"Hmph! This is my territory. Why shouldn't I come?" sneered the Destroyer. Meanwhile, the harsh, metallic sound of a nearby cell door being opened reached Hao Yun's ears. "Bl-Black Gate, what are you planning?!" Immediately upon the opening of the adjacent cell door, Amu Zinen exclaimed anxiously. "Hmph! You know exactly what I'm here for! Don't be nervous. As long as you cooperate, everything will be over quickly! Just like before!" The Destroyer chuckled coldly. "No! I won't let you succeed this time! No—! How dare you defy our clan's traditions! You trait— ugh— ah—!" Amu Zinen began to shout furiously, but halfway through, his tone turned into agonizing moans. "Hmph! What nonsense clan traditions! They're just something to restrain mediocre rats like you! Surrender quietly!" the Destroyer cruelly remarked. Soon, the prison echoed with Amu Zinen's heart-wrenching screams. From the sounds, it was clear that he was undergoing brutal torture at the hands of the Destroyer.

Hao Yun understood all too well why Amu Zinen screamed so miserably as soon as the Destroyer entered his cell — the Destroyer was undoubtedly forcibly extracting Malayan energy from him again. Unable to bear the agonizing screams echoing in the prison, which brought a sense of oppression and suffocation to him, Hao Yun persisted for a while before he couldn't help but loudly inquire, "Hey? Hey! Amu Zinen! What's happening over there?!"

"Hey! Amu Zinen! Can you hear me?! What's going on over there?!" Seeing that Amu Zinen didn't respond but continued to wail in pain, Hao Yun repeated his questions several times, each time raising his voice as much as possible to try to drown out the continuous screams and relieve the oppressive emotions building up inside him.

According to the Malayan energy tracking system, it wasn't until about two hours later that Amu Zinen stopped emitting horrendous screams, instead turning into weak groans. However, this was enough to indicate how tragic his suffering at the hands of the Destroyer had been. This made Hao Yun even more worried about Amu Zinen's safety, as he had clearly understood from Amu Zinen's screams that his pain stemmed not from the torture inflicted by the Destroyer, but from the agony of having his energy forcibly drained.

Considering that the Destroyer had only absorbed energy from Amu Zinen once, yet had significantly strengthened his own power, Hao Yun's concern wasn't just for Amu Zinen suffering more pain; he was worried about how much stronger the Destroyer would become after this energy extraction from Amu Zinen.

Just as Hao Yun fretted, the door of his prison suddenly swung open. Following, a monster covered in squirming tentacles and a faint magical aura slowly entered. This person was naturally the Destroyer, Black Gate. As soon as the Destroyer entered the cell, Hao Yun immediately judged from the slight changes in his appearance and the magical aura surrounding him that his strength had been enhanced once again by draining Amu Zinen.

At the same time, the six-star Malayan Luck level displayed by the Malayan energy tracking system confirmed Hao Yun's intuition with precision.

"Ah! Amu Zinen was too noisy just now, he must have disturbed Lord Hao's rest, right? I'm really sorry, please forgive me!" The Destroyer said hypocritically as soon as he entered.

"It's okay, I actually quite like noisy environments, so he didn't disturb me," Hao Yun replied indifferently.

"Oh? Is that so? That's good. I hope Lord Hao can stay comfortable here, because good times are bound to end." The Destroyer chuckled, but his tone gradually turned cold, and he slowly pointed his finger towards Hao Yun.

Seeing this, Hao Yun's expression turned serious because he knew the Destroyer was preparing to strike again now that his strength had increased. Hastily, he ordered the system to increase the strength of the battle armor's protective shield to better withstand the Destroyer's attack.

The Destroyer's finger elongated and injected magical energy into the thorned cage imprisoning Hao Yun. As the thorned cage received this magical energy, it immediately became active. The thorns imprisoning the protective shield excitedly wriggled, like tentacles capturing prey, attempting to tighten again to crush the protective shield that guarded Hao Yun.

Hao Yun could clearly feel the increasing pressure on the battle armor's protective shield, but fortunately, the resilience of the protective shield was beyond imagination. Therefore, even though the magical thorns could leave some dents on the surface of the protective shield swathed in magical energy, their impact was limited. Seeing that his protective shield remained steadfast under the powerful compression, the Destroyer also showed an incredulous expression. Therefore, unwilling to give up, the Destroyer injected more powerful energy into the thorned cage several times, attempting to crush Hao Yun's protective shield, but each attempt ended in failure.

Seeing that his attacks were ineffective, the Destroyer's face was visibly embarrassed. He even lost his composure, stood with his hands on his hips, and angrily cursed, "Hmph! Looks like I underestimated you! But even so, what can you do? You can only hide in this protective shield for the rest of your life and never leave! Hmph! You poor wimp! If you have the guts, stay inside forever!"

After all, the Destroyer's strength had once again increased significantly. Thus, seeing the Destroyer confidently trying to break the battle armor's protective shield, Hao Yun's mood became extremely tense. Yet, when he saw that even after the Destroyer's strength increase, he still couldn't break through the battle armor's protective shield, Hao Yun's nervous mood finally eased. Therefore, to further disturb the Destroyer's mentality, Hao Yun nervously wiped his forehead while sarcastically mocking, "Oh dear! You almost scared me to death just now! I thought you had more strength! Turns out you're just as weak as a pile of shit!"

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When he was caught up in the excitement of the argument, Haoyun even turned around, wiggling his buttocks provocatively towards the Destroyer while patting himself, taunting, "Come on! Aren't you coming to hit me? My butt feels so itchy!"

It has to be said, Haoyun's demeanor during verbal sparring was indeed obnoxious and asking for trouble.

The self-important Destroyer couldn't tolerate Haoyun's humiliation. Furious, he rushed forward, unleashing powerful attacks incessantly against Haoyun's protective shield. However, despite his efforts, he couldn't harm Haoyun in the slightest. Seeing this, the infuriated Destroyer no longer cared about his image and began spitting saliva frantically towards Haoyun. Not to be outdone, Haoyun also spat back in retaliation. The two of them acted like rabid dogs with hydrophobia, engaging in a lively spit exchange across the protective shield.

Finally, as the leader of the Mastanians, the Destroyer realized his behavior was inappropriate. He stopped his venting spits first, then coldly dropped a threat, "If you have the guts, stay in there for the rest of your life! Otherwise, I'll have to skin you alive!" With that, he turned and left Haoyun's cell without looking back.

"Bang!" As the Destroyer angrily slammed the cell door shut, Haoyun finally breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down. In reality, when he was taunting the Destroyer just now, Haoyun had been very nervous because he feared the protective shield might collapse under the Destroyer's furious attacks.

Of course, after enduring several close-range attacks from the Destroyer, Haoyun discovered that the protective shield created by the Shadow Realm Battle Armor was far stronger than he had imagined. While this was a good thing, the commotion just now had caused the armor to expend additional energy to reinforce itself against the Destroyer's potential future attacks. As a result, the duration the armor's shield could be maintained was forced to shorten.

"Phew! Fortunately, the Destroyer isn't aware of the situation with this battle armor. Otherwise, if he frequently used attacks of that intensity against the shield, it would definitely weaken significantly!" Haoyun thought with some lingering fear.

However, Haoyun considered that the Destroyer probably wouldn't do that. The Destroyer had likely tried many methods to breach General Tie's protective shield before, and repeated failures must have left him with a deep impression of its strength. Moreover, Haoyun had learned from Amu Zinen earlier that the Destroyer, after seizing his power, couldn't immediately integrate that power fully with his own and needed time to stabilize it before digesting it completely. So, although the Destroyer had appeared very angry just now, he hadn't exerted his full effort in trying to break the shield.

This was a good thing for Haoyun, but he also knew he couldn't depend entirely on the Destroyer's restrained attacks to delay here indefinitely. Haoyun had to rely on the armor's protective shield to buy time, wait for General Dao and the others to rescue him, and find a way to escape from here as soon as possible.

"Has Chaoyue not come out yet?" General Dao paced anxiously in the lounge, asking Hilfer who had just returned from Yan Chaoyue.

"Report, sir, Her Majesty the Queen is still in seclusion," Hilfer shook her head in response.

After the minor friction earlier, Yan Chaoyue had ordered General Dao and the others out of the council chamber and completely sealed off her area. Therefore, General Dao and the others could only wait anxiously in the nearest lounge to the council chamber, awaiting updates from Yan Chaoyue's side.

"General, please rest assured, Her Majesty's health is currently stable. Her Majesty has completed the extraction of energy from the battle armor and is now reinforcing the celestial shield. Without the assistance of the battle armor, Her Majesty has been unable to replenish fresh energy for a long time, which has also prevented her from maintaining the celestial shield for an extended period. Therefore, to ensure the normal operation of the celestial shield, Her Majesty needs to continue in seclusion for some time. Please understand, Your Excellencies," Hilfer, who had the authority to enter Yan Chaoyue's sealed area, continued to report the situation to General Dao and Dream Jia.

"Ah! What are we going to do about this? If Chaoyue continues like this, she might really be in danger!" Hearing Hilfer's words, General Dao sighed helplessly.

The current situation was indeed very tricky. Because if Yan Chaoyue continued to use the energy extracted from the battle armor, her body would inevitably suffer further serious damage. However, if Yan Chaoyue didn't do this, she would be unable to maintain the celestial shield any longer. Once the celestial shield was lost, Musang would become a defenseless planet, and the Mastanians could launch attacks on it without restraint.

Although emotionally, General Dao and Dream Jia were determined to prevent Yan Chaoyue from further harming herself, rationally, they understood that Yan Chaoyue was doing this to protect the entire Musang and fulfill their duty as priests. To maintain peace in the Lower Realm and ensure that the Lower Realm creatures did not suffer from the scourge of Meling energy, Yan Chaoyue had to act this way.

"Ah! Now we can only hope that Yan Chaoyue can suppress the damage to her body and reinforce the celestial shield sooner! At the same time, we should quickly think of a countermeasure against the Mastanians, because only by eliminating the threat of the Mastanians can we better help Yan Chaoyue stay away from danger!" Dream Jia stood up and persuaded General Dao, who was still walking around due to anxiety.

In the following days, the protective shield continued to function reliably, and Haoyun, who had nothing else to do, began meditating peacefully in the thorn cage. Haoyun sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes tightly, immersed his thoughts completely in the Meling Energy Tracking System, continued to study the new functions discovered from the battle armor, and used the system's virtual combat system to train himself, ensuring that he could maintain a good combat readiness at all times.

Haoyun now dared to keep his Meling Energy Tracking System active all the time because he had surprisingly found that his mental strength had made significant progress after his journey through the Fragrant Nebula. Even if he activated his system around the clock now, it wouldn't cause significant depletion of his mental strength. Haoyun wasn't clear on the reasons why using the system didn't cause substantial mental exhaustion for him.