Outside the barrier, Ye Ling watched the fiery explosion of the Seven Star Pillars. He spread his soul power, enveloping the entire barrier, ensuring not a single Seven Star Pillar could escape in the chaos.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire reminded him, "Kid, don't forget to preserve a portion of the Third Star Pillar's remnant soul and wipe away your traces, otherwise, the Lord of the Upper Realm will become suspicious."
Ye Ling replied, "Don't worry, I'm already doing it."
Within the barrier, the consciousness of the Third Star Pillar was already enveloped by Ye Ling's dark power, protecting it from the self-destruction of the Seven Star Pillars.
However, Ye Ling's dark power did not fully shield the Third Star Pillar. He deliberately left some gaps, intending to use the explosion of the Seven Star Pillars to erase all of the Third Star Pillar's memories, leaving only a few fragmented memories.
Soon, the power generated by the self-destruction of the Seven Star Pillars was completely absorbed by Ye Ling's Devouring Domain. The Third Star Pillar was left with only a wisp of unconscious remnant soul, the kind that could be scattered with a single breath.
Ye Ling withdrew the barrier and brought the remnant soul of the Third Star Pillar before him. He carefully examined the memories of the Third Star Pillar, confirming that only the memories he intended to keep remained. Only then did he send the remnant soul of the Third Star Pillar outside the Nine Heavens Realm, letting it drift in the boundless void, waiting for the Lord of the Upper Realm to capture it.
With the Seven Star Pillars completely dealt with, the crisis in the Nine Heavens Realm was temporarily resolved. Ye Ling then retracted all the dark power covering the First Heaven back into his body, returning the world to light. At the same time, he erased the memories of all living beings in the First Heaven regarding this matter, to prevent psychological trauma.
Ye Ling stood in the sky, looking at the sunny First Heaven, and chuckled, "After dealing with the Seven Star Pillars, the entire Nine Heavens Realm feels much cleaner. Next, I just need to absorb all the dark power that has eroded the Nine Heavens Realm into my body, and the crisis of the Nine Heavens Realm will be completely resolved."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire said, "Now that the Seven Star Pillars are dealt with, we can focus on finding the spatial rift that can take us back to our era. I've been wanting to go back for a long time."
Ye Ling replied, "You don't need to worry too much about this. Since the path back exists, finding the spatial rift is only a matter of time."
Rumble...
As Ye Ling and the World-Ending Spirit Fire were conversing, the entire world suddenly shook violently. At the same time, the sky turned dark again, and dense dark power enveloped the First Heaven!
The world of light plunged back into darkness.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire's eyes flickered slightly, and it said to Ye Ling, "Kid, what's wrong with you? The Seven Star Pillars are dealt with, why are you releasing dark power again?"
Ye Ling looked at the dark power pervading the sky with a solemn expression and said in a deep voice, "That is not my dark power."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire was stunned. "Not yours? Then whose could it be?"
In the entire Nine Heavens Realm, besides the Seven Star Pillars, only Ye Ling possessed a large amount of dark power. Now that the Seven Star Pillars were all dead.
Who else in this vast Nine Heavens Realm could unleash such dark power besides Ye Ling?
Ye Ling's brows furrowed. "It's likely that a stronger entity has arrived from the Chaos Battlefield. The situation might be very dire. Let's return to Tianren City first!"
With that, Ye Ling teleported back to Tianren City and directly tore open the space of Tianren City, teleporting all the cultivators of Tianren City away, leaving only the Qingyue Sect and Ye Ling's own people.
Seeing Ye Ling teleporting away all the city's cultivators, Ayu immediately flew out of the Tianren Tower on Dingdang and asked Ye Ling, "Little Ye, what's happening? Isn't this auction over yet?"
Ye Ling quickly opened his small world and said urgently to Ayu, "There's no time to explain, Ayu, quickly enter my small world!"
Seeing Ye Ling's urgent demeanor, although she hadn't figured out what had happened, Ayu knew it wasn't the time to ask. She immediately took Dingdang into the small world for safety.
After Ayu entered the small world for safety, Ye Ling collected all the dark power within the cultivators of the Qingyue Sect and Tianren City. He instructed Bai Ling, "Bai Ling, take the disciples of the Qingyue Sect and the cultivators of Tianren City back to the Qingyue Sect for refuge as soon as possible. No matter what happens, do not leave the sect half a step!"
With that, Ye Ling also gave Bai Ling some power to allow her to protect herself.
"Yes!"
Bai Ling could sense the fatal threat from the surging dark power in the sky. She didn't dare to ask Ye Ling what was happening and immediately constructed a large teleportation array, teleporting all the remaining people in the city back to the Qingyue Sect.
The vast Tianren City was left with only a few people.
Ye Ling glanced at the increasingly dense dark power in the sky. Just as he was about to contact Chu, Buzhishi and Old Yu from the Tianren Tower rushed out again, saying excitedly to Ye Ling, "My Lord, I've found that spatial rift!"
Ye Ling was shocked and asked Buzhishi in disbelief, "You found it?"
Buzhishi nodded repeatedly and pointed to the sky, "It's right there! That spatial rift is within that dark shroud!"
"Over there..."
Hearing Buzhishi's reply, Ye Ling looked up at the sky. He wrapped his soul power in runes, penetrating the dark power in the sky, searching for the spatial rift that could take them back.
But as Ye Ling's soul power pierced through the dark, cloud-shrouded mass and reached outside the Nine Heavens Realm, he discovered a massive black hole outside the Nine Heavens Realm, filled with endless dark power. Moreover, a large number of dark creatures were flying out of it, densely packed!
And the spatial rift they were looking for was in the center of that black hole!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing the black hole through Ye Ling's soul power, exclaimed, "Such a large entrance to the Chaos Battlefield?"
Ye Ling frowned and asked, "Does the size of the Chaos Battlefield entrance matter?"
"Of course, it matters!" the World-Ending Spirit Fire said excitedly, "The larger the entrance to the Chaos Battlefield, the more stable it is, and the stronger the cultivators who can pass through!"
"Now this entrance to the Chaos Battlefield is almost half the size of the Nine Heavens Realm. This is a scale I've never seen before! I'm afraid this entrance can even withstand the pressure of the Lord of the Upper Realm!"
Ye Ling's eyes changed slightly. "Doesn't this mean the Lord of the Upper Realm will come?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire trembled, "I, I don't know... It's just that the Seven Star Pillars are dead, and they killed each other. How could this possibly alarm the Lord of the Upper Realm? This is not scientific!"
The Seven Star Pillars were merely an insignificant department under the Lord of the Upper Realm and only ranked mid-tier in the Chaos Battlefield. They were not worth the Lord of the Upper Realm making such a big fuss!
But judging by the scale of the Chaos Battlefield entrance now, the Lord of the Upper Realm has probably brought over half of the Chaos Battlefield's combat power!
Seeing that the World-Ending Spirit Fire was also panicking, Ye Ling said in a deep voice, "Let's calm down. No matter what the Lord of the Upper Realm wants to do, let's first find a way to enter the spatial rift!"
As Ye Ling said this, the World-Ending Spirit Fire also managed to calm down. "That's right... Let's go to the spatial rift first. Our main timeline is now the territory of Good and Evil. Only by returning can we have a glimmer of hope!"