The World-Ending Spirit Fire asked Ye Ling after a dry cough, "Kid, I'm serious, what's your current situation? Can you still fight?"
"If you can't hold on, it's not shameful to slip away now. After all, this village's affairs have nothing to do with us."
Ye Ling said, "I still have some strength left, but not much. I have to save it for critical moments. It would be unwise to expend my energy resisting that shockwave."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire: "So, listening to you, kid, you still want to continue?"
Ye Ling: "Hmm... this village has something to do with the supreme powerhouses. I want to join the fun and see if I can gain some benefits?"
After speaking, Ye Ling chose a high point outside the village to observe the situation within.
At this moment, the entire village was enveloped by a massive golden formation, and the area of the golden pillar that pierced the heavens and earth was also expanding, gradually engulfing the entire village.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, looking at the dazzling golden light in the village, couldn't help but sigh, "How did that old man manage to create such a huge commotion?"
When they first arrived at this village, the World-Ending Spirit Fire had inspected the entire village. They found no cultivators and didn't sense any areas with concentrated spiritual energy.
But now, the golden light erupting from the village made even the World-Ending Spirit Fire feel shocked.
Ye Ling whispered, "Perhaps there's a formation in this village that conceals its aura, but now that they're making such a big fuss, I'm afraid cultivators thousands of miles away can sense it... What exactly does the village chief intend to do?"
As Ye Ling spoke, over a dozen disciples from the Immortal Martial Sect arrived from the horizon to investigate the situation.
However, before the Immortal Martial Sect disciples could approach the village, the golden pillar erupted with a powerful energy fluctuation, directly shaking out their souls and then drawing them into the golden pillar!
Following that, the golden pillar began to expand!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire was shocked by this scene and exclaimed, "Holy crap! Kid, did you see that? Those Immortal Martial Sect disciples are dead!"
Ye Ling: "I saw it! Let's retreat further. Although the energy fluctuations don't affect us yet, they might become stronger later!"
With that, Ye Ling retreated further into the distance. He happened to see Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhu, who were still under the tree.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire: "Kid, take Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhu with you. If they stay here, they'll surely die."
"Understood!"
Ye Ling nodded slightly and instantly appeared before Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhu.
"Brother Ye Ling!"
Xiao Zhu, seeing Ye Ling appear, quickly asked, "What happened to the village?"
Ye Ling said quickly, "I'm not sure of the specifics, but that golden light is devouring people. I'll take you away first!"
Xiao Zhu: "But my grandfather..."
"We can't worry about that anymore!"
Ye Ling grabbed Xiao Zhu's hand, lifted Da Zhuang by his collar, and fled a thousand miles away!
Boom!!!
The golden pillar erupted with earth-shattering might again, instantly covering an area of a thousand miles!
Ye Ling hid a thousand miles away, behind the Immortal Martial Sect's mountain. He saw the Immortal Martial Sect raise their protective formation, attempting to resist the golden light's impact.
However, as soon as the Immortal Martial Sect's protective formation was activated, it was shattered by the golden light's impact. The entire sect was instantly swallowed, and the souls of countless cultivators were extracted and drawn into the village.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing the Immortal Martial Sect annihilated in less than a second, exclaimed, "Holy crap, has this golden light become so powerful?"
In the Immortal Martial Sect, the World-Ending Spirit Fire had sensed the aura of a Chaos Master. That protective formation could even withstand the full force of a peak Chaos Master's attack. How could it be gone in a second?
Ye Ling, seeing the destruction of the Immortal Martial Sect, his expression also became solemn. He immediately pulled Da Zhuang and Xiao Zhu further away, saying to the World-Ending Spirit Fire, "World-Ending Spirit Fire, the situation might be a bit off. Be ready to give me your power at any time. It seems we've stumbled into big trouble by joining the fun this time!"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire nodded, "Yes, kid, don't worry, I'll support you with all my might!"
While Ye Ling and the World-Ending Spirit Fire were talking, they had also fled tens of thousands of miles away. Along the way, they passed several small and medium-sized sects, but those sects, like the Immortal Martial Sect, were directly swallowed by the expanding golden pillar!
Within a radius of ten thousand miles, all living beings were wiped out!
The massive commotion caused by the golden pillar also alerted the entire Dao State, and all the major sects noticed the giant golden pillar spreading across ten thousand miles.
...
In the center of the Dao State, the foremost sect of the Dao State, the Dao Sect.
In the sect's main hall, a beautiful woman stood before a golden light cluster, continuously channeling spiritual energy into the white-bearded elder within the golden light cluster.
If Ye Ling were here, he would have recognized the white-bearded elder in the golden light cluster as the supreme powerhouse who had ambushed him when they first arrived in the Origin Upper Realm!
This white-bearded elder was Jian Shisan, the Sword Ancestor of the Dao Sect.
And the beautiful woman was Ji Ning, the Grand Elder of the Dao Sect, another supreme powerhouse.
That day, after Ye Ling had killed Jian Shisan, Ji Ning had retrieved Jian Shisan's origin inheritance and used the sect's sacred medicine to reconstruct Jian Shisan's body, preparing to resurrect him.
These days, she had been staying in the main hall, not going anywhere.
"Hmm? This aura..."
Ji Ning, who was repairing Jian Shisan's body, suddenly sensed the sword intent emanating from a million miles away. Her brow furrowed, and she recalled a past event.
Ji Ning looked in the direction of the aura, her eyelids lowered, and murmured, "Qing Zhu is still alive?"
Crack!
Suddenly, Ji Ning noticed cracks appearing on Jian Shisan's body within the light cluster, and the origin inheritance within him began to stir.
"Not good... Qing Zhu has awakened, and this origin inheritance is about to return... I must kill Qing Zhu first!"
Seeing Jian Shisan's body stir, Ji Ning's expression changed slightly. She immediately placed a seal on the golden light cluster and left the hall, heading towards the golden pillar!
Once the true owner of the origin inheritance revived, the one who seized the inheritance would absolutely not be able to keep it!
Thousands of miles outside the village, Xiao Zhu looked at the golden pillar ahead with confusion, tears in her eyes.
"Why, why?"
On their journey here, she had seen too many people engulfed by the golden light. Under such powerful golden light, her village absolutely could not survive!
Grandfather, and the villagers, were all dead!
Ye Ling, seeing the sorrowful Xiao Zhu, sighed slightly and said, "Xiao Zhu, this golden light might continue to expand. Let's retreat first."
"Okay... Thank you, Brother Ye Ling."
Xiao Zhu didn't want to cause Ye Ling and Da Zhuang to die because of her. She wiped away the tears from her eyes and was about to leave with Ye Ling.
However, at that moment, a sword lotus suddenly appeared on Xiao Zhu's forehead, her eyes turned golden, and she floated into the air.
"Xiao Zhu?"
Ye Ling was slightly stunned by Xiao Zhu's sudden change. Before he could react, Xiao Zhu was sucked into the golden light and disappeared.
In the center of the Dao State, Jian Shisan's origin inheritance suddenly broke through Ji Ning's seal, transforming into a golden light and rushing towards the golden pillar!
Boom!!!
The golden pillar, which had devoured ten thousand miles of land, erupted with earth-shattering might again, and the entire Dao State began to tremble violently.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire exclaimed, "Not good, kid! This golden light is about to spread again!"
Ye Ling, disregarding Xiao Zhu at this moment, immediately grabbed the still-unconscious Da Zhuang and fled outwards with all his might!
Ji Ning arrived outside the golden pillar and looked at the golden pillar spreading across ten thousand miles, a shadow flashing in her eyes.
"Want to make a comeback? Dreaming!"
Ji Ning said coldly, and just as she was about to shatter the golden light with a palm strike, a large number of golden chains appeared within the golden pillar and wrapped around Ji Ning.
At that very moment, Jian Shisan's origin inheritance flew from behind Ji Ning and rushed towards the golden pillar!
Seeing Jian Shisan's origin inheritance break through her seal, Ji Ning's eyes changed slightly. She immediately shattered the golden chains and made a move to seize the origin inheritance!
Jian Shisan's origin inheritance emitted a dazzling golden light, and a vast amount of golden sword qi was generated around it, shooting towards Ji Ning.
"A mere ownerless origin inheritance, how dare it defy me?"
Seeing the origin inheritance attempting to resist her, Ji Ning's eyes grew even more shadowed. She directly released her aura, shattering the surrounding golden sword qi, and then struck the golden light with a palm.
Boom!!!
With this palm strike, the heavens and earth collapsed, and the golden pillar was directly split in half by Ji Ning's palm. The land with a diameter of twenty thousand miles was torn apart at this moment!
Ye Ling, who was dodging Ji Ning's palm strike on the other side of the pillar, saw Xiao Zhu suspended in the center of the village through the golden pillar that had been split in two, as well as Ji Ning on the other side of the golden pillar!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing Ji Ning, his expression changed slightly, and he quickly warned Ye Ling, "Kid, hide quickly! That woman is allied with the old man who ambushed us before. Don't let her find us!"