"Don't worry! My battle armor didn't consume too much energy in the last battle. So, you guys don't need to worry about me! I'll just fly another circle down below and be right back! Wow! The Eternal Star Palace is truly magnificent! You two should really fly over here and take a look with me!" Hao Yun couldn't hide his excitement as their evacuation plan was about to succeed.
"Alright, alright! You've praised yourself enough. We're ready to move. How long will it take for you to fly back?" Dream Jia scolded him impatiently.
"At most just a minute!" Hao Yun replied confidently, looking at the system display showing less than 8% energy remaining in his armor.
"Very well! Let's get to work then!" Dao Lao ordered, watching as the back garden, now quiet after the chaos, was guarded by only four heavily armored soldiers.
With a loud bang, Dao Lao burst out from a wall in the back garden, spraying water, and before the nearest guard could react, he smashed his head into his abdomen with a single blow. Meanwhile, Dream Jia emerged from a hidden passage in the wall and, based on her earlier observations of the guards' positions, precisely shot each of the other three guards in the head. Despite Dream Jia's weakened physical state, her status as a High Priestess of the Eternal Star with power over celestial fire made dispatching these guards effortless.
The Mastanians, preoccupied with chasing Hao Yun in the sky, pursuing the underwater escape skiffs, and recovering from the recent battle in the King's Palace garden above, allowed Dao Lao's team to breach the Queen's Palace in just a few seconds. After Dream Jia used her flame of universal equality to incinerate all the unknown vines on the palace platform, they smoothly took control of the teleportation platform.
Once they secured the area, Dao Lao took out the Dark Yin Realm battle armor given to him by Tie Zhu's father and placed it on the teleportation platform. Immediately, everyone saw the teleportation array resonate with the armor, generating numerous light blue granular energy particles. These particles rose continuously, quickly forming an arched portal over three meters high, shimmering with fish-scale-like energy ripples.
"Hao Yun! We've activated the portal! Where are you?!" As Tie Zhu's father confirmed that the portal construction was about twenty seconds away from completion, Dao Lao hastily asked over the system channel.
"Hao Yun?! Where are you? Respond quickly!" Seeing that Hao Yun didn't reply immediately, Dream Jia furrowed her brow and asked again.
"Damn it, there's a problem! I'm really unlucky!" This time, Hao Yun's reply came with a complicated tone.
Hearing this, Dream Jia's heart sank, and she hurriedly asked, "Hao Yun! What's wrong?! What exactly happened?!"
"I'm fine! It's just that my system suddenly notified me that the flight function of this armor will shut down due to a technical issue in twenty seconds, and it's lost its flying power. So now, I can only fly down to the mountainside to find a place to land! Damn it! I have a strong feeling that Countess intentionally disabled the flight function of this armor! I shouldn't have trusted that damn guy!" Hao Yun cursed in frustration.
"Dream Jia! Give me a coordinate! I'll go rescue him right away!" Dream Jia also found the sudden loss of flight capability in Hao Yun's armor very suspicious, but she knew it wasn't the time to ponder that issue, so she immediately prepared to go rescue Hao Yun.
"Calm down, Dream Jia! With your current condition, even if you go, you won't be a match for the Destroyer. It would just be like tossing yourself into the lion's den! Moreover, who knows if your armor might suddenly malfunction too if you fly over!" Dao Lao quickly grabbed Dream Jia and persuaded her.
"But if we don't go rescue him now, he'll fall into the hands of the Mastanians! His little skills—" Dream Jia said anxiously, but she didn't dare to continue because she couldn't bear to think of what might happen to Hao Yun if he were captured.
"Two lords, what should we do now?! Should we go rescue Lord Hao or not?!" Captain Tie Zhu and the others, after hearing the situation from Hao Yun's side, were also anxious and started preparing their equipment.
"No! You mustn't come! I'm surrounded by enemies! Besides, judging from the Destroyer's condition, it seems he's recovered quite a bit from his injuries just now! Even if you come now, you'll likely be pinned down here and unable to leave! According to the system feedback, as long as I stop using other functions, the armor's protective shield can still hold out for a while! So, according to the original plan, you should evacuate quickly! I'll continue to help divert enemy fire!" Hao Yun immediately rejected Tie Zhu's suggestion firmly.
"And, I'm not afraid of you blaming me now. Actually, when we were charging the Dark Yin Realm armor on that battleship, I secretly picked up a few divine energy modules salvaged from the dismantled battleship. I originally planned to use these modules to charge the armor in case of emergency. After all, my strength is not as good as yours, so it's understandable that I prepared extra energy sources for myself! I just didn't expect these divine energy modules to come in handy in this situation!" Hao Yun said with a mixture of joy and sorrow in his tone.
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"Hmph! You really have a lot of tricks up your sleeve! But why didn't our system detect that you were secretly carrying energy sources?" Dream Jia, knowing she couldn't rescue Hao Yun now, deliberately asked in a relaxed tone.
"How would I know? Maybe it's because I always kept them hidden in the pocket of my armor!" Hao Yun replied with feigned nonchalance.
"By the way! Since that's the case, why don't you just use these modules to recharge the armor and fly back quickly now!" Dream Jia suddenly thought of this and urged anxiously.
"Hey! I wish I could! But this damn armor's charging speed is way too slow! By the time I get it recharged enough to activate the flight function again, the flowers will have already wilted!" Hao Yun replied helplessly.
"How long can your shield hold on, Hao Yun?" Dao Lao asked with a calm but still somewhat heavy tone.
"It’s hard to say right now. According to a rough calculation by the system on the shield's ability to withstand attacks, if the armor gets some energy from those modules, the shield can at least hold on for another ten days. Hey! You two ungrateful guys should be able to come back to save me within ten days, right?! Although I know I talk too much normally, you shouldn’t abandon me just because of that, right?!" Hao Yun continued to reply casually.
"Not funny at all! You useless piece of junk!" Dream Jia feigned anger.
"Don’t worry! I’ll hold on until you come back to save me! I don't want to die young! Besides, with all my clever ideas, who knows, maybe I can think of a way to escape from here!" Hao Yun forced a smile to comfort Dream Jia while he landed in a forest, keeping the armor's shield up, ready to face the enemy again before the system completely shut down the armor’s flight function.
"Alright! You take care of yourself! You must hold on until we come back to save you! You always cause trouble for me! When I get back, I’ll kick your butt!" Dao Lao said through gritted teeth. Meanwhile, Tie Zhu’s father and his teammates had already entered the teleportation array one after another, leaving only Tie Zhu standing by the array, anxiously waiting for Dao Lao and Dream Jia.
"We’ll hold you to it! I’m waiting right here for you. If you have the guts, hurry back!" Hao Yun continued to retort teasingly, but his mood had already plummeted. He knew he was definitely no match for the Destroyer, and apart from the Destroyer, he had to face so many Mastanians. Hao Yun really had no idea what fate awaited him next.
As more enemies started gathering around the King’s Palace, and with the teleportation array to the Eternal Star Palace about to close, Dao Lao and Dream Jia had no choice but to decide to withdraw. Although they could choose to stay and rescue Hao Yun after ensuring Tie Zhu’s safe evacuation, reason told them that staying in their current state would not be a wise decision. Therefore, for Dao Lao and Dream Jia, the most sensible choice was to return to the Eternal Star to rest and then ask the Queen of the Eternal Star to activate the teleportation array to come back and rescue Hao Yun as soon as possible.
Moreover, although Hao Yun’s situation was very dangerous, he still had the Dark Yin Realm battle armor to provide some protection. So, as long as Dao Lao and Dream Jia could return to the Eternal Star before the armor’s energy ran out, they still had a chance to save Hao Yun from danger!
"Let’s withdraw first! Hao Yun, you must hang on!" After reminding Hao Yun again, Dream Jia gritted her teeth and entered the teleportation array.
"Don’t worry, Dream Jia! I will wait for you to come back!" Hao Yun replied. But his response was met with no reply, as Dream Jia and the others had all entered the shimmering blue teleportation array, while the enemy breached the King’s Palace. Meanwhile, with the Dark Yin Realm battle armor activated and taken away by Dao Lao, the teleportation array on the King’s Palace platform collapsed in an instant, vanishing with the wind.
"Hmph! I see you were in such a hurry when you landed. I wonder if you got hurt?" Just as Hao Yun wanted to confirm whether Dream Jia and Dao Lao had safely left the Eternal Star Palace, a mocking voice suddenly interrupted him.
Hao Yun, upon hearing this, didn’t show any signs of panic. Instead, he stood there nonchalantly, mimicking Dao Lao, looking up at the nearly healed Destroyer and sighed, "Sigh! You annoying bunch, can't you let me rest for a moment?"
"Hmph! I never expected someone like you to demean yourself by acting as bait to protect those worthless peasants. Should I commend your courage or say you’re out of your mind?" the Destroyer mocked.
"Pfft! It’s normal for a despicable scoundrel like you not to understand the principle. Otherwise, you wouldn't be the scum that has no conscience!" Hao Yun replied with a mocking grin. The Destroyer wanted to banter with Hao Yun? Hao Yun was just too professional at it.
But to Hao Yun’s surprise, the grotesque Destroyer didn’t get angry. Instead, he nodded calmly in agreement with Hao Yun’s statement, "Hmm. I agree with you. But I want to say, everything we do is just the law of the jungle. After all, only the strong are qualified to dominate this world!"
"Good grief! I've seen shameless people, but never this shameless. Look at what you and your kind have done to the Eternal Star. Is this how the strong dominate the world?" Hao Yun sneered.
"We’re just trying to secure our own living space. Besides, we haven’t wiped out all the natives here or turned this planet into hell or completely destroyed it, have we?" The Destroyer spread his right hand, pointing at the surroundings, continuing to argue.
It must be said that after the Mastanians occupied the Eternal Star, it didn’t turn into a hell like the other planets described by Captain Tie Zhu. Especially when Hao Yun entered the Eternal Star Palace, seeing so many seemingly normal Eternal Star soldiers combined with the Mastian guards, it really made Hao Yun feel as if the Mastanians hadn’t occupied the place.
But this illusion was precisely the problem. The Mastanians had used a feigned retreat to ambush, and with the capture of the Eternal Star King, they eventually took over the Eternal Star. Moreover, Hao Yun had indeed seen many soldiers transformed into puppet-like beings by the Mastanians. But why, after Hao Yun and his team infiltrated the Eternal Star Palace, did they find the areas outside the King’s Hall peaceful, with no signs of the bloodthirsty Mastanians’ oppressive rule? Had the place really fallen? Hao Yun couldn’t help but recall what Captain Tie Zhu’s father had said before.