flstandardbreds Chapter 153 Heading to Xumi
Chapter 153 Heading to Xumi
His name was Hafdan, and he was one of the soldiers that Dainesreb had the highest hopes for.
Previously, when Dainesreb and Kong were investigating the ruins, they accidentally entered a Hilichurl resting place. It was Hafdan who came to their rescue, thus preventing a direct conflict with the Black Serpents.
Faced with the current situation, Hafdan did not back down. He endured the pain of the forced purification of the curse and walked towards the enhancement device, not stopping even though his weapon had long since fallen to the ground.
He roared and, relying on his unwavering will, began to run, then leaped high into the air.
The Abyss Apostles were no longer around the enhancement device, since the purification ability was also useful to them. Therefore, after activating the device, the Abyss Apostles left the area.
So, without any resistance, Hafdan threw his entire body over the device, cutting off the energy output with his own body.
Consequently, he himself was also confronted with this exceptionally powerful purifying energy. After struggling for a moment, Hafdan completely lost consciousness, his entire body slumped limply onto the device.
"I thought it would vanish into thin air in an instant... Hafdan's soul is so resilient."
Dainesreb paid his highest respects to Hafdan, who had not retreated even in death.
"Get out of my way, you obstruction!"
Upon sensing that the purification ritual had been interrupted, the Abyss Apostle angrily teleported back, intending to completely destroy Hafdan's remains, but was interrupted by Dainesreb.
"Where are you looking? This is a rare opportunity; you can finally get rid of me, can't you?"
The Abyss Apostle knew that as long as this man lived for even a second, things would not go as he wished. Enraged, the Abyss Apostle unleashed a massive amount of elemental energy and entered battle mode, even though Dainesreb was unable to fully utilize his power due to the device.
But there was still space around him, and he was not affected by the device in the slightest.
"Kill him. Shut down that device!"
At Daines Reeb's command, Kong, who was already filled with rage, instantly drew his sword and fought against the Abyss Apostle.
Within a few rounds, the Abyss Apostle was defeated by Kong.
However, the device did not stop. The reason it is not affected now is simply because Hafdan's corpse is blocking the energy output outlet, preventing the energy from being transmitted out of the device.
But this can't go on forever; Hafdan's body will eventually be removed. However, Kong can't take Hafdan's place and bear this energy, since the device hasn't been shut down yet. People like Daines Reeb, who are deeply affected by the curse, can't fully unleash their power, which is why shutting down the device has become the top priority.
Based on the portals and the light emanating from them, it's easy to deduce that the Abyss Order placed energy devices throughout the ruins. Their current task is to follow these portals to destroy these energy devices.
Since Daines Reeb was unable to unleash his full power, Sora had to fight the rest of the battles alone.
Fortunately, the energy devices were guarded by low-level abyssal monsters that posed no threat to Sora. Before long, they destroyed all the energy devices, and Sora and the others returned to the enhancement device.
Dains Reeb was overcome with grief as he gazed at Hafdan's body. Just as Dains Reeb was about to turn and leave this sorrowful place with Kong, a blue light suddenly emanated from Hafdan's body, and then the soul of a silver-gray-haired man appeared beside Dains Reeb.
The man's soul was Hafdan. Hafdan first bowed to Daines Reb before speaking.
"I'm sorry, Lord Dainesreb, the Sword of the End of Light. Back then... I failed you and couldn't protect my people."
Daines Reeb did not consider it his fault for Hafdan's apology.
After all, Hafdan had fulfilled his responsibilities for the past five hundred years. To this day, they remain Dainesreb's pride, and he is proud to have had such a group of dedicated subordinates.
Hearing Dains Reeb's unabashed praise, Hafdan scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. He looked up at Dains Reeb, his gaze unwavering.
"Kanria has not fallen, has it? After all, you are still standing here."
Daines Reb's expression softened, and he gently responded to Hafdan's question.
Having received a positive answer from Dainesreb, Hafdan was relieved. His soul then transformed into a blue stream of light and dissipated into the air, returning to the earth's veins.
Gazing at the starlight that Hafdan had transformed into, Daines Reeb slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again and spoke softly.
"Therefore... there is no need to restore the country."
Thus ended the quest to investigate the mysterious disappearance of Hilichurls and thus come to the attention of the Abyss Order's conspiracy. After a brief exchange with Daines Reeb, Sora and Daines Reeb said their goodbyes.
Daines Reeb once again set off to investigate clues related to the Abyss Order, while Sora returned to the archaeological team's camp to continue his guard duties.
The commission report was given to one of the elite adventurers, who was to return and submit it to the Adventurers' Guild.
"Regarding that group chat, I think we can trust it for now."
Recalling what Daines Reeb had said before he left, Kong subconsciously opened the group chat.
Watching Ying, from another world, chatting away in the group chat, Kong recalled that she seemed to have experienced more than he had.
As if possessed, Kong initiated a private chat with Ying, as he had so much he wanted to know about the Abyss Order from her.
Meanwhile, on Skye Island, this conference, which concerned global change, finally came to an end.
As a result, Sky Island disagreed with Kiana's proposal because it not only violated the rules set by the laws of nature, but also deviated from the concept of life and death and reincarnation.
On the other hand, the maintainers of justice want to have a good talk with Ronawa about Nata's situation.
Ronawa had anticipated this day, so she remained calm when questioned by the maintainers of justice. As she had said before, as long as she insisted that Shibarak had deceived her, the maintainers of justice would be unable to completely convict her.
Ultimately, the matter was dropped, and due to the special nature of the earth's veins, the maintainers of the natural order decided not to interfere much in Nata's case.
After all, the biggest achievement of this meeting was that the maintainers of the natural order agreed to let Nata continue to fight against the Abyss according to the current development. If it really works in the future, then the maintainers of the natural order may not be unable to consider engraving the rules of the Resurrection Poems on the ley lines throughout Teyvat.
Of course, those who uphold the principles of nature will also impose corresponding restrictions on this rule to prevent the boundary between life and death from being truly disrupted.
However, what the upholders of justice did not expect was that Ronawa would actually agree to something that violated her own principles, like Shibarak did.
It seems that the punishment she was forced to endure back then was indeed a huge blow to her, since what Jonawa's shadow in Teyvat could not tolerate most was someone crossing the line between life and death.
Although that child was more lively and mischievous, that child was indeed the one among the four whose shadows were closest to the original.
Unexpectedly, it was Jonawa herself who violated the rules of life and death. Life is truly unpredictable!
After the meeting, Kiana left Sky Island. Of course, before leaving, Kiana caught Ishtar, who was trying to sneak away; she was going to have a good talk about Ishtar's claim that she was her servant!
Although the plan didn't pass this time, it's still half the battle won. If Nata's development goes according to my predictions, the chances of subsequent plans passing are quite high.
After giving Istar a brief lesson, Kiana began preparations to travel to Sumeru.
Through the previous invitation, everyone in Teyvat now knows that the Grass God's seclusion was not because he was contemplating the future development of Sumeru, but because he was being held captive by the Great Sage in the Pure Land.
Thus, the disciplinary officers, led by Seno, began a purge of the sages, and with the help of Elhesen and others, they successfully removed the Great Sage and his faction.
They eventually succeeded in rescuing Naxida, but because the soldiers had only just arrived in Sumeru with the Heart of God, they had not yet received the necessary modifications.
Faced with a divine creation possessing the heart of a god, all of Sumeru's combat power seemed so insignificant.
Even Narcida could only use her powers to hold off the skirmishers, not to completely defeat them. In the end, the skirmishers were finally defeated by the Shadows who came to their aid.
The reason why Shadow appeared in Sumeru was quite simple: he was persuaded (or tricked) by Yae no Miko.
As mentioned before, the improvement of the Heart of God is negligible for those demons who win the Demon God War by relying on their own strength.
Not to mention that, no matter when or where, Ying was always focused on improving his martial arts skills, and his strength had long surpassed that of his younger self.
Facing the dolls that were merely used to manage Inazuma in place of him, and even just prototypes, the Sanbing were completely defeated in less than three rounds.
Shadow originally intended to destroy it on the spot, but Nasita stopped her. In Nasita's eyes, the stragglers were just pitiful people blinded by anger, who still retained a sliver of kindness deep in their hearts.
Why not take this opportunity to get Shadow to do a favor and hand over the scattered soldiers to Nasita? So, knowing he was in the wrong, Shadow had no choice but to hand the scattered soldiers over to Nasita. However, before handing them over, Shadow sealed off all the scattered soldiers' power through a back door he had left behind, in case they suddenly attacked and hurt people when he returned.
With the condition that Sumeru would fully assist Inazuma in developing this project, Nasita gained control of the back door from Shadow.
So she made a three-point agreement with the soldier: if he obeyed her commands, turned to good, and atoneed for his sinful past, he would regain his power; otherwise, if he broke the agreement, Nasita would take back his power.
Thus, with Zhongli as witness, both parties successfully signed a contract. At the same time, in order to prevent the soldiers from violating the contract in places that Naxida could not reach, a separate contract was signed.
Zhongli also brought in Zhen as the guardian of the scattered soldiers, and at the same time, the scattered soldiers' activity range was strictly limited to the territory of Sumeru and Inazuma.
From then on, the academy had a new student named Ah Mao, who was personally taught by the grass god Naxida, and accompanied to school by his guardian.
For a moment, the students in the academy didn't know whether to envy the stragglers or pity him.
After all, being personally taught by the Grass God was an unparalleled honor, but when they thought about how this honor was earned by being beaten by their own mother and subjected to various restrictions on their freedom, the students of the Order Academy couldn't feel any envy at all.
As for why this didn't lead to a diplomatic incident like Sumeru imprisoning a foolish executor, I'm sorry, but facing the two gods Sumeru and Inazuma on the surface, and with Zhongli as the backer in the shadows, even the Empress Zhidong had no choice but to remain silent.
Anyway, she still received Thor's divine heart afterward, so she had achieved her goal and naturally had no objections.
As for why the Heart of the Grass God wasn't included, it's because Nasita has other uses. After the deed is done, the Heart of the Grass God will also be delivered to Queen Winter, so Queen Winter will have no objections.
To be honest, exchanging one executor for two Hearts of God is an incredibly good deal. As for the Doctor's arrangements in Sumeru and the subsequent losses, that's not something Queen Winter Queen cares about.
After quickly packing her luggage and asking Bella to look after the house, Kiana arrived at Zhongli's location.
It's still the same teahouse, in the same familiar spot.
However, this time Kiana did not choose to sit down and listen to a play. Her journey was not just a simple trip to Sumeru.
To prevent any unforeseen events from occurring in Nata, Kiana, after investigating the relevant information about Helakti, will also make a trip to Nata to leave behind her own contingency plan.
After briefly explaining Fu Hua's situation and leaving behind a communication device, Kiana officially embarked on her journey to Sumeru.
Thanks to the unsealing of the Layered Rock Abyss, the road to Sumeru has become easier.
Previously, during the blockade of the Laminar Abyss, one had to navigate around numerous mountains to enter Sumeru. Now, one can simply pass through the tunnel connecting Liyue and Sumeru to reach Sumeru.
From the moment she stepped into the Sumeru Realm, Kiana keenly sensed that many eyes were looking at her from all around.
Kiana glanced around and spotted the magical creatures called Lanalo, who were looking at her with delight.
After seemingly confirming that they hadn't mistaken Kiana for someone else, all the Lannaros swarmed around her and surrounded her.
"It's Heraqti! Heraqti has come back to see us!"
The Lanaros happily huddled up to Kiana, some even coming up to her shoulder and nuzzling her face affectionately.
Kiana stood carefully in place, afraid to move, lest these adorable creatures get hurt.
Finally, a white-bearded Lanaro stopped the Lanaros from getting too intimate, giving Kiana a chance to catch her breath.
Thank you. May I ask your name?
As Kiana asked her question, all the Lanaro fell silent, and for a moment the air became heavy.