Seeing Dao Lao locked in a stalemate with the defensive array on the stone door, Haoyun, who was guarding on the side, was also greatly surprised. Because, in order to ensure Dao Lao's safety, Haoyun and Dao Lao had connected their systems together, allowing Haoyun to assist Dao Lao in monitoring his physical condition while breaking the array. Therefore, Haoyun was well aware of how much strength Dao Lao was currently exerting to dismantle the array.
"Damn it! This array is stronger than I expected. It seems that the caster created this Patrick Defense Array only after highly integrating with the Mold Spirit Energy. And, I have a feeling that the Mold Spirit Energy integrated with the caster may not be just of four-star level, it's just that the Mold Spirit Energy applied to this array only possesses the power of four stars." Dao Lao communicated to Haoyun through their private system channel while fully resisting the powerful rotational force emanating from the rotating array eye.
Haoyun understood that Dao Lao wasn't speaking aloud because his strained facial muscles and clenched teeth couldn't support him to speak at this moment. And what worried Haoyun the most at this moment was that, in order to dismantle this defensive array, Dao Lao's mental consumption rate was also extremely high. In just a short while, he had already depleted a quarter of his mental energy.
As a precaution, Haoyun quickly stuffed a bottle of HahaLei purified water into Dao Lao's mouth, replenishing his mental energy, while suggesting, "Dao Lao, can you still go on? Should I try instead?"
"Forget it! The Mold Spirit Energy integrated into this array seems to be more powerful than I imagined. With your current strength, you wouldn't stand a chance against it!" Dao Lao replied through the system channel.
Dao Lao continued to confront the array for a while longer, and finally, with a sound resembling the breaking of gears, the ripples on the surface of the stone door gradually turned black. Then, they saw faint purple-black miasma escaping from the array eye.
"We did it! The array is broken! Those Mold Spirit Energies are forced to leave the array!" Excitedly exclaimed Haoyun upon seeing the escaping miasma.
As Haoyun said, because Dao Lao continued to bombard the Patrick Defense Array, the energy forming the array suffered enormous consumption and was eventually destroyed. And the destruction of the array was equivalent to indirectly severing the fusion between the Mold Spirit Energy and this part of the Black Magic. Therefore, this part, which had lost its host or was forcibly expelled from the host, could only flee from the array eye out of instinct.
However, Haoyun couldn't let these Mold Spirit Energies escape easily. After the system quickly confirmed the properties of the black miasma, Haoyun ordered the system to activate the Mold Spirit Energy Collector and immediately started capturing the miasma. But what Haoyun didn't expect was that his capture work this time was not as smooth as the last time. Because he clearly felt that if he didn't concentrate his mental energy, he couldn't capture the Mold Spirit Energy appearing in front of him.
"Haoyun, you must be careful! Those Mold Spirit Energies we captured before were either expelled from the host's body or lost their connection with the host due to the host's death, which caused them to enter a brief weak state and be easily collected by us. But the Mold Spirit Energies here are different. They are just a small part separated from the Mold Spirit Energy body, and they are extremely active. So, you must give it your all to capture them!" Seeing Haoyun's struggling expression, Dao Lao quickly reminded him.
"Damn it! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Haoyun complained through gritted teeth.
At this moment, Haoyun felt as if he were tugging against a raging bull. No, rather than tugging, Haoyun was trying his best to capture the Mold Spirit Energy into his Mold Spirit Energy Storage while avoiding being flung away by those Mold Spirit Energies that were just entering his palms.
"For heaven's sake! Didn't I just forget to mention that? So what? Now everything is on me to solve one after another. It's not a big deal if I occasionally forget some minor details, right?" Dao Lao argued cunningly.
Then, he reminded Haoyun, "Hey! Make sure you stand firm! If the capture work is interrupted due to inadvertent flinging of the Mold Spirit Energy, you may have a hard time capturing them again! And, they might even launch an attack on us. In that case, all our efforts in breaking the array might be in vain!"
"Damn it! Weren't you saying that Mold Spirit Energies have no attacking power until they find a host? It won't pose much threat to us, right?" Haoyun asked irritably.
"That threat is relative! Normally, it can be ignored, but now, even a little harassment from them is enough to disrupt all our actions!" Dao Lao replied.
Dao Lao obviously didn't expect himself to confront the Patrick Defense Array for such a long time. Moreover, Dao Lao also obviously didn't expect to consume so much mental energy in dismantling this array, to the point where, even after replenishing with two bottles of HahaLei purified water, his mental energy was again depleted to only two-fifths of its reserve. In addition, because Haoyun had to concentrate on capturing the Mold Spirit Energy escaping from the array eye, and couldn't help him replenish his mental energy, Dao Lao could only grit his teeth and hope to resolve this array as soon as possible.
Haoyun's situation wasn't any better. Although using the Mold Spirit Energy Collector wouldn't consume too much mental energy, unfortunately, he now had to face Mold Spirit Energies with a threat level reaching four stars, and they were extremely active. Therefore, with limited strength, Haoyun could only let his Mold Spirit Energy Collector run at full capacity to ensure that all the Mold Spirit Energy in front of him was captured without a single drop left. But the cost of doing so was immense mental energy consumption, which had already reached the verge of ten percent of the alert line.
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"Dao Lao! How much longer are you going to take! I'm afraid I can't hold on much longer!" Haoyun urged through gritted teeth.
As his mental energy continued to decline, Haoyun could already feel dizziness, nausea, and other negative sensations. But because Haoyun didn't even have time to free up one hand to drink HahaLei purified water, he could only rely on sheer willpower to hold on and hope that Dao Lao could dismantle the defensive array as soon as possible.
Master Gu was well aware of Haoyun's situation, and he also knew very well that because of Haoyun's limited strength, when his mental energy dropped near the alert line, Haoyun would not only start experiencing various adverse reactions, but his reactions would be even stronger than those of an ordinary priest. But now, Dao Lao had to demand that Haoyun push his limits. Because he could feel that the resistance force feedback from the spear was weakening, and the spear in his hand was ready to be further inserted into the array eye.
Haoyun's system quickly started alarming. Although there was still ten percent of his mental energy available, due to not fully adapting to this low mental state, Haoyun immediately felt fatigue rapidly spreading throughout his body. So much so that now, not only were Haoyun's raised hands trembling uncontrollably, but even his feet began to shake. Haoyun knew that if this continued, he would soon be flung away by the struggling Mold Spirit Energy.
At such a critical moment, Dao Lao suddenly exclaimed loudly, "Break!"
Immediately after, Dao Lao thrust his light-transforming spear forward with all his strength. As most of the spear was deeply inserted into the array eye, the array eye immediately began to rotate rapidly in multiple directions. At the same time, the layers of energy ripples on the surface of the stone door began to surge violently like turbulent waves.
Then, with a loud bang, both the stone door and the energy attached to it exploded simultaneously. The purple-black energy released during the explosion quickly spread throughout the corridor, causing dust and rubble to fly everywhere.
In the midst of the smoke and dust, Dao Lao activated his Mold Spirit Energy Collector with one hand, capturing the Mold Spirit Energy forced out of the shattered defensive spell, while gulping down several mouthfuls of HahaLei purified water. At the same time, he didn't forget to call out to Haoyun through the system, "Haoyun! How are you? Are you okay?!"
"Whew—! I, I'm fine! I'm okay! Thanks to your timely breaking of that defensive spell, otherwise it would have been really hard to say!" Haoyun replied, finishing a whole bottle of HahaLei purified water in one gulp.
Haoyun and Dao Lao each drank another bottle of HahaLei purified water, quickly restoring their mental energy to a safe range. Although both of them had experienced a significant depletion of mental energy just now, their overall condition wouldn't be greatly affected after replenishing enough mental energy. So, without further delay, Haoyun and Dao Lao immediately passed through the completely shattered left stone door and entered the room inside, amidst the swirling dust in the air.
Although there was no light in this room, as Haoyun and Dao Lao groped their way forward with the light shining in from the damaged stone door, the entire room was suddenly illuminated by the wall fires placed around the walls. Then, Haoyun and Dao Lao could see the furnishings inside the room.
This room was square and very spacious. Shelves and racks were placed around the room, as well as several laboratories filled with experimental materials. Combining with Elinna's previous descriptions, Haoyun and Dao Lao could tell at a glance that this was the mysterious data room where Anselin obtained powerful black magic.
However, this data room brought not only mystery but also surprise and joy to Haoyun and Dao Lao. Because, in the center of this laboratory, they saw a black stone coffin made of the same material as the black stone castle.
The surface of this coffin, like the black stone castle, was pitch black, and any light around it couldn't reflect off it. The coffin was completely carved into the shape of a female elf. The female elf's fingers were interlocked and crossed over her chest, with her fingertips pressed on both sides of her shoulders. The statue of the female elf had closed eyes and a peaceful face, looking very serene.
The entire coffin was placed in the center of a circular rune pattern, giving the impression that the coffin was perfectly integrated with the rune pattern. Haoyun looked up and found that there was also a rune pattern carved on the roof above the coffin, but unlike the one on the ground, the pattern on the ceiling was carved in a mirrored manner.
Between the two rune patterns, faint green energies flowed relatively. These interweaving energies formed a hourglass-shaped energy barrier, which perfectly enveloped the coffin, looking quite mysterious. The purple-black miasma hovering around the edges of the two rune patterns added an indescribable sense of eeriness to the entire scene.
"It turns out, Anselin has been hiding in the Black Stone Castle all along!" Dao Lao didn't know if "hiding" was the right word to use, but that didn't stop him from expressing his heartfelt admiration at this moment.
Of course, the reason why Haoyun and Dao Lao dared to confirm that the person in the coffin was Anselin was because they had already described the detailed face of the female elf on the coffin to Binggan Tang, and had received Binggan Tang's oral confirmation.
"Anselin's so-called lost black magic power must be here. Moreover, we can now officially confirm that the black magic power Anselin wields should be Mold Spirit Energy," Dao Lao said cautiously as he circled the coffin, speaking with great certainty.
"My goodness! The system detected a Mold Energy Level of four and a half stars from the coffin. How powerful is the Mold Spirit Energy contained inside?" Haoyun looked at the detection results sent by his system, feeling somewhat worried.
If, before today, Haoyun didn't actually have much of a concept of Mold Energy levels, then now, after personally capturing Mold Spirit Energy with a threat index reaching four stars, he should at least have a clearer understanding of the power of three-star and four-star Mold Spirit Energies.
It's worth noting that when Haoyun was capturing those Mold Spirit Energies just now, it was akin to engaging in a small-scale confrontation with them. Although Haoyun could handle it for now, he was well aware that he could only contend with four-star Mold Spirit Energy for a short time. Therefore, Haoyun felt that if he were to face Mold Spirit Energies of four and a half stars or higher, he would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage, perhaps even having no chance of winning.