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

He did not urge Xiao.

Instead, it took two steps back, allowing Xiao to communicate face-to-face with Fushe.

Apep, who was maintaining the spatial gate, did not urge Xiao, but stared with great interest at the approaching phantom.

However, the surrounding situation soon changed.

As the phantom of Fushe appeared, a large number of malevolent phantoms also quietly emerged from the darkness, rapidly shrinking the encirclement with intense hostility.

Seeing that Apep was still staring at the phantoms of Fushe, completely ignoring them, he noticed that Apep was still staring at the phantoms of Fushe, completely ignoring them.

Rhodes sighed, holding the Rainbow Blade in hand, ready to repel these phantoms that might suddenly launch an attack.

Suddenly.

A broken voice came from the mouth of the Floating Illusion.

"All"

"stop."

His orders were very effective.

Upon hearing this, the phantoms, who had lost their will in life, stopped in their tracks, maintaining a certain distance from Rhodes and the others, and remained motionless.

"Oh, so there really is consciousness."

Apep first praised him, then clicked his tongue in regret, saying, "What a pity. If you still had a physical body, you would be much stronger than this green-haired kid."

Xiao ignored Apep's belittling of him, staring calmly at Fushe's phantom, repeating his previous words: "Fushe, do you have something to say to me?"

Xiao's voice was calm, no different from usual.

His slightly trembling body and unconsciously biting his lip were proof of the turmoil in his heart.

"Jin Peng."

The phantom of the floating dwelling grew closer, and the sound became clearer.

"What an inconvenient body."

Seeing this, Apep continued to maintain the spatial gate with one hand, while seemingly casually flicking the other hand at the phantom of the floating house.

Then the blackness on the phantom's body quickly faded away.

In the blink of an eye, the dark phantom transformed into a tall, purple-haired, four-armed man.

"Thank you, senior."

The first thing Fushe said after his body returned to normal was to thank Apep.

"Hurry up."

"Your consciousness is limited, and, well, thirty seconds."

Apep waved his hand and then fell silent.

Thirty seconds.

With Fushe's astonishing willpower, he only had this little bit of time left.

There was silence.

Having returned to his Yaksha form, Fushe walked up to Xiao. He didn't speak again, but his four arms materialized. The two upper arms held two palettes of paint, and the two lower hands each held a brush. He then began to paint on Xiao's face with both hands.

Xiao did not resist, letting Fushe paint strokes all over his face.

No color was left behind.

Xiao's body trembled even more violently, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Thirty seconds passed quickly.

On his deathbed, Fushe put down his brush and ink, touched Xiao's head, and laughed silently. Then, he uttered two sentences with his mouth opening and closing before disappearing like a bubble in water.

Rod could recognize some simple lip movements.

Before leaving, Fushe said to Xiao, "Live well for us, and see more of the scenery in this world that we haven't had time to see yet."

"Brother Fushe"

"I will live well."

Xiao touched the spot on his face where Fu She had just drawn, then the tears in his eyes vanished instantly, and with a resolute expression, he turned and stepped into the spatial portal.

Rod followed behind him.

A blink of an eye.

The dark and gloomy environment was transformed into a sunny and bright place.

The sudden, blinding light took even Rhode's strong physique a while to adjust before he could finally see clearly what was in front of him.

Nightland and Dadalia, who had come out earlier, greeted them and asked with concern why they were taking so long to come out.

Rod did not tell them about the floating house.

He just smiled and shook his head, then started talking about other things.

While the group was chatting and resting...

On the highest peak of the Layered Rock Abyss, Zhongli, who had been looking down at them, withdrew his gaze, turned around, and smiled at a green figure that had suddenly appeared: "Long time no see, Lord Grass Dragon."

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 240 Zhongli's Deal with Appepp

Rhodes did not stay on the ground for long.

After briefly explaining the situation underground to Ye Lan and the others, he prepared to return to the underground mining area.

Now that the Frost Spikes have been completely freed, the crisis of the Abyss has been resolved at its root. The remaining problems are the remaining black mud and the filthy mining areas tainted by the power of the abyss.

Rhodes needs to inform Seno and the others about this.

Tadalia also wanted to go.

However, his most important task right now is to rest. Given his physical condition, forcing himself to go down into the mine would only create more trouble.

Ye Lan and Xiao were going to report the situation to Ning Guang and Zhong Li, respectively.

Therefore, Rhodes was the only one left to go down the mine this time.

The Thousand Rock Army at the entrance was the same group as before.

When they saw Rhodes come in from outside and try to enter the Abyss of Layered Rocks again, they were surprised and their first reaction was to refuse Rhodes's request. They then drew their knives and guns and stood ready, just a moment before giving the order to attack Rhodes.

As for the reason.

That's because they knew Rhodes and knew that they had already entered the Abyss of Layered Rocks.

Therefore, when I saw Rhodes again.

They naturally assumed that the Rhodes before them was not the real person, but rather some kind of demon in disguise, trying to sneak into the Abyss of Rocks.

Fortunately.

Ye Lan had long anticipated that this would happen.

Before parting ways.

She gave Rhodes an official document signed by Ningguang and stamped with the seal of Tianquan Star to prove that Rhodes' identity was legitimate.

With this document.

Things became much simpler, and the tense atmosphere vanished instantly.

The question has changed from "Who exactly are you?" to "Are there still Thousand Rock Army soldiers in the Layered Rock Abyss who don't know about the hidden exit?"

This question is important.

During the years that the Abyss of the Rocks was closed, people continued to secretly mine ore and resell it.

This is something that has been explicitly forbidden by the Seven Stars.

Therefore, a considerable number of the Thousand Rock Army members patrolling the Layered Rock Abyss were assigned to search for tomb raiders and arrest smugglers who illegally mined and sold their wares.

Only after confirming that Rhodes did they finally allow him to return to the underground mining area without being tricked into coming out.

for the rest of the time.

Rhodes was busy helping Seno and Tinari relay messages, inspect the geological environment, seal off the silt outlets, and also marked out the restricted areas that they absolutely could not enter.

As for the lady.

After learning that Tartaglia was injured and had to return to the surface to recuperate, she voluntarily withdrew from the expedition team and returned to Liyue with the remnants of the Ninth Company.

Her departure also made things much easier for the expedition team from Sumeru.

With such a prominent senior in the family, even Seno couldn't suppress her arrogant and domineering style.

The time when Rhodes was not around.

Because of her, the expedition team not only made slow progress, but also had more than one argument.

Now that she's gone.

Under the leadership of Rod, who was familiar with the underground conditions, the research team's progress increased several times over.

Such a smooth and successful process.

The situation only eased somewhat after the Liyue government officials moved in and officially established several safe houses, supply points, and research stations for people to rest.

It takes time, in total.

Rhodes and his men have been in the mine for almost a month.

Out of consideration for the scholars in the expedition team who were still in ordinary physical condition, Rhodes and Senotinari discussed it and decided to return to the ground to rest.

Spending long periods of time in the dark underground mining area.

It is an extremely serious test for the body in itself.

Even though most of the scholars in the team were experienced, such a long period of underground life still caused some of them to experience similar symptoms of acclimatization problems.

The expedition team's return was also met with a personal reception from Ningguang.