After a brief moment of charging with his staff aglow, Dao Lao transformed the front end into a battering ram and rammed it fiercely against the stone door. With a resounding boom that shook the entire stairwell, a massive crack appeared on the front of the stone door. Following that, Dao Lao struck the door several more times until the black stone slab door finally gave way, revealing a large hole.
Meanwhile, Haoyun stood guard at the top of the stairs during Dao Lao's assault, ensuring that the commotion below wouldn't attract unwanted attention. Fortunately, the intense battle outside was escalating, so despite the noise emanating from the basement, it went unnoticed.
Observing the sizable hole created by Dao Lao's efforts, Haoyun couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! This stone door is incredibly sturdy! After all those strikes, it finally gave in!"
Dao Lao, breathing heavily, furrowed his brow and remarked, "Indeed, this stone door is peculiar. Judging by its thickness, it should have shattered with one blow. It seems the dark magic afflicting it is formidable. Haoyun, from now on, we must exercise extreme caution!"
Haoyun nodded, expressing his perplexity. While he suspected a connection between the seal on the stone door and the mold spirit energy, his mold spirit energy detection system hadn't detected any traces of it on the door. Dao Lao agreed, noting that his system yielded similar results. Thus, they decided to enter the stone door to investigate further.
One after the other, they squeezed through the hole in the stone door and entered the fourth underground level. However, as soon as they stepped into the dimly lit basement, they encountered an unexpected situation.
As they entered the corridor of the fourth underground level, they immediately received a warning from their mold spirit energy detection systems. Dao Lao, being a seasoned veteran, had already sensed the danger before the system alert and raised his staff just in time to block a giant axe swung at him from the dark corridor.
"Haoyun! Watch out for enemies!" Dao Lao shouted, simultaneously engaging in combat with the sudden appearance of several palace guards.
Unfortunately, despite the dual reminders from Dao Lao and the system, Haoyun lacked combat experience. As he transitioned from the relatively bright hallway to the dimly lit underground corridor, his momentary lack of focus led to him being caught off guard by the sudden axe swing, which struck him squarely in the chest. The force of the blow sent him flying backward out of the hole in the stone door.
"Haoyun! Are you okay, you idiot!" Dao Lao shouted to Haoyun, even as he fought off the guards.
"I-I'm fine! The protective shield blocked the sneak attack just now! Damn it! I got ambushed!" Haoyun replied, scrambling to his feet, a mix of anger and fear in his voice.
"These guards are odd! They have mold spirit energy within them. Be cautious!" Dao Lao warned Haoyun, relieved that he was unharmed.
Simultaneously, Haoyun's mold spirit energy detection system issued another alert: "Attention! The mold spirit energy level of the guards ahead is three stars! Prepare for combat!"
The target of the system's warning was, of course, the palace guard charging out of the stone door with a giant axe. Surprised by the information about the mold spirit energy within the guards, Haoyun adjusted his stance and, dodging the guard's second attack, delivered a powerful kick to the guard's waist. The guard was sent flying into the wall three meters away.
However, to Haoyun's surprise, unlike the previous guards who lost consciousness after his powerful blow, this guard, albeit stumbling, managed to get up and, dragging its malfunctioning body, launched another attack at Haoyun. Realizing that the guard's resilience was likely due to the mold spirit energy within it, Haoyun prepared for another round of combat.
During the sudden ambush and subsequent fight, Haoyun's Speed and Passion Blade had slipped from his grasp into the stone door. Thus, he had to rely on hand-to-hand combat for the time being. However, he was determined not to continue fighting unarmed. Fueled by the intense desire to retrieve his blade, Haoyun suddenly felt a connection with the Speed and Passion Blade, which he had wielded before.
With a surge of mental focus, Haoyun channeled his spiritual energy into the blade's perception, sending it flying like a bullet out of the dimly lit stone door. With precision, it struck the guard's head, exploding it into a mist of blood.
"Wow! Such power! I never knew this dagger could be used like this!" Haoyun exclaimed, feeling the surge of energy released by the Speed and Passion Blade.
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Haoyun quickly realized that his ability to control the Speed and Passion Blade for remote attacks was likely due to his recent combat experience, which had significantly boosted his overall strength. However, he knew it wasn't the time to celebrate his newfound strength. After dispatching the guard, two more guards emerged from the stone door and charged at him.
Upon seeing this, Haoyun recalled the Speed and Passion Blade, which was embedded in the wall. Then, driven by a strange feeling, he split the blade into two identical daggers with a single thought.
With two daggers in hand, Haoyun finally felt a sense of unity with the Speed and Passion Blade. At this moment, he was not only pleasantly surprised but also filled with fighting spirit. Facing the two guards charging towards him, Haoyun first smirked coldly. Then, while pushing his body into an overloaded state, he launched the Phantom Stab once more. In an instant, Haoyun maneuvered in a bewilderingly high-speed state, evading the consecutive attacks of the two guards at close range and slicing them into pieces with the daggers emanating faint holy light.
After dealing with several more palace guards rushing out of the stone door, Haoyun quickly entered the door again. Inside the corridor of the basement, he saw corpses littering the ground and Dao Lao examining something at the far end.
"Wow! Dao Lao, how did you manage to deal with them all? You couldn't have left a few for me, could you? You know, my power just now—" Haoyun started excitedly, wanting to share his newly discovered abilities with Dao Lao.
But Dao Lao interrupted him before he could finish, saying, "Enough talk! Come over here and see what I found."
Hearing Dao Lao's words, Haoyun stopped talking and hurriedly walked over to him. Then, he saw two dark stone doors. In terms of appearance and material, these two doors were no different from the one blocking the entrance to the basement earlier.
However, the symbols carved on the two stone doors, along with the runes surrounding them, made these doors unique. But these unique patterns were not what caught the attention of Haoyun and Dao Lao at the moment. Through their mold spirit energy detection systems, they found that the mold spirit energy level on these two stone doors had reached four stars.
"Does a four-star mold spirit energy level mean that these two doors contain mold spirit energy of four-star level?" Haoyun asked.
Then, calming down from the excitement of the recent battle, Haoyun looked at the bodies of the guards in the corridor and asked, "Why can the system detect the mold spirit energy level on these guards? Does that mean they are all possessed by mold spirit energy?"
At this point, Haoyun couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "My god! How much mold spirit energy is here? Could this be a hideout for mold spirit energy?"
While examining the runes on the stone doors, Dao Lao shook his head and said, "Rest assured, there is indeed mold spirit energy here. However, according to the analysis of the mold spirit energy collected from these guards, the mold spirit energy inside them is actually very weak, and they all belong to the same sect."
"You mean the mold spirit energy invading their bodies has been separated from the same mold spirit energy?" Haoyun asked in surprise.
"That's right. Separating one's own power is a unique ability of certain high-level mold spirit energy. So, the mold spirit energy we encounter here is likely to be very powerful. Judging by the mold spirit energy level, the mold spirit energy here may not be limited to four stars. We must be very careful," Dao Lao said, patting the stone door in front of him.
"Don't forget, these palace guards are all zombie soldiers. So, I strongly suspect that the mold spirit energy inside them entered their bodies along with the necromantic black magic used to create zombies. As for why these guards possessed by mold spirit energy are all staying here, I think the Dark Magic Association didn't intend to seal them all here. Instead, they wanted them to guard something here," Dao Lao speculated.
"So, the thing behind this stone door might be what they have been guarding all along?" Haoyun said, reaching out to the two stone doors.
"At the moment, that seems to be the case. And the mold spirit energy detected on the stone doors should be part of the energy barrier sealing this stone door. If I'm correct, the seal on this stone door was created using both black magic and mold spirit energy. And whatever is protected by such a powerful magical barrier—" Dao Lao answered.
"Is the power left by Anselin?" Haoyun couldn't help but interject.
"Exactly. It's likely that the power sealed inside is the black magic power left by Anselin," Dao Lao nodded.
At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh. If Anselin's power was indeed behind these two stone doors, it would be ironic for those elven people who were tirelessly searching for Anselin's legacy. They never thought that the most obvious place would be the safest. Anselin's power might even have never left the Blackstone Castle.
Haoyun couldn't help but recall the scene of Anselin's public demise. Hmph, this versatile Anselin, she only created an illusion at the time to make everyone think that her power was lost in the territory of the Leit Elves, thus keeping those hopeful individuals who sought her power away from the Blackstone Castle!
However, Haoyun thought again. What about that Siewen, Anselin's faithful servant? Why did he hide the truth that Anselin's legacy was in the Blackstone Castle while claiming to help Elenna find Anselin's power? Was that old liar also deceived by Anselin and truly unaware of where her power was? Or did he have other intentions?
Upon careful consideration, Haoyun naturally leaned towards the latter speculation about Siewen's hidden motives. After all, he appeared wielding a powerful teleportation scroll. Although Siewen claimed that it was left to him by Anselin, Haoyun now doubted those words. Who knows what that mouthful of lies was planning? Anyway, if Anselin's power was truly hidden here, they had to figure out a way to deal with it. Otherwise, it might fall into the hands of Elenna and her accomplice Siewen.
After sharing his thoughts with Dao Lao, Haoyun couldn't help but say eagerly, "In that case, why don't we gather all the mold spirit energy in this barrier and forcibly break through this door again to see what's inside?"