Ye Ling arrived at the deepest part of the Soul Tomb and said to Bai Lan, "Lan'er, keep watch for me. I will open the seal of the Primal Soul King."
"Understood!"
Bai Lan responded, guarding the outer perimeter of the Soul Tomb, observing the surroundings. Not a single ripple of movement would escape her keen eyes.
With Bai Lan watching his back, Ye Ling felt at ease. He immediately placed his Origin Script onto the seal, intending to open it and abduct the Primal Soul King without anyone noticing.
However, as Ye Ling's Origin Script touched the seal of the Primal Soul King, he sensed something was amiss.
"This seal… has it been opened recently?"
Noticing that the Primal Soul King's seal had loosened slightly, Ye Ling frowned and quickly accelerated his efforts, breaking the seal.
The pit beneath the seal was empty!
"The Primal Soul King escaped?"
Seeing only a large pit beneath the seal, Ye Ling's pupils contracted sharply. He immediately tried to contact his inner demon, only to discover that the connection had already been severed. He could no longer sense the demon's presence!
"Master, how is it?"
Bai Lan, who was guarding the outer perimeter of the Soul Tomb, was unaware of the situation and asked Ye Ling, who was deep within the tomb, "Did you capture the Primal Soul King?"
Ye Ling's face was grave. He stared intently at the empty pit below and said in a deep voice, "The Primal Soul King… is gone."
"Gone?"
Bai Lan was stunned. She instantly teleported to Ye Ling's side and, upon seeing the empty pit below, her pupils also constricted slightly. "How could the Primal Soul King have vanished into thin air?"
Ye Ling said gravely, "Before I opened the seal, I discovered that it had been opened not long ago. The Primal Soul King was rescued by someone…"
"Besides us, who else would be after the Primal Soul King?" Bai Lan had not considered this possibility and asked Ye Ling.
"No… there is one other person." A figure immediately flashed in Ye Ling's mind, and he said in a deep voice, "Tian Ji!"
"Tian Ji?"
"That's right! Tian Ji inherited the will of the Primal Wisdom King, and he can also absorb others to strengthen himself."
"Last time, when we dealt with the Primal Time King, Tian Ji wanted to seize him, but he couldn't compete with me."
"I suspect Tian Ji began targeting the Primal Soul King while we were seeking the power of the Primal Martial King. He doesn't want me to gather the power of the Seven Kings!"
Ye Ling suddenly understood much.
As one of the former seven pillars of the Overseers, Tian Ji's strength had reached "their" level. Both in terms of power and motive, Tian Ji was the most likely person to have targeted the Primal Soul King.
Hearing Ye Ling's speculation, Bai Lan also realized the seriousness of the situation and asked in a solemn tone, "Master, what should we do next?"
"We must prepare for the worst. Tian Ji has completely absorbed the Primal Soul King, and we will never be able to gather the power of the Seven Kings."
"How could this happen… We've come so far, just one step away…" Seeing that their trip had yielded nothing, Bai Lan's emotions plummeted. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt like crying from frustration.
Seeing Bai Lan more upset than himself, Ye Ling knew that as her master, he had to remain strong. He smiled and comforted Bai Lan, "Lan'er, don't be discouraged so quickly. I was only stating the worst-case scenario… If we can find Tian Ji, it's not impossible to reclaim the Primal Soul King's power."
"What if Tian Ji has already absorbed the Primal Soul King's core power?"
"Then we'll deal with him as well. The Primal Soul King's power won't disappear into thin air. There are many ways for us to retrieve it."
Hearing Ye Ling's comfort, Bai Lan felt much more encouraged and regained her spirit.
She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, "Alright! Let's go beat up that bastard Tian Ji! Let him know that our power isn't so easily snatched!"
"Master, let's set off now! Let's beat Tian Ji until he's crawling!"
"Do you know where Tian Ji is?"
"This…"
Bai Lan, who had just been invigorated, now looked like a wilted eggplant. She sighed, "Yeah… Even 'Brain' can't find Tian Ji, so where are we going to look for him? In the end… there's still no hope! Master! What should we do?"
Ye Ling looked at the troubled Bai Lan and chuckled, "You little girl… without the Primal Soul King's power, why do you seem more anxious than me?"
"How can I not be anxious? Master, you lost the Primal Soul King, that's a huge loss! I feel it too!" Bai Lan quickly replied.
Ye Ling chuckled, "Don't worry, your master already has a plan."
"Really?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Bai Lan's eyes lit up again, and she quickly asked him.
"Mmm."
Ye Ling nodded and said to Bai Lan, "Do you remember, before we entered the Overseers' headquarters, there was an explosion, and someone took action within the Overseers' headquarters?"
Bai Lan suddenly realized something and asked Ye Ling, "So, Master, you mean…"
"I suspect the person who took action was Tian Ji," Ye Ling stated his conjecture. "Since we haven't found the Primal Soul King now, it's necessary to take further risks. Let's go check out the place where the explosion occurred. I remember it was in the West District. We'll use the public network space and the same method to get there!"
"Okay!"
Bai Lan also wanted to help Ye Ling reclaim the Primal Soul King's power. She quickly agreed and then left the Soul Tomb with Ye Ling. They returned to the Awakened Ones' room and used the public network space to travel to the West District of the Overseers' headquarters.
Shortly after Ye Ling and Bai Lan left the Soul Tomb, black liquid began to seep out from where the Primal Soul King was sealed, spreading outwards.
Soon, the black liquid coalesced into two shadowy figures, one fat and one thin, in the Primal Soul King's pit. They calmly watched in the direction Ye Ling had left.
The fat shadowy figure said, "Mr. Bai was indeed right. After Tian Ji abducted the Primal Soul King, Ye Ling would definitely go looking for trouble with Tian Ji… It seems our plan to trap Tian Ji within the Overseers' headquarters was the right move. Ye Ling and Tian Ji can help us attract 'Hand's' attention."
The other thin shadowy figure then said, "Taking this opportunity, we should go rescue Mr. Bai. Mr. Bai is truly something. As our Heavenly Walker's Great Prophet, his strength is no less than 'Brain's', yet he chose to seal his power outside the Primal Chaos and work under 'Brain' as one of the Seven Pillars. I don't know what his purpose is in returning to the Primal Chaos at such great risk?"
The fat shadowy figure said, "Mr. Bai's plans are beyond our comprehension. We only need to complete our mission. Remember… speak less and do more. If you ruin Mr. Bai's grand plan, you know the consequences!"
As the fat shadowy figure spoke, the thin shadowy figure shivered, as if recalling something terrifying.
"Yes, yes! I was too talkative! Let's hurry and rescue Mr. Bai. If we miss the timing, it will be terrible!"
As the thin shadowy figure finished speaking, the two of them transformed back into black liquid and quickly seeped into the ground, disappearing!