After grasping the situation here, Haoyun immediately approached the Balance Ring in a unique floating and running manner. As he got closer, through the dense mist of the Balance Realm, Haoyun could finally see clearly what was happening near the Balance Ring. It turned out that the energy lightning emitted from the surrounding Dark Energy Storms was not attacking the Balance Ring but was entirely absorbed into a suspended purplish-red lightning energy sphere at the center of the Balance Ring.
Within that purplish-red lightning energy sphere lay indescribable and eerie energies. It continuously absorbed energy lightning while releasing another type of purplish-red energy lightning towards the center of the Balance Ring, in order to better suppress it. Although the Balance Ring continued to rotate, Haoyun could see occasional glitches in its operation. Moreover, the radiance emitted by the Balance Ring seemed very unstable, occasionally flickering like a malfunctioning light bulb. Seeing this, Haoyun couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety. He hadn't anticipated that the purplish-red energy released from that sphere would exert such a pronounced suppression effect on the Balance Ring. If this purplish-red lightning energy continued to suppress it, the Balance Ring might indeed be damaged, causing unimaginable disaster to the innocent populace of the Spirit Realm!
Thinking this through, Haoyun quickly refocused and then without hesitation summoned the Phoenix Blade into his hand, swiftly moving towards the purplish-red lightning energy. At that moment, his Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System indicated that Elina was hidden within that purplish-red lightning energy.
"Elina! Come out!" Haoyun shouted loudly as he ran towards the purplish-red energy sphere, throwing a dagger at it.
Haoyun was confident in launching this attack. After recovering his consciousness, he immediately sensed a power far beyond what he had previously possessed within himself. Haoyun realized that the reason he unexpectedly gained such power when his life was in peril, and why his Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System suddenly reactivated and subsequently reactivated his Geomancy Spirit Realm Armor, was certainly related to the choices he had made. Since he had made the correct choices as confirmed by Guardian Uryll and the Mold Spirit Mother, Haoyun was certain that the power he now possessed was more than enough to confront Elina's quasi-subverting level strength! The Phoenix Blade, which now radiated a dazzling golden light after shedding its pure white divine glow, was the best proof of this.
The Phoenix Blade, thrown out like a golden meteor, carried immense power and rapidly shot towards the lightning energy. In its wake, a long golden tail flame streaked across the black starry sky, adding to its beauty. However, Haoyun's confident strike was immediately repelled as it approached the lightning energy by a purplish-red lightning bolt emanating from it. The deflected Phoenix Blade drew an elegant arc in the starry sky, returning to Haoyun's hand. Catching the blade required some effort as he had to completely dissipate the power attached to the Phoenix Blade.
"Hehehe! Should I be disgusted by this cockroach that I can't kill, always annoyingly harassing me? Or should I feel sorry for your ridiculous behavior of hitting a rock with an egg?" Haoyun adjusted his stance again after these words, hearing a woman's laughter as piercing as nails scratching a blackboard.
As the female voice echoed, Elina's graceful figure gradually appeared from the distant purplish-red lightning energy sphere. At this moment, Elina's entire body exuded a metallic texture, and the constantly changing energies—dark purple, orange-red, and dark green—flowed like blood under her metallic skin. Coupled with the black magic-formed armor she wore, and the large amount of dark magic constantly being absorbed and expelled by her skin, Elina looked terrifying enough to make anyone shudder at first sight.
Seeing Elina's powerful presence easily neutralizing his attack, Haoyun once again realized the gap in strength between them. Uncertain of Dao Lao and Dream Jia's whereabouts and situation, he refrained from launching another attack on Elina rashly.
Therefore, Haoyun took a step back and assumed a defensive posture, then inquired in his mind, "System, have you been able to contact Dao Lao and Dream Jia?"
The system's response came: "Communication functionality is still under reconstruction and cannot be used temporarily. Please try again later."
"Then, can you conduct a deeper monitoring of Elina to see if you can find any weaknesses?" Haoyun asked again.
The reason Haoyun had this whimsical idea for the reactivated Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System to find Elina's weaknesses was because he believed that since the system had been reactivated after failing, it was likely due to the so-called correct choice he had made. Therefore, Haoyun naturally assumed that the purpose of the system's reactivation was to help him deal with Elina. However, Haoyun was quickly humbled once again by the system. Upon receiving Haoyun's command, the system immediately informed him that the combat-related auxiliary functions were still under reconstruction and could not provide any assistance for the time being.
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Seeing this series of responses, Haoyun couldn't help but complain, "I say, System! What can you actually do right now?"
The system's synthesized voice continued to respond indifferently, "The system is currently under reconstruction. At present, it can only provide you with basic physical status monitoring functions and control the activation of the Geomancy Spirit Realm Armor's protective shield. All other functions are still under reconstruction and cannot be used temporarily. Please try again later. The system reconstruction progress is one percent complete."
This series of responses completely dispelled Haoyun's idea of relying on the Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System's power to confront Elina. Haoyun didn't know what the system would be like after reconstruction. However, he was very clear that the system's reconstruction progress was only one percent complete. At this rate, who knows when this system would be fully reconstructed—it might take forever!
As Haoyun watched Elina's hands gradually enveloped in purple-red lightning, a shiver ran down his spine. He knew he couldn't rely on his malfunctioning system at this critical moment. Now, he had to muster all his strength to withstand Elina's imminent assault and devise another way to deal with her.
Boom! Boom! With two thunderous explosions of electric light, Haoyun hastily tightened his focus. Using both the Phoenix Blade and the Earth Yin Spirit Armor's protective shields, he barely managed to withstand Elina's dual attacks. However, her onslaught was so fierce that Haoyun was still knocked back by the immense force of the lightning bolts. Despite this, he didn't panic too much because he realized that his backward momentum was more due to fear of Elina rather than the sheer strength of her attacks.
Surprisingly, Haoyun noticed that his strength had significantly increased compared to before. It seemed that while the Mold Spirit Energy Pursuit System was rebuilding, his body was also undergoing a transformation. He could feel a mysterious surge of power erupting within him, surpassing the system's ability to contain it. Haoyun sensed that if his power continued to grow at this rate, he would soon be capable of matching Elina one-on-one!
Elina, sensing the changes in Haoyun from the effects of her recent attacks, became cautious. Without waiting for Haoyun to recover from being knocked back, she immediately gathered energy in her palms and launched a series of attacks with energy lightning. Although Haoyun still had to rely on the Earth Yin Spirit Armor's shield to endure Elina's continuous lightning strikes, his enhanced strength allowed him to gradually discern the patterns of these attacks.
After Elina's third round of lightning strikes, Haoyun managed to forcefully stop his backward flight in mid-air and began actively defending and evading the energy lightning attacks. Even when he had to withstand the lightning strikes with the armor's shield, he no longer risked being knocked back due to the tremendous impact. Under Haoyun's powerful mental control, the azure Earth Yin Spirit Armor's shield effectively neutralized the power of the energy lightning.
However, despite the armor's enhanced capability to withstand Elina's attacks after being reactivated, it had still consumed a considerable amount of energy after repeated defenses against Elina's assaults. This indicated that while the Earth Yin Spirit Armor had indeed been greatly strengthened, Haoyun couldn't indefinitely hold back Elina using its shield alone. If he didn't quickly devise a way to subdue her, he would eventually face Elina without the protection of the Earth Yin Spirit Armor once its energy was depleted.
"Heh? It seems you not only managed to survive the Gestation Sea by a stroke of luck but also unexpectedly gained some unique powers!" Elina remarked confidently, observing that Haoyun had successfully deflected several of her attacks. "Well, it seems I shouldn't underestimate you too lightly! Otherwise, there's a risk of things not going as planned!"
With these words, Elina raised her left hand again, concentrating energy that interacted inside and outside her body—a mix of dark red and emerald green—gathering it into her palm. Soon, her left hand appeared semi-transparent, adorned with faint starlight. Eventually, all the starlight gathered at the tips of her five fingers, forming five dazzling electric flowers.
Satisfied with the electric flowers formed at the tips of her fingers, Elina said confidently, "Heh heh! Since your strength has increased, I naturally can try out the new powers I've acquired! Hmph! I'm curious to see how much you've grown!"
With these words, Elina's left hand transformed from a palm to a claw, aiming a fierce claw strike towards the direction where Haoyun stood. Her five fingers drew five spatial scratch marks in the pitch-black sky, injecting all the electric flowers gathered at the tips of her five fingers into these scratch marks. Instantly, five spatial scratch marks appeared less than a meter away from Haoyun's front. As soon as the scratch marks formed, the five lightning energies were simultaneously transmitted to where Haoyun stood.
Having anticipated that Elina would attack him by tearing through space, Haoyun found himself momentarily flustered when facing the sudden rupture of space and the ensuing thunderous claw strike. Yet, he managed to sidestep one thunderous claw strike with his extraordinary reflexes and, while retreating sideways, swung the Phoenix Blade to deflect the other two claw strikes. However, Haoyun's ability to adapt had reached its limit at this point. Consequently, he could only rely once again on the Earth Yin Spirit Armor's shield to withstand the final two thunderous claw strikes.
Elina's current attack had clearly escalated in intensity. Thus, after Haoyun endured the final two thunderous claw strikes, he was still violently knocked back by the two evil-electricity-flashing claw strikes. However, it didn't end there. As Elina pointed her left hand at Haoyun's left hand, the two thunderous claw strikes that flew towards Haoyun were deeply embedded in the surface of the shield. Fortunately, the shield was thick enough, or else the two sharp claws would have thoroughly punctured the shield just now, tearing open the entire protective shield that protected Haoyun's chest.