Ye Jingyu possessed the Chaos Body, a treasured physique most perfectly attuned to the heavens and earth. He didn't even need to actively conceal himself; his aura could naturally merge entirely with the natural world. Now, with deliberate effort to suppress his presence, unless someone’s cultivation realm vastly surpassed his own, finding him would be nearly impossible.

Although scores of formidable auras permeated the canyon, nearly everyone’s attention was fixed upon the island situated within the lake.

On the island, the massive Sky Dragon had ceased struggling, its body agonizingly entwined around a stone pillar. Were it not for the slight undulation of its form, one might mistake it for a mere statue. Beneath the pillar lay an enormous cage, densely packed with ten thousand young boys and girls. Many were screaming, terror etched onto their faces, while even more remained utterly numb, as if all hope for their lives had long since vanished.

In addition to this grim spectacle, Luo Linger, Hei Ming Shixuan, and Taotie were shackled to a stone platform by iron chains inscribed with intricate runes, seemingly draining them of all their power. At this moment, both Taotie and Hei Ming Shixuan looked utterly spent, resembling beings deep in slumber.

Below the stone pillar rested a colossal, three-legged medicinal cauldron. The cauldron appeared ancient, covered in carvings of creatures Ye Jingyu had never encountered. Wisps of white vapor currently ascended from the cauldron’s rim.

Surrounding the cauldron stood no fewer than eighteen experts, each at least at the True Immortal realm, arranged in an ancient formation, enveloping the cauldron and Luo Linger’s group at the center. A man so emaciated his bones seemed visible beneath the skin was currently suspended in mid-air.

At this instant, the man emitted no discernible aura, yet Ye Jingyu understood that this individual was unequivocally the strongest among them all. Even if he wasn't a Venerable-level expert, he was surely close.

Who was this person? How could he possess such terrifying power, yet Ye Jingyu knew absolutely nothing about him?

“Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pairs of boys and girls. Excellent, excellent! Xuanyuan Ruoxing, you have done well to gather such a multitude in just three days. Once this Heavenly Tribulation Pill is successfully refined, aiding me in crossing the final lightning tribulation and attaining divinity, I shall personally reconstruct your flesh and help you unify the continent, becoming the sovereign of the Dou Hun Continent.” Gazing upon the dense mass of children below, a sinister smile curled the thin man’s lips.

“Thank you, Ancestor!” A man clad in opulent robes, his figure slightly indistinct, stepped forward from a cluster of shadows and knelt respectfully before the emaciated man.

Only then did Ye Jingyu realize this was Xuanyuan Ruoxing, the very person he should have killed. He was still alive? Back then, he was merely a soul, far from the Soul Immortal realm. His physical body had perished; how could he possibly still exist?

Suppressing the shock surging in his heart, Ye Jingyu slowly began to move toward the lake.

At this very moment, deep beneath the lake, a man sat cross-legged on the bottom. This was Zhuge Yishi, the one whom the withered man had slapped into the water that fateful day.

A large pile of broken, mangled metal lay beside him—the remnants of mechanical beasts crushed by the water pressure after their energy reserves were depleted. His complexion was ruddy, though pain flashed across his face intermittently.

When he was slammed into the lake, at the precipice of death, he unleashed his ultimate trump card: a mechanical beast passed down through the Zhuge family for untold generations, holding enough residual power to slay an expert at the Ninth Heaven level. However, whether sensing Zhuge Yishi’s imminent demise or simply due to prolonged inactivity, the beast did not burst forth from the water as commanded to eliminate the withered man. Instead, it transferred its entire stored power into Zhuge Yishi.

It was a water-attribute mechanical beast, possessing astonishing reserves of energy, far too much for Zhuge Yishi, whose true cultivation was merely that of a Soul Immortal, to bear.

Yet, perhaps the ancestors of the Zhuge family had foreseen this outcome long ago, for the mechanical beast began to use this immense power to continuously temper Zhuge Yishi’s body and fortify his soul, introducing the energy gradually and systematically.

As his physical form grew stronger, the rate of infusion accelerated. Even so, these last three days had been an unrelenting torrent of agony for Zhuge Yishi.

He would pass out from the intense pain, only to wake up screaming in renewed agony, then black out again. This cycle continued for an indeterminate time until, only now, the intensity had finally begun to recede.

All the power contained within the mechanical beast had now been fully transmitted into Zhuge Yishi. His physical body had reached at least the level of a Martial God, Third Heaven, while