The three were none other than Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu, the battle-hardened generals who had departed from the Realm of the Caverns. Years had passed since their arrival upon this Immortal-Astral Continent. Witnessing the utter demise of the Seven Dao Sect, they chose to leave, finding solace in the Pill Sea, where they settled as wandering cultivators.

Once, they had basked in glory, their names whispered in awe and fear. Yet, now their lives felt as though they were nearing their twilight, leaving behind only weariness.

Within the Pill Sea, their cultivation could have stirred great waves, but the three chose obscurity, content with a simple existence.

However, the tree longs for stillness, but the wind never ceases its howl. Their desire for peace was met not with tranquility, but with a desperate flight from a tempest. Suzaku and Genbu were grievously wounded; only Byakko, bearing lighter injuries, led his lifelong companions in a desperate retreat across the Pill Sea.

The words of his comrades echoed in his ears. Byakko’s pallid face twisted in a bitter smile.

“Speak no more! How could I abandon you? We entered the Realm of the Caverns together. Qinglong has fallen; his death we can understand. But we left together, promising to spend our twilight years here, to find three talented youths to inherit our legacy…”

“We have accomplished none of these vows! I shall not survive alone!” Byakko roared, urging Suzaku and Genbu forward with gritted teeth.

Behind them, a youth with skin as fair as jade, wielding a fan, pursued with leisurely steps. Beside him stalked a cultivator named Qian, his eyes gleaming with malice, his laughter cold as he spurred the chase.

They pursued without haste. The Pill Sea was sealed; the three fugitives had no escape. Such sport, like this game of cat and mouse, gave the cultivator Qian a feeling of wicked delight.

The chase continued, but far away, on the Green Devil Isle’s coastline, a woman beneath three towering banners observed the horizon with a strange glint in her eyes, fixed on the compass in her hands.

She felt a deep unease.

“In a single day, the sea has receded by dozens of fathoms, expanding several times more than yesterday! Something is amiss!” she muttered, her gaze never leaving the compass. Its face was now almost entirely consumed by green dots; only a thousand or so white specks remained.

The three largest white lights had vanished. Of the next largest nine, four had previously disappeared. Now, two more were gone, leaving only three huddled together, moving slowly. Behind them, two prominent green dots sped in relentless pursuit.

Scanning the compass once more, the woman frowned deeper.

“There is no sign… yet how can the sea have shrunk so much in two days…? Only two days remain… Enough! I shall wait no longer. The sea’s sudden decline is too strange… Initiate the purification of all remaining cultivators with the Myriad Cleansing Filth!”

A sense of foreboding gnawed at her. Hesitating for only a moment, she grit her teeth, raised her left hand, and with a flick of her wrist, sent a drop of black liquid hurtling toward the sea.

The dark droplet transformed into a streak of eerie light, vanishing into the ocean’s depths. As it disappeared, the waters before the woman turned pitch black!

The darkness spread like ink, with unimaginable speed.

“In this way, whatever secrets the Pill Sea holds will surely perish within the Myriad Cleansing Filth!”

Meanwhile, Wang Lin had spent the past two days absorbing vast quantities of seawater into his body, compressing it in a desperate attempt to condense the Essence of Water. But even now, the essence remained elusive. Silently, he absorbed with ever-increasing urgency.

Hours later, nearly half of the Pill Sea’s surface had turned black. Those Tianniu Isle cultivators caught within its reach screamed in agony, their bodies dissolving into blood, their souls unable to escape the corrosive darkness. Even the green-clad soldiers were slowed by the black waters, though unharmed. The woman beneath the three banners, though unable to see this with her own eyes, witnessed the carnage reflected on her compass.

Nearly half the map of the Pill Sea had been consumed by darkness, and wherever the darkness spread, the white dots vanished, as if erased.

“Whoever is playing tricks, I will see how you continue to absorb the sea after it has been tainted with filth…” the woman murmured, her eyes gleaming with cold determination as she searched among the remaining white dots.

Her gaze swept over the white dot that represented Wang Lin, but as she passed over him, she stopped, her eyes fixed on that single point, her face contorted with murderous rage!

“Each white dot represents a cultivator not of the Green Devil Isle… and all of them are slowly fleeing toward Tianniu Isle. All but this one, which has remained motionless throughout!”

“I should have noticed sooner!” Her eyes flashed with deadly intent.

“Due east, nine hundred and seventy million li! Dispatch thirty squads of Green Devil Guards to eliminate him…” But before the woman could finish her command, the white dot representing Wang Lin on her compass abruptly vanished.

The sudden disappearance cut her words short, leaving her stunned.

As for Wang Lin, after days of ceaseless absorption, and still failing to condense the Essence of Water, he suddenly trembled. His eyes snapped open, revealing a glimmer of pure energy.

“The Essence of Water! I can sense its presence!” Wang Lin’s eyes flashed. After a moment of hesitation, he made a decisive move. He rose to his feet and strode into the distance, his footsteps rippling the very fabric of reality, merging him into the world, disappearing in an instant.

Reappearing on the other side of the Pill Sea, in the blackened waters, Wang Lin immediately felt a terrifying power—a power capable of corroding flesh and dissolving even the soul.

“This is another aspect of the Essence of Water’s power!” Wang Lin’s eyes narrowed. His body, now within the ninth cycle of Water Essence Mastery, possessed greater resistance to the black waters than any ordinary cultivator.

Despite its formidable power, the black sea could not immediately corrode him, and it contained the very Essence of Water that Wang Lin so desperately needed.

Without hesitation, Wang Lin assumed a meditative posture, his body emitting a faint glow. All thirty-six thousand of his pores opened, greedily drawing in the black seawater!

As he absorbed, Wang Lin felt a searing pain throughout his body, but with that pain came a profound sense of comfort, as if his body was being nourished, slowly completing its ninth cycle.

Far away, across the blackened sea, the woman beneath the towering banners gasped, her hand trembling as she watched the compass.

The blackness that had enveloped half the map was now receding at an alarming rate, almost visible. The sudden shift left the woman in a state of disbelief.

“Impossible…” Her eyes darted around the instrument, taking in this anomaly, though, very quickly, something else caught her eye. A new white speck appeared in the map, in the half that had, just moments before, been covered in inky blackness. It was not the largest white speck by far, but, right now, it was the only one that mattered.

“It is him…” Her eyes filled with hatred, she raised her hand and pointed to the horizon.

“Dispatch fifty squads of Green Devil Guards to eliminate him!” With her command, half of the thousands of cultivators surrounding her transformed into streaks of light, disappearing into the distance.

On the woman’s compass, a ring of green dots suddenly surrounded the white speck representing Wang Lin, slowly closing in.

As for Wang Lin, with rapid absorption, his body began to recover at a breakneck pace. His withered hands plumped up, flesh and blood teeming with renewed vitality.

His body, his face, his hair—no longer parched, but imbued with abundant life force.

The ninth cycle of Water Essence was invigorated as the black sea’s essence was poured into it, driving it to completion.

The process was rapid. The seawater in half of the Pill Sea was soon diminishing. Moments later, Wang Lin completed his ninth cycle of Water Essence.

At the instant the cycle concluded, Wang Lin opened his eyes. His body was fully restored.

Within him, the eighth source, the Water Essence, manifested!

The emergence of this new power caused Wang Lin’s stagnant cultivation to surge with an unmatched vigor. An overwhelming presence exploded from his body; it was the aura of his true cultivation, a late-stage Sky Spirit.

At that very moment, this energy surged forward, breaking through his mental barriers and his physical restrictions.

As it reached the pinnacle of the Sky Spirit stage, Wang Lin’s body underwent a cataclysmic change. Explosions echoed within his bones, and his eyes glowed with the clear, radiant brilliance of water.

“The Essence of Water is now woven into the blood of my veins. From this day forth, my blood is the Essence of Water within the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth!”