Although Elsie glared at him with hostility, given the urgency of the situation and her apparent anger without intent to harm Hao Yun, he ignored her. He allowed her to grip his calf so she could connect the other Salvationists to him in a human chain. Then, Hao Yun refocused his mind, sensing the imminent collapse of the flickering dark purple lightning ball. When he caught sight of a white dot again, he decisively chanted the ancient incantation.
"Nan Nan San Tuo. Zun Nan Zhi An. Zhe Lie Lie. Zhun Suo Po He."
Almost simultaneously with Hao Yun's utterance of this ancient incantation, the lightning ball finally shattered with a deafening roar, causing all the energy that formed it to collapse rapidly into its center. As the entire lightning ball collapsed into a temporal rift with a loud explosion, the explosion transformed into a powerful light that illuminated the heavens and the earth like daylight. This intense light, accompanied by a strong shockwave, quickly broke through the room where Hao Yun and the others were and spread rapidly towards the surrounding blocks of the building. Due to the immense energy carried in the shockwave, the building where Hao Yun and the others were located was completely pulverized the moment the shockwave burst out.
The shockwave pushed layer upon layer outward, silently and fiercely impacting every building it touched, leveling several blocks closest to the epicenter of the explosion to the ground. Although buildings further from the epicenter were not obliterated by the shockwave, they suffered varying degrees of damage. Even the Xibo military around the lighthouse, though not directly in the main destruction zone, were not spared. While they were far from the main destruction zone of the explosion, some of their forces and vehicles still suffered varying degrees of damage from the impact of the shockwave. Even those farther away, engaged in the attack on the stadium, were temporarily interrupted by the shockwave and fell into considerable confusion.
Only the Skull Squadron, sheltered within the stadium's sturdy cover, managed to evade the ongoing attacks of the shockwave. However, the members of the Skull Squadron couldn't rejoice entirely, knowing that the intense explosion in the building where Eva and the Salvationists hid was likely due to a failed mission to unlock the lock. With such a violent explosion, Eva and the Salvationists had likely lost all hope of survival.
"Major Mifan, what do we do now? Have the boss and the others—?" a soldier asked in confusion, looking at the blocks leveled to the ground in the distance.
Major Mifan carefully surveyed the situation ahead and responded solemnly, "Hmm. The light from the lighthouse has completely dissipated. It looks like the operation to unlock the lock may have failed. As for the boss and the others—sigh!"
Major Mifan shook his head vigorously, then issued orders to the soldiers in a solemn tone, "Attention all units! Attention all units! Due to unexpected circumstances ahead, all team members gather immediately! We must take advantage of the enemy's pause in the attack to withdraw from this place as quickly as possible!"
Thanks to Wang Defa's earlier order for the Skull Squadron to be ready to retreat at any time, Major Mifan's order for withdrawal was swiftly executed, and the Skull Squadron immediately departed from the Gladiator Stadium. Thanks to the ongoing interference from the lingering shockwave, the Mastanian soldiers attacking the stadium were still in disarray and incapable of combat. Thus, even as the Skull Squadron passed by visibly, they did not come under attack.
The members of the Skull Squadron were not clear on why the shockwave generated by the explosion could suppress the enemy's attack, but they had no time to think about that question now. They observed that as the shockwave weakened, many disoriented Mastanians were standing upright again, emitting a constant murmuring sound as if in the process of rebooting. Once these Mastanians completed their reboot, they would return to normal and launch another attack on the Skull Squadron.
"Everyone listen up! We must evacuate the battlefield at full speed before the enemy returns to normal! We will redeploy on the outskirts of Terlei City! Once the threat from the Xibo is neutralized, we will find a way to return here to search for the boss's whereabouts! Despite the accident where the boss was, we must have confidence in the Salvationists! Perhaps, even if there is only a one percent chance, we will never leave them behind!"
Major Mifan once again rallied morale, simultaneously commanding the entire Skull Squadron to harness full horsepower and swiftly retreat from Terlei City.
Then, Major Mifan looked back at the still-smoky blocks in the distance and sighed heavily, "Ah! Let's hope for a miracle! Boss, please, you must survive!"
After enduring a series of pains akin to being torn apart, Hao Yun finally felt the energy raging over his body showing signs of subsiding, allowing him to alleviate the pain that had spread throughout his body with smoother breathing. After some time passed, the dizziness in Hao Yun's head and the snowflake screen in his eyes finally disappeared. Regaining consciousness gradually, Hao Yun opened his eyes forcefully and, while breathing heavily, quickly checked for any injuries on his body. After confirming that he was uninjured, Hao Yun looked around. He saw everyone, including Elsie, sitting up in a panic, breathing heavily and coughing violently as if waking from a nightmare.
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"Cough, cough, cough! Hao Yun, where are we?" Dream Jia, still pale, asked after a severe fit of coughing.
"I'm not sure. I just had a strong feeling that as long as I chanted that incantation again, I could take everyone away with this lightning ball," Hao Yun replied.
Although Hao Yun remembered clearly that the dark purple lightning ball had completely collapsed moments ago, dragging them into a sudden spatial rift that appeared out of nowhere, they now found themselves shrouded once again by the same dark purple lightning ball. However, Hao Yun wasn't worried; he felt that this lightning ball wouldn't harm him. On the contrary, its appearance seemed more like protection against external harm. Yet, because of this layer of lightning ball, Hao Yun was temporarily unable to see clearly outside.
"Is everyone okay?" After attempting to observe the situation outside the lightning ball without success, Hao Yun walked over to Dream Jia. He helped her lift Carl, whose gaze still seemed vacant, from the ground and quickly checked on Eva and the others. Since Eva and the others were mere mortals, the pain they had just endured left them unusually weak and difficult to recover for a while. Therefore, Dao Lao could only produce a bottle of Haha Le pure water, which he gave to the four of them to drink, hoping to restore their bodies to normal as soon as possible.
"Hao Yun, what exactly happened just now? How did the room suddenly erupt into such a strong storm? And why did I suddenly feel like I became a baby in a moment, as if everything returned to its original state, feeling like I had wandered through several centuries in a daze?" Carl asked, shaking as he stood up. After drinking two large gulps of Haha Le pure water, Carl's mental state indeed improved immediately.
"Shh—! Now's not the time for these questions! Carl, prepare for battle immediately!" Dream Jia rushed to gesture for silence to Carl before Hao Yun could respond.
Although this dark purple lightning ball prevented everyone from seeing the situation outside clearly, Dream Jia's Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System suddenly regained some basic functionality. Therefore, based on the system's alerts, she learned that at least thirty enemies highly resembling the Xibo people had appeared outside this lightning ball.
If Hao Yun indeed successfully led everyone through the hidden door in the lighthouse to breach the Xibo people's headquarters, encountering them naturally wouldn't be surprising. However, what made Hao Yun and his companions so vigilant was that their system not only detected their encirclement by the Xibo people but also detected Mold Spirit Energy here. Moreover, the energy detected by the system this time had already reached the level of a quasi-catastrophic disaster.
"Szz, szz—"
Almost as soon as Hao Yun and his group prepared for battle, the lightning ball enveloping them suddenly lost its brilliance, as if its energy had been exhausted. It quickly burned out and disappeared into thin air amidst flashing sparks, leaving behind a half-meter-deep semicircular pit on the ground paved with large bluestones.
Sure enough, after the disappearance of the dark purple lightning ball, Hao Yun and his group immediately saw more than thirty Xibo people surrounding them. However, since these Xibo people did not launch an attack immediately upon seeing Hao Yun and his group, they only briefly faced off before shifting their attention to the room behind the Xibo people. Specifically, where Hao Yun and his group were wasn't exactly a room but a circular hall entirely constructed from three-meter-square blue stone, with a height of at least thirty meters, visually capable of accommodating at least three hundred people. Although the hall was extremely spacious, the peculiar firelight released from the dozen or so torches mounted on the walls could still illuminate the hall exceptionally brightly.
Due to the excellent visibility in the hall, Hao Yun quickly realized that they were standing right in the center of this circular hall. Around the semicircular pit formed by the lightning ball, the ground seamlessly connected to concentric circles made of bluestone. Upon closer inspection, Hao Yun noticed that these patterns on the bluestone floor were inscribed with segments of obscure runes. Upon Dao Lao and Dream Jia's appraisal, these runes were composed of extremely ancient texts from the Spirit Realm. However, despite recognizing each of the runes, neither Dao Lao nor Dream Jia could comprehend the meaning conveyed by the arrangement of these runes.
Nevertheless, Dao Lao and Dream Jia could determine from the layout of these runes that their current position was a teleportation array specifically designed to activate a portal.
Hao Yun and his companions continued to scrutinize the layout of the hall, while the Xibo people stood quietly in place, their red eyes visible through sunglasses observing their every move. Since the enemies didn't make a move, Hao Yun and his group had no reason to initiate hostilities either. Thus, after confirming that there was nothing else of note in the hall, they stood back to back, facing off against the thirty-plus Xibo people.
"Da, da, da."
After a few more minutes of standoff, the tense atmosphere was finally broken by the sound of footsteps coming from behind the Xibo people. Only after the footsteps appeared did the Xibo soldiers react. However, instead of preparing to attack Hao Yun and his group, they simultaneously lowered the assault rifles in their hands to their chests. Then, they dissolved their encirclement of Hao Yun's group, swiftly formed a formation, split into two groups, simultaneously turned towards the center, and after taking a half-step back in unison, they cleared a pathway in the middle of the formation.
Following this, Hao Yun and his group saw two burly figures wearing black robes, each carrying a metal box in their hands, walking steadily down this pathway towards them.
"Everyone, be careful! These newcomers are not friendly!" As soon as these two mysterious figures appeared, Eva, who was standing behind Hao Yun, immediately whispered a warning. Dr. Chu, Wang Defa, and Carl tightened their grips on their weapons, aiming at the two mysterious figures, ready to fire upon Eva's command.
However, Hao Yun, Elsie, and their group remained stationary, not preparing for combat. From Eva's perspective, Hao Yun and Elsie's calm demeanor in the face of the enemies was not surprising given their capabilities. However, even from her vantage point in the rear, Eva couldn't help but notice that Hao Yun and Elsie's expressions were filled with disbelief and astonishment upon the appearance of the two figures in black robes. This was because their Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System had confirmed based on the aura emanating from these two that they were priests from the Spirit Realm.