Su Hao stared at the panel.
It clearly displayed that Butterfly was currently at the Elite-level limit!
What did "limit" mean?
It meant she had hit a bottleneck, like a bucket filled to the brim—no matter how much more water you poured in, it would just overflow.
Most treasures, such as spirit fruits, marrow jade, spirit jade, and the like, could hardly boost Butterfly's base attributes anymore.
Only treasures like Attribute Cores or Elemental Crystals, which could enhance a spirit's potential, would allow her to continue improving while at the limit.
But even then, the increase was still minimal!
Su Hao looked around at those "very fake" pavilions and towers, his gaze already burning with intensity.
Without him needing to say a word, Butterfly's three spirit orbs shot out again with a *whoosh*.
They aimed straight for the building directly ahead.
Su Hao watched as the orbs pierced through the wall, like cannonballs plunging into water, sending a massive cloud of gray mist exploding outward.
A small portion of it was pulled by the orbs, clinging to their surroundings, while the rest, after the explosion, contracted back, repairing the building anew.
But because the gray mist had diminished—its total volume reduced—the spots pierced by the spirit orbs still had holes.
They couldn't be restored.
Above his head, Butterfly let out another *slurp*.
It sounded like it tasted amazing.
Su Hao thought for a moment, then simply dismounted and walked over to another building. He reached out and stirred the air again and again.
The gray mist didn't explode, but he could still see it rippling like water waves.
It wasn't very obvious.
He grabbed hard...
And came up with nothing.
Turning around, he saw Husky Lin sidle up, its big horse face pressing against the illusionary wall, opening its mouth to take a *chomp*.
"Xilu?"
It turned its head, horse eyes bewildered.
Why is there no taste at all, xilu~?
Su Hao didn't need to ask to know what it was thinking. He opened the panel and saw—Husky Lin also had a "Spirit Power" attribute—but sure enough, there wasn't a single point of increase.
"Fire a water bullet," he said.
He watched as Husky Lin opened its mouth, and a dazzling blue water sphere formed inside.
It contained a startling amount of power.
Su Hao knew well that the mount's core strength wasn't weak. He immediately grabbed Husky Lin by the neck and turned it to the right...
*Whoosh!*
The dazzling blue water bullet shot out, like a cannonball, creating ripples in the water as it pierced through building after building, finally exploding.
*Boom~!*
Over a hundred meters away, the shockwave from the explosion stirred the lake.
Layer after layer of waves rolled in.
Su Hao's body swayed with the waves like a piece of seaweed, endlessly rocking back and forth...
Shaking!
Dizzy!
Su Hao glared at Husky Lin, who looked completely innocent.
He looked back at the illusionary pavilions. Aside from a slight tremor during the explosion, they were completely unharmed.
Meanwhile, Butterfly was still *slurp-slurping* away at the gray gas, eating happily, her little face full of satisfaction.
Seeing this, Su Hao glanced at the panel again.
Her spirit power was climbing steadily.
Originally, it was over thirteen thousand—much lower than Dull Crow's limit of fifteen thousand spiritual power, because she hadn't evolved and her capacity was naturally smaller.
But now, it had risen to over fourteen thousand.
In just over ten minutes!
Su Hao glanced once, then again, and after confirming that the "Panel-Butterfly" column showed no abnormal status, he could only let out an exclamation:
"Holy crap~!"
...
Two hours flew by in an instant.
By now, Butterfly's spirit power had risen to over sixteen thousand!
"The rate of increase is slowing down," he noted.
After all, no matter how precious the treasure, eating too much builds up "resistance." For Butterfly to have surged over three thousand in spirit power was already...
Shockingly extraordinary!
"What exactly is that gray mist?"
"Aside from her spirit orbs, none of Butterfly's other moves can destroy it."
"The ruins can be consumed, but Senior Brother Wu and the others probably don't know that."
Senior Brother Wu had said that staying in the ruins for a long time could lead to a small increase in spirit power.
Su Hao understood that easily.
Surrounded by buildings made of gray mist, spending time in the ruins would naturally provide some "nourishment" and yield benefits.
For example...
"Husky Lin's spirit power has also increased by a tiny bit."
Quantified, it was probably... about 5 points.
"A hundred points a day, and over five days, that's five hundred points!"
"As for me, I feel a little more alert too."
Su Hao sat with Husky Lin, munching on sunflower seeds, watching Butterfly eat the gray mist.
When Butterfly's spirit power reached around seventeen thousand, it truly stopped growing.
By then,
She had only dismantled about ten or twenty buildings.
Not many, but it was still quite noticeable—like a bald patch in the middle of the building cluster. That was how he figured Senior Brother Wu and the others couldn't consume the ruins.
Otherwise, the vast ruins, in the hands of the Dragon Kingdom's spirit masters, probably wouldn't last long.
"Now, let's see if Husky Lin can absorb the 'harvested' gray mist."
Su Hao looked at Butterfly. "Let's keep dismantling towers."
"Gunuo~!"
She patted her chest energetically, and the next moment...
The orbs flew out. Su Hao noticed that the three orbs seemed even more dazzling, so much so that a single glance could draw you in.
You couldn't look away.
Had the orbs been strengthened?
He felt a double dose of pleasure.
*Whoosh~*
*Whoosh~*
The three spirit orbs brought back a clump of gray smoke.
Su Hao saw that the smoke was about the size of a fist, slightly larger than at the start.
"Go ahead," he said, patting Husky Lin's head.
Unable to contain itself any longer, Husky Lin dashed forward, opened its mouth, and *chomped* down on empty air.
It widened its eyes and asked, "Xilu?"
"Gunuo gunuo gunuo nuo!"
Butterfly pointed at her orbs, then at Husky Lin, who was already drooling, her little face displeased.
I'm collecting gray mist for you, and you want to eat my orbs, gunuo~!
Butterfly exerted her authority as the big sister.
Husky Lin timidly admitted its mistake.
A moment later,
Husky Lin approached the orbs, turned its head to look at Butterfly, and asked, "Xilu?"
Butterfly put her hands on her hips and nodded, "Gunuo~!"
With permission, Husky Lin opened its mouth slightly and took a deep breath.
"*Sigh—*"
It sucked a large mouthful of water in, bubbles streaming out continuously.
But the gray mist clinging to the spirit orbs didn't budge.
"Xilu?" Husky Lin pondered.
It changed its angle.
Flying horse inhales.
Kirin swallows water.
But no matter how it tried, it couldn't pull in even a wisp of gray mist.
Even when it got within a few centimeters, its mouth touching the mist, it still didn't work.
Husky Lin or2!
Seeing it surrender, Butterfly waved her hand. The mist attached to the orbs dispersed on its own, drifting back to the building's location, turning into bricks and tiles, slightly patching up the already battered structure.
Butterfly chose another building, repeated the same motion, and rolled a clump of gray mist over to him.
"Gunuo?"
Su Hao thought for a moment. "I'll suck, suck, suck, suck, suck—"
He inhaled hard.
But as expected, the gray mist didn't move.
He turned his head and saw Butterfly deep in thought. After a long pause, she opened her tiny mouth and gently inhaled.
The clump of mist, a good twenty or thirty centimeters away, was sucked in in one go.
Su Hao saw "..." in Butterfly's big eyes.
"As expected, only Butterfly can absorb the gray mist."
"It might be related to her spirit orbs, or maybe some trait of hers."
Su Hao still couldn't figure out what the gray mist was, but...
Since Butterfly's absorption had reached its limit, it was time to...
"Keep moving."
...
Su Hao continued wandering through the mirage ruins.
According to Senior Brother Wu, sometimes you just wander and wander, and you end up in the next scene.
A trick? There wasn't one.
Otherwise, many mentors would have come up empty-handed while exploring the mirage ruins.
"But as Senior Brother Wu said, spirits with strong spirit power and keen perception are more likely to catch anomalies and find gaps."
"Even though Butterfly is only at the Elite level, her spirit power alone isn't inferior to those veteran spirits that aren't illusion, thought, ghost, or... other attributes."
Su Hao also had to keep his eyes peeled.
After all, spirit masters had broad vision and deep knowledge. In the wild, a spirit master's experience and judgment determined how far a team could go!
It was time to show his true...
"Gunuo~"
"You're saying the mirage buildings aren't actually that many?"
Su Hao looked over.
Husky Lin galloped at fourth gear, the scenery on both sides blurring past, and the pavilions and towers around them kept shifting.
From their appearance, differences were visible.
Except for one thing.
The buildings Butterfly had dismantled—no matter how they changed, they remained broken!
If he paid close attention, he could spot, among the rows of ornate buildings, about twenty or so that were... ruined.
He found the blind spot!
Su Hao smacked his right fist into his left palm. "I see! The truth is only one...
"We've been going in circles!"
After saying that, he saw Butterfly's big eyes staring at him like he was an idiot. He coughed dryly. "Ahem, mainly, I've figured out the key to breaking through."
He had Husky Lin climb higher, then took out paper and a pen to record.
He could clearly see that the ruined buildings were all concentrated in a certain area.
Su Hao drew a circle, marking a cluster of smaller circles inside it.
Then he looked at Butterfly. "Come on, let's keep dismantling towers."
"Gunuo (ー_ー)ノ"
Butterfly wasn't great at dismantling towers; fully destroying one took about ten minutes.
But Su Hao only needed to take down a little bit—enough to see the flaws.
The two of them, plus the spirit, worked together for half an hour.
Butterfly dismantled.
Su Hao and Husky Lin cheered "666," and before long, they completed his plan: "Dismantle one for every ten buildings."
"We did it."
"Gunuo~!"
"Xilu?"
Su Hao looked down. Below, ruined buildings were scattered everywhere.
Using these buildings as coordinates, he drew a flat map.
He measured the approximate range of this mirage ruin.
Just then,
Su Hao heard a "Gunuo." He followed Butterfly's gaze and saw, ahead, among the ordinary pavilions, there was suddenly...
A magnificent palace gate.
He was sure it hadn't been there a moment ago.
"As expected, we've broken through the first layer of the illusion. That place is the entrance to the second layer."
"If we hadn't opened the entrance by dismantling, activating spiritual power near that spot should also lead to the second layer," Su Hao thought.
He noted the palace gate's location on the paper, then, without hesitation, squeezed his horse's flanks.
Husky Lin let out a "Xilu" and, carrying him and Butterfly as a trinity, charged into the palace gate.