Xue Ying was overjoyed. She quickly wiped away her tears and nodded vigorously, saying, "As long as my mistress is fine, let alone cultivating diligently, I'd gladly go through fire and water."
Because she was too worried about Zi Linling, she had twice overlooked the way that voice addressed Zi Linling.
"In that case, fare thee well!"
The voice left these six words and then fell completely silent.
Instantly, the temple of the goddess was filled with quiet.
Xue Ying wiped away the remnants of her tears, then sat cross-legged on the ground, carefully recalling the words left by the voice and began to examine her body.
Only then did she discover that, although her body emitted a strong stench, it had become incredibly light.
Even more joyfully, she could actually sense the water elemental energy in the air. At the same time, the words "Shui Ling Lu" appeared in her mind.
Xue Ying was ecstatic. She didn't bother to clean the dirt on her body and began to meditate.
...
Ye Lingyuan followed Zi Linling and Xue Ying from afar, intending to escort them back to the Zi family before turning back to the royal palace to handle some matters.
But he never expected that after just two turns, Zi Linling and Xue Ying would simply vanish before his eyes.
Ye Lingyuan was greatly alarmed. To prevent anyone from coveting Zi Linling's spatial ring, his divine sense had been constantly locked onto Zi Linling and Xue Ying.
Yet, when the two disappeared just now, he hadn't detected any anomaly. This meant he had no idea how they had vanished.
He quickly arrived at the place where they had disappeared and meticulously searched, but found nothing.
A cold glint appeared in Ye Lingyuan's eyes.
What was going on? Had he missed something? Could Zi Linling and Xue Ying have taken a detour?
No! Even if they had taken a detour, they couldn't have bypassed his divine sense?
Divine sense! Yes, he needed to search again with his divine sense.
Ye Lingyuan never procrastinated. He locked his divine sense onto the area and searched again, inch by inch.
A few breaths later, the coldness in Ye Lingyuan's eyes intensified, as he still found no trace of them.
What was going on? Ye Lingyuan was certain that the two had not returned to the Zi family, and even if someone had abducted them, it wouldn't have happened without him noticing.
It seemed he had overlooked something again.
With this thought, Ye Lingyuan once again cast his divine sense over the area, sensing carefully.
He believed that if Zi Linling and Xue Ying had truly been abducted, there would have been some spiritual energy fluctuations and traces left behind.
Once! No discovery.
Twice! Still no discovery.
Thrice!
Four times!
...
He searched with his divine sense nine times, but still found nothing.
What exactly was going on?
The cold aura emanating from Ye Lingyuan grew heavier.
Suddenly, his divine sense landed on a small stone.
The reason he noticed this stone was because it was changing color.
Initially, Ye Lingyuan hadn't paid attention, as the stone was white at the time, indistinguishable from ordinary stones.
But just now, after Ye Lingyuan had searched nine times, the stone had turned green.
Ye Lingyuan stepped forward, intending to pick up the stone for a closer examination. However, when he reached out with his right hand, he couldn't lift the stone.
He furrowed his brow, increased the strength in his fingers, and tried again, but the stone remained unmoved.
Ye Lingyuan was now certain that there was something seriously wrong with this stone.
Since pure strength couldn't lift it, he would try spiritual energy.
Ten percent spiritual energy! The stone didn't budge.
Twenty percent spiritual energy! The stone still didn't move.
Thirty percent!
Forty percent!
...
This time, Ye Lingyuan used ninety percent of his spiritual energy, but the stone seemed rooted to the spot, utterly immobile.
He frowned deeply, staring at the stone, pondering.
Pure strength was useless! Spiritual energy was useless! That left only divine sense power.
Ye Lingyuan concentrated his mind, mobilizing ninety-nine percent of his divine sense from his spiritual consciousness, but the stone didn't move an inch.
He secretly pondered what kind of stone this was, to be so heavy.
Just as Ye Lingyuan was baffled, the stone changed color again, this time turning jade green.
This time, Ye Lingyuan finally detected a hint of abnormality.
He discovered that at the moment the stone changed color, there was a faint spatial fluctuation.
How could there be spatial fluctuations? Could it be that the interior of this stone contained space?
So that was it!
No wonder pure strength, spiritual energy, and divine sense power couldn't lift the stone. How could a person's strength overcome a space itself?
It seemed this stone only recognized the power of space.
Having figured out the key, Ye Lingyuan began to worry.
In the Tianyuan Continent, spiritual practitioners of spatial energy had not appeared for thousands of years. Where could he find spatial power?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. The Nine Dragon Ring! How could he have forgotten the Nine Dragon Ring!
Two years ago, Ye Lingyuan had accidentally fallen into a cave dwelling. The owner of that cave dwelling was called True Man Jiulong, who had perished a thousand years ago, but his remains were exposed to the air.
Later, Ye Lingyuan helped True Man Jiulong bury his remains. In gratitude, True Man Jiulong's residual soul gave Ye Lingyuan his spatial ring, the Nine Dragon Ring, and helped him to make a blood pact with it.
The Nine Dragon Ring was a space opened by True Man Jiulong using his own spatial power, naturally containing the power of space.
While Ye Lingyuan was contemplating, the stone had changed from jade green to crimson, and then from crimson to yellow.
Remembering Zi Linling and Xue Ying, who had been missing for an hour, Ye Lingyuan's eyes were filled with worry.
Impatiently, he used his soul to contact the Nine Dragon Ring and slowly drew out a trace of spatial power, injecting it into the stone.
Instantly, the stone blazed with light, engulfing Ye Lingyuan.
Two breaths later, Ye Lingyuan vanished, and the stone returned to its original state.
It lay quietly in the corner, as inconspicuous as ever.
As Ye Lingyuan opened his eyes, he found himself in a dilapidated temple.
Xue Ying, who was cultivating, suddenly opened her eyes and said coldly, "Who's there?"
Seeing Xue Ying, Ye Lingyuan let out a sigh of relief and said, "This King!"
Xue Ying was already at the second level of body tempering. The dirt on her body had been washed away by her spiritual energy, and the stench had long since dissipated.
Ye Lingyuan looked at Xue Ying, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
He clearly remembered that an hour ago, this girl had been a complete cripple. How was it that in the blink of an eye, she could not only cultivate but had also directly broken through to the second level of body tempering?
However, he only showed a slight surprise before returning to his cold demeanor.
"Where is your mistress?"
In Ye Lingyuan's opinion, since Xue Ying was here, Zi Linling should also be here.
Seeing that the person was Ye Lingyuan, Xue Ying became flustered. Her voice trembled as she said, "My mistress... she... she's fine!"