After the system once again conducted a danger level assessment of the mutated energy entities that had been charged into the battle armor and confirmed that these entities posed no immediate threat, Hao Yun finally relaxed a bit and withdrew his consciousness from the system. He then patted Tie Ta, who was standing beside him with a puzzled expression, and said, "There was a small problem just now, so I temporarily canceled the plan to charge the battle armor."

Hao Yun then turned to King Earl and said, "Your Majesty, I just discovered that the energy contains a highly unstable mutated energy entity that could potentially harm your body. It's best if you stop absorbing energy to avoid any accidents. Your Majesty? King Earl? Did you hear what I said? Cut off the connection with the dagger immediately! For your safety, you should no longer absorb energy from the dagger!"

Seeing that King Earl completely ignored his warning and continued to sit cross-legged with his eyes closed, still absorbing energy from the floating dagger, Hao Yun immediately realized something was wrong and shouted, "No! There might be something wrong with King Earl!"

Tie Ta reacted quickly. As soon as Hao Yun's words fell, he had already taken large strides to King Earl's side. In his urgency to protect his master, Tie Ta didn't have time to think and directly reached out to try to pull the still unresponsive King Earl up.

"Tie Ta! Don't touch him! It's dangerous!" Hao Yun quickly shouted in warning.

"Ah—!" Just as Hao Yun's warning came out, Tie Ta let out a tragic scream.

Tie Ta's actions were so swift that he had already placed his hands on King Earl's shoulders by the time Hao Yun warned him. However, he was unable to pull King Earl up or sever the connection between King Earl and the dagger. Instead, as soon as Tie Ta touched King Earl, his hands were firmly stuck to King Earl's body. Immediately, a surge of energy, like an electric current, passed from the dagger through King Earl's body and into Tie Ta, causing him to emit a brief scream before falling to the ground with foam at his mouth, convulsing violently as if in a seizure.

Moreover, Tie Ta's long robe and dense fur ignited like they were set on fire, quickly turning to ash under the burning energy, revealing his light gray skin. Shortly thereafter, his skin began to ulcerate extensively, exposing large patches of bloody muscle fibers. At the same time, countless fine threads emerged from the gaps in his muscles, rapidly enveloping his entire body. Finally, as these threads tightened like bamboo slivers, Tie Ta's once burly figure shriveled up like a vacuum-sealed bag, reducing to the thickness of a hard piece of cardboard.

The suddenness of this event left Hao Yun no time to save Tie Ta, forcing him to watch helplessly as Tie Ta, who had been alive and bustling moments ago, died tragically before his eyes. Hao Yun, besides being horrified by Tie Ta's gruesome death, was also consumed by a fiery anger.

In a fit of rage, Hao Yun grabbed a wooden box and threw it at the dagger without a second thought. Thanks to his superhuman strength and the precision he had honed from training with the Blade of Speed and Passion, he not only easily hurled the box filled with corpses but also ensured it hit the floating dagger precisely, knocking it away.

Once the dagger was knocked away, the energy flow connecting King Earl and the dagger was finally severed. But this was not the end. As the dagger was sent flying, Hao Yun sprinted towards it, ordering the system to activate the charging mode and prepare to reclaim all the energy stored in the dagger into the battle armor.

However, the system immediately responded, "Warning! Warning! Charging failed! Charging failed! The charging conversion device has been disconnected! Please reconnect the charging conversion device before enabling the battle armor charging mode!"

Upon hearing this, Hao Yun's expression changed. He attempted to reconnect the battle armor with the dagger, only to receive another connection failure message from the system.

"Hahaha! Don't forget, Lord Hao, without my command, you can't control that dagger!" At this moment, a cold and hoarse voice came from behind Hao Yun.

Hao Yun turned around to find that the speaker was none other than King Earl, who had remained silent all this while. However, what shocked Hao Yun even more was the drastic change in King Earl's appearance within the minute he had diverted his attention due to Tie Ta's demise.

At this moment, King Earl's long hair had turned a faint glowing green, floating behind him as if moved by an unseen wind. His prominent large antlers, like red-hot branding irons, glowed with a fiery red light while emitting gray-white smoke. Additionally, King Earl's once shiny armor had transformed into a deep purplish-red, rhythmically pulsating and intermittently emitting wisps of evil black magic.

Overall, King Earl now looked like a demon emerging from the abyss, with his blood-red, lifeless eyes continuously oozing red mist, making him appear both terrifying and chilling. Just one glance at him would make anyone feel a bone-chilling cold, piercing through their soul like a sharp blade.

"Ah, poor Tie Ta. You were so loyal to me. I had planned to turn you into a puppet so you could continue serving me! Such a pity!" King Earl lamented, feigning regret as he looked at Tie Ta's corpse. He then stepped forward, crushing Tie Ta's brittle remains into dust with a single stomp.

"Who are you? You are not King Earl!" Hao Yun asked in a deep voice, suppressing his anger.

After the system conducted a danger level detection on the mutant energy bodies that had been charged into the armor and confirmed that these energy bodies posed no immediate threat, Haoyun finally felt somewhat relieved and withdrew his consciousness from the system. Then, Haoyun patted the puzzled Tie Ta, who was guarding beside him, and said, "There was a little problem just now, so I temporarily canceled the plan to charge the armor."

Next, Haoyun turned to King Erl and said, "Your Majesty, I just discovered that there is an extremely unstable mutant energy body in those energies, which could potentially damage your body. So, it's best if you stop absorbing the energy to avoid any accidents. Your Majesty, King Erl? Did you hear what I said? Quickly sever your connection with the dagger! For your safety, you should stop drawing energy from the dagger!"

Seeing that King Erl completely ignored his warning, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed and continuing to absorb energy from the still-floating dagger, Haoyun immediately realized something was wrong and shouted, "No! There’s something wrong with Erl!"

Tie Ta's reaction was swift. As soon as Haoyun finished speaking, Tie Ta had already rushed to King Erl's side. Due to his concern for his master, Tie Ta didn’t have time to think and directly reached out to try to pull King Erl, who was still unresponsive, up from the ground.

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"Tie Ta! Don’t touch him! It’s dangerous!" Haoyun hurriedly shouted to stop him.

"Ah——!" Just as Haoyun finished his warning, Tie Ta let out a tragic scream.

Because Tie Ta moved too quickly, he had already placed his hands on King Erl’s shoulders by the time Haoyun gave the warning. However, he wasn’t able to pull King Erl up from the ground or sever his connection with the dagger. Instead, as soon as Tie Ta touched King Erl, his hands were firmly stuck to him. Then, a current of energy transmitted from the dagger through King Erl surged through Tie Ta's body like electricity, causing him to immediately fall to the ground foaming at the mouth and convulsing violently, much like an epileptic seizure.

Not only that, but Tie Ta's robe and thick fur were also burned away instantly by the electric fire, exposing his pale gray skin. Quickly, Tie Ta's skin began to fester on a large scale, revealing bloody muscle fibers. Simultaneously, countless fine threads emerged from the gaps in his muscles, swiftly wrapping around his entire body. Eventually, these threads tightened like bamboo strips, shrinking his burly body into a near-flat thickness.

The suddenness of this incident left Haoyun with no time to save Tie Ta, and he could only watch as Tie Ta, who was bustling around a moment ago, died tragically before his eyes. Beyond the horror of Tie Ta’s death, Haoyun was filled with a burning rage.

In his anger, Haoyun grabbed a wooden box and threw it at the dagger without hesitation. With his superhuman strength and the precision throwing skills he gained from practicing the Blade of Speed and Passion, he not only easily flung the box filled with corpses but also ensured it hit the floating dagger accurately.

As the dagger was knocked away, the energy stream connecting King Erl to the dagger was finally severed. But it wasn't over. Haoyun immediately ran towards the dagger, commanding his system to activate the charging mode, intending to recover all the energy stored in the dagger into his golden armor.

However, the system promptly responded, "Warning! Warning! Charging failed! Charging failed! The charging conversion device has been disconnected! Please reconnect the charging conversion device before activating the armor charging mode!"

Hearing this, Haoyun's expression changed, and he tried to reconnect the armor with the dagger, only to receive another connection failure message from the system.

"Hahaha! Don’t forget, Haoyun, without my command, you can’t control that dagger!" A cold, hoarse voice came from behind Haoyun.

Turning around, Haoyun found that the speaker was none other than King Erl, who had been silent. What shocked Haoyun even more was that, in the short time he had shifted his attention from King Erl due to Tie Ta’s death, King Erl’s appearance had undergone a tremendous change.

At this moment, King Erl’s long hair had turned into a faintly glowing dark green, floating behind him without wind. His large, prominent moose antlers glowed with a fiery red light, emitting grayish-white smoke. Additionally, King Erl's shiny armor had turned a deep purplish-red, pulsating as if breathing, occasionally emitting bursts of evil black mist.

In short, the current King Erl, with his lifeless pale eyes dripping with blood-red mist, looked like a demon emerging from the abyss. A mere glance would send a bone-chilling sense of death piercing through one’s soul.

"Ah! Poor Tie Ta, so loyal to me. I was planning to turn you into a grass puppet so you could continue serving me! What a pity!" King Erl looked down at Tie Ta's corpse, sighing regretfully. Then, he stomped down, crushing the fragile Tie Ta into fragments.

"Who are you? You’re not King Erl!" Haoyun suppressed his anger and asked sternly.

"Hahaha! Of course, I am me! I am the real King Erl! Giving such a good body to that weakling was a waste! Just like you, my esteemed cleric," King Erl answered Haoyun's question while walking towards him with a graceful stride. Although King Erl's tone was full of reverence, his ghostly eyes were filled with contempt and disdain for Haoyun.

Haoyun knew very well that although the person before him claimed to be King Erl, the real King Erl had long lost control over his body. The being standing in front of him was just a shell occupied by the Doom energy. When King Erl appeared, Haoyun’s Doom Energy Tracking System immediately sent a detection message indicating that King Erl's Doom level had reached five and a half stars.

"Damn it! I should have anticipated that extracting negative energy from these corpses would help you take over King Erl's body! I was too careless!" Haoyun finally realized his mistake and regretted his lack of experience in combating Doom energy, which led to the current dire situation.

"No, no, Haoyun, don’t blame yourself! Everything you did was just icing on the cake. Hahaha!" King Erl mocked.

"Icing on the cake? You mean you had appeared long before?" Haoyun ignored Erl’s sarcasm and focused on extracting valuable information from his words.

Erl stopped just three meters from Haoyun, shrugged, and replied, "To be honest, when King Erl proposed absorbing some energy from the dagger, he was already too weak to suppress my attack. When he made that request, it was his last effort to resist my power.

Unfortunately, he lost his ability to resist before he could receive new energy. As for me, I continued playing his role to replenish energy out of curiosity to see if I could use this energy. I admit, facing the unknown energy from the dagger was risky, but the result was pleasing. So, I must thank you, Haoyun. Without your help, I couldn’t have acquired such delicious energy. Hahaha!" Erl said, bowing to Haoyun in mock gratitude.

"So, this dagger can’t activate the Heaven Shield. It was just your excuse to get me to charge the dagger?" Haoyun ignored Erl’s fake gratitude and continued to question him.

"Not only that, but even the plan to use the Heaven Shield to help you escape the Eternal Star was a last-minute fabrication. Honestly, it was a highly feasible plan, but you couldn’t succeed! Don’t worry, Haoyun, though you deserve to die, I won’t let you die so easily. I find you more special than King Erl, and I love special things! Hahaha!" Erl said playfully.

Haoyun knew why Erl said that. Unlike other clerics, Haoyun still had a mortal body, making him a half-human, half-god. This meant he couldn’t resist the Doom energy's invasion as the divine spirits could with their sacred bodies. This gave Erl the idea of using Haoyun’s half-mortal constitution as a breakthrough to invade and take over his body.

Although Haoyun thought Erl’s idea was unrealistic, his current severed connection with the divine realm weakened his already fragile divine power, making him unsure if Erl’s plan could succeed.

Therefore, upon hearing Erl’s words, Haoyun couldn’t help but feel nervous. However, to maintain his composure, he firmly reminded, "I know what you're thinking! Do you really think clerics are easy to manipulate? Hmph! You won’t succeed!"

"I know my idea is ambitious. But, Haoyun, you are too different from other clerics! So, I must try! Hahaha," Erl said, showing a cruel smile. His shriveled face twisted grotesquely, then he opened his mouth wide, spewing a black mist at Haoyun.

Haoyun didn’t expect Erl to attack suddenly and, given their close distance, couldn’t dodge in time. He could only rely on his armor’s shield to withstand Erl’s attack. Although the shield’s durability was unquestionable, Haoyun was still sent flying by the impact, crashing into a row of wooden crates, smashing most of the corpses inside into pieces. This left his shield covered in blood and flesh, resembling a giant, foul-smelling ball of meat.

Even though Haoyun had become desensitized to corpses, he couldn’t help but feel a frequent urge to vomit at the sight of his shield covered in rotten flesh. However, Erl wouldn’t give Haoyun any time to recover. Seeing that his sudden attack hadn’t injured Haoyun, Erl immediately launched a second attack. Now transformed into a demonic figure, Erl leaped high into the air and paused briefly before hurling himself down like a cannonball, his massive moose antlers aimed at Haoyun.

This time, Haoyun, still struggling to suppress his nausea, couldn’t dodge in time, but he at least managed to summon the Blade of Speed and Passion. He combined it with his shield to form a sturdy defensive barrier, successfully blocking Erl’s powerful charge once more. However, Erl’s strength was overwhelming. Even though the two daggers and the shield protected him from Erl’s attack, the tremendous impact forced Haoyun to slide back a considerable distance, his feet skidding on the blood and flesh of the corpses strewn across the ground.