In the air around 1,000 feet above the sea, black mist was surging incessantly, and arcs of silver lightning were flashing within the mist amid rumbling thunderclaps.

A man and a woman were standing at the front of a giant ark, peering into the ocean from afar.

The man was none other than the Long Family patriarch, and he said, "This Devilish Origin Sea is known as the origin point of all devilish beings; the astounding abundance of devilish Qi here truly lives up to all the legends. Having said that, there's a lot of chaotic energy intermingled with the devilish Qi, so the average devilish being most likely won't be able to cultivate here."

The woman standing beside him was the woman from the Ye Family, and she replied with a smile, "I've heard that a lot of this chaotic energy has already dissipated. Apparently, this was a restricted area of the Elder Devil Realm several million years ago, and the average devilish being wasn't allowed to access this place. Perhaps the chaotic energy here will completely dissipate in the future, at which point this place would become a devilish paradise."

At this point, Han Li and the others had already reunited, and they were traveling into the Devilish Origin Sea on this giant ark together.

"Hehe, even if there is something peculiar about this Devilish Origin Sea, we've expended countless efforts to get here, so we definitely can't turn back now. Having said that, I didn't expect the lightning here to be so powerful; even flying at a low altitude has been made impossible," the Long Family patriarch replied as his brows furrowed slightly.

"It's not that flying at a low altitude isn't possible; it just can't be done for an extended period of time. In the face of such concentrated lightning strikes, no one would be able to withstand them for too long," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile.

"In any case, it'll most likely take us far longer than projected to track down the island that the Spirit Cleansing Pond is situated on. The leads provided by our fellow daoists from the Spirit Race are very vague; we'll have to find an area of the sea that matches their description before we can find the island. With how vast this Devilish Origin Sea is, it'll require some luck to track down the island in a reasonable timeframe," the Long Family patriarch sighed.

The woman's smile faded upon hearing this, and after a brief pause, she continued, "We don't have much time left; many devilish powers have most likely already begun scrutinizing us. If they manage to ascertain our origins, we'll be in huge trouble. The longer we stay in here, the greater the risk that we incur."

"I'm naturally aware of that, but just like I said, it's too late to turn back now. We're standing on the cusp of success, so we have to see this through to the end," the Long Family patriarch replied with a determined expression.

The woman from the Ye Family merely sighed and didn't offer any response.

However, the Long Family patriarch then suddenly asked something that came as quite a surprise to her. "Fairy Ye, you and Brother Han arrived over a month later than we did and only just barely made it before the agreed date. On top of that, I can sense that your aura seems to be slightly different from before; have you encountered some type of opportunity on the way here? If so, I must congratulate you and Brother Han."

The woman's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but she quickly chuckled, "You truly possess a peerless discerning eye, Brother Long. Brother Han and I only encountered a minor opportunity; I'm sure it's nothing compared to what you and Fellow Daoist Hui have encountered."

"You seem to know something, Fairy Ye. Rest assured, I have no intention of prying into this matter," the Long Family patriarch reassured with a smile.

The woman from the Ye Family offered no further response to this.

Meanwhile, Han Li was seated on a wooden bed in a cabin on the bottom level of the giant ark. Through a wisp of extremely well concealed spiritual sense, he was able to hear the conversation between the Long Family patriarch and the woman from the Ye Family. A faint smile appeared on his face as he withdrew that wisp of spiritual sense, then fell into a contemplative silence.

Around a year ago, he and the woman from the Ye Family had been intercepted by the clone of that Sacred Ancestor Ling Yuan after obtaining the Azure Luan True Blood.

A fierce battle ensued, and with the assistance of the treasure provided by the woman from the Ye Family, Han Li was able to severely wound the Sacred Ancestor clone.

After that, the clone didn't dare to pursue them any longer and could only return to the Iron Sand Ridge.

Thus, without any further pursers, Han Li and the woman were able to make an easy getaway. On the way here, they encountered some minor trouble, all of which was taken care of with ease.

Around half a month later, they finally reunited with everyone else at a designated devilish port on the shore of the Devilish Origin Sea.

Much to Han Li's surprise, Elder Jin of the Spirit Race wasn't with them.

The Long Family patriarch was also quite surprised by this, and the Spirit beings had given them a very ambiguous explanation, stating that Elder Jin had perished during an accident.

As for the specific nature of the accident, the Spirit beings refrained from further elaboration.

Han Li and the others naturally couldn't pry into this matter, but they were all feeling quite bewildered.

With that in mind, Han Li's brows furrowed reflexively as the image of that Spirit being by the name of Zhi Shui flashed through his mind again.

This Holy Spirit had always given Han Li a very uneasy feeling, but the unsettling baleful aura emanating from his body had suddenly disappeared, making him seem as if he were no different from his Holy Spirit companions.

This was rather perplexing to Han Li, and he couldn't help but suspect that Elder Jin's disappearance had something to do with Zhi Shui.

Of course, there was no evidence to back this up, but he had decided to keep an extra eye on this suspicious Holy Spirit.

All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he suddenly flipped a hand over to produce a small white vial.

The vial contained the Azure Luan True Blood, and once he refined it, he would attain another true spirit transformation while the rest of his transformations would also become significantly more powerful.

The Azure Luan was most renowned for its ability to control the power of wind.

It was said that this true spirit had initially been born in the winds of chaos, and in a fit of fury, it could unleash chaotic winds that could destroy entire cities!

Han Li was naturally very intrigued by the power of this chaotic wind, but he didn't immediately refine the true spirit blood as the woman from the Ye Family had done.

In contrast with other cultivation arts, the more true spirit blood that was refined using the 12 Awakening Transformations, the longer the refinement process would take, and being disrupted midway during the refinement process could result in severe negative consequences.

As such, he had decided that he was going to refine this true spirit blood only after he had returned to the Spirit Realm.

With that in mind, the small vial was stowed away again amid a flash of white light.

After that, Han Li cast aside these errant thoughts and began to meditate.

Time quickly passed by, and three months flew past in the blink of an eye.

Han Li and the others were split up into groups of two to keep a lookout at the front of the giant ark in shifts while everyone else rested in their cabins.

Their journey had been very smooth thus far, and they hadn't encountered any opposition aside from in the form of a few insolent sea beasts that were easily dealt with.

Unfortunately, they still hadn't encountered the region of the sea with the characteristics described by the Spirit being.

On this day, Han Li and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns were on lookout duty.

Han Li stood at the front of the ark, peering into the distance in silence.

As for Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns, she was seated on a golden futon with her eyes closed several tens of feet away from Han Li.

Neither of them seemed to be doing anything, but in reality, both of them were constantly scouring through the surrounding area with their enormous spiritual sense.

All of a sudden, Han Li's expression changed slightly, and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns immediately detected the fluctuations in Han Li's spiritual sense as she opened her eyes, and asked, "Did you discover something, Brother Han?"

"1,500 kilometers to the left," Han Li replied in a very concise manner.

Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns immediately swept her spiritual sense toward that area, upon which an elated look quickly appeared on her face. "That is indeed Devil Ape Coral! Brother Han, change the direction that the ark is flying in right away; I'll go and tell everyone else!"

Han Li had no objections to this, and he nodded before making a hand seal, then released an incantation seal toward the sea beasts that were drawing the giant ark.

The incantation seals vanished into the bodies of the beasts in a flash, and they immediately began to fly toward the left.

At the same time, Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns had already notified everyone else using a secret technique.

Shortly thereafter, everyone was gathered at the front of the giant ark, and they were all elated by what they saw when they extended their spiritual sense toward the same direction.

Even though the giant ark was unable to fly, it was still moving very quickly while being by these sea beasts.

Four hours later, everyone caught sight of a "mountain" in the distance, the top half of which had plunged into the dark clouds up above.

What was quite incredible was that this mountain resembled a giant ape swinging its arms through the heaven, complete with extremely life-like, albeit crude and rugged facial features.