The ghost face on the left saw Ye Ling's determined gaze and, after a moment of silence, said, "It's not impossible to let you in, but we need you to give us something."
Ye Ling: "What is it?"
The ghost face on the left said, "The Spirit Devouring Qi you just released is the special spiritual power that can allow us to descend from this gate and escape smoothly. If you can give us more Spirit Devouring Qi, we will open the door for you."
"Spirit Devouring Qi?" Ye Ling was stunned and took out the mass of black energy sealed by runes. "Are you talking about this black energy?"
The ghost face on the left's eyes lit up slightly and nodded, "That's right, this is Spirit Devouring Qi!"
"It can devour all energy, including the shackles on us. As long as we have this Spirit Devouring Qi, we brothers can break free from this gate. When that happens, without our brothers' power, this gate will naturally open."
Xue Sha saw the ghost faces on the gate staring at the extraterrestrial black energy and quickly said, "Boss, that black energy is an extraterrestrial power, and we haven't fully researched it yet. We can't give it to them!"
"Since the two ghost faces can't come down from the gate anyway, we might as well destroy the gate directly. That way, we can get in without wasting our breath with them."
The ghost face on the right also said coldly, "Brother, why are you wasting time with those two brats? Let's be direct and kill them all. Then we can snatch the Spirit Devouring Qi."
"How long have we been trapped here since that guy was killed?"
The ghost face on the left glared at the ghost face on the right and said, "Ah You, how many times do I have to tell you, listen to my orders!"
The ghost face on the right was glared at by the ghost face on the left, and his words immediately stopped. He dared not disobey the ghost face on the left and could only reply, "Yes..."
This time, Ye Ling did not scold Xue Sha. He said to the ghost face on the left, "Xue Sha is right. We cannot agree to your terms. Let's try another one."
The extraterrestrial black energy involved too much. Ye Ling could not casually hand it over to others.
Especially these two unknown figures on the gate.
Upon hearing Ye Ling's answer, the ghost face on the left frowned, then said, "Since you are unwilling to hand over the Spirit Devouring Qi, we cannot open the door."
Ye Ling asked, "Can't we negotiate further?"
The reason he patiently spoke to the two ghost faces on the gate was twofold: first, the aura emanating from these two ghost faces was not weak, and their origins were unknown, making it impossible to ascertain their true strength. Once combat ensued, the risk would be too great.
Second, more than half of his energy was currently consumed by the Spirit Devouring Qi, leaving him with less than fifty percent of his normal combat effectiveness. If a fight were to break out, it would be disadvantageous for their side.
However, if the terms truly could not be negotiated, Ye Ling would not hesitate to force his way through.
After all, it was just a gate, and Ye Ling would not be stopped by them.
The ghost face on the left seemed to sense that Ye Ling was not to be trifled with, and moreover, they brothers were sealed on the gate and could not come out at all.
If Ye Ling were to force his way through, they might not be able to stop him.
But... if they obediently opened the door for Ye Ling, they would suffer a huge loss, and perhaps even face a threat to their lives. The ghost face on the left was unwilling to accept this disadvantage!
They had awakened because of the Spirit Devouring Qi in the first place. If they didn't get any Spirit Devouring Qi, they might not even be able to recoup the energy consumed by their awakening.
Since they were already unable to break free from the seal, if they continued to waste their strength here, their hope of escaping would become even slimmer.
The ghost face on the left weighed the options for a moment, then said, "How about this: as long as you give us half of the Spirit Devouring Qi, we will open the door for you and let you in."
"This is our bottom line. If you are still unwilling to agree, then try to see if you have the ability to force your way past the two of us."
"A friendly reminder, the former owner of this place has long since perished, but this is a rift connected to the outer realms. The space here is quite fragile. If intense spiritual energy fluctuations cause the space here to shatter, opening a gap in the cosmic barrier, you will be responsible for the consequences."
"Half..." Hearing the ghost face on the left's words, Ye Ling began to seriously consider his proposal.
According to the ghost face on the left, fighting here could cause the space to shatter and break the cosmic barrier.
The reason this universe could remain unmolested by extraterrestrial forces was precisely the existence of a strong cosmic barrier around its periphery, which prevented extraterrestrial powerhouses from breaking through.
If the cosmic barrier were to be breached here, allowing more extraterrestrial powerhouses to pass through, it would be a terrifying disaster for the entire universe!
Moreover, Ye Ling could also sense that the space in the Desolation Ruins was very fragile, even less so than the space on Earth!
The space here, let alone withstanding combat at the Dao Venerable level, might not even withstand combat at the Supreme level.
And giving up half of the Spirit Devouring Qi would not have a significant impact on Ye Ling, as he only needed to analyze the characteristics of the Spirit Devouring Qi to research a method to counter this technique.
Whether it was a whole mass of Spirit Devouring Qi or a small mass, there was no fundamental difference.
The only risk was what changes might occur to the two figures on the gate after they obtained the Spirit Devouring Qi.
After weighing the pros and cons and thinking it over, Ye Ling agreed, "I can agree to your terms and give you half of the Spirit Devouring Qi."
Xue Sha was shocked to see Ye Ling actually agree and exclaimed, "Boss, are you really going to give them the black energy..."
Ye Ling signaled Xue Sha to be quiet and then continued to the ghost face on the left, "We can give you half of the Spirit Devouring Qi, but we have another condition."
The ghost face on the left: "What condition?"
Ye Ling: "Let us go in to find someone first. After we find the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao of Earth, I will give you half of the Spirit Devouring Qi."
The ghost face on the right angrily said, "I've already told you, there hasn't been a Heavenly Dao imprisoned here for a long time. There can't be any Heavenly Dao consciousness inside. If you go in, don't find anyone, and just leave, then the final loss will have to be borne by the two of us!"
"Ah You!"
The ghost face on the left stopped the ghost face on the right again, then said to Ye Ling, "We don't care what you're looking for inside, but if you want us to help open the door, you have to hand over half of the Spirit Devouring Qi. This is our bottom line."
Ye Ling saw the confident look in the eyes of the left and right ghost faces on the gate, lowered his eyelids slightly, and began to think rapidly.
These two ghost faces did not seem to be lying. They did not believe there was any Heavenly Dao consciousness behind the door.
However, in Huang's memory, he had indeed sent the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao to this place, but in his memory, these two ghost faces had not appeared...
The memory and the facts did not match...
What went wrong?
Ye Ling's thoughts drifted.
After waiting quietly for a while, the ghost face on the right, not receiving Ye Ling's reply, asked again, "Hey... have you decided yet? My brother and I are constantly consuming spiritual energy, and we don't have much energy to waste with you."
Hearing the ghost face on the right's words, Ye Ling slowly came back to his senses, looked at the left and right ghost faces, and said, "Then I'll take a step back."
"I can give you half of the Spirit Devouring Qi, but you also need to tell me, what is this place?"
"And what is behind the door?"
Ye Ling realized that Huang's memory might be flawed.
This place...
Perhaps it was not simply a place to imprison the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao!