Chapter 83: The Sea of Turbulence: The Radiance of Stardust and the Brand of Rot Claw

The wasteland's grey haze swiftly receded beneath his feet, as though sinking into a murky seabed. In its place came a heart-palpitating, boundless expanse of dark void. No stars, no sun or moon—only churning streams of chaotic, viscous-oil-paint-like energy turbulence flowing, colliding, and annihilating each other in silence within his field of vision. This was the Stardust Sea—the graveyard and dumping ground of the planar gaps.

An intense sensation of weightlessness and the total loss of direction crashed over him in an instant. Lin Mo gripped the control stick of his thruster pack tightly; the power of his Thorn Will acted like an invisible anchor, locking down his mind and resisting the spatial pull. The brand on his right arm, stimulated by this chaotic energy, burned like a red-hot branding iron, the searing pain surging wave after wave, conveying a near-greedy excitement.

"Boss! Hold steady! This damn place is even more twisted than Old Man Wrench imagined!" Wrench's voice came through the crude comms circuit, laced with static and uncontrollable terror. The nozzle of his bulky probe-box thruster was spewing unstable flames, struggling to maintain balance. On the probe screen, the spatial-stability readings were jumping wildly, with red alerts occupying nearly half the display. "The energy turbulence is too strong! The detection waves are heavily disrupted! I can only barely lock onto the general direction! The Ark signal… is breaking up!"

"Stay close to me!" Lin Mo growled low, piloting his thruster pack like a lone skiff in a raging sea, struggling to weave through the churning energy turbulence. Chaotic colors flowed around him, now icy-cold to the bone, now searingly hot; invisible energy tides, like giant hands, constantly tore at their armor and thrusters. Were it not for the Thorn Steel Armor isolating most of the erosion and the Order Anchor stabilizing his spirit, an ordinary person would have long since been torn apart or driven mad.

He did not know how long had passed—an eternity compressed into a single instant. On the probe screen, an extremely faint yet unusually steady white pinpoint signal flickered stubbornly against the chaotic background.

"Found it! Pure stardust reaction! Right ahead!" Wrench's voice rang with wild joy.

Lin Mo's spirit lifted, and he accelerated toward the signal. The surrounding chaotic turbulence seemed to grow even more violent, as if resisting their approach. Within the churning energy colors, countless fine, diamond-dust-like crystalline particles began to appear—stardust!

The closer they got to the signal source, the denser the stardust became. These tiny particles emitted a soft, pure white glow, containing a peculiar orderly fluctuation somewhere between matter and energy. Like living sprites, they danced gracefully amid the violent turbulence, forming winding ribbons of light. When the Thorn Steel Armor made contact with these ribbons, the blue-green glow on its surface actually grew more solid and active, and even the restless brand within Lin Mo was temporarily soothed somewhat by this pure power of Order.

Hope was within reach!

However, just as they were about to break through the final stretch of violent turbulence and reach the core area of the signal source—

Hum!!!

A cold, viscous spiritual shock, brimming with endless greed and brutality, like a roar from the deepest abyss of the Nine Hells, ignored the distance of space and slammed brutally into the depths of Lin Mo's consciousness! This shock was so familiar, yet so powerful! Far surpassing any before it!

Rot Claw!

【…Found…you…thief…】

【…Order…stardust…key…】

【…Surrender…or…annihilation…】

A terrifying pressure descended alongside the spiritual shock! Lin Mo's vision went black; his thruster pack instantly lost control, spinning wildly as it slammed into a churning patch of purple turbulence! The brand on his right arm, like a lit powder keg, erupted with unprecedented searing heat and throbbing! The dark-purple rot power, like a breached flood, madly assaulted the blue dam of the Order Anchor! The sword-guard insignia on his back flickered frantically, its dark-purple glow nearly swallowing everything!

"Boss!" Wrench's terrified scream rang out through the comms circuit.

Lin Mo bit through his tongue; the sharp pain jolted him into forcibly steadying his mind! The power of his Thorn Will, mingled with his belief in protecting his homeland, transformed into the toughest chains, binding tight the rot power on the verge of running wild! The blue light of the Order Anchor burst forth with a final defiance from the depths of his soul!

"Get lost!" He unleashed a beast-like roar within his consciousness!

In that frozen instant of stalemate, the energy turbulence ahead was forcibly parted by an invisible force! The core area of the signal source finally revealed itself before their eyes!

It was not the imagined stardust vein or floating island.

It was a massive vortex of stardust, formed by countless pure stardust particles spontaneously coalescing, slowly rotating! At the vortex's center radiated a intoxicating milky-white glow, the refined power of Order so dense it was nearly liquid! And at the very core of that vortex, something that made Lin Mo's pupils contract sharply was rising and sinking!

It was an enormous, fractured piece of metal structure! Its material was extremely similar to the alloy of the Sanctuary's core, but its surface was covered in a thick layer of stardust crystal, as though clad in a suit of diamond armor. Beneath the wrapping of stardust crystal, one could faintly see its complex internal energy conduits and damaged control nodes—this was clearly a remnant of Ark Seven! A massive, relatively well-preserved core cabin segment!

And at a huge breach exposed in that remnant cabin segment, the sight was even more shocking!

Countless thick, bloated rot tendrils, oozing with purple-black slime and inlaid with withered crystals, like bone-deep parasites, stretched out from the darkness of the void, tightly coiling and taking root upon that remnant! The tips of the tendrils plunged deep into the core of the stardust vortex, like greedy vampires madly draining the refined power of the orderly stardust! The drained milky-white stardust flowed along the tendrils, forcibly transformed into viscous purple-black energy liquid!

Rot Claw! It had already gotten there first! It had not only found the remnant of Ark Seven, but was directly polluting and plundering this sacred ground where pure stardust was born! It meant to turn this place of Order into a source of its annihilating power!

【…Submit…or…destruction…】

Rot Claw's spiritual pressure intensified once more, descending like a tangible war-hammer! At the same time, the rot tendrils缠绕 upon the remnant suddenly writhed; several of their tips split open like giant maws, and tentacles bearing the might to tear space and saturated with purple-black polluted energy shot brutally toward the失控 Lin Mo and the distant Wrench!

Beneath the radiance of stardust, the Claw Brand was revealed in all its ferociousness! At the heart of the trap, the fangs were finally bared!