Ye Ling caught Ye You's aura, and his eyes filled with ecstasy. He suppressed his inner excitement and swiftly traversed the myriad consciousnesses within the altar, arriving beside Ye You's consciousness.
"Xiao You!"
The moment Ye Ling approached Ye You's consciousness, the altar began to reject him.
The souls surrounding Ye You's consciousness started to emit black mist, seemingly attempting to obstruct Ye Ling.
"Brother..."
Ye You's consciousness was still somewhat hazy. Seeing Ye Ling appear, she was surprised but could only manage a faint sound, unable to speak clearly.
Ye Ling quickly enveloped Ye You with his demonic energy, protecting her consciousness. "Don't say anything for now. I'll get you out of here."
The sacrificial ritual was about to begin, and Ye You's consciousness could be submerged at any moment.
This was not the time for reminiscing.
Boom!
The instant Ye Ling wrapped Ye You in his demonic energy, the surrounding black mist erupted violently. A multitude of black claws shot out from the mist, hurtling towards Ye Ling.
Any soul consciousness touched by those black claws was annihilated!
"Trying to stop me?"
Seeing the black claws attack, a cold glint flashed in Ye Ling's eyes. Overwhelming demonic energy surged from within him, shattering all the black claws!
After destroying the surrounding black claws, Ye Ling also seized the Three Yuan Star Lord's bracelet, which was similarly corrupted by the black mist. He then fled the altar with Ye You's soul consciousness.
As Ye Ling attempted to leave, the black mist surged forward in a frenzy, with numerous black claws emerging to ensnare him.
However, no matter how ferocious the black mist became, it could not penetrate within ten meters of Ye Ling!
In less than a breath, Ye Ling, carrying Ye You's soul consciousness, passed through billions of souls and exited the altar.
The moment Ye Ling left the altar, the entire structure erupted with an extremely powerful aura. Several black claws shot out, latching onto Ye Ling's ankles and Ye You's body, as if attempting to drag them back into the altar!
Ye Ling did not hesitate, slashing at the emerging black claws. Simultaneously, he returned Ye You's soul consciousness to her body, attempting to awaken her.
However, before Ye You could awaken, the black claws that Ye Ling had just destroyed reformed and rapidly lunged towards him.
"Time law acting up again?"
Seeing the unyielding claws, a shadow of gloom crossed Ye Ling's eyes. He immediately shielded Ye You with his demonic energy and turned his attention to the altar, attempting to destroy it.
Unfortunately, the outcome was as Ye Ling had predicted. After being damaged, the altar was reshaped by the time law in less than a tenth of a second.
Unless Ye Ling himself mastered the law of time, his only way to destroy the altar would be to forcefully shatter it with demonic laws.
The problem, however, was that Earth could not withstand the confrontation of two supreme laws. If Ye Ling chose this path, Earth would become a dead planet.
In other words, Ye Ling currently had no way to destroy this altar!
"Troublesome..."
Recognizing the situation, Ye Ling quickly abandoned the idea of destroying the altar. He swiftly evaded the black claws and led Ye You away from the altar's center.
As Ye Ling departed with Ye You, the black mist within the altar seemed to lose its core. It diffused into vast quantities of black mist, swirling erratically above the altar.
The aura of the black mist was exceptionally strange.
"What exactly are these claws? That black mist is quite peculiar, it's not the power of my inner demon..." Ye Ling gazed at the swirling black claws above the altar, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
The black claws themselves posed no significant threat to him, but their aura was remarkably strange, as if they shouldn't exist in this world at all.
What made him feel even more uneasy was that the power contained within those black claws had no connection whatsoever to his inner demon!
Based on the information gathered so far, the inner demon was most likely the mastermind behind this sacrificial ritual. The altar within the Tongtian Tower was the core of the entire plan, and the power contained within it should, by all accounts, bear the imprint of the inner demon.
Yet, in reality, the inner demon had only erected a moderately strong spiritual energy barrier outside the Tongtian Tower and had made no further moves. Even when the inner demon had personally appeared to stop him, Ye Ling had repelled it with minimal effort.
Even if the inner demon was unwilling to burn its life essence, there were still many other ways to prevent Ye Ling from saving Ye You.
From this series of events, the inner demon's desire to resist Ye Ling was far less than Ye Ling had anticipated.
It was as if the inner demon had deliberately lost, allowing Ye Ling to rescue Ye You.
Ye Ling suddenly felt that the successful execution of the sacrificial ritual was not what the inner demon desired.
The inner demon also wished for this sacrificial ritual to fail, but for some reason, it could not articulate it.
But if this were the truth, it would mean that this was not orchestrated or led by the inner demon.
Who, then, was the true mastermind?
"If my inner demon is merely a pawn for someone else..." Ye Ling murmured, finding the entire situation utterly absurd.
No matter how outlandish this speculation seemed, after seeing the statues of the three Creation Gods, Ye Ling understood that there must be higher-level powerhouses in the universe.
If it were a Creation God-level existence, then manipulating him and his inner demon would be incredibly easy.
Furthermore, during the era when the Nine Heavens Realm existed, he seemed to have received a similar inherited power from a Creation God.
Regardless of what that power represented, Ye Ling knew clearly that he could not have obtained that inheritance without paying a price.
Ye Ling now realized that after following Zhang Xiaoling into the valley containing the Creation God statues, he had been drawn into a colossal conspiracy from which he could no longer escape.
"Thinking about it this way, this matter is too deeply intertwined. It's not suitable to consider these things right now," Ye Ling shook his head, pushing the matter aside for the moment.
He had a premonition that if he pursued this line of thought, he might uncover unexpected information!
This thread needed to be investigated, but not now.
He didn't have that much time.
The immediate priority was to stop this sacrificial ritual and restore Earth to its original state.
"Ye You's consciousness seems to be the core of this sacrificial ritual. After I took Ye You away, the ritual showed no signs of collapse and is proceeding in an orderly fashion..."
"Did I overlook something? Did I fail to find the key to stopping the sacrificial ritual?"
Ye Ling stood at a distance with the unconscious Ye You, carefully observing the altar before him, but could discern nothing.
Just as Ye Ling was contemplating how to stop the sacrificial ritual, the ten-minute limit mentioned by the inner demon expired. The altar began to glow with a dazzling blood-red light.
Boom!
A large amount of black mist surged out of the altar, piercing through the peak of the Tongtian Tower and shooting towards the heavens!
"The ritual has begun!"
Seeing this, Ye Ling immediately exited the Tongtian Tower with Ye You. He witnessed a red pillar of light shooting skyward, connecting heaven and earth.
"Ye Ling, quickly help me! The altar in the human realm is draining my power, and I can't hold on much longer!"
Shortly after the red pillar of light penetrated the heavens, the voice of the Heavenly Dao, filled with urgency, echoed in Ye Ling's mind.
"Heavenly Dao?"
Ye Ling hadn't expected that this catastrophe would also affect him!
Once the Heavenly Dao's power was depleted, Earth's order would also collapse. The consequences would be similar to Ye Ling confronting the law of time with demonic laws.
This time, it was an apocalyptic crisis for Earth!