Outside the Nine Heavens Realm, before the entrance to the Chaos Battlefield.
Ye Ling stood before the spatial rift, the surrounding dark creatures cowering in fear of his aura, daring not to approach.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire glanced back at the Nine Heavens Realm, now largely consumed by darkness, and said to Ye Ling, "Kid, take one last look at the Nine Heavens Realm. After we return, we might never see it again."
Ye Ling retorted, "When did you become so sentimental? I never saw you have such fondness for the Nine Heavens Realm before."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire replied, "Can't a brat let me have a moment? Forget it, you've ruined the mood anyway. Let's get out of here quickly. If the Lord of the Upper Realm finds out we swiped his Key of Chaos, we won't be able to leave!"
"Agreed, no need to delay!"
Ye Ling did not linger. After bidding farewell to Chu, he plunged into the spatial rift without looking back, heading towards his own time and space.
However, not long after Ye Ling entered the spatial rift, the entire fragile spacetime tunnel began to shake violently. The tunnel then started to collapse, and a large amount of dark energy surged into it from outside the rift!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing the collapsing tunnel, shrieked, "Have we been discovered?"
Ye Ling quickly scanned the collapsing tunnel around him, flying forward, and said, "It doesn't look like we've been discovered. It seems this spatial rift can no longer withstand the erosion of dark power and is about to collapse!"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire exclaimed, "Then shouldn't we run faster? If we fall into a chaotic spatial fault, how will we get back?"
Ye Ling replied, "Aren't I running?"
Ye Ling was currently flying through the spacetime tunnel at an incredible speed. However, the tunnel was immensely long. Even with all his might, after traversing an infinite distance, he still couldn't see the end.
Conversely, the dark energy was eroding the tunnel faster and faster. Ye Ling could even see the tunnel ahead of him beginning to collapse.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire said urgently, "Kid, this isn't working! If this continues, we might fall into a spatial fault and get lost forever before we even escape this tunnel!"
Although Ye Ling's current cultivation level meant that even if the spacetime tunnel completely shattered and spatial turbulence swept in, his life would not be threatened.
The crucial point was that the Nine Heavens Realm was a world Ye Ling had never visited. He did not have its spatial coordinates, nor did he know the precise coordinates of his own main spacetime. If he fell into a spatial fault, it might take him hundreds of millions of years to return!
This was a price Ye Ling and his companions could not afford!
Ye Ling also realized the gravity of the situation. He unsealed himself further and used runes to accelerate, attempting to escape before the spacetime tunnel completely collapsed!
However, Ye Ling did not anticipate that unleashing his full power would only accelerate the tunnel's disintegration, making the dark energy's erosion even faster!
In the blink of an eye, the dark energy surpassed Ye Ling and reached ahead of him.
Behind them, the dark creatures had also detected the spatial rift near the entrance to the Chaos Battlefield. A large number of dark creatures surged into the spacetime tunnel along with the dark energy, heading towards Ye Ling.
After Ye Ling unleashed his full power, the dark energy could no longer conceal the soul-镇压ing power surging within him. He could no longer disguise himself as a Pillar of Shadow and was locked onto by the dark creatures.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing that Ye Ling's full power had made things worse, wailed again, "It's over, it's over! We haven't escaped the spacetime tunnel, and now we're entangled with dark creatures. If we're caught by the Lord of the Upper Realm again, there will be no hope of turning things around!"
Ye Ling gritted his teeth, "The spacetime tunnel hasn't completely collapsed yet, we still have a chance!"
Before he finished speaking, Ye Ling directly shattered the spacetime tunnel around him and traversed it at an unprecedented speed, heading towards the tunnel's end!
In an instant, Ye Ling covered billions upon billions of miles, instantly overtaking the dark energy consuming the spacetime tunnel and reaching the part of the tunnel that had not yet fully collapsed.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing the dark creatures left far behind, breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Thank goodness you're capable, kid. In that situation just now, I thought we were really going to perish in this spacetime tunnel today. We've overcome so many tribulations, and to capsize in such a shallow ditch would be a laughingstock!"
"Kid, let's push forward and break out of this spacetime tunnel!"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire shouted with high spirits, then suddenly felt a chilling aura from behind, causing him to shiver!
"Damn you, how dare you deceive me!!!"
A roar filled with hatred echoed from the darkness, and then the World-Ending Spirit Fire saw the Pillar of Shadow emerge from the black mist, rapidly approaching them!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire, seeing the pursuing Pillar of Shadow, quickly said, "Kid, that Pillar of Shadow is catching up! You must not get entangled with that guy!"
Although Ye Ling could easily defeat the Pillar of Shadow at full power, he needed to race against time to leave the spacetime tunnel and couldn't afford to waste any time here!
No matter how weak the Pillar of Shadow was, it was a hunter capable of killing Creation Gods, not someone who could be easily killed. Ye Ling should not engage it now.
Ye Ling glanced back at the furious Pillar of Shadow, then ignored it and accelerated again!
In an instant, the Pillar of Shadow could no longer see Ye Ling's silhouette!
"Damn it! He dares to toy with me again!"
Seeing Ye Ling pull away, the Pillar of Shadow's eyes burned with intensified rage. It no longer held back, even burning its origin to greatly increase its speed, and managed to catch up to Ye Ling!
Two beams of light tearing through spacetime streaked through the tunnel. The sounds of the surrounding tunnel collapsing grew louder, but the end of the tunnel remained unseen.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire looked back at the persistently pursuing Pillar of Shadow and exclaimed angrily, "This lingering ghost! It knows it can't catch us, yet it burns its origin to chase. It deserves to be exhausted to death!"
Ye Ling said as he fled, "World-Ending Spirit Fire, if you have time, stop complaining and help me find the exit of this spacetime tunnel. I have a feeling we've taken the wrong path."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire was taken aback, "What do you mean? This spacetime tunnel is just one path! How could we take the wrong one?"
Ye Ling explained, "I've been thinking carefully. With our speed, we could have traveled to and from the Nine Heavens Realm dozens of times by now. Yet, we still haven't seen the end of this spacetime tunnel. It's ridiculously long... I suspect this tunnel has no end, and we need another way to return to our own spacetime."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire didn't quite understand and asked, "How do you know this spacetime tunnel has no end? What if the end is just ahead?"
Ye Ling countered, "World-Ending Spirit Fire, think carefully. Before we entered the spatial rift, didn't we sense the existence of our main spacetime?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire nodded, "Yes, so what?"
Ye Ling continued, "If this spacetime tunnel were truly this long, how could we have sensed our main spacetime from outside the spatial rift?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire replied, "Hearing you say it, it does seem to be the case..."
Ye Ling added, "Furthermore, don't forget that A Yu's mother traversed this spacetime tunnel to reach our main spacetime. If we've been flying in here for so long without reaching the end, do you think Bai Qing could have completed this journey?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, the World-Ending Spirit Fire suddenly realized, "That's right! We've been flying in this spacetime tunnel for so long, and Bai Qing is merely a Chaos Master, her speed likely less than one-thousandth of ours. She absolutely couldn't have finished traversing this spacetime tunnel!"
"Kid, keep charging forward. I'll try to figure out the mystery of this spacetime tunnel."
Ye Ling replied, "Understood! Look carefully. The level of this spacetime tunnel isn't high, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you. If you can't manage, I have someone named Buzhi Shi in my small world; I can call him to help."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire responded, "Alright!"
After communicating with Ye Ling, the World-Ending Spirit Fire stopped complaining and focused all its attention on the spacetime tunnel, trying to uncover its secrets.
Time trickled by. Only fragments of the spacetime tunnel remained. Ye Ling could only vaguely determine his direction of travel through these remnants.
Meanwhile, the Pillar of Shadow pursuing them, despite having burned more than half of its origin, remained tenacious and showed no sign of giving up.
Ye Ling glanced back at the Pillar of Shadow and chuckled, "This guy is truly persistent. If I weren't afraid of the Lord of the Upper Realm watching from behind, I'd send him down!"
As Ye Ling muttered to himself, the World-Ending Spirit Fire suddenly exclaimed, "Found it, kid! This spacetime tunnel is indeed tricky. The exit isn't ahead, but above us!"
Upon hearing the World-Ending Spirit Fire's words, Ye Ling didn't hesitate. He immediately surged upwards into the spacetime fault and, indeed, sensed the aura of their main spacetime!
"Found it!"
Ye Ling felt the coordinates of their main spacetime, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes. He stopped and looked back at the pursuing Pillar of Shadow.
Seeing Ye Ling finally stop, the Pillar of Shadow also halted, extinguishing the burning origin flames and coldly saying to Ye Ling, "You're finally not running anymore?"
Ye Ling looked at the Pillar of Shadow's extremely cold gaze, smiled slightly, removed his silver mask, revealing his true face.
The next moment, Ye Ling took out the Key of Chaos, spun it on his fingertip, and said to the Pillar of Shadow, "Thank you, my friend, for the Key of Chaos. My name is Ye Ling, and I'll be taking this treasure... with my thanks!"
"See you next time!"
With that, Ye Ling vanished from his spot.
The Pillar of Shadow's pupils contracted sharply. Just as it was about to pursue, it saw an entrance to a main spacetime above.
And that entrance, right before its eyes, completely disappeared!
Witnessing Ye Ling's departure with his own eyes, the Pillar of Shadow felt a surge of blood in its throat, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Ye Ling!!! I swear eternal enmity with you!!!"