Saundin

As the Black Pillar grew larger and larger in his field of vision, Zhou Qing was not in a hurry. He maintained his original speed and made his way ashore at a steady pace.

Snap!

Stepping onto the hard steel floor, Zhou Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief, put the Rabbit Girl down, and immediately took out some dry food from the Gray Pouch to replenish his energy.

Xiao Wu was the second to reach the shore. After putting down the slightly dizzy Riko, she sat down cross-legged without saying a word and began to recover her Soul Power.

The same applies to Romantina and Tang San.

After running seventy kilometers, still on the sea, one needs to constantly control the force and output of Soul Power, and even sense the patterns of the waves beneath one's feet.

How could four people not be tired?

However, none of the four were ordinary people, and they recovered extremely quickly.

A dozen minutes later, all four of them had recovered completely.

"You guys are really amazing," the Rabbit Girl exclaimed sincerely. "You're even more amazing than any other Soul Master I've ever seen from the outside world. How did you manage to run on the sea? Even if you can create ice, it would be difficult to support your weight, right?"

"It's very simple, just sense the waves of the sea." Zhou Qing smiled. "In terms of cultivating Soul Power, we are far more advanced than you."

"That's true. People living in different places all have their own strengths." The Rabbit Girl didn't ask any more questions and turned to look at the Steel Base.

The Steel Base in front of us is built around black pillars, about fifty meters high, with three floors. It is made entirely of black metal, and there are also crisscrossing pipes on the outside, which is quite spectacular.

"Let's go."

At this moment, the Rabbit Girl replaced Riko and became the group's guide, heading towards the gate of the Steel Base a hundred meters away.

In other words, the straight-line range of the area where they are currently standing is about 100 meters.

Upon arriving at the base gate, white uniforms emerged from both sides, as if sensing Zhou Qing and the others' arrival, and slowly opened.

A person dressed in black special forces clothing, wearing a helmet, with a black reflective glass device on the front and a white vertical line, and standing nearly two meters tall, appeared accompanied by steam.

Behind him followed more than twenty others, all dressed in black special uniforms, but with triangular, circular, or square patterns etched on the front of their helmets.

[This art style... is getting weirder and weirder!]

Looking at the group of people dressed in futuristic, sci-fi-inspired clothing, Zhou Qing secretly scoffed.

"Long time no see, Saundin, you're still alive?" the Rabbit Girl said Taunt.

But Saundin didn't care and said calmly, "Outsiders, Soul Master? I advise you to go back. You can't go to the Fifth Layer."

"Isn't that underestimating us a bit?" Xiao Wu rubbed her hands together, eager for a challenge. "There's bound to be a test, right? Come on, let's have a go!"

However, Saundin raised his hand to stop Xiao Wu and turned to the Rabbit Girl, saying, "Didn't you tell them how to get to the Fifth Layer?"

The Rabbit Girl tilted her head. "???"

"Oh, I almost forgot, your transformation was only successful by chance with Namiki's help, which is why you lost some of your memories."

Saundin immediately understood.

"Riko, do you know?" Romantina asked softly.

Riko's face suddenly turned red, and she whispered, "Abel didn't mention how to get from the Fourth Layer to the Fifth Layer. Since most people can't go to the Fifth Layer, the residents of Abyss Town actually have very limited knowledge about what's below the Fourth Layer."

"But that's precisely why—"

"That's why people keep going on adventures."

Hearing what Riko said, Zhou Qing didn't know whether to agree or disagree.

After all, for the Abyss People, exploring these Abyss Ruins is an indispensable part of their Life.

"Only those who possess the White Whistle and the Fallen One can enter the Fifth Layer."

Saundin said this.

"Although we don't have the White Whistle, our strength is no less than that of a Soul Saint-level Soul Master, and we can even defeat Soul Douluo," Xiao Wu said.

"You can't get in then."

Saundin's tone was somber. "It's not that I'm stopping you, but to enter the Fifth Layer, you must possess the White Whistle. Otherwise, even Titled Douluo would have their physical body destroyed or even vanish into thin air if they forced their way in."

"The White Whistle, is it something like a pass or something?"

At that moment, Zhou Qing realized that the White Whistle might not only represent the Explorer's rank and ability, but also a key, an Identity Card.

"That's one way to understand it." Saundin's glass mask, which was black with a hint of purple, was facing Zhou Qing. "The White Whistle is not like the other Red Whistle, Black Whistle, Purple Whistle, or Yellow Whistle, which can be made of special metals. It is the Whistle of Life."

"What's the meaning?"

Zhou Qing frowned deeply.

Saundin took out the White Whistle hanging around his neck. It had black patterns on it and looked like a dragon's head, unlike Odin's White Whistle.

"The so-called White Whistle can only be obtained through sacrifice!"

Saundin told the truth.

"Human sacrifice! When a person is willing to sacrifice everything to the Abyss, but still has a strong longing for someone in their heart, then their body will condense into White Whistle in the process of disintegration... I have been studying the specific principle, but I have not found anything. However, there seems to be a rumor in your outside world that a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast sacrifices itself to Soul Master. It should be similar, except that here it is a human sacrificing itself to another human."

Zhou Qing's eye twitched.

This rule—

Was it set up by the original builders of this Abyss Ruins?

Or is it because this Abyss Ruins was also influenced by external rules? It's just that due to conflicting rules, or even errors, it turned into a human sacrifice?

Back to the present.

Since the White Whistle all originated from human sacrifices, Zhou Qing seemed to be able to understand Odin's decadence and why the Saundin in front of him had to cover himself up so completely.

The White Whistle is a manifestation of one person's sincere and intense longing for another, transformed under the special rules of this Abyss Ruins.

However, even if the other person who was sacrificed receives the White Whistle, their personality will change drastically due to intense grief, to the point that they will later give the impression of becoming abnormal.

It has to be said, these Abyss Ruins are truly tormenting.

Only--

"Have all the Soul Master who went to the lower levels in the past also experienced the pain of sacrificing their comrades?" Zhou Qing asked.

"Two hundred years ago, a Soul Saint entered the Fifth Layer without the White Whistle, but that was because he held a seed containing a peculiar Life and an insect egg, and forcibly resisted the damage from the Gate," Saundin said calmly. "Other Soul Master who dared to force their way in all died."

Zhou Qing and Tang San exchanged a glance, realizing that both the Soul Saint mentioned by the Rabbit Girl and the Soul Saint referred to by Saundin were the same person:

The Holy Soul Village's Soul Saint.

The opponent's ability to disregard the rules for entering the Fifth Layer likely stems from the Life contained within the seed and the Radiant Goddess Butterfly Egg —the divine power of the God of Love's Nirvana ...