Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Sekiro

"I had this idea, but I didn't have time to think about it."

"When he comes back, we must let him know who the cutest baby in the world is."

The divers began to enter the water one after another, and Ye Sheng and Ya Ji were also ready.

With a "plop," they plunged into the icy water. Even though they had warmed up, in that instant, it felt as if they were naked and buried in the snow, their muscles twitching violently and their lungs contracting.

Fortunately, the mixed-race individuals possessed strong physical abilities, and they quickly adapted to the low temperatures that most people could not withstand.

They turned on the spotlights on their masks, the beams illuminating a distance of five or six meters, but visibility was still almost zero.

They communicated with hand gestures and continued diving.

The underwater world was silent except for the sound of the submerged surging. Even if 200 people were to dive, it would be almost impossible to find the location of other divers. Only the distant spotlights could be seen to indicate that there were people in that place.

When they reached the deep water area, Ye Sheng and Ya Ji stopped. Ye Sheng opened his arms, and without any gestures, Ya Ji wrapped her arms around his waist, securing his body like a seatbelt.

She gently wiggled her feet, the fins on her wetsuit splashing through the water to maintain their balance.

Ye Sheng is about to use the "snake". When he uses the "snake", he will lose control of his body. If no one holds his body steady, he will be swept away by the current, like a drowning person, and fall into a helpless situation.

He needed a reliable partner to protect him while he used the power of words, and that partner was Aki.

They have done this hundreds of times. During the execution of the "Kuimen Project", they conducted tacit synchronization training every day.

Even after the "Kuimen Project" ended and Aki and Ye Sheng never carried out diving missions together again, their tacit understanding remained.

Ye Sheng felt the hands that were holding him, and even though he was in the eternally dark icy sea, he felt incredibly safe.

He relaxed his body, closed his eyes, and focused his attention on the "swarm of snakes" residing in his mind.

He recited ancient and obscure words, and the "swarm of snakes" awoke. They were colorless, soundless, and formless, and swam from the deepest part of Ye Sheng's mind into the sea, spreading in all directions.

A world that only users of the "Snake" can observe forms in Ye Sheng's mind. This world has no light, no shape, and no color.

He searched intently for the hidden "door," a process that was extremely long and tedious.

The maximum range of a snake's activity is about 200 meters. In the real world, it manifests as an electromagnetic signal. If there is a fiber optic cable or a highly conductive metal, the snake's range of activity can expand to a considerable extent.

But this is the Arctic Ocean, and a snake's 200-meter range is just a drop in the ocean.

Finding a movable "door" in such a place is like finding a needle in a haystack, but it's the only thing they can do.

Aki held his body and moved slowly. Ye Sheng was now a human radar, and she was the radar's power source. They would stay underwater until Ye Sheng opened his eyes.

10 minutes, 30 minutes...

1 hour, 2 hours...

They swam for two hours in the dark, icy sea.

There's no need to worry about oxygen; the lifeline is connected to an oxygen supply line, providing them with a continuous supply of oxygen.

But their strength was almost completely exhausted.

Due to the nature of the Nibiru region, they are unable to communicate with people on the water via electronic devices.

But since the lifeline failed to pull them up, it means the other divers also failed.

They were so cold they had lost all feeling and their bodies were stiff. Aki let go of Ye Sheng and gestured to him that it was time to go back.

But Ye Sheng didn't want to give up. They didn't need to save their energy to swim ashore. They just needed to press a switch on their diving suits, and the winch driven by the diesel engine would pull them back.

He gestured to Aki that they should try going deeper again. The place wasn't deep enough yet, they hadn't reached their limit. No, even if they had reached their limit, they would try to break through it!

Divers were returning to the ice one after another.

Manstein was among the last group to return. Although he was an old man over fifty, he persevered to the very end. After he reached the shore, he only said one sentence to Angers before immediately fainting from overusing his Word of Power.

He said, "I'm sorry."

The medical team, which was on standby at all times, carried him on a stretcher to the ship's medical room for treatment.

There were many people lying in the hospital beds. Some of them had returned early because they had suffered severe frostbite due to their low bloodline. Doctors were administering anesthesia to them. Afterward, they would be sent to the operating room to have necrotic flesh removed.

Angers stood on the ice, gazing at the huge holes that had been chiseled into it.

"How many people haven't returned yet?"

"two."

Su Enxi and Angers arrived at the ice hole that belonged to Aki and Ye Sheng. The turntable was spinning, and the survival rope was being stretched continuously. They were still descending, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, as if they were chasing something.

Both remained silent as the wind howled past. Neither uttered a word; they simply waited quietly.

Angers glanced at his watch from time to time; it was an exquisite mechanical timepiece, capable of operating only within the realm of Nibiru, thanks to its intricate mechanical gear structure.

The second hand on the dial clicked...clicked...

The second hand rotated at a frequency similar to that of the turntable, but suddenly the turntable stopped, and instead, the brass bell placed on the turntable rang out a clear sound.

This is a signal!

Find the signal for the "door"!

"They succeeded!"

Su Enxi excitedly raised her hands and waved the flag. A loud whistle sounded from the ship, searchlights locked onto the ice hole, the diesel generator ignited, and the rumbling turntable rotated in the opposite direction, rapidly retracting the lifeline.

Erii, Genjiro, Genjiro, Natsumi, Susie, Giovanni, Lu Lincheng...

They gathered together, each holding a seven-dead-sin weapon and wearing red-gold bronze rings on their wrists.

Ye Sheng and Jiu Deya were finally pulled ashore, and medical staff immediately came to take care of them the moment they were on land.

"Is the ring on?" Su Enxi asked, leaning down.

Ye Sheng was too weak to speak. He nodded and suddenly coughed up a mouthful of stagnant blood from his lungs.

"They dived too deep, and the changes in external pressure made them very uncomfortable!"

"Pressure pumps, don't take off their diving suits, let the pressure changes be a little more gradual!"

"They need to be kept warm! Their body temperature has dropped to 25 degrees Celsius, and their heart rate is very weak!"

"..."

Erii and her group had already jumped into the water, the copper rings on their wrists emitting a reddish-gold light, vibrating to guide them to Nibelungen in Loki.

On the shore, Ye Shengmo heard a group of people talking in his ear. He glanced at Aki and gave her a forced smile.

Shuto Aki lay beside him, reached out and stroked his cheek, gazed at him, and opened her mouth to silently mouth three words.

"I love you."

Ye Sheng's fingers trembled as he stroked her forehead and closed his eyes.

The two of them fell asleep together.

"Doctor, their pulses...have stopped..."

The hot water bottle that the running nurse was carrying fell to the ground, sending ice shards flying.

Everyone stared blankly at the two people's faces. They had peaceful expressions and smiles on their faces, as if they were still looking at each other and sharing their joy.

...

Erii and her group saw the glowing door; it was golden, as eye-catching as the moon at night.

That door had a strange attraction that made people want to go inside and see what was inside, as if it held treasures.

Two bronze rings were attached to the door, and the rings were vibrating, showing signs of cracking.

The door became somewhat indistinct, flickering as if it would disappear at any moment.

Xia Mi clasped her hands together, and a huge wind pressure was released from her center, forcibly creating a space underwater.

"Even if Norton made the lock, it can't suppress our bloodline for long. Let's go in."

So they opened the "door," and a dazzling white light emanated from behind it. As they rushed in, the ring on the "door" shattered, and the "door" vanished as if it had never existed.

Those who enter the "door" can clearly feel that they have passed through a barrier, as if their fingers have pierced through a plastic film and entered a new cavity.

When they opened their eyes, they saw an endless expanse of white mist, which looked like soft clouds supporting an island.

The sky was as clear as crystal, and the island was filled with countless coffins. The materials of the coffins changed constantly from the inside out, from stone coffins to bronze coffins, iron coffins, and then to silver coffins.

At the very center of the island is a mountain with a flat, knife-cut cross-section. The cross-section has many caves, like the mountain burial practices of some ethnic group. Each cave contains a coffin, which is made of gold and bound with moss-covered iron chains.

Towering trees reaching into the clouds, multi-headed serpents coiled around their trunks—this place resembles a god's tomb.

"How dare you trespass into the kingdom of God!"

Loki stood atop the mountain, still clad in armor and wearing a mask, the last Gungnir held in his hand.

He glared angrily at the intruders from his high vantage point.

Suddenly the chains snapped, all the coffins were pushed aside, and the dead who wore the same masks as him stood up.

A thunderbolt struck from the sky, and dense bolts of lightning crashed down, striking the intruder.

“Sakura…it’s right there…” Erii gazed at Loki, the golden boy as dazzling as the sun, fine scales appearing on his profile, and wings sprouting from his back.

Incredible changes occurred to her. Her deep red hair gradually faded to light red, and then turned pure white like snow. Her wings split open, with six wings on each side, making a total of twelve wings. Her hands and feet turned into claws, and her arms were covered with snow-white scales.

At this moment, she no longer seemed like a human, nor a monster, but more like a goddess, with golden lightning blocked outside her domain.

"Have you already broken through that barrier...?" Loki held Gungnir high: "You will lose your human form, is that alright?"

"I don't care what I become, I don't care what the world becomes, but Sakura, I will definitely bring him back!"

Even Erii's "Pride" changed shape, its dark gold blade twisting into a spiral-shaped spear.

She soared high into the air, and as her domain expanded, the white mist slowly dissipated, revealing what had been hidden within.

The people standing there slowly lowered their heads. The giant ice beneath their feet was transparent and clear, and their gaze could penetrate directly to the bottom of the ice.

Encased in ice lies a jet-black skeleton, whose grandeur, antiquity, and solemnity defy description even with the most vivid adjectives. Yet, it can be summed up in a single word: "dragon."

Those were the remains of Nighogg, the Black King, frozen at their feet.

“Sakura, I will definitely bring you back.”

Erii's hand, a hand that could no longer be called a hand, pressed against her heart.

Pride pointed at Loki's head, its twelve wings flapping as it charged at Loki with a death-defying resolve, obliterating everything in its path.

But Loki raised Gungnir, and her form froze as the lance, twisted from a broken branch, clashed with her domain.