"Become the destined one?" Baima frowned, "What do you mean?"
The shadow chuckled, "Become the destined one, and you can break free from this world's shackles. Then, you can leave the Baiyu Continent."
"Don't you want to see Ye Ling? Only by becoming the destined one can you become stronger, escape this world, and go find Ye Ling."
"Escape this world, go find Ye Ling?" Baima murmured, a flicker of hesitation in her heart.
Over these thirty years, Baima had been subtly influenced by the jade token. Perhaps she didn't even realize it herself, but she no longer harbored much wariness towards the shadow.
Seeing Baima waver, the shadow smiled slightly and continued, "Baima, this world is too small for you. No matter your Tianlun Empire, or the entire Baiyu Continent, to true powerhouses, they are merely dust on their fingertips, scattered with a single blow."
"Baima, as long as you become the destined one, you will not only see Ye Ling, but also witness the real world!"
The shadow's voice, as if possessing some kind of magic, continuously poured into Baima's ears, causing her eyes to become somewhat dazed.
"See my benefactor... see the real world..."
Baima murmured, unconsciously using her spiritual energy to cut her palm. Crimson blood flowed from the wound, dripping into the jade token.
The shadow watched the blood drip onto the jade token, a sinister smile curling its lips. It continued, "Yes... yes, that's right. Sign a contract with me, become the destined one."
"Ye Ling, you just wait for me... One day, I will make you die by my hand!"
The shadow laughed. The moment Baima signed the contract with it, a large amount of black energy surged from its body, condensing into a pair of eyes above.
A flicker of playful amusement flashed in those eyes, and then they transformed into a black beam, drilling into Baima's forehead.
"Ahhhhhh!" Baima let out a cry of pain, her body entangled by black energy.
Soon, a second pair of eyes grew on her forehead, and Baima's gaze shifted from dazed to sinister.
"Hehehe... this body is not bad. I'll temporarily hide in this body to recover my strength. When she finds Ye Ling, I'll ambush Ye Ling!"
Baima muttered to herself. Immediately, the second pair of eyes on her forehead closed and disappeared, and the black energy that had been entwining her body was completely retracted.
Baima quickly regained her original aura, as if nothing had happened.
"What... what just happened?" Baima came to her senses, finding that the shadow had already vanished.
She thought of the strange black energy from before and quickly scanned her own body internally. She found that apart from becoming much stronger, there was no change to her body.
She could no longer sense the shadow's presence.
"That mysterious fellow... has he left?" Baima murmured. To be safe, she checked herself all over again, sensing no presence.
"That guy is truly strange... inexplicably giving me such immense power, what is his purpose?"
Baima couldn't fathom the mysterious shadow's intentions, but she felt more powerful than ever before.
It was as if with a single thought, she could shatter the Baiyu Continent!
Sensing the surging power within her, Baima no longer dwelled on the shadow's purpose.
"Forget it... I won't bother with that strange fellow... With this power, I can leave this world and go find my benefactor, right?"
Thinking of Ye Ling, Baima became excited again.
After reaching the pinnacle of the world, there was nothing left on the entire Baiyu Continent that could attract her.
She could now abandon the empire she had built without hesitation, shatter the void, and ascend.
"Better today than tomorrow. I'll shatter the void and leave this world today."
The thought crossed Baima's mind. The clear blue sky, which had been cloudless moments before, suddenly turned dim.
Rumble!
Dark clouds pressed down, and deafening thunder echoed in the sky, drawing the attention of countless beings on the ground.
"What is that?"
The people in the capital of Tianlun could all sense the powerful aura emanating from Baima. All beings looked towards the tall tower, seeing Baima standing alone at its peak, gazing at the lightning striking from the sky.
All beings seemed to see a god standing at the apex of the world.
At this moment, Baima felt no fear. She directly circulated the spiritual energy within her, preparing to break through the void in front of everyone.
"Baima, don't rush to leave."
Just then, Ye Ling's voice suddenly sounded in Baima's ear, causing Baima's expression to change slightly, and the power she had gathered instantly dissipated!
A trace of black energy surged in the depths of Baima's eyes.
"Benefactor?"
Baima quickly looked in the direction of the voice. She saw the calm space there subtly distort, and Ye Ling, with a smile on his face, walked out.
"You've returned?" Seeing Ye Ling's unchanged appearance, Baima's eyes suddenly welled up, and she said with a choked voice.
Ye Ling smiled, "I haven't left all these years."
"You haven't left?" Baima was even more shocked, looking at Ye Ling with disbelief.
If that was the case, Ye Ling had seen everything she had done over the years?
The thought of what she had done in her loneliness at night, thinking of Ye Ling, made her pretty face blush.
However, Ye Ling did not engage in pleasantries with Baima for too long. Instead, he looked at Baima and said, "Observer, you don't need to hide anymore. Come out honestly..."
"Really, I waited a full thirty years for you to make a move. How can your patience be so good? I'm getting a little impatient myself..."
"Benefactor? What observer?"
Baima heard Ye Ling's words, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes. However, her eyes soon became dazed, and the second pair of eyes on her forehead reopened.
The observer, controlling Baima's body, stared at Ye Ling with an unsightly expression and questioned, "Kid, did you deliberately set a trap for me?"
"How can it be called a deliberate trap?" Ye Ling smiled slightly. "I just quietly set a little trap in Baima's soul. All of this was you taking the bait yourself."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, the observer's expression changed slightly. He then tried to detach himself from Baima's soul, only to find that Baima's soul had been completely transformed into text, and his consciousness was locked within the soul!
"This is impossible! When did you modify Baima's soul?" The observer, seeing Baima's soul turned into text, stared at Ye Ling with disbelief and questioned.
Ye Ling raised an eyebrow, "What else do you think the cultivation technique I gave Baima was?"
The observer's pupils constricted sharply, and he exclaimed, "Impossible! Didn't you realize back then that Good and Evil were using you as bait, taking the blame for them?"
"Back then, you had already given up on yourself. Why would you still think of tampering with Baima?"
"Giving up on myself was an act, of course..." Ye Ling mocked the observer. "Otherwise, why do you think I was talking to myself back then? Of course, it was for you to hear."
"That Good and Evil were using me as bait to attract certain existences... I understood that when I went to the Primeval Upper Realm."
Hearing Ye Ling's mockery, the observer seemed to have suffered a great blow. He took two steps back, staring at Ye Ling with disbelief, and trembled, "Then you were willing to be used by Good and Evil? To be their scapegoat? Everything you're doing now is just working for Good and Evil!"
"Of course, I'm not willing..."
Ye Ling smiled slightly at the observer and, with a slight beckoning motion, pulled the observer, who was trapped by the text, out of Baima's body.
"However... as the saying goes, high risk, high reward. I work for Good and Evil, and they give me power... We owe each other nothing."
"Whether it's the creation power of Good or the runes of Evil, their methods have benefited me immensely. Without their power, I would probably still be suffering in the domain at the hands of the Lord of Heresy, how could I easily control an observer like you now?"
Ye Ling held the observer's meaning in his palm and chuckled, "Since those two bosses are so generous, what's wrong with me diligently working for these two big shots for a while until I accumulate enough capital?"
"As for being a scapegoat, as long as I kill all of you... then I won't have to die, will I?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words, the observer's entire body trembled, and a chill ran through him!
It was then that the observer realized...
This Ye Ling fellow... if the powers above don't intervene, he will become an even more troublesome monster than Good and Evil!