Number two - I don’t get killed in his death, I am ordered by him to sail Northward to Hyperborea. I establish a ministry there, safe from the Peacekeeper, and I eventually get to preserve Durza’s teachings. I die a peaceful and honorable death.
It’s not water that destroy them, it’s the giant magic energy concentration in the sea. Technically, curse users could probably take a dip in the sea in WoM since that magic energy is mostly gone as far as I know.