Everyone was clearly on the same team, so why did they suddenly start fighting? Seeing what was happening in front of them, each of the soldiers who had rushed in to protect Yan Chaoyue had confusion and awkwardness written all over their faces. Therefore, they all turned their gaze towards Sylph, hoping to get more information from her.
“Sylph, what’s going on here? Why are the two lords fighting with Her Majesty the Queen?” Tie Zhu was the first to ask, his face full of doubt.
Sylph, who had witnessed the entire incident, knew that the conflict arose because the two high priests were concerned about Her Majesty's safety and tried to stop her from continuing to absorb energy from the armor. However, Sylph naturally wouldn’t divulge the actual situation to everyone present, to prevent more people from knowing about Her Majesty’s condition and to avoid this information reaching the Mastanians.
Therefore, upon hearing General Tie Dao’s question, Sylph merely gave an awkward smile and then casually replied, “Hehehe! No need to worry, General. We were actually discussing ways to rescue King Er and launch a counterattack against the Mastanians. Everyone was eager to solve the problem quickly, so the discussion got a bit heated. As a result, Her Majesty, in a moment of excitement, accidentally triggered the dagger’s alarm. Hehehe! Nothing serious! It’s all a misunderstanding! Soldiers, you may retreat. We still need to continue discussing our battle plan!”
The soldiers felt relieved upon hearing Sylph's reply, but from their expressions, it was clear that these battle-hardened soldiers had some doubts about Sylph’s explanation. Her answer seemed somewhat far-fetched. How could someone as powerful as Her Majesty make such a basic mistake as accidentally triggering the dagger’s alarm? Thinking this, the bewildered soldiers all turned their eyes to General Tie Dao, waiting for his further instructions.
The issues the soldiers could think of were naturally also on the minds of General Tie Dao and Captain Tie Zhu. How could someone of Her Majesty’s caliber make such a basic mistake? Furthermore, due to the special relationship between Captain Tie Zhu and Sylph, he immediately sensed that something was off. So after a quick exchange of glances with Sylph, he turned to look at his father.
General Tie Dao, understanding the situation, said, “Oh! So that’s how it is! It’s good that everything is fine! The current situation on Yongmu Star is tense, and everyone’s nerves are stretched thin, so occasional emotional fluctuations are normal. So, Your Majesty, while you work tirelessly for the people of Yongmu Star, you should also take care to rest.”
Then, General Tie Dao turned to the soldiers and said, “Since Her Majesty is safe, let’s retreat and continue our vigilance! Her Majesty has been working very hard lately, so we must do everything we can to protect her! Ah, it’s our fault for not being able to share more of Her Majesty’s burdens. This is all our fault! Your Majesty, please forgive us!”
After speaking, General Tie Dao knelt on one knee, taking all the blame on himself to avoid further escalating the conflict between Yan Chaoyue and the two high priests. Seeing this, both Dao Lao and Dream Jia had to admit General Tie Dao's high emotional intelligence in handling internal conflicts. They couldn’t help but feel the gap in handling such situations compared to him.
Especially Dream Jia, who tended to act impulsively, disregarding whether the other party was a superior leader. If something didn’t sit right with her, she would directly confront the person. While this showcased her straightforwardness and true nature, it didn’t make her favorable in the eyes of the leaders. When it came to promotions, how would they be willing to recommend her? So, Dao Lao and Dream Jia, upon reflection, realized it wasn’t without reason that leaders always assigned others to sit in offices while they were sent on the front lines to hunt down malevolent energy day and night.
After General Tie Dao ordered the soldiers to leave, only Dao Lao, Dream Jia, Her Majesty the Queen, and her three confidants remained in the room. With General Tie Dao and Captain Tie Zhu present, Sylph finally had some confidence to mediate the situation. She briefly explained to the Tie father and son what had just transpired, giving them some ground to persuade both parties to calm down.
The Tie father and son, after hearing what had happened, felt quite embarrassed. On one side was their queen, and on the other were two high priests who had greatly helped Yongmu Star, leaving them unsure how to proceed. So, General Tie Dao could only awkwardly say, “Oh my! Why did you all start fighting? We’re all on the same side, let’s discuss things calmly! Oh dear, why did you start fighting?”
Fortunately, with the intervention of the Tie father and son, the tense atmosphere between Yan Chaoyue and the two high priests was alleviated. Although Yan Chaoyue was the queen, she wasn’t unreasonable, especially when it came to the opinions of Sylph, who was like a sister to her, and the Tie father and son, who had fought alongside her for many years. Thus, with their combined persuasion, Yan Chaoyue soon calmed down and retracted the two daggers floating in the air.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
However, Dao Lao and Dream Jia’s attempt to forcibly stop her from absorbing energy earlier still left her displeased. While she no longer intended to act aggressively towards them, she didn’t want to engage with them either. Instead, she turned away and continued absorbing the energy from her armor. Seeing this, Dao Lao, regardless of whether he would anger Yan Chaoyue again, continued to anxiously urge her to stop absorbing the energy immediately.
Since Yan Chaoyue no longer intended to harm Dao Lao, Dream Jia put away her high-tech rifle and summoned a holographic screen to explain in more detail to General Tie Dao and Tie Zhu what she and Dao Lao had discovered.
“Lord Dream means that Her Majesty the Queen now possesses characteristics of beings from our lower realm? And this is why Her Majesty has developed a misfortune level within her body?” General Tie Dao summarized Dream Jia's explanation, finding it hard to believe.
“Exactly. According to our hypothesis, the cause of this situation, besides the excessive use of the unknown energy extracted from the armor, is that Chaoyue fused with King Er, transferred some divine power to him, and acquired some characteristics of lower realm beings from him. As Chaoyue’s body sustained damage from maintaining the sky shield, it couldn’t protect the lower realm traits that had merged into her body, leading to the misfortune level originally found only in lower realm beings appearing in her,” Dream Jia explained their hypothesis.
“There’s another crucial factor, which is that her armor is deeply connected to the malevolent energy. So we believe the energy Chaoyue extracted from the armor might have some kind of backlash, ultimately causing the misfortune level to appear on her,” Dao Lao added.
Upon hearing Dao Lao and Dream Jia's explanation, Sylph and the others looked worriedly at Her Majesty, who was still absorbing energy from the armor. As Yan Chaoyue’s closest confidants, they were aware and had participated in secretly finding corpses and using them to replenish the energy in Yan Chaoyue’s armor for her to absorb. Therefore, after hearing Dao Lao and Dream Jia's speculation, they all linked Yan Chaoyue’s condition to the energy extracted from those corpses.
However, given the high confidentiality of this operation, Sylph and the others dared not disclose this royal secret without Her Majesty’s permission. Hence, they could only feign calm while listening to the priests' analysis and look concernedly at Her Majesty, hoping she would stop absorbing energy from the armor.
However, Yan Chaoyue did not respond to their expectations. Instead of panicking upon learning about her condition, she seemed even more relaxed. She first smiled sweetly at everyone, then sat down cross-legged, slowly closed her eyes, and ignored their pleas. Moreover, she enveloped herself in a protective shield emitting a faint white light, completely isolating herself from the others.
“Chaoyue! What are you doing? Come out immediately, it’s too dangerous!” Dao Lao exclaimed, his heart tightening as he tried to rush into the shield before it closed. However, he was struck by a strong repulsive force with a powerful electric shock, sending him flying backward.
From this moment, Hao Yun understood that he had officially become a prisoner of the Destroyer. This also meant that he would have to live under the protection shield at all times. Additionally, his twenty-plus days had now officially started counting down. If he couldn’t find a way to escape within these days, or if Dao Lao and the others couldn’t come to rescue him, once the armor’s energy was exhausted, his fate would be unimaginable.
Thinking of this, Hao Yun’s anxiety grew. His situation now was far worse than King Er’s captivity. Hao Yun had become a true prisoner of the Mastanians, trapped within a vine cage transformed from the Destroyer’s claw. Even worse, this vine cage, after being detached from the Destroyer, retained its vitality and continued to grow, turning into a spherical thorn cage covered in sharp poison thorns.
This round thorn cage tightly enveloped Hao Yun’s protective shield, growing tangled roots above and below ground to anchor the cage firmly. No matter how much force Hao Yun exerted, no matter how much propulsion his armor generated, he couldn’t move an inch. Simultaneously, the thorn cage kept contracting and expanding like breathing, using intense pressure to squeeze the armor’s protective shield, seemingly aiming to break through the shield and render him defenseless.
What’s worse, the thorn cage seemed to grow stronger while squeezing the armor’s shield, increasing the damage pressure on the shield. This forced Hao Yun’s system to recalculate the shield’s duration constantly, ensuring it could accurately determine how long the shield would hold up and if the thorn cage’s continuous strengthening would shorten that time.
Meanwhile, the system strongly recommended that Hao Yun prepare to use the fixed-point teleportation function to forcibly escape. According to the system's calculations, once this thorn cage finds an effective way to break through the protective shield, forcibly teleporting to some location in a black hole might offer Hao Yun a sliver of hope for survival rather than staying here and waiting to be captured.
"Hahaha, Lord Hao, don’t be nervous! I am doing this to prevent you from further disrupting our Eternal Star order. Rest assured, you are not in any danger. At least, for now, I do not intend to take your life," the Destroyer said, pretending to be polite as the Mastanians secured the thorn cage in the cell. Then, without concealing his primal and greedy gaze, he gave Hao Yun a long, deep look before reluctantly leaving the cell with his men.
After securing Hao Yun, the Destroyer immediately transferred him to the prison at the lowest level of the Eternal Star Palace. Contrary to Hao Yun's expectations, the prison was not dark and dirty but was instead very clean and bright. The thick stone walls built from bluestone, the solid metal bars covered in thorny poison spikes, and the patrol teams composed of heavily armored puppet soldiers and Mastanians, stationed every three steps with sentries every four steps, fully conveyed the heavily guarded and oppressively tense atmosphere of the prison.