Ye Ling sat cross-legged in the center of the plaza, his eyes closed, with gray mist swirling around him.
The black flames continued to burn quietly, and the vast plaza was plunged into an extreme silence.
After an unknown amount of time, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from within Ye Ling. The gray mist that had been swirling around him immediately dispersed, engulfing the numerous black flames!
The Great Dao of Annihilation erupted, transforming into a river of the Great Dao, surging around Ye Ling.
However, the power of this Great Dao of Annihilation far exceeded what Earth could withstand. As the river of the Great Dao surged, the surrounding space also collapsed.
A large amount of spatial turbulence swept out from the cracks, shredding everything in the plaza.
If it weren't for the barrier surrounding the plaza, the entire capital would likely have been swallowed the moment the spatial turbulence emerged!
Rumble!
The spatial turbulence continuously impacted the barrier around the Zijing Tower plaza. The barrier could not withstand the bombardment of the spatial storm, and the cracks on it grew more numerous.
The vast barrier was on the verge of collapse!
However, just as the spatial turbulence was about to break through the barrier and engulf the capital, Ye Ling suddenly opened his eyes. The surging river of the Great Dao around him vanished in an instant, and all the spatial turbulence was reabsorbed into the void.
The shattered space repaired itself at a visible speed, and the barrier, which was on the verge of breaking, began to quickly return to its original state.
The people living in the capital were completely unaware that they had narrowly escaped a life-and-death catastrophe!
Ye Ling calmed the surging blood within his body and looked at the space that was slowly being repaired around him. He couldn't help but sigh, "The power of the Great Dao of Annihilation is truly ferocious. I merely touched the threshold through that brief insight, and it was enough to trigger such terrifying power..."
"If I were to fully comprehend the Great Dao of Annihilation, the surrounding barrier would likely not be able to withstand the disturbance that just occurred, and the entire capital would be annihilated in an instant..."
Speaking of this, Ye Ling felt a sense of relief. Fortunately, Donghua Sanren had set up these layers of barriers to deal with him. Otherwise, merely comprehending the Great Dao of Annihilation would have caused countless tragedies.
"Speaking of which, this Zijing Tower and its employees have suffered misfortune for no reason. It's all more or less related to me. If I just leave like this, it would be rather irresponsible."
Ye Ling looked at the Zijing Tower, which had been reduced to ruins. He didn't abandon it. Instead, he directly summoned the Great Dao of Time and rewound the time within the barrier to before Donghua Sanren made his move.
The Zijing Tower, which had turned to dust, and its employees were instantly restored to their original state. Everyone was still busy catering to the mysterious guest who had booked Zijing Tower, completely unaware that they had already died once.
However, since Donghua Sanren and the Sword Spirit had both come into contact with Ye Ling, and Ye Ling himself transcended time, the Great Dao of Time naturally did not affect them.
Even though Ye Ling had rewound time, the three people who were originally in the private room at Zijing Tower were all gone.
The exquisite dishes meticulously prepared by the national banquet chefs of Zijing Tower were now left untouched.
"The opportunity to comprehend the Great Dao of Annihilation passed in an instant. Fortunately, I seized the opportunity. It's a pity about Donghua Sanren, allowing him to escape."
Ye Ling sighed. He had originally intended to not let Donghua Sanren go, but the insight into the Great Dao of Annihilation had come too suddenly and completely disrupted his plans.
Although letting Donghua Sanren escape left Ye Ling somewhat disappointed, if he were given the choice again, he would still choose to let Donghua Sanren go.
After all, the appearance of insights into the Great Dao was often fleeting. If he missed the opportunity to comprehend the Great Dao of Annihilation by going to kill Donghua Sanren, it would be a loss that outweighed the gain.
Donghua Sanren was merely a minor character, not worth risking the loss of the Great Dao of Annihilation to kill.
"Never mind, that guy didn't get the inheritance, so he's definitely not going to give up. He'll come looking for me sooner or later, so there's no rush to kill him."
Soon, Ye Ling put Donghua Sanren's matter out of his mind. He cast one last glance at Zijing Tower, removed the surrounding barrier, walked out of the plaza, and disappeared into the crowd.
Zijing Tower was still bustling, but the guests they were serving were nowhere to be found.
Kyoto, as night fell.
As the capital of China and the most prosperous city in the country, Kyoto was still brightly lit and bustling even after nightfall.
The glow of the neon lights illuminated the night sky. Ye Ling sat on the edge of the rooftop of a skyscraper, looking at the bustling city below, letting the cool breeze blow through his hair.
At this moment, Ye Ling's eyes were deep, as if he were recalling something.
After obtaining the power of the Sword Spirit, Ye Ling also gained the memories that the Sword Spirit had etched into its soul.
This portion of memory was innate to the Sword Spirit. Although it resided within the Sword Spirit's soul, the Sword Spirit itself had long forgotten this memory.
It was precisely because of this that Ye Ling had not found this memory when he searched the Sword Spirit's soul earlier.
Ye Ling read through the memories left by the Sword Spirit and sighed, "This fellow, the Sword Spirit, I wonder why he inexplicably sacrificed his power to me. So this was his plan..."
"Well, thanks to you, I touched the threshold of the Great Dao of Annihilation and benefited greatly. I already owe you a huge favor, so consider this task you entrusted to me as repaying that favor."
It turned out that the Sword Spirit was not a spiritual entity naturally born between heaven and earth, but the obsession of a Sword Immortal from the Primordial Era.
That Sword Immortal was also a Saint and was quite renowned in the Primordial Era. However, due to an accident, he lost his only daughter.
Just as the Sword Immortal was searching everywhere for his daughter, many Saints in the heavens attacked the wife of Chu Yuan in order to seize the ancient chaotic blood of Chu Yuan.
Chu Yuan was enraged by this, created the Heavenly Annihilation Evil Array, and launched a revenge against the Saints. A catastrophe that swept across the Primordial Era thus began.
The Sword Immortal had no intention of fighting, but he was still drawn into this catastrophe and eventually perished in the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains.
The Sword Immortal never found his daughter until his death. His last wisp of obsession attached itself to his divine weapon, White Jade.
After the baptism of long years, the Sword Immortal's divine weapon, White Jade, had long been corroded by the nether energy in the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains. However, his obsession had absorbed a large amount of essence from heaven and earth over the long years. Coupled with a chance encounter, it also merged with residual traces of the Great Dao of Annihilation left in the world, thus becoming an unnamed Sword Spirit born from the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains.
At the beginning of its birth, the Sword Spirit also remembered its mission to find its lost daughter. However, shortly after its birth, before it had even left the Ten Thousand Nether Mountains, it was found by Huang of the Void Organization and directly absorbed into the Void Organization.
After being brainwashed by Huang, the Sword Spirit gradually forgot its mission and slowly became what it is today.
And after Ye Ling absorbed the Sword Spirit's power, he also awakened the memories deep within the Sword Spirit's soul, learning of the Sword Spirit's obsession.
"However... the Primordial Era was millions of years ago. So many disasters have occurred since then, and even that Sword Immortal could not escape misfortune, let alone his daughter."
"At that time, there wasn't even an Underworld. Even if the Sword Immortal's daughter died and was lucky enough to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, there would be no record in the Underworld. The only clue is that his daughter was a congenital sword embryo. With just this, where am I supposed to find his daughter?"