"Uh... cough cough This matter... it's really hard to bring up. I'm afraid Mr. Hao will blame—"

"Just say it! Stop beating around the bush! We're all on the same front here. Anything that benefits our battle, what's there not to speak about? Let me tell you all, if you delay the battle, you might not even find a place to cry when the time comes!" Hao Yun forcefully waved his hand, interrupting Tie Zhu.

After exchanging glances once more, Tie Zhu finally gathered his courage under King Earl's approval and cautiously began, "Alright! Here's the thing. As you know, Your Majesty, Queen Antanelis created the Sky Curtain Shield to protect Eternal Star. Originally, our plan was to create Sky Curtain Shields simultaneously on both Eternal Star and Eternal Moons. This way, the Mastanians would have nowhere to hide. They would either continue to be slowly depleted by the Sky Curtain Shield on Eternal Moons or be forced to run outside Eternal Moons to fend for themselves."

"However, creating the Sky Curtain Shield requires a vast amount of energy. This makes it impossible for Queen Antanelis to simultaneously sustain two shields with her own power alone. Even if she could forcefully create two shields, she wouldn't be able to sustain their operation long-term, rendering them essentially ineffective for defense or counterattack."

"Therefore, if we want to achieve this, we must help Queen Antanelis gather energy to sustain the large array. And the way we gather energy is—" At this point, Tie Zhu hesitated again, looking towards King Earl to confirm if he should continue.

After some deliberation, King Earl nodded heavily in agreement. Then, Tie Zhu took a deep breath and continued, "The way we gather energy is by collecting corpses."

"Collecting corpses? What corpses?" Hao Yun asked with his mouth, but he already had a sinking feeling in his heart.

"Uh... collecting the bodies of the deceased," Tie Zhu exhaled heavily. "The corpses of Eternal Star people, Mastanians, other races that fell during the Divine War on Eternal Star, and even the bodies of Eternal Star people buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery hundreds or thousands of years ago. Because these bodies, to varying degrees, retain residual Mould Fortune that has not dissipated. Some of the bodies of the Coalition Forces who died in battle during the Divine War even imprison portions of Mould Spirit's energy. All this energy is extremely valuable to us."

"You... Am I hearing this correctly? Are you saying you're not only collecting various negative energies but also Mould Spirit's energy? Are you out of your minds?!" Hao Yun exclaimed with a sharp intake of breath.

Although Hao Yun shouted loudly, he did not go berserk upon hearing this terrifying news. However, his expression, which was both full of anger and unusually calm at this moment, made King Earl and Tie Zhu even more uneasy. Sometimes, silent anger was far more frightening than hysterical rage.

"Phew! Do you know how dangerous this is? Mould Spirit's energy is not only powerful but also very cunning. If you're even slightly careless, you might suffer backlash and be devoured by them! Even we, the Divine Enforcers pursuing Mould Spirit's energy, dare not act rashly in its presence, let alone you! Moreover, excessive use of Mould Spirit's energy will cause irreversible damage to your wife's body. This damage is not just about falling into corruption; it could even put her in danger of losing her life!" Hao Yun continued sternly.

Upon hearing about the danger of Queen Antanelis being devoured by Mould Spirit's energy, King Earl also became nervous, "Mr. Hao, is that true? Could Antanelis really be in danger of losing her life due to excessive use of negative energy?"

"Otherwise, what do you think? Could she become long-lived because of it? Your wife is a Divine Enforcer of the Coalition Forces. Naturally, she is naturally opposed to Mould Spirit's energy. If she forcibly drives Mould Spirit's energy, over time, it will inevitably cause irreversible damage to her spiritual body. Once it goes too deep, she might even lose her life!" Hao Yun replied seriously.

At the same time, Hao Yun made a gesture with both hands, indicating the most serious consequence: Queen Antanelis could eventually explode and perish from being unable to withstand the pressure of negative energy, completely annihilating herself.

"However, I asked Queen Antanelis before, and she told me not to worry because this energy is not replenishing her but rather her battle armor. The battle armor of Queen Antanelis is the key to creating the Sky Curtain Shield," King Earl explained.

"That's right, that's right! I have personally seen how Queen Antanelis channels those energies into her battle armor," Tie Zhu added eagerly.

"So, what you're saying is that Judge Yan's battle armor absorbed the Mould Spirit's energy? The one General Iron Dao gave us, the one that can activate the teleportation array in the King's harem?" Hao Yun asked in astonishment.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Yes! That battle armor. That battle armor is the vessel we use specifically to collect and store energy," Tie Zhu nodded.

"Well, that's also why I later handed the battle armor to General Iron Dao. Because I didn't want the Mastanians to get their hands on it after becoming prisoners of war. It's also thanks to you, Mr. Hao, for coming to rescue in time that the fully charged battle armor could return to Queen Antanelis's side," King Earl said, expressing his gratitude to Hao Yun very sincerely.

Hao Yun didn't pay attention to King Er's gratitude but continued to ask, "So according to you, the battle armor General Iron Sword gave us has the ability to convert negative energy, even misfortune energy, into energy for the armor's own use? So, the protective shield you created in the royal hall..."

"Yes. The shield that protected General Iron Sword and the others was generated from the armor. Otherwise, with only our own divine energy shields, we wouldn't have been able to withstand the Mastanians' targeted attacks for so long." King Er didn't wait for Hao Yun to finish and hurriedly replied.

Upon hearing this, Hao Yun seemed to suddenly think of something and then looked around the huge secret chamber hidden within the inn's walls and asked, "Wait, isn't this where you recharge the armor?"

King Er and Tie Zhu nodded at the same time, confirming Hao Yun's guess.

Seeing this, Hao Yun looked at the rows of wooden crates in the room and couldn't help but shudder. He asked with a chill in his voice, "Earlier, you mentioned that you collect negative energy from deceased bodies. Are these wooden crates storing the bodies you've collected?"

King Er and Tie Zhu nodded again, confirming Hao Yun's guess.

Upon getting the confirmation, Hao Yun almost jumped up in shock. "Damn! So, this place is actually a massive morgue?! No wonder these wooden crates emit such a strong stench of decay!"

Seeing Hao Yun's somewhat frantic reaction, King Er and Tie Zhu were at a loss for words, feeling awkward. King Er could only awkwardly explain, "Um, Lord Hao, please calm down. We didn't mean to hide anything from you intentionally. We were just unsure how to bring it up. We were afraid you would be angry. We didn't intend to deceive you. We just hadn't figured out how to broach the subject. Tie Zhu, hurry! Help calm Lord Hao down!"

Hao Yun pushed away Tie Zhu's attempt to pat his back with a large hand and said with an unhappy expression, "Alright! I'm fine! Ah! I can't believe you would do something so outrageous!"

"Lord Hao, is Judge Antanelis really in trouble?" King Er, seeing Hao Yun so angry, couldn't help but ask guiltily.

Hao Yun rolled his eyes and then showed the cracks on the dagger in his hand, saying, "What do you think? Have you seen the cracks on this dagger? As far as we know, the reason this dagger has cracks is because Yan Chaoyue's body has serious problems, likely due to her excessive use of energy obtained from negative sources. As her condition worsens, these cracks will get bigger. Once these cracks are large enough to shatter the dagger, the consequences should be self-explanatory, right?"

In fact, Hao Yun noticed that the fine cracks on the dagger seemed to have increased a few more, indicating that Yan Chaoyue's condition was getting worse. However, Hao Yun didn't want to inform King Er of this for the time being because he feared that King Er's excessive concern for Yan Chaoyue would affect his ability to suppress misfortune energy. Of course, Hao Yun also briefly mentioned the origin of this dagger because he didn't want King Er to know about Yan Chaoyue and the Countess, nor did he want the misfortune energy inside King Er to know about the Countess's existence, lest it bring more trouble to himself.

At this moment, King Er looked very distressed because Hao Yun's words had put him in a dilemma. King Er not only hoped that Queen Antanelis could lead the people of Yongmuxing to defeat the Mastanians but also did not want Queen Antanelis to suffer any mishaps. King Er sighed helplessly, saying that his wife had already borne enough responsibilities for him, and he really wished he could bear the consequences of continuing to use those negative energies for his wife. Unfortunately, given King Er's current situation, he had long lost the right to make such a choice.

Yan Chaoyue wiped the sweat from her forehead and sighed disappointedly, "Hoo... No, I still can't sense the dagger's location, let alone send a message back through that dagger."

"Your Majesty, why don't you take a rest first? Wait until your strength has recovered before attempting again?" Hillf suggested worriedly, gently tapping Yan Chaoyue's back to help her relax.

"Well, that's all I can do for now. It's a pity that if we don't seize this opportunity, who knows how long it will take for me to sense the dagger's energy again. It's even possible that I'll never sense it again... sigh!" Yan Chaoyue said with a worried expression.

"Chaoyue, don't force yourself too much, after all, your condition has not fully recovered." Dao Lao also hurriedly advised. Although Dao Lao was eager to know Hao's current situation, he had learned about Yan Chaoyue's condition from the dagger given to them by the Countess before. So, even though Dao Lao was anxious, he also knew that he should not press Yan Chaoyue too much.

Yan Chaoyue nodded in agreement with Dao Lao and Hillf's suggestions, then spoke with a puzzled tone, "This time is really strange. Because the previous few times I received energy from the dagger, it appeared and disappeared hastily."

Then, a deeply worried expression appeared on Yan Chaoyue's face, "You see, although King Er has obtained my divine power and can control the fragmented form of the dagger I gave him, due to the limitations, he cannot control the dagger for long periods of time. And controlling the dagger will cause huge divine power consumption. Adding to King Er's current condition, if the person activating the dagger now is indeed him, his situation is likely to become even more unfavorable."

At this point, Yan Chaoyue's expression became pained. So she forced herself to sit up straight, preparing to try contacting the dagger again.

Seeing this, Dream Jia hurried forward, reaching out to press Yan Chaoyue's body back into the seat, while comforting her, "Forget it, Chaoyue. With your current condition, trying so hard is probably in vain. We know you are worried about King Er, just like we are concerned about Haoyun. But pushing yourself like this won't help find them. It will only make your physical condition worse. So listen to your sister, take the time to recover your spiritual strength, and then we can try again later."