The gazes of everyone present were fixed on Ye Ling, casting a peculiar atmosphere over the scene.
Ye Ling felt the scrutiny from all sides, forcing an awkward smile onto his face. He greeted the young men and women, "Hello everyone... it's been a while, hasn't it?"
The youths exchanged glances, stunned by Ye Ling's unexpected appearance, and fell into a collective silence, unsure how to react.
Although they had prepared for Ye Ling to cause trouble, his sudden arrival at this particular moment had caught everyone off guard.
The World Annihilation Spirit Fire within Ye Ling's wrist, seeing the youths frozen, urged him, "Kid, while they're still dazed, make a run for it!"
"No need for you to tell me!"
Ye Ling hissed, his eyes gleaming. He immediately summoned chains imbued with his Devouring Domain, wrapping them around a nearby trialist and swiftly altering the trialist's soul.
"Everyone, I just remembered I haven't collected my laundry at home, so I'll be leaving now. We'll chat again next time!"
Ye Ling announced loudly to the crowd. With a sudden tug on the chains, he flung the trialist towards the assembled youths and then fled towards the Holy Spring at breakneck speed.
Ye Ling's sudden move finally jolted the youths into action, and they erupted with powerful auras!
"Quick! Some of you, protect the New Emperor Ancestor with me, and the rest, chase Ye Ling! Don't let him escape!"
A composed young man, having caught the trialist Ye Ling had thrown, shouted the order.
However, as soon as he gave the command, he felt something was amiss with the trialist he held, his expression shifting slightly.
"This is..."
The young man looked at the trialist in confusion. The trialist's expression had turned frenzied, and his life origin was becoming extremely unstable!
Seeing the trialist's state, the young man suddenly realized what was about to happen and cried out, "No! He's going to self-destruct!"
*Boom!!!*
The moment the young man shouted, the trialist detonated his life origin. The power of the three Holy Springs was unleashed, and a blinding flash instantly engulfed all the youths.
The powerful shockwaves of the explosion spread outwards, encompassing the area around Shangqing Mountain. The entire independent space began to collapse.
The World Annihilation Spirit Fire, witnessing the ensuing explosion, exclaimed to Ye Ling, "Damn it... Kid, you don't even forget to kill when you're running away! That trialist just said something slightly offensive to you, and you made him self-destruct?"
"Those people just now mentioned that the trialist was a screened replica of the Emperor Ancestor. I don't know what they need Emperor Ancestor replicas for, but my gut tells me it's better not to let that trialist live."
Ye Ling spoke rapidly, glancing back at the surging explosion. "Don't worry about them. This space is about to collapse, let's get out of here quickly!"
With that, Ye Ling transformed into a beam of light and ascended towards the peak of Shangqing Mountain within the space.
There lay a teleportation array that would return them to the Shangqing Mountain of the Origin Upper Realm.
Meanwhile, the trialists participating in the Shangqing Palace's entrance trials had all completed their tests and stood atop Shangqing Mountain, listening as Shangqing Palace disciples read out the palace's rules.
The young trialists' faces were filled with excitement and anticipation, preparing for their future studies at Shangqing Palace.
*Rumble...*
Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from afar. Shangqing Mountain began to shake violently, and the barrier outside Shangqing Mountain cracked, allowing a torrent of spatial storms to surge in from beyond.
"Wh-what is that?"
The trialists watched the sky split open and spatial storms pour in, all gasping in fear.
The sky... had it torn open?
Was this not the Origin Upper Realm?
"This space is collapsing! Quickly activate the teleportation array and escape back!"
An elder from Shangqing Palace and his disciples were all terrified and panicked. Disregarding the trial procedures, they immediately activated the teleportation array, intending to flee this space.
In an instant, trialists, Shangqing Palace disciples, and an elder from Shangqing Palace were all crammed together, scrambling towards the teleportation array.
The sudden influx of a large number of cultivators into the teleportation array caused it to overload and teeter on the brink of collapse!
"Get out! Stop pushing me!" The strongest Shangqing Palace elder, seeing that the teleportation array couldn't accommodate so many people at once, directly unleashed his power, blasting the uninitiated trialists away from the array and down Shangqing Mountain!
The trialists, already of low cultivation, were struck by the elder's might, their meridians shattering. They were then swallowed by the surging spatial storms.
Seeing their elder take action, the other Shangqing Palace disciples, fearing they too would be expelled, also attacked other trialists, pushing them all out of the teleportation array to reduce its load.
However, even after the Shangqing Palace elders and disciples cleared all the trialists from the array, it remained overloaded and unable to transmit.
In this life-or-death situation, the elder who had acted first no longer cared about anything else. His eyes gleamed with ferocity as he smashed the heads of two Shangqing Palace disciples beside him, tossing their corpses out!
"Eighth Elder?"
The Shangqing Palace disciples, seeing their elder begin to kill his own people, recoiled in fear.
The Shangqing Palace elder, addressed as Eighth Elder, saw that the independent space was already half-destroyed, his panic growing. He immediately shouted to the disciples, "You all retreat! I'll teleport out first, then stabilize the teleportation array on the other side, and you'll be the second batch!"
Though the Shangqing Palace disciples were unwilling to leave the teleportation array, they knew that staying would only lead to their deaths at the Eighth Elder's hands. Reluctantly, they moved away from the array, urging the Eighth Elder, "Eighth Elder, hurry and leave!"
As the Shangqing Palace disciples vacated the teleportation array, it finally stabilized and began to operate.
Seeing the teleportation array activate, the Eighth Elder let out a sigh of relief, a relaxed smile appearing on his face. "That was close... almost died in this wretched place!"
The Eighth Elder gazed at the rapidly collapsing independent space, his smile widening.
At a time like this, why would he care about the lives of others?
"Brother, we're cutting in line."
Just then, Ye Ling's voice sounded behind the Eighth Elder, startling him.
"Who?"
The Eighth Elder turned sharply. Ye Ling had somehow entered the teleportation array, bringing a group of surviving trialists with him.
Seeing another large group enter the teleportation array, the Eighth Elder's expression contorted, and he roared, "Get out..."
*Bang!*
Before the Eighth Elder could finish, Ye Ling kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying out!
The teleportation array activated, and the Eighth Elder watched helplessly as Ye Ling, along with the trialists, departed the space.
"No... No!!!"
The Eighth Elder's scream was swallowed by the spatial storm.
The entire independent space completely collapsed!