"Dimensional Ascension?" Lingbao Tianzun shook his head. "Jialan and I are still just short of Dimensional Ascension. Even if we leave this place, we still won't be able to escape The Gray Layer..."
Yelander stared intently at the World-Ending Hand that had gathered once more, as if deep in thought.
A moment later, as though he had made up his mind, he slowly spoke:
"I can help you achieve Dimensional Ascension."
Lingbao Tianzun and Jialan both froze at those words, turning to look at him.
"In the original Fifth Universe, I left behind a contingency plan... and that contingency is here." Yelander raised a hand and pointed at the Heavenly Court beneath their feet.
Lingbao Tianzun seemed to realize something. His eyes gradually lit up, and with a beckoning gesture into the void, an object resembling a cabinet flew into his hand on its own!
"You mean... the Ark of the Covenant??"
"After I reached the half-step of Dimensional Ascension in the original Fifth Universe, I discovered that something was wrong with the universe. So I began trying to contact the higher-dimensional world, hoping to find a way out of this predicament... Then, at great risk, I entered into a covenant with the higher-dimensional world."
"A covenant with the higher-dimensional world?" Jialan asked in surprise. "Is that even possible?"
"I don't know... Although I ultimately succeeded in forming the covenant, the existence of the higher-dimensional world theoretically exceeded the scope of my abilities. Even if I activate the covenant, I don't know whether it will respond, nor do I know whether danger will arise in the process." Yelander's expression was incomparably grave.
Originally, after the original Fifth Universe was destroyed, I intended to forcibly activate this covenant and attempt to rise directly from the "half-step" into the higher-dimensional world... But