Ling Ye gripped the grayish-white Small Stone tightly. His knuckles had gone white from exertion, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged faintly. There was no trace of his usual laziness or disdain left on his face, only a gravity Su Wanqing had never seen before, almost frozen in place. The faint bead of cold sweat at his temple stood out starkly beneath the gentle light of the living room.
"Trouble..."
"This time... there's really... big trouble..."
"Those old bastards whose noses are sharper than dogs'... must have sensed it already..."
His low, hoarse muttering sounded like a tolling death knell, striking Su Wanqing's heart again and again and leaving her cold all over. She did not understand what the stone was, but she clearly sensed the big shot's fear—yes, fear! It was extremely faint, but it was undeniably fear! There was no faking it.
An existence that could frighten the supreme will into retreat and stomp a planet beneath his foot without changing expression was actually afraid because of a Small Stone?
Then what kind of terrifying calamity did this stone represent?!
Ling Ye suddenly drew a deep breath, seemingly forcing down his surging emotions. He stopped gazing into the void and abruptly lowered his head, focusing once more on the culprit in his palm.
His gaze turned razor-sharp. Deep in his pupils, countless stellar trajectories seemed to be frantically deducing and calculating. He extended the index finger of his other hand. A speck of chaotic radiance gathered at his fingertip, and with extreme caution, like someone defusing a bomb, he gently touched the stone's surface.
The instant his fingertip touched the stone—
"Vmmm..."
The rough, uneven patterns on the stone's surface flickered extremely faintly, as if a sleeping circuit had been activated for a brief instant! A clearer, more fundamental strange fluctuation, seemingly the "origin point" of the entire multiverse, rippled toward the depths of the endless dimensions like a stone cast into a calm lake. It was faint, yet unwavering.
"Damn it! The Boundary Membrane's self-manifesting pattern hasn't fully fallen silent yet!" Ling Ye cursed under his breath, his expression turning even uglier. The chaotic radiance at his fingertip blazed brightly as he tried to forcibly suppress and conceal the fluctuation.
But the fluctuation seemed extraordinarily strange. His power could interfere with it temporarily, yet could not completely erase or conceal it, like trying to hide a shadow beneath the sun.
"No... There's no time to block it completely..." Ling Ye's brows drew tightly together. He made a decisive change of plan. Rather than trying to eliminate the fluctuation entirely, he abruptly brought both hands together and tightly covered the stone in his palms!
Even more vast and boundless Chaos Origin Qi surged from his body. It formed an invisible cocoon, wrapping the stone and its continuously dispersing coordinate fluctuation tightly together and compressing them into an extremely small area, delaying the speed and range of its spread as much as possible.
"We have to leave!" Ling Ye raised his head and quickly swept his gaze over the villa, his voice hurried. "This minor world is too fragile, and its Boundary Membrane is too thin. It can't hide this thing at all! Once we're locked on to, the entire plane will be blasted into dust!"
His gaze finally landed on Su Wanqing, who was slumped on the floor in bewilderment. His brows knitted tightly as he seemed to weigh something rapidly.
Take her with him? She would be a burden.
Leave her behind? She would likely be casually erased by the terrifying existence that came searching for the stone, or worse, have her soul searched and refined, dying an agonizing death.
What a nuisance!
A trace of extremely impatient viciousness flashed through Ling Ye's eyes. What he hated most was this sort of unexpected trouble and forced choice!
But at that brief instant of hesitation—
In his palm, the Small Stone being forcibly suppressed seemed to have been stimulated by his power. Or perhaps it had sensed the faint resonance from the Primordial Anchor Fragment beneath the villa. It actually... trembled once more, extremely faintly.
This time, the tremor was much clearer!
A more definite coordinate signal mixed with that unique "origin point" fluctuation. Like a beacon blazing in the darkness, it suddenly pierced through the layers of chaotic seals he had established. Though extremely faint, it was incomparably firm as it... shot toward a specific, infinitely distant direction in the Primordial World!
"Not good!" Ling Ye's expression changed drastically!
Almost at the same time!
Rumble—!!!
The sky above the villa abruptly darkened without warning! It was as though an invisible giant hand had suddenly drawn a curtain across the entire firmament! This was not a gathering of dark clouds, but the light of the entire space being forcibly swallowed and stripped away. Daylight instantly became pitch-black, so dark that one could not see one's own hand.
A terrifying will beyond words, more ancient and more primordial than the "gaze" from before, filled with even greater greed and destruction, tore through the barriers of distant starspace like an awakened beast of annihilation. It locked on with absolute precision to this planet! To this villa! To the space between Ling Ye's tightly clasped hands!
"Found... you!!!"
A roar that could not be heard by the ears, yet rang directly in the deepest depths of every living creature's soul, surged with boundless delight and savagery like billions of thunderbolts exploding at once!
Crack—!!!
The villa's enormous floor-to-ceiling windows shattered in response! They had not been shaken apart; it was as if that terrifying will had directly crushed them into their most basic particles, annihilating them in an instant! A gale carrying the cold, destructive aura of the starry sky poured inside!
The entire villa groaned under the strain, as if it would fall apart the next moment!
Su Wanqing could not even cry out before that terrifying soul-roar made her vision go black and robbed her of consciousness. She collapsed limply onto the floor.
Ling Ye clenched his teeth so hard that a trace of golden blood seeped from the corner of his mouth! The roar had been aimed primarily at the stone in his hands, but even its aftershock left his blood and qi churning!
He gritted his teeth and held up a chaotic barrier, protecting himself and the stone in his hands. His eyes were ice-cold as he looked up at the pitch-black firmament, where countless enormous and terrifying shadows seemed to be frantically gathering.
"Primordial Greedy Wolf..." he forced through his teeth, recognizing the master of that will—an old adversary renowned for tracking and greed since the Primordial era. He had never expected the first one to catch the scent and rush over to be this fellow!
"Hand it over!!!" The terrifying will roared again, carrying greed that froze the soul and an indisputable command. A gigantic black wolf claw condensed from pure laws of destruction, blotting out the sky and sun, seemed to pierce through endless space as it viciously clawed down toward the villa! Space collapsed inch by inch wherever it passed!
At this critical moment!
A ruthless resolve suddenly flashed through Ling Ye's eyes!
He knew that with this fully activated stone, there was nowhere to escape. It would only attract more terrifying beings, eventually bringing destruction to countless worlds!
He had to deal with it immediately! At the very least... make it "disappear" for now!
His gaze abruptly swept toward the corner of the living room—the Chaos Green Lotus Basin that had remained there quietly, its edges flowing with faint chaotic radiance.
This thing could devour all things and sever all laws. It could even interfere with space-time and karma to a certain degree! It was the only container that might temporarily block the stone's fluctuation.
"Let's gamble!"
Ling Ye did not hesitate at all! The instant the destructive wolf claw was about to descend, he abruptly hurled the scorching stone, which continuously emitted coordinate fluctuations, toward the Chaos Green Lotus Basin in the corner with all his strength!
"Get in!"
The stone transformed into a grayish-white streak of light and plunged precisely into the hazy mist inside the Chaos Green Lotus Basin!
Pfft—
A faint sound rang out, like a stone dropping into water.
The instant the stone sank into the mist within the basin—
The basin shook violently! All the chaotic radiance and runes on its surface flickered frantically with unprecedented brightness! The mist inside churned, boiled, and compressed like exploding water! It seemed to be enduring an extraordinarily terrifying impact originating from its very essence!
The "origin point" fluctuation within the stone collided violently with the Chaos Green Lotus Basin's properties of "devouring and isolation"!
The entire basin emitted a series of grating groans, as if it might collapse and disintegrate at any moment!
But in the end, the Chaos Green Lotus Basin was still made from remnants of an Innate Supreme Treasure, and its grade was exceptionally high. After a suffocating struggle, the chaotic mist within seemed to form an invisible chaotic vortex that forcibly locked the stone's fluctuation in place and compressed it into the deepest part of the basin's bottom! It could not erase it completely, but it finally managed to forcibly suppress and isolate the explosive spread for the time being!
The radiance and phenomena around the basin quickly dimmed and subsided. It merely trembled faintly, its surface frighteningly hot, like an iron brand fresh from the furnace.
At the exact instant the stone's fluctuation was isolated—
Above the villa, the destructive wolf claw that was about to descend suddenly froze!
The terrifying will of the Primordial Greedy Wolf let out a roar of utter confusion and fury. "Hm?! It disappeared?! How is that possible?! It was clearly right..."
Its will swept back and forth like a mad searchlight, scanning the villa, Earth, and this region of space frantically. Yet it could no longer catch that clear coordinate signal, only a faint trace that had been severely disrupted.
"Hidden?! Insect! You actually dare!!!" The Greedy Wolf's will twisted with fury. The halted destructive wolf claw gathered power once more and continued downward without the slightest concern! It would rather kill the wrong target than let anything escape!
However, at that moment—
This was precisely the opportunity Ling Ye had been waiting for!
At the instant the stone's fluctuation was isolated and the Greedy Wolf's will fell into momentary confusion and hesitation—
He suddenly bit through the tip of his tongue. A mouthful of pale golden natal blood sprayed out, while both hands formed seals frantically at a speed invisible to the naked eye! Countless incomparably intricate chaotic runes instantly formed, combined, and ignited before him!
"By my name! Escape!"
He let out a low, hoarse roar imbued with the power of a Great Dao Oath!
His burning natal blood and the chaotic runes instantly transformed into an extremely dim yet incomparably pure streak of chaotic light. It was neither an attack nor a defense, but instead... wrapped around him, the unconscious Su Wanqing on the ground, and the worn cloth bundle!
Then the streak of light sank abruptly, like a droplet falling into water!
It was not a Space Jump or a breakthrough in speed, but an even more fundamental ultimate escape art that seemed to temporarily "delete" itself from its current level of "existence"!
Whoosh—!
The chaotic light flashed and vanished.
In the center of the living room, Ling Ye, Su Wanqing, and the tattered cloth bundle... disappeared without a trace in an instant!
It was as if they had never existed in this space!
Almost a second after they vanished—
Boom!!!!!!!!!
The terrifying wolf claw condensed from boundless destructive power slammed viciously into the place where the villa had stood!
There was no sound, no explosion.
Only absolute, utter... nothingness.
The villa, the courtyard, and the mountain—even the space itself—were completely erased by that claw! In their place remained only a bottomless, mirror-smooth gigantic pit radiating an aura of absolute deathly silence!
"Roar—!!!"
The will of the Primordial Greedy Wolf let out a world-shaking roar filled with unwillingness and fury. It reverberated frantically above that void, yet could no longer find the slightest trace.
No one knew how much time had passed. Perhaps an instant, perhaps ten thousand years.
At the edge of the city, in a damp corner of a filthy, chaotic back alley piled with trash cans.
The air twisted faintly.
A streak of extremely dim chaotic light flashed past.
Ling Ye staggered into view, his face as pale as paper and golden blood staining the corner of his mouth. His aura had weakened to the extreme. One hand gripped the tattered cloth bundle tightly, while the other... dragged Su Wanqing, who remained unconscious.
The instant he appeared, he suddenly spat out another mouthful of golden blood. His body swayed, and he nearly collapsed onto the ground.
That ultimate escape art had consumed him immensely, especially since he had cast it in haste while carrying a burden.
He barely steadied himself and panted heavily, warily surveying his surroundings.
Foul-smelling garbage, mottled walls, dim light... It seemed safe for the moment.
Yet before he could catch his breath—
His gaze abruptly fixed on the mouth of the alley!
Someone was standing there quietly, though no one knew when they had arrived!
It was a figure wearing a courier uniform washed nearly white, a helmet on their head, and pushing an old electric scooter!
The person seemed to be preparing to deliver a package to one of the small shops in the alley and had happened to witness Ling Ye and Su Wanqing appearing out of thin air!
Their eyes met.
The courier's eyes widened until they were perfectly round, and his mouth opened wide enough to fit an egg. His face was filled with extreme shock and... total bewilderment.
Ling Ye's pupils abruptly contracted! Alarm bells rang in his heart!
He had been seen!
Although it was only a mortal, still...
Just as killing intent flashed through Ling Ye's eyes and he considered casually erasing this unexpected witness—
The courier finally seemed to recover from his immense shock.
He blinked hard. The extreme astonishment on his face receded like a tide, swiftly replaced by an expression of... "I get it now," filled with deep sympathy and understanding.
He pushed the electric scooter forward several steps and stopped in front of Ling Ye. His gaze swept over Ling Ye's pale face, the golden blood at the corner of his mouth, and Su Wanqing, who he was dragging by the hand, unconscious and with her clothes slightly disheveled.
Then the courier flashed an expression that clearly said, "Bro, I understand," lowered his voice, and said earnestly to Ling Ye in the tone of someone speaking from experience:
"Bro... you really know how to have fun, huh? Cosplay? Even special-effects vomiting blood? Tsk, tsk... But take it from me: next time you kidnap a rich lady, you'd better find a more secluded hotel... This back alley... really reeks!"
Before you continue