The Abyss Matriarch's enormous head slammed into the pale golden barrier. Cracks spread across it like a spiderweb, the Qilin runes on the platform abruptly dimmed, and even the water in the Purification Pool began flowing backward-a sign that evil power was suppressing the sacred land's essence. Loran held the purified core tightly against his chest. Its gentle, pale violet glow reached his fingertips, as though responding to his anxiety.
"Hurry! The warship's energy slots are activated!" Chief Tongchui's roar came from below the light stairway. He was leading the craftsmen in securing Fallen Star Iron chains to both sides of the warship. "But the Matriarch's evil power is disrupting the propulsion system. Lei Lin, Snow Spirit Qilin, you must get down here and stabilize the energy as quickly as possible!"
Just as Lei Lin was about to answer, the Matriarch's mouthparts suddenly spewed a stream of blackish-purple evil mist. The mist struck the barrier, and with a crack, the barrier shattered completely! Several abyssal tentacles covered in blackish-purple scales immediately shot out of the rift, reaching straight for the core in Loran's arms. Their barbs gleamed coldly, and writhing Evil Bone Insects coiled around them. Once they wrapped around something, they could crush even Fallen Star Iron.
"Stop them!" Snow Spirit Qilin leaped up, condensing lustrous white frost mist into an Ice Spike Wall in front of Loran. But the tentacles were far stronger than imagined. They smashed the Ice Spike Wall instantly, sending Snow Spirit Qilin flying backward. Fortunately, Lei Lin caught Snow Spirit Qilin with fiery wings in time, preventing a fall from the light stairway. The Icefield Wolf lunged at the nearest tentacle, raking its scales fiercely with golden claws, but left only a few shallow marks and was instead flung toward the edge of the platform.
"Use the sacred land's energy!" Liya suddenly shouted. She pressed the Illustrated Catalog of Plants against the base of the Qilin statue. The pages resonated with the runes, and the last wisp of pale golden energy surged from the base. "This is the sacred land's remaining purification power. It can temporarily counter the evil power! Loran, use the core to guide the energy. We'll cover you as you go down the light stairway!"
Loran understood at once and brought the core close to the runes on the base. The Purification Core's pale violet glow intertwined with the sacred land's golden energy, forming a Core-Protecting Light Shield. Wherever the shield passed, the Evil Bone Insects reaching toward them instantly turned to ash. Seizing the chance, he scooped up Snow Spirit Qilin, pulled the Icefield Wolf along, and hurried down the light stairway. Though the Qilin phantoms on either side had dimmed, they still instinctively released faint light, shielding them from scattered wisps of evil mist.
But how could the Matriarch let them leave so easily? More than a dozen additional tentacles shot out of the rift. This time, rather than lunging straight for the core, they wrapped around the light stairway's stone supports! With a crack, the support beneath the stairway's middle section was crushed apart, and the entire light stairway began to tilt. Loran's foot slipped, and he nearly fell into the sea of clouds. A Ze reacted swiftly, flinging out a water-element chain that wrapped around Loran's waist and pulling him closer. "Hold tight! The Water Whisperers will do everything they can to steady the light stairway!"
Ten Water Whisperers pressed their palms against the light stairway's stone at the same time. Pale blue water energy spread along the supports, actually forming a temporary bridge of rippling water across the break. But this fragile support could not last long—the Matriarch's tentacles had already reached the water bridge. Their barbs sliced through its watery membrane, and evil power seeped through the openings. A blackish-purple hue began spreading across the bridge.
"Lei Lin! Burn through the tentacles!" Loran tucked the core inside his clothes and drew his knight's sword. The power of three elements condensed into a blade of light, severing a tentacle just before it could wrap around A Ze. Lei Lin responded immediately. Golden-red flames formed dozens of fiery whips that lashed the tentacles fiercely. The corrupted flesh beneath their scales hissed, releasing foul-smelling black smoke, and the struck tentacles temporarily withdrew into the rift.
They finally reached the platform amid the sea of clouds. Though the sacred warship's light shield was dim, it still shone stubbornly. Chief Tongchui was already waiting at the hatch, holding an emergency energy crystal. "Get aboard! I've used an emergency crystal to hold off the propulsion interference for now, but it'll last half an incense stick at most!"
Everyone filed aboard, with Loran the last to enter the cabin. Just as he turned to close the hatch, the thickest abyssal tentacle suddenly burst through the sea of clouds and stabbed straight at it! "Close the hatch!" Loran swung his sword and severed the tentacle's tip, but its continuing force still battered the hatch out of shape. Evil Bone Insects crawled through the gap into the cabin, only for the Icefield Wolf to swallow them one by one-its origin power could directly purify the evil power inside their bodies.
"Launch the warship!" Chief Tongchui slotted the emergency crystal into the propulsion slot. Lei Lin and Snow Spirit Qilin immediately flew into the core energy slots. Ice and fire power merged with the emergency crystal's energy, and the warship's light shield instantly flared, forcibly repelling the tentacle outside the hatch. The Water Whisperers laid a ring-shaped water-element barrier beneath the hull to prevent evil power from seeping through gaps in the bottom, while Liya used nature vines to bind the Evil Bone Insects inside the cabin and fling every last one overboard.
The warship slowly rose into the air, but the Matriarch's pursuit had only just begun. A dense, dark tide of Evil Bone Insects poured out of the rift. Dozens of abyssal tentacles waved above the swarm, and there were even several Soul-Corroding Flying Insects Nests like those they had seen before, beating their insect wings as they rapidly closed in. The Matriarch's enormous head emerged from the rift, her compound eyes fixed on the warship. Her voice boomed across the sea of clouds like thunder. "Give me back the core! You cannot escape! This continent will become my pasture in the end!"