Everyone plunged into the Yangtze River like dumplings tossed into a pot.
The raging current instantly swallowed them up.
Thanks to the Water-Avoidance Charm, they could all clearly see everything within the river.
The visibility was almost as good as on land.
Lu Mingfei took a deep breath experimentally.
Sure enough, he could breathe underwater.
Mai was filled with amazement.
The pressure that usually came with diving was completely gone. They moved underwater as naturally as if they were still on land.
The feeling was so bizarre, it was hard to put into words.
Meanwhile, Old Tang was flailing at the surface, still dog-paddling like crazy.
But clearly, he hadn't mastered the stroke, because he wasn't getting anywhere.
His face was turning beet red from holding his breath.
Lu Mingfei sighed and swam over.
He grabbed Old Tang's hand.
"Deep breaths! Deep breaths!"
Blub-blub-blub-blub!
Bubbles exploded out of Old Tang's mouth.
Then, to his shock, he realized—he wasn't drowning.
"What the hell…"
They could even talk underwater.
"Is this even the world I used to know?"
Old Tang felt like his worldview had just been flipped all over again.
"Fun, right?"
Ren Asakura's voice echoed over.
Old Tang nodded.
"Very fun!"
Ren Asakura pointed downward.
"Let's go. Time to find your little brother… and the Seven Deadly Sins. Bronze City is your home, Old Tang. The rest of us? We're just guests."
"My… home?"
Old Tang began paddling forward with his janky doggy stroke.
This mission had several goals.
Lu Mingfei wanted to save his friend. And more importantly, he needed to obtain the Seven Deadly Sins—the legendary anti-dragon weapon.
Most of Lu Mingfei's enemies in the future would be dragons. With the Seven Deadly Sins in hand, he would at least have a fighting chance.
They dove deeper.
Underwater currents twisted and pulled around them, but the Water-Avoidance Charm made it feel like nothing.
Far beneath the surface…
The sunlight couldn't reach this depth. And now that it was nighttime, the water was pitch black.
Yet to their eyes, it was as if they had night vision goggles—completely unaffected.
Soon, they reached the bottom.
They stepped onto the riverbed's silty floor and looked up—above them, an endless expanse of churning water.
It was a feeling no human had ever truly experienced.
All around them were stone walls and rocky terrain—no sign of the so-called Bronze City.
Old Tang felt a strange sense of familiarity, like something was calling out to him.
"Why can't I see anything?"
Lu Mingfei wasn't surprised. Bronze City had been submerged for over a thousand years. It was long since buried by layers of rock. A dragon's domain wasn't something that could be easily found.
Especially since this particular domain was Nibelungen, the alchemical realm of the dragons.
"Ren, do you see it?"
Ren Asakura nodded.
"You've cultivated divine sense, haven't you? Use it. Don't just sit on it—learn to apply it."
Even at the Foundation Establishment stage, divine sense didn't reach far. But it was still enough.
Lu Mingfei closed his eyes. A strange spiritual energy began to ripple outward like sonar, scanning everything nearby.
Through the rock walls, through layers of mud and stone…
Ren Asakura watched him with interest.
"Do you see it now?"
Behind the rocky barrier lay a massive Bronze City.
Its entrance was a colossal bronze mask—an enormous face, scorched and scarred with old burn marks.
"So magnificent… Even words in a novel couldn't capture a scene this grand."
Lu Mingfei opened his eyes, unable to imagine how the former King of Bronze and Fire had used alchemy to create such a vast city of bronze.
"The King of Bronze and Fire specialized in alchemy. For him, nothing was impossible," Ren Asakura said with a smile. Though the Bronze City appeared enormous, in the end, it was merely the twin dragon kings' lair.
To Ren Asakura, it was just a slightly bigger anthill.
"So how are we supposed to get inside? If I remember right, in the original story, it was exposed by an undersea earthquake. I'm guessing that earthquake was probably caused by my dear little brother and his backstabbing shenanigans. That would explain the mess that came afterward."
Ren Asakura waved his hand casually.
"Watch this. When visiting a friend's house, it's only polite to knock first."
He then struck the surrounding rock wall with his palm.
The water trembled. The stone began to crack.
It was as if an earthquake had begun—everything around them started to shake.
Countless fractures spiderwebbed across the solid rock.
Even the nearby Baidi Mountain by the Three Gorges Dam began to tremble.
Just a casual palm strike—and Ren Asakura had triggered an earthquake.
Thankfully, his control over his power was masterful.
The tremors quickly stopped.
Chunks of rock fell away, and a powerful suction force emerged from the depths.
This was caused by the extreme water pressure that had built up over hundreds of meters underwater. Once a hollow space suddenly appeared, the surrounding water rushed in to fill it.
During that rush, terrifying pressure gradients formed all around them.
A small whirlpool appeared on the Yangtze River's surface due to the surfacing of Bronze City.
But the change went unnoticed—after all, the dangers of the Yangtze were widely known.
A circular blue barrier enveloped the group, shielding them from the crushing currents.
The spectacular sight of the surging water could only be witnessed by these four.
Soon, the void created by the emergence of Bronze City was completely filled by the river.
Within moments, the water grew still once again.
"Let's go."
The group walked across the riverbed, toward the spot where the rock had just collapsed.
After traveling less than a hundred meters, they saw it—that massive bronze mask.
It was imposing and majestic. Even with today's technology, creating such a colossal bronze face would be nearly impossible.
That bronze mask was the gate to Bronze City.
"So this is the Dragon King's lair," Mai murmured, her expression sharply alert. What came next was venturing into the very heart of the Dragon King's domain.
No matter how you looked at it, the lair of a Dragon King would have pure-blood dragon guards. Without serious firepower, even hybrids wouldn't stand a chance against them.
Old Tang stared at the gigantic bronze mask, flashes of memory surfacing in his mind.
Familiar. Far too familiar.
But the memories quickly faded away, leaving behind only a frustrating emptiness.
To open the gate to Bronze City, a key was required.
That key was dragon blood—of high enough purity.
But to a master, a home needs no key.
Old Tang stepped onto the rocky ground, reaching out to gently touch the immense bronze mask.
"I'm home," he said.
Even he didn't know why those words came out.
The bronze gate seemed to sense the return of its master—and slowly, its mouth began to open.
It was welcoming its master home.
Nibelungen had been waiting for his return.
As the bronze mask opened wide, Old Tang blinked in disbelief.
"Did… I do that?"
°°°
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