Those cold eyes hung across the sky, staring indifferently at Ayun, who was writhing in agony below.
The mist that had once filled the surroundings with a sacred aura was now corrupted, turning eerie and frigid, and unnervingly viscous.
Ye Ling did his best to blend in with the viscous mist, enduring the discomfort and cautiously observing the eyes in the sky.
The feeling was entirely different from the eyes he had glimpsed in the Book of Origins. Ye Ling now perceived an extreme danger emanating from those eyes.
Ye Ling had a premonition that if he were discovered by those eyes, it would mean certain death, with no one able to save him!
The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire also sensed the instinctive danger, fell silent, and retreated as much as possible into Ye Ling's wrist, using Ye Ling's runes to conceal its presence.
Thus, the two brothers carefully concealed their aura, merging perfectly with their surroundings.
The eyes did not detect Ye Ling and the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire. They shot a beam of black laser light, striking Ayun.
"Ahhhhhh!"
Ayun let out a piercing scream of agony, her pained cries echoing around them. Just listening to her cries, Ye Ling felt as if he could sense the pain that penetrated the soul.
Amidst Ayun's screams, the surrounding Sacred Springs all dried up, revealing a large number of skeletal remains beneath them.
Those skeletal remains belonged to trial-takers who had failed in the Sacred Springs and been consumed by them!
Each skeleton emanated a black aura, corroding everything around it.
Under the illumination of the laser from the eyes, Ayun quickly fainted and fell straight onto the ground.
Afterward, the eyes slowly disappeared.
The Sacred Springs reappeared, and the surrounding black mist gradually reverted to the sacred white mist, as if nothing had happened.
A new batch of trial-takers appeared in the Sacred Springs, stepping into them once more to begin their trials.
Ayun, meanwhile, lay motionless on the mirror-like surface of the water, as if everything that had happened outside had nothing to do with her.
Ye Ling and the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire exchanged bewildered glances, completely confused about what had just transpired.
"Did... did those eyes leave?" the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire asked nervously, staring at Ayun lying alone on the ground.
"I don't sense its aura. It should have left..." Ye Ling replied in a low voice, but to be safe, he did not emerge, merely watching Ayun in the center.
Soon, the pair of eyes reappeared in the sky, causing Ye Ling's pupils to contract and a cold sweat to break out!
Good thing he hadn't emerged!
Ye Ling was immensely grateful for his caution, tightly covering his mouth, fearing he might betray the slightest trace of his presence.
The eyes scanned the surroundings once more, confirming the absence of any intruders, before closing their lids and vanishing from their spot.
"Damn it... what the hell is that thing? It even plays mind games?" the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire couldn't help but exclaim after seeing the eyes disappear, feeling a surge of lingering fear.
If it were anyone else, upon seeing the eyes vanish, they would likely rush to check on Ayun's condition.
And if they had, they would have been caught by the eyes, and the game would have been over.
Ye Ling felt his rapidly beating heart, took several deep breaths to calm himself, and then said, "That was close! It seems those eyes are even more insidious and cunning than we imagined. We can't afford to be careless around them."
"Yeah... if it weren't for your quick thinking, hiding for a bit longer, we would have all gone to the great beyond together."
The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire also marveled, then asked Ye Ling, "Kid, should we go check on Ayun? Those eyes seemed to have done something to her. Perhaps we can get some clues from her."
"Mmm..." Ye Ling nodded in agreement.
They had already come this far. If they were to leave without doing anything, it wouldn't make sense.
"Kid, be careful. Those eyes might still be playing the waiting game!" the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire warned Ye Ling again, its mood growing increasingly tense.
"Mmm... I'll be careful." Ye Ling nodded slightly, not approaching Ayun himself, but instead conjuring a clone to get closer to her.
If there was the slightest disturbance, he would flee without hesitation!
Ye Ling controlled the clone to approach Ayun, cautiously flipping her over. He discovered that a thick layer of black mist had appeared on Ayun's face, and her soul and consciousness were completely locked within that black mist, continuously withering. It was estimated that her soul would soon be scattered.
Seeing Ayun's condition, Ye Ling couldn't help but say, "Those eyes are trying to kill Ayun!"
The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire also saw Ayun's state through Ye Ling's clone's perspective and asked Ye Ling, "Kid, why would those eyes suddenly appear and attack Ayun? Shouldn't Ayun be working for those eyes?"
Ye Ling pondered the events that had transpired and guessed, "Could it be related to Ayun's emotional fluctuations and disordered consciousness earlier?"
"After the thousand paper cranes lost track of us, Ayun fell into deep self-doubt, and even her soul fluctuated. Perhaps it was because of this emotional change that the eyes deemed Ayun uncontrollable, and thus decided to eliminate her."
"If that's the reason, isn't it a bit far-fetched?" the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire doubted, not quite believing Ye Ling's explanation.
Ye Ling sighed, "We have no understanding of those eyes at all, nor do we know their true purpose. With such a lack of information, this is the best guess I can make."
"Alas... there's no point in us guessing here. Kid, Ayun seems to have no ability to resist now. What do you plan to do with her?"
"I want to save her," Ye Ling said.
"Save her?" the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire's heart skipped a beat. "Are you crazy? What if you attract those eyes back?"
Ye Ling said sternly, "Ayun knows many secrets. If we can win her over, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of those eyes, instead of wandering around like headless flies as we are now."
"The immense benefits we could gain by saving Ayun... I think this risk is worth taking."
The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire pursed its lips, "Putting aside whether we can win Ayun over, how do you plan to save her? Those black energies are already intertwined with her soul, and those black energies are clearly not to be trifled with. One wrong move, and we'll be done for."
"I have an idea... World Extinguishing Spirit Fire, lend me your spiritual power." Ye Ling said quickly.
"No problem. I'd like to see what you can do with it." The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire unhesitatingly transferred its power to Ye Ling.
Upon receiving the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire's spiritual power, Ye Ling converted all of it into the power of creation. Then, using the power of creation, he meticulously recreated a new Ayun, mirroring the original.
Next, Ye Ling covered the original Ayun with his Devouring Domain and Ink Between, attempting to decompose Ayun and the black energy ensnaring her into text.
Soon, under the effect of the Devouring Domain and Ink Between, Ayun's soul and the black energy that bound her were all transformed into text.
"It works!"
Seeing that the Ink Between was effective, Ye Ling's eyes lit up. He immediately used the Ink Between to separate Ayun's soul, now transformed into text, word by word, and then reassembled them into the new Ayun body he had created with the power of creation.
Within Ayun's body, only the textual black energy remained.
"Kid, your maneuver is too slick..." the World Extinguishing Spirit Fire exclaimed, witnessing Ye Ling transform Ayun's soul into text and then separate it word by word.
Originally, the black energy was intertwined with Ayun's soul and could not be separated. However, after being converted into text, Ayun's textual soul and the textual black energy became clearly distinct...
Just as oil and water cannot mix, Ye Ling divided Ayun's soul into countless characters, then extracted those characters one by one, and reassembled them into a soul... After completing all this, Ye Ling had not touched the textual black energy at all!
"Once the soul transforms into text, I can modify and move those characters using the Ink Between, so I wanted to try separating the soul bit by bit."
As Ye Ling spoke, he used the power of creation and the Ink Between to replicate Ayun's soul once more, then pieced together those created textual characters back into Ayun's original body, one by one.
Afterward, Ye Ling withdrew the Devouring Domain and the Ink Between...
The black energy then tightly clung to the Ayun soul created by Ye Ling with the power of creation, continuously corroding it.
The World Extinguishing Spirit Fire watched Ye Ling complete this near-perfect transplant and sighed, "Amazing... truly amazing, kid. You've really made the Ink Between sing."
Ye Ling smiled and collected Ayun into his small world, saying, "Let's go. This place is not safe to linger. If that eye returns, we're finished..."
However, sometimes, misfortune strikes when you least expect it.
As soon as Ye Ling finished speaking, one of the new batch of trial-takers successfully passed the third Sacred Spring and reached its depths.
He saw Ye Ling and the Ayun replica lying beside him.
"Who are you? Where is the Supreme Purity Palace's treasure?" the trial-taker asked upon seeing Ye Ling.
"We... are just passing through." Ye Ling turned back to the trial-taker, offering a somewhat awkward smile.
However, the trial-taker was not appeased. Endless killing intent surged into his eyes, and with a surge of supreme power, he stared at Ye Ling and said, "You... you stole the treasure, didn't you?"
He had finally reached the depths of the Sacred Springs by following clues from his jade token, only to find no treasure of the Supreme Purity Palace, but instead two people. He was on the verge of collapse.
"I didn't! Don't falsely accuse me!" Ye Ling quickly explained.
He didn't want to fight the trial-taker here and prepared to make a hasty retreat!
Boom!
But just then, the jade token at the trial-taker's waist erupted with dazzling light, and then a large number of young men and women whom Ye Ling had seen on Sky Cloud Island appeared in the depths of the Sacred Springs.
"Replicas of Emperor Ancestor... finally selected. It wasn't easy!"
"It took so long to screen them. Even Elder Ayun went mad, which is truly pitiful."
"However, we've all created replicas of Emperor Ancestor. Ye Ling hasn't caused any trouble. Has our plan been too smooth?"
The young men and women chattered amongst themselves, preparing to congratulate the trial-taker selected by the Sacred Springs, when they suddenly noticed two people in the depths of the Sacred Springs. They all froze.
"Wait? How could two people be selected?"
Confusion appeared in the eyes of the young men and women. However, when they saw Ye Ling, the smiles on their faces froze.
"Ye Ling?!"