Chapter 91

A burning figure tore through the gray sky, carrying with it the chaotic residual currents of the Star Dust Sea, like a spear of divine punishment stabbing straight toward the earth! On the rampart, Tong Xu’s mechanical ocular flashed blue light, locking instantly onto the familiar silhouette beneath the shattered armor—it was Lin Mo! But now he looked like a piece of charcoal forged in hell’s flames, his life force flickering like a candle in the wind.

“Catch him—!!!” Tong Xu’s roar drowned out the battlefield’s roar.

BOOM—

On the western rampart, a relatively intact thorn-steel armor plate flipped violently downward, revealing beneath it a pre-prepared cushioning net woven from layers of resilient vines. The vines glowed with an orange-red luminescence, forcibly infused by the geopulse furnace—this was Tong Xu’s emergency device, “Earthfire Vine Cradle,” crafted after Lin Mo’s departure using Lingna’s purified vines combined with the furnace’s waste heat.

Lin Mo’s burning remains slammed into the vine cradle!

HISS—

The instant his scorching body touched the energy vines, a piercing scorching sound rose with thick white smoke! The orange-red glow on the vines flashed wildly, desperately absorbing the impact and residual chaotic energy. The massive force shook the entire rampart again; the vine cradle sank deeply, its mounting bolts groaning under unbearable strain, nearly snapping!

“Boss!” Wrench scrambled down the rampart.

Tong Xu’s heart rose to his throat. In the center of the cradle, Lin Mo’s body was charred black; the thorn-steel armor had melted and fallen away, revealing carbonized skin and flayed wounds. Most horrifying was his clenched right fist—between his fingers glowed a stubborn, unextinguished, pure white radiance like fresh snow! The light stood in brutal contrast to the dark purple mark on his right arm, pulsing like a living thing, exuding greedy hunger.

“Star dust… pure star dust!” Wrench rushed forward, his probes scanning frantically, voice cracking with tears. “Vital signs… too weak! The mark… it’s eroding wildly! Boss won’t hold on much longer!”

Outside the rampart, Fu Zhua’s tide did not halt at the sudden “meteor.” The remaining two corrupted scorpion artillery platforms glowed again with Huimieziguang on their crystal clusters! Swarms of rotting flying dragons dove downward, their acidic breath pouring like rain onto the rampart!

Ai Li stood on the parapet, silver hair whipping, ice-blue pupils locked on the second scorpion artillery. Her right arm lifted again, moonlight energy gathering furiously, thorn patterns spreading across her silver emblem. But this time, the gathering slowed noticeably. Forcing the beyond-limit “Moonlight Purification Erosion,” coupled with the restless stirrings of the dark purple tumor buried deep in her left arm wound, sent her body urgent warnings of overload.

“Tong Xu! The shield won’t hold the next salvo!” The nomad warrior monitoring energy shouted hoarsely. The temporary shield, battered by the monster tide, now glowed like a candle in the wind.

Tong Xu’s eyes burned red. His gaze darted rapidly between Lin Mo’s charred body, the crumbling rampart, and the re-igniting beams of destruction. On his rugged face, veins rose like earthworms. The furnace’s roar thundered in his ears; the cold touch of the forging hammer pressed into his palm.

“Lingna girl…” He whirled toward the geopulse fissure. Lingna remained unconscious, her small body curled, breath faint, the jade-heart fragment on her chest dimmed. The new sprout atop the world-tree branch curled inward, retaining only a trace of green, as if about to vanish entirely.

Despair, like a cold tide, sought to drown the last bastion.

“NO!!!” Tong Xu let out a beast-like roar from deep in his throat, drowning out the furnace’s roar and the monsters’ shrieks—a final declaration before the dwarven mountains collapsed!

“The Thorns’ Heart—hasn’t reached the time to kneel!” His massive mechanical hand raised the forging hammer high, its head pointing straight at the furnace core’s gushing orange flame. “Burn—BURN THIS IRON BONE! BURN THROUGH THIS GODDAMN APOCALYPSE!”

BOOM!!!!!

Tong Xu made a mad, ultimate decision! He no longer cared for the furnace’s limits, no longer feared energy circuit overload! His mechanical hand smashed the furnace core’s final safety valve! Wild geopulse energy surged like a runaway dragon, flooding unreservedly into the rampart’s thorn-steel veins!

ZZZZZZ!!!!!

The entire Stone Rampart emitted a deafening metallic hum! The thorn-steel armor plating across its surface instantly shifted from dull blue-green to blinding, blinding white! Terrifying heat radiated from every plate, warping the air! The vines clinging to it turned to ash in an instant!

At this moment, the rampart became a blazing mountain forged of thorn-steel—a furnace-mountain!

HISS!!!!!

The diving rotting dragon swarms took the first blow! Before their acidic breath touched the rampart, their bodies struck like hot irons, belching thick black smoke as they shrieked and fell! Nearby withered monsters—tree giants, bone aggregates—ignited instantly with orange-red flames, screaming in agony as they twisted and carbonized in the heat!

BOOM! BOOM!

Two beams of destruction slammed into the blazing white rampart!

No earth-shattering explosion—only blinding energy collision! The corrupt purple-black energy and the thorn-steel’s blazing furnace light annihilated each other furiously! The impacted armor plates melted and dented visibly, flowing as molten red metal. But this time, the rampart did not retreat! It burned itself to withstand the impact—molten thorn-steel flowed like lava, welding, burning, and purifying the corruption at the point of impact!

“ROAR—!” Tong Xu stood beside the furnace mouth, beard and hair scorched by heat, skin flushed red, his mechanical eye flashing dangerous red from overload. Like a giant riding fire, he channeled this city-burning force with his flesh! Every breath burned, yet he stood firm, roaring: “Come on, filth! Taste the fury of the dwarf furnace!”

The rampart burned, melted—and burned its enemies to ash!

Ai Li’s pressure dropped sharply. The blazing white rampart’s heat formed a death barrier, temporarily halting ground monsters, forcing the flying dragons back. In her ice-blue pupils reflected the burning rampart and Tong Xu’s fiery silhouette—her right arm’s moonlight spear gathered speed! A second silver spear, entwined with thorns, carrying the chilling purifying frost that froze souls, tore through the sky and pierced the core crystal cluster of the second corrupted scorpion artillery!

Another moving mountain turned to ruins in a purple-black Xunbao !

Wrench lunged to Lin Mo’s side. Ignoring the searing heat at the cradle’s edge, he used specialized heat-resistant pliers to carefully pry open Lin Mo’s charred, clenched right fist. In its center lay a pigeon-egg-sized, perfectly round crystal radiating pure, ultimate white light—high-purity pure star dust crystal! Within it, a faint golden shimmer drifted—a remnant aura of the “Geopulse Arbiter” blade.

“Star dust! It’s pure star dust!” Wrench exulted, then his face turned deathly pale as he saw the dark purple mark on Lin Mo’s arm greedily sucking in the star dust’s faint glow. “No! We must suppress the mark first! Lingna girl! Only Lingna girl can guide this power!”

His gaze turned to the fissure’s edge, to that faint, nearly extinguished green glow. Hope and destruction formed a cruel, tragic triangle atop the burning rampart, beside the charred body, before the withered new sprout.