"Phew! It's gone. The energy from the dagger has disappeared!" Yan Chaoyue sighed in disappointment, quickly adjusting her breath again as she prepared to attempt contacting King Er again through the dagger.
Dao Lao and Dream Jia, upon hearing this news, although somewhat disappointed, were not particularly surprised. They were well aware of King Er's condition and knew that keeping the dagger activated for an extended period was extremely dangerous. Therefore, they had already mentally prepared themselves for the possibility of losing contact with the dagger at any time. Of course, what Dao Lao and the others did not know was that the situation on King Er's side was far worse than they had anticipated.
Yan Chaoyue had also mentally prepared herself for this outcome, but even so, she couldn't help but feel somewhat overwhelmed by the situation, which made her emotions appear particularly low. Seeing this, Dao Lao and the others quickly stepped forward to comfort Yan Chaoyue, reassuring her that since the dagger could still be activated, King Er's current condition was still relatively stable, so she shouldn't worry too much. Of course, Dao Lao and the others comforted Yan Chaoyue under the premise that they were unaware of the severity of the situation that had occurred at the Elvish Grand Hotel.
"Chaoyue, are you alright?" Dream Jia asked with concern once again.
At the same time, Dream Jia sent a private message to Dao Lao through the system: "Did you see that?"
"Mm." Dao Lao replied casually with a single word, but his expression had become unusually serious.
After a moment's hesitation, Dao Lao gently patted Yan Chaoyue on the shoulder to encourage her and continued absorbing energy, asking, "Chaoyue, are you alright? Should you rest a bit before continuing?"
After saying that, Dao Lao reached out to try and retract his armor, which was suspended in mid-air and was supplying energy to Yan Chaoyue. However, to Dao Lao's surprise, his armor seemed to be embedded in the air and no matter how he called, he couldn't detach it from the energy beam connected to the dagger. Seeing this, Dream Jia also quickly attempted to recall her armor, but the attempt ended in failure as well. It was only at this moment that Dao Lao and Dream Jia realized their armors were firmly bound to Yan Chaoyue through the dagger floating in mid-air.
Therefore, without further hesitation, the two immediately ordered the system to forcefully shut down all functions of their armors, thereby cutting off the connection between their armors and the dagger. Of course, according to the system's warning, forcibly shutting down the Shadow Spirit Realm armors that were currently supplying energy to Yan Chaoyue could lead to data disturbances in their system connections and prevent their systems from linking with their armors.
Moreover, there was a high probability that the armors' energy, currently being supplied externally, would evolve into massive leakage. Furthermore, forcibly shutting down the armors could also cause malfunctions in some of their functions. However, in such an urgent situation, Dao Lao and Dream Jia couldn't afford to consider the potential problems. They had to shut down their armors quickly to prevent them from continuing to supply energy to Yan Chaoyue.
"What are you two doing?!" Hilf, who was standing nearby, exclaimed in shock when she saw Dao Lao and Dream Jia's actions.
"Uncle Mold, Dream Sister, what are you doing—why are you doing this?" Yan Chaoyue also opened her eyes in confusion when she sensed the interruption of energy from the two armors.
"Chaoyue, you must immediately stop absorbing this energy!" Dream Jia commanded in a firm tone.
"Why?" Yan Chaoyue furrowed her brows and asked.
"Chaoyue, do you not sense anything unusual? Are you alright now?" Dream Jia ignored Yan Chaoyue's question and asked in a serious tone.
Instead of answering Dream Jia's question, Yan Chaoyue asked with an angry tone, "Why do you keep asking me if I'm 'alright'? What's going on here?"
What Yan Chaoyue did not expect was that Dao Lao and Dream Jia's unusual actions were due to a message they had just received from their Mold Spirit Energy Pursuit System—Yan Chaoyue's misfortune level had reached the level of a one-star.
It must be noted that Yan Chaoyue was a priest from the Spirit Realm. As such, she was an entity above the mortal beings of the lower realms, responsible for governing and managing the entire lower world of the Spirit Realm from a higher-dimensional life form. Therefore, it was impossible for priests with divine power to have personal misfortunes that affected mortal beings, let alone be involuntarily invaded by Mold Spirit Energy.
However, just now, Dao Lao and Dream Jia's Mold Spirit Energy Pursuit System not only detected Yan Chaoyue's misfortune level but also found that her misfortune level had actually reached one star. This was simply an incredible phenomenon! Just imagine, if even priests could have misfortune levels, wouldn't it mean that the sacred bodies of the upper realm spirits would also become targets for Mold Spirit Energy invasion? Once Mold Spirit Energy could invade the sacred bodies of the upper realm spirits, wouldn't their fused bodies possess the same strength as Elina, or even greater strength? In this case, wouldn't the Spirit Realm, both upper and lower realms, become defenseless against Mold Spirit Energy? The entire Spirit Realm could fall into a major crisis due to the loss of natural advantages in resisting Mold Spirit Energy.
Stolen novel; please report.
Therefore, compared to allowing Yan Chaoyue to continue absorbing energy from the two armors, Dao Lao and Dream Jia believed that the more pressing issue now was to understand why Yan Chaoyue suddenly had a misfortune level. This matter was not only crucial but could also affect the life and death of the entire Spirit Realm.
Of course, while Dao Lao and Dream Jia were filled with various worries, they immediately realized that the reason Yan Chaoyue exhibited a one-star misfortune level was likely due to absorbing too much energy from the Nether Spirit Realm's battle armor. Although the energy used by their battle armor now came from that Hell-class destroyer, which belonged to divine energy.
However, they must not forget that their battle armor could store vast amounts of energy and had recharging capabilities all thanks to the Countess. The power the Countess used to enable these functions in their battle armor was her immensely powerful misfortune energy. Therefore, Dao Lao and Dream Jia had reason to believe that it was because Yan Chaoyue continuously absorbed and utilized energy optimized by the Countess's powerful and evil force that she eventually developed a misfortune level within her.
In short, regardless of the true situation, Dao Lao and Dream Jia had to make Yan Chaoyue stop absorbing energy from the battle armor and immediately conduct a series of systematic checks on her. While informing Yan Chaoyue of the facts they had gathered, Dao Lao and Dream Jia also requested her to immediately sever the connection between the still-floating dagger and her battle armor to ensure her condition would not further deteriorate.
Yan Chaoyue clearly hadn't anticipated such a serious issue within herself, so upon hearing this news, she couldn't help but show a trace of surprise. Thus, under Dao Lao and Dream Jia's explanation, she began to check the data from the misfortune energy tracking system.
"Your Majesty, for your safety, why don't you temporarily disconnect from that battle armor?" Sylph advised worriedly after understanding Yan Chaoyue's physical condition.
However, Yan Chaoyue only furrowed her brows and quickly reviewed the system's data again without showing any intention of disconnecting from the battle armor. Should she pause the energy absorption from the armor? Or continue the risky energy extraction? Yan Chaoyue seemed to find this decision extremely difficult.
"Chaoyue, what are you waiting for? If this continues, your holy body might suffer further damage! You know, the origin of your battle armor is also quite peculiar! You must not keep risking it! Having a misfortune level means not only that you've lost your natural resistance to misfortune energy but also that you're becoming increasingly close to the lower realm creatures! If you continue to recklessly absorb energy from the armor, your power could even be weakened! This is not something we want to see!" Dao Lao anxiously urged, seeing Yan Chaoyue's hesitation.
"No, I can't stop! As long as there's hope, I have to try. Moreover, there's not much energy left in this battle armor. I think, even if I absorb all the remaining energy, it won't cause me greater harm, right?!" After a brief silence, Yan Chaoyue ultimately chose to reject the trio's suggestion.
"Chaoyue! Don't do anything foolish! If you fall, who will lead the Yongmu people? You mustn't act impulsively! Think of your parents and your newborn children. What will they do if something happens to you?!" Dao Lao hurriedly advised again upon hearing this, stepping forward to forcibly stop Yan Chaoyue from continuing to absorb energy.
"Swish!"
But just as Dao Lao moved, a dagger suddenly appeared out of thin air beside Yan Chaoyue and shot towards Dao Lao's face.
"Bang!"
A beam of energy hit the dagger the moment it flew out, accurately striking it and sending it flying amid a burst of sparks.
"Careful!" Dream Jia simultaneously warned.
Dao Lao clearly hadn't expected Yan Chaoyue to attack him, and coupled with his urgent desire to stop her, he was unable to respond to her attack in time. However, after Dream Jia's timely intervention, Dao Lao immediately realized something was wrong. He quickly dodged to the side, holding a photon staff in front of his chest, and questioned in confusion, "Chaoyue, what are you doing?! Disconnect from that battle armor immediately! What you're doing is too dangerous!"
Yan Chaoyue looked at Dao Lao, her face showing a fleeting expression of apology and bitterness. Then she answered with an exceptionally resolute tone, "No! I refuse! If not me, then who will go to hell? As long as I can bear this danger, I should continue to shoulder my responsibility! Because I am the queen of Yongmu, and it is my duty to protect Yongmu with my life. I firmly believe that as long as I can secure one more day of peace for Yongmu, I can win one more chance for us. So, please understand, Uncle Dao and Sister Dream, and stop interfering with me. Otherwise, don't blame me for being unkind!"
As Yan Chaoyue spoke, two more daggers appeared out of thin air beside her. Though these daggers didn't attack Dao Lao and Dream Jia, they pointed at them and emitted a metallic resonance warning them to keep their distance. At the same time, a squad of fully armed Yongmu guards rushed in, shouting to protect their queen.
The strong and tall Yongmu warriors stormed in, quickly surrounding the central group. Dao Lao and Dream Jia's expressions changed upon seeing this. Could it be that Yan Chaoyue was ready to clash with them to continue absorbing energy from the battle armor? As the burly Yongmu guards surrounded the four in the room, the leading General Tie Dao noticed that apart from the four of them, there was no one else in the room. He quickly asked, "Sylph, what happened?! Where's the enemy?!"
Sylph responded with a helpless smile and a shrug, indicating no enemy was present. Dao Lao and Dream Jia, seeing the aggressive guards, couldn't help but show embarrassed and helpless smiles. General Tie Dao and the guards who rushed in to protect their queen were also bewildered. They had received a distress signal from the daggers and assumed the queen was under attack by the Mastanians. But upon entering, they saw that the ones opposing the queen were the two high priests.