The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

……

As Ying and Paimon played around, the atmosphere that had been trying to remain silent dissipated considerably.

"What should we do? Should we continue planting them here?" Lisa sighed as she looked at the golden tree sapling that Ember was holding.

This tree-planting trip was truly full of twists and turns.

“Plant, why not plant? This is a perfect spot, it saves me the trouble of digging a hole.” Yu Jin nodded, looking at the huge pit.

“However, before that, some important cultural relics still need to be preserved.” As Yu Jin spoke, he pointed to a red light in the ruins.

"Hmm? The entrance to a secret realm? Or a secret realm that has never been discovered before?" Lisa looked in the direction the embers pointed and saw a faint red light.

That was the unique light emanating from the gate to the secret realm, a realm that had never been trodden upon before. The gate to the secret realm had a unique characteristic: it would turn blue once explored, and red if it remained unexplored.

Scattered across the continent of Teyvat are many hidden realms, each a small world unto itself, and no one knows how they came to be.

The architecture within these secret realms differs from that of the seven kingdoms of Teyvat, but all of them are invariably connected to petrified ancient trees. These petrified ancient trees, in turn, are connected to ley lines deep underground.

The ley lines record everything that happens in the secret realm. As long as there is enough virgin resin, the ancient tree can be activated, allowing the memories that are stagnant in the ley lines to become reality and gush out.

As for what comes out, that's purely a matter of luck. It could be an ancient person's underwear, or it could be a sacred relic embodying the will of their predecessors.

If it's a five-star artifact, that would be a huge windfall. After all, there's only one five-star Royal Artifact in all of Mondstadt, and it's a treasure passed down through the Knights of Favonius.

This is why Teyvat has so many adventurers; on the one hand, the adventure is truly exhilarating, and on the other hand, the secret realms of Teyvat can be explored repeatedly.

“With this secret realm here, everything here isn’t completely destroyed.” Ember put down the golden tree sapling and stretched out his hand. “But let’s move it a bit!”

"Boom!" A massive spatial rift suddenly appeared above the secret realm. Unlike the dazzling starlight of the abyss passage, the rift only emitted chaotic and disordered streams of light.

Ember didn't possess the Abyss Order's technique of using force to pry open space; he simply tore space apart.

Although it's not technically advanced, it's really easy to use.

"Go!" With a wave of his hand, the massive entrance to the secret realm rose from the ground and flew into countless streams of light.

"Alright, now we can plant the tree!" Seeing that the cleaning was finished, Yu Jin grabbed the crown of the golden tree sapling and pulled it out of the flowerpot in one go.

Sand fell from the roots of the golden tree seedling, revealing its roots that were as transparent and shiny as amber.

"Whoosh~" As soon as the golden tree seedling emerged from the soil, the entire tree shrank. Its crown almost shrank into an emerald ball.

"Alright, stop pretending. I know you too well. You'd rather be dead than alive. What are you pretending for?" Yu Jin looked at the pitiful appearance of the golden tree sapling and gave it a good whack.

He might not know about others, but he knew the Golden Trees inside and out. Go ask the Golden Tree Guards at the border which Golden Tree he hadn't messed with?

Ember leaped into the bottom of the deep pit and began digging. Brownish soil flew everywhere, and under Ember's true iron hand, a tree pit of moderate size appeared before him.

Ember placed the golden tree sapling in his hand into the tree pit and said earnestly, "Little Yellow, you'd better behave yourself. Don't be like your mother, eating meat every day and more junk food... oh no, forbidden knowledge."

"Forbidden knowledge is incredibly delicious, let me tell you."

Yu Jin patted his chest guiltily, almost letting something slip. Then he buried the struggling golden tree sapling in the soil.

The leaves of the golden tree sapling drooped immediately after it was planted in the soil. It cannot yet leave the soil on its own. Once it is planted, it is similar to an ordinary tree, at most it can move slightly.

Seeing the golden tree sapling looking dejected, Ember grinned, then called out to Lance Sanx in the distance behind him:

"Lance Sanx! Come here! Let me show you my hands!"

Chapter 205 Blood Flows Again

2023-10-01

"Where? Where?" Upon hearing Ember's words, Lance Sanx instantly transformed into a white flash and rushed over from afar.

"Cough cough cough! Calm down, it's just looking at your hands, why are you so excited?" Yu Jin waved his hand to fan away the dust Lance Sanx had kicked up, and said to Lance Sanx, whose eyes were shining.

“That’s different! Nobody has ever seen what the king looks like!” Lance Sanx said, holding his camera and staring intently at Ember.

In Lance Sanx's memory, Ember had always worn this old-fashioned knight's plate armor. His body was completely covered by this armor, and no distinctive features of Ember could be seen.

Even though Ember himself said that he was only removing his arm armor, Lance Sanx's curiosity was not diminished at all.

What kind of body could possibly bear this power? Lance Sanx couldn't wait any longer.

"If it's convenient, can I take a look too?" Lisa and the others also entered the pit, following closely behind Lance Sanx to the bottom.

"Something beyond gold, I want to see it beforehand." Abedo's gaze was no less intense than Lance Sanx's. In some ways, he always showed great enthusiasm for things he was curious about.

"And us too!" Paimon leaped up behind Lisa and waved his little hand.

"Senior, I've been curious about you wearing this armor every day for a long time," Ying said, walking past Lisa to Yu Jin's side. Her eyes also revealed immense curiosity.

The area around Yu Jin suddenly became lively. Seeing this, Yu Jin scratched his head and said helplessly, "You can look, but don't expect anything magical about my body. I'm just an ordinary person."

"Mmmmmm!" ×5

Everyone nodded hastily, but they didn't believe a word Yu Jin said. Ordinary? If Yu Jin was ordinary, then what were they? Trash?

“Lance Sandks, get ready,” Ember said to Lance Sandks after seeing them nod.

“I was all set!” Lance Sanks held up her camera, then added with a hint of mischief, “By the way, Your Majesty, tell me why you wanted me to take your picture?”

If Ember hadn't specifically asked, Lance Sanx would never have brought a camera. Ember wanted to document his arm, and he even asked her to do so... could it be...?

"Heh, you're thinking a lot." Seeing Lance Sanx lost in thought, Yu Jin knew what she was thinking.

"Part of the reason is that Melina and the others have been wanting to see what I look like for a long time. I can't show them my face yet, but I should be able to show them my hands."

"The deeper reason is the Fire Keeper. When I get back, I'll give her the photo. I'll tell her I know what she's thinking, that I'm fine now, and that she doesn't need to worry."

When Ember spoke, he did so in a serious and methodical manner, without showing any embarrassment or shame. Lance Sanx's excited expression immediately dimmed.

Well, the king is still the same king she knows. Purely fulfilling others' wishes, without any other emotions.

"Sigh~" Thinking of this, Lance Sanx couldn't help but feel sad for Melina and the other single women who were getting on in years. They were definitely going to never get married in their lives.

"Fire Keeper, Melina... are they your friends?" Ying asked, leaning closer to Lance Sangx after overhearing his conversation with Ember.

This was the first time Ying had heard Ember and Lance Sanks discuss the other people in the border region, so she was naturally curious.

“More than just friends!” Lance Sanx raised an eyebrow and whistled.

“They’re just friends.” Yu Jin nodded, then said helplessly, “I’ve already clearly rejected them, but it didn’t work.”

"Is...is that so?" Ying was taken aback by Lance Sanx's words. To be so open about his private matters, he truly lived up to his senior's reputation!

"Hahaha, that won't do, you silly goose." Lisa burst into laughter after hearing their conversation.

“I don’t have those worldly desires.” Yu Jin crossed his arms, making a diagonal cross gesture to indicate his refusal.

However, Ember only gestured for a short while before lowering his arm, because he saw the withered golden tree sapling.

Although the nails of frost have been burned, the accumulated cold on the mountaintop is not so easily dispelled.

So the summit of Longji Snow Mountain is still very cold, but without the strong winds and thick snow, the cold is not as intense as before.

But it's still so cold; the golden tree seedlings are almost wilted from the cold.

He said to everyone, "Alright, alright, let's get down to business! Can't you see Little Huang is about to freeze to death?"

And so, amidst the expectant gazes of everyone, Ember unveiled his arm armor.

Then a blurry black shadow appeared in everyone's eyes—it was Ember's arm after he removed his arm armor.

"Hey! Ember, you don't have to fool us like this if you don't want us to see it!" Paimon's eyes immediately turned dead fish-like as he looked at the dark shadow on Ember's left forearm.

How can you see a ghost from a dark shadow?

"Why are you in such a hurry? Your hands have something on them, doesn't it take time to clean them?" Yu Jin immediately retorted.

To others, Ember's arm was a blurry black shadow, but to him it was not.

Familiar spots, familiar faces, familiar flames... together they form this ugly arm.

This arm seems to have no main body; it looks like a lump of burning mud has been forcibly kneaded into the shape of an arm.

But how could that be? Even an ordinary arm has bones supporting its shape, and the Ember's is even more so.

Under Ember's gaze, the mud that had covered his arm for so long began to recede on its own, revealing Ember's own arm, which had been buried deep beneath it for so long.

His arms were very thin, much like the damp humanoid form inside him back then. They were also bones covered with a layer of flesh, and it was hard to say whether there was any flesh or blood on them.

However, the wet humanoid's skin was deathly pale, as if it had been soaked in deep water for a long time; the ember's skin was indeed fleshy red, just like a human's.

In truth, Ember was originally human. It was only through endless battles that he transformed into his current grotesque form.

Now that things have stopped, we can catch our breath, and naturally, we should return to how we were before.

Yu Jin closed his eyes and began to sense his arm. There was no burning flame or the roar of countless people; there was only the surging of water.

Blood, the substance that had always stained Ember, finally flowed through his own body.

Consciousness moved in the opposite direction of the blood flow, eventually arriving at Ember's chest. The familiar burning sound rang out again, and Ember withdrew his consciousness.

He touched his chest with his hand, his thin, slender fingers scraping against his breastplate, making a very harsh sound.

The breastplate remained warm as before, unchanged. But Ember smiled; one day, there would be a beating sound here too.

The blurry light and shadow on the arm disappeared, and the true appearance of the ember's arm was revealed to everyone.

Everyone fell silent upon seeing Ember's arms, which resembled those of a dried-up corpse. They hadn't expected that Ember's body, hidden beneath his armor, would look like this.

Thin, shriveled, and looked like it might break at any moment.

“Ember…” Paimon was at a loss for words when he saw how thin and weak Ember looked.

However, she quickly came up with a good way to make Ember normal again. Paimon turned around and said to the shocked Bright:

"Ying, we've saved up a lot of Mora, right? Let's take it out and treat Yu Jin to a big meal! He's so thin, he definitely hasn't eaten much!"

As she spoke, Paimon rubbed her hands together. Even though the main character was Ember, it wouldn't hurt for her to eat a little bit, right?

"Hahaha! Then thank you, Paimon!" Ember patted Paimon's head with his withered hand after hearing Paimon's words.

Then he shook his head and said, "But it's not necessary. It's just about finding what's rightfully mine. There's no need for all that trouble."

Chapter 206 The Growing Golden Tree

2023-10-02

"Well? Finished watching?" Yu Jin raised his withered arm and said to the crowd in front of him.