Chapter 52: Runaway Moonlight, the Thorn Cage, and Rot Claw's Prying

The silver string of moonlight blade tore through the air, carrying an icy killing intent that purified all things, slashing straight at the completely unguarded Xiang Lingna! So fast, so close—there was simply no way to dodge!

"Lingna—!" Lin Mo's eyes nearly split with rage, his heart almost stopping! He wanted to lunge over, but his body lagged for an instant from the previous exertion!

"Girl, look out!" The dwarf Copper Beard reacted fastest, letting out a furious roar as the heavy forging hammer flew from his hand, hurtling toward the blade's trajectory with a muffled whoosh! Yet the hammer's speed was far inferior to the moonlight blade!

At this hair-raising critical moment!

Hum—!

The "Earth Vein Arbiter" war-blade planted in the ground seemed to sense its master's shock and fury and the will to protect—the thorn runes at its guard suddenly erupted with a blinding dark-gold radiance! The dark-gold thorn roots encircling the hollow's core area, like awakened giant pythons, instantly went berserk!

Sizzle sizzle sizzle—!

Several of the thickest energy roots closest to Sister Ai Li and Xiang Lingna ignored the barrier of spatial distance, weaving and coiling madly like teleportation, instantly constructing a thick, spike-covered thorn bulwark less than half a chi in front of Xiang Lingna!

Thwack!

The silver moonlight blade hacked viciously into the thorn bulwark!

No earth-shattering explosion—only the teeth-grinding sound of cutting and annihilation! The resilient dark-gold thorns were sliced inch by inch and vaporized under the moonlight's purifying force! But there were simply too many thorn bulwarks, layer upon layer, endlessly regenerating! The moment the blade cut through one layer, new thorns immediately coiled up to replace it! Emerald life energy and icy moonlight force collided violently and annihilated each other!

In the end, after cleaving through fully seven layers of thorn bulwark, that moonlight blade's power finally ran out, dissolving into scattered silver radiance. Xiang Lingna was blasted away by the shockwave, crashing onto the ground several meters away—her little face deathly pale, soul still shaken, but at least she hadn't been struck directly!

"Ai Li! Snap out of it!" Lin Mo seized this chance and finally rushed to Sister Ai Li's side, both hands clamping down hard on her violently trembling shoulders! He felt the newly born moonlight force within Sister Ai Li like a runaway wild horse—wild, icy, completely out of control! Her silver-white pupils had no focus, only pure, power-flooded agony and killing intent!

"Gh… kill… corrupt… purify…" Sister Ai Li let out a hoarse, guttural snarl from her throat, and her remaining right hand rose once more, moonlight gathering at her fingertips!

"Calm down!" Lin Mo roared, and the power of the 【Seed of Life】, mingled with the gentle nourishment of the Root Domain, surged into Sister Ai Li's body like a tide! He tried to soothe and guide that rampaging moonlight force!

However, the lingering withering pollution within Sister Ai Li seemed to be provoked by the moonlight's rampage, counterattacking viciously like an enraged venomous snake! Deep-purple withering energy and silver moonlight force clashed and tore at each other madly within her meridians! The searing pain wrung an even more piercing scream from Sister Ai Li, and the gathering moonlight grew even more chaotic and dangerous!

"She's being torn apart by two forces!" Copper Beard rushed over, watching the strange phenomenon of energy conflict within Sister Ai Li, his thick brows tightly knit. "An elf's moonlight shard is a treasure, but mixed with that ghost-tree-man's rot-venom, it's a powder keg! We've got to find a way to separate them or suppress them!"

Separate? Suppress? Easier said than done! Both forces originated from higher worlds, deeply entangled within Sister Ai Li!

"Thorns! Cage!" Lin Mo decided on the spot! He drove his will frantically into the "Earth Vein Arbiter"!

Hum!

More dark-gold thorn roots burst from the earth, no longer defending but coiling around Sister Ai Li's body like spirit serpents! The emerald life energy on the roots was gentle yet tenacious, forming an energy shackle that tried to suppress her rampaging internal energy from the outside! At the same time, the Root Domain's power was concentrated into a hemispherical energy shield, temporarily imprisoning Sister Ai Li within and cutting off her threat to the outside!

Within the thorn cage, Sister Ai Li was like a trapped silver-moon beast, struggling and snarling wildly, moonlight and purple qi interweaving and flickering across her body surface, constantly slamming into the thorn bulwark with muffled crashing sounds. The cage shook violently, roots constantly snapping and regenerating.

"This can't go on! She won't hold out much longer, and the Root Domain will be dragged down too!" Copper Beard watched the thorn cage burning through energy at an alarming rate, deeply worried.

Lin Mo's face was ashen. He could feel the enormous drain of maintaining the thorn cage, and the increasingly chaotic energy storm within Sister Ai Li. He had to find a solution! Liyana… Priestess Liyana's purifying power! He suddenly looked toward that stable thorn-corridor node!

However, just as he tried to commune with the node, seeking a possible method of purification—

A will that was icy, viscous, and brimming with endless greed and brutality, like a tangible cold current, violently pierced through the planar barrier, followed the thorn corridor, and slammed brutally into the depths of Lin Mo's consciousness!

"Hiss—!" Lin Mo was Like Struck by Weight, letting out a muffled grunt, his face instantly going deathly pale! In his mind, it was as if countless horrifying illusions of trees rotting, the earth collapsing, and living wailing in agony erupted! A fierce desire to destroy all life and devour all energy slammed madly against his reason!

Rot Claw! It was Rot Claw's will! It had sensed the moonlight force erupting within Sister Ai Li, sensed the earth-vein fluctuations of the Thornheart territory, and even sensed the stability of the corridor node after Priestess Liyana's sacrifice! It… had been thoroughly enraged! Across the planes, it hurled its terrifying will like a siege ram!

"Gaaah…!" Lin Mo's head felt like it was splitting apart, and the power maintaining the thorn cage instantly destabilized! Sister Ai Li within the cage also seemed to be stimulated by Rot Claw's will, struggling even more frantically, and even a trace of… an eerie purple tinge stained her silver-white pupils!

"Boss! Hold on!" Wrench shrieked, flailing about trying to help but having no idea where to start.

Copper Beard's face changed drastically. Though he couldn't directly sense Rot Claw's will, he could feel the sudden chaos and crisis erupting from Lin Mo and Sister Ai Li. "Damned thing! That ghost is up to something!" He roared, suddenly pulling the other forging hammer from his back, warily looking toward the corridor node as if some terrifying entity might burst out of it at any moment.

The flame of hope that had just been lit in Thornheart territory was instantly shrouded by the runaway moonlight, the backlash of withering, Rot Claw's spying, and the immense spiritual impact Lin Mo was enduring! Danger lurked on all sides, teetering on the brink of collapse! Meanwhile, Xiang Lingna struggled to her feet, looking at Sister Ai Li's anguished thrashing within the cage and Lin Mo's deathly pale face, her little face brimming with helpless tears. She unconsciously tightened her grip on the shard of the purification bottle hanging from her chest—a crude metal chain Lin Mo had given her, the same shard she had once used to water the Star Radiance Moss… a faint yet unusually pure green glow quietly spread across her palm.