The shield flickered violently, flickering unsteadily, covered with spider-web-like cracks! A golden light surged in Pei Du's molten gold pupils. He clenched his teeth tightly, crossed his arms in front of him, and dark golden lines flowed madly under his skin like molten gold, squeezing every bit of strength to maintain this barrier on the verge of breaking! He could feel that the pale green beam contained not only powerful energy, but also an extremely vicious, corrosive and cursed power specifically targeting the core of life! If it weren't for the inherent power of the star core blood, anyone else would have been corroded by this curse and turned into a pool of pus!

The beam's energy finally ran out, slowly dissipating. Pei Du maintained a defensive stance, panting heavily, each breath bringing a tearing pain deep within his chest. The dark gold lines covering his body dimmed noticeably, like a circuit drained of energy. The marks on his left palm radiated waves of piercing pain and emptiness, as if the forceful outburst had drained something deeper.

He slowly lowered his arm, his molten-gold pupils like a burning furnace, staring intently at the direction from which the beam of light came - under the shadow of the huge, twisted mushroom cap.

Deathly silence descended once more, even heavier than before. The only sounds were Pei Du's heavy breathing and the rustling of the moss beneath his feet as it slowly shifted under the impact of the energy.

"Oh? You actually blocked the Heart-Eroding Vine's cursed beam?" The cold, hoarse female voice echoed again, tinged with undisguised surprise and... a heightened interest. "It seems... the 'Mother Tree's' perception was correct. Your lost 'Cradle' weapon is indeed a little... different."

As the words were spoken, a tall figure slowly walked out from the huge shadow cast by the mushroom cap.

She wore a form-fitting armor woven from a dark green, tough vines and massive leaves, outlining her figure with a sleek, powerful presence. The joints of the armor were dotted with pale, shimmering fungi, like primitive runes. Her exposed skin had the unhealthy pallor of long-term sunlessness, covered in fine, dark brown lines like the texture of ancient tree bark, extending down to her neck and cheeks. Her hair, a deep, dark green, tangled like seaweed, flowed freely, with tiny, thorny vines slowly wriggling through it like living creatures.

What caught her most attention were her eyes. Without whites, her entire eye sockets were a deep, slowly shifting, dark green, as if condensing the darkness and vitality of the entire forest, like two bottomless pools of icy green. At that moment, these inhuman eyes fixed their gaze on Pei Du with undisguised scrutiny, cold assessment, and a hint of the cruel interest of a hunter discovering a new and unusual prey.

Her gaze, like an icy probe, swept across Pei Du's dark-gold-patterned body, lingering for a moment on his dim left palm before finally resting on Xu Shuangyao, who lay unconscious in the hollow of the tree roots behind him. A subtle, greedy look, like the discovery of rare prey, flashed across her dark green eyes.

"Let me introduce myself," the woman's lips curled up in a cold, heartless arc, her voice still cold and hoarse, like two pieces of rough bark rubbing against each other. "Qing Man. The guardian of this 'Life Wasteland', the whipper of the 'Life Branch'."

She raised her right hand slightly. That hand was also pale, covered with bark-like lines, but the fingertips were unusually sharp, gleaming with a dark green light. As she moved, the broken and fallen vines around her, as if pulled by invisible threads, began to slowly stand up again and gather together with a teeth-grinding friction sound. The vine fragments crushed by Pei Du's force field seemed to have life, wriggling and gathering together again, as if time was flowing backwards. Further away, countless vines of various shapes drooped down again, their tips pointing towards Pei Du, but they were no longer in worship, but filled with cold, ready hostility. Countless tiny friction sounds merged into a low, threatening hum, like the prelude to a green hell.

"Welcome to the cage of the 'Mother Tree.'" Qing Man's dark green eyes were filled with a chilling interest. "Now, put down that... 'key' to the cradle in your arms. And, tell me, why does this 'weapon' of yours possess the aura of the 'Mother Tree's' call?"

Pei Du slowly straightened his body, his dark gold-patterned form resembling a silent metal sculpture in the dim green light. His molten-gold pupils held no ripples, only a frozen silence deeper than the abyss. He leaned slightly, his towering figure casting a shadow that completely obscured the unconscious Xu Shuangyao behind him.

"Key?" His voice was low and metallic, each word resonating like ice. "She's not a key. She's mine." His tone was calm, yet it contained an unquestionable, almost brutal, declaration of possession.

"As for the aura..." Pei Du slowly raised his left hand. Amidst the hostile hum of the surrounding vines, the dark golden lines on his palm seemed to throb with a faint, burning heat, as if responding to some omnipresent call. "I'd also like to know," he stared into Qing Man's inhuman, dark green eyes. "Why is this rotting forest so hungry for what's inside me?"

"Thirst?" The cold curve of Qing Man's lips deepened, and she let out a short, snapping laugh, like a dead branch. "No, weapon. You've got the wrong target. It's not the forest that's thirsty, it's the 'Mother Tree' calling out for its... source." Her dark green gaze, like a tangible icicle, pierced the obscured Xu Shuangyao behind Pei Du. "As for her? A creature of the Cradle, bearing the Cradle's most core 'mark,' stranded here... Oh, what else is she if not the key to unlocking some forbidden door? Give her to me, and perhaps, I can let you die more swiftly, and also allow her value... to be continued in another form." Her words were filled with a naked, cold assessment of the value of life.

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