"Hmph hmph hmph. This is an opportunity that mustn't be missed, my esteemed lords! Think carefully!" Elina sneered contemptuously after Hao Yun rejected her goodwill.
Due to absorbing a considerable amount of positive energy from the Balance Ring's wound, Elina's dark purple skin had begun to generate faint white electric flowers. These pure and sacred electric flowers caused Elina's purplish-red hair to gradually fade. Alongside these changes in her appearance, the energy emanating from her became even more solid and formidable.
"Hao Yun, stop wasting time with her! Find a way to sever her connection with the Balance Ring and prevent her from growing stronger! If this continues, we might not even have the strength to fight!" Seeing this, Dream Jia immediately reminded Hao Yun to act quickly, while she herself struggled to get up, preparing to attack Elina once more.
Hao Yun naturally didn't want Dream Jia, who was still weak, to enter the fray again. He quickly signaled for her to rest and gathered enough power to launch himself like an ultra-high-speed projectile towards Elina, ready to endure potentially overwhelming impacts.
Despite lacking the Mold Energy Pursuit System's mobility assistance, Hao Yun, aided by the Dark Yin Spirit Realm battle armor's flight mode and his significantly enhanced strength, swiftly transformed into a golden lightning bolt streaking across the starry sky. Seizing the moment Elina was distracted by examining her own changes, he maneuvered behind her with lightning speed and struck her again with the Phantom Stab. Finally, taking advantage of Elina's momentary lapse, he successfully slashed his shining Phoenix Blade against her neck from behind.
However, despite unleashing all his might, Hao Yun's fierce blow failed to harm Elina as intended. With a clang, the Phoenix Blade collided with Elina's neck, which was tougher than titanium alloy, unleashing a brilliant burst of electric light upon impact. Subsequently, a strong counterforce energy surged back through the Phoenix Blade into Hao Yun's hands. Gripping tightly to prevent the weapon from vibrating out of his hands due to the distance shock from the Phoenix Blade, Hao Yun also kicked Elina hard in the back to propel himself backward, creating distance between them.
"What?! What's happening?!" Hao Yun's heart sank as he suddenly realized that despite his attack's failure and his attempt to tactically retreat, his hands seemed glued to the Phoenix Blade, unable to detach it from Elina's neck. At the same time, he felt two powerful forces accompanying the counterforce energy from the Phoenix Blade, forcing his hands to grip the blade tightly, making it impossible for him to release it or move it away from Elina!
"Hmph hmph hmph. Alright then! I'll take your refusal as a practical demonstration!" Elina continued to focus on observing her own changes without looking back, speaking in a casual tone.
Seeing Hao Yun not only fail to harm Elina but also unable to break free from her control, and now relying solely on his protective shield to passively withstand the blood-red energy emanating from Elina, both Dao Lao and Dream Jia felt a sense of impending crisis.
Therefore, without hesitation, Dream Jia aimed her Equalizing Sights once again at Elina and fired multiple glittering golden light bullets, anxiously urging, "Hao Yun, it's dangerous! Find a way to get away from her!"
Similarly disregarding his own lingering weakness, Dao Lao concentrated all his mental strength once more and hurled his Destroying Demon Rod, now transformed into a golden spear, directly at Elina's chest. Both Dao Lao and Dream Jia hoped that by attacking Elina simultaneously, they could force her to weaken her suppression of Hao Yun, allowing him a chance to break free from her control.
However, plans are often grand, yet reality is extremely harsh. Even with Elina restrained by the Balance Ring and her combat effectiveness limited, neither Dao Lao nor Dream Jia could harm her in the slightest. Now, having endured several rounds of Elina's attacks, both exhausted and mentally drained, how could they possibly cause harm to Elina, who had only grown stronger?
As expected, their attacks were effortlessly deflected by Elina. The golden spear thrown by Dao Lao was caught bare-handed by Elina, while the golden light bullets fired by Dream Jia were intercepted mid-air by the white electric flowers surrounding Elina, which then absorbed the golden light, rendering the bullets powerless and pale.
Watching these attacks easily neutralized, Elina shook her head in feigned disappointment and said, "Hmph hmph hmph. My esteemed lords, don't struggle anymore! Don't forget, all your combat skills come from the Spirit Realm. As for me, having absorbed positive energy from the Balance Ring, I can easily see through your feeble tricks and effortlessly neutralize them! In fact, these little tricks of yours are now completely incapable of harming me!"
As Elina continued to absorb more positive energy into her body, her eyes grew increasingly fervent. "Hmph hmph hmph, don't struggle anymore! You cannot contend with me! Before long, I will replace the Balance Ring and become the new ruler of the Spirit Realm!"
Dream Jia naturally couldn't sit idly by and without hesitation aimed her Equalizing Sights once again at Elina's face, firing multiple dazzling golden light bullets. However, these bullets were intercepted by the white electric flowers surrounding Elina without any suspense. This time, though, instead of directly crushing these bullets, the pristine energy flowers suppressed them, absorbing all the golden light from the bullets, rendering them completely powerless and pale.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Elina turned her head to glance at the several bleak white energy blasts, smiling slightly. Then, in an exaggerated manner, she took a deep breath, filling her chest with energy. Subsequently, like a volcano erupting after a long brewing, she unleashed all the pent-up energy from her chest towards Dream Jia and Dao Lao in the distance. The energy blasts, under the immense thrust that defies ordinary speed, shot towards them faster than any mortal could react. Despite Dream Jia and Dao Lao's attempts to dodge upon seeing this, Elina's enhanced power caused the energy blasts to pursue them relentlessly, like guided missiles locking onto their targets.
On Dream Jia and Dao Lao's side, their weakened bodies allowed them to dodge the initial attacks of the energy blasts. However, facing the subsequent barrage, they struggled to evade effectively. Thus, they could only rely on the protection of their Underworld Spirit Armor's shields to endure the attacks. Despite the shields, the continuous onslaught of energy blasts sent them flying uncontrollably in the air, completely defenseless. Finally, as the energy of the blasts was about to deplete, they exploded upon impact with Dream Jia and Dao Lao's shields, generating a series of powerful shockwaves that violently slammed them onto the ground. Although their shields offered some protection during the barrage, they still suffered varying degrees of damage from the residual shockwaves that their shields couldn't fully absorb.
During this time, Dream Jia continued to combat the controlled energy blasts with her Equal to All Life in her hands. However, Dao Lao was not as fortunate. With his Demon-Slaying Soul captured by Elina, he had no means to counter the energy blasts except to rely on his Underworld Spirit Armor's shields. This resulted in a significant depletion of energy reserves in his armor after withstanding the barrage. Moreover, the strength of the armor's shields, already compromised, further weakened, leaving Dao Lao vulnerable as cracks of varying sizes appeared across the shield after withstanding the final assault of the energy blasts.
Dao Lao collapsed weakly on the ground, spitting out a thick, viscous golden liquid resembling blood plasma, looking severely battered. It was easy to imagine that if Elina were to continue attacking him now, Dao Lao would likely suffer even more severe damage due to the reduced defense strength of his armor shields.
However, Elina seemed uninterested in continuing her assault on Dao Lao and Dream Jia. Instead, after observing Dao Lao's condition for a moment, she turned her entire head in a bizarre manner towards Haoyun, whose movements were restricted, and said, "Oh! Now I understand! So this is how I can break your shields!"
Following this, Elina lifted her right hand in an equally eerie manner. Then, as her hand transformed once again into a thunderous claw, she spoke with a malicious tone, "Hehehe. Since that's the case, Lord Haoyun, let us bid farewell!"
Facing Elina's close-range thunderous claw attack, Haoyun had no choice but to endure it head-on. Having witnessed Elina's torment of Dao Lao and Dream Jia, Haoyun knew very well what the consequences would be of facing such an attack at such close proximity. Thus, gritting his teeth in preparation for Elina's assault, he could already imagine himself collapsing into a bloody pool shortly.
Yet, the anticipated tragedy did not unfold as expected. Just as Haoyun was struck solidly by the thunderous claw, he suddenly felt the powerful restraint flowing through the Phoenix Blade across his entire body disappear. Overwhelmed with joy, even though he didn't understand why the restraint on him had vanished, Haoyun realized that now he could be thrown away by the thunderous claw's strike, no longer like a sitting duck pinned in place, continuously enduring Elina's attacks in the following moments.
In the face of life and death, Haoyun remained unusually calm. After being thrown by the thunderous claw's strike, he immediately mobilized all his mental strength to continue combating the power spreading through his body, enough to shatter all his internal organs. At the same time, Haoyun began trying to free himself from the thunderous claw tightly gripping his shield, preventing himself from being pushed once again into the distant dark energy storm.
"Haoyun! Watch out for the Phoenix Blade!" Just as Haoyun concentrated on resisting the thunderous claw, Dream Jia's already slightly broken voice suddenly entered his ears.
"The Phoenix Blade?" Haoyun was momentarily stunned by her words, not immediately understanding what Dream Jia meant.
Subconsciously, Haoyun looked down at his own hands, only to be surprised to find that, after he had just withstood Elina's close-range attack, the Phoenix Blade had somehow slipped from his grasp. Due to his intense focus on countering the thunderous claw's attack, Haoyun hadn't realized this until Dream Jia reminded him. Finally, Haoyun discovered that the two disarmed Phoenix Blades were swiftly interwoven like cruise missiles under Elina's release of purple-black mist energy and bright white electrical energy, rapidly shooting towards him.
Just as Dream Jia loudly warned Haoyun to be cautious, the two Phoenix Blades, manipulated by Elina's power, had already reached Haoyun's front. This left Haoyun no chance to evade their attack while he was fully engaged in countering the Thunderous Claw. Consequently, both Phoenix Blades struck Haoyun simultaneously, forcing him to change his flight trajectory abruptly under the momentum of the Thunderous Claw, crashing headfirst into the ground rippled with energy waves. However, much to everyone's surprise, including Elina's, Haoyun didn't stay down as expected. Instead, while skidding on the ground, he forcibly rolled over, using both hands to block the attacks from both the Phoenix Blades and the Thunderous Claw, gradually halting his downward momentum as he knelt on one knee.
Yet, the two not-so-obvious cracks on Haoyun's shield indicated to everyone the fierceness of Elina's recent assault. It also revealed that despite his strong resistance to Elina's dual attacks, Haoyun had indeed sustained significant injuries. After successfully withstanding Elina's assault, he quickly felt his internal energy and blood surging madly. Despite employing unstable mental strength to support himself, he eventually couldn't bear the internal pain any longer, forcefully spewing out a mouthful of thick, viscous blood.
"Hehehe! You actually endured such a fierce attack from me? It seems I underestimated you, Lord Haoyun!" Elina, holding the Demon-Slaying Staff still struggling to break free, remarked with considerable surprise.