Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 239 - 185: Taking the Fall

Half a month later.

Eastern Dali, above Fubo Sea.

As far as the eye can see, the entire sea area is in complete disarray, blood-stained over nearly a hundred miles wide, floating with countless corpses of sea creatures.

Clearly, a fierce and earth-shattering battle has just erupted here.

"…"

True Yang Ancestor remained silent, his face dark enough to drip water.

Not just him, the faces of the Three Mountains Ancestor and Dugu Tianyi next to him were also very unpleasant.

Seeing victory nearly in hand, yet allowing the enemy to escape right under their noses, would be hard for anyone to accept.

Hundreds of Foundation Establishment masters gradually gathered around from the outside, each silent as the grave, not daring to breathe loudly, fearing the wrath of the several Golden Core Ancestors.

"What a clever tactic, truly a clever tactic!"

True Yang Ancestor gritted his teeth, forcing out a few words:

"I never thought that just as we were about to crack open this turtle shell, an unexpected turn would occur!"

"The millennia-old legacy of the Fuhai Sect is not just empty words."

Dugu Tianyi spoke calmly, seeming to have recovered from the shock:

"But it doesn't matter."

"All their wings have been clipped by us, Wan Chuan is also gravely injured, and won't live much longer."

"Even if they escape, they won't pose much of a threat."

"That's not the right way to look at it."

The Three Mountains Ancestor shook his head, countering:

"Wan Chuan is quite old already, and after the severe damage he suffered this time, indeed doesn't have many years left."

"But his first disciple, Lord Haihe, also possesses the Celestial Spirit Root with a water attribute, and his chances of breaking through to Golden Core aren't small in the future."

"If he reaches Golden Core and takes the opportunity to return in the future, and we happen to have no successors, then I fear…"

He didn't finish, but the meaning was very clear.

For major Golden Core-level forces, the greatest fear is a lack of successors. Once they lack a Golden Core Ancestor to oversee them, they could become prey, often leading to the sect being wiped out and the traditions being severed.

A snake not killed brings harm; the Three Mountains Ancestor evidently advocated pursuing to the end, to root out all danger once and for all.

"Three Mountains, I understand your point, but it's unrealistic."

True Yang Ancestor pondered and slowly said:

"The Fubo Sea stretches over hundreds of thousands of miles, with more than a dozen countries around the coasts; who knows where they might have fled?"

"Moreover, if they abandon the heavily damaged Floating Island on the sky, they could hide anywhere, even in the Central Plains Core; who could find them?"

"We don't have enough manpower to scatter widely, and if we send fewer people, finding them would be like searching for a needle in a haystack, and even the people sent might be in danger."

With that, he paused slightly, then continued:

"The most important point is — currently, the Realm Breaker is about to reach Foundation Establishment Perfection, and the conditions to open the core land of the Five Elements Secret Realm are about to be met."

"At such a time, we really can't spare too much strength."

Upon hearing his words, the Three Mountains Ancestor and Dugu Tianyi exchanged a glance, nodded slightly, clearly agreeing with his decision.

Soon, the three converged with their sect's Foundation Establishment masters, learning through their subordinates' reports about the specific progress of the cleanup operation.

"What?"

True Yang Ancestor exclaimed:

"You haven't opened the council chamber door the entire time?"

It turned out, during the incident that day:

While action was taken inside the Celestial Treasure Tower council chamber, an assault and slaughter unfolded outside.

Lingyang Sect, Shanhe Sect, and the Dugu Family, joined by Foundation Establishment masters affiliated with the Celestial Treasure Tower, launched a comprehensive purge against the Fuhai Sect forces.

Due to their overwhelming advantage, the purge went very smoothly, taking less than two days to almost completely eradicate the Fuhai Sect faction members within the Celestial Treasure Tower.

But soon after, an issue arose:

By this time, everyone realized something unusual had happened in the council chamber, but they couldn't open the door.

Li Shuixian, who had the Tower Master's Command Token, along with several stewards with minor permissions, were all trapped inside the council chamber; whether they were dead or alive was unknown, and the rest had no authority to control the Array.

At this point, there was actually a solution — temporarily send someone to the top level to directly refine the Array Core and take over the authority.

But the question was — who should be sent?

Previously, electing Chief Steward Jin as the new Tower Master was merely part of a plan; no one actually intended to let Lingyang Sect take such a big advantage.

After Fuhai Sect was suppressed, the current situation was a three-legged tripod, with Lingyang Sect, Shanhe Sect, and the Dugu Family all wary of each other, none willing to give ground on this issue.

Taking over authority was easy, getting it handed back would be difficult, and if shameless persistence could win control over the Celestial Treasure Tower, even the Golden Core Ancestors would temporarily set aside pride, not to mention these Foundation Establishment masters.

"…is that so."

True Yang Ancestor thought for a moment and immediately understood their concern.

None of the three factions was willing to yield, leaving the situation deadlocked; as for choosing someone from the Celestial Treasure Tower itself, that was even less likely.

In reality:

Initially, Li Shuixian approached Lingyang Sect's Chief Steward Jin, intending to leak information in advance and cooperate actively to secure a lucrative deal afterwards.

Unexpectedly, the incident was acutely recognized by several Golden Core Ancestors as a very fitting moment to act, inadvertently making her a key figure connecting and rallying the three factions together.

It was precisely due to this unique status that the Celestial Treasure Tower's power, driven by a sense of crisis, instinctively gathered around her. If events proceeded smoothly, her odds of succeeding as the new Tower Master would actually be the highest.