The room soon fell silent.
Leiluo could not withstand the intensity of Ye Ling's soul-searching. After enduring extreme pain, he fainted.
In fact, Ye Ling had ways to keep Leiluo conscious and continuously suffering, but this was, after all, a research branch of the Hongchen Pavilion. There were many people outside, and if he made too much noise here, it might alert the enemy.
Ye Ling still planned to continue lurking in the Hongchen Pavilion and slowly investigate its affairs. He did not want to fall out with Ye Yi here.
Therefore, at least until the soul-searching was complete, he would not cause too much of a disturbance.
Fortunately, Ye Yi was still asleep in the medical pod, and there were no surveillance devices in the room. No one knew exactly what had happened here.
Ye Ling perused Leiluo's memories and murmured, "As expected, this Tongtian Tower is used to create artificial life. Furthermore, the Tongtian Towers from all over the world can form a massive altar. The higher-ups of the Hongchen Pavilion want to use the entire Earth as a stage to create a perfect ultimate life..."
"Are they overreaching? Creating some perfect life, what's the point?"
After reviewing Leiluo's memories, Ye Ling simply tossed him aside and carefully examined the "Tongtian Tower" before him, his brow furrowed.
Leiluo did not know much, and most of it was fragmented. Ye Ling could not ascertain the ultimate purpose of the Hongchen Pavilion's construction of the "Tongtian Tower" from Leiluo alone.
However, Ye Ling did gain quite a bit from Leiluo, at least he knew the ambition of the Hongchen Pavilion.
No matter what kind of life the Hongchen Pavilion wanted to create, once the formation was complete, they would have to sacrifice at least half of the Earth's life.
Such actions, in any world, were unforgivable atrocities.
If the Hongchen Pavilion were on the Eastern Profound Continent, as long as they dared to reveal such ambition, even without the Demon Palace's intervention, other sacred lands and great clans would come forward to suppress them, eliminating them before their evil could take root.
"The Hongchen Pavilion has backing from the Immortal Realm. These actions they are taking in the mortal world cannot be hidden from the gods in the Immortal Realm... This means that the Hongchen Pavilion is doing these things at the behest of some being in the Immortal Realm?"
"But many of the deities on Earth need to draw upon the faith of mortals to maintain their power. If the mortal population is halved, their source of power will also be greatly reduced... What is the purpose of that guy doing this?"
"Destroying the world? How childish?"
Ye Ling's thoughts raced, but he eventually put the matter aside for the moment. He used his demonic energy to infiltrate the small "Tongtian Tower" before him and extracted the light orb from within.
The spiritual energy contained within this light orb was different from the spiritual energy pervading the air.
The spiritual energy in the light orb was much older, at least tens of thousands of years old. In terms of both grade and purity, it was not comparable to the spiritual energy on Earth today.
"This light orb should have been brought from the ancient ruins. Little You investigated those ancient ruins, and perhaps Little You's situation is similar to this plan of the Hongchen Pavilion."
Ye Ling examined the light orb in his hand and found that it contained only pure spiritual energy, serving as the energy to drive the "Tongtian Tower."
From this light cluster alone, Ye Ling could not discern anything useful.
He wrapped the light orb with spiritual energy, put it into his spatial ring, and then directly destroyed the small "Tongtian Tower"!
"Warning! Tongtian Tower prototype destroyed! Level One Alert!"
"Warning! Tongtian Tower prototype destroyed! Level One Alert!"
The moment Ye Ling destroyed the small "Tongtian Tower," the entire research branch turned red, alarms blared, and countless Hongchen Pavilion cultivators were alerted.
A large number of powerful individuals rushed towards this location.
"Tsk... Trouble."
Ye Ling glanced at Leiluo indifferently. He did not kill him, but merely modified his memories and inflicted some additional injuries before disappearing from the spot.
Besides knowing the function of the Tongtian Tower, Ye Ling had obtained another piece of information from Leiluo.
It was Leiluo who had helped distract the Blood-Slaying Qilin, allowing Kong Xuhan to steal the young Qilin back then.
Leiluo was one of Ye Feng's confidants and an old acquaintance of Kong Xuhan. By utilizing this relationship well, Ye Ling could solidify his identity as Kong Xuhan within the Hongchen Pavilion.
Furthermore, the fact that Kong Xuhan, a medical immortal, could have Ye Feng specifically send Leiluo decades ago to help him obtain Qilin blood, allowing him to live until now, also indicated Ye Feng's high regard for Kong Xuhan.
If Ye Ling had not been able to find Ye Feng through Bai Xiaosheng, then this identity of Kong Xuhan might have been the key for Ye Ling to find Ye Feng.
As Ye Ling destroyed the Tongtian Tower, the entire research branch of the Hongchen Pavilion descended into utter chaos.
Soon, Hongchen Pavilion cultivators broke into the room where the Tongtian Tower was located and found Leiluo lying on the ground, unconscious.
At that moment, the alert level of the Hongchen Pavilion research branch was raised to the highest.
The main exits of the research institute were sealed as quickly as possible, and the Hongchen Pavilion began a carpet search of the entire institute, attempting to find the intruder.
Ye Yi, lying in the medical pod, was awakened by the piercing alarm. She slightly opened her eyes, opened the medical pod, and sat up, only to see Ye Ling sitting beside her, watching over her.
Hearing the piercing alarms outside, Ye Yi looked at Ye Ling in confusion and asked, "Mr. Kong, what happened?"
Ye Ling replied, "Judging by the alarms, it seems they're saying the Tongtian Tower was destroyed. I don't know what that means, but it's chaotic outside. I was afraid of being treated as an intruder if I went out, so I didn't investigate further."
"The Tongtian Tower was destroyed?"
Upon hearing Ye Ling's words, Ye Yi's expression changed drastically. She quickly jumped out of the medical pod, put on an outer garment, and hurried out of the room.
The Tongtian Tower was the most important item in their research branch, its value far exceeding top-tier spiritual medicines like the Three-Life Flower!
If anything were to happen to the Tongtian Tower, and they were to be blamed by their superiors, all of them would suffer.
Seeing Ye Yi rushing out, Ye Ling quickly followed, feigning ignorance and asking, "Miss Ye, where are you going now?"
Ye Yi, unaware that Ye Ling was the culprit behind this incident, said to Ye Ling with a grave expression, "Mr. Kong, stay close to me. The entire research institute is probably under lockdown. As a stranger, Mr. Kong is likely to be attacked if he's separated."
"What exactly happened? What is that Tongtian Tower? Is this matter very serious?" Ye Ling followed closely behind Ye Yi, asking urgently, as if he truly knew nothing.
Ye Yi said solemnly, "The Tongtian Tower is the most important structure in our Hongchen Pavilion. Its destruction now is a grave matter. I need to go to the scene to see!"
Ye Yi's tone became noticeably more anxious, and she immediately quickened her pace, heading towards the room where the Tongtian Tower was located.
Along the way, many cultivators were already searching various laboratories and rooms, apprehending anyone suspicious. If Ye Ling had not been following closely behind Ye Yi, he would have been stopped by those cultivators long ago.
Even so, Ye Ling was frequently questioned, and he needed Director Ye Yi to personally vouch for him.
At the same time, Ye Ling could clearly sense that a large number of powerful individuals from the Hongchen Pavilion were flying towards Shanghai.
Ye Ling followed behind Ye Yi, his gaze distant, a playful smile curling at the corner of his lips.
"This time... I've played a bit too big..."