Ye Ling noticed the Winged God race arbiter who had personally saved someone. Without hesitation, he directly used his divine soul to impact the arbiter's soul, scanning his memories.
Before the Winged God arbiter could even realize his soul had been invaded, Ye Ling had finished reading all of the arbiter's memories. He learned the truth behind the Ascension Tournament and located where Nuo Kong and the others were.
Within the Golden Sacred Tree that nourished the entire Winged God race, there existed a sacred artifact called the Golden Sacred Tree Heart.
The Golden Sacred Tree Heart fed on souls and possessed exceptionally powerful sealing abilities. It had been helping the Heavenly One God seal a certain mysterious entity.
Even within the Winged God race, only a very small number of people knew about the existence of the Golden Sacred Tree Heart.
However, due to Nuo Kong and the others' rebellion, the Golden Sacred Tree was severely damaged, causing a crack in the Golden Sacred Tree Heart. This made the entity suppressed beneath the Golden Sacred Tree increasingly restless, accelerating the wilting of the Golden Sacred Tree Heart.
Once the Golden Sacred Tree Heart completely withered and the sealed entity broke free from suppression, the Golden Sacred Tree would collapse, ultimately leading to the demise of the Winged God race.
Most critically, although the Golden Sacred Tree Heart fed on souls, it was extremely picky about the quality of souls. The Winged God race could not provide nourishment for the Golden Sacred Tree Heart by slaughtering indiscriminately.
Therefore, out of necessity, the Winged God race had to produce Golden Seeds using the Golden Generation, who possessed the power of the Heavenly One God. This was done to hold the Ascension Tournament, to select souls suitable for the Golden Sacred Tree Heart to devour, thereby repairing it.
Only trial-takers who could traverse more than half of the Golden Heavenly Ladder, whose souls could withstand the power of the Golden Seeds, were eligible to be selected by the Golden Sacred Tree Heart.
And only trial-takers who completed the entire journey, whose souls caused the Golden Seeds to sprout, were the souls suitable for the Golden Sacred Tree Heart to absorb.
As for those who passed more than half the journey and were absorbed by the Golden Heavenly Ladder after falling, it was merely because the Winged God race wanted to conserve energy and reclaim the precious Golden Seeds.
Because the selected soul food was very weak, the Winged God race also needed time to cultivate them. Furthermore, the Winged God race could not allow the secret of the Golden Sacred Tree Heart to be exposed. Thus, the Winged God race held the Ascension Tournament every thousand years.
"So this Ascension Tournament is just a slaughterhouse for selecting food for the Golden Sacred Tree Heart... It has nothing to do with the Heavenly One God. I misunderstood."
Ye Ling withdrew his soul power from the Winged God arbiter. He immediately lost interest in the so-called Ascension Tournament and instead became curious about the entity suppressed beneath the Golden Sacred Tree.
While Ye Ling was contemplating his next move, the Winged God arbiter could no longer maintain his composure. While pretending nothing had happened, he secretly contacted the high-ranking officials of the Winged God race, informing them of the situation and requesting powerful figures from behind the scenes to handle the unexpected events on-site.
After all, the arbiter was at best a mid-level manager and did not have the ability to handle such on-site emergencies.
"Ye Ling!"
At this moment, Nuo Ying descended from the sky in full view of everyone, landing in front of Ye Ling.
This time, everyone in Heavenly One City saw Nuo Ying, who had eight wings on her back, causing an uproar. The Winged God arbiter, who was reporting to the higher-ups, was also stunned upon seeing Nuo Ying.
Seeing Nuo Ying's high-profile entrance, completely disregarding the gazes of the surrounding Winged God race members, Ye Ling couldn't help but ask, "Did you discover something?"
Nuo Ying, her face filled with anger, said to Ye Ling, "I just returned to the sacred land of our clan. Guess what I found?"
Ye Ling followed Nuo Ying's lead and asked, "What did you find?"
"I discovered that a Winged God elder was secretly feeding the Golden Sacred Tree the souls of our clan members!" Nuo Ying exclaimed excitedly, as if she had uncovered something monumental.
Ye Ling, who had just received this information from the Winged God arbiter, feigned shock and frowned, "Isn't the Golden Sacred Tree your clan's sacred artifact? Why would it devour the souls of your clan members?"
"I don't know why... but the Golden Sacred Tree must have been corrupted by some evil entity. There must be a great villain within the Winged God race now!"
"What's worse, I just beat that elder severely to force the mastermind out of him, but he actually slandered the Grand Elder! It's simply outrageous!"
Nuo Ying clenched her fists, her eyes burning with increasing anger. "The Grand Elder must have been framed. Ye Ling... you must help me expose those bad guys and clear the Grand Elder's name!"
Upon hearing Nuo Ying's words, Ye Ling's carefully prepared response was stuck in his throat, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
He had expected Nuo Ying to discover the anomaly and naturally suspect her Grand Elder. However, from the current situation... Nuo Ying's trust in her Grand Elder was extraordinarily strong. Even in this situation, she still believed her elder without reservation.
Ye Ling sighed slightly and asked Nuo Ying again, "Then why are you appearing so conspicuously now? Do you have a plan?"
Nuo Ying shook her head, "No, Ye Ling, aren't you smart? Help me think of a way!"
Ye Ling: "..."
"Nuo Ying, if you don't have a plan, why appear so ostentatiously? I thought you were ready to turn against the Winged God race..."
"I, I was just too angry," Nuo Ying replied somewhat stammeringly, realizing she had acted impulsively.
"So... what should we do now?"
Ye Ling glanced at the Winged God race members surrounding them. He didn't want to rewind time again. He placed a hand on Nuo Ying's shoulder and said, "Forget it... You should come with me. I've already found out where Nuo Kong and the others are."
With that, Ye Ling took Nuo Ying and vanished from the spot, leaving the Winged God race members around the Golden Heavenly Ladder looking at each other, completely bewildered as to what had happened.
However, the Winged God arbiter seemed to have seen something shocking and quickly reported to the Winged God race's high-ranking officials, "Report, Elder... Something big has happened. Saintess Nuo Ying... she's back!"
...
The northernmost region of the Dragon Wing Continent, the sacred land of the Winged God race.
A colossal Golden Sacred Tree stood tall on the land, its golden radiance illuminating everything within the Winged God race's sacred land.
At this moment, the Winged God race's sacred land was in chaos, with numerous Winged God race members flying about erratically. A bruised and battered Winged God elder lay at the roots of the Golden Sacred Tree.
It was evident that this Winged God elder was the one Nuo Ying had severely dealt with.
Ye Ling and Nuo Ying appeared in the sky above the Winged God race's sacred land.
Nuo Ying had returned to her clan's territory once again. Looking at her clan members in chaos below, she asked Ye Ling, "Why did you bring me here? I just left..."
Ye Ling pointed to the base of the Golden Sacred Tree and said, "Nuo Kong, he's right there."