"Heavenly Dao?"
Hearing the Earth's Heavenly Dao, Ye Ling's eyes flashed with surprise. He quickly asked, "Where did you go?"
The Earth's Heavenly Dao said rapidly, "I was abducted by Huang and imprisoned in a dark place. Not long ago, Huang's seal suddenly weakened, and I managed to send out a sliver of my consciousness."
"I've been trying to contact you these past few days, and only now have I managed to reach you... Hurry, I can't hold on much longer!"
Ye Ling said quickly, "Calm down first, tell me your location, and I'll come rescue you directly."
Ye Ling wasn't particularly surprised by the Earth's Heavenly Dao being abducted.
On Earth, the only ones capable of abducting a Heavenly Dao were Xuanxiao of the Shadow Hall and Huang of the Void Organization. Now that Xuanxiao had fallen and the Heavenly Dao had not appeared, the only one left who could abduct it was Huang.
Previously, Ye Ling had been busy dealing with cultivators from outside the domain, so he hadn't gone to trouble Huang.
Now that the crisis from outside the domain was resolved, and the Earth's Heavenly Dao had come seeking help, Ye Ling naturally wouldn't stand by.
"That's great! I'll send you my location right away. Come as soon as possible. This place isn't just holding me; there are others..."
Mid-sentence, the Heavenly Dao's voice vanished, cutting off contact with Ye Ling.
"Heavenly Dao?" Ye Ling was stunned when he suddenly lost contact with the Heavenly Dao. He tried calling out to it a few times, but received no response.
"What happened?"
Ye Ling's brow furrowed slightly.
The Heavenly Dao hadn't even managed to send him its location...
However, before Ye Ling could figure out how to trace the location from which the Heavenly Dao had transmitted its message, a faint cosmic coordinate signal entered his mind.
Suddenly receiving these coordinates, Ye Ling murmured, "These coordinates should be the location of the Heavenly Dao's consciousness. Perhaps its power wasn't enough to continue transmitting..."
Ye Ling didn't dwell too much on the severed contact with the Heavenly Dao. After receiving the coordinates from the Earth's Heavenly Dao, he asked Tian Ling, "Little Tian Ling, you should know where my Demon Palace headquarters is, right?"
Tian Ling rubbed her still red eyes, wiped her nose, and said with a choked voice, "I know. Senior Brother, did something happen?"
Ye Ling replied, "Yes... Senior Brother has some urgent matters to attend to. Help Senior Brother take Yun Ga back to the Demon Palace and settle him in."
Tian Ling, her voice still choked, agreed, "No problem, Senior Brother. You can entrust Yun Ga to me. I promise to take him back to the Demon Palace."
"Good girl," Ye Ling smiled and ruffled Tian Ling's head. "After this is over, Senior Brother will play with you."
Tian Ling obediently replied, "Okay, Tian Ling will wait for Senior Brother to return!"
After entrusting Yun Ga to Tian Ling, Ye Ling didn't linger. He tore open space and fled in the direction of the Heavenly Dao.
On the edge of some part of the domain's universe.
A black hole larger than the solar system hung in the dark expanse of space, devouring everything around it, not even sparing light.
Ye Ling stopped before the black hole, guided by the Heavenly Dao's coordinates. Looking into the depths of the black hole, he muttered to himself, "The Heavenly Dao's coordinates pointed here. Could it be that Huang imprisoned them all inside this black hole?"
At this moment, the World-Ending Spirit Fire spoke up, "Kid, be careful. This black hole is strange. It might be hiding some sinister things within."
Seeing that the World-Ending Spirit Fire had finally spoken, Ye Ling couldn't help but tease it, "No matter how sinister the things inside are, can they be more sinister than you, a teammate who always causes trouble?"
Teased by Ye Ling, the World-Ending Spirit Fire faltered, its face flushing. "Th-that was an accident before, it doesn't count. Besides... nothing happened to you, right?"
Ye Ling retorted irritably, "If Xuan Yu hadn't intervened in time, the entire domain's universe might have been destroyed by your screw-ups. And you call that 'nothing happened'?"
"I, I..." The World-Ending Spirit Fire opened its mouth, but didn't know how to refute.
Indeed, previously, due to its gluttony, Ye Ling had suddenly fainted while fighting Qing Bukong, directly putting both Ye Ling and itself in danger.
If Xuan Yu hadn't acted in time, it would have perished along with Ye Ling at the hands of Qing Bukong.
Seeing that it couldn't argue its way out, the World-Ending Spirit Fire had to admit, "Alright... I admit I was wrong. I owe you for that incident. I'll return the Chaos Qi Source I consumed tenfold when the opportunity arises."
Seeing the World-Ending Spirit Fire back down, Ye Ling smiled and shook his head. "Forget about returning the Chaos Qi Source. I don't mind you absorbing my power."
"However, from now on, you have to tell me in advance when you want to absorb my power."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire exclaimed in surprise, "You're willing to let me openly absorb your power?"
Ye Ling said with some exasperation, "If I say no, won't you just do it sneakily anyway?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire chuckled awkwardly, "Heh heh... Indeed, no matter what, I have to rely on you to absorb power. Where else in this world can you find such an excellent host?"
"You..."
Seeing the World-Ending Spirit Fire's bluntness, Ye Ling smiled wryly and shook his head, no longer bothering with these trivial matters. Although the World-Ending Spirit Fire was sometimes troublesome, it had indeed helped him a lot. With its merits and demerits balanced, Ye Ling still considered it a partner.
As for the matter of the World-Ending Spirit Fire absorbing his power, Ye Ling didn't care. There was no such thing as a free lunch. If there were no benefits for the World-Ending Spirit Fire, Ye Ling believed it wouldn't willingly stay by his side.
Moreover, when the World-Ending Spirit Fire had secretly absorbed his power before, it hadn't harmed his foundation. Each time, he only needed to cultivate a little to recover the lost power.
Since the World-Ending Spirit Fire knew its limits, Ye Ling naturally wouldn't fuss over it. Both sides were mutually beneficial.
As Ye Ling and the World-Ending Spirit Fire were reviewing the battle with Qing Bukong, the Earth's Heavenly Dao's voice suddenly came from within the black hole: "Ye Ling, you're finally here! Hurry and come in, save me!"
"Coming, coming, don't rush!"
Ye Ling instinctively replied to the Earth's Heavenly Dao and was about to enter the black hole to rescue it, but he suddenly paused and stopped.
The Earth's Heavenly Dao immediately said, "Ye Ling, what are you hesitating for? Come in and save me!"
Ye Ling stood at the entrance of the black hole, gazing into the dark abyss before him, and asked with a light smile, "I'd like to know, how did you know I was outside?"
"I..." The Earth's Heavenly Dao suddenly froze.
Ye Ling continued to smile, "You were sealed here by Huang, and your consciousness fragment outside has dissipated. With all that... you can still see me outside the black hole?"
"Is the seal Huang placed on you this inferior?"
At Ye Ling's question, the Earth's Heavenly Dao fell silent.
However, soon, several dark tentacles shot out from the black hole before Ye Ling, quickly wrapping around his limbs.
The voice of the "Earth's Heavenly Dao" became sharp, screaming, "Since I can't fool you, I'll just use force!"
"Ye Ling, die!!!"