The guard, pale as a ghost, struggled to his feet and placed his trembling hand on the largest Soul Power sensing crystal in the center of the control panel, desperately channeling the remaining Soul Power within his body into it.
The crystal shimmered and emitted a soft hum, as if verifying something.
A few breaths later, the control panel emitted a crisp beep, and the eerie blue light stabilized.
From inside the massive, heavy metal door, a series of loud "click-clack" sounds came from the unlocking of enormous mechanisms, as heavy as the heartbeat of the earth.
Buzzing--
With a dull, loud thud, the massive gate, inscribed with a powerful soul-guiding circuit, began to slowly open inward.
The heavy scraping sound of the door hinges echoed in the enclosed underground space, making one's eardrums tingle.
A richer, colder aura, carrying the scent of countless rare metals and energy crystals, surged out from the crack in the door as if it were a tangible substance.
A terrifying glint flashed in Du Busi's eyes as he greedily inhaled the aura of the money and laughed wildly:
"Hahaha, it's open! It's open! The Sun Moon Empire's gold and silver mountains, here I come!"
However, just as the giant gate was halfway open, a sharp, urgent, and extremely penetrating soul-guided alarm sounded without warning.
The sounds came from all directions: from the frame of the giant door that was opening, from the alloy floor beneath their feet, and from the rocky dome above their heads.
A blinding red light flashed wildly, and the alarm blared in waves, carrying Destruction penetrating force that instantly pierced through the thick rock layers and alloy structures, spreading wildly throughout the entire Mingdu.
The guard, who was lying paralyzed on the ground, turned ashen-faced.
The ecstasy on Du Busi's face instantly froze, turning into fury!
"Damn it, you dare to trick us?" Du Busi roared, slapping the guards to death with a single blow.
Then, the dark green Bloodline Power around him suddenly erupted, and the terrifying pressure of the Limit Douluo swept through the entire underground space like a tangible tsunami, causing the alloy walls to groan under the strain!
"Kid, the door's open, quick!" Du Busi roared, his massive fist carrying the power to shatter mountains and split seas as he slammed it into the hard alloy wall beside him.
An invisible, chilling aura, seemingly capable of freezing the soul, descended without warning. Centered on Toji and Du Busi, a visible, pale blue barrier composed of pure ice and snow instantly expanded.
This barrier was not a physical entity, yet it enveloped the entire underground platform, along with the half-open giant door and the precious light emanating from within.
The extremely penetrating alarm sound, upon encountering this barrier, was like hitting an invisible ice wall, instantly becoming muffled and distorted.
The sharp, high-frequency sounds were completely filtered out and annihilated, leaving only low, indistinct noises echoing futilely within the barrier, unable to penetrate this domain composed of absolute cold.
The blinding red light was refracted and scattered by the pale blue ice crystal barrier, becoming hazy and dim, losing its original warning impact.
Snow Empress appeared beside Toji and stretched.
"It's nothing, you're welcome."
This made Toji, who had just finished expressing his gratitude, stop talking and immediately urge Du Busi to go inside.
Without the slightest pause, it transformed into a blurry afterimage, slipping through the gap in the massive doorway, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, like a swimming fish.
Du Busi reacted just as quickly as lightning. His burly body unleashed an astonishing speed that seemed disproportionate to his size. He followed closely behind Toji and squeezed through the not-yet-fully-opened door!
A heavy thud and the groaning of the alloy came from behind. It was Du Busi, by brute force, had pushed open and deformed the priceless soul-guided giant door even further when he forced his way through.
Inside the door, instead of the expected scene of treasure piled up directly, there was a relatively spacious alloy platform.
In the center of the platform, a huge elevator made of high-strength alloy and transparent soul-guiding crystal stood quietly.
The elevator has a very large interior space, enough to accommodate dozens of people.
"Someone's there!" Du Busi growled, his gaze sweeping across the corner of the platform like lightning.
There stood four guards wearing special-issue Soul Tool Armor. They were clearly startled by the sudden alarm and the loud noise outside the door, and were looking towards the doorway with suspicion, their soul-guided weapons glowing in their hands.
However, their reactions were as slow as snails compared to the two ultimate powerhouses.
Toji appeared behind the leftmost guard, without drawing his sword, but simply pointed his fingers like a knife and slashed the back of his neck with lightning speed.
The guard's body stiffened abruptly, the light in his eyes vanished instantly, and he collapsed limply.
Du Busi was even more brutal, unleashing a massive fist with a whistling sound.
The terrifying force of the punch was like a real cannonball, instantly blasting the two guards on the right who were trying to raise their guns backward, armor and all, flying them back and crashing them hard into the alloy wall with a tooth-grinding cracking sound, killing them instantly.
The last guard was terrified. Just as he was about to press the emergency button on his chest, a giant hand covered in dark green scales crushed his skull.
The whole process took less than two seconds.
Four elite guards were killed on the spot, as if they were dusted away with a flick of the wrist, without even being able to utter a scream.
The stench of blood instantly filled the air.
"Hmph, in the way." Du Busi flicked non-existent blood off his hands and strode toward the control panel of the elevator.
He didn't bother to study it at all, and smashed the outer shell of the control panel with a single punch, revealing the complex soul wire circuits and energy core inside. His powerful Spiritual Power brutally probed in and instantly locked onto the descent command.
The elevator emitted a low hum as the massive alloy doors slowly closed.
A slight tremor came from beneath my feet, and the entire platform began to sink steadily and rapidly into the depths of the earth.
The elevator was deathly silent, save for the low rumble of the machinery and the lingering murderous aura emanating from the two men.
The elevator descended extremely quickly, and after several tens of seconds, accompanied by a slight click and a hissing sound of air pressure being released, the vibration stopped.
The heavy alloy elevator doors slid open slowly to both sides.
Outside the door was a huge, brightly lit passageway.
At the end of the passage, another, even thicker, massive door, inscribed with symbols of danger, could be vaguely seen.
Six guards stood at the entrance, their equipment superior to that of the upper level, and their auras were even more formidable.
One of the middle-aged men, who appeared to be the leader, saw the elevator doors open and put on his habitual smile, which carried a hint of ingratiation and casualness.
"Hey? Steward Li? What brings you down here at this hour? Are you here to bring us brothers some drinks? This alarm's been sounding really weird today..."
His words came to an abrupt end.
Because the person who came out of the elevator was not the Steward Li he knew, but two strangers who exuded a terrifying aura.
The guard leader's smile froze on his face instantly, his pupils contracted sharply with extreme fear, and he opened his mouth to sound the alarm.
Unfortunately, it was too late.