The light curtain closed silently behind them, completely isolating the solemnity of the sanctuary.

Lind found himself in an extremely cramped space—more like an extremely simple confessional or ascetic room than the anteroom of a treasure vault.

The four walls are rough-polished stone, without any decoration, except for an eternal lamp that has burned for countless years, emitting a faint and soft glow, hanging under the low dome.

The air was cold and stagnant, filled with the scent of ancient rocks and dust, and an indescribable stillness, as if time had stood still.

The room was empty except for a door embedded in the wall directly opposite.

A door that stands out starkly against the rough rocks around it.

It is made of a dark, neither-metal nor-wood material, with a smooth, mirror-like surface, but without any handle or keyhole, only a more complex and deeper groove in the center.

Its patterns are several times more intricate than those of the bronze gates outside, subtly forming a closed emblem representing the ultimate secret.

Linde looked at the door, then glanced at the pitifully empty "Holy Secret Treasury" front hall, and his lips twitched slightly.

"A nesting doll? This Pope Innocent III is really... infuriatingly cautious about the secrets here."

He muttered a low grumble, his tone carrying a barely perceptible hint of sarcasm.

Having come this far, is it really necessary to add another layer of such tight security? What's hidden behind this door is probably far more important than anyone outside can imagine.

Without hesitation, Linde used the same trick again.

【Deconstructing the Halo】Focusing on that dark door, we analyze the more intricate papal personal seal lock on it.

The remaining fragments of the god-slaying metal in his palm hummed once more, simulating that unique frequency.

The 【Bright Halo】is understated, providing a pure yet powerful driving force of light pulses.

The process is slightly more complicated than the outside world. The energy flow on the door is more obscure, and the verification mechanism seems to have an additional layer of deep scanning at the soul level.

But all of this is rendered meaningless in the face of the absolute analytical power of the "Deconstruction Halo".

"Click..."

A very faint click, as if from the depths of the soul, rang out.

The perfectly smooth, seamless, dark door, like melting ice, silently cracked open along its center line, then slid to either side into the walls and disappeared.

The scene that appeared behind the door made Lin De pause for a moment.

It was not the vast sea of ​​books or the treasure trove filled with magical artifacts that one might have imagined.

There was no floor behind the door.

There was only a circular hole about two meters in diameter, with incredibly smooth edges, as if it had been instantly melted by some force, leading downwards into endless darkness.

An indescribable aura wafted up from the depths of the cave.

It was no longer the holiness of the sanctuary, nor the deathly silence of the Shadow Abyss, but a strange aura that was... more ancient, more primal, a mixture of ultimate light and ultimate sorrow, and even a faint... bloody scent.

Linde's mental energy, like invisible tentacles, immediately probed downwards.

However, his mental strength, which had always been invincible, seemed to have vanished without a trace at this moment!

It stretched downwards for hundreds of meters, even thousands of meters... but still couldn't reach the bottom! Moreover, the deeper you went, the stronger the strange aura became, even beginning to interfere with and distort your mental perception, making it blurry and indistinct.

“Interesting.” Lin De’s purple eyes narrowed slightly. Far from backing down, his interest only grew stronger.

The depth of this cave and its ability to interfere with his mental power are definitely not naturally formed.

At its end, there must be something unimaginable.

Although it is highly likely to be the target he is looking for, he does not intend to take the risk himself as a precaution.

Who knows if this overly cautious pope might have left some kind of trap for mutual destruction at the end?

Linde extended his right hand, and the azure crystalline energy in his palm surged forth rapidly, intertwining and condensing in the air like a living thing.

Soon, a body that looked exactly like his original body, but with empty eyes and made entirely of highly condensed crystalline energy, floated silently in front of him.

This is a delicate operation that can only be achieved through an ultimate understanding of its own structure and absolute control over the energy of the crystal skeleton.

Linde separated a wisp of his consciousness and placed it inside.

In an instant, he gained two visual windows: one was the simple stone chamber where his main body was located, and the other was the view of the edge of the cave that his crystalline body "saw".

"Go."

The main body calmly gave the order.

A cold purple light flashed in the eyes of the crystalline skeleton, and without any hesitation, it leaped into the bottomless pit.

Falling.

The downward spiral continues.

The surroundings were absolutely dark, and not even the glow of that eternal lamp could penetrate down to the side.

Only the faint, eerie blue light emanating from the crystalline skeleton itself illuminated the rapidly rising, smooth cave walls around it.

The cave walls have a glassy texture, as if they were instantly melted and then solidified by extremely high temperatures, confirming that the cave was not carved by man, but was formed by some terrifying force that pierced through it instantly.

The speed of the fall is increasing.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe only a few minutes, maybe longer.

Sudden--

The crystalline body captured the dramatic change in the scene below!

The darkness gave way to a sea of ​​light that defied description!

But that light was not the warm, sacred, and vibrant glow of a sanctuary.

Rather, it is a cold, solidified radiance, as viscous and vast as liquid gold, yet deathly silent!

They filled the bottom of the entire underground space, flowing slowly and heavily, radiating a terrifyingly powerful energy fluctuation, and... the source of that increasingly intense, soul-deep sorrow and bloody aura!

The crystalline body abruptly adjusted its posture, unleashing a stream of eerie blue particles from its feet to slow its descent, finally hovering above this boundless, solidified sea of ​​light.

Linde stared in awe at the scene before him through the eyes of the crystalline skeleton.

This is an unimaginably huge underground cavity, as if the entire holy city and even the entire mountain range had been hollowed out.

In the center of this hollow cavity, the most horrifying sight came into view—

A massive wreck, as large as a mountain!

Most of its body seemed to be submerged in the solidified sea of ​​light below, with only a portion of its exposed bones, which were as clear as crystal yet covered with countless terrifying cracks, and... broken, long-lost feathers, visible.

Those feathers were enormous; even when broken, each one was as large as a boat, and one could vaguely imagine their magnificent, sky-covering glory when they were whole.

Right in the center of this wreckage, in the chest cavity area, there is a shocking wound!