Suddenly, Hao Yun had a bold idea. He cleared his dry throat and asked hesitantly with a respectful tone, "You—are you...?"
The Guardian Spirit seemed to guess what Hao Yun wanted to ask, so she nodded slightly and calmly replied, "It seems they must have told you quite a bit about me! Hmm... let me guess, they probably didn't have many good things to say about me, did they?"
"I never expected to meet you here. I thought you were only safeguarding the stability of the Spirit Realm with unseen powers," Hao Yun said after taking a deep breath. Although the Guardian Spirit didn't directly answer Hao Yun's question, he could deduce from her words that his bold guess just now was not wrong.
Hao Yun dared to make such a bold guess about the Guardian Spirit's true identity because, based on what the Mother of Mold Spirits had described, the Balance Ring needed to distribute its power to various Shadow Spirit Realm zones to better control the entire Spirit Realm and ensure that each territory maintained a balanced state, thus ensuring the smooth operation of the entire Spirit Realm. It was for this reason that Hao Yun realized the mysterious attendant before him was actually the embodiment of the portion of power allocated by the Balance Ring to the Thirteenth Shadow Spirit Realm zone.
The Guardian Spirit did not appear particularly excited by Hao Yun's discovery of her true identity. She continued with a composed tone, "Normally, I am an intangible presence. But sometimes, for the convenience of conveying orders to subordinates, I manifest my energy in a tangible form."
By saying this, the Guardian Spirit once again acknowledged that she was the embodiment of the power allocated by the Balance Ring to this place. Since this was the first direct conversation between Hao Yun's group and the Balance Ring, and since they were now out of the control of the Spirit Realm, they appeared like three primary school students called before the principal due to their mistakes, standing there awkwardly. At this moment, Hao Yun's group looked extremely embarrassed, and because of the awkwardness, they didn't even know where to put their hands.
Fortunately, the situation was urgent, and the Balance Ring needed the help of Hao Yun's group, which made the Guardian Spirit, who had revealed her true identity, unwilling to criticize too much the behavior of the three people who had deserted the Spirit Realm. Seeing this, Hao Yun's group also breathed a sigh of relief, but they only relaxed their tense nerves slightly. Based on the information provided by the Mother of Mold Spirit, they were very aware that the Balance Ring not only had a very deep mind but was also a very narrow-minded and extremely selfish person. So even though the embodiment of the Balance Ring seemed very humble at the moment, Hao Yun and the others still had to constantly remind themselves to remain vigilant. Because, for a strong party like the Balance Ring, who was ruthless behind the scenes, even if she appeared very kind on the surface, such an attitude did not mean that she would not set traps in her words and deeds.
"Ah! Those two annoying guys! Why can't they just see me well? Would they be happy to see me not doing well?" The Guardian Spirit continued to complain in a tone of grievance.
The "they" mentioned by the Guardian Spirit obviously referred to her father, Guardian Uryll, and her elder sister, the Mother of Mold Spirit. The Guardian Spirit preferred to use the general term "they" instead of mentioning the names of the two individuals, which also indirectly showed the depth of the estrangement between the three members of the family. But this was also good, after all, it was not a good thing for Dao Lao and Master Gu to know too much about it.
"I don't know if they want you well. I only know that if you give up those unrealistic thoughts and actions, they will still be happy to see you getting stronger continuously," Hao Yun said.
Dao Lao and Master Gu were now confused by the cryptic dialogue between the two sides. It could be seen that the two of them were eager to know who the "they" referred to by Hao Yun was. Unfortunately, the Balance Ring, who appeared in the form of a clone, did not dare to interrupt rashly. Therefore, the two of them could only wait quietly by the side of the Guardian Spirit, and at the same time, they listened carefully to the conversation between the four people, hoping to read more unheard-of anecdotes from it.
"Their idea is not wrong, but these are the only ways I can think of at the moment to effectively enhance the Spirit Realm. So, my actions are also a helpless choice!" The Guardian Spirit said helplessly.
Hao Yun naturally understood that he could not persuade the Balance Ring to change her way of doing things, so he didn't want to waste too much breath on this issue with the Guardian Spirit. So Hao Yun said, "Since your actions have caused them harm and forced them to unite for a counterattack, why don't you pause for now? After repairing your relationship with your family, you can find a new way to develop. You know, harmony brings wealth. Doing less harm to others for personal gain will prevent your interests from being backfired! Besides, maybe when you stop being so aggressive towards them, they will assist you in growing again?"
"Alas! Now that things have come to this, how can the relationship between us return to its original state?" The Guardian Spirit sighed lightly.
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"Well, is there a possibility that this attack incident related to Elina was just a necessary response to you from them? They just want to tell you their attitude through this method and hope that you can stop while you are ahead, rather than further escalate the situation? Otherwise, they could completely use your loopholes to launch a larger attack. In that case, I'm afraid even your clone wouldn't be able to talk to us as calmly as you do now, right?" Dao Lao also joined the persuasion team.
The Guardian Spirit knew that Dao Lao was not trying to exaggerate, nor was he deliberately threatening her. The reason he said that was actually just to persuade himself. So, the Guardian Spirit chuckled and said, "Huh! If that's the case, it means they won't launch a larger-scale attack on me again. In this case, I don't need to worry too much about their retaliation!"
The Guardian Spirit's somewhat unreasonable assertion fully exposed the Greedy and selfish nature of the Balance Ring. However, upon further reflection, Haoyun could also understand the Balance Ring's perspective. After all, someone who had long taken for granted the constant demands placed on others probably developed a distorted sense of entitlement, where help from others was considered natural and necessary. Driven by this mindset, the Balance Ring naturally ignored the countermeasures provided by Guardian Uryll and the Mother of Mold.
It wouldn't be surprising if the Balance Ring even believed that Guardian Uryll and the Mother of Mold's actions were merely intentional displays of toughness. After all, they always helped without reservation, tolerating the Ring's whims. So over time, a bit of frustration and the desire to vent emotions became entirely normal behaviors. In any case, regardless of how Guardian Uryll and the Mother of Mold tried to agitate, they would ultimately return to the side of the Balance Ring, continuing to silently dedicate themselves to her interests.
"Hmph! This Balance Ring, she's really become irredeemably self-absorbed!" Haoyun couldn't help but mock internally after understanding the Balance Ring's attitude.
Dream Jia, having sensed through this Guardian Spirit how the Balance Ring, even at such a critical juncture, continued to display its arrogant attitude without remorse, disdainfully remarked, "Oh? In that case, you don't have to bother informing us about the situation in the Balance Realm, right? Anyway, you think they won't put you in dire straits no matter what happens. So, you might as well let Elina do whatever she wants there, right? After all, they'll definitely step in to help you deal with Elina at a critical moment, won't they?"
"Um—," Dream Jia was right. Honestly, the three of us are limited in power. Now that we have lost the divine protection of the Spirit Realm, we are even less capable of dealing with Elina, who is powerful enough to match you!" Dao Lao also grumbled in agreement, then sat back in his chair and resumed sipping his tea.
The Guardian Spirit clearly hadn't anticipated Dream Jia and Dao Lao confronting her so directly, leaving her momentarily stunned. Then, after adjusting her mindset, she responded, "Oh my! I certainly wouldn't be overly concerned about their way of venting emotions towards me! But the problem is, Elina and I are not on the same page. So as long as Elina seizes the opportunity, she will definitely find a way to seize my power and replace me."
Upon hearing this, Haoyun couldn't help but snort. Plainly put, the Balance Ring was worried that Guardian Uryll and the Mother of Mold wouldn't handle Elina's punishment appropriately, potentially causing Elina to inflict irreparable harm on her. Hmph! This Balance Ring, even in the face of adversity, continues to act stubbornly!
While Haoyun currently had a strong dislike for the Balance Ring, he also understood that compared to her, Elina was currently the greater threat. Therefore, to prevent Elina from causing greater harm to the Spirit Realm, endangering more innocent lives, Haoyun had to suppress his deep dislike for the Balance Ring and asked, "So, how are things on the Balance Realm now?"
The Guardian Spirit shook her head in response, "The situation there is extremely dire. The three lords are also well aware of the current state of the Spirit Realm. Due to the impact of that divine battle, I had to double my efforts to maintain the stable operation of the entire Spirit Realm. This caused my core self to be greatly weakened because my power was too dispersed. This is also the main reason why I appeared to struggle when facing Elina's sudden attack."
As the Guardian Spirit spoke, she looked around as if searching for something. Haoyun and the others noticed once again that the movements in the Guardian Spirit's face had clearly accelerated compared to before. Haoyun and the others assumed that the Guardian Spirit was using a miraculous method to contact the Balance Realm and further understand the situation there. Therefore, they didn't disturb her behavior and quietly watched the Guardian Spirit continuously adjust her perspective by turning her head.
After the Guardian Spirit adjusted her gaze back to face Haoyun and the others, she continued, "In fact, even though my strength has been weakened, dealing with someone like Elina is still more than enough. But now the problem is that Elina has learned a method of restraining me from their help. This method, combined with the power of the Dark Energy Storm, allows Elina to penetrate my defenses, enter my body directly, and attack my abilities from within."
"Although I don't think Elina can do much even if she enters my body, I don't know how many disgusting methods they have provided to Elina, so I can't be too complacent. Otherwise, if Elina's mischief inside me affects the stability of the Spirit Realm, the consequences could be unimaginable."
At this point, the Guardian Spirit's tone finally showed a hint of regret, "In fact, from the moment you intruded into the Spirit Realm, I had already detected you. Based on the unique energy released from the three of you, I immediately judged you as unwelcome and immediately had the idea to eliminate you. Unexpectedly, Elina took advantage of my diverted attention due to you and successfully avoided my sight and entered the Spirit Realm with their help."
"Then, while I was focusing all my attention on guiding Earth NX and you, they took the opportunity to successfully enter the Balance Realm with their help, using the Dark Energy Storm that came with them to trap the entire Balance Realm and temporarily cut off my ability to communicate with the outside world. It wasn't until I resisted Elina's consecutive two rounds of attacks with all my strength and finally stabilized myself in confrontation with her that I was able to extricate myself and come here to seek help."