The World-Ending Spirit Fire saw the dire situation within Dong Gua and quickly said, "Ye Ling, this Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao is rapidly withering. If you don't find a way to save her soon, I'm afraid the Dong Xuan Continent will be beyond redemption!"
"I know! But the situation within this girl is too complex; I can't save her in a short time!" Ye Ling replied rapidly. With no other options, he could only wrap Dong Gua's entire body with his spiritual energy to prevent the remaining Heavenly Dao power from draining away.
However, Ye Ling also knew that his current actions were merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause. If a solution wasn't found soon, Dong Gua would eventually die!
Duo Ma, standing nearby, was unaware of how crucial her daughter Dong Gua was to the Dong Xuan Continent. However, she could see Ye Ling's serious expression and asked with concern, "Immortal Master... is Dong Gua alright?"
Ye Ling found it difficult to explain too much to Duo Ma, so he could only say, "Her current condition is very bad. Take good care of her, and I will go find some medicinal ingredients to treat her."
Duo Ma immediately expressed her gratitude, tears welling up, "Then I entrust everything to you, Immortal Master. Please save Dong Gua!"
"Yes, take good care of her. Not a single mistake can be made!" Ye Ling secretly planted his restriction within Dong Gua's body. After handing the unconscious Dong Gua to Duo Ma, he soared into the sky. Watching Duo Ma place Dong Gua on the bed, he then set up the Unnamed Void Realm around the village, severing it from the surrounding space-time.
The World-Ending Spirit Fire said, "The Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao has received a tremendous shock and is being eroded by an unknown force. Even I don't know how to save her. What method can you, a mere boy, come up with?"
Ye Ling said with a solemn expression, "I see various forces of time and space intertwined within her. To find the cause of her illness, I must first clear out those intertwined forces of time and space. However, my comprehension of time and space is not deep, and during the creation of the new cultivation system, I've forgotten most of my original insights into the Great Dao. I can't resolve this on my own for the time being."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire immediately said, "Boy, you absolutely cannot count on me for this. I am completely ignorant of the laws of the Great Dao. I'm helpless in this matter!"
Ye Ling replied, "I wasn't planning on relying on you. Besides finding a supreme immortal who is proficient in the Great Dao of Time and Space, I recall there are ores related to time and space in the Ruins of Time. As long as I can retrieve some ores from the Ruins of Time, it should be able to resolve the intertwined forces of time and space within Dong Gua."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire then said, "Boy, the entrance to the Ruins of Time was collapsed by me long ago. How do you plan to enter?"
Ye Ling sighed, "That's the difficulty. The Ruins of Time are unlike any place in the Inner Universe. It is a void completely independent of the Inner Universe. Without finding a space-time node to enter the Ruins of Time, I cannot go in."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire suddenly realized, "So that's why you boy froze this village with the Unnamed Void Realm? I thought you were using this domain for something else! Turns out you're just stalling for time!"
"But boy, don't blame me for not reminding you. Heavenly Dao power is inherently not weaker than your Unnamed Void Realm. Even if you freeze the village's time, you can't completely stop the Heavenly Dao power from draining. Based on Dong Gua's condition, she can at most hold on for three months!"
"I know... I'll do my best in these three months." Ye Ling sighed again and immediately transmitted a message to the members of the Earth Demon Palace, instructing them to search with all their might for entrances to the Ruins of Time hidden on Earth and in the surrounding galaxies.
Although the bronze doors found by the Void Organization were buried along with the Void Organization in the Ruins of Time, this did not mean there were no other entrances in the universe. Now that Earth's Three Realms were showing signs of becoming a top civilization in the Inner Universe, it was not difficult for the Earth Demon Palace to expand their search to other galaxies.
After Ye Ling finished instructing the Earth Demon Palace, the World-Ending Spirit Fire said to Ye Ling again, "Boy, you've assigned tasks to the Demon Palace, so what's your next move? Aimlessly searching for an entrance to the Ruins of Time?"
"These three months, they are not short, nor are they long. If you don't have a specific goal or plan, I'm afraid they will pass by quickly."
"Furthermore, clearing out the chaotic and intertwined forces of time and space within the Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao is only the first step. You still need to find a way to prevent the Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao from perishing."
Ye Ling said, "I naturally have a plan, but the matter of the Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao cannot be rushed. Rather than blindly rushing around like a headless fly, it's better to seize the current clues and follow them to the end."
"Clues?" the World-Ending Spirit Fire asked curiously, "What clues do you have?"
Ye Ling looked in the direction of Qingshi City and said, "Let's start by investigating the black market in that city. The end of Dong Xuan, the great calamity of the Demon Palace... these events may not be unrelated. If we can find those men in black, perhaps we can completely save the Dong Xuan Heavenly Dao."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire asked again, "Since you're investigating the Dong Xuan Demon Palace, why don't you go back to your mountain gate directly?"
Ye Ling shook his head and said, "Generally speaking, it is only in these fringe areas, from minor details, that one can discern certain issues. If I were to return to the Demon Palace, everyone would fear me, and the internal decay might disappear entirely."
"At that time, some clues that could have been seen would be completely erased by those with ulterior motives."
The World-Ending Spirit Fire seemed to understand but was too lazy to think further. He said, "Fine, fine. Do as you please. The demise of this Dong Xuan Continent has nothing to do with me, and I'm too lazy to bother!"
With that, the World-Ending Spirit Fire fell silent and completely hid in Ye Ling's wrist.
Ye Ling glanced at the World-Ending Spirit Fire, shook his head, and smiled. Then, he transformed into a black streak of light and sped towards Qingshi City!
Qingshi City was a small city on the northwestern edge of Baiyu Prefecture. Its size was even smaller than a small county in China. Due to the continuous wars on the Dong Xuan Continent and Qingshi City's remote location with extremely scarce surrounding resources, fewer and fewer merchants came to Qingshi City to do business. Now, only the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled remained in Qingshi City, and even the city lord was bedridden, likely to pass away at any moment.
Ye Ling landed on the streets of Qingshi City and looked at the deserted streets around him, sighing, "Now that the Dong Xuan Continent has lost its Heavenly Dao, everything is in decline. I suppose cities like this are the norm on the Dong Xuan Continent."
Before Ye Ling left the Dong Xuan Continent, it was a prosperous place, with large cities everywhere, cultivators soaring through the sky and burrowing through the earth, and myriad races coexisting! But now, upon his return, everything had changed. The Dong Xuan Continent was like an old man in his twilight years, far inferior to Earth!
"Young master, want to have some fun? I'm very cheap, one low-grade spirit stone for an hour!" At this moment, a heavily made-up woman, spotting the distinguished Ye Ling, immediately approached him with a smile.
Ye Ling looked at the rather haggard woman and didn't directly refuse her. Instead, he took out a small piece of top-grade spirit stone from his spatial ring, tossed it in his hand, and asked the woman, "Miss, do you want this spirit stone?"
"Oh my! Esteemed sir! You should be more careful!" The woman's eyes widened as she saw the top-grade spirit stone in Ye Ling's hand. She quickly covered the spirit stone with both hands. "In this day and age, perhaps even the young masters and ladies from the Central Continent Holy Lands cannot afford spirit stones of this quality! Aren't you afraid of being robbed by being so ostentatious?"
Ye Ling smiled, "I'm not worried about my own life, yet you're worried for me? I have plenty of these spirit stones. Just tell me if you want it or not?" To Ye Ling, he could condense large quantities of top-grade spirit stones with a little spiritual energy. In his eyes, this top-grade currency, common on the Dong Xuan Continent, was not much more precious than pebbles on the roadside.
The woman swallowed hard, her gaze fixed on Ye Ling. "Yes! Of course, I do! With your words, sir, whatever kind of woman you want, however long you want to play, I can find them for you!"