What could $civicrm_root setting in civicrm.settings.php appears ignored?
There might two settings defined for CiviCRM. Can look if you have any other civicrm.settings.php file located in different folder?

 The recommended location is wp-content/uploads/civicrm/civicrm.settings.php.

 The deprecated location, still supported as of April 2017, was wp-content/plugins/civicrm/civicrm.settings.php


HTH

Pradeep