After a day's journey, the Kaslana group arrived in the Guangzhou region of Shenzhou. According to records, Jiuyou was located at the lowest point on the ground, and since Guangzhou had many low-lying areas, they had come here.
"Wow, so much delicious food, and so many things I've never seen before!" Kiana exclaimed.
Himeko said, "Our mission is to find Jiuyou, not to taste local delicacies here."
Kiana retorted, "What if Jiuyou turns out to be a terrifying tomb?"
"You've been reading too many tomb-raiding novels," Kaslana said. "Jiuyou is just the lowest point; how could it be a tomb? I reckon it's probably on the seabed. After all, sea level is much lower than the horizon."
Upon hearing this, Himeko agreed, saying, "That makes sense, and besides, we haven't been underwater all this time we've been here."
Himeko took out a map and found a deep trench beneath the nearby sea level. "This must be it. Have you finished eating, Kiana? Get ready to move out."
"Wait for me!" Kiana called out.
Arriving at the nearby waters, Kaslana asked, "Can I avoid going down? What if there are sharks?"
Without another word, Himeko kicked Kaslana straight into the water. "I don't know if there are any sharks, but there are plenty of fish-shaped Honkai beasts."
After some intense maneuvering, Fu Hua unleashed an Inch Punch against the colossal corpse of Chiyou. Under the immense impact, Chiyou opened its mouth and swallowed the whole group in one gulp.
"Where is this?" Suddenly, Kaslana's communication link cut off, and a different voice came through instead. "From now on, just follow my commands! Besides, their communication devices have all malfunctioned. Don't tell them about my existence."
Fu Hua said to Kaslana, "The communication between me and Kiana is broken. Is yours still working?"
Zhang Lin thought to himself, *Should I tell her? Better not!*
Kaslana replied, "I don't have a signal either."
"Fine! There might be many traps here, so be careful and don't touch anything randomly."
"Can you hear me? Have you seen a stone tablet? Could you read it out?"
Kaslana let out an "oh" and approached a stone tablet.
*"Built in memory of my wife, Jilin. Over a decade ago, my wife Jilin went missing after a battle with Chiyou. But I have always believed she is still alive, and I believed so until the day I died!"*
"Ugh," Kaslana sighed, "is that all?"
The voice on the other end of the line said, "Please be careful. Behind the stone door directly behind this stone tablet, there is a powerful surge of Honkai Energy. It might be Chiyou reviving."
As the three of them pushed open the heavy doors, Himeko—wielding the Xuanyuan Sword—launched an attack on them.
The voice on the communicator spoke up: "It seems your teacher hasn't obtained the power of the Xuanyuan Sword, and has instead lost herself!"
"Then how do we save her?"
"Simple, just snatch the sword away. Rest assured, you won't acquire the power of the Xuanyuan Sword anyway; after all, an even more powerful weapon is waiting for you!"
"What are you saying? I didn't catch that, what did you say at the end?"
"Nothing, just do your best!"
Watching Himeko having lost herself, Fu Hua teamed up with Kiana to subdue her. The sword slipped from Himeko's hand and fell to the ground. Kaslana picked it up and remarked, "Nothing all that special, is it?"
Kiana and Fu Hua were utterly astonished to see this, as Kaslana was completely unaffected by the sword.
Kaslana handed the sword to Fu Hua. The apparition of Jilin emerged from the blade and said to Fu Hua, "You look so much like my good friend Chi Yuan. Who gave you that hairpin?"
Fu Hua embraced Jilin's phantom.
After a moment, Fu Hua handed the sword back to Kaslana and said, "Jilin has something she wants to tell you."
Holding the Xuanyuan Sword, Kaslana stepped aside. Jilin's phantom said to Kaslana, "I'm sorry. Although you passed the trial, I cannot bestow my power upon you. Because you are a unique existence, I am unworthy of your true power."
"You will obtain a stronger weapon in the future, so I bless you here to soon become a warrior who can stand alone. Farewell, young man. I shall become your teacher's Stigmata!"