"Heart of Darkness..."
Ye Ling murmured the words and then smiled at Tian Xing, "Your suggestion is good. Do you know where the Heart of Darkness is?"
Tian Xing replied, "It's in my Tian Xing City. However, the Heart of Darkness is not under my care; it is guarded by the Hundred-Armed God, created by the Lord of the Upper Realm."
Ye Ling asked, "How strong is the Hundred-Armed God?"
Tian Xing responded, "I'm not sure. The Hundred-Armed God has never left Tian Xing City, and I've never fought him, so I don't know his true strength."
"But since the Hundred-Armed God is the guardian of the Heart of Darkness, his strength must be greater than mine. I just don't know who is stronger between you and him."
Ye Ling pondered for a moment and then asked Tian Xing again, "By the way, are you familiar with the Hundred-Armed God?"
Tian Xing was taken aback, "Why do you ask?"
Ye Ling directly stated, "I want to use you to achieve something."
Tian Xing replied, "As the City Lord of Tian Xing City, I do have some interactions with the Hundred-Armed God. Although we are not close, we at least know each other and can exchange a few words."
"However, don't blame me for not telling you. The Hundred-Armed God, being a confidant of the Lord of the Upper Realm and having never left Tian Xing City, is not clear about the situation in the Chaos Battlefield. He has always regarded the Lord of the Upper Realm as his true master, so it's unlikely you can persuade the Hundred-Armed God to surrender."
Ye Ling smiled, "Don't worry. Since I learned that the power of darkness might damage the Soul Suppressing Ladder, I no longer intend to recruit any dark creatures. I just need you to find a reason to spar with the Hundred-Armed God, and then I'll ambush him from behind."
Tian Xing said incredulously, "You want to ambush the Hundred-Armed God?"
Ye Ling asked in surprise, "What? Can't I ambush?"
Tian Xing replied, "It's not that... I thought you were the kind of person who preferred open challenges. I didn't expect you to resort to such a despicable tactic as ambush."
Ye Ling, however, was nonchalant, "Dark creatures are my mortal enemies. Why should I show them martial ethics? If I can kill them with three-tenths of my strength through an ambush, why should I fight them with all my might? Not to mention the risk of failure in a head-on battle."
Tian Xing sighed, "I have a new perspective on you. However, I quite like people like you who possess immense ambition and are not afraid to use despicable means."
"In all aspects, ambushing the Hundred-Armed God is indeed the best plan."
"Although I don't know your chances in a direct confrontation with the Hundred-Armed God, I believe that if you ambush him, he definitely won't survive."
Ye Ling smiled, "Thank you for the compliment."
Tian Xing added, "If you want to obtain the Heart of Darkness, I suggest you hurry to Tian Xing City immediately. News of my betrayal might not have spread yet, but once the Lord of the Upper Realm issues a decree from the Abyss of Nothingness, I won't be able to enter Tian Xing City, and your plan will be impossible."
"I have one last question."
Ye Ling looked at Tian Xing, who was conversing with him from within his small world, and asked, "You didn't have to tell me about the Heart of Darkness. If I didn't go after it, we would have had much less trouble, and your chances of reaching the Origin Upper Realm would have been higher. Why did you reveal the Heart of Darkness?"
Tian Xing smiled and said, "Perhaps I just like ambitious men... But then again, my life is in your hands now, and I'll need your protection in the Origin Upper Realm. If I don't offer something substantial to please you, I won't feel at ease."
Hearing Tian Xing's answer, Ye Ling shook his head and smiled, "Alright, your reason is valid. After I deal with the dark creatures in Luofeng City, we'll head to Tian Xing City."
With that, Ye Ling completely concealed his aura while secretly accumulating power.
Seeing Ye Ling's actions, Tian Xing couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing now?"
Ye Ling replied, "Practicing ambushing."
"Ah?" Tian Xing was surprised again.
The next moment, Ye Ling transformed into a streak of light and attacked the two shadow pillars in the air with lightning speed.
The two shadow pillars were still contemplating where Tian Xing might be when they suddenly felt a chill on their necks.
"What happened?"
The two shadow pillars exchanged bewildered glances. Before they could even figure out what was happening, they discovered that their heads had been severed from their bodies, and their entire forms were bound by dark chains.
"Devouring Domain."
At this moment, a cold voice reached their ears. Then, they saw their bodies rapidly turning into mummified husks, their internal powers completely absorbed.
The two realized that something was wrong, but before they could resist, their vision went black, and they lost consciousness completely.
The two shadow pillars never imagined...
"Devouring Domain" were the last four words they would ever hear in their lives.
Ye Ling stood in the sky, retracted the chains, and looked at the overwhelming swarm of dark creatures surrounding him. He chuckled, "Now, it's time to sweep away the trash!"
Buzz—!
As Ye Ling's words fell, the Devouring Domain expanded outwards from him, instantly covering an area of a million miles!
A colossal black hole formed above Luofeng City. The power of hundreds of millions of dark creatures was instantly devoured by the Devouring Domain, turning them into dust in an instant!
In less than ten seconds, all the dark creatures within a million-mile radius were completely absorbed by the Devouring Domain!
A massive amount of dark energy surged into Ye Ling's body, neutralized by his soul-suppressing power, and transformed into a new, integrated strength.
However, to Ye Ling's surprise, a small portion of the dark energy he absorbed was being consumed by the World-Destroying Spirit Fire.
"World-Destroying Spirit Fire?"
Ye Ling noticed the World-Destroying Spirit Fire beginning to devour the dark energy and felt a bad premonition. However, since the World-Destroying Spirit Fire was still unconscious, Ye Ling couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.
Tian Xing, who was in the small world, seemed to know something and said to Ye Ling, "Ye Ling, you'd better be careful. The World-Destroying Spirit Fire is showing signs of returning to its ancestral state."
"The World-Destroying Spirit Fire returning to its ancestral state?" Ye Ling was stunned. "What does that mean?"
Tian Xing explained, "The World-Destroying Spirit Fire was directly differentiated from the Origin Power of the Lord of the Upper Realm. In a sense, it is a manifestation of the Lord of the Upper Realm."
"Even though it has a connection with the Lord of the Upper Realm through the Soul Suppressing Ladder, judging by its current absorption of dark energy again, it is slowly re-establishing its connection with the Lord of the Upper Realm."
Ye Ling frowned, "The World-Destroying Spirit Fire has returned to the dark creatures? How is that possible?"
Tian Xing replied, "Perhaps it has absorbed too much dark energy recently and has been corrupted by it... I don't know the specifics of what you experienced; only you know that."
Hearing Tian Xing's words, Ye Ling immediately recalled the dark fog he had passed through when he escaped the Ruin of Wrath.
At that time, he was corrupted by a large amount of dark energy, and perhaps the World-Destroying Spirit Fire, in order to save him, had voluntarily consumed all the dark energy.
Realizing this, Ye Ling's heart ached, and he asked Tian Xing, "Do you have any way to reverse this?"
Tian Xing replied, "In this situation... your only options are to kill the Lord of the Upper Realm or kill the World-Destroying Spirit Fire."
Ye Ling's body trembled!