The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

There's always a way out. Ying glanced around and saw a patch of white with a hint of crimson.

Without hesitation, the bladeless sword appeared in her hand in an instant. She darted forward, carving a striking furrow in the snow.

"Crack!" The Crimson Stone was not a hard object to begin with, and under Ying's full-force attack, it instantly turned into countless fragments.

Then, a swirling crimson aura surrounded Ying. A gentle, lingering warmth emanated from this aura, dispelling the chill from the sky.

"Everyone, come here quickly!" Ying waved to the crowd and then ran over.

"Ha! She's alive, she's alive!" Paimon came to Ying's side and stretched out her two little hands as if she were warming herself by a fire.

"Ugh, this weather is terrible, my skin is so dry." Lisa breathed on her hands; it was the first time she had ever experienced such a low temperature.

"Where's Ember?" Abedo gathered around Ying and glanced around, only to find that Ember was nowhere to be seen except for them.

"Here I come!" Just as Abedo finished speaking, Ember's voice came from the sky.

Everyone looked up and saw a dark figure appear amidst the blurry snowflakes. The figure grew larger and clearer—it was Ember, falling from the sky!

"Bang!" The embers landed, splashing up a large amount of snowflakes. Then he stretched out his palm and swept it horizontally, creating a gale even more turbulent than the wind on the mountaintop.

Whether it was the splashing snowflakes or the thick snow that had accumulated for thousands of years, it was all swept away by this fierce wind.

"Ahhh, the wind is so strong!" Paimon cried out, covering her face. With such a strong wind, she'd probably be blown away somewhere soon.

However, she soon discovered that the wind wasn't as strong as she had imagined. The gale-force wind that could whip up snow of unknown depths blew Paimon away, but the scene she had imagined of flying through the air did not occur.

Even... the wind feels a little warm?

Paimon loosened her small hands that were tightly covering her face and opened her eyes. What came into view was the brown, hardened earth, which, after an unknown period of freezing cold, had become as hard as steel.

Paimon's gaze shifted upwards, and she saw Ember with his arms crossed, and the golden tree swaying in the wind above his head.

"Ta-da! The Adventurers' Guild's combat powerhouse, Ember, is here!"

"Shhhhh!"

Ember flexed his biceps in front of everyone, and the golden tree sapling above his head kept shaking, as if cheering him on.

Moreover, mint leaves kept falling around him—Lance Sanx had somehow gotten there too.

As for why she sprinkled mint leaves? It can only be said that in such a remote and harsh place as Longji Snow Mountain, only mint can grow.

"..."

"Forget it, I'm not playing anymore." Yu Jin gestured with his muscles, realizing that he wasn't strong enough to burst the armor, and with the strange looks from the others, he gave up on showing off.

He stopped what he was doing, picked up the golden tree sapling from above his head, and came to the side of the group.

"Phew! It's quite cold here. Do you know the origin of that big pillar?" Ember reached out his hand, mimicking Paimon's gesture to feel the warmth emanating from Ying's body.

In fact, he didn't feel anything; he was not sensitive to temperature or anything like that.

"I don't know."

"This is also my first time at the top of a snow-capped mountain."

Lisa and Abedo both shook their heads. It was their first time at the summit of Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain, and they didn't know the origin of that conspicuous pillar.

"Never mind that for now! The heat from the Crimson Stone is about to dissipate!" Just as Ember was wondering, Ying, who was surrounded by everyone, spoke up.

The crimson aura surrounding her was growing dimmer and dimmer, and it seemed she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.

"Let me start a fire," Abedo said, taking out some bottles and jars from the leather pouch at his waist.

These were the alchemical materials he carried with him, and it was not difficult for Abedo to concoct them into a fuel.

However, just as Abedo was about to prepare the concoction, Ember stepped forward and interrupted him.

"No need to bother."

Ember looked at the Frost Spike before him, massive blocks of blue-white ice frozen around it. Even after enduring the warm, fierce winds, the ice showed no sign of melting.

"Crack!"

The crackling sounds of countless pieces of firewood burning rang out continuously, and a huge amount of heat emanated from the embers.

The heat dissipated quickly, and by the time it swept over others, it had turned into a warm current like a gentle spring breeze.

Yu Jin's toes left the ground, hovering slightly in the air. The light around him was distorted, whether due to the high temperature or some other reason was unclear.

Raising his hand, Ember saw that more of the gauntlet had melted than ever before.

He took a deep breath, his breath, spitting out sparks, brushing against the visor and then rolling back. The temperature was so high that even Ember, who was not sensitive to temperature, could feel the heat flowing over his face.

"Wuhu, burn!" Yu Jin stretched out his arms, and the flames that were burning inside him began to burn on his body.

The flames weren't very large, and their color was a typical fiery red. However, within those leaping flames lay all possibilities.

This was the first fire, which swept away the darkness and brought forth all things.

"Boom!" The small flames covering the embers suddenly boiled. They rose up, turning into tongues of fire that surged toward the Frost Nail not far away.

As soon as the flames left Ember's body, they became blurry and distorted. Wherever the flames passed, the space around Ember's body rippled continuously.

In this state, light and sound were distorted beyond recognition. All that could be seen was large patches of fiery red emanating from the embers' body.

The fiery red enveloped the Nail of Frost, and the mist from the melting ice drifted into the distance through this hazy space.

Ying rubbed her eyes, trying to see what the fiery red color was, but unfortunately she couldn't see anything.

She knew it was fire, fire that should not be touched.

Anything from the sky could no longer maintain its original form under these flames. Whether it was the mist emitting a faint blue light or the patterned pillar of the Frostfire Nail, everything was burned to ashes in the flames.

The flames burned them and devoured their power. When the flames returned, they were even more vigorous.

The blur disappeared, and the huge stone pillar that stood in the distance was nowhere to be seen.

Ying sniffed; she smelled the earthy scent, the smell of the earth being renewed, anticipating new life.

Ying lifted her foot, and a faint footprint appeared in her sight—the frozen soil, as hard as iron, had melted.

The sound of burning firewood faded away, followed by a peaceful silence.

"Huh? The wind's gone down?" Paimon said in surprise. Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain is never stingy with its strong winds, especially at the summit.

Ever since arriving at Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain, Paimon's ears had been filled with the howling of the wind. Now that it was suddenly quiet, she was quite unaccustomed to it.

But why is the wind so weak now?

"Not only will the wind subside, but the temperature on Longji Snow Mountain will also gradually rise."

In Ember's perception, the winds from Mondstadt entering Dragonspine Mountain no longer transformed into icy, restless gales as before. Instead, they carried the warmth of the plains, gradually melting the long-frozen mountains.

The wind has died down, and the weather is no longer cold; it's time to plant something.

Chapter 204 The Secret Beneath the Frosty Nails

2023-10-01

"Plant trees! Plant trees!" Yu Jin picked up the golden tree sapling from the ground and ran to the spot where the Frostfire Nail had been.

But he was quickly stunned.

"What's wrong?" Lisa asked, curious when she saw Yu Jin frozen in place. She quickly went to his side.

Then she saw a huge pit.

The Nail of Frost was very tall; although no one had observed it closely, they could roughly estimate that it was about 100 meters long.

Lisa had initially thought that the lush, solid ice forests surrounding the Frost Spikes grew from the ground.

But now it seems she was wrong. These ice crystals gradually grew from the large pit, eventually filling the entire pit before growing upwards.

The giant crater created by the melting ice is hundreds of meters long and wide, and countless broken walls and ruins have been brought back to light in the depths of the crater.

They were originally destined to be frozen forever in solid ice, but now they have reappeared before everyone's eyes, silently telling the story of everything that happened here.

“Judging from the state of damage to these buildings… they were probably destroyed simultaneously in an instant.” Abedo also came over, looking at the state of destruction of the wreckage in the giant crater below, and made his judgment.

Abedo stared at the deep pit, a rare look of shock in his eyes. This enormous crater was probably created by the pillar that had just been burned away by the embers.

Such terrifying power, truly unheard of.

"Is there a city down here?" Ying asked in a heavy voice, looking at the ruins before her.

These dilapidated buildings even look quite "new," with only faint traces of time left on the ice-covered ruins.

What chilled Ying even more was that she couldn't find a single corpse in such a vast ruin.

Such a large complex must have housed quite a few people. However, Ying scanned the surroundings but found no corpses, not even human ones, let alone animal ones.

Given the conditions in the snow-capped mountains, bodies can sometimes be preserved for longer than some buildings.

But Ying couldn't see it, as if life in the city had been wiped out in an instant.

Compared to the immense force that instantly turns a city into a deep crater, Ying still finds this method of making life disappear silently more terrifying.

"It should be." Yu Jin nodded after hearing Ying's doubts. Moreover, this should have happened thousands of years ago.

"Paimon, how are you feeling?" Ember changed the subject and began to show concern for Paimon.

"Huh? Me?" Paimon pointed to herself, then looked at the enormous ruins before her, stomped her foot angrily, and said:

"This is outrageous! Such a big city, destroyed in an instant! If I find out who did it, I'll make sure Ying teaches her a lesson!"

"Why me?" Ying looked at Paimon speechlessly. Paimon's words sounded so nice, but how come she ended up being the one to carry out the orders?

"Hehe, I'm pretty weak!" Paimon chuckled at Ying, as if he were quite embarrassed.

Paimon then looked at Ember, clenched her fist, and said, "Ember, don't underestimate me! I'm working hard to mature!"

“At least… at least I’ll be there watching when Luminous is dealing with the monsters!” Paimon said, puffing out his chest proudly at the end.

It seems she thought Yu Jin was worried that she was too young.

"Hahaha, not bad! Paimon, remember what you said, don't forget it in the future." Ember said to Paimon, and then laughed.

"Of course, I remember everything I said." Paimon started bragging again.

"You ate too much again last night! You said you were going to lose weight!"

"Wow! Ying, why do you always embarrass me!"

"Hahaha!"