Withered Sea Fishmen?

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

Within the lower sea.

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

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

It was an octopus with sixteen tentacles. On closer inspection, it somewhat resembled a Desert Sea Octopus, seemingly an ancestor of the species. Its posture was wild and brimming with aggression.

Swoosh!

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

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

"Hmph."

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

This Domain Lord Octopus had exceptionally strong defenses. Even with Qian Yu controlling a Fifth-Grade Psionic Weapon, stacking secret techniques and unleashing her full strength, she had only barely managed to cut off one of its tentacles.

The two short blades in Bai Zhou's hands were merely Third-Grade Force Weapons. They were 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 enormous greatsword appeared in his hands.

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

Compared to Bai Zhou's height of less than two meters, the disparity was plainly enormous.

"I spent more than half my assets, and my teacher personally called in a favor, just to obtain this Beyond Fifth-Grade Weapon. I wonder... can you finally be sharpened on it?" Bai Zhou murmured, loosely gripping the hilt with both hands.

"Wind Slash!"

Bai Zhou roared, grasping the greatsword with both hands and slashing at the Domain Lord Octopus.

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

Swoosh!

This slash seemed to erase time itself.

Dozens of phantoms appeared around Bai Zhou's body. These were Time Phantoms, proof that his comprehension of the Law of Time had reached an exceptionally high level—even higher than Gu Ce's comprehension of the Origin Laws of Space.

As the sword fell, the First-Stage Domain Lord Octopus was completely devastated, its life core exposed.

Whoosh!

Qian Yu promptly delivered the finishing blow, while catching Bai Zhou as he panted heavily.

"How is it?" Bai Zhou asked weakly.

"Dead for good," Qian Yu replied.

A faint smile appeared on Bai Zhou's face. He was about to say something when his eyes suddenly widened as he looked at several figures appearing nearby.

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 wielding long forks, their bodies covered in fish scales and completely hairless.

What were these things? Fishmen?

Gu Ce was somewhat puzzled.

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

The leader of these fishmen was a Third-Stage Domain Lord.

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

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

"My spoils of war—why should I return them to you?"

Though she said that, Mijiti still refused to yield in the slightest, completely disregarding the fact that they were surrounded.

Without drawing attention to it, Gu Ce moved to shield the two women in front of him. At the same time, he observed the fishmen's positions and planned an escape route in advance.

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

"How dare you!"

Just as expected, one of the people beside the Domain Lord Fishman angrily berated them, gripping his long fork as he prepared to step forward.

Unwilling to be outdone, Mijiti likewise gripped her spear, ready to clash with him.

"Wait."

The Domain Lord Fishman stopped his subordinate and looked at Mijiti with admiration.

"This woman's not bad. Capture her and offer her to the clan leader!"

Boom!

Flames swept forth. The instant Mijiti heard those words, she made her move. Her spear thrust out, and flames burned beneath the water, instantly incinerating several weaker Fishmen into ash.

The Domain Lord Fishman's expression did not change. He unleashed 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 around just here to watch?

Besides, an immortal who might not even be as strong as Hu Yanbo—wasn't it strange that beings within his divine kingdom could produce Domain Lords, perhaps even World Lords?

Divine Kingdom Humans had already appeared. It seemed these Fishmen had formed a civilization.

The waters behind this ran deep.

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

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

Gu Ce tested it out. Once he confirmed that he could break free of the restraints in an instant, he stopped bothering with them and decided to see what these Fishmen intended to do.

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

As long as he was not killed in one blow, he could hide inside the Ice Desolation!

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

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

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

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

"Take them back to the clan. The clan leader has given orders that these outsiders are not to 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 from the Ku Hai Secret Realm. They moved extremely quickly through the water, and after traveling for some time, they brought Gu Ce and the other two before an enormous city.

"Send them to the Sea Abyss first. I'll go see the clan leader."

The Domain Lord Fishman gave his orders.

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

Things like the Intelligent Optical Computers on their bodies were all 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 forged from D-Grade Metal. It seemed to be the same kind of metal as the iron sphere they had found earlier. With the strength of the three of them, it truly would be difficult to escape.

"Brother Gu Ce?"

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

In the cage across from his own was an acquaintance—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 were swept inside, and then we were locked up here," Xie Peng said helplessly.

Only then did Gu Ce notice that quite a few people were imprisoned in the surrounding cages. They seemed to be trial participants who had taken part in the secret realm trial.

What did the Fishmen want with these people?

Gu Ce was deeply puzzled.

Clang!

Di Man slammed his fist into the cage with all his strength, causing the metal bars to bend slightly.

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

Although their Intelligent Optical Computers had been confiscated, they still had some backup measures. The cages were not the real reason they were trapped.

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

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

Hearing that, Di Man stopped moving. He said nothing, seemingly lost in thought.

"Rimuru," Gu Ce called silently.

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