"You're called Dong Gua?"
Ye Ling looked at the girl with surprise, asking incredulously.
Dong Gua looked at Ye Ling with some confusion: "Is there a problem with that? Most of my village companions use nicknames."
Ye Ling asked again: "Then what's your real name?"
Upon hearing Ye Ling's question, Dong Gua's eyes instantly dimmed, and she fell silent.
Seeing Dong Gua's expression change, Ye Ling realized he had said something wrong and quickly apologized: "Sorry, that was thoughtless of me."
On the Eastern Profound Continent, many villages had this custom. After children underwent the sacrificial baptism at sixteen and successfully passed the beast-hunting trial, the priest would bestow a true name upon the child.
Although Dong Gua had lived in the black hole for a considerable time, her mental age was only sixteen or seventeen. She appeared not to have undergone the beast-hunting trial yet and likely hadn't received her real name.
After a moment of silence, Dong Gua quickly recovered and smiled at Ye Ling: "It's okay. After so long, I've gotten used to it. Now I just want to go back to the Eastern Profound Continent."
Ye Ling looked at Dong Gua's forced smile, knowing that now was not the time to investigate whether Dong Gua was the reincarnation of the Eastern Profound Heavenly Dao. He said to Dong Gua, "I remember you said you were from Bai Yu Prefecture, right? Where in Bai Yu Prefecture is your village? We'll go straight there."
Dong Gua's eyes lit up when Ye Ling mentioned returning to the Eastern Profound Continent, and she immediately replied, "My village is south of Qing Shi City in Bai Yu Prefecture, between Wu Ji Mountain and Bai Niao Mountain!"
"Qing Shi City..."
Hearing Dong Gua's words, Ye Ling closed his eyes and recalled the complete map of the Eastern Profound Continent imprinted in his mind. He finally located such a small city on the northwestern edge of Bai Yu Prefecture.
"Qing Shi City is just a border town. There are no spiritual herbs or minerals nearby, and the land is quite barren. It's a completely insignificant town with no strategic value. Even if the Demon Palace wanted to conquer Bai Yu Prefecture, there would be no need to specifically kill their way to the northwestern edge of Bai Yu Prefecture!"
Although Bai Yu Prefecture was considered relatively prosperous within the Eastern Profound Continent, most of its resources were concentrated in the central region. If the ambitious individuals of the Eastern Profound Continent truly intended to occupy Bai Yu Prefecture, they would only target the central region and would not advance towards the northwestern border.
In this light, Ye Ling became even more convinced that the force attacking Dong Gua's village was merely a faction masquerading as the Demon Palace.
What's more, the attackers were probably targeting the village specifically for Dong Gua!
Thinking of this, Ye Ling looked at Dong Gua again, subconsciously linking her with the Eastern Profound Heavenly Dao.
If Dong Gua were truly just a village girl, the mysterious person behind her wouldn't have gone to so much trouble for her.
Dong Gua's nickname overlapping with the Eastern Profound Heavenly Dao's might not be a coincidence.
Dong Gua felt a little embarrassed under Ye Ling's gaze and asked, "Wh-what are you thinking?"
Ye Ling snapped back to attention, withdrew his gaze, and said to Dong Gua, "Sorry, I just recalled some past events. If you don't need to prepare anything, we can leave now."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Dong Gua quickly said, "Wait, wait! I'll erase this formation first!"
Saying that, Dong Gua busily wiped away the formation at the edge of the planet.
At this moment, the World-Ending Spiritual Fire said, "Kid, have you noticed that the formation the girl drew is no ordinary teleportation formation."
Ye Ling nodded: "Yes, I noticed. This formation has many obscure and profound patterns that even I haven't seen before. A formation of this level is likely at the Chaos Lord level..."
World-Ending Spiritual Fire: "You're not mistaken. The formation the girl drew is called the 'Abyssal Array,' created by a Great Dao Immortal Lord from outside the domain who was proficient in formations. Its effect is not to break through barriers but a killing array that generates immense power by absorbing the forces of heaven and earth. If the girl were to truly unleash it, the spiritual energy of this inner universe might be drained dry by the Abyssal Array!"
Ye Ling frowned: "This formation is so sinister?"
World-Ending Spiritual Fire: "It's just that this inner universe cannot withstand a formation of this level. However, no matter who taught this girl the Abyssal Array, that person definitely had malicious intentions. Kid, you need to be careful, there might be unknown dangers hidden in this inner universe."
Ye Ling nodded slightly: "I understand... I'll be careful."
Under Ye Ling's gaze, Dong Gua fumbled to wipe away the formation she had painstakingly drawn and said to Ye Ling, "I'm done here, we can go."
"Good." Ye Ling nodded, then asked casually, "What was the formation you drew?"
Dong Gua replied, "Oh... this is the Abyssal Array I learned in the black hole. They say it can break through all barriers. I originally intended to use this formation to break through that giant black shell, but now that the Emperor is here, there's no need to continue building it."
"Oh..." Ye Ling nodded slightly, paying close attention to all the inheritances Dong Gua had learned. He then focused his attention on the black shell outside the Eastern Profound Continent and located Qing Shi City in Bai Yu Prefecture.
Golden spiritual energy spread out from Ye Ling's body, quickly enveloping the giant black shell on the outer layer of the Eastern Profound Continent.
Crack!
The next moment, cracks began to appear on the outer layer of the giant black shell, and time within the Eastern Profound Continent began to flow again.
The World-Ending Spiritual Fire quickly said, "Kid, be careful not to destroy this entire domain. Leave a fragment for me to study!"
"Mhm!"
Ye Ling responded softly, his gaze then sharpening.
"Break!"
Boom!
The giant black shell covering the Eastern Profound Continent shattered, and dazzling golden light spread out, illuminating the surrounding universe.
A decaying aura flowed out from within the Eastern Profound Continent, making the entire continent feel like a dying old man on the verge of collapse!
The Heavenly Dao was extinguished!
Ye Ling's gaze narrowed. He could no longer sense the presence of the Eastern Profound Heavenly Dao!
His divine soul quickly scanned the Eastern Profound Continent. Ye Ling then sealed a fragment of the domain and, taking Dong Gua with him, transformed into a beam of light, flying towards Qing Shi City in Bai Yu Prefecture of the Eastern Profound Continent!
Eastern Profound Continent, Bai Yu Prefecture, south of Qing Shi City.
The sky was a dull gray, the atmospheric pressure was extremely low, and everything around was devoid of life.
The surrounding spiritual energy was also exceptionally thin, even less than that of Earth in the past! The Great Winds Novel.
The Eastern Profound Continent was in an era of spiritual decline!
Ye Ling landed on the summit of Wu Ji Mountain with Dong Gua. He glanced at the withered trees around him, lowered his gaze, and murmured, "The Heavenly Dao has fallen, the Great Dao is unpredictable... The Eastern Profound Continent has already begun its countdown to destruction."
The World-Ending Spiritual Fire said, "It seems that the person who froze time in the Eastern Profound Continent deliberately prevented it from perishing. They wanted to deliberately bring you back to experience all this. Could it be that they want you to witness the demise of the Eastern Profound Continent with your own eyes? That person's heart is truly malicious!"
Ye Ling shook his head: "I'm not sure of the other party's intentions at the moment... However, everything about the Eastern Profound Continent feels wrong. I need to investigate further."
While Ye Ling and the World-Ending Spiritual Fire were talking, Dong Gua looked at the distant firelight and exclaimed, "The village!!!"