"So far so good. But we need to act quickly," King Earl said.
Then, King Earl turned to Haoyun and continued, "Lord Haoyun, due to yesterday's turmoil, the Mastanians have reinforced their guard over the Palace of Eternal Stars and the Rainbow Tunnel. In the short term, we cannot forcefully break through. Therefore, in my opinion, we should first recharge your battle armor. After that, we can slowly figure out a way to send you and the armor back to the Mu Star. Moreover, only after recharging this armor can we determine whether those two new functions can provide effective help."
"I agree with your view. At this point, this seems to be our only option," Haoyun nodded in agreement. At the same time, he was considering that even if they couldn't find another way back to the Mu Star immediately, as long as he could sufficiently recharge his battle armor, he could continue to stall the Mastanians here, waiting for possible rescue from Dao Lao and the others.
"In that case, please lend me a hand, Your Majesty, to see if your dagger can assist me in recharging the armor. It's best if we can quickly recharge the armor and leave here as soon as possible, to avoid arousing suspicion from the enemy and to prevent you from consuming too much spiritual power to suppress the Mould Spirit energy," Haoyun said.
"Understood. Please wait a moment, my lord. After I activate the energy conversion function of this dagger, we can give it a try," King Earl said, taking the dagger back from Haoyun and quickly invoking a difficult-to-understand incantation.
As King Earl finished the incantation, a faint blue ripple immediately appeared on the surface of the dagger. Simultaneously, Haoyun's Mould Spirit energy tracking system, as he had guessed, sent him a prompt: "Attention! Attention! Energy conversion device detected! Connect with the energy conversion device and start recharging the battle armor?"
"Indeed! Once you activate the energy conversion function of the dagger, my armor can sense the presence of this dagger! Now all I need to do is connect the dagger to the armor to start recharging!" Haoyun exclaimed happily upon receiving the system message, reaching out to indicate that King Earl should hand the dagger back to him.
However, this time, King Earl seemed hesitant when faced with Haoyun's request. He seemed to want to say something, but didn't know how to articulate it. So Haoyun frowned and asked proactively, "Your Majesty, is there something else you want to say? Time is pressing now, if there's anything, just say it!"
Although King Earl looked troubled, after a moment of thought, he gathered his courage and said, "Um, please don't misunderstand, Lord Haoyun. I didn't tell you before, but this dagger actually has another extremely powerful function."
"Another powerful function? What function?" Haoyun asked curiously.
"In fact, even before Her Majesty handed this dagger to me, she had infused it with a spell to create a celestial shield. Her Majesty's purpose in doing so was that once she had enough energy, she could use this dagger to extend the celestial shield she created to the Mu Star, thus protecting both Mu and Eternal Stars. In this way, the Mastanians would no longer be able to survive on Mu Star. Either they would be forced to leave Mu Star and perish in the uncontrollable three-layer array, or they would stay on Mu Star and be completely wiped out by the repulsive force of the celestial shield," King Earl explained.
Upon receiving the dagger again, Haoyun couldn't help but carefully examine this exquisite dagger once more. He never expected that this dagger could also be used to create a celestial shield. However, Haoyun doubted whether Yan Chaoyue had the ability to inject such a powerful defensive spell into a dagger fragment, and once again associated this matter with the Countess. In Haoyun's view, Yan Chaoyue's current super strength was probably largely unrelated to the Countess's help.
However, King Earl did not pay attention to Haoyun's contemplation. Instead, he continued, "I know how to activate the celestial shield hidden in the dagger. However, to activate it, I must have sufficient energy. Therefore, I have a request, I wonder if Lord Haoyun can agree?"
"What request, Your Majesty, please speak directly," Haoyun didn't understand why King Earl became so cautious when speaking, so he urged. At the same time, he indicated that since the dagger could now establish contact with the Underworld Armor, they should start recharging the armor as soon as possible.
Facing Haoyun's urging, King Earl no longer hesitated, but gathered his courage and said, "What I mean is, can Lord Haoyun, after fully recharging the armor, in turn, inject sufficient energy into this dagger? In this way, I can also replenish some energy through this dagger."
Haoyun knew that this dagger could only serve as an energy conversion medium to help recharge the armor, and couldn't actively use the negative energy extracted from the corpse to recharge himself. Therefore, Haoyun had to extract the energy recharged into the armor again to replenish energy for the dagger. However, Haoyun was puzzled. As a lower-world creature, why did King Earl also want to obtain such energy?
Therefore, Haoyun asked with some confusion, "Your Majesty, I don't mean anything else! I'm just asking why you need to replenish such energy. Moreover, even I can't absorb the energy from the armor onto myself. How can you use these energies?"
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Upon hearing this, King Earl answered shyly, "As you know, my lord, because of my relationship with Antanelis, or should I say, because of transcendence, we have been in a good relationship for a hundred years—so I can get some divine power from her. This allows me not only to manipulate her dagger but also to obtain the ability to obtain armor energy like her. But for safety's sake, my wife does not agree with me using this method to obtain powerful energy, but only through—that way, transferring her divine power to me, so that I can drive her dagger."
Hao Yun knew that King Eru's words were not lies. As far as he knew, when the beings of the lower realm merged with the priests of the upper realm, the beings of the lower realm would gain abilities equal to those priests, albeit varying in strength. Therefore, since Yan Chaoyue possessed the ability to draw energy from the battle armor, it was not surprising that King Eru also had this ability. Furthermore, since Yan Chaoyue's dagger was only responsive to him alone, if Hao Yun wanted to continue using the Celestial Canopy Shield after King Eru, he would need King Eru to activate the shield first and then grant him control rights.
However, despite all this, Hao Yun still doubted, "Your Majesty, are you really sure you can activate the Celestial Canopy Shield in this dagger? You should know that such a level of protective array is not something that just anyone can create, especially for beings of the lower realm, even if you have powerful divine energy within you."
"I understand. That's why I want to ask, Lord Hao, can you let me draw some energy from the dagger to try to activate the Celestial Canopy Shield? I know my strength is weaker, and I can't create a powerful shield like the one above the Star of Longing. But I can still try to create a small Celestial Canopy Shield to cover Everstar City and the Everstar Palace as much as possible. In this way, the Mastanians will inevitably be suppressed by the Celestial Canopy Shield, and Lord Hao can take the opportunity to attack my palace and use the teleportation array to escape from here."
King Eru's idea was indeed a clever strategy. As long as the armor had sufficient energy and the suppression provided by the Celestial Canopy Shield, Hao Yun was confident he could successfully escape from Everstar. Therefore, Hao Yun pressed King Eru's shoulder firmly, "I think it's worth a try. But in doing so, Your Majesty, won't you risk losing your suppression of the mold spirits due to excessive energy consumption?"
"Please rest assured, Lord Hao. I know my limits. I know that even if I activate a small Celestial Canopy Shield, I won't be able to sustain it for long. So, if I successfully activate the Celestial Canopy Shield later, I hope Lord Hao will act quickly!"
"But even if I manage to break into the royal harem, how will I activate that teleportation array?" Hao Yun asked, as Dao Lao had already left with the armor that could activate the teleportation array.
"Don't worry, Lord Hao. This dagger can also activate the teleportation array. After I activate the Celestial Canopy Shield, I will go with you to the Everstar Palace. And once I activate the teleportation array and ensure Lord Hao can leave here safely, I will hand this dagger over to you to take back to the Star of Longing Palace. Because this dagger is also very important, we must not let it fall into the hands of the enemy."
"Wait, are you saying —— I have to leave alone, and you won't go together?" Hao Yun asked in surprise.
"No, I can't leave. If I escape with you, how will the people who remain on Everstar view me? Moreover, once I leave Everstar, it will be equivalent to breaking the ceasefire agreement reached with the Mastanians earlier. The people on Everstar will lose their shelter, leaving them only endless slaughter."
"Furthermore, look at my current appearance, Lord. Even if I manage to escape back to the Star of Longing, what good would it do? The Celestial Canopy Shield on the Star of Longing will still take my life, won't it? Now, there's no one who can save me. So instead of going back and waiting for death, it's better for me to continue stabilizing the situation here and find a way for Her Majesty to counterattack Everstar, buying more time to resolve the crisis for the people here." King Eru touched his most positive and dry face, with a helpless yet determined tone.
Hao Yun deeply understood King Eru's feelings and also understood that with King Eru's current situation, even if he returned to the Star of Longing, there was only a dead end. So, Hao Yun stopped persuading him and instead turned his questioning gaze to Tie Ta.
Seeing this, Tie Ta immediately patted his strong chest and said firmly, "Lord Hao, I'm not leaving either! How could I abandon King Eru and leave him alone? I will continue to hold my position here and cooperate with King Eru in the upcoming work. Tie Ta swears to advance and retreat with King Eru, to live and die with the people of Everstar!"
Seeing King Eru and Tie Ta's determination to face death on Everstar, Hao Yun admired their decision while feeling the weight on his shoulders. If King Eru could indeed activate the Celestial Canopy Shield, Hao Yun would have to do his best to break through the encirclement, use the teleportation array in the royal harem to leave here, so as not to disappoint these two who were willing to sacrifice themselves for him.
"Alright! Since you have both made up your minds, I won't insist anymore! Let's start the action!" After confirming once again the decisions of King Eru and Tie Ta, Hao Yun said, while also ordering the system to activate the battle armor and prepare for charging.
"The charging conversion device is ready, and the charging function of the battle armor has been activated, waiting for the next instruction." After the system successfully connected the dagger mentioned again by King Eru and the armor of the Underworld Realm in Hao Yun's mind, the prompt tone of the system sounded in his mind again. At the same time, under King Eru's coordinated spellcasting, the dagger slowly floated up and pointed its blade at the wooden boxes storing the bodies in the secret room, while the tail of the dagger pointed at the Underworld Realm armor that Hao Yun had put on again.
"System, activate the charging function and start charging the armor." After the dagger was in position, Hao Yun immediately ordered. Then everyone saw strands of dark green energy surging on the surface of the Underworld Realm armor, converging towards Hao Yun's chest, and soon forming a thick energy stream shooting towards the dagger floating in the air. After the dark green energy mixed thoroughly with the pale blue energy flowing on the surface of the dagger, the dagger simultaneously shot these purplish-blue mixed energies towards multiple wooden boxes containing bodies. When these purplish-blue energies established a connection with the wooden boxes containing bodies, all the energy streams shot forward immediately stopped flowing and began to reverse flow after a few seconds.