The collapse started when Kiana came to the door

"..." Everyone looked tense and no one made a sound.

For ordinary humans, even with the assistance of professional diving equipment, diving to a depth of several hundred meters below sea level is already the limit.

If we continue to dive, even the water pressure nearby can cause fatal damage to the human body structure.

It was dark all around, and nothing could be seen except the five searchlights. Li Shubai could only feel his heart beating fast, and a tingling sensation all over his body. A small amount of Honkai energy penetrated into every part of his body through the constantly circulating blood, and finally reached his skin, helping him resist the external high-pressure environment.

Suddenly, a vague white light came from directly below.

"That is..." Li Shubai muttered to himself.

He did not expect anyone to answer him, but after a dive that felt like he was traveling alone in a starless universe, he could not help but speak to break the silence when he suddenly saw this faint light.

He didn't know how deep they were from the sea surface... Was it one thousand meters, or five thousand meters? In short, in this deep sea where even the sense of time was shattered, the fact that he could see the light made Li Shubai feel strangely moved.

"This should be the legendary Nine Netherworld." Fu Hua said calmly, "It is also the place where Ji Lin... Ji Xuanyuan buried Chi You."

Qiana tilted her head and asked in confusion: "So we are already directly above Chi You?"

"It's possible." Ji Zi frowned and nodded. "All the way down, except for the Houkai fish at the beginning, we haven't encountered any creatures living in the deep sea. This means that the ecosystem in the deep sea has been completely destroyed by Houkai."

"..." After hearing Ji Zi's words, Li Shubai couldn't help but fall into silence, but his back couldn't help but shiver.

He couldn't help but think of a sentence he had heard before - practice is the only criterion for testing truth. When he actually dived deep into the seabed in the flesh, a sense of abnormality that he had not previously noticed suddenly struck his heart.

He recalled the materials he saw in the morning in Saint Freya after being called to the dean's office by Ji Zi. It was clearly written on it that the Ministry of Natural Resources of Shenzhou had issued instructions to the Ice Dragon scientific research icebreaker to observe the ocean current temperature in the South China Sea and the migration routes of precious marine fish.

However, suppose that the accompanying collapse disaster caused by Chiyou's resurgence has already destroyed the ecosystem in the deep sea.

——Why didn’t the divers report this extremely obvious abnormal phenomenon until they lost contact?

Was it because the ecosystem was still normal at that time, or was it that the divers' nerves and consciousness had already been disrupted before they dived into the deep sea?

A huge fear suddenly exploded in Li Shubai's heart. He looked around at his companions, and finally focused his sight on Fu Hua, swallowing lightly.

...Don't scare yourself. If you really suffer a mental and consciousness attack, there is nothing that Fu Hua, the holder of Yu Duchen, cannot discover.

"Everyone, be on alert and be ready for battle at any time." As if she sensed Li Shubai's gaze, Fu Hua looked back at him calmly, and her calm and steady voice echoed in everyone's wireless communication: "Everyone, act together, and don't separate."

"Yes!" Kiana, Raiden Mei and Bronya responded immediately, while Li Shubai looked at Fu Hua deeply and let out a sigh: "Understood."

"Team Jizi, Team Fuhua, everyone continue diving." Jizi said.

The six people continued to dive, and the white light became brighter and brighter as they gradually approached. Finally, when the specific outline of the thing was completely revealed, the five people except Fu Hua could not help but be stunned.

"Magic circle?" Kiana said in disbelief this word that should only belong to fantasy works.

The thing that was emitting white fluorescence was a giant ring with zigzag thin lines around the outside and the center was completely filled with mysterious and beautiful patterns.

"...That should be the seal that Ji Xuanyuan placed on Chi You." Fu Hua said in a low voice.

The ring emitting white light was deeply embedded in the gently sloping seabed.

No, that's not the seabed.

Li Shubai frowned. If he guessed correctly, the exact geographical location of this place should be the Manila Trench located on the border of the South China Sea, and the essence of the Manila Trench is the subduction zone of the South China Sea subplate to the Philippine plate.

Here they should have seen steep canyons or high underwater valleys, but not a flat seabed.

The six people slowly dived to the bottom of the sea. When everything became clearly visible, the things that came into view made Li Shubai's pupils suddenly lock.

--ice.

What they just saw was not the real seabed. A huge layer of ice covered the steep rock formation. The crystal clear ice reflected the white light of the seal array, which was beautiful and dazzling.

Beneath the ice layer was a bottomless darkness, as if it had been fiercely split open by a giant sword. The ice layer replaced the original rock layer, healing the huge wound left by the sword.

"Everyone, pay attention! There is a strange light at the six o'clock direction." Ji Zi's calm and clear voice made Li Shubai shudder all over and come back to his senses.

It must be said that compared to him, who was originally just a small executive of the company, after encountering such an unconventional thing, the Valkyries like Ji Zi and Fu Hua were the ones who could keep calm more. He followed Ji Zi's words and looked in the direction she indicated.

"That is..." Li Shubai stared blankly at the golden light in the center of the seal formation, "Xuanyuan Sword?"

After hearing what Li Shubai blurted out, Fu Hua couldn't help but narrow her eyes slightly.

——Typhoon, location of eye.

A huge sense of oppression accompanied by rising black fog filled the only windless place.

In that.

The azure comet kept drawing curves in the air that completely violated aerodynamics and collided rapidly with the thick black fog.

Driven by the full speed of gamma particles, Rita Rossweisse at this moment burst out with an ultra-high speed that far exceeded the wind speed of a typhoon and was several times the speed of sound.

The flying gray-gold hair, the billowing blue skirt, and the long azure tail flame like wings all exude a sharp and deadly beauty.

The posture of its continuous and rapid folding was like a comet streaking across the night sky.

However, the high-speed comet, whose trajectory should have been impossible to capture with ordinary human vision, was easily caught by a black object in the black fog.

Amidst the sharp hissing and bursting flames, the mighty sword wielded by the white phantom was blocked by a long sword that was completely pitch black.

Rita's enemy, a petite woman who had just appeared and was surrounded by black mist, did not show any sign of hesitation on her face.

At the moment when the phantom's giant sword and the petite woman's black sword touched.

The pitch-black sword body burst out with a rich and dazzling bright golden light.

The light emitted by the pitch-black sword body wantonly destroyed everything outside.

The entire eye of the storm was completely filled with light as dazzling as the sun.

Rita, whose self-driven phantom was destroyed by a sword, retreated to the periphery of the eye of the storm, looking at the petite girl who stood still with a serious look in her eyes.

"You are indeed a great hero famous in Shenzhou and even the whole world." Rita said softly, "The way you use the Key of God really opened Rita's eyes."

The petite girl didn't say anything, but stared at her quietly with her emotionless and calm gray-black pupils.

"No emotions... no reason either." Rita narrowed her eyes, "...Is that so? Has it been completely eroded by the Honkai?"

The petite girl still didn't say anything, but Rita's words finally made her react a little.

She raised the black sword in her hand high with one hand, and black lightning appeared out of thin air from the tip of the dark sword and struck into the sky.

The pitch-black lightning lines, like a wound in space, tore apart the boundary between the sky and the sea.

Amid the huge thunder, Rita suddenly heard an extremely strange sound of horse hooves. She raised her head suddenly and stared at the black lightning with serious eyes.

No, that's not lightning.

That is a scar in space, and also a gap leading to the imaginary space.

In the dark wound, a majestic warhorse clad in golden armor came running at full speed, and stopped in mid-air beside the petite girl, obediently waiting for the master's orders.

Rita bit her lower lip gently, a hint of uneasiness flashing in her wine-red pupils.

Obviously, she underestimated the warrior in front of her who had successfully defended the Shenzhou Continent under the threat of a Judgment-level Honkai Beast.

Although the stigmata she possessed were not as good as the complete stigmata of Kaslana, and this golden-armored warhorse was obviously no match for Krishna, which was commanded by Yulandel, this warrior named Ji Lin was actually a super warrior who had successfully developed the power of the stigmata to the limit, just like Yulandel!

The moment Ji Lin jumped onto the horse, Rita felt an extremely terrifying force suddenly appear from another space and poured into Ji Lin's body mercilessly. The golden lightning mixed with the blazing flames burst out wantonly.

The next moment, the warhorse in Rita's eyes suddenly expanded.

The petite female knight riding a black horse rushed to Rita in the blink of an eye, and the black sword went straight to Rita's neck.

However, amid the sharp hissing of metal clashing against each other, the black track that was intended to take Rita's life was stopped by a white scepter that suddenly appeared in the middle of the track.

After King was instantly destroyed by the destructive force released by the Xuanyuan Sword, Queen responded to the call. The huge self-propelled phantom held up a thick scepter, turned its body into a shield, and loyally guarded Rita's body.

In an instant, the figures crossed, and the power gap between the two sides was revealed. In the gap between the black sword and the scepter, Queen's noble and flawless body only held out for a moment before it was defeated. The whole body quickly spread with fine cracks, and then collapsed from the outside.

After Ji Lin appeared, Rita attacked her at the highest speed all the time, but Ji Lin only used two moves to easily destroy the two self-propelled phantoms she summoned.

Although Rita herself is not very good at using the self-driven phantom system of the Bright Knight Yuepo to fight, and this place is still the opponent's home court, this does not prevent the fact that Rita cannot defeat Ji Lin in a short time. This makes Rita, who is already a little anxious, bite her lower lip slightly.

Today, the second Key of God in this world has not yet surfaced. Therefore, whether it is Walter Yang, the Herrscher of Reason, or Otto's Void Treasures, it is difficult to reproduce the Thousand Worlds One Vehicle that was born as the Key of Void.

Therefore, Rita originally wanted to use the power of the Key of Domination in this world to reproduce and use the degraded power of the void through the Xuan-Yuan Sword. Even if it was only the degraded power of the void, it would not be difficult to leave the coordinates of this world.

At that time, the Hyperion, which has captured the beacon, can use the power of three or more Herrs of the Sky to forcibly break through space and come to this world.

However, the originally perfect plan encountered unimaginable obstacles due to various unexpected factors.

First, Yulandel and Rita in this world disappeared, and then now, she discovered that Ji Lin’s strength level far exceeded her imagination.

"Alas, you are a warrior who once exchanged his life with Chi You. Even knowing this, I still failed to calculate your ability. It is really a huge dereliction of duty as a maid." Rita sighed softly, and then spread out her five white fingers. "But, I'm sorry, Rita also has reasons that she can't give up, so I have to ask you to continue to accompany me in this battle."

Ji Lin, with lifeless eyes, raised his sword and responded with action.

A faint purple fluorescence emanated from Rita's palms.

Since there is no chance of victory by relying on the combat system of the Brilliant Knight Yuepo, Rita can only choose to rely on the abilities that she trusts the most and is most familiar with.

The only problem is-

The black knight and the blue comet collided again, and the black Xuanyuan Sword and the sickle as gorgeous as petals embraced each other intimately.

The dense clouds were shattered quickly by the blue and black lights that collided like meteors, and then regenerated.

——Faced with a warrior who has awakened the stigma and sealed a Judgment-level Honkai beast, how well can Rita, who is not good at high-altitude combat, handle it?

Before the Soul Control's evil spell was set up, this battle was like walking on the edge of a tightrope for Rita.

Chapter 4: Fu Hua's warning, the truth behind the collapse incident (k)

After arriving at the ice layer on the seabed, the six-member team did not immediately head in the direction of the Xuanyuan Sword discovered by Ji Zi.

Li Shubai squatted down, stretched out his hand, and stroked the ice that covered the entire seabed.

"Strange...why can't I feel cold?" Li Shubai murmured in a low voice.

"Because this is not an ordinary layer of ice, what you are touching now is not the surface of the ice, but the solidified space itself." Fu Hua said lightly, "If it was just an ordinary layer of ice, it would certainly not be possible to freeze the Judgment-level Honkai Beast in this seabed."

"What are these glowing lines?" Mei Raiden looked around and asked with some confusion.

"I'm not sure, but judging from the shape, it seems that all the lines come from the sword stuck in the middle of the ice." Ji Zi glanced at Li Shubai, "I just heard you say that the name of the sword is Xuanyuan Sword?"

"Yes." Li Shubai nodded and looked at Fu Hua. "If this is the legendary Nine Netherworld, then it means that this is also the burial place of Chi You and Ji Xuanyuan. The weapon that appeared here is most likely the sword held by Ji Xuanyuan."

"Indeed." Ji Zi nodded, agreeing with Li Shubai's inference, "Judging from the scale of this pattern, the range that the power of that weapon can affect is really too large."

They had not felt it when the distance was quite far just now, but once they got closer and could see everything nearby very clearly, the six people who came to the bottom of the sea discovered that the glowing lines were incredibly large.

All the lines are as thick as a main road. Standing in this frozen trench is like coming to a city built of glowing roads.

"Ask a question!" At this moment, Kiana raised her hand, her clear blue eyes filled with curiosity and eagerness to try: "Since it is such a powerful weapon, why don't we recycle it?"

"If possible, we would like to get the weapon." Ji Zi spread her hands, "But the problem is, no one knows what abnormal situation will happen if we touch the weapon rashly, and we don't know whether the ice under our feet will be affected by the weapon being pulled out."

"What Ji Zi said is right. Moreover, there is another very strange thing..." Li Shubai frowned and scanned the vast ice layer under his feet. His tone seemed a little strange: "If this ice layer is the seal that Ji Xuanyuan imposed on Chi You... why can't we see anything in it?"

Just as Li Shubai said, although this crystal clear ice is beautiful and dazzling, and it can exist for a long time in the South China Sea where the average temperature is around 20 degrees, it must be very different from ordinary ice.

But from the time they vaguely saw the glowing lines to the time they dived down to the bottom of the sea, they did not see anything similar to Chi You under the ice. Apart from the pitch-black abyss and steep rock walls, they could not see anything.

"So... it's true..." Fu Hua frowned, feeling a little uneasy, "If Chi You has really been fully revived, there is no reason why this seal would remain so intact."

"..."

Silent silence suddenly fell in this space. Li Shubai and Fu Hua looked at each other again, and both saw a trace of uncontrollable fear in each other's eyes.

Obviously, Fu Hua, who knew all the inside story, and Li Shubai, who still had some impression of the plot in his mind, both had their own guesses about the current facts and realized the seriousness of the problem.

"For things that you can't understand, the best way is to see it with your own eyes." Li Shubai spitted and said with a dry mouth: "What if it's not what we think?"

"Indeed." Fu Hua nodded, then turned her head and looked into Himeko's eyes seriously, "Major Himeko, please take Kiana, Raiden Mei, and Bronya back to the surface of the sea immediately."

"Wait!" Ji Zi was confused. "What about you and Li Shubai? What did you talk about in private just now?"

"I will go with Captain Fu Hua to check the actual situation of Xuanyuan Sword." Li Shubai glanced at Fu Hua, nodded, and said lightly, "Don't worry about us. After verifying the current status of Xuanyuan Sword, Captain Fu Hua and I will catch up with you immediately."

"Then I want to go with you!" Kiana suddenly swam to Li Shubai's side and pinched Li Shubai's diving suit with two fingers.

"..." Li Shubai frowned and was about to say something, but was suddenly interrupted by Fu Hua, "Okay, the fighting power of the two of us alone may not be enough. If Kiana is willing, you can follow us, but you must follow my instructions, okay?"

"Got it! I promise to obey the captain's orders!" Kiana was so happy that she almost jumped up, and proudly made a "yeah" gesture to Li Shubai.

"...Ah." Li Shubai sighed, looked at Fu Hua deeply, and spread his hands helplessly: "If you have no objection, I have no objection either."

"Although I still don't quite understand what happened, but..." Ji Zi nodded, "Okay, the rest is up to you. I wish you good luck."

She waved to Bronya and Raiden Mei: "Mei, Bronya, prepare to float up."