“That’s the purification tower?”
Li Luo and the others saw a white tower ahead, ringed by fallen leaves black with age.
But within a meter of it, everything was perfectly clear, without any black mist at all.
Evidently, the purification tower might be dormant, but it was still just powerful enough to repel the corruption.
Li Luo and the others walked over closer. The purification tower was five or six meters tall, and its surface looked as smooth as white marble, although on closer look, it proved to be some sort of patterned wood with a comforting, musty smell.
It was almost a given that the purification tower was also made from the Tree of Resonant Power.
Li Luo carefully pushed open the door and crept in. To their surprise, the inside of the tower was lit with a dim fluorescence that had a soothing effect.
The interior was simply furnished; empty save for a little, stone platform where intricate lines of light glowed.
“Let’s prepare,” Li Luo said. He took out a bottle filled with purification dust that would reactivate the runes.
He placed it on the stone platform.
Hum~
The light of the stones glowed in response, and the bottle shuddered more and more violently, spilling its contents.
Glowing dust danced on the platform to an invisible rhythm, and the runes grew brighter and brighter, finally absorbing the dust in.
As the runes took in the dust, the entire purification tower began to vibrate, humming to life and glowing with purification light.
The light pulsed out, awakening a response from the black mist.
Like pouring ice into a bubbling fryer.
SPLATTER!
An ear-splitting cacophony of howls, as the Others were drawn to their antithetical beacon.
The purification tower was reactivated, and it instantly began to work its purification on the corruption in the area.
On the slope.
Jiang Qing’e and her squad looked at the pulsing light, surprised.
“They pulled it off!” Qiu Bai whooped.
“They’ve managed to clear out most of the Others in the forest… Still, that last Other—they probably won’t be able to deal with it, right?” Tian Tian said. They could all sense the last Other, and how strong it was.
“It was a Third Pattern, but after eating the fleshy Other, it’s now a Fourth Pattern. Once it completely digests and absorbs that power, it might even rise to become a red eroder in strength.”
A Fourth Pattern would be well beyond Li Luo and the others. They would pay a heavy price if they encountered it.
“Leader, are we going in?”
Jiang Qing’e’s eyes wavered slightly. “A little while more.”
Tian Tian’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t be thinking of leaving them to deal with it, would you?”
“Let’s wait and see.”
Although it would be easy enough for them to finish it off, it would do Li Luo’s growth no good.
She didn’t mind protecting him, but not at the expense of his development.
Deep in the dark forest.
With the purification tower activated, Li Luo’s squad did not linger, backing out of the purification tower at speed. They were glancing in that one direction apprehensively.
With most of the zone cleared, the only threat left was that last human skin white eroder…
Well, technically it was no longer a human skin eroder only. It had already started to show signs of peaking as a red eroder.
“Leader, is that Other going to come?” Bai Mengmeng fretted.
Li Luo chewed his lip. “Come or not, we’re prepared. Effective or not… Well, we’ll find out.”
“We don’t really need to worry. Even if we fail, we have guardian angels, eh?” He grinned.
Bai Mengmeng smiled, comforted. But if Senior Jiang intervened, would that mean that they had failed?
As a girl, she didn’t really care about pride or anything, but she could sense that both Li Luo and Xin Fu had a strong streak of it running within them.
Perhaps even at the cliff’s edge, the two would fight rather than open the parachute of safety.
Like in the situation they were currently in.
Bai Mengmeng stared ahead into the mist. Hopefully, her leader’s preparations were effective.
RUMBLE!
A sudden surge of corrupt energy, followed by a shriek.
They turned as one, pale and sweaty, watching the barren branches of trees fall one by one, closer and closer.
The human skin Other was here!
In a few short minutes, it was upon them.
The thing that emerged from the mist was different from what they had seen. It was ponderous, and it was now scuttling like a scorpion. Eight hands, dripping with fresh crimson, leaving deep prints on the ground as they propelled it ever closer.
It had no nose or mouth where its face was, only a pair of milky-white eyes glittering with malice.
It charged in the general direction of the hated purification tower, as well as the three guardians standing in its way.
Evil energy surged forth, a vortex of chaotic, violent destruction.
Fresh meat! Time to eat!
