After the Ghost Vine burst from the ground, the Core Lake turned completely dark red.
Thousands upon thousands of vines burrowed into the lakebed, their roots constantly drawing out water and remnants of the blood formation. Da Ming had only just broken free of his chains and was still weak. He could only coil around the thick vines near the shore. Er Ming hurled a boulder at them, but dozens of vines caught it before it landed and crushed it to pieces in midair.
"It was only sixty-three thousand years old before." Tang San sensed it through his Blue Silver Domain for a moment. "Now its aura is close to eighty thousand years. It can't contain the power it swallowed for long. Once it bursts, the entire lake will be contaminated."
Yuan Yu raised the Water-Aspect Mystic Bottle.
The bottle was filled with poisonous blood from the Beast-Locking Stakes, and a crack had reached its base. Lake water continued to surge toward the Ghost Vine's roots. If they let it go, the Lake District where Da Ming had lived for years would become a poisonous swamp.
He pressed the bottle into the water.
Water patterns lit up along his arm, and the Myriad Phenomena Dharma Wheel turned slowly. The uncontaminated water in the lake parted to either side, while the dark red bloodwater rose separately and poured into the bottle's mouth in stream after stream.
Since the Water-Aspect Mystic Bottle had taken shape on Hell Road, it had collected only vapor from the Yellow Springs Blood Pool and poison from battlefields. Its outline had always been half-solid, half-illusory, and its capacity had lasted only a few breaths. Now the water element accumulated in Star Dou Lake over many years surged toward it. For the first time, the bottle gained real