Chapter 711: Chapter 710: The Key [Thanks to ‘Reader 707’ for the reward]

Facing Lu Zixun, who suddenly became overly dramatic, Hai Mingzhu was speechless and could not be bothered to deal with him.

At the same time, she felt her previous impression of Lu Zixun being cute was not warranted.

Over time, Entrance 1 to the Underground Kingdom had long been blocked off by stones.

Looking at the situation before him, Lu Zixun’s mouth twitched slightly.

It must have been tough for the Merfolk to find the Underground Kingdom under these conditions.

Summoning the Night Evil Sword, he cleared the boulders away, and a familiar passage appeared before Lu Zixun.

However, the lights in the corridor had been extinguished for who knew how many years, the passageway corroded with rust from the seawater.

“It’s a bit different.”

He muttered softly, then, transformed into human form, he walked ahead.

The passageway in the Snowfield Frost Land was a hundred times more difficult to traverse than those in the Trial Land.

The seawater had washed who knows what into the passageway. Cleaning it wasn’t difficult, but it felt quite disgusting.

An hour later, Lu Zixun, now in the main hall, sighed in relief for having finally left that tunnel.

“There’s actually such a place here.”

After looking around, Hai Zhuming expressed her amazement.

“In the history of the Snowfield Frost Land, there’s no trace of human presence?”

Hearing this, Lu Zixun looked at Hai Zhuming with surprise.

“Not at all.”

She shook her head and after a thought, Hai Zhuming added, “But, it may have been before the sea level rose that humans appeared.”

Lu Zixun nodded in response. It seemed Hai Lanyue had not included the affairs of humanity in the Merfolk’s records.

Could there be a hidden story behind the rise of sea levels in the Snowfield Frost Land?

Approaching the elevator and pressing the button yielded no response, it seemed that this method to enter the Ancient City was no longer viable.

He forcefully breached the elevator doors, which had sealed well and had not been subject to the erosion of seawater, looking particularly clean.

Going up the shaft, Lu Zixun arrived at the familiar Ancient City, whose lighting was long extinguished, and yet the ground still bore the disheveled imprints of footsteps.

This fact hinted that the projection of the Underground Kingdom from the Trial Land dated back to many years ago.

“What are you doing here?”

Smelling the stale and rotten scent in the air, Hai Zhuming pinched her nose and asked.

“I’m here to verify some guesses.”

He replied calmly and headed towards the nearby Ancient City.

There were no Guardians at the entrance to the Ancient City, rendering a pass unnecessary.

Yet, walking in the pitch-dark, deserted Ancient City was unbearably oppressive.

Different from the Trial Land, items were scattered about the shops, and the walls of the buildings bore residues of black soot—the marks left by a great fire.

The Memory Metal that once hovered above the Ancient City was now nowhere to be seen, as the whole city seemed to have undergone a catastrophe.

By now, Lu Zixun was certain.

The Trial Land might not only be about projections, but also about preserving something, such as… the Beast Giant’s skull that Gushanyuan took away.

While observing, he made his way to the Treasure Room within the Ancient City.

Watching Lu Zixun’s familiarity with the place, Hai Zhuming raised her eyebrow, “You seem to know your way around here very well.”

At this, Lu Zixun didn’t hide anything and directly shared the existence of the Trial Tower with Hai Zhuming.

After learning about this, Hai Zhuming frowned and said, “This thing is interesting, I seem to have seen it mentioned in an ancient book before.”

Lu Zixun, who was also interested in the existence of the Trial Tower, turned to Hai Zhuming, “Can you help me look it up when we go back?”

“Sure.”

She nodded, and the two entered the Treasure Room via the old lift.

As Lu Zixun had predicted, the Treasure Room was indeed empty, void of anything.

“Let’s go back.”

With a conjecture about the Trial Land in mind but unsure of its accuracy, Lu Zixun said thoughtfully.

On the way back, the Underground Kingdom was sealed by Hai Zhuming, considering it might be reused in the future.

With nothing particular occurring in the Fusion World, Lu Zixun, finding himself with nothing to do, simply lay down in Hai Zhuming’s room, waiting for her to bring information about the Trial Tower.

Not long after, Hai Zhuming entered the room with a serious expression, “I’ve found it, the Trial Tower can also be said to be the key to all the different worlds, it could be considered a gift to humanity.”

“There are no records of when the Trial Tower appeared, but when it did, it was not called the Trial Tower, but the Key,”

Pausing, Hai Zhuming continued, “After discovering this message, I looked closely, and there were traces of human life in every layer of the world, but the advent of the Lord of Sin doomed these humans to destruction.”

“So, are you saying the Lord of Sin killed the humans?”

Lu Zixun’s question was met with a slight shake of Hai Zhuming’s head, “No, he absorbed the fear of humanity, which led to their downfall.”

This notion made Lu Zixun gasp.

While no fear meant becoming fearless, for humanity, this was indeed their most fatal flaw.

Because of fear, rules are followed; because of fear, Order is maintained.

Because of fear, there’s a line of morality.

So, that was how the Lord of Sin destroyed the world’s rules.

“And then?”

After a moment of silence, Lu Zixun continued to ask.

“Then, there were no further records. The Trial Tower, as the Key, took away the treasures guarded by humanity in each layer of the world and disappeared without a trace, finally appearing in the First-order World.”

This answer was full of holes—there was no reason for the Lord of Sin to spare the First-order World.

“The Lord of Sin, having made moves in the Second and Third-order Worlds, has no reason to spare the First-order World. This is totally illogical.”

Pausing, Lu Zixun added, “The Trial Tower probably doesn’t have the power to protect a world; otherwise, it wouldn’t have just watched the Lord of Sin take action.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

As her brow furrowed, Hai Zhuming shook her head, “The Lord of Sin hasn’t managed to strike at the First-order World precisely because of the Trial Tower, but let’s not forget, it has another name—the Key.”

Lu Zixun’s pupils narrowed as he contemplated for a moment, “What you’re saying is, the Trial Tower closed the door to the First-order World?”

“Yes.”

Hai Zhuming nodded slightly, speculating, “I guess it’s more than that. It didn’t just close the door to the First-order World but to the Third-order World as well; otherwise, the Lord of Sin would have appeared long ago.”

“That’s not good news.”

Lu Zixun sighed faintly, after all, the Six Layer World was also merging.