Ku Hai Fishmen?

There had been no major gains in the Middle Sea for the time being, so they turned their attention elsewhere.

In the Lower Sea.

It was deep and dark here, the seawater icy to the bone, its pressure making it hard to breathe.

The moment they entered, Bai Zhou and Qian Yu were attacked by a Domain Lord Level sea beast.

It was an octopus with sixteen tentacles. On closer inspection, it looked somewhat similar to a Desert Sea Octopus, as though it belonged to an ancestral generation of Desert Sea Octopuses. Its posture was wildly aggressive.

"Swish!"

Six blades of light appeared behind Qian Yu. Under her control, they formed a giant sword and instantly severed one of the Domain Lord Octopus's tentacles.

Two short blades appeared in Bai Zhou's hands, dancing wildly like a hurricane. In a single second, he unleashed over a hundred attacks, leaving scratch after scratch on the Domain Lord Octopus's body, yet failing to pierce its defenses.

"Hmph."

Bai Zhou took a step back, adjusted his posture in the water, and snorted coldly.

This Domain Lord Level Octopus had extremely strong defenses. Qian Yu was wielding a Fifth-Grade Psionic Weapon, and only by stacking secret techniques and erupting with her full strength had she barely managed to cut off one of its tentacles.

Meanwhile, the two short blades in Bai Zhou's hands were merely Third-Grade Force Weapons, clearly insufficient to break through its defenses.

"Bai Zhou." Qian Yu called out worriedly.

"I'm fine." Bai Zhou took a deep breath. Then, an absurdly massive greatsword appeared in his hands.

A greatsword over ten meters long and nearly a meter wide!

Compared to Bai Zhou's height of less than two meters, the difference was clearly rather extreme.

"I spent most of my assets, and my teacher personally called in a favor, just to obtain this Beyond Fifth-Grade Weapon. I wonder if you can sharpen its edge?" Bai Zhou muttered, his hands loosely gripping the hilt.

"Wind Slash!"

Bai Zhou roared, gripping the greatsword with both hands and slashing toward the Domain Lord Octopus.

This secret technique had been custom-made for him by his teacher. It was enough to grant him the strength to kill a Domain Lord at the Universe Level!

"Swish!"

This strike seemed to erase time itself.

Dozens of phantoms appeared around Bai Zhou's body. These were Time Phantoms, proving that his comprehension of the Law of Time had reached an extremely high realm, even surpassing Gu Ce's comprehension of the Origin Laws of Space.

As the strike fell, the first-stage Domain Lord Octopus was completely devastated, its life core exposed.

"Whoosh!"

Qian Yu promptly delivered the finishing blow while catching the panting Bai Zhou.

"How is it?" Bai Zhou asked weakly.

"It's completely dead," Qian Yu replied.

Bai Zhou smiled faintly and was about to say something when his eyes suddenly widened. He looked toward several figures appearing not far away.

Divine Kingdom Humans?!

The first group to enter this place had never mentioned anything like this!

"Humans?"

Mijiti's expression turned grave. She had never expected to encounter such a situation here.

At that moment, the three of them were surrounded by a group of humanoids carrying long forks, their bodies covered in fish scales and completely devoid of hair.

What were these things? Fishmen?

Gu Ce was rather puzzled.

"This does seem to be a branch of the Fishmen," Rimuru said after carefully examining them.

The leader among these Fishmen was a third-stage Domain Lord Level warrior.

"Outsiders, hand over our clan's Sea Suppressing Pearl!" the leader shouted.

"Sea Suppressing Pearl?" Mijiti frowned deeply. Could he be talking about that iron ball?

"My spoils of war. Why should I return them to you?"

Despite saying that, Mijiti still refused to yield in the slightest, completely disregarding the fact that she was already surrounded.

Without drawing attention to himself, Gu Ce shielded the two of them in front of him while observing the Fishmen's positions and planning an escape route in advance.

He did not think he could contend with a Domain Lord.

"Presumptuous!"

Sure enough, one of the men beside the Domain Lord Fishman shouted angrily, gripping his long fork as he prepared to step forward.

Mijiti refused to back down as well. She tightened her grip on her spear, ready to clash with him.

"Wait."

The Domain Lord Fishman stopped his subordinate, looking at Mijiti with appreciation.

"This woman is not bad. Capture her and present her to the Clan Leader!"

"Boom!"

Flames swept forward. The instant Mijiti heard those words, she attacked. Her spear thrust out, and flames burned beneath the water, instantly reducing several weaker Fishmen to ashes.

The Domain Lord Fishman's expression did not change. He released his domain, directly suppressing Mijiti before grabbing her with one hand.

What an idiot.

Gu Ce sighed inwardly.

So what if you could defeat that Domain Lord?

Were all those people beside him just here to watch?

And if an Immortal who might not even be as strong as Hu Yanbo could have Domain Lords born within his Divine Kingdom, perhaps even World Lords, didn't that seem strange?

Divine Kingdom Humans had already appeared. It seemed these Fishmen had developed their own civilization.

There was something far deeper behind this.

Once the Domain Lord Fishman acted, Mijiti was captured alive, and Gu Ce and Di Man immediately gave up resisting as well.

The surrounding Fishmen stepped forward and restrained the two of them.

After Gu Ce tested it and confirmed that he could break free of the restraints instantly, he stopped paying attention. He intended to see what these Fishmen wanted to do.

Although he definitely could not defeat this Domain Lord Fishman, he was confident that it could not kill him instantly.

As long as it could not kill him in one blow, he could hide inside the Ice Desolation!

By then, even if the Ku Hai Divine Lord came back to life, there would be nothing it could do.

The Ice Desolation also had weapons such as a Star Annihilator Cannon and E9 Laser Cannons. No matter how strong you were, you would have to kneel.

This was Gu Ce's greatest source of confidence in daring to explore an Immortal Divine Kingdom!

Confidence was one thing, but he never did anything without certainty.

"Take them back to the clan. The Clan Leader has ordered that these outsiders cannot be killed," the Domain Lord Fishman commanded.

The Fishmen's stronghold was located in the Middle Sea.

They rode Universe-Level sea beasts that looked somewhat like the Cloud Sharks of the Ku Hai Secret Realm. They moved extremely quickly through the water, and after traveling for some time, they brought Gu Ce's group of three before a massive city.

"Escort them to the Sea Abyss first. I'll go see the Clan Leader."

The Domain Lord Fishman gave the order.

A squad of well-equipped Universe-Level Fishmen approached and escorted the three of them into a large prison.

Items such as the Intelligent Optical Computers on the three of them were confiscated by the Fishmen, cutting off any possibility of contacting the outside world.

Gu Ce took a look around. The prison cells here were all made from D-Grade Metal, seemingly the same kind of metal as the iron ball they had found earlier. With the strength of the three of them, escape truly would be difficult.

"Brother Gu Ce?"

Hearing a familiar voice, Gu Ce could not help but freeze.

In the cell opposite his, an acquaintance was being held prisoner: Xie Peng.

"How did you end up here?" Gu Ce asked quietly.

"Earlier in the secret realm, we came across a Seafloor Rift. Several of us got swept into it, and then we were imprisoned here," Xie Peng said helplessly.

Only then did Gu Ce notice that many people were imprisoned in the surrounding cells. They seemed to be trial participants who had entered the secret realm.

What did the Fishmen want with these people?

Gu Ce was deeply puzzled.

"Clang!"

Di Man smashed his fist against the cell with all his strength, causing the metal bars to deform slightly.

"Brother, don't bother." Seeing this, Xie Peng spoke dejectedly. "There's also a Domain Lord guarding outside this prison. Otherwise, we would have escaped long ago."

Although their Intelligent Optical Computers had been taken away, they still had some backup measures. The cells were not the true reason they were trapped.

It could only be said that the Fishmen had been lucky not to capture any trial participants backed by an Immortal.

Otherwise, this place would have been wiped out before Cangyuan Hou arrived.

Di Man stopped moving upon hearing this. He remained silent, seemingly lost in thought.

"Rimuru," Gu Ce called silently.

They could take away an Intelligent Optical Computer, but they could not take away an Intelligent Life.