In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

Hafdan didn't send out any more messages, but instead turned and gestured for Rhodes to follow him into the ruins.

Hesitate for a moment.

Rhodes accepted Hafdan's invitation and leaped toward the ruins.

With the power of these black serpent knights.

I don't yet have the ability to hurt myself.

I believe Hafdan is aware of this as well.

So Rhodes had nothing to fear. He could just see what this knight, who remained loyal to his homeland even in this state, had to say to him.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 225 An unexpected encounter with the Prince of the Abyss?

On the way to the ruins.

Rhodes finally understood why those Black Serpent Knights had shown such hostility towards him.

Just now, during the violent demolition of the Black Fog area.

The rubble accidentally buried several Hilichurls' camps.

"."

Upon seeing this, Rhodes suddenly realized what was happening and could only sigh heavily.

Not all Hilichurls in Teyvat are monsters derived from ley lines.

Rhodes had read some popular science information about Hilichurls in a book.

Sleepyheads, meat lovers, and sun-loving people.

This classification was made by Jacob Musk, an ecologist in Mondstadt and known as the poet laureate of the Hilichurls, after years of research, based on the habits and lifestyles of different Hilichurls.

Among them, the Sleepy Clan and the Meat-Loving Clan have been clearly documented as early as a thousand years ago, and they share many similarities in behavior and social structure.

The Black Sun Clan only began to appear widely on the continent five hundred years ago after the Dark Calamity.

Unlike the Hilichurl tribes that revere muscle and cleverness and believe in natural elements, the more mysterious and unique Black Sun Hilichurls place great importance on the mystical power of faith and possess a totem marked with a black sun symbol.

In terms of social structure, they also differ from the "sleep-loving tribe" and the "meat-loving tribe," sharing many habits similar to those in human society.

For example, elderly Hilichurls of the Black Sun tribe are entitled not to hunt, unlike the other two races where they are abandoned in the wild or eaten by their own kind. Young newborns are also exempt from hunting and can simply wait in the tribe for adult Hilichurls to bring back food.

Shamans hold the highest leadership position among the Black Sun tribe.

This is consistent with the other two races.

However, the shamans of the Black Sun tribe are more powerful than the shamans of the other two tribes, and possess wisdom that is no less than that of humans.

So.

The Black Sun Clan, with a social structure comparable to that of humans and extremely formidable military strength, has always been a troublesome Hilichurl tribe for all nations on the continent of Teyvat.

Such unique characteristics have kept research on the Black Sun Tribe a continuous process.

The scholars were very curious.

How exactly did this unique race evolve from the relatively primitive Hilichurl race?

This is something that scholars find utterly perplexing.

Rhodes was very clear about the truth behind it all.

The so-called Black Sun Tribe Hilichurls.

Essentially, they are the remnants of the ancient kingdom of Kanria, which was destroyed by the laws of nature five hundred years ago.

Rhodes didn't know much about the Kanria War, which had an impact that affected the entire continent.

But he was well aware of the fate of this survivor of Kanriya.

After that battle.

As the victor, Tianli cursed all those with Kanriar blood.

The pure-blooded Kanriyans suffer from the Curse of Immortality, which manifests as the cessation of growth and aging, preventing them from dying naturally. However, during this so-called immortality process, their bodies gradually suffer irreversible wear and tear, and the curse slowly erodes and replaces their original body tissues. This change causes them to gradually lose precise control over their bodies, eventually leading to the complete destruction of their self-awareness.

The curse suffered by the hybrid Kanriyans is called the Curse of the Wilds. Those cursed will undergo drastic changes in appearance and experience a significant decrease in intelligence, but their elemental affinity will be significantly enhanced, and their control over their bodies will not deteriorate significantly until the late stages of their lives.

These Hilichurls, transformed from the Kanriyans, are the Black Sun Hilichurls who appeared on a large scale on the Teyvat continent after the Black Catastrophe five hundred years ago.

Honestly.

Rhodes had always thought that the Kanriar people who had become Hilichurls were pitiful.

The use of abyssal power is not something that innocent civilians can decide.

Yet they still suffered the cruelest punishment, becoming neither human nor ghost, and were constantly threatened and killed by the Teyvats.

As for Black Serpent Knights like Hafdan, and members of the Abyss Order who had been killed by Rhodes before.

They were actually pure-blooded Kanriyans who had suffered from the curse of immortality.

Unlike other pure-blooded Kanriyans who can still retain their human appearance.

While they remained immortal, they were also corrupted by the power of the abyss, eventually transforming into their current inhuman form.

The difference between the two is that...

The members of the Abyss Order actively embraced the Abyss, their bodies assimilated into a race with the same nature as the Abyss monsters, while their minds remained unchanged as those of the Kanriyans.

The Black Serpent Knights had no intention of embracing the Abyss, but the power of the Abyss exacerbated their curse of immortality. As time passed, their will and the bodies beneath their armor gradually faded away, until only the armor itself and some will deeply rooted in their memories remained.

The different Black Serpent Knights uphold different wills.

The Black Serpent Knights beneath the Abyss of Lava are guardians of the Kanriar people who have been transformed into Hilichurls. There is also a Black Serpent Knight named Inghilda, whom the Council of the Order once discovered in the Great Red Sands. His location is inside the Colossus in Tuharlo Valley. As long as he doesn't approach the cockpit, he won't attack. He is still steadfastly carrying out the orders he received when he was a White Swan Knight to guard the Colossus.

Therefore, Rhodes' accidental injury to the Hilichurls naturally aroused the anger of these Black Serpent Knights who had been protecting their people to the death.

If it weren't for Hafdan's timely appearance...

A conflict is inevitable.

Moreover, given the Black Serpent Knights' modus operandi, they would absolutely not give up until they had all of them killed.

They realized the cause and effect.

Rhodes deliberately went around to the front of those Hilichurl camps, placed a flower there, and then followed Hafdan into the ruins.

Intiwat.

This is the national flower of Canria.

When it comes to shaping plants, the power of the grass element can be described as all-powerful.

Rod had seen this flower before.

It happened in Mondstadt.

The flower Ying was wearing on her head was an Intiwat.

So replicating it isn't too difficult, but there might still be some differences in the details. After all, Inteyvat is now defined as an extinct plant on the Teyvat continent. Without detailed textual references, Rhodes can only do so much based on his memory.

When Rhodes recreated Inteward.

Hafdan also stopped in front of the ruins.

Although he was unable to speak due to his armored body, the kindness he exuded was even more evident than before.

The ruins are much larger than they appear from the outside.

Similar to the situation outside, the ruins are also filled with Hilichurls waiting to die and Black Serpent Riders guarding them closely.

And as soon as they entered the ruins.

Rhode could smell the strong residual power of the abyss in the air.

It's not as good as the Black Fog Zone, but it's still much better than the average level of the underground mining area.

"Have people from the Abyss been here before?"

With these questions in mind, Rhodes became wary, and he soon discovered exactly what Hafdan wanted his help with.

Those were a group of Abyss Apostles who were busy setting up equipment.

That's right.

group!

The number is at least twenty or more.

The leader of this group of Abyss Apostles was currently staring at Rhodes.

A blond boy who bore a striking resemblance to Ying.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 226 The Unexpected Fifth Eye of God

Rhodes' arrival broke the lively atmosphere among the Abyss Apostles.

Meeting a stranger.

Their reaction was to uniformly unleash their elemental power, preparing to annihilate Rhodes here without any explanation.

Faced with such an anomaly.

Not to be outdone, Rhodes unleashed the divine magic of Hermanubis and seized Zhongli's Divine Heart, ready to use the connection between the Divine Heart and Zhongli to summon the most powerful god among the Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm to his side for protection.

The appearance of the heart of God.

Although Rhodes couldn't use it, it still caused the Abyss Order's rising killing intent to suddenly stop.

A mortal with the heart of a god.

This is not something the Abyss Order can act on casually.

"I recognize you."

The young man standing in the center of the Abyss Apostles spoke calmly: "Back in Mondstadt, it was you who ruined our plans."