Before long, they arrived at an open chamber deep within the cave.
At its center lay a crystal-clear pond that radiated an indescribably soothing aura. The surrounding air itself seemed gentler, as though every breath carried the essence of life.
Solanky consulted the Scroll of Portals and discovered that this place was known as the Pond of Life.
According to the information recorded within the scroll, a single drop of water from the pond possessed enough vitality to heal even fatal injuries suffered by transcendent entities. For any being below the transcendent entity level, consuming a single drop would completely cleanse every impurity from their body, soul, and bloodline, granting them an assured opportunity to one day ascend into a powerful transcendent existence whose strength could rival the great beings of the courtroom.
Naturally, such a heaven-defying treasure came with a price.
The Pond of Life was a double-edged sword.
Any greedy individual who attempted to seize the entire pond or store its waters inside their internal world would suffer unimaginable consequences.
The pond's water was perfectly transparent.
Beneath its tranquil surface rested numerous glowing crystals engraved with mysterious runes. Unlike the golden inscriptions covering the cave walls throughout the trial grounds, these engravings carried an entirely different aura, making it obvious that they had been created by someone else.
Solanky walked toward the shore before turning to Elisa and the chief.
"Come over here and sit at the edge of the pond. Let your feet touch the water."
The two nodded.
Trusting Solanky's judgment completely, they dispelled their disguises and revealed their true forms.
Elisa transformed first.
Her humanoid form emerged with breathtaking elegance.
The chief's eyes widened in complete disbelief.
For a moment, he stood motionless.
He simply could not understand why someone possessing beauty that seemed personally crafted by the forsaken god would ever choose to conceal it beneath the appearance of an ordinary royal forsaken.
His thoughts drifted as he stared absentmindedly at her.
Elisa merely smiled inwardly.
She did not blame him.
Throughout the entire forsaken realm, only a handful of beings could rival her appearance.
Seeing the chief lose himself, Solanky sighed helplessly before smacking the back of his head.
The chief immediately snapped back to reality.
"This is no place to lose your focus," Solanky said.
"The Pond of Life punishes greed, but becoming distracted while relying on external power to strengthen yourself is equally dangerous."
Embarrassed, the chief hurriedly circulated his energies to stabilize his mind before allowing the tiny droplets splashing from the pond to enter his body.
"Carefully absorb and refine every trace of its energy," Solanky instructed.
"Raise your cultivation to the peak stage of the entity level."
"Your bloodline is still inferior to that of a true royal forsaken. That limitation is the very reason you've remained trapped at the late stage of the entity level for countless eons."
The chief silently nodded.
He understood that better than anyone.
An opportunity capable of evolving his bloodline into that of a royal elite forsaken might never appear again.
Without another word, he closed his eyes, shut off every unnecessary sense, and devoted his full concentration to refining the bloodline energy flowing through his body.
Solanky formed several hand seals.
A powerful protective barrier instantly enveloped the chief, isolating him from every disturbance.
Only then did Solanky turn toward Elisa.
"Come with me."
His eyes carried absolute certainty.
"It's time for you to become a true entity-level being."
He smiled faintly.
"More precisely... a transcendent one."
Elisa's beautiful eyes widened.
Although she had already stepped into the Infinite Source God realm, she had never imagined that her breakthrough to the entity level would arrive so soon.
Her disguised forsaken body allowed her to display the combat strength of a peak-stage entity, and her understanding of the laws beyond the Infinite Source Space had deepened tremendously.
Even so, she knew that understanding alone was insufficient.
Her true dragon body still required an unimaginable amount of energy before it could complete its transformation into a genuine entity-level physique.
Only then could she unleash her full strength.
Solanky smiled.
"Today, fortune has chosen you."
"Not only will you break through to the entity level..."
"...you will become the greatest force I can rely upon when facing desperate battles."
"You will become my most formidable ally."
His thoughts drifted back to the first time Supremo had spoken of Elisa's future.
Supremo had predicted that she would one day become an existence capable of terrifying even the strongest beings.
Solanky had believed those words.
What he had not expected was that the prophecy would begin unfolding so soon.
His Supremo body had repeatedly instructed him to gather every precious resource and medicine possible so that the enormous life energies stored within it could gradually nurture Elisa's evolution.
Hearing those words, Elisa could not suppress the excitement welling up inside her.
She knew that every extraordinary leap in her strength had been made possible because of the divine flames Solanky had given her long ago.
Without them, she would never have possessed the ability to challenge opponents several realms above her own.
Unfortunately, those flames also prevented her from revealing her true power carelessly.
Solanky gestured toward the pond.
"Transform into your true dragon form."
"Then enter the water and begin absorbing its energies."
Elisa nodded obediently.
Without hesitation, she leaped into the Pond of Life before revealing her magnificent dragon body.
Watching her disappear beneath the glowing water, Solanky quietly murmured to himself,
"Could it be..."
"Was this pond hidden within the trial grounds specifically for her evolution, free from the interference of transcendent beings?"
He slowly sat cross-legged above the pond, hovering effortlessly over its surface.
The Scroll of Portals floated before him while a blazing cauldron burned quietly nearby.
Closing his eyes, Solanky began refining a transcendent grass of eternity for Elisa.
Then another thought crossed his mind.
Within his internal world existed a secluded medicinal realm filled with miraculous herbs.
Although they were a grade lower than the transcendent grass of eternity, they possessed remarkable properties that could significantly accelerate the absorption of pills refined from it.
Opening his eyes, Solanky extended a finger toward the floating map displayed by the scroll.
He marked their current location before sealing the entire space surrounding the cave.
With the assistance of the Scroll of Portals, he created a massive whirlpool at every entrance leading into the cave.
Anyone attempting to enter would instead be transported into one of the most dangerous regions of the trial grounds.
Once those preparations were complete, Solanky opened another portal beside the medicinal world.
Stepping through it, he disappeared.
Moments later, he arrived within the core lands of the Medicine World.
He swiftly collected the herbs he required before returning toward the cave.
Rather than teleport directly back, he chose to travel on foot using a shortcut.
He wished to see whether any contestants had attempted to enter the cave during his absence.
When he arrived, he was genuinely surprised.
Numerous injured participants were either sitting or lying helplessly before one of the whirlpools.
Wearing an innocent expression, Solanky approached one of them.
"What happened here?"
The injured cultivator recounted everything he had experienced.
Although Solanky already understood the truth, hearing the story from another's perspective still astonished him.
According to the participant, the moment he entered the whirlpool, countless mindless peak-stage entity-level beings immediately began pursuing him with overwhelming killing intent.
Forced to flee for his life, he desperately raced through the unfamiliar landscape.
As he ran, the pathways continuously twisted and shifted before his eyes.
Initially, he believed terror had caused him to hallucinate.
Only later did he realize he had unknowingly entered an enormous maze.
The strangest discovery came afterward.
Time flowed differently within that maze.
One hour inside was equivalent to an entire day outside.
After wandering for what felt like an eternity, he eventually discovered another whirlpool.
Without caring where it might lead, he jumped inside.
Fortunately, it returned him to the place where he had originally entered.
Listening to the explanation, Solanky immediately understood the terrifying nature of the maze.
Even beings possessing the strongest willpower would eventually lose hope if trapped within it for thousands of years without discovering an escape.
Eventually, death itself would become the only release.
A faint smile appeared on Solanky's face.
Only he knew the truth.
The whirlpool that participant had found had been deliberately created by him.
The true maze contained no such exit.
Even transcendent beings would require far more time before escaping it.
Maintaining his calm expression, Solanky walked directly toward the whirlpool.
Without activating the Scroll of Portals inside his internal world, he stepped inside.
The scenery changed instantly.
He found himself standing within the maze.
The same mysterious engravings carved into the cave walls surrounded him on every side.
Only after confirming his location did he lower his guard and activate the Scroll of Portals.
A spatial ripple enveloped him.
The next instant, he reappeared beside the Pond of Life.
The chief and Elisa remained immersed in cultivation.
The chief's aura had already reached the early stage of the peak entity level and continued rising steadily.
A satisfied smile appeared on Solanky's face.
"This," he said softly, "is the only way I can repay your kindness."
"You accepted us when we first met..."
"...and you never betrayed us to the venerable ones."