Observing Yri's expressions, Yan Zaizen inwardly shook his head. This was why her plan had far too many risks. She had no idea of the outside world, the new laws, or events that had occurred during that vast period of time. To think everything would remain the same was ridiculous. One could be considered very lucky if they survived, let alone if nothing changed after billions of years.
"It'll be best if you understand a little bit about your current period of time before continuing," Yan Zaizen nonchalantly commented. To him, accomplishing her wish was a minor matter, but the timing of it was too delicate. If he conceded, gave her what she wanted, then he could be forever entrapped within the Heavenly Origin Grounds. If that were to happen, the word regret and despair wouldn't quite measure up to what he would feel.
Yri seemed to be out of it after hearing this news. However, she was skeptical and wanted to test the theory herself. Unfortunately, to do that, she had to find one of these entrances or exits to verify.
Considering this, she came to a decision.
Yan Zaizen cared very little about what was going on in her head. "Regardless, if I can, in the future, I'll come back and help you cultivate this art," Yan Zaizen calmly said. The spatial compass he was after possessed the ability to bypass the Heavenly Origin Grounds entrance limit. With it in hand, he could easily return and deliver his Dao Essence.
That's if he survived Hell.
"I want to go with you," Yri abruptly said.
Yan Zaizen turned towards her, his eyes furrowed slightly. He dissipated the Death Star within his palm. He didn't directly reject her. In truth, he was considering the situation. Even if she couldn't exit the Heavenly Origin Grounds into the Thirty-Three Heavens normally, if he obtained the compass, he wondered could they travel to Hell directly? Could she follow him?
Yri was an incredibly powerful Celestial. An existence they cultivated a Path that could be said to have no limits and shrouded in all sorts of mysterious. This didn't even include her knowledge from billions of years ago, the storage of arts she contained, or her own abilities. If he had an ally with him, would saving Pinaka be easier? Wouldn't tracking the compass be easier?
Thus, he didn't outright reject her words.
"Now that I know the true reason you're here, I can see why you attacked when you assumed my soul had been destroyed and my body had been taken over. Someone willing to abandon everything for her goal and then having that goal stripped from you...no wonder." He didn't blame her for her earlier attacks earlier. The misunderstanding was quite, and that's why it was never brought up until now.
Not to mention, he was at fault as well. His battle intent was at an all-time high because of his cultivation improvement. He wanted to test his upper limits, and she provided the perfect subject for that. His harsh engagements with her when he could've easily declared his survival and explained the circumstances was because of that.
"If you want to go with me, you must know I'll be going to Hell," Yan Zaizen warned.
Shockingly, Yri jumped in fright with complete disbelief. When Yan Zaizen watched her reaction to the word 'Hell,' he could see the traces of fear within her eyes. It lingered there like a wisp of flame in the darkness, visible and apparent for all to see.
"H-Hell? Infernal Hellverse?" Yri hesitantly asked, her fingers tremblings slightly.
"Hellverse? Infernal…?" Yan Zaizen was snapped out of his shock at Yri's reaction and became curious. Hellverse indicated that Hell was a universe? Like the Non-Verse? Could hell be a Universe?
The Infernal Altars was something he was familiar with. A cultivator with this cultivation path nearly took his life via soul manipulation, even with the Black Hole residing within his soul. At the time, his Black Hole wasn't an integrated soul bloodline, and he had no control over it, but it was capable of bypassing it nonetheless.
His time in the Asura Phantom Realm would still haunt him slightly. It was the closest he'd ever touched upon death in his entire life. The closest he'd ever felt death was the Meteor of Ezekiel, but the Asura Phantom Realm events lingered deeply within his heart.
Ma Xiuren…
He couldn't help but also recall that girl…
"Haaaa…" Lost in thought, he forgot to respond to Yri.
"You're going to the Hellverse?!"
Yan Zaizen finally replied, "I don't know about this Hellverse, but I'll be going to a place called Hell in the Thirty-Three Heavens. It governs the souls and reincarnation cycle of the entire heavens."
Yri's jade-like palms clenched into a tight fist, her teeth biting into her bottom lip, and her eyes closed. It seemed the Hellverse held some insidious scar in her heart.
"I hope it's not Hell, but even if it was," she slowly said, her eyes glowing with light filled with obsession, "I won't let you out of my sight, even if you wanted to go to The Dark." Yri was determination. There was no need to say further words, either she would go or she wouldn't.
Yan Zaizen shrugged. He didn't know what 'The Dark' was, but he didn't care. "Fine, I won't be responsible for you if you die." With that, he took out a silver directional arrow. Using the profound techniques given to him by Ezekiel, he attempted to seek out a direction for the compass once more. Before, the signal was far too weak, and he couldn't get a clear indication.
Now, he was going to check to see if the arrow's signal to the compass was weaker or stronger after traveling a considerable distance. Regardless of which, he would have a clue as to which direction to go.
Yri saw the directional arrow and furrowed her brows slightly. Her eyes seemed to hold some confusion, but then realization. However, that light of recognition didn't spark her intent to speak. She remained silent and observed Yan Zaizen.
"It's stronger, albeit very slightly. We're going in the right direction at least," inspecting the arrow, Yan Zaizen once more turned into a beam of light. Yri glowed with a grey brilliance before appearing beside him.
"If possible, we should find a skyship. This consumes far too much heavenly energy…" After realizing the inefficient manner of his travel, he once more regretted not having a fast skyship. Even the Sense Ring, the ring of the Prince of the Oneuli Empire, didn't have a skyship within it. It frustrated him deeply.
After several days of travel, Yan Zaizen saw several colorful dots a vast distance away. As he squinted his eyes in inspection, he couldn't help but be shocked.
There were tens of thousands of skyships!