Of course, Haoyun had been tempered by numerous battles. So, when Erl took advantage of Haoyun's unstable footing to launch another charge attack, Haoyun retaliated without hesitation. As Erl's second charge hit, Haoyun used the momentum to kick Erl in the abdomen with both feet, leveraging the force to send Erl flying into the air.
However, Haoyun's counterattack didn't seem very effective. After being kicked towards the ten-meter-high ceiling, Erl didn't crash into it but instead shook off the force Haoyun had applied before gracefully twisting in mid-air and landing back on the ground.
After landing, Erl brushed the dust off his chest and said in a disappointed tone, "Heh, it seems I underestimated you. Your strength is weaker than I thought."
"Tch! I just slipped earlier and couldn't use my full strength. If you don't believe me, come and try again," Haoyun retorted defiantly as he stood up from the slippery, sticky ground, twirling his dagger in his hand.
Erl sneered, then turned his back to Haoyun without any concern. He raised his hand and grabbed the dagger that had fallen to the ground during their fight, a dagger still emitting a continuous white glow. Erl twirled the dagger in his hand and said, "Oh? Is that so? Then be careful this time!"
As soon as Erl finished speaking, the white glow from the dagger disappeared, replaced by a filthy aura. Simultaneously, the light blue energy flowing on the dagger was replaced by a deep brown energy tinged with a bloody glow. Haoyun didn't know why Erl could control the dagger given to him by Yan Chaoyue, but he knew how bad it was for the dagger to be imbued with evil energy. As the dagger stopped emitting white light, the white barrier covering the secret room also faded away. This meant that the force field originally shielding the room was no longer effective, and their whereabouts would soon be discovered by the Mastanians outside. Once surrounded by the Mastanians, Haoyun would be trapped like a caged bird.
Thus, Haoyun didn't hesitate any longer. He seized the moment when Erl was still imbuing the dagger with dark energy and launched an all-out attack, hurling the Blade of Speed and Passion towards Erl's face. Though Erl believed Haoyun's strength was negligible, he knew Haoyun's daggers were genuine weapons from the Celestial Realm. He couldn't afford to be careless and immediately raised the cursed dagger to block the attack. Taking advantage of Erl's distraction, Haoyun activated the flying function of his Netherworld Armor and dashed towards the secret room's door.
Haoyun had decided to forcibly escape Everstar City by flying away as quickly as possible, hoping to reach the wide waters of the Eternal River to evade the Mastanians' pursuit. He maximized the shield strength and flying speed of his armor, aiming to escape to the Eternal River and find a hiding place to await rescue from Dao Lao and the others.
Unfortunately, Haoyun had underestimated Erl, who was a seasoned fighter. Erl saw through Haoyun's plan the moment he blocked his attack. As Erl blocked Haoyun's attack, he immediately pursued Haoyun and launched a black serpent-like shockwave at him.
Erl's attack this time was much stronger, and the shockwave, far faster than Haoyun's flight, caught up to him in less than half a second. Haoyun, charging towards the secret room door, couldn't dodge in time. He gritted his teeth, prepared to take the hit and forcefully break through the door. But he underestimated the shockwave's power. As it hit him, he was thrown back and crashed into a row of wooden boxes in the room.
"Damn, this guy is tough!" Haoyun cursed as he got up from the pile of decaying corpses.
With Haoyun stopped, Erl leaped and blocked the exit. Haoyun, not wasting words, crouched and launched a Phantom Strike at Erl. Despite his extensive combat training, Haoyun's Phantom Strike was powerful, but the gap in their strength was too great. Unable to land a successful hit, Haoyun could only block Erl's counterattacks and was thrown into another row of neatly arranged boxes for the third time.
"Heh, weak! You're too weak! You're no match for me. Surrender and spare yourself some pain!" Erl mocked, retracting his cursed dagger.
Haoyun ignored Erl's taunt, focusing on the twisted, evil creature before him and assuming a defensive stance. Haoyun wasn't ignoring Erl out of defiance but because the broken boxes were releasing negative energies as the corpse wrappings were destroyed. Without Yan Chaoyue's dagger, Haoyun couldn't absorb these energies to replenish his armor. Instead, the energies would be consumed by the demonic Erl.
Although Hao Yun was helpless in this situation, he could at least use the Mold Spirit Energy Collector to capture as much residual mold spirit energy as possible from the overwhelming negative energy, thereby preventing these inert mold spirit energies from providing more power to Eru. At this moment, Hao Yun maintained a confrontational stance against Eru and took the opportunity to capture the leaking mold spirit energy on a large scale.
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As the transformed Eru was naturally sensitive to these energies, despite losing consciousness, he quickly noticed Hao Yun's movements. He immediately unleashed energy waves from his mouth to stop Hao Yun from capturing these mold spirit energies further.
After enduring several shockwaves, Hao Yun changed his defensive posture. He activated the protective shield of his battle armor and stabilized it in place. In front of him, he constructed a heavy light shield using the protective shield to resist Erdun's shockwaves. At the same time, Hao Yun ordered the system to increase the power of the Mold Spirit Energy Collector, hoping to capture as much of the mold spirit energy as possible before Eru could absorb it from the corpses.
Upon seeing Hao Yun trying to capture the mold spirit energies escaping from the corpses and realizing his own inability to stop it, Eru accelerated his absorption of these energies. With a voice filled with evil and hoarse, he angrily shouted, "Stop it! I command you to release them immediately! They don't belong to you! They belong only to me!"
With these words, Eru swung the dagger in his hand, transforming it into a sharp curved sword. He then swiftly advanced towards Hao Yun with this sword, surrounded by sinister magic.
"Clang!" With a crisp sound erupting as the curved sword collided fiercely with the light shield, Hao Yun was once again sent flying, crashing heavily into a row of wooden crates. Inside these crates lay dozens of bodies, now smashed into a messy pulp of flying flesh and blood.
Ignoring Hao Yun after knocking him away, Eru took a deep breath and exaggeratedly opened his mouth to release a wave of energy surrounded by magic. Utilizing this continuously emitted energy wave from his mouth, Eru swept through more wooden crates placed in the secret room, smashing them along with the corpses inside into pieces. This action helped more negative energies containing mold spirit energy to break free from the shrouds of the corpses like moths breaking out of cocoons. After completing his destructive action, Eru spread his arms wide and flew into the leaking negative energy, eagerly absorbing it into his body.
Since Hao Yun could only capture mold spirit energy, he could only focus his efforts on collecting the mold spirit energy escaping from the corpses. He was powerless to prevent Eru from absorbing other negative energies. Nonetheless, capturing as much mold spirit energy as possible could still delay Eru's strengthening. Thus, Hao Yun and Eru shifted from fighting each other to competing for mold spirit energy.
Eru naturally did not want Hao Yun to compete with him for mold spirit energy, so he continued to attack Hao Yun in between absorbing it. Despite being unable to actively fight back due to his inferior strength, Hao Yun managed to endure each of Eru's attacks with the protection provided by his Dark Yin Realm Battle Armor. This made Eru itch with hatred towards Hao Yun, occasionally venting his frustration by using a couple of skills against him.
After enduring Eru's attacks, Hao Yun realized that despite Eru's much greater combat strength, he still could not penetrate the protective shield of the battle armor. Moreover, Eru's attacks, like those of the Mastanians, only caused minimal depletion of the energy of the battle armor. Seeing this, Hao Yun decided to ignore Eru and focused all his attention on capturing mold spirit energy.
Eru thus temporarily gave up attacking Hao Yun and instead seized the opportunity to compete with him for the mold spirit energy escaping from the corpses. As far as Eru was concerned, as long as he could restrain Hao Yun and prevent him from escaping the secret room, he was satisfied. As for how to deal with the strange protective shield that protected Hao Yun, Eru believed that with his increasing strength, he would eventually be able to break through it.
While Hao Yun and the transformed Eru were vying for the dormant mold spirit energy in the secret room, a loud bang suddenly rang out. The secret room's door, disguised as a stone wall, exploded open from the outside with tremendous force.
"Hey! Look what I found? So you two were hiding here! No wonder I couldn't find you!" With a cold voice akin to dry grass rubbing against each other, the ruthless Destroyer strode into the secret room through the gaping hole he had just created. After he entered, dozens of emaciated Everlast Stars Heavy Armored Warriors behind him completely sealed the hole with their heavy shields.
Upon seeing the Destroyer, Eru showed no surprise and replied disdainfully, "Hmph! You're here pretty fast. Looks like you care more about me than I thought!"
With that, Eru dusted off the dirt on his body and ignored the Destroyer, continuing to absorb mold spirit energy.
Upon hearing Eru's words, the Destroyer frowned. "So it's you? Didn't expect you to succeed so quickly."
"Hehehe! Things have progressed much more smoothly than I imagined. Black Gate, control this priest first to prevent him from continuing to influence my collection of mold spirit energy here. Looks like those who killed these bodies are quite powerful, as the mold spirit energy left within these bodies is exceptionally pure. Hmph! Once I absorb all the mold spirit energy here, my strength will take another leap forward!" With a smirk, Eru spoke in a commanding tone.
The Destroyer did not respond. From his expression, it was clear he was displeased with Eru's commanding attitude towards him. However, sensing Hao Yun's actions of capturing mold spirit energy, he just grunted and directed the Mastanian puppet behind him to attack Hao Yun.
Upon seeing the Destroyer enter, Hao Yun immediately knew he was in bigger trouble. Although Hao Yun believed that the combined attack of the transformed Eru and the Destroyer could not break through the protective shield provided by the battle armor for a while, their attacks were enough to suppress him, making it impossible for him to withstand the enemy's attacks and escape forcibly. Thus, Hao Yun immediately understood that his plan to escape from Everstar City in the chaos was completely unfeasible now.