The iron sheets of the fortress were humming, like a tin dog with its throat pinched. Feng was pressed against the wall, and the sensor of the mechanical arm was analyzing the energy fluctuations outside - the blue light was the electromagnetic net of the Iron Eagle Guard, and the red light came from the lock spirit amulet of the Clearsky Pavilion. The two lights twisted into a purple-black rope in mid-air, and with each inch of contraction, the metal frame of the fortress let out a wail.
"Zhao Kun, this old fellow, has brought all his possessions here." Qin Tieluo's iron lumps suddenly quivered. A layer of white frost had formed on the barrel of the toilet cannon, a sign of psychic corrosion. He fished out a piece of psychic crystal and stuffed it into the energy tank. "In another half an hour, my new cannonball will be welded."
Lin Banxia's mixture boiled in the test tube, and the pale golden liquid hit the purple-black energy seeping in through the door crack, instantly turning into a cloud of white mist. She stared at the crystals in the fog and suddenly remembered what her father had said in his notes: "When two extremes of energy meet, there will be a moment of chaos in between."
"Chaos?" Feng Hao's robotic arm pressed against the wall, sensing the frequency changes of the electromagnetic net. "You mean there will be a gap when they collide?"
Chen Mohen's talisman paper suddenly caught fire, startling him so much that his hand trembled and he drew crooked lines on the "counter-talisman" with charcoal. The moment the paper hit the ground, it blew up a small pit on the ground. The purple-black energy hit the ink mark at the edge of the pit and shrank back half an inch as if it had been burned. "By chance!" His eyes lit up and he grabbed another piece of talisman paper. "This is called the 'Chaos Talisman'!"
Outside the fortress came a sharp sound of metal rubbing against each other. It was Zhao Kun's mecha moving. There were still bullet marks on the shoulder armor of the "Iron Guard No. 7", which Feng Hao recognized. It was the model he had seen in the mecha cemetery last year, but now it was even more hideous. The electromagnetic gun muzzle on the handguard was facing the gate of the fortress, and the blue light was filled with tiny electric currents.
"Listen, you outcasts inside." Zhao Kun's voice came through the loudspeaker, with mechanical coldness, "Hand over Feng Hao and Lin Banxia, the others can survive."
The thunderous dust suddenly streaked a red light in the air, and the range of the spirit lock talisman narrowed by half a circle. The old Taoist's voice turned like a rusty door hinge: "The spiritual and mechanical fenders should never have existed in this world. Thinking of your ignorance and self-destruction of psychic power/machinery, I may spare your lives."
"Go to your mother's self-destruction!" Qin Tieluo's iron lump suddenly fired, and the psychic glue sprayed from the toilet cannon condensed into a net in mid-air, temporarily blocking the spread of the purple-black energy. "My father was cornered to death by you! Let's settle this account today!"
Feng Hao's robotic arm suddenly ached sharply because the frequency of the electromagnetic net had changed. He looked at the crack on the wall, where the purple-black energy was slowly crystallizing, like growing icicles. "Lin Banxia, how long is your chaotic period?"
"Three seconds." As Lin's fingertips stirred in the mixture, the pale golden liquid began to spin. "Someone needs to pull the electromagnetic net and the lock Spirit talisman at the same time."
All eyes fell on Feng Hao and Chen Mohen - one could trigger the electromagnetic reaction, one could manipulate the energy of the talisman paper. "Three seconds?" Chen Mohen swallowed, his talisman paper soaked in sweat. I'm afraid..."
"I'm afraid of something." Feng Hao patted him on the shoulder and the blue-purple psychic energy on the mechanical arm began to flow. "Follow my rhythm."
The purple-black energy outside the fortress suddenly accelerated and contracted, Zhao Kun's electromagnetic cannon was fully charged, and the current in the blue light grew denser and denser. The thunderous dust stretched into a straight line, and the red light of the Lock Spirit Talisman seemed about to bleed.
Feng Hao took a deep breath, the mechanical arm crashed against the wall, and the blue-purple psychic energy swam upstream along the electromagnetic wire.
"Right now!"
Lin Banxia splashed the mixture into the air, Chen Mohen's "Chaos Symbol" flew out at the same time, and Qin Tieluo's iron lump spewed out the last psychic explosive.
The moment the three forces collided at the entrance of the fortress, Feng Hao seemed to hear the shrill roar of energy tearing through the air.
The purple-black energy was violently shaken, like a jumbled mass of ink. Feng Hao stared at the chaos, the mechanical arm's psychic energy resonated with the electromagnetic net, and the blue light condensed into a fine line at his fingertips, like a needle about to Pierce the energy ball.
"One." Lin Banxia's voice was tense.
Chen Mohen's chaos talisman burned in the red light, and the crooked ink mark suddenly became clear, forming a strange symmetry with the pattern of the Lock Spirit Talisman. He saw the thunderous dust shake violently, and the old priest's face twisted in the mist of light as if he had seen something inconceivable.
"Two." Qin Tieluo's iron lump broke through the door, the toilet cannon aimed at the center of the energy sphere, and the spiritual energy crystals in the cannon barrel buzzed.
Feng Hao's mechanical arm suddenly stretched out, and the blue-purple psychic thread pierced the energy ball. He felt two extreme energies colliding within him. The electric current of the electromagnetic net numbed his skin, and the red light of the spirit lock symbol seemed to drain his blood.
"Three!"
Lin Banxia's mixture turned into a golden arrow and went into the energy sphere along the psychic thread. Three forces burst at the peak of the chaos stage, and the purple-black energy instantly dissipated, revealing a gap behind - wide enough for two to pass through, but closing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Go!" Feng Hao grabbed Lin Banxia and rushed out, with the mechanical arm propping up the light shield behind him to block the scattered energy fragments.
Zhao Kun's electromagnetic cannon was fired, and the blue light flew past Feng Hao's ear, hitting the wreckage of the fortress and bursting into electromagnetic pulses. With the thrust of the shockwave, Feng Hao, carrying Lin Banxia, rolled to the edge of the formation of the clearance team, and the psychic power of the mechanical arm suddenly soared, sending the two nearest iron Eagles flying.
Thunderous dust followed closely, and red light wove a new array of talismans on the ground. Lin Banxia splashed the mixture onto the array, and the pale golden liquid exploded in the red light, causing the runes to temporarily become ineffective, revealing the soil beneath - where the traces of the spirit veins of the previous era still remained, resonating with the spirit energy of Feng Hao's mechanical arm.
"Come back!" Chen Mohen's Chaos Talisman suddenly turned into a Daoguang rope, wrapped around their waists and pulled them back to the fortress. At the same time, Qin Tieluo's iron lumps spewing out psychic flames, temporarily repelling the chasing flying swords.
The gap closed behind them, and the purple-black energy recondensed, but was a little weaker than before. Feng Hao looked at the burn marks on the mechanical arm, where the spiritual energy fluctuations were different from before, as if absorbing a bit of the power of the locking spirit talisman.
"It works." "The mixture formed a protective film on the burn marks," Lin Banxia said as his fingertips crossed his arm. "Their energies cancel each other out."
Outside the fortress, Zhao Kun's mecha crushed a piece of energy crystal, and the metal soles left charred marks on the ground. "Interesting." His mechanical prosthetic eye turned to Lei Li. "Old Priest, your runes don't seem to work that much."
Lei Li's dust swept over the scattered red light, his face ashen: "It's just a little trick. Wait until I set up the 'Return to the Yuan Formation' and see how long they can still be stubborn."
In the shadow of the fortress, Feng Hao's robotic arm resonated again with Lin Banxia's mixture, blue-purple and pale gold interwoven into Daoist light, casting complex patterns on the wall - that was the pre-era coexisting diagram of psychic energy and data that they had just seen in the gap.
Qin Tieluo's new cannonball was finally welded, and this time the barrel was stuffed with Chen Moxian's chaos symbols. "Next time," he slapped the iron lumps' turrets, "let them taste the real chaos."