Chapter 32: Whispers of Withering, Calls of Thorns, and the Transaction of Purified Water

The wreckage of the water purifier lay like a massive wound, silently narrating despair. Within the depression, the last of the purified water flowed over the scorched earth, seeping into the thirsty soil and into the parched hearts of everyone. Xiang Lingna guarded the few newly sprouted pale-gold 'Star Moss' seedlings, her small face full of worry; without purified water, these fragile lives from another world would likely struggle to survive.

Lin Mo sat cross-legged inside the hut, the 【Seed of Life】 pressed tight against his chest, cool yet carrying a faint pulse. He forced himself to calm down, focusing all his mental energy on the new, dim symbol formed of thorns that had appeared on his territory panel.

【Secondary Channel Node (Elven Sorrow): Energy Supply 0.1% (Natural Dissipation/Seed of Life Resonance)】

【Status: Stable (Faint). Mental link attempt possible. Warning: The linking process may be eroded by the 'Withered Mist'; willpower must be firm.】

"Sister Ai Li, Xiang Lingna, I need you both to focus your minds, think of that forest, think of the withered trees and the silver light we saw!" Lin Mo said in a deep voice. He did not know if this method would work, but it was their only hope.

Sister Ai Li sat silently nearby, closing her eyes; her cold face showed no expression, yet Lin Mo could feel an extremely condensed willpower, like cold iron, radiating from her. Xiang Lingna mimicked her, her small hands clenched tightly, her small face tense, striving to recall that fleeting glimpse of the Withered World and the mysterious silver light.

Lin Mo took a deep breath, his consciousness like a probe, cautiously touching that thorn symbol.

"Vmm..."

As if passing through a layer of cold, viscous liquid, Lin Mo's consciousness was instantly pulled into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic channel! Surrounding him were spirals of withered vines spinning at high speed; purple mist, like living creatures, coiled around and eroded his spirit, bringing waves of dizziness and whispers of decay, attempting to assimilate him!

"Hold fast!" Lin Mo roared in his heart. The faint glow of the 【Seed of Life】 lit up deep within his consciousness, dispelling the mist's erosion. He felt Sister Ai Li's iron will acting as an anchor, while Xiang Lingna's pure spirit was like a gentle breeze, faint but continuous, blowing through the mist and providing him support.

At the end of the channel, the scene suddenly sharpened into clarity!

It was still that same silent, withered forest! Massive ancient trees stood like twisted black skeletons, their gnarled branches pointing menacingly at the gray-purple sky. The ground was covered by a thick, constantly writhing gray-white fungal mat, emitting a cloying, rotting sweetness. The purple 'Withered Mist' was so dense it seemed solid, flowing slowly among the dead branches; wherever it passed, the scant remaining greenery vanished rapidly.

Yet, right at the center of this despairing panorama, the scene was utterly different!

An ancient giant tree, dozens of meters tall, with a trunk of immense thickness but long stripped of all branches, its entire body black as charcoal, stood towering. On a massive tree knot about ten meters above the ground, a faint but absolutely pure silver light shone stubbornly, like a lone star in the darkness! The silver light covered an area of roughly a few square meters around the knot; within this range, the gray-white fungal mat was driven back, the Withered Mist grew thin, and even a few extremely tiny patches of moss bearing silver veins struggled to grow!

Upon the tree knot, a figure stood motionless.

She was a young maiden. Her frame was slender, wearing tattered remnants of a priestess robe that was once moon-white, now filthy and worn. Her long silver hair, reaching her ankles, flowed like moonlight, standing out starkly in the dim environment, though the tips were stained with a withered purple. Her skin was pale, almost translucent; pointed ears emerged from the silver hair, covered in fine cracks. Most heart-stopping were her eyes—eyes like the purest emeralds, yet now clouded by an indelible gray film, filled with endless sorrow, exhaustion, and... a faint glimmer of hope, like a candle in the wind.

In her hands, she held a crude staff roughly bound from dead branches and vines, its head embedded with a small fragment of crystal emitting a faint moonlight glow (Moonlight Pearl Fragment?). Her eyes were closed as she chanted an ancient, ethereal ballad; her voice was dry and hoarse, yet carried a power to soothe souls. As she chanted, the crystal fragment on the staff and the silver light on the tree knot resonated faintly, struggling to maintain that small patch of pure ground against the surging Withered Mist surrounding them.

It was Priestess Liyana! The elven priestess seen in the vision!

Lin Mo's consciousness fluctuation was instantly perceived by her! She snapped her eyes open; her emerald eyes, clouded by gray, pierced through space and instantly "saw" the presence of Lin Mo's consciousness! Her eyes erupted with incredulous shock and... a faint glimmer of wild joy!

"You... you heard! A friend... from another world?" A weary yet clear thought transmitted directly into Lin Mo's consciousness, carrying the unique rhythm of the Elven tongue.

"Priestess Liyana? I am Lin Mo! From the Wasteland World!" Lin Mo responded immediately, transmitting goodwill and urgency through his mental thought, "We saw your plea for help! But our channel lacks energy and cannot open it temporarily! Moreover, we have encountered a major trouble! The source of our purified water has been destroyed by enemies!"

Lin Mo quickly transmitted the scene of the Hope Outpost via thought: the destroyed water purifier, the parched land, the anxious Xiang Lingna and Sister Ai Li, and those few newly sprouted 'Star Moss' seedlings.

Priestess Liyana received the information, her sorrow deepening in her eyes. She looked down at this small patch of pure ground beneath her feet, then gazed out at the boundless withering and despair surrounding her.

"Purified water... the source of life..." Priestess Liyana's thought was filled with understanding and a shared desolation, "My world... is also thirsty... The Withered Mist... is eroding... the last spring..." She projected a scene via thought: deep within the withered forest, in a valley fissure wrapped by massive corrupted tree roots, a few extremely thin streams of turbid purple water struggled to seep out; this was the forest's last water source, and it too was being polluted!

"But... hope... still remains..." Priestess Liyana's gaze turned to the silver light on the tree knot and those few silver moss patches, transmitting a sense of resilience through her thought, "My power... stems from the Moon Goddess... and this... the last remnant of the 'World Tree'... can faintly... purify..."

She slowly raised her Withered Wood Technique staff; the crystal fragment on its head glowed faintly. With extreme care, she took from her bosom a small "bowl" folded from a massive leaf, containing a tiny amount of turbid purple spring water. She suspended the staff over the bowl, focused her mind, and began chanting an even more obscure incantation.

The crystal fragment on the staff and the silver light on the tree knot flashed simultaneously; a pure, soft moonlight-like radiance enveloped the leaf bowl. The turbid purple water within the bowl became clear and transparent at a visible speed! Although it was only a small bowl, that pure water light, in the Withered World, was like a miracle!

"I... have limited power... one day... can only purify... this much..." Having finished all this, Priestess Liyana's face grew even paler, her body swaying slightly, clearly having expended great energy.

Looking at the bowl of clear water, then at Priestess Liyana's weak state and the surging Withered Mist around her, a bold idea took shape in Lin Mo's mind!

"Priestess Liyana! Let us make a deal!" Lin Mo's thought carried urgency and pleading, "You send the purified water through our channel node to me! Even if it is just a little! I will use it for emergency relief and to cultivate crops! In exchange, I will feedback the life energy generated within my territory, through the 【Seed of Life】, to you, helping you maintain this pure ground, and even... attempting to purify your water source!"

Lin Mo displayed the life-green vitality of the potato fields within his territory and the faint glow of the 【Seed of Life】.

Priestess Liyana looked at the scene Lin Mo transmitted, then at the precious purified water in her hand; a glimmer of hope finally lit up in her emerald eyes, clouded as they were! She could sense the tenacious, resilient life aura within the other's territory, which resonated faintly with her natural power!

"Life... exchanging life... the contract of nature..." Priestess Liyana's thought carried a hint of ancient rhythm; she nodded solemnly, "I agree... friend... from another world... Lin Mo."

She carefully lifted the leaf bowl, focused her thought, and guided that tiny amount of precious purified water within the bowl, slowly injecting it into the extremely faint channel node maintained by the mental link between the two, a node that could be severed at any moment!

On Lin Mo's side, inside the hut, the 【Seed of Life】 on his chest suddenly blazed with emerald light! Before him, the air distorted slightly; a few drops of clear, transparent purified water, emitting a faint natural fragrance, condensed out of thin air like morning dew, dripping into the broken bowl he had prepared!

It succeeded! A purified water transaction spanning the heavens!

Though there were only a few drops, this meant hope! It meant that two worlds on the brink of despair had built a bridge of mutual aid amidst hopelessness!

Lin Mo immediately carefully dripped these few precious drops of otherworldly purified water onto the 'Star Moss' seedlings guarded by Xiang Lingna.

The instant the seedlings touched the purified water, their pale-gold leaves suddenly unfurled, and the faint natural aura they emitted clearly strengthened slightly! The pulse of the territory core 【Seed of Life】 also grew a fraction more powerful! Energy Reserve: 9.5%!

Simultaneously, Lin Mo clearly felt a faint but pure life energy, originating from the life cycle of the potato fields and the 【Seed of Life】, flowing back through the mental link, slowly and continuously feeding into the elven world, injecting into that small patch of silver pure ground beneath Priestess Liyana's feet!

On Priestess Liyana's weary face, a faintest smile, like melting ice, appeared for the first time. The silver moss beneath her feet also seemed to unfurl slightly.

However, just as this hope-link spanning planes was established, within the Withered Mist behind Priestess Liyana, a pair of huge, turbid, greedy, and malicious yellow eyes slowly opened in the shadows, silently locking onto that solitary silver light on the tree knot!