remains, "Wang Ting's… power? Priestess Liyana… just now…"

Lingna also looked at the dead-tree remains. Under the illumination of the formation's radiance, she noticed that at the roots of the remains, within that jade-like, crystalline wood-grain texture, there seemed to be faintly emerging some extremely ancient, faintly glowing elven script. The script encircled a slightly concave area at the center, its shape... like the base of a Wang Zuo?

Just then, the tender green bud on the dead-tree remains swayed gently, and the scattered emerald light-fragments, like a guide, drifted toward the concave area encircled by script at the roots of the remains. At the same time, the dimmed runes on the crystal of Lingna's right arm also flickered, extremely faintly.

A vague thought, as if crossing time and space, was transmitted into the minds of Lingna and Sister Ai Li:

【Thorn Wang Zuo… inheritance… requires… key… and… vessel… to become one…】

Key? Vessel? Become one?

Lingna and Sister Ai Li exchanged a glance, and both saw the shock and Heavy and Solemn in each other's eyes. Could Priestess Liyana's awakening and the revival of Wang Ting's power still require Lingna's mutated chaotic power as the "key"? And the so-called "vessel"—did it refer to Priestess Liyana herself? And that "becoming one"… what did it mean?

Beneath the stone hall's tranquility, deeper mysteries and possible crises quietly surfaced.