The sudden burst of light gradually faded from Nolan's eyes, and what reappeared before his vision was a bright, underwater world.
Above was a domed ceiling made of white bricks. The walls on both sides were built from the same material, and the floor as well.
However, every surface—top, sides, and bottom—was decorated with special white shell-embedded pearls.
Even the floor had neatly arranged shell-pearl lamps embedded into it. Nolan found it a bit strange.
If humans had once lived here, walking across such floors regularly would have likely caused them to trip or stumble.
This design, which defied human instincts, immediately gave Nolan the answer.
The creatures that once inhabited this domain were clearly not human. Furthermore, the water filling this space wasn't something that had flooded in when the domain was opened just now.
It had likely been like this from the very beginning. The beings that lived here must have been some sort of aquatic species.
The white pearls inside the shells emitted a soft, gentle light. The glow was natural and soothing—so much so that Nolan, standing amidst it, felt no sense of discomfort.
Clearly, the creatures who installed these shell-pearl lights throughout the underwater corridors had a sensitivity to brightness very similar to that of humans.
Intelligent, aquatic beings with a human-like tolerance for light...
Could it be that the inhabitants were a species of humans adapted to live underwater?
Merfolk?
Nolan instinctively thought of a well-known fantasy creature from Earth. Although this world's game had never mentioned merfolk when he transmigrated here, there were plenty of humanoid species.
Like the pointy-eared little Klee, or Sucrose with her fluffy beast-like ears.
Such species were quite common, so it wasn't out of the question that a race akin to merfolk, dwelling underwater, might exist.
Nolan rested his chin in his hand, lost in thought.
"So... so beautiful..."
Barbara, with her light golden twin-tails, had apparently opened her eyes at some point and was gazing around the area.
A look of curious excitement lit up her fair and delicate face.
Hearing her exclamation, Noelle also turned to look around, and was quickly captivated by the dazzling, exquisite pearls.
As expected, girls are always drawn to beautiful things. Nolan smiled and said,
"This domain has existed for thousands of years. Rather than letting these treasures remain buried underwater gathering dust, we might as well take them and give them new purpose."
"After all, restoring the brilliance of forgotten relics is what adventurers are meant to do."
"But let's wait until we leave to take them. We still need the lighting right now."
Although both Noelle and Barbara felt that removing these beautiful shell-pearl lights would leave the domain dim and less perfect, they had to admit Nolan made a fair point.
"Let's keep going."
Using the vision of the "Sword God of Lumine" ahead, and seeing no signs of danger, Nolan steered the transparent bubble carrying them forward.
The bubble drifted silently through the water. After several minutes and hundreds of meters, they were still within the white corridor.
But starting from about a dozen meters back, murals had begun appearing on the walls.
They depicted scenes of merfolk—humans with fish tails—living within the domain: hunting, eating, and so on.
Looking further ahead, Nolan realized the murals formed a continuous narrative.
It began with their harsh survival, then showed cooperation between different clans as they settled in Bishui Plain and gradually grew stronger.
As their civilization developed, the need for resources inevitably led to conflict with another aquatic race.
This rival race had snake tails, human-like bodies, forked tongues, and venomous fangs—serpentfolk.
Against such foes, the merfolk stood no chance at first.
But fortunately, they discovered this hidden domain and, using the treasures found within, trained many powerful warriors.
Eventually, under the leadership of their merfolk king, they were able to stand toe-to-toe with the serpentfolk.
Peace held on for a time, but then came the Archon War. The serpentfolk aligned themselves with a pitch-black serpent, worshiping it as their god.
Faced with a divine-level threat, the merfolk were no match.
They could only leave behind these murals and abandon the homeland they had built for generations, migrating downriver toward the open sea.
What happened afterward wasn't recorded. The merfolk had already fled.
Whether the serpentfolk discovered and occupied the domain remained unknown. And why both the merfolk and serpentfolk have become so rare in the present day—no records remained to explain.
Staring at the murals recording ancient history, Noelle and Barbara were both slightly surprised. They hadn't expected that Bishui Plain had experienced such intense racial conflicts thousands of years ago.
Nolan was just about to sigh at how difficult survival was when he suddenly saw something through the perspective of the "Sword God of Lumine."
About several hundred meters ahead, there was a hall-like space filled with statues of serpentfolk.
A row to the left, a row to the right—ten statues in total.
Each statue held its hands level in front, and from front to back, each row cradled different kinds of treasure chests: Common Chest, Exquisite Chest, Precious Chest, and Luxurious Chest.
In the last row, two serpentfolk statues held especially unusual items: one held a golden-glowing artifact, and the other cradled a black serpent-shaped statue with blood-red cracks running across its surface.
Just looking at it gave off a deeply unsettling feeling.
For someone at Nolan's level of strength, intuition wasn't just a gut feeling—it was usually accurate.
Which meant… that black serpent statue definitely harbored hidden danger.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Adventurer?"
The sharp-eyed Noelle noticed Nolan furrowing his brow and gently parted her soft lips to ask.
Barbara, who had been admiring the mural, also turned to look.
"I spotted something suspicious up ahead. Let me check it out first."
Rather than approaching recklessly, Nolan asked Noelle to use her Geo Vision to craft a stone bench. The three sat down together, waiting to see how the Sword God's probe would play out.
The Sword God condensed a golden longsword using sword intent and casually slashed a blade of energy toward the first serpentfolk statue on the left—specifically, the one holding a Common Chest.
The golden sword energy cut cleanly through the water, slicing the chest in half. The statue's arms also fell off and dropped to the ground.
Clatter clatter—
A large pile of golden Mora gently "drifted" to the ground in silence. Nothing strange happened.
Nolan continued using the Sword God to slice open the remaining chests one by one.
Piles and piles of Mora, artifacts, and all sorts of treasure slowly floated down through the water's resistance.
Everything seemed normal.
They looked no different from real treasure chests. But Nolan couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. After all, in all his experience with the game, he had never encountered so many chests in a single scene.
Especially two Luxurious Chests.
He pondered for a moment, then decided to have the Sword God strike again—this time, aiming at the ominous black serpent statue.
A slash of golden sword energy struck the statue without resistance. With a loud crack, the black serpent sculpture was left with a deep fissure and was flung away.
It drifted down like a falling leaf, landing lightly on the floor—but again, there was no movement.
Oh? That thing was so tough, not even sword intent with the "Sharp Intent" trait could cut through it fully? Could it actually be a treasure?
Nolan was quietly surprised.
Still, he trusted his instincts. Since he felt something was wrong with it, he shouldn't approach it lightly.
Besides, the pitch-black serpent shown in the murals looked quite similar to this statue. There might be a connection.
So, he sent several more golden sword slashes toward it.
Each slash, like a crescent moon of golden light gliding through water, struck the statue with great speed.
Maybe the initial crack had weakened its defense—because the subsequent sword slashes easily cleaved the black statue into multiple pieces.
Just when Nolan thought it was all over, the shattered statue suddenly emitted a thick, dark mist.
Before his eyes, the black mist rose into the water and condensed into a massive serpent of smoke, its eyes glowing a demonic crimson.
It let out an ear-splitting roar of ecstasy:
"DAMN YOU, MORAX!!! THIS GOD IS FREE AT LAST!!!"
Even though it was underwater, the roar of the dark serpent, composed entirely of black energy, echoed directly inside Nolan's mind from hundreds of meters away.
Telepathic voice transmission?
He turned to Noelle and Barbara and asked:
"Did you hear that too?"
"Yeah… I think it said 'Morax'? Isn't that the name of the Archon from Liyue?" Noelle replied.
Barbara nodded as well, both girls wearing puzzled expressions on their fair, lovely faces.
"I see. Looks like we've unleashed something pretty serious."
Nolan nodded and gave a soft chuckle as he spoke.
If he wasn't mistaken, this black serpent—now seemingly only a soul—was probably the very one the serpentfolk used to worship.
Back then, it was the era of the Archon War. This place, still called Bishui Plain, had likely been occupied after the serpentfolk took over the territory of the merfolk.
For some unknown reason, they ended up provoking Zhongli.
Naturally, things didn't end well. The serpent was beaten down and sealed in this hidden domain, where it remained—until Nolan accidentally let it out.
"Eh? That black serpent from the murals? Sh-should we head back first?" Barbara asked, covering her mouth in surprise and sounding a little anxious.
After all, this was a creature so powerful that even the entire merfolk race would flee at its appearance. Staying here was clearly unsafe.
Nolan gently patted Barbara's shoulder to reassure her.
"It's fine. That black serpent has been sealed away for ages. Even now that it's broken free, its strength has greatly diminished. We can handle it!"
He had such confidence because he'd already seen the black serpent's level through the Sword God's eyes:
[Level: 98]
It may have been powerful enough to fight Zhongli during the Archon War, but now it was only level 98. That kind of decline?
He wasn't afraid. Time to beat it down first, then talk!
Currently, his "Sword God of Lumine" within the Spiral Abyss had already reached the third level of the Corridor of Depths and was continuously clearing out the monsters there.
Nolan's Adventure EXP on the character panel had reached about 780,000. Once he took down this black serpent—
And added the monsters deep within the third level of the Corridor—he should break a million EXP. That would mean another level-up!
Excited, Nolan said to the two girls,
"Let's back up a bit. I don't want the shockwaves from my Sword God's battle with the black serpent to hit you two."
"Mm." The two girls nodded without objection.
They were here mainly to gain experience anyway—this kind of high-level battle wasn't something they could help with.
"Oh right, do you two want to see what's happening inside? I can link our minds and share the vision with you."
Nolan said while backing away inside the large water bubble.
"Really? You can do that?"
Barbara and Noelle had just seen the serpent depicted in the murals—it was impossible not to be curious about such a creature.
"Of course. Come on, give me your hands."
Seated on the Geo-crafted bench, Nolan extended his hands toward the two adorable girls.
In truth, someone of his spiritual strength didn't need physical contact to form a mental link—anyone within his perception range was enough.
But... he simply wanted to hold the girls' soft hands.
"Okay!"
Not knowing his little scheme, Noelle and Barbara thought that hand-holding was necessary to establish the link.
Without much hesitation, they placed their fair hands in his. Noelle even took off her armored gloves first.
Nolan gently held their delicate hands and began channeling spiritual energy to form the connection.
Feeling their hands gently wrapped by the Honorary Knight's warmth, and the heat radiating from his touch…
The two girls suddenly realized they were holding hands with a boy. A faint blush appeared on their pale cheeks.
But pulling back now would only make things more awkward—so both Noelle and Barbara quietly kept still.
Besides, the adventurer's hand… was kind of warm.
[Noelle Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 260 Affection Point. Current Affection Level: Lv.9 (350/900)]
[Barbara Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 280 Affection Point. Current Affection Level: Lv.6 (480/600)]
Nolan glanced at the notifications popping up on his character panel. Externally calm, he acted like he hadn't noticed a thing, and proceeded to synchronize the Sword God's perspective to the girls.
But inwardly, he couldn't help feeling a little pleased.
"You foolish humans. Thank you for freeing this god! And as a reward… you shall become part of me, just like my old followers!"
"Let's start with your avatar!"
The moment Barbara and Noelle synchronized with the Sword God's vision, the first thing they saw was a massive black serpent opening its jaws wide—rushing toward "them" to devour them whole!
(End of chapter)
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