Gao refers to marshes and rivers.

Jie means all, everything.

To see all is to know all, to know all is to be all-powerful.

Wherever water flows, Gao knows everything.

Wherever water flows, Gao is capable of anything.

This is what he emphasizes, and what he needs the world to remember.

Cang, the “storehouse” of water, is the repository for the grain, nurturing countless beings.

But the Cang Sea, despite its beautiful name, is not beautiful in itself.

Perhaps it was once beautiful long ago, but at least since the earliest recorded times, it has been so harsh.

Yes, the word “harsh” is entirely fitting.

Perhaps a more accurate description would be this: the Cang Sea is indeed the “storehouse” of water, but the countless beings living here are themselves the grain of the Cang Sea.

The Cang Sea is like a greedy behemoth, devouring the lives of countless creatures.

Frequent soul-annihilating tsunamis, erratic and ubiquitous eternal-darkness whirlpools, world-destroying thunder that sweeps across tens of thousands of miles upon appearance…

There are too many dangers.

Although the Cang Sea is vast and boundless, capable of bearing countless beings, the places where they can safely dwell are few and far between.

The sea race has never ceased exploring the Cang Sea, but often hundreds or even thousands of years pass without finding a new haven.

So why is it that the sea race, despite its difficult reproduction and far inferior war potential compared to the human race, is so enthusiastic about the War of Illusions?

Because they are too eager to return to the mortal realm!

And because… the Cang Sea does not have enough resources; dying in the War of Illusions is more worthwhile than dying in the Cang Sea.

In the deepest part of a certain sea area, there lies a long mountain range.

But occasional undulations tell onlookers that this is not a lifeless mountain range, but some kind of colossal living thing.

Upon closer inspection, one might realize that it is a dragon, for its shape is so slender, with horns at its highest point and a tail at its farthest.

However, it is so different from the images of dragons circulating in the mortal realm.

Leaving aside the jagged bone spurs on its body, and the two long whiskers with the sharpness of sword blades.

Just considering the scales—the place that should be scales is actually a collection of vertical pupils!

The whites of the eyes are pitch black, and the pupils are intersecting scarlet slashes.

These vertical pupils cover the dragon’s body, some open, some closed. New eyes are constantly being born.

He is Gao Jie.

He has been immobile in this place for many years.

Because beneath his mountain-like body, he is suppressing a massive eternal-darkness whirlpool.

As long as he leaves, the life within tens of thousands of miles of the sea will be devoured.

This is the largest eternal-darkness whirlpool that the sea race has discovered in nearly ten thousand years.

Because this sea area is a rare dwelling place for the sea race, a prosperous land for them.

Gao Jie uses his body to suppress it, allowing it to continue.

Over so many years, this sea area has actually become even more prosperous. Few of the sea race know that one day when Gao Jie rolls over, they will all be wiped out.

He sees the soul-self-destruction of a soldier-level sea race in the War of Illusions, the pain of a commander-level sea race on the Edge of the Sky Platform on the Near-Sea Islands.

But he doesn’t react.

He has to process countless pieces of information at all times, and these two bits of information are nothing.

However, the experience of that commander-level sea race seems somewhat abnormal; he is diverting a thought to look at it, but it is quickly extinguished.

He wonders who the acquaintance might be. He thinks this with one ten-millionth of his mind.

But soon even this thought is used for other purposes. Because who it is is not important; in this difficult environment, the sea race has too many important things. His every thought is precious.

The future of the sea race…

A voice seems to say, “The future of the sea race…”

But that voice is already too distant.

Gao Jie exhales a long breath, bringing up a series of enormous bubbles.

He vaguely wonders how many years it has been.

Although one shouldn’t go out to sea without reaching the Exterior Building realm, it is impossible for all the armies stationed in the War of Illusions to be Exterior Building cultivators.

Soldiers form battle formations to protect themselves, interspersed with a few Exterior Building experts to guide the way, so they won’t get lost. Of course, if they are unlucky enough to get lost, they can only be unlucky.

Jiang Wang has been waiting outside the floating island for nearly two days and two nights. Granny Green Pearl is very patient and has not appeared yet. Or perhaps she never chose to lie in wait near the floating island, but went directly to hunt sea race.

But it doesn’t matter. Even if it is the latter, she, an Exterior Building realm expert, still needs to return to the floating island to rest. However, with the starlight protecting the body, Exterior Building realm cultivators can resist the assimilation for longer. He doesn’t know how long Granny Green Pearl can last, but it must be longer than him.

During the time he was lying in ambush, many distracting thoughts arose. For example, whether Granny Green Pearl had already left, whether it was meaningful to wait like this, how long Zhu Biqiong could last on the Edge of the Sky Platform…

Jiang Wang cuts them all off one by one.

He firmly believes that he has made the best choice, and the rest can only be left to fate. When making any decision, the most taboo thing is to be indecisive.

Patiently waiting, steadfastly waiting.

Just focus on cultivation, just work hard silently.

Every little bit of improvement in strength increases the possibility of victory.

The speed at which three thousand Hidden Serpents explore the inner mansion is quite considerable.

Before the second long night of his stakeout was about to pass.

A black Hidden Serpent in a certain room extending from the inner mansion suddenly swam back and forth around a corner, extremely excited.

Jiang Wang’s consciousness directly descended through this Hidden Serpent, touching a new secret treasure.

This is not the first secret treasure he has discovered in the Second Inner Mansion.

Secret Treasure: Wind Chaser.

The effect is to increase speed by 10% for a quarter of an hour, including attack speed and movement speed.

Still not the secret treasure he wants most; he still wants the second secret treasure to be related to the fire element.

Two clubs that are equally strong are not as good as a single sword that is uniquely sharp. Instead of strengthening everything a little, it’s better to directly stack up the killing power of the fire element. If he could burn cities with Left Guanglie’s Flame Flower, what need would he have for other spells to assist him?

He has abandoned several selected secret treasures before for this reason.

But this time he did not hesitate and directly chose to control it. Approaching a major battle, demanding perfection is just delaying himself. Being able to add one point of combat power is one point. Moreover, the effect of the Wind Chaser secret treasure is excellent and is well-suited for combat.

In the past two days, he has newly controlled seventeen sea beasts. However, all the sea beasts he controls now only number forty-four. Several of them were casually killed by human cultivators coming out of the floating island. Several others were killed by passing sea race.

Jiang Wang did not come forward to stop them; let them kill if they want to kill.

The range he has chosen is too large, and he cannot take care of all locations on his own. He can only select the routes that human cultivators are most likely to take based on his observations during this period, and then use the perspectives of these giant sea beasts to help him observe.

Even so, he cannot ensure that he will definitely discover Granny Green Pearl.

Fortunately, most of the cultivators on the floating island travel in teams, while only he and Granny Green Pearl are on this trip to wash away sins, and no one can help them. With Wei Xun’s orders in place, no one would dare to do so.

He only needs to keep an eye on lone cultivators, which undoubtedly greatly narrows the range.

The only thing Jiang Wang can be sure of is that the old hag definitely wants to kill him to seize his treasure. She did not hesitate to sacrifice her adopted child, whom she had raised since childhood, in order to seize resources. Now that she has to start all over again, there is even less reason for her not to target him, this fat piece of meat.

This is the reason why he insists on lying in ambush.

When humans plot against tigers, tigers also plot against humans.

He only doesn’t know whether humans will skin the tiger in the end, or the tiger will eat human flesh.