The Keyhole

Su Zhan opened his mouth.

Unable to make a sound.

Sound cannot travel in this water.

[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Boss, the sound waves have been completely absorbed. This water doesn't just absorb sensory waves—it absorbs all vibrations.

Su Zhan switched his communication method from voice to thought transmission within his Sea of Consciousness. The Cultivation Method themselves rely on communication of consciousness, unaffected by the external environment.

"Continue to descend."

His body slowly sank in the extremely dense water, at a speed more than five times slower than in normal water.

One hundred zhang (approximately 33 meters).

The water pressure suddenly increased. The Wisdom King Armor Skin of the Immovable Wisdom King Wall creaked and groaned—even the dark gold scales that had been refined and upgraded under the water pressure underwent slight deformation.

But it didn't break. It's far from reaching its limit.

Two hundred zhang.

He could see nothing around him. The black water was opaque, soundproof, and imperceptible to all senses. Su Zhan felt as if he were soaking in a solid mass of black amber.

The only point of reference is the Totem on his chest.

The golden light shone brightly in the darkness. The light guided the way—keep going.

Three hundred feet.

Su Zhan's eardrums began to feel pressure. The Immovable Wisdom King Wall adjusted the defensive density in the head area, dispersing the excess water pressure.

Five hundred feet.

[Immovable Wisdom King Wall]: Report. The current water pressure is equivalent to a depth of 10,000 zhang in normal sea conditions. My defenses are within their capacity, but 60% of the reserves have already been used.

Su Zhan continued to sink.

Seven hundred zhang.

Eight hundred feet--

My foot bumped into something.

Su Zhan stopped.

His feet were on a flat surface.

It wasn't mud or rocks from the seabed—it was a smooth, artificially polished stone surface.

He squatted down and touched the stone surface under his feet.

The stone surface has patterns.

Su Zhan ran his fingers along the lines—the texture of those lines felt familiar.

It has the same golden patterns as the surface of the Grotto-Heaven Core.

"We've arrived."

The Totem on his chest suddenly lit up.

Golden light burst forth from Su Zhan's chest, piercing through the black water and illuminating the stone surface beneath his feet.

The stone surface began to change under the golden light—the patterns lit up, and golden light flowed and spread along the patterns, like turning on a lamp.

The range of light penetration is increasing.

Su Zhan finally saw what was beneath his feet.

A door.

A circular stone gate, about ten zhang in diameter, lies flat on the seabed, with patterns radiating outward from the center of the gate.

There is a groove about the size of a thumbnail in the very center of the door.

The shape of the groove was exactly the same as the Totem on his chest.

Key.

Su Zhan placed his right hand on his chest. The Totem began to heat up—to the point of being scalding hot.

He removed his hand from his chest, and a golden disc of light appeared in his palm. The Totem detached from his skin and floated in his hand.

Su Zhan aligned the light plate with the groove.

I pressed it.

"Buzz--"

A massive, silent tremor pierced through the eight-hundred-foot-deep black water and reached the surface of the sea.

The door began to rotate.

Su Zhan's footing became unsteady—he took two steps back, watching the ten-zhang-diameter stone gate slowly turn like a giant gear.

The patterns on the door rearranged and combined as it rotated, forming a new design.

Then—the door split open in the middle.

A beam of golden light shot out from the crack.

At a depth of eight hundred feet—in the black waters that devour all light—that golden light illuminated everything.

Su Zhan's vision cleared instantly.

There was no deeper seawater beneath the door.

It is a space.

An independent space that does not belong to the seabed.

Golden light poured up from that space, pushing aside the black seawater and creating a bubble twenty feet in diameter. Inside the bubble was no water—only dry air and an extremely concentrated energy of Principle.

Su Zhan jumped in.

Landing.

He stood in a passageway. The walls of the passageway were made of the same golden-patterned stone as the Mustard Seed Grotto-Heaven.

The passage was straight and extended forward for about fifty feet.

The End--

Bright.

Su Zhan walked over.

There was no door at the end of the passage; it was wide open.

The moment he stepped out of the passageway, his breath caught in his throat.

A huge spherical space appeared before them, at least five hundred feet in diameter.