Behind the bronze gate, there was nothing but a few ancient formation patterns faintly etched on the floor, resembling an archaic array.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire scanned the room. "There's nothing special here either. Only these formation patterns on the floor are a bit interesting. They look like a teleportation array..."
Ye Ling closed his eyes and carefully sensed the surroundings. "There's no residual aura of Long Ye in this room. This place is likely exclusive to the Remnant Evil Clan. The formation patterns on the ground should be a teleportation array connecting the East Profound Continent and the Remnant Evil Clan."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire examined the formation on the floor again and suddenly recalled something. "Kid, I remember something. This formation on the floor is no ordinary teleportation array."
Ye Ling asked curiously, "Oh? What's special about this formation?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire replied, "Kid, look at the upper left corner of the formation. There are three intersecting formation patterns. Normally, teleportation arrays only use two spatial coordinates as points and two different formation patterns as mediums to construct a spatial channel for teleportation between these two points. Therefore, when constructing a teleportation array, we only need to etch two formation patterns representing spatial coordinates."
Hearing this, Ye Ling immediately realized, "Indeed, when constructing an ordinary teleportation array, one formation pattern represents a spatial coordinate, and two intersecting patterns represent a spatial channel between two points. So, what is this third pattern?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire said, "It represents time!"
"Time?" Ye Ling was stunned. He had never heard of such a teleportation array!
The World-Ending Spirit Fire continued, "That's right! It's time. This teleportation not only connects the East Profound Continent and the Remnant Evil Clan's territory, but it might also connect the past and the future!"
"Connecting the past and the future..." Ye Ling's brow furrowed, and a terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind. "If this formation can teleport to the East Profound Continent of the past... would the Lord of Remnant Evil directly enter the universe barrier from here?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire refuted, "The universe barrier is not as simple as you think. It can not only isolate the inside and outside of the domain but also isolate threats from other eras. If the Lord of Remnant Evil wants to enter the domain through a spacetime tunnel, he will still be blocked by the universe barrier."
"Otherwise, the Lord of Remnant Evil wouldn't need to go through so much trouble. He could have just returned through the spacetime channel of that research base."
Ye Ling then asked, "What if the Lord of Remnant Evil disguised himself as Long Ye?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire faltered, "This..." He hadn't considered this scenario.
Ye Ling continued, "The universe barrier can block attacks from outside forces, but similarly, it doesn't restrict the actions of beings within the domain at all. Long Ye, as a being within the domain and my disciple, is considered half a guardian by the universe barrier. It's highly likely that the universe barrier won't guard against Long Ye!"
"If the Lord of Remnant Evil transforms into Long Ye and returns to the East Profound Continent through this spacetime teleportation array, replacing Long Ye from ten thousand years ago, could he deceive the universe barrier?"
Hearing Ye Ling's analysis, the World-Ending Spirit Fire was greatly shocked. "What you're saying makes some sense! Although the universe barrier has consciousness, it's at most an artificial intelligence. It would never think of this move by the Lord of Remnant Evil! Perhaps the Lord of Remnant Evil wanted Long Ye's body precisely to enter the domain universe in this way!"
"The spacetime tunnel constructed by the Long Group was probably an experiment by the Remnant Evil Clan! An experiment to see if they could infiltrate the universe barrier!"
Ye Ling said solemnly, "The Remnant Evil Clan's plan is likely this. Their orchestrated blood sacrifice was probably to have the Lord of Remnant Evil reincarnate as Long Ye, and then deceive the universe barrier."
"Although the outside of the universe barrier is extremely strong, as long as the Lord of Remnant Evil infiltrates it, even if he only has one percent or one-thousandth of his strength left, he can easily destroy the universe barrier! At that time... without the protection of the universe barrier, capturing me would be effortless!"
"It's estimated that this era was formed after the Lord of Remnant Evil's plan succeeded."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire became anxious. "Kid! You absolutely cannot be captured by the Lord of Remnant Evil. We are in the same boat now. If you are caught, I will also die! We must destroy the Lord of Remnant Evil's plan!"
Ye Ling soothed him, "Don't worry. Since we have analyzed the Remnant Evil Clan's plan, and they haven't detected our presence yet, that's our advantage. It won't be difficult to disrupt this plan."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire urged, "Then hurry up! Destroy this spacetime teleportation array first. Cause some damage if you can. The Lord of Remnant Evil is too cunning; who knows what other schemes he has hidden!"
Ye Ling, however, shook his head. "No, that's just treating the symptoms, not the root cause. Even if we perfectly resolve this crisis and save Long Ye, next time there will be Zhang Ye, Li Ye appearing... For the Lord of Remnant Evil, this will only cost him a little more time."
"Time is what the Lord of Remnant Evil lacks the most... and we can't always be so lucky to stumble upon the critical point of the Remnant Evil Clan's plan. Moreover, if we act now, we'll only alert them, putting us in a passive position."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire became even more anxious. "Then according to you, we should just give up? If we stop it this time, there will be a next time. With this time, we might as well go back and upgrade the universe barrier, making it impossible for any being within the domain to enter or exit."
Seeing the World-Ending Spirit Fire's frantic state, Ye Ling chuckled. "Look at your lack of composure. Even if we have to die, I'll die before you. I'm not worried, so why are you so anxious?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire retorted, "If you die, won't I die too? Why wouldn't I be anxious? But seeing you so calm and collected, don't you have a way to break this predicament?"
Ye Ling replied, "I don't have a method, but I have an idea."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire's spirits immediately lifted. He quickly asked, "An idea? Tell me about it."
A flicker of madness flashed in Ye Ling's eyes. He said in a deep voice, "Since the Lord of Remnant Evil has always wanted to cause trouble for me, why don't we take this opportunity to kill him? Even if we can't kill him, we should cripple him, so we can have some peace for a while."
"Kill the Lord of Remnant Evil? Then we'll be safe?" The World-Ending Spirit Fire was stunned at first, then erupted in curses. "Kid, have you not slept? If I had the ability to kill the Lord of Remnant Evil, why would I be so anxious? The key is, what do you have to kill him with?"
"You brat, you don't know your own capabilities? Do you think you're invincible just because you created a cultivation system and reached the Emperor Ancestor realm? You've met the Lord of Remnant Evil before. He's a creator god who can decide the life and death of billions of timelines in an instant. If you charge at him with all your might, you probably won't even be able to pull out a single hair!"
"With your abilities, you want to wrestle with the Lord of Remnant Evil? Kid, are you making fun of me?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire thought Ye Ling was teasing him and became enraged, launching into a tirade.
Ye Ling, however, just watched him with a smile. "Don't be so impatient, listen to me first. The Lord of Remnant Evil is not an invincible being. Besides... didn't we kill Gui Que before?"
Seeing that Ye Ling seemed serious, the World-Ending Spirit Fire was stunned and stammered, "You, you brat... are you serious? You really want to deal with the Lord of Remnant Evil now?"
Ye Ling asked the World-Ending Spirit Fire, "Let me ask you a question first. What does the Lord of Remnant Evil need to do to bypass the universe barrier and return to our original era from this era?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire replied, "Didn't we analyze it before? He needs to reincarnate as your disciple, Long Ye, and use your disciple's identity to return to the past."
Ye Ling then asked, "Then to reincarnate as Long Ye, he must abandon his own body, right? And to imitate Long Ye, his soul power cannot be too strong."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire said, "So what? If he abandons it, it's not like he can't get it back. The moment he breaks through the universe barrier, he can probably retrieve all his power and return to his peak."
Ye Ling: "And before he breaks through the universe barrier?"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire faltered, "Before breaking through the universe barrier?"
Ye Ling: "Exactly! Let's tamper with Long Ye first. Then, when the Lord of Remnant Evil successfully reincarnates as Long Ye, and just after he succeeds but before he returns to the past, it will definitely be his weakest moment! We'll strike when he's at his weakest!"
"I've already calculated it. At that time, I'll use runes to seal and suppress him, and you'll tear and devour his soul. Our success rate in severely injuring him is at least seventy percent! If we're lucky, killing him might not be impossible!"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire questioned, "And then? Even if the plan goes smoothly and we successfully injure or even kill the Lord of Remnant Evil, how will we escape? The Remnant Evil Clan doesn't just have the Lord of Remnant Evil. There are other powerhouses, like that white-skinned man and the strong man, as well as a group of Great Dao Immortal Lords and Chaos Sovereigns!"
"Let me remind you, even if we can attack the Lord of Remnant Evil when he's at his weakest, he will definitely counterattack. At that time, I won't have the energy to deal with other enemies for you!"
Ye Ling smiled, "Don't worry, I've already thought of a retreat plan... If you can't destroy the Lord of Remnant Evil's entire soul, then tear off as much as you can, and then give me all those soul fragments back intact. I'll handle those soul fragments."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire doubted, "You can handle the soul fragments of the Lord of Remnant Evil?"
Ye Ling replied, "I can use the method of sealing you to distribute those soul fragments into my avatars. Then, according to the original plan, we'll scatter those avatars to every corner of the universe!"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, the World-Ending Spirit Fire realized the feasibility of this plan and discovered the immense benefits hidden within it! If the World-Ending Spirit Fire could devour the Lord of Remnant Evil's soul, even a small portion of it would allow his cultivation to skyrocket. This was something he couldn't achieve even after cultivating for billions of years!
Thinking of this, the World-Ending Spirit Fire's eyes suddenly lit up. "In this way, whether it's the Lord of Remnant Evil or the Remnant Evil Clan, to collect those soul fragments, they will inevitably linger in this era, and we can take the opportunity to escape!"
Ye Ling continued, "Not only that! We can play even bigger!"
The World-Ending Spirit Fire's eyes widened. "You have even crazier ideas?"