If Jiang Ling, Ye Qin, and the other Golden Core cultivators, upon seeing the "Yin Water Black Tortoise," merely showed shock, retreated to the cave entrance, and prepared to flee at a moment's notice if the situation turned dire. Then Yan Hao and the other three cultivators were cornered, with the four "Yin Water Black Tortoises" pressing them to the absolute limit, compounded by Jiang Ling and Ye Qin blocking the exit, leaving them with no recourse.

The cave was only a little over six hundred zhang wide, barely large enough to accommodate four Golden Core cultivators and four "Yin Water Black Tortoises" battling fiercely in such a confined space.

When struck by a magical artifact, black water splashed off the "Yin Water Black Tortoise." This black water, upon contact with a Golden Core cultivator, immediately dissolved a large hole in their protective barrier with a sizzling sound.

From time to time, one could hear the horrified cries of the Thiên Ma Alliance Golden Core cultivators as they fled through the cave, maneuvering their flying artifacts like escaping rainbows.

"Jiang Ling, will you move away from the cave exit? I already agreed to give you the Ziyou Lotus. Don't tell me you are so audacious as to want my life? If you dare attack me, my Yan Family Ancestor will certainly issue a kill order, and every cultivator in the Eastern Sea connected to you will be utterly annihilated."

Yan Hao, his face bloodless as he desperately flew his sword away, glared at Jiang Ling blocking the cave mouth, his tone sharp and filled with immense resentment.

"Brother Yan, look what you are saying. How would I dare take your life? This poor Daoist merely wishes to observe how you deal with this Yin Water Black Tortoise. Your Scarlet Gold Sword is destroyed; surely you don't only possess one Nascent Soul artifact? Bring out whatever treasures or precious items you have. Kill this ninth-tier Black Tortoise, and the Ziyou Lotus will be yours. This poor Daoist will absolutely not interfere."

Jiang Ling sneered coldly.

"You!"

Yan Hao's face turned green with rage.

He even contemplated launching his flying sword directly at Jiang Ling.

But the "Yin Water Black Tortoise" behind him was pressing relentlessly. He was struggling just to cope; how could he dare engage in combat with Jiang Ling? He was reduced to nothing more than fleeing in panic, suffering greatly in his heart.

With his strength, he certainly possessed means of counterattack. Burning with hatred, he couldn't help but think to himself,

Before coming to execute this mission to annihilate the Earth Tribe tribe, the Ancestor temporarily bestowed upon me a minor divine ability ancient treasure. That ancient treasure possesses immense power; if I were to use it, killing Jiang Ling would be a simple matter.

However, the Ancestor granted me this minor divine ability ancient treasure so that I wouldn't be at a disadvantage when contending with Yu Weifeng, preventing the direct descendant of the Yan Clan Head of the Thiên Ma Alliance from losing face in front of the direct descendant of the Yu Sect Master of the Tiandao Alliance.

This ancient treasure cannot be used lightly. Even if I wanted to use it, there would be a price to pay. Divine ability ancient treasures are meant for Nascent Soul cultivators; Golden Core cultivators usually find it difficult to control such powerful ancient treasures. The Ancestor sealed eighty percent of its power, and I can only barely manage to wield it.

Now, having been forced into a life-or-death situation by Jiang Ling, I can no longer afford to worry about that. I must use this minor divine ability ancient treasure to survive.

Yan Hao placed one hand on his storage pouch, intending to cast a spell to release the minor ancient treasure, intending to slay both the Yin Water Black Tortoise and the hateful Jiang Ling in one go.

But at this final juncture, he hesitated, unable to bring himself to do it.

He was only in the early stage of Golden Core, far from the strength required to use a minor divine ability artifact. Forcibly using this minor divine ability ancient treasure would require paying a price... drawing upon the massive amount of vital energy within his Golden Core.

It had taken him ten years to barely reach the second layer of the Golden Core stage just last year. If he expended the immense vital energy within his Golden Core to deploy this minor divine ability ancient treasure, he feared he would immediately regress to the first layer of the Golden Core stage.

Such a devastating loss of vital energy was truly...

I brought quite a few magical artifacts and treasures. Perhaps I can find something else to counteract the Yin Water Black Tortoise. I don't need to resort to using the minor divine ability ancient treasure.

Yan Hao rapidly scanned the storage pouch at his waist with his divine sense, checking if he could find any item to deal with the Yin Water Black Tortoise.

Ordinary artifacts or treasures would rapidly lose their spiritual nature upon contact with the black water; they would certainly be useless.

Suddenly, Yan Hao spotted an exquisitely beautiful spiritual jade box deep in the bottom of his storage pouch. The thought of what was inside made his face light up with joy.

"Supreme Grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment! How could I have forgotten that! This was bestowed upon me by the Ancestor when I successfully formed my Golden Core. It is an incomparably rare treasure."

Yan Hao immediately took out the delicate jade box from his storage pouch and used a silver needle artifact to pry out a fingernail-sized piece of dark red ointment.

Inside the jade box were only two small pieces of this ointment.

This piece of ointment was unremarkable, yet it emitted a strong, peculiar odor.

Yan Hao held his breath, daring not to touch it with his hand, and sent out a stream of magical power to completely envelop the small lump of ointment.

Then, with a quick rub of his magical power, the lump of ointment transformed into a plume of dark red, lustrous mist several zhang wide, seeming to be fragrant yet not quite.

Yan Hao rapidly swept it toward the Yin Water Black Tortoise by the cold pool.

The eyes of the Yin Water Black Tortoise glinted coldly. Unsure what the dark red mist controlled by Yan Hao was, it cautiously retreated a step. However, relying on its tough carapace, impervious to wickedness and poison, it did not dodge.

The plume of dark red mist, spanning several zhang, enveloped the Yin Water Black Tortoise with a "whoosh."

The Yin Water Black Tortoise immediately roared in agitation, extending its claws to fiercely beat at the mist, trying to disperse the dark red cloud.

But the dark red mist clung to its claws and rapidly seeped into its exposed body.

This dark red mist was incredibly miraculous; all of it permeated the tortoise's interior. Soon, the tortoise stopped roaring, calmed down from its agitation, and then fell into a daze.

The four "Yin Water Black Tortoises" formed from the black water, without the control of the Yin Water Black Tortoise, instantly collapsed to the ground and flowed back to merge into the cold pool at the lowest point of the cave.

"It actually worked!"

Yan Hao was overjoyed.

The other three fleeing Thiên Ma Alliance Golden Core cultivators, now relieved of the threat of the Black Tortoises, breathed a sigh of relief and regrouped near Yan Hao.

They glared angrily at Jiang Ling, Ye Qin, Zheng Chenghui, and Shi Hanyang, the four Golden Core cultivators blocking the cave exit.

"This Supreme Grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment?"

Zheng Chenghui instantly recognized the dark red mist Yan Hao had deployed, his eyes widening, and he exclaimed in shock while quickly glancing at Jiang Ling beside him.

"Truly worthy of being the direct descendant of Clan Head Yan; he even managed to obtain such an exceedingly rare Supreme Grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment. Besides the direct descendants of Clan Heads and Sect Masters, I doubt any other Golden Core cultivators in the Eastern Sea could afford such a supreme-grade ointment."

Jiang Ling's eyes were also filled with shock.

He and the other were intimately familiar with this Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment.

They possessed some themselves, carrying it almost daily. However, theirs was only "low-grade" Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment, not "supreme grade."

Precisely because of this, when they saw Yan Hao produce this Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment to deal with the Yin Water Black Tortoise, easily causing the extremely troublesome ninth-tier Yin Water Black Tortoise to fall into a stupor, they were startled—both by the unexpected nature and the underlying logic.

Ye Qin, watching this unfold, found it incredible.

He did not know what rare spiritual item Yan Hao had taken out of the jade box, only that it was a small piece of dark red ointment.

But one must remember that this Yin Water Black Tortoise had recently slain six or seven high-level Marauders and nearly killed Yan Hao and his three companions with its magic.

In the blink of an eye, this ninth-tier Black Tortoise was put to sleep by Yan Hao's Saliva Ointment.

It was too fast.

"What is this Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment, and how did it make that ninth-tier Black Tortoise fall asleep instantly?"

Ye Qin was completely bewildered and very confused.

"Brother Ye, you have been in the Eastern Sea for quite some time, and you still don't know what Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment is?"

Jiang Ling and Zheng Chenghui looked at Ye Qin with great surprise, as if they were not looking at a Golden Core cultivator, but rather an Earth Tribe member or a common mortal. In the Eastern Sea, typically only Earth Tribe members or mortals would be unaware of what Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment was used for.

"I truly don't know; I've never heard of it, nor have I seen it... Is it very common?"

Ye Qin gave a wry smile and looked towards Shi Hanyang.

"Of course, it is the most common type of captivating incense in the Eastern Sea, specifically used for capturing live demonic beasts. Almost any cultivator who ventures out to sea to hunt demonic beasts will carry this item. Every time I go to sea, I bring several pieces of first-grade to sixth-grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment for backup. You haven't been out to sea, have you?"

Even Shi Hanyang nodded quickly, confirming that this item was very ordinary.

"You all know, I am an Alchemist; I make money through alchemy and have no need to go out to sea to hunt demonic beasts for money. Even if I go out, I don't need to capture beasts to sell. Naturally, I have never used Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment."

Ye Qin felt somewhat awkward.

Jiang Ling, Zheng Chenghui, and Shi Hanyang exchanged glances. It was understandable that a cultivator who never relied on hunting demonic beasts for income would not know about Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment.

Seeing Ye Qin’s utterly perplexed expression, they knew he was genuinely ignorant, so they began to explain.

"There is a type of sea beast in the Eastern Sea called a Fragrant Jiao (). When hunting other demonic beasts, this Fragrant Jiao can spray a dark red, spirit-confusing mist. Demonic beasts that inhale the scent of this ointment quickly fall into a deep slumber. However, the spirit-confusing mist sprayed by this Fragrant Jiao is only effective at inducing slumber in beasts one tier lower than itself; it is ineffective against beasts of the same tier or higher."

"Cultivators kill this Fragrant Jiao and extract a dark red paste from its glandular fluid—this is the Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment, used to capture live demonic beasts. Experienced cultivators who frequently go out to sea to hunt demonic beasts always carry some Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment as backup. If they encounter rare demonic beasts, or their young, and need to capture them alive, they can use this Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment to easily seize them without worrying about harming their lives. These captured rare demonic beasts often fetch high prices in the markets of the great immortal cities."

"Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment can be purchased in general spirit pill and medicine shops. Of course, the vast majority of shops sell ordinary quality. They have grades from first to sixth tier. First to third tier is low-grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment. Fourth to sixth tier is mid-grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment. Seventh to ninth tier is high-grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment. Tenth tier and above is supreme-grade Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment."

"Flood Dragon Saliva Ointments of different grades can deal with demonic beasts one tier lower in strength. The higher the grade, the more expensive the price. Ointments above the seventh tier are extremely rare and difficult to find on the market. One must kill a seventh-tier Golden Core-level Fragrant Whale to obtain its glandular fluid to refine the Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment."

"And the tenth-tier Flood Dragon Saliva Ointment is considered 'supreme grade' among these ointments, simply unavailable for sale in the markets."