The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

"It's affecting my appetite; I can't even enjoy my food anymore," Xingqiu said, nodding with a bitter expression.

"You're just being argumentative, aren't you? Go ask him when you become as strong as Zhongli!"

"No, even if you ask me, I doubt he'll tell you. You'd have to be strong enough to torture him."

Yu Jin rambled on and on, but in the end, he only managed to glean one sentence from Lai Xingqiu.

Who is Zhongli?

"Why are you asking so many questions, kid?" Yu Jin shoved Xing Qiu away, seemingly unwilling to delve into the topic.

Seeing this, the somewhat dull atmosphere immediately brightened up.

Five hundred years is far too long for ordinary people. Even if they knew there were hidden stories about that time, there was nothing they could do.

"The meaning of the loom of fate..." Ying's mind became clearer.

"It's about reshaping the fate of the Kanriar remnants and freeing them from their Hilichurl identity."

Dayne spoke for Ying.

"That's great!" Paimon exclaimed, immediately thinking the plan sounded quite appealing.

"No, you're overthinking this plan." Dain shook his head. "Putting aside the level of the Hilichurl curse, just look at their numbers. Why do you think there are so many Hilichurls?"

"Because there are many people in Kanria?" Paimon's mind was very straightforward, without any room for ambiguity.

"Ha, so many that you could kill them all in hundreds of years?" Dain sneered and shook his head.

“This… seems to be true.” Paimon covered her forehead; she had suddenly discovered a major flaw.

That is, it seems that no matter how many Hilichurls you kill, you can't kill them all.

"To put it simply, most of the Hilichurls you see now have 'died' multiple times."

Din rested her chin on her fingers and added, "You can't say that. Apart from the first one being a real death, the rest are just cycles between fakes."

"I see!"

Everyone present fell into deep thought, except for Yu Jin, who clapped his hands as if he had understood something.

"What do you know?" Dain's brows immediately stood up; he was genuinely afraid that Ember would utter some outrageous remarks again.

"It's nothing, I just understand why I haven't been gaining weight lately," Yu Jin said casually, scratching his back.

He wondered why, after killing so many Hilichurls, he had absorbed so few intelligent souls. Now he understood.

Dain glanced at Ember upon hearing this. Hmm... the armor was very large, which made Ember's physique appear extremely robust.

Under that suit of plate armor, it's impossible to tell whether he's gained or lost weight.

"You still care about this?" Paimon looked incredulous. Judging from Ember's expression, he didn't seem like the type of person who cared about such things.

"I do care occasionally." Yu Jin nodded; he was still a little bit concerned about his physique.

Losing weight is fine, but gaining weight is something to watch out for.

"A fake? What does that mean?" Ying ignored Paimon and Ember's nonsense. She frowned, somewhat confused.

"Most of the Hilichurls you see now are those that emerged when the Leyline nodes became blocked."

"They all left their mark on the earth's veins at a certain time and were given the opportunity to reappear when the earth's veins became disordered."

"How much of it is a natural phenomenon and how much is the work of the Abyss Order is unknown."

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Dain explained.

"So it seems the Abyss Cult is planning to mass-produce idiots. How ruthless!"

Yu Jin couldn't help but feel extremely emotional. He never expected that just as he had figured out the magic to create mentally challenged people, someone was already planning to mass-produce them.

It’s really a declining world and people’s hearts are not as old as they used to be!

"What do you mean by that?" Ying didn't want to miss any details, as it concerned her brother.

"It means exactly what it says. If what Dain said is true, then most Hilichurls nowadays have bodies before they have souls."

"The newly conceived soul has no connection with the Kanriyans anymore. Even if the curse is lifted, the world will probably just lose a Hilichurl and gain an idiot."

"And he's an idiot who likes to rob and bully slimes."

Ember recalled the habits of the Hilichurls and added.

"The body appeared before the soul? Shouldn't the soul be superior to the body?" Chongyun rubbed his temples, feeling a bit confused.

"Shouldn't they be on the same level? Just look up whether there are more people in a vegetative state or more wandering ghosts and you'll know."

Ember gave an example that Chongyun could not refute.

"Generally speaking, the body and soul complement each other; neither can be missing."

"Without a soul, one becomes a vegetable; without a body, one becomes a wandering ghost."

"As for the Hilichurls that emerged from the ley lines, they probably already had some memories remaining in their bodies. These memories, nurtured by their physical bodies, eventually became their souls."

Yu Jin rambled on with a whole host of speculations.

"so……"

"So the Abyss Cult's plan is to mass-produce idiots in order to cripple the finances of the seven nations and overturn the order on the surface!"

"Ember said firmly," he said, his tone filled with something called "confidence."

Chapter 390 The Disposal of the Statues

2024-01-02

Paimon's doubts vanished instantly upon hearing Ember's words.

Expecting the embers to come up with any reliable conclusions is harder than the sun rising in the west.

“I don’t think that’s what the Abyss Order’s goal is.” Paimon stared at Ember with droopy eyelids and dead fish eyes.

"Who knows? But in any case, their plan can hardly be called a good one." Dain shook his head.

In his view, he could at most approve of the purpose of the "Weaving of Fate" plan, but as for the means... that remained to be discussed.

"Let's put that aside for now and consider the immediate threat." Dain pondered in his mind what he thought might be the means to change the fate of the Kanria, but he couldn't come up with any ideas.

So he temporarily abandoned the idea, as there were more pressing issues to address.

Turning to look at the upside-down statue in the distance, the purple light it emitted still fluctuated rhythmically.

"What should we do with this upside-down statue?" Dain asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Send it back to Mondstadt?" Paimon suggested tentatively, looking at the eerie upside-down statue.

Then she was surrounded by the contemptuous gazes of everyone.

Feeling the gazes directed at her from all sides, Paimon was extremely indignant. She stuck out her forks and said, "What are you looking at me for? If you don't let them go back to Mondstadt, what do you suggest we do?"

"Don't tell me you want to take this home as a collectible."

Paimon felt his suggestion was quite sound. The upside-down statue was originally one of Mondstadt's Seven Statues; returning it to Mondstadt would be the most appropriate thing to do.

Moreover, the street singer in Mondstadt clearly had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, so the upside-down statue probably wouldn't be a problem for him.

“If you trust me, I can get rid of it.” Dain did not agree to Paimon’s offer.

The statue has been so deeply tainted by the power of the abyss that no one knows what changes will occur if it is returned to the surface.

Fortunately, Dain has a deep connection with the Abyss, so he can try to deal with only a small portion of the Abyss's power.

While we can't say we'll completely eliminate it, we can at least make it impossible for it to ever appear on the ground again.

“Actually, I think I can handle it too.” Yu Jin stroked his chin, looking at the upside-down statue in front of him, and said with some eagerness.

"What should we do with it? Burn it?" Paimon glanced at the embers beside him, wondering if he wanted to burn the idol.

But could the seven statues really be burned? This question then came to Paimon's mind.

The material of the Seven Gods statue is extremely special; it is impervious to water and fire, as if it were an elemental insulator.

But the doubts came and went quickly, because Paimon recalled his time with Ember and suddenly realized that his doubts were somewhat unnecessary.

What's so special about the Seven Gods Statue? Didn't he burn that big nail on the snow mountain back then? That big nail wasn't necessarily any worse than the Seven Gods Statue.

"Am I such a rude person?" Ember walked to the statue, still retorting to Paimon.

The upside-down statue was connected by strands of dark purple light, which looked like solid threads, firmly fixing the statue to its base deep in the earth.

After watching for a while, Yu Jin felt that the light was so bright it was almost blinding him.

So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Yu Jin's hands reached straight into the vibrating dark purple light.

The resistance that had previously been enough to deflect Dain was practically nonexistent against Ember. The light gradually materialized, converging on Ember's arm armor.

Tiny blackish-purple clumps began to appear, staining the embers' originally iron-gray armor with a deep black color.

"Drink! Get in there!" With a loud shout, Yu Jin exerted force with both arms. Fine cracks appeared under the turbulent light.

With a "crack!" sound, the upside-down statue, which was embedded in the rock wall, was pulled out by Ember.

Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, Yu Jin pulled out the upside-down statue and slowly stuffed it into his own body.

It looked as if he had "eaten" the idol.

After the last part of the upside-down statue was consumed by the embers, the once bright secret realm suddenly became dark.

Only the nameless runes left behind by the ancient ruins around the secret realm still emit a faint light.

"Oh!"

A string of flames flickered from Yu Jin's fingertips, the dancing light highlighting his sharply defined armor. The shadows not illuminated by the light resembled stains on the armor.

All of this made Ember look like a demon that had escaped from its seal.

The expressions on everyone's faces were indeed almost as if they had seen a ghost.

"Senior, doesn't your tooth hurt?" Xingqiu's expression changed, and he finally asked the first question.

In fact, he had many such questions when reading the novel. For example, why did the hero always manage to finish two taels of silver in the inn, and why was there always a cave after he fell off the cliff?

"Could this be the legendary 'Hidden Universe in the Sleeve'?" Chongyun's eyes were practically sparkling.