Starting as dockworkers, they swept through Chongqing.

His innate affinity for water awakened within him, and the lake seemed to become an extension of his body.

The direction of every undercurrent and the undulation of every part of the water's surface were clearly reflected in his perception.

Those extraordinary beings who came treading on water appeared to move a beat slower than he had imagined.

"If you strike first, don't blame me for being impolite."

Xilun's voice was cold.

The tall, thin man was the first to rush forward, a dagger gleaming green aimed straight for Xilun's throat.

Xilun turned to the side.

Using the water's momentum, Canglang Step slid, barely avoiding the green light. He swept his Canglei Spear horizontally with a backhand motion, water swirling around the shaft, a layer of bluish-white lightning energy hidden behind it.

"The force of water comes first, the power of thunder lies hidden behind."

Elder Swain's teachings were already etched into the very marrow of his marksmanship.

The tall, thin man only saw a flash of water sweeping towards him and instinctively raised his dagger to block.

The moment the gun barrel touched the dagger, the water surged around him, causing his wrist holding the knife to suddenly sink, slowing his movement by an unexpected beat.

That's the shot.

The hidden power of thunder, concealed behind the water's force, suddenly exploded.

"Crackling sound—"

A bluish-white lightning bolt shot up his arm along the dagger. The tall, thin man screamed as his tiger's mouth split open, and his entire right arm became charred and paralyzed.

With a swift swing of his spear, Xilun sent him flying, slamming him into the lake and sending a spray of water flying high into the air.

One shot, one man.

Clean and neat.

On the lake, the extraordinary beings who were rushing towards them all paused in their movements.

They initially thought the young man was just two down-on-their-luck prey who had escaped from the cave, but they never expected that his single shot would be so ferocious.

"Don't be afraid! He just came out of the cave, he must be exhausted. Swarm him!"

A burly man roared on the rocks.

Xilun's gaze sharpened—it was the burly Sky Rider pirate who had abandoned his men and fled in panic in the cave that day.

His left shoulder was wrapped with a blood-soaked strip of cloth, and his face was full of resentment and ruthlessness.

It turns out he didn't die; he escaped from the cave and gathered so many people to guard the lakeside.

"Exhaustion?"

Xilun's lips curled up almost imperceptibly.

The Thunder Dragon Heart within his body automatically nourished his thunderous energy, while the tidal energy of the Nine Dragons Covering the Sea was even more abundant.

The killing of several people in the cave, as well as the death of the guard captain and the hook-nosed man, was only a drop in the ocean.

These people haven't even seen his true cards yet.

"Since you don't believe me."

Xilun took a step forward.

Nine dragons covering the sea enveloped his body, layer upon layer of surging energy, while bluish-white lightning flowed along the shaft of the spear. And this time—

The blood lock on his right arm had quietly loosened a little.

A wisp of gentle, dark red power seeped out from the gaps in the chains, flowing along the meridians and into the Thunder Spear.

This was the first time he had actively used that black energy after taking control of the severed limbs.

In an instant, a very faint dark red tinge appeared within the blue-white lightning of the Azure Thunder Spear.

The dark red color was neither corrosive nor agitated; it simply lingered quietly around the lightning energy, yet it exuded an indescribable eeriness and chill.

"kill!"

At the command of the burly man, six or seven extraordinary individuals rushed forward simultaneously, their strength, weapons, and water waves weaving together into an impenetrable net.

Instead of retreating, Xilun advanced.

Canglangbu rippled across the water's surface, his figure weaving through the ripples like a fish swimming in the sea.

A bone blade from a second-tier extraordinary being thrust at him, but he dodged it by sidestepping.

A long sword came down, but he deflected it with the shaft of his spear, using the water's force to parry the blow to the side;

As three waves converged, his feet suddenly sank, and his innate affinity for water activated. The three waves abruptly disintegrated halfway through their course and surged back towards the caster.

"How is that possible—"

The extraordinary one who unleashed the waves was utterly horrified.

Before he could react, Xilun's gun was already in front of him.

Dark red and blue-white lightning intertwined, a spear piercing through the chest.

As the lightning exploded, the dark red and black energy seeped into the wound, causing the flesh and blood to wither and decay at a visible speed.

The extraordinary one didn't even have time to scream before collapsing into the water, his breath extinguished.

The black aura amplified the spear's power, and the strength of the severed limbs began to emerge.

Xilun himself was also moved.

This force was more terrifying than he had anticipated.

With the Blood Lock binding it, it was no longer a scourge that could turn on it at any moment, but became a truly sharp blade that could be drawn from its sheath.

On the lake, the battle situation was completely one-sided.

In just a dozen breaths, four people had fallen to Xilun's gun, some dead and some wounded.

The remaining extraordinary individuals, their greed replaced by fear, retreated one after another, no longer daring to step forward.

"He...he doesn't have the strength expected of a third-tier cultivator!"

Someone gasped in surprise.

"Get out of here! This is not someone we can afford to mess with!"

The burly man stood on the reef, his face as pale as paper.

He never expected that the people he had painstakingly gathered would be like lambs to the slaughter in front of this young man.

"Trying to leave?"

Xilun coldly raised his eyes and locked onto that familiar one-eyed figure.

"In the cave, you abandoned your men and ran away. Today, you want to run again?"

He unleashed the full power of his Canglang Step, transforming himself into a blur that skimmed across the water's surface, and in the blink of an eye, he reached the rocks below.

The burly man was terrified and hastily thrust out his black iron harpoon.

With a flick of his spear, Xilun Canglei's shaft touched the harpoon, causing the water to swirl around him and a sudden undercurrent to form.

The burly man felt the harpoon in his hand suddenly sink, as if it were being pulled by an invisible vortex, and he could no longer stab it.

Immediately afterwards, the gun fired with a thunderous roar.

"Crackling sound—"

The burly man's hands, which were gripping the harpoon, were instantly charred black. The harpoon slipped from his grasp, and he screamed as he fell from the rocks.

Xilun stepped onto the water, the tip of his gun already pressed against his throat.

"Spare me...spare me!" The burly man lay paralyzed in the water, his face ashen. "I don't want anything anymore, just let me go!"

Xilun looked down at him, her eyes showing no emotion.

This man was a plunderer, and in the cave, he didn't hesitate to send his men to their deaths for the sake of the Molten Bone Fire Lotus.

Letting such a person go will only cause trouble in the future.

"You've brought men to guard this place, trying to steal my things."

Xilun's voice was calm, but the tip of his gun slowly pressed down.

"Now, it's your turn to pay the bill."

"No--"

The burly man's pupils suddenly contracted.

The Thunder Spear pierced his throat, and blue-white lightning burst out from the back of his neck.

The burly man's body twitched twice before sinking into the lake, where he remained silent.

The lake returned to its lifeless state.

Those extraordinary individuals who were lucky enough to survive had already scattered like birds and beasts, not daring to even look back.

Xilun holstered his gun and turned around.

He put the wisp of dark red and black energy back into the blood lock, and the trembling in his right arm slowly subsided.

Elena floated not far away, quietly watching everything.

Her hands, which had been gripping the two swords, had somehow loosened their grip.

In the battle just now, she didn't even have a chance to make a move.

"The power in your right arm..." She swam to Xilun's side, her voice carrying a hint of seriousness she herself didn't realize, "You used it just now."

"Yes." Siren nodded. "The Blood Chain has bound it, and now it obeys me."

"It works even better than I expected."

Elena looked at him, speechless for a moment.

Less than a year.

This rogue cultivator from the outer sea has reached a level she can only look up to.

"Let's get ashore first." Xilun looked towards the distant lakeside, his brows furrowed slightly. "That bell tolling probably alerted more than just these people by the lake."

He looked down into the lake, into that unfathomable darkness.

Blood was locked in his sleeve, and then there was a barely perceptible tremor.

It was as if responding to a gaze that was slowly awakening from the depths of the sea.

The two swam across the water towards the north bank.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and a thin layer of water vapor floated on the lake, casting shadowy shadows on the distant reed beds.

With Siron protecting Elena, they moved at great speed using the force of the water.

The closer he got to the lake shore, the stronger his unease became.

"There's someone there."

When they were still half a mile from the shore, Siron suddenly stopped and reached out to stop Elena.

He lowered his voice: "There are at least three people lying in ambush in the reeds. They have an aura of at least the second rank."

Elena's expression hardened, and she followed his gaze, only to see reeds swaying in the wind, without a single person in sight.

"How did you figure that out?"

"The swaying of the reeds is not right." Xilun's gaze was calm. "The wind is blowing from the west, but there are three clumps of reeds that are moving against the wind. Someone is hiding in them. No matter how steadily they hold their breath, they can't suppress the subtle rise and fall of their body."

Elena felt a chill run down her spine.

This keen insight into the environment is an instinct honed through years of living on the edge of life and death.

She suddenly remembered that every time Xilun faced danger, he survived longer than anyone else.

"Are they remnants of the Black King's Palace?" She gripped her twin swords tightly.

"It doesn't seem like it." Xilun shook his head. "Most of the people from the Black King's Palace carry an aura of death. The aura of these three people... is clean, yet they deliberately conceal it, like specially trained undercover agents."

His mind raced, and he quickly settled on a possibility.

"Samuel".

Elena was taken aback: "Wasn't he seriously injured by you? How could he be here?"

"If he can't come, we can send someone," Xilun said coldly. "He had this mission planned before we set off. Since he was too injured to come himself, he sent spies to guard the coast of Chenxing, hoping to reap the benefits."

Everything fits together.

Samuel had an old grudge against him and coveted the opportunity to "revive the evil god".

Sending a few spies to keep watch on the lake shore, waiting for someone to come out of the cave, is the perfect way to either plunder the spoils or gather intelligence to report back.

"What should we do then?" Elena asked in a low voice, "Charge straight at them, or take a detour?"

Xilun pondered for a moment.

"Taking a detour will give us away and let them know we've been discovered." A cold glint flashed in his eyes. "Why don't we turn the tables on them?"

He pulled Elena along, deliberately slowing his swimming speed and making his breathing heavy and disordered, as if he had just escaped from the cave and was exhausted.

"Pretend to be weak," he whispered, "to lure them out."

Elena understood immediately and slumped her shoulders, even her paddling movements appearing somewhat unsteady.

The two of them climbed up to the lake shore, exhausted, and collapsed onto the pebbles in the shallows, panting heavily.

In the reed marsh, the three clumps of reeds that had been swaying against the wind fell silent.

A moment later, three figures emerged silently from the reeds, forming a triangular shape, and slowly approached the two.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion, holding a gray bone talisman in his hand, his eyes sinister.

"The waters of the Sinking Star Coast are not for just anyone to wade through," he said with a sneer. "Leave behind what you brought out of the cave, and Lord Samuel, out of consideration for our shared sect, may spare your lives."

As expected, he was one of Samuel's men.

Xilun weakly raised his head, his voice hoarse: "We barely survived in the cave, and we didn't bring anything out."

"Whether he's empty-handed or not, a search will tell." The sallow-faced man grinned maliciously, waving his hand. "Make your move, leave no survivors. The deathly aura behind him is strange; keeping him alive will only cause trouble."

Three figures pounced at the same time.

This is the moment—

Xilun's "weak" body suddenly erupted.

With a stride that shattered the pebbles beneath his feet, Canglang stepped forward like an arrow, heading straight for the sallow-faced man at the head of the group.

"you--"

The sallow-skinned man's pupils contracted sharply.

The young man, who was just moments ago barely breathing, now unleashed an aura as fierce as a dragon from the abyss!

He hastily summoned the bone talisman, and a gray wall of bones rose out of thin air.

The Thunder Spear has arrived.

The water flowed first, and the spear struck the bone wall. The water swirled around it, causing the energy flow of the bone wall to suddenly halt.

The hidden power of thunder, concealed behind the water's force, exploded with a deafening roar.

The gray bone wall, like thin ice, shattered upon impact.

The sallow-faced man felt a powerful force pierce through the wall. He groaned and was sent flying backward, slamming heavily into the reeds and breaking a section of reeds.

The other two spies were shocked to see this and attacked from the left and right.

Elena was already waiting there.

The silver-gray rope shot out from the air, coiling around the ankle of the man on the left like a venomous snake, and was suddenly yanked. The man staggered, his footing thrown into disarray.

Xilun turned around, his Canglang Step tracing a strange arc, and circled behind the person on the right.

Before the man could react, the tip of the gun was already pressed against his back.

"Do not move."

Xilun's voice was icy.

The man stood frozen in place, drenched in cold sweat.

The undercover agent who was tripped by Elena struggled to get up, but Xilun swept a spear through him, knocking him to the ground as well.

In the blink of an eye, all three spies were subdued.

From the outbreak to the end, it only took seven or eight breaths.

Elena put away the rope, walked forward, looked at the three disheveled people on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Samuel's moles are nothing special."

The tip of Xilun's spear was pressed against the sallow-faced man's throat, looking down at him.

"Go back and tell Samuel," he said, emphasizing each word, "that he can't swallow the stuff from the Starfall Coast. If he sends more men, it won't just be a matter of breaking a few bones."

The sallow-skinned man lay on the ground, both shocked and frightened, nodding repeatedly.

Siren did not kill them.

These three were merely undercover agents acting on orders; killing them would only create more trouble. Keeping them alive to relay the message would allow Samuel to clearly assess the kind of adversary he had encountered.

He holstered his gun, pulled Elena up, and walked towards the town without looking back.

The three spies lay paralyzed in the reeds, watching the receding figure, too afraid to get up for a long time.

On the way back to town, the morning mist gradually dissipated, and the sky brightened.

Elena walked beside Siron and couldn't help but ask, "You knew Samuel would send someone?"

"A man like him won't let any opportunity slip by." Xiren's gaze was calm. "The more powerless he is, the more he'll hide in the shadows."

He paused, then added, "However, the people he sent were all undercover agents, which means he wasn't sure what was inside the cave either. He's gambling."

"I bet you'll die in your cave?"

"He bet I'd die in the cave so he could clean up the mess," Xilun said calmly. "Unfortunately, he lost the bet."

Elena looked at his profile and suddenly felt that this man possessed an almost cold-blooded clarity.

He never lost his composure due to anger, nor was he ever distracted by opportunities. Every step he took was meticulously planned.

"Oh, right." As if remembering something, "Those things you got in the stone chamber earlier... that phrase 'sunken to the bottom of the sea,' and the scene you saw in your right arm. How much of it did you actually figure out?"

Xilun remained silent for a moment.

He went through the flood of memories that had come to mind again.

"What has merged into my right arm is the second right arm of a six-armed faceless statue that was severed."

He spoke slowly, "Many years ago, that statue caused chaos in the sea and was surrounded and killed by thousands of extraordinary beings. One of its arms was severed and sealed into the seabed. But that severed arm did not die."

"It sank to the bottom of the sea, and over the years, it has been searching for flesh and blood to support it. One body after another has been eroded and decayed by it."

Xilun's voice lowered.

"It merged into my body when it was critically injured and on the verge of death, thanks to a certain relic. The reason it failed to devour me is because—the Storm Bloodline within me just happened to suppress its corrupting power."

Elena felt a chill run down her spine.

"So that cave dwelling..."

"It was one of the battlefields where 'His' limbs were surrounded and killed back then." Xilun nodded. "The fog outside, the changing paths, and the blood-sucking elixir were all killing formations set up back then to trap and kill those who were drawn here by the severed limbs."

"And I was drawn here by the remains of my limbs."

Elena stopped and looked at him.

The morning light fell on Xilun's profile, but it couldn't penetrate the deep look in his eyes.

For the first time, she realized with such clarity that the burden this person carried was far heavier than she had imagined.

Hatred, dismembered limbs, a bloodline of mysterious origin... any one of these is enough to crush an ordinary person.

But he walked so steadily.

"So what now?" she asked softly. "The limbs are locked up. What are your plans now?"

"Let's go back to the monastery first." Siren started walking again. "The Blood Chains can only be suppressed temporarily, not controlled permanently. I need greater power to truly master them."

He gazed at the gradually brightening eastern horizon, his eyes filled with a profound look.

"And that 'He' at the bottom of the sea will awaken again sooner or later."

"Before that, I have to become strong enough."

The outline of the town has already appeared at the end of the fog.

Behind them, beneath the unfathomable depths of the lake, a distant bell tolled softly once more.

The seaside town on the shores of Chenxing Coast is even more bustling than when I arrived.

News of the unusual activity in the underwater cave spread throughout the entire town overnight.

Everywhere you look, extraordinary individuals are whispering amongst themselves. Mercenary groups and merchant guilds have their vehicles parked at the town entrance, all vying for a share of the "fourth-tier heritage" cave.

Xiren and Elena changed back into their ordinary clothes and blended into the crowd without attracting anyone's attention.

"The false information spread by the Black King's Palace has now backfired on them," Elena said in a low voice, looking at the eager Extraordinary Ones. "Most of these people who rush in will not return."

"That cave is a killing formation." Xilun's gaze was calm. "The more people go in, the more people will die, and that blood pill... no, now I should say, that wisp of 'His' remaining divine consciousness will become even more active."

He didn't linger.

After settling their bill at the inn in town, the two boarded the steam train back to Starring City.