Li Jing, seeing the change in Ye Ling's tone, trembled and quickly said, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Nezha's nature is straightforward; he absolutely did not mean to belittle Your Majesty!"
As he spoke, Li Jing secretly tugged at Nezha, signaling him to lower his head.
After all, the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals were helpless against Yun Dandan alone, and it was Ye Ling's disciple, Ye Qiao, who defeated Yun Dandan. Ye Ling had not made a move from beginning to end!
From this point alone, Li Jing knew the vast gap between them and Ye Ling!
Having barely managed to resolve the scourge of Yun Dandan, if their rashness were to create an even more formidable enemy for the Heavenly Court, it would be adding insult to injury.
"But..."
Nezha still wanted to speak, but seeing Li Jing's gaze, he ultimately said nothing. He could only swallow the words that had reached his lips and apologize to Ye Ling, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I was presumptuous. Please forgive me."
Ye Ling looked deeply at Nezha and said no more, "Alright, since the mortal world's disaster is over, you should also withdraw your troops. Ten thousand Heavenly Soldiers have been gathered above the capital, which is also a problem for Hua Guo."
Seeing Ye Ling's firm attitude, Li Jing knew he could not take Ye Qiao and Yun Dandan away. He respectfully bowed again to Ye Ling, "Your Majesty, we shall take our leave first."
With his words, Li Jing pulled the unwilling Nezha back into the clouds and led the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals back to the Heavenly Court.
Ye Ling watched Li Jing and Nezha disappear into the clouds, his eyelids lowered, and murmured, "Could it be that someone in the Heavenly Court also knows about this trial and wants to interfere?"
Ye Ling was not foolish. From Nezha's strange reaction, he could tell that the Heavenly Court greatly valued Ye Qiao and Yun Dandan and desperately wanted to take them back.
Ye Ling did not believe that Li Jing and Nezha knew anything. After all, they were only at the True Martial Realm, while the battle between Yun Dandan and Ye Qiao was already within the scope of Saints. Li Jing and Nezha were at most acting on orders.
In other words, behind them, other Saints had given them commands.
As for the Saint who could command Li Jing and the ten thousand Heavenly Soldiers... Ye Ling did not need to think to guess who it was.
"Never mind, I'll think about the Heavenly Court after I've dealt with the matters at hand." Ye Ling shook his head, cast aside the matters of the Immortal Realm, and focused his gaze on Ye Qiao.
After winning the battle, Ye Qiao had once again lost consciousness, standing motionless in the air.
Bai Qiao was still bound by demonic energy chains, unconscious.
Ye Ling brought Ye Qiao and Bai Qiao from the air to him, then absorbed Yun Dandan's faint soul into his hand, probing it with his soul power.
As expected, Ye Ling found another unknown rune in Yun Dandan's soul. Moreover, judging by the structure of the rune, it was complementary to the rune in Ye Qiao's soul.
Upon discovering the rune in Yun Dandan's soul, Ye Ling did not hesitate. He drew out the rune from Yun Dandan's soul and sent it deep into Ye Qiao's soul.
As the unknown rune left Yun Dandan's soul, Yun Dandan's soul completely dissipated, no longer existing in this world.
Ye Ling did not have time to lament Yun Dandan's fate. He used his soul power to follow the rune deep into Ye Qiao's soul, witnessing the fusion of the two runes.
As the two runes merged, Ye Qiao's sealed memories surged out like a tide. The human-shaped spiritual body that had merged with Ye Qiao's soul at this moment broke its connection with Ye Qiao and was absorbed by the two peculiar runes.
"That human-shaped spiritual body is a consciousness entity derived from this rune?"
Ye Ling's eyes flashed with surprise as he saw the human-shaped spiritual body merge with the rune. However, before he could investigate the mystery of the rune, he felt a powerful suction force emanating from the two fused runes, beginning to pull at his consciousness!
"Such immense power!" Feeling the terrifying suction of the rune, Ye Ling was greatly startled and quickly withdrew his soul power, attempting to break free from the rune deep within Ye Qiao's soul.
However, the rune's suction force far exceeded Ye Ling's imagination. With just a slight struggle, Ye Ling's entire consciousness was sucked into the rune, plunging into darkness.
The moment Ye Ling lost consciousness, he vaguely heard some strange words.
"Finally, the victor has been decided. The previous successor was no good; I need to find a new one..."
"Eh? Another young man? Earth actually has supreme beings now, how novel! Let me see who this kid is?"
"Tsk tsk tsk... the Demon Emperor really found a good successor. He even gave the Soul Suppressing and the Desolation Domain to this kid. He truly cherishes him... No, if this continues, I'll lose to that guy!"
"Never mind... let's invalidate this trial. This time, I'll choose this kid too. I want to see whether my inheritance helps this kid more, or whether the Demon Emperor helps him more?"
Amidst a murmur that could shake the soul, Ye Ling fell into a dazed sleep, sinking into endless darkness.
After an unknown amount of time, Ye Ling slowly woke up in the darkness.
"Where is this place?"
Ye Ling looked around, but it was pitch black; he could see nothing.
Ye Ling wanted to use his soul power to probe his surroundings, but he found that there was no spiritual energy within him, nor could he sense his soul power. He felt as if he had become a complete ordinary person.
"My power is gone too... What exactly is going on?" Ye Ling sat in the darkness, carefully recalling everything that had happened before.
Memories gradually flooded his mind.
"I remember my consciousness was sucked into those two runes. Could this be some kind of space that imprisons consciousness?"
"Also, I could vaguely hear someone talking to himself, he seemed to be mentioning the Demon Emperor, inheritance, and such... Tsk! So painful!"
The moment Ye Ling recalled those self-talks, he suddenly felt as if his head was about to explode. He couldn't recall the complete words at all.
Having no choice, Ye Ling had to stop thinking.
After stopping his recollection and resting for a long time, Ye Ling's headache slowly subsided and returned to normal.
"It seems my memory has also been influenced by someone. That person's attitude towards the Demon Emperor is unusually casual. He must also be an existence of the same level. I've probably been targeted by some creator god again..."
Ye Ling shook his head and smiled, no longer trying to figure out what those forgotten words were.
After all, having his memory erased by a creator god was not a very shameful thing to admit.
Quickly putting the matter aside, Ye Ling stood up from the darkness and walked forward based on his intuition.
"Alright... let me see what's in this space? Why did you pull me in, and what is your purpose?"