Chi You's soul struggled within the rune cage, but no matter how he battered it, the runes easily repelled him!
"Release this seat at once! Do you hear me!"
Chi You roared at Ye Ling, his expression ferocious, yet a deep fear lurked in the depths of his eyes.
Chi You knew very well that he had stumbled upon a formidable opponent this time.
He was defeated.
His current struggles were merely a manifestation of his unwillingness to accept reality.
Ye Ling naturally saw through Chi You's unease, but with Buzhou Mountain already shattered, he had no time to deal with Chi You.
Ye Ling shifted his attention to the collapsing Buzhou Mountain, re-guiding the power of the Heavenly Dao to repair it.
With Buzhou Mountain now broken and its foundation damaged, the Immortal Realm and the Mortal Realm must have been affected as well.
If Buzhou Mountain wasn't repaired quickly, the Mortal Realm might face an apocalypse before long.
In that case, it would be uncertain if even a tenth of humanity on Earth could survive.
Seeing that Ye Ling was ignoring him, Chi You took it as a sign that Ye Ling didn't take him seriously at all. He became even more agitated, roaring at Ye Ling, "Ye Ling! Release this seat at once! Otherwise, this seat will surely make you regret it!"
"Ye Ling! This seat is speaking to you! Do you hear me!"
"Ye Ling!!!"
Chi You's spiritual body roared, the deafening cries echoing through heaven and earth like divine thunder descending from the nine heavens.
All the souls in the Underworld could hear Chi You's roars and feel a primal fear.
Even though Chi You was now a prisoner, his fearsome reputation remained.
However, no matter how Chi You roared and wailed, Ye Ling seemed not to hear him, continuing to repair Buzhou Mountain with the power of the Heavenly Dao.
The fragments of the cyan meteorites had now been absorbed to saturation, and the power of the Heavenly Dao manipulated by Ye Ling was no longer hindered. The vast Buzhou Mountain began to repair itself at a visible speed.
However, the bronze gate standing atop Buzhou Mountain remained unaffected by the power of the Heavenly Dao, standing on its own. The laws of time swirling around the bronze gate also made Ye Ling uneasy.
Xu Xiaoqing, bound by Ye Ling's demonic energy, had not yet regained her sanity. She kept trying to fly towards the bronze gate, constantly muttering the word "Father."
Even though Ye Ling had captured Chi You and was repairing Buzhou Mountain with the power of the Heavenly Dao, the bronze gate standing on Buzhou Mountain and the still-rampaging Xu Xiaoqing served as constant reminders to Ye Ling that now...
Everything had just begun.
After some time, once Ye Ling had completely repaired the shattered Buzhou Mountain, he looked at Chi You, who was gradually calming down, and said, "Shall we have a good talk?"
Chi You said coldly, "Unless you release this seat, there's nothing to talk about."
Ye Ling smiled, "Even if I release you, do you think you can escape my grasp?"
Chi You: "You!!!"
Being retorted by Ye Ling like that, Chi You was left speechless.
He knew in his heart that without a physical body, his strength was far inferior to Ye Ling's.
If it weren't for the intervention of other members of the organization, he would have absolutely no hope of escaping Ye Ling's clutches!
But...
The current situation had devolved into such a dire state that the possibility of other members of the organization intervening to rescue him was minuscule.
Seeing Chi You fall silent, Ye Ling continued with a smile, "In reality, there's no deep animosity between us, and there's no need for us to fight to the death. I'm quite curious about the Time Ruins. If we cooperate, I might just spare your life."
"To die so miserably here, a dignified ancient demon god, if this were to spread, your lifelong reputation would be ruined."
Chi You: "..."
Indeed, he didn't want to die here like this.
Furthermore, the Void Organization was a loose collective with few members and extremely high freedom. The Void Organization couldn't interfere with what its members wanted to do.
Moreover, their purpose for gathering was to open the Time Ruins. His current cooperation with Ye Ling wouldn't be considered a betrayal of the Void.
Chi You's silence now was merely due to his pride.
After all, he had just made grand pronouncements in front of Ye Ling. Now that he had been easily suppressed by Ye Ling and reduced to a prisoner, with countless beings in the Underworld witnessing this scene...
He found it difficult to swallow his pride and admit defeat.
Ye Ling, seeing Chi You's demeanor, understood what he was thinking. He smiled knowingly and removed the rune cage that confined Chi You, saying, "Maintaining the runes constantly consumes spiritual power. I don't see the point in us fighting each other. Besides, we both walk the demonic path. Give me some face, and let's cooperate?"
Ye Ling offered Chi You a way to save face, and Chi You immediately understood, seizing the opportunity to retreat. He coughed lightly, "Ahem... Since you're begging to cooperate with this seat, this seat might consider it."
"My defeat this time was solely because this seat lacks a physical body and cannot exert its full strength. If I had a physical body, I would never have been defeated by you. One day, this seat will get its revenge."
Ye Ling chuckled, "Then I shall await that day. How about it... shall we cooperate?"
"I'm also quite interested in that Time Ruins."
Chi You asked, "How do you propose we cooperate?"
Ye Ling replied, "Currently, I lack a lot of intelligence and don't have a clear plan. You tell me all the information you know first, and I'll consolidate it before formulating the next course of action."
"Let's start with Xiao Qing. Why did she suddenly go mad? And who is the 'Father' she keeps calling out?"
In the Book of Life and Death, Xu Xiaoqing's father was merely an ordinary mystic with no special background, nor did Xu Xiaoqing's ancestors have any special lineage.
Ye Ling was certain that the father Xu Xiaoqing was calling out to now was definitely not her biological father.
Chi You glanced at Xu Xiaoqing and said, "You should know, my objective is to find the Time Ruins."
"And to enter the Time Ruins, a key is needed, infused with soul and flesh. That key... might be a person, a dog, or even a leaf, a flower... the key can be anything."
"Since Xu Xiaoqing is the embodiment of the key to this bronze gate of Buzhou Mountain, her 'Father' is that gate."
"That bronze gate?" Ye Ling looked at the bronze gate standing on Buzhou Mountain with some surprise.
Chi You nodded, then continued, "Yes, it's that bronze gate leading to the Time Ruins. Xu Xiaoqing's madness is caused by the influence of the bronze gate, and she's going to merge with it."
Ye Ling asked, "Meaning, if Xiao Qing merges with the bronze gate, she can travel to the Time Ruins?"
Chi You shook his head, "It's not that simple. In this world, there isn't just one gate to the Time Ruins, and those gates don't necessarily lead to the true Time Ruins. Most of the bronze gates are fake."
"From ancient times to the present, our organization members have found no less than a hundred bronze gates and nearly twenty keys, but all those bronze gates without exception were fake."
"Whether there is the Time Ruins behind this bronze gate, no one can be sure."