Due to the Essence Qi Apocalyptic Fumes that surged into the sky, about seventy to eighty warriors had gathered around the Netherworld tree over time. When they saw the Netherworld tree's fruit taken away, they were disgruntled knowing they would leave empty-handed. But they also knew that it was meaningless to stay any longer.
In the end, Li Fire Divine Lord was the first to abandon the scene. He turned and left without a word. He had mobilized so many people to set up a spatial array only for it to end up as a joke. He also lost two disciples and Wan Qing was crippled under his nose. He did not wish to stay a second longer.
The moment Li Fire Divine Lord left, the people that had come with him followed.
"Lord… Lord Li Fire, save… save me…"
Wan Qing struggled in pain as he watched Li Fire Divine Lord and company depart. His heavily injured body dragged as he crawled on the ground with great difficulty using both hands.
His once-promising future, one where he enjoyed a long life filled with riches and comfort, was ending in this barren land. If he was abandoned, this would be his grave.
The sight of him just left one reeling in despair.
"Please save me, Lord Li Fire. Take me out of this place at least. I will trigger the token once we leave this place. The family clan will treat me of my injuries…" Wan Qing said, his voice trembling.
However, people only cast looks of pity his way when they saw his tragic state.
His dantian had been completely ground up. It was nearly impossible to treat that. Even if a huge price was paid, they could probably only restore Wan Qing to a functional cripple. And it was impossible for the Wan family to waste resources on such a thing.
Besides, he could no longer continue traversing the Divine Perish Hall in his present state. As for specially escorting Wan Qing out, that would be quite a joke.
Li Fire Divine Lord did not even slow down his steps as he continued proceeding forward. The disciples that followed him looked at Wan Qing and mourned his outcome, considering how they were in the same boat. They shook their heads. The world of warriors was just a cruel place. Sometimes, death might be better than being crippled.
"Let's leave as well," Nun Annihilation said. And at that moment, the pale yellowed-dressed girl standing beside her was still in a state of shock.
"Jade, why are you still standing there in a daze?"
"Oh… Yes, Master," said Bluejade as she jolted out of her reverie. The scene of Yi Yun plucking the fruit and maiming Wan Qing left her heart uneasy. Thinking back to what she said previously about getting her master to protect Yi Yun in exchange for his help in finding the Thousand Illusion Lotus left her ambivalent.
After Nun Annihilation left, Xing Yu left as well. He had decided to immediately report the matter of Yi Yun obtaining the Netherworld fruit to the White Lunar Divine Empire the moment he left the Divine Perish Hall. Perhaps, there was still chance of him gaining at least something out of that.
That thought was not limited to Xing Yu. Many people had the same idea. Even if they could not obtain the fruit, they did not wish to see Yi Yun get away unscathed. It was best that such matters were known by as many people as possible.
At that moment, Yi Yun had already been teleported thousands of kilometers away through his spatial transference.
A teleportation of such a distance would have been child's play for Yi Yun if he was outside the Divine Perish Hall. But inside it, that single act of teleportation drained thirty percent of his Yuan Qi. The space here was just too stable.
Yi Yun did not wish to stay where he was. He flew for another few hundred kilometers, changing directions a few times before finally arriving on a desolate mountain.
It looked like it was devoid of life, and decimation auras formed a vortex that looked as though it wanted to vanquish everything.
Yi Yun scanned with his perception and confirmed that the area was devoid of any opportunities. It was only a land of peril. Unless the Sinkhole warriors had sadomasochistic tendencies, it was unlikely that they would probe the area too deeply.
Yi Yun landed by the mountainside and immediately used Mirage Snow as a tool to open up a cave. He then entered it and sealed the entrance. Next, he set up a concealment array formation. Finally, Yi Yun continued digging a path several kilometers deep into the mountain before opening up a simple chamber in the heart of the mountain.
Yi Yun sat cross-legged inside and took out the fruit and five tree leaves he had plucked from the Netherworld tree.
The Netherworld tree was covered in treasure. Yi Yun only took the fruit and five leaves because it was a divine item borne from the Heaven and Earth laws. It took probably hundreds of millions of years to grow to that state. If he had uprooted it and taken everything, it would have been quite a pity.
"Nomological Fruit, Leaf of Dao Enlightenment…"
Yi Yun observed the fruit and leaves and sensed the primordial laws they contained. They seemed to have compressed infinite time from the beginning of the universe right in them.
Since he had obtained such an opportunity, Yi Yun wished to immediately convert the opportunity into strength for himself. He knew that the moment he left the Divine Perish Hall, he would be targeted by everyone.
Yi Yun rested for a moment with his eyes closed, restoring his condition to an optimal state before he picked up a leaf and gently placed it on his glabella.
Instantly, the leaf seemed to melt as it suffused a faint golden light. Clear leaf veins imprinted themselves on Yi Yun's forehead…
An unknown amount of time passed as Yi Yun seemed to forget himself and everything. He immersed himself in the rivers of time that felt like a dream, bobbing up and down with its motion...
He seemed to see the birth of the leaf, from its sprouting to its growth… It stayed above the River of the Netherworld, experiencing countless eons…
When warriors took lives or destroyed an item, or even shattered a world, they could not avoid violence.
Only time could turn everything into dust in an infinitely calm manner simply by passing. It was silent from beginning to end. Time was the most unique power of destruction.
Yi Yun seemed to open a door to a brand new world after obtaining the Netherworld tree's fruit and leaves. His comprehension of time underwent a qualitative improvement. And all of this relied on his insights in the Major Destruction laws. This allowed him to master a hundred things after mastering one. There was no need for him to start from the beginning.
An unknown amount of time passed before the leaf was reduced to dust on Yi Yun's glabella. It dispersed with the wind and completely vanished.
Yi Yun reflected on everything for a long while before he slowly took the second leaf to place at his glabella…
Three months passed in this way.
The warriors that entered the Divine Perish Hall during this period of time numbered thousands. And more than eighty percent of them perished inside!
There were a small number of warriors that wished to leave midway after failing to find any opportunities amid the danger. However, even when they retraced their steps, they failed to find the entrance to the Divine Perish Hall.
They could enter but not exit!
This was discovered only a few months later. It left many shuddering in fear!
They could not determine if the Divine Perish Hall would forever bar exit from the place they had used as an entrance. If they needed to seek an alternate exit deep in the Divine Perish Hall, that was no doubt a path of certain doom!
Many people despaired. They stayed in the region around the Divine Perish Hall's original entrance, afraid to proceed forward.
Regardless, compared to the countless dangers that lurked in the inner sanctums of the Divine Perish Hall, the area around the entrance was a lot safer. They could only hope that the Divine Perish Hall would only be open for a fixed length of time. When that time was over, perhaps they would be expelled from the Divine Perish Hall's world. If not, the Divine Perish Hall would be their grave.