The bamboo raft sent ripples spreading as it slowly touched the reefs of Black Island.
The green Bamboo Raft trembled faintly and came to a stop. Bai Yujun stood quietly at the prow, waiting for the water ripples to gradually settle, utterly motionless. The five rookies looked at one another in confusion. Silence. Oppression. They were only afraid that the air would suddenly grow quiet...
It was so quiet that they could hear heartbeats and breathing. The water vapor above the ancient underground lake was dark and stifling.
After a long while.
Bai Yujun stepped ashore.
With a gentle push behind her, the Bamboo Raft silently drifted away from shore. Only the figure in white remained by the waters of the black island. Yet the water around the island silently rose, swallowing the reefs. Mist from Lake Yong gathered and obscured the white figure. When she appeared again, she was a heavenly general in immortal armor. She raised her head, her eyes gazing through her mask and armor at the lone peak of Black Island.
At the summit of the black mountain standing beneath the rift, an old man in plain immortal robes floated there, radiating immortal light.
Faint light shone down from above Rift Valley onto the mountaintop. The old man wore a crane-feather cloak and leaned on a verdant, ancient staff. Three tender leaves grew from its middle, brimming with vitality; it was clearly no ordinary item.
Bai Yujun held her saber in her right hand and ran two fingers of her left across its edge.
"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the yellow oriole behind it? A dignified Profound Immortal sat back and watched evil fiends sneak in. No wonder Demonic Beasts have run rampant for tens of thousands of years, impossible to exterminate and gradually