Chapter 56: The Iron Rampart, the Trial of Moonlight, and the Whisper of Corruption

The roar of the geothermal furnace became the new heartbeat of the Thornheart. Under Tong Xu’s nearly obsessive craftsmanship and Wrench’s wild yet practical design, the first true “Thornheart Fire-Pattern Steel Ingot” was born in the orange molten lava! Its entire body was dark red, its surface flowing with natural orange lava patterns, heavy and warm to the touch, radiating pure fire energy and the resilience of the earth.

“Fine steel!” Tong Xu stroked the scorching ingot with his mechanical prosthetic, his hawk-like eyes filled with admiration. “Forged by earthfire, infused with jade breath—this steel’s toughness and energy affinity far exceed my expectations! Boy, your wall has found its foundation!”

Lin Mo looked at the ingot, forged with hope and strength, and nodded: “Master Tong Xu, I entrust the Stone Wall to you.”

“Leave it to me!” Tong Xu boomed with confidence, immediately ordering Wrench to begin forging the wall’s foundation. They reloaded the massive fire-patterned ingot into the furnace. Tong Xu swung his short-handled square-headed hammer; under the precise control of his mechanical arm, the hammerhead blurred into a haze of motion, crashing down upon the glowing ingot with thunderous, muffled roars!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Sparks flew like silver flowers on iron trees! Each strike echoed with the song of metal and the tremor of energy. Beneath the dwarf master’s thousand hammer blows, the massive ingot was shaped and stretched like dough. Wrench stood by, managing quenching and auxiliary shaping; the two worked in perfect sync, their efficiency astonishing.

Soon, thick, precisely shaped, massive steel bricks—each engraved with crude thorn and furnace patterns—were forged! Each brick weighed hundreds of jin, radiating searing heat and the cold gleam of metal. Under Tong Xu’s direction, Lin Mo manipulated the dark-gold thorn roots like the mightiest crane, precisely stacking the bricks along the pre-marked edges of the depression.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The heavy thud of each brick settling echoed like a drumbeat marking the territory’s foundation. One, two… the dark red steel wall rose visibly before their eyes! It was no smooth rampart, but a rugged structure of angles and rivet marks, brimming with raw industrial beauty and the heavy-handed style of dwarf forging. Between the bricks, Tong Xu skillfully embedded conductive copper wires, linking back to the geothermal furnace—allowing the entire wall to instantly activate, sheathing itself in a scorching energy shield when needed.

The Thornheart now possessed a true steel body!

While wall construction surged forward, the territory itself quietly transformed. Xiang Lingna’s “Jade Seedbed,” nourished by fragments of the Jade Heart, had doubled in size. Beyond the tenacious Starlight Moss, she had successfully cultivated several tuber-like plants capable of surviving the wasteland’s faint radiation—named “Stone Roots.” Though yields were low, they provided a stable food source.

And Ai Li began her arduous struggle to master her newfound power.

In a corner of the depression, far from the noisy furnace zone, Ai Li stood alone on the charred ground, eyes closed in concentration. A strand of refined silver moonlight danced around her fingertips, like flickering cold flame. She tried shaping it—into a dagger, a thread, a shield… but the moonlight was icy and sharp, fiendishly difficult to control. A single misstep sent silver radiance spiraling wildly, carving deep scorch marks into the earth or triggering localized ice-energy storms that plunged the surrounding air into sudden frost.

“Ugh…” One failed attempt to form a moonlight shield ended in backlash; the rebounding energy made her grunt, the silver scar on her chest throbbing faintly. Within her, the withering corruption long suppressed by the Jade Heart fragment stirred like a coiled serpent—cold, piercing, at the moment of power loss.

“Power… requires control.” Lin Mo’s voice came from behind. He stepped beside her, gripping the “Geothermal Arbiter,” its blade radiating steady, weighty energy. “Your moonlight is like the sharpest ice blade. Too rigid, it breaks. Too sharp, it cuts you. Try… sensing the Thorn’s will to protect? Perhaps it can help you find balance.”

Ai Li fell silent. Her cold eyes flickered from the warblade in Lin Mo’s hand, to the steel wall rising in the distance, to the faint dark-gold thorn patterns glowing along its surface. She drew a deep breath and gathered her moonlight once more. This time, she did not force or mold it—she sought instead to feel the thorn emblem etched into the hilt’s core: the unwavering will to root itself in the earth, to guard home.

Something wondrous happened. The wild moonlight, upon touching that protective will, remained icy and sharp—but now carried a thread of… resilience? Like an ice blade wrapped in supple vines. The silver radiance no longer scattered; instead, it stabilized into a small, perfect shield woven from countless fine silver thorns! Faint lunar runes glowed along its surface.

Success! Though only a prototype, it was a monumental breakthrough!

“Good.” Lin Mo’s eyes held a trace of approval. He felt the subtle resonance between Ai Li’s moonlight and the Thornheart’s protective will.

Yet, just as Ai Li relaxed her focus, savoring this hard-won control—

A whisper—faint, cold, viscous—suddenly surfaced in the depths of her mind, like a parasite clinging to bone:

“Moonlight… purifies… foolish…”

“Power… comes from… consumption… returns to… decay…”

“Join… Us… grant… true… eternity…”

The whisper pulsed with temptation and corruption, identical in nature to the Withering Claw’s will—but more direct, more targeted at her moonlight essence. Was this residual withering corruption? Or… had the Withering Claw, across dimensions, launched a psychic assault specifically against her, the one who wielded purification?

Ai Li’s face turned deathly pale. The newly formed thorn-moon shield trembled violently, nearly dissolving. Her eyes blazed silver as she forcibly crushed the nauseating whisper, her gaze locking onto the Withering Forest with lethal intent.

“Withering Claw…” she hissed, voice like frozen steel. This new power had brought not only responsibility—but deeper malice.

Lin Mo, at the instant of her power’s collapse and forced suppression, clearly sensed the cold ripple within her. Simultaneously, deep within his own [Seed of Life] core, the latent violet-purple vein stirred—ever so slightly… twitched.

Danger, like a venomous serpent lurking in shadow, had never left. The Doctor’s surveillance, the Withering Claw’s whisper, the hidden threat buried at the core of power—all shadowed the budding prosperity