The stone walls of the secret passage glowed pale green with the light of Soul-Purifying Lotus seeds, but that could not keep out the stench of decay drifting from its depths. The Swamp Spirit warriors led the way, parting floating weeds with their spears and placing every step with care-in the standing water below, half-exposed skeletons were faintly visible, with dried Rotting Soul Worm cocoons still tangled between their bones.
"Watch out for the cocoons among the bones. Breaking them releases 'Rotting Soul Spores.'" A Ze, the lead Swamp Spirit warrior, lowered his voice and lifted a fist-sized cocoon with his spear tip. The moment its shell cracked, pale green spores gushed out, only to be blocked by a water-element barrier condensed in his palm. "The spores enter your airways and cause hallucinations. Only the aura of the Soul-Purifying Lotus can suppress them."
Loran bit down harder on the Soul-Purifying Lotus seed in his mouth. Its cool aura spread through his nasal passages, dispelling the stuffiness of the tunnel. Lei Lin kept his fiery wings tucked close. Golden-red sparks fell into the standing water, and even the splashes carried a faint purifying glow, burning the tiny cocoons hidden underwater to ash. Snow Spirit Qilin froze the walls on both sides with icy mist to prevent Rotting Soul Vines from dropping down overhead-the ice talisman around his neck was pulsing ever more rapidly now. The thread of dark red within its luminous white glow was almost breaking through its surface, clearly indicating that the insect queen on the altar was on the verge of hatching.
Halfway through the passage, a sudden clatter of bones came from ahead. A Ze stopped at once, holding his spear across his body. "It's a Rotting Soul Skeleton Formation! The Insect Clan assembled a defensive formation using undead bones from the swamp and Rotting Soul Worm eggs. It attacks anyone who gets close."
Before he finished speaking, the standing water suddenly boiled, and more than a dozen complete beast skeletons rose from it. Their bone cavities crawled with translucent Rotting Soul Worms. As the worms writhed, the skeletons swung their bony claws and lunged at the group. An enormous mammoth skeleton at the front was especially large, its tusks coated in blackish-purple Insect Clan slime. One stamp of its foot sent a wave half a meter high surging through the water.
"Lord Loran, we'll hold the skeletons back!" A Ze leaped up with three Swamp Spirit warriors, condensing water-element spears in their palms and thrusting precisely at the skeletons' joints-the water element could temporarily freeze the Rotting Soul Worms between the bones, slowing the skeletons' movements. Liya waved her staff, winding emerald-green vines around the mammoth skeleton's tusks in an attempt to pull it down.
Loran seized the opening to gather the power of his three elements. Pure white light became threads that wound around a wolf skeleton's skull. The light power within the threads seeped through the gaps between its bones, instantly purifying the Rotting Soul Worms inside. With nothing left to support it, the wolf skeleton collapsed into scattered bones with a clatter. Lei Lin spat out sparks, which landed on the mammoth skeleton's slime. The slime hissed and gave off gray-black smoke, and the mammoth skeleton visibly slowed.
"Attack its chest! That's the core where the Rotting Soul Worms gather!" Liya shouted. Snow Spirit Qilin immediately redirected his icy mist. Luminous white mist wrapped around the sparks, forming ice-fire bombs that struck the mammoth skeleton squarely in the chest. The instant the mist froze the slime, the sparks erupted. Purifying light pierced the gaps between its bones, burning every Rotting Soul Worm in its chest to death. The mammoth skeleton crashed down, sending up a huge splash.
Once they had cleared the skeleton formation, a faint light finally appeared at the end of the passage. A Ze pushed aside the last curtain of weeds, revealing a circular stone chamber-in its center lay a spring glowing pale green. A fist-sized crystal floated in its waters, rippling light flowing over its surface. It was the Lotus Heart Crystal they had come to find.
"The Soul-Purifying Spring! The Lotus Heart Crystal is there!" Liya cried in delight. She was about to step forward when A Ze caught her. "Wait. There's a guard beside the spring." He pointed toward the shadows beside it. A black-robed figure slowly rose, the exposed bones of its hands tinged blackish-purple. It held a staff set with a skull-a Rotting Soul Lich, a high-ranking undead mage parasitized by the Insect Clan.
"Outsiders, you dare steal the Matriarch's offering?" The Rotting Soul Lich's voice rasped like bones scraping together. The skull atop its staff spewed blackish-purple evil mist. When the mist touched the Soul-Purifying Spring, gray-black ripples spread across the water. "This Lotus Heart Crystal is meant to nourish the insect queen. None of you will take it!"
It swung its staff, and three evil bone spears suddenly rose from the spring, thrusting straight at Loran. He dodged sideways, condensing the pure white glow of his knight's sword into a blade of light that slashed at the lich's staff. But the lich was ready. With a sweep of its black robe, it released more than a dozen Rotting Soul Worms, forming a wall of insects that blocked the light blade. The instant the blade split the wall, the lich teleported behind Liya and reached its bony claws toward the back of her neck.
"Watch out!" Icefield Wolf leaped up, swiping golden claws at the lich's bony hand. Forced back, the lich took the opportunity to point its staff at the Soul-Purifying Spring-the Lotus Heart Crystal in the water began flashing blackish-purple, as though evil power was about to corrupt it. "Once the Lotus Heart Crystal is corrupted, the insect queen will awaken even faster. All your efforts are futile!"
"We can't let it corrupt the crystal core!" Loran lunged toward the spring, gathering the power of his three elements into a light shield in his palm to block the evil mist spewing from the lich. Lei Lin and Snow Spirit Qilin attacked together, weaving golden-red sparks and luminous white icy mist into an ice-fire net that trapped the lich in place. A Ze led the Swamp Spirit warriors toward the spring, gathering water elements in their palms in an attempt to cut off the evil power eroding the Lotus Heart Crystal.
Liya circled behind the lich. The emerald atop her staff shone brightly, and nature's power became vines that bound its black robe. "Loran, get the Lotus Heart Crystal! I can hold it for a little while!"
Loran immediately reached into the Soul-Purifying Spring. The moment his fingertips touched the Lotus Heart Crystal, a cool power surged up his arm and into his body, instantly making the power of his three elements more active-the crystal's Purification Power matched his origin power perfectly. He gripped the crystal core, turned, and swung his knight's sword at the trapped lich. Pale green light from the Lotus Heart Crystal merged with the pure white glow, forming a Twin Purification Blade that slashed at the lich's black robe.
"No!" The Rotting Soul Lich let out a piercing scream. The light blade split its robe, and every Rotting Soul Worm within its bones was purified, leaving only an ordinary white skeleton. "The Matriarch won't let you get away with this... The insect queen will... will avenge me..."
The lich's bones scattered across the floor, and the Soul-Purifying Spring returned to its pale green color. Holding the Lotus Heart Crystal, Loran could clearly feel the powerful Purification Power within-it was enough to temporarily suppress the insect queen's hatching. "Hurry! The insect queen must be about to awaken!" He handed the Lotus Heart Crystal to Liya. "Use nature's power to guide the crystal core's energy. I'll clear the way!"
A Ze led everyone up the stone steps on the other side of the chamber. At the top stood a concealed stone door carved with the Swamp Spirit Clan's totem. He pressed his palm against the totem and infused it with water elements. The stone door slowly opened-outside lay the top of the Altar of the Dead.
The blackish-purple egg at the center of the altar had split most of the way open. An insect-like creature covered in blackish-purple carapace was crawling out. Roughly three meters long, it had a pair of compound eyes gleaming ghostly green, six barbed limbs, and mouthparts that constantly dripped rock-corroding slime. Countless Rotting Soul Worms formed a cloud around the egg, pouring soul mist into the insect queen's body. Its aura strengthened with every passing second.
"The insect queen has already begun to hatch!" Liya's expression grew grave. She immediately raised the Lotus Heart Crystal overhead and infused its core with emerald-green nature power. "Loran, support me with your three elements! We can only stop it from hatching by pouring the crystal core's Purification Power into its core!"
Loran immediately gathered the power of his three elements. Pure white light intertwined with the pale green glow of the Lotus Heart Crystal, forming a beam that shot toward the insect queen's chest-where its core lay. Sensing danger, the queen spat a stream of blackish-purple evil mist that blocked the beam. As mist and light collided, the altar's rocks began to crack. Gray-black miasma surged from the fissures, shrouding the entire altar.
"Rotting Soul Worms, stop them!" the insect queen screeched. The insect cloud immediately rushed at Loran's group. Lei Lin beat his fiery wings, turning golden-red flames into a wall that blocked the swarm; Snow Spirit Qilin breathed icy mist, freezing the worms that slipped through; Icefield Wolf and the Swamp Spirit warriors wielded weapons to clear away the insects drawing near, buying time for Loran and Liya.
Sweat beaded on Liya's forehead as she poured nature's power into the Lotus Heart Crystal without pause. The crystal core shone ever brighter. "Loran, push harder! The insect queen's core is almost at its limit!"
Loran gritted his teeth and unleashed all the power of his three elements. The beam instantly strengthened, piercing the evil mist and striking the insect queen's chest. It shrieked in pain, its body trembling violently as pale green purification patterns began appearing across its carapace. A flicker of madness crossed its compound eyes. It suddenly turned, trying to leap into the Rotting Soul Abyss beside the altar-a rift deep in the swamp connected to the Rotting Soul Plane. If it escaped inside, it could complete its hatching nourished by evil power.
"You're not getting away!" A Ze leaped up and hurled his spear at the insect queen's leg. The spear pierced the limb, pinning it to the altar's edge. Loran charged forward and drove his knight's sword into its core. The power of his three elements and the Lotus Heart Crystal's Purification Power erupted together. The insect queen's body gradually began to melt, but it continued to roar, "The Matriarch... The Matriarch will awaken more insect queens... You... cannot stop the abyss..."
The insect queen's body finally dissolved into a puddle of blackish-purple slime, which the Lotus Heart Crystal's Purification Power purified completely. With nothing controlling it, the surrounding insect cloud scattered in flight, only to be wiped out by Lei Lin's flames and Snow Spirit Qilin's icy mist. The blackish-purple eggs on the altar also lost their vitality, their cracked shells gradually weathering into ordinary stone.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Liya put away the Lotus Heart Crystal. Its glow had dimmed considerably, though a faint Purification Power remained. "Fortunately, we stopped it in time. If it had escaped into the Rotting Soul Abyss, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
Loran looked toward the Rotting Soul Abyss beside the altar. Faint evil mist was still seeping from the rift, and he frowned. "We can't leave this rift here. We have to seal it with the Lotus Heart Crystal's power, or more of the Insect Clan will crawl out."
A Ze nodded. "Our Swamp Spirit Clan has a Water Ripple Sealing Formation. Combined with the Lotus Heart Crystal's power, it can temporarily seal the rift. Later, once we gather our clan's elders, we can use the roots of the Soul-Purifying Lotus to block it completely."
Just then, Snow Spirit Qilin's ice talisman suddenly lit up. Besides the white light pointing toward the Eastern Sea of Clouds, a new black light appeared within its luminous white glow, pointing north toward the Frozen Ruined Capital-this black light was stronger than any before it, and even carried a trace of familiar evil bone aura.
"The Frozen Ruined Capital?" Loran's heart jolted. He remembered the pope mentioning during the earlier evil bone crisis that it was a surviving stronghold of the ancient Evil Bone Plane. "Could the evil bone forces have joined hands with the Insect Clan?"
Liya took out the Illustrated Catalog of Plants and quickly leafed through it. "The catalog records that the Frozen Ruined Capital holds the Evil Bone Core. If the Insect Clan gets it, they can fuse evil bone and abyssal power to create even more terrifying monsters!"
A Ze walked over to Loran and said solemnly, "Lord Loran, the swamp's crisis has been resolved for now. Our Swamp Spirit Clan is willing to send warriors with you to stop the Insect Clan's plot. The Swamp of the Dead has endured too much suffering. We don't want to see other places suffer the same fate."
Loran looked into A Ze's determined eyes, then at the two qilins and Liya beside him, and warmth welled up in his heart. From Green Forest Town to the Elven Forest, from the Blackstone Mountain Range to the Radiant Temple, and now to the Swamp of the Dead, more and more companions had joined this battle. It made him all the more certain that, as long as everyone worked together, they could stop the abyssal invasion.
"All right! We'll go to the Frozen Ruined Capital together!" Loran tightened his grip on his knight's sword, determination shining in his eyes. "But before that, we need to handle the swamp's remaining purification work and contact Elder White and Chief Tongchui, so they can prepare for the evil bone forces and the Insect Clan joining hands."
Lei Lin beat his fiery wings, sending golden-red flames circling above the altar to dispel the last trace of miasma; Snow Spirit Qilin froze the rift of the Rotting Soul Abyss with icy mist, buying time for the sealing to follow; Icefield Wolf lay at Loran's feet, golden eyes watching the north warily, as though gathering strength for the coming battle.
The miasma over the Swamp of the Dead gradually dispersed. Sunlight filtered through the clouds and fell upon the Soul-Purifying Spring, making its surface shimmer. Loran knew this victory was only temporary. The crisis in the Frozen Ruined Capital, the alliance between the evil bone forces and the Insect Clan, and the Abyss Matriarch hidden behind the scenes-countless challenges still awaited them.
But as long as he had these companions fighting beside him and the conviction to protect the continent, he would not back down.
In the Frozen Ruined Capital to the north, bitter winds howled, and a new storm was quietly brewing.