The edge of the forest of living weapons is trembling. It wasn't the wind, but the tremor of the electromagnetic net as it landed, the silver mesh glowing with blue and white arcs in the morning light, like countless ice-hardened knives, cutting the psychic energy above the forest into pieces. Feng Hao's mechanical arm clung to the tree trunk and could clearly feel the runes flowing beneath the skin - the lock array of Qingxiao Pavilion had taken effect, the red and yellow interwoven patterns spread along the tree roots, and wherever it passed, the spiritual energy flowers withered instantly, and the joints of the mechanical vines clicked as if wailing.
"Look at these 'fusion pollution'." Zhao Kun's megaphone voice crashed through the forest, with the roar of the mecha engine. "The electromagnetic net of the Iron Guard will cause the machinery to rust, and the Lock Spirit array of Qingxiao will cause the spirit vein to wither. In no more than three hours, your flesh and skin will be stripped away like these metal vines."
His mecha hovered in the middle of the line of defense, and the searchlight of the shoulder armor swept through the depths of the forest, illuminating the mechanical dragon in Su Xiaoli's arms. The steel creature was curled up, its scales had lost their former luster, the green light of its electronic eyes was as faint as a dying candle flame, and every breath was accompanied by the noise of gear friction. Su Xiaoli's fingertips trembled on the dragon's head, where the psychic crystals were already covered with a layer of dust - the erosion of the Locking Spirit array.
Feng Hao's mechanical arm suddenly felt a sting, and the blue-purple psychic energy rambled under the skin, but could not break through the rune's confinement. He lowered his head and saw tiny ice chips formed on his metal wrist, caused by the low temperature of the electromagnetic net. "Only 30 percent of the psychic output." He whispered to Lin Banxia, his fingertips touching her potion bottle, the mixture had solidified into lumps, a pale golden sheen like a layer of dust.
Lin Banxia did not speak, but took out a leaf of the herb from his bosom. The leaf began to turn yellow as soon as it touched the air, and the runes of the Locking Spirit Array climbed up along the veins, devouring the green bit by bit. She suddenly remembered her father's notes: "When the spirit and the machine are forcibly separated, it's like separating a person's breath and heartbeat - death is inevitable sooner or later."
Chen Mohen's talisman paper was burning hot in her pocket because of the array. He sneaked out one, and just as he was about to stick it on the tree, the paper "whoosh" burned, the ink twisted in the flames, and finally turned into a wisp of smoke, drifting towards the disciples of the Qingxiao Pavilion outside the defense line. A young disciple saw it and suddenly shivered as if he had been burned by something.
"Surrender." A thunderous voice came from the eye of the array, and dust swirled above his head, drawing a red light of Daoism. "I can ask for a full corpse for you, so that the spirit can return to heaven and earth, and the machinery can blend into the dust, which is also a good deed."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Iron Eagle guards in the front row suddenly became agitated. There was an ancient tree that had been metallized by the electromagnetic net, on which tender green buds emerged, with pale golden dewdrops on the tips of the buds. When the dewdrops fell, they struck the electromagnetic net and extinguished the electric arc of the mesh for a moment.
Zhao Kun's mecha muzzle immediately turned to the ancient tree: "Pollution has begun to spread! Activate the purification program!"
Dozens of electromagnetic cannon beams shot at the ancient tree, but were blocked in mid-air by mechanical vines that suddenly hung down. The rusted parts of the vines oozed pale golden SAP, which collided with the cannon light and made a "sizzling" sound, causing the cannon light to crumble bit by bit.
Feng Hao's mechanical arm suddenly vibrated. A faint stream of data climbed up along the metal grain, like the voice of the old dean whispering in his ear: "The core of the Locking Spirit Array is in the huge rock in the northwest. The runes there are the densest and the most brittle." "
He looked up to the northwest, and indeed there was a black boulder, with runes flowing on its surface like a snake with its head and tail joined together. Beside the rock was the thickest ancient tree, with a faint bulge on its trunk that looked like a wristband.
The mechanical dragon in Su Xiaoli's arms suddenly let out a low murmur, and the electronic eye turned to Feng Hao as if urging. Feng Hao clenched his mechanical arm, and although his psychic energy was disordered like a tangled mess, and although the ice chips of the electromagnetic net had frozen into his bones, he still nodded to his companions.
Qin Tieluo picked up the remnants of the iron lumps, and the toilet lid turret clicked and turned, aiming at a gap in the defense line - where the tender buds of the ancient tree extinguished the electric arc. "Scrap never fears to be dismantled." He grinned, revealing his smoky yellow teeth, "At worst take them apart and put them back together."
The sunlight suddenly pierced through the gaps in the electromagnetic net and shone on the scales of the mechanical dragon. One of the scales reflected a faint light that landed right on Feng Hao's mechanical arm. Under the metal skin covered with runes, the blue-purple psychic power suddenly lit up like a flame unwilling to go out.
Outside the thousand-man defense line, Zhao Kun's sneer still echoed. But he did not see that in the depths of the forest of living machinery, countless pairs of eyes had opened - those were the stamens of psychic flowers, the cameras of mechanical vines, the most primitive longing of this land for "fusion".
The mechanical dragon's electronic eyes suddenly focused, and the green light pierced through the forest mist and landed on the talisman nodes of the huge rock in the northwest. Su Xiaoli read its gesture and suddenly grabbed Feng Hao's coat corner: "The runes there are shaking."
Feng Hao followed her gaze and indeed saw a subtle fluctuation in the runes on the surface of the boulder, as if disturbed by something. He recalled the old dean's data stream hint and suddenly understood - the core of the Lock Spirit Array, which seemed solid, was actually sustained by the spiritual energy of the Qingxiao Pavilion disciples, and the young disciple who had just been burned by the green smoke of the talisman paper was probably the weak link of the array eye.
"Chen Mohen." Feng Hao suddenly spoke, his mechanical arm pointing to the left wing of the defense line. "Do you still remember your 'stand-in symbol'?"
Chen Mohen's eyes lit up and his hand fumbled in his pocket: "It's already ready! But get closer. This broken array is pressing down on the power of the talisman."
Qin Tieluo suddenly pushed the remnants of the iron lumps forward, the tracks of the remnants left deep marks on the ground, and the toilet lid turret "boom" out of the mass spirit energy smoke. The smoke was carried by the wind towards the defense line, and the Iron Eagle Guard's electromagnetic cannon immediately turned to shoot, but missed - the smoke contained Chen Mohen's folded paper figure with his hair attached to it.
"Right now!" Feng Hao pulled Su Xiaoli to the northwest, and Lin Banxia followed closely behind, clutching the yellowed leaf of the spirit grass. The mechanical dragon suddenly emerged from Su Xiaoli's arms, spread its wings to cover their heads, and although it moved slowly, it forcefully tore through a rune barrier with its claws.
Zhao Kun's mecha immediately caught up, and the beam of the searchlight lashed the ground like a whip: "Want to run? It's not that easy!"
His muzzle locked onto Feng's back, but before firing, it got entangled in a mechanical vine that had suddenly shifted sideways. The pale golden SAP from the vines flowed down the barrel into the mecha, and immediately Zhao Kun's roar came from the cockpit - it was Lin Banxia's mixture, which would clog the mecha's heat outlet when it solidified.
"Northwest Giant Rock!" Feng Hao shouted into the communicator, and the mechanical arm suddenly burst out blue-purple light, this time not suppressed by the runes, but spreading along the rune lines like a dragon finding the river channel. "Yan Yuanxiu, help me locate the rune nodes!"
The ground suddenly lit up an arrow composed of data streams, and Yan Yuanxiu's electronic voice had a current noise: "At the three o 'clock position, there's a loose rune stone!"
Chen Mohen had already touched the foot of the boulder, and the substitute talisman was burning in his palm. He eyed the young disciple of the Qingxiao Pavilion and flung the talisman paper out with a sudden force. The paper turned into a wisp of smoke in the air and slipped into the disciple's sleeve. Suddenly, the disciple stiffened all over, and the sword in his hand slashed down at the huge rock.
"Idiot!" The sharp dust was immediately drawn towards the disciple, but it was a step too late. The long sword struck the loose rune stone, the stone chips flew, the rune chain on the surface of the huge stone broke instantly, and the red and yellow lines retreated to the ground like the ebb tide.
A gap appeared in the Lock Spirit Array.
Feng Hao's mechanical arm seized the moment, and the blue-purple psychic energy rushed out through the gap and collided with the electric arc of the electromagnetic net. There was no explosion, only a long buzzing sound, and the ice in the mesh began to melt, revealing the metallized buds of ancient trees beneath - those buds were growing wildly, and in the blink of an eye, they covered the mesh and tore a crack in the silver giant net.
"Purify! Purify quickly!" Zhao Kun's mecha crashed into the crack, but the tail fin was bitten by a mechanical dragon that rushed out suddenly. The steel creature somehow regained its strength, and the dragon's breath sprayed on the shell of the mecha, leaving streaks of scorch marks.
For the first time, Su Xiaoli shouted at the mechanical dragon, "Bite his energy tube!"
The mechanical dragon seemed to understand, turned its head sharply, and its claws tore open the energy shield of the mecha. Zhao Kun's roar exploded in the forest, but could not hide the commotion of the defense line - more and more ancient trees were sprouting under the electromagnetic net, more and more mechanical vines were reviving in the Lock Spirit array, the living mechanical forest was fighting this "purification" in its own way.
Feng Hao stood on the rock, looking down at the chaotic thousand-person defense line, and suddenly clenched his mechanical arm. The ice chips there had melted, and the blue-purple psychic energy interwove with the pale golden light of the Lin Banxia mixture, forming a new rune in the air - not the isolation rune of the locking spirit array, but the symbiotic rune that allowed psychic energy to embrace the machine.
"This is just the beginning." He said in a low voice as his companions rushed out through the crack, Qin Tieluo's iron lumps broke through the first Iron Guard mecha, and Chen Mohen's talismans exploded among the disciples of Qingxiao Pavilion.
Deep in the forest of living weapons, an old voice rang out again, with a smile: "A good start."