"Got him!" Following Old Liu's loud roar, the Thin-Bladed Saber shot down from the water's surface. Old Liu was immensely strong; as the saber plunged into the water, it actually sliced off several arms in its path.

"Holy crap!" Ye Xiu had intended to use the silk thread tied to the Thin-Bladed Saber, but after passing through several arms, the saber slightly altered its trajectory. The instant his hand grasped the thread, it snapped back, unexpectedly slashing a deep gash across the back of Ye Xiu's hand. The pain made Ye Xiu cry out miserably. "It's all your fault, Old Liu."

"Ah... wait..." Old Liu shouted in terror from outside, clearly seeing something horrifying that Ye Xiu couldn't.

"Why aren't you pulling me up yet?" Ye Xiu felt a surge of annoyance. Those things must have been stunned by some force, making them forget he was still struggling in the water. But what was he struggling against anyway? The myriad arms that had been desperately trying to grab him moments before had now scattered, fleeing in every direction without any formation, like mice seeing a cat.

Ye Xiu slowly swam to the surface, and instantly, the shallow red color of the river water deepened into absolute black.

"Your blood has stained this entire stretch of water dark," Old Liu remarked, calmly leaping in. He casually scooped up a handful, brought it close to his nose, and inhaled, murmuring vaguely, "The blood of a Death God is black. Those creatures were scared off by your blood."

Only then did Ye Xiu recall being wounded by the Thin-Bladed Saber, and he couldn't suppress his anger. He grabbed Old Liu. "Next time you try to save me, watch where you swing! Your saber might hurt me."

"The blood of a Death God can scare away the Armless Water Ghosts," Old Liu continued studying the black water in his hand. He couldn't resist licking a tiny bit. "Black and tasteless. What exactly are you Death Gods? If you aren't truly living beings, how can you possess blood? And if you are gods or demons, why do you carry human emotions?"

Ye Xiu boredly slapped the river water, sending up splashes. The red waterweeds from before had completely vanished. He looked suspiciously at the wound on the back of his hand; the black blood had stopped flowing long ago, and the skin appeared perfectly fine. Ye Xiu asked Old Liu, "Those things earlier were clearly just arms. Why call them Armless Water Ghosts then?"

Old Liu tossed the black water aside and laughed. "It's precisely because the people who died here had their hands severed that their souls bear such an intense resentment toward arms. This resentment manifests in the water, forming endless arms."

"You mean many people died in this water region?" Ye Xiu could vividly imagine the agony of having one's hands cut off. How many skeletons were submerged in such deep waters?

By now, Old Liu had donned his sunglasses and was looking up at the wall on the bank. From the outside, the wall appeared only a dozen meters high, but the entire suspended section was already covered in a barrier formation. He turned back to Ye Xiu and said, "This barrier is a fatal loop; it can be set up but cannot be dissolved. The creator of this formation must have died within it."

"What does 'fatal loop' mean?" Ye Xiu didn't understand the intricacies of Taoist magic and assumed Old Liu was superior to him in this domain.

Old Liu removed his sunglasses and spoke eloquently. "The structure of a barrier formation usually follows the principles of complementarity—one thing gives rise to another, one thing goes out while another comes in, cycling endlessly, returning to the beginning. But the construction of this defensive barrier wall violates every fundamental principle of origin. The creator set this formation from the inside out with the certainty of their own death. No one can leave, and no one can enter."

"If it was Mei Shu, she would certainly have a reason to create such a barrier," Ye Xiu mused, pursing his lips. "If she achieved eternal life through the Corpse Flower and eventually resurrected Xia Jie, and she loves Xia Jie, she would wish to spend millennia with him in this Lotus Dream Palace."

"Even if it's a fatal loop, why would she leave behind a moat like this expanse of water?" Old Liu agreed with Ye Xiu's inference, but such deductions only proved one thing: their path through the Nine Venomous Fierce Formations had reached a dead end, a reality he absolutely could not accept.

Ye Xiu was equally unwilling to give up. Based on his previous sensations, the circular moat was actually sloped. By swimming further down, they were constantly descending toward the deepest part of the water. If they just kept going, they would surely find a way out. Ye Xiu patted Old Liu's shoulder to encourage him. "Forget this fatal loop nonsense. The current is alive, which means there must be an exit below. Let's go."

Old Liu nodded, rallied his spirits, and plunged into the river. His swimming skills were excellent, and he shot ahead of Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu swam slowly behind. Without the interference of the red waterweeds, the water felt much more tranquil. He raised his hand to look at the back of it; the wound was completely gone. Did Death Gods possess the ability to self-repair injuries? Ye Xiu shook his head. The light ahead was growing dim, reminding him of a dream he had when he first fell into the River of Forgetfulness's sea of blood—that hand placed right before his face, beckoning him to a place called the Gate of the Dead Kingdom.

"There are bubbles in the water!" Old Liu exclaimed as if discovering new territory. With a powerful flick, he accelerated and darted into the depths of the current, moving like an electric eel.

Ye Xiu propelled himself forward, keeping close behind. Everyone knew what the appearance of bubbles in water signified: either there was an exit nearby or some sign of life. Their efforts were clearly directed correctly.

The light grew progressively dimmer with the depth of the river. Ye Xiu could now see the fine sand ripples on the riverbed, yet strangely, coral and starfish, flora typical of the open sea, were drifting by. He slowly placed his feet onto the fine sand; the sensation was incredibly bizarre. Ye Xiu asked Old Liu, "This is clearly just river water. Even a massive river wouldn't flow out of an entire mountain range. How can there be deep-sea plants here?"

"I think the reason for everything is this..." Old Liu took out his waterproof flashlight and shone it forward. The lamp was surprisingly effective. He pointed toward a hazy scene ahead. "See that colossal reef over there?"

Ye Xiu followed the beam of light and indeed saw an uneven cluster of reefs not far off. He slowly moved closer and looked around, realizing he had actually been enveloped within this structure of bright white reefs the entire time—it was like a shell trapping them both.

Old Liu traced a sharp, protruding piece of reef, saying doubtfully, "This is calcium deposit, not like ordinary rock?"

"Calcium deposit? You mean these things are bones..." Ye Xiu's speculation startled him. They had seen the Three-Headed Vultures, the Six-Winged Mosquito Daoist, and the Corpse Flower—creatures whose sheer size was awe-inspiring. But if the reefs in this river water were the bones of some creature that had died, then this was undoubtedly the largest thing he had ever encountered in this world.