The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

Opening his eyes in the darkness and looking around, the skirmisher found himself in a scene that seemed like a dream.

The pinkish-white trees occupied most of the field of vision, and beneath them was a hazy expanse.

The clouds rolled in, and a single glance from the stragglers intensified the pain in their minds. The nature of these clouds bore a striking resemblance to the abyss—both contained a wealth of information.

And the place where he and the doctor were located was on an insignificant root that had risen from the pink and white tree.

"This is...the World Tree?"

"The scene was like a dream, but it was also that made the outcome seem somewhat unbelievable."

Like the soldier, the doctor was also filled with emotion, as this was his first time visiting the World Tree. If it weren't for needing the Heart of God, he wouldn't want to offend the Grass God.

Inside the World Tree, the Grass God could easily use countless pieces of information to overwhelm his mind.

"Hurry up and make any preparations, or we won't be able to leave once the Grass God discovers us."

After marveling at it, the doctor followed the roots to the location of the World Tree's main trunk.

He stretched out his palm and placed it on the pinkish-white surface of the World Tree. Just as a thought of intrusion arose in his mind, it was pushed away by an extremely strong repulsive force.

"So it wasn't that easy for the unknown to infiltrate?" The Doctor rubbed his fingers together, seemingly unsurprised by the World Tree's reaction.

"What about this?"

As he spoke, a bundle of blue and white branches appeared in his palm, with faint new buds sprouting from them.

The branches of the ley lines melted away in the doctor's hands, and then his arm began to turn white, sprout leaves, and eventually become woody...

This arm, which seemed to have become part of the earth's veins, merged seamlessly with the trunk of the World Tree without any obstruction.

Following his petrified arm, the doctor's consciousness arrived at a vast, empty place filled with countless aurora borealis.

However, before he could even appreciate the scenery inside the World Tree, a strong feeling of dizziness struck him.

"Buzz--"

"hiss……"

Instinctively, the doctor immediately withdrew his released consciousness. The air smelled metallic; he touched his philtrum with his other, still-intact arm, and saw blood gushing down his fingertips.

"Just now... I must have accidentally entered the information database... Let's search again, there must be a passageway inside the World Tree."

The doctor was muttering something to himself, but the skirmishers behind him sneered at his disheveled appearance.

"Save your energy. Instead of thinking about how to invade the World Tree, let's enjoy the scenery before us..."

"If we don't invade the World Tree, what can we use to obtain the Heart of God?"

The doctor merely snorted coldly. Now, the Heart of Thor had been taken by Anfortas, while the Heart of Grass was in Narcida's hands.

The former is easier to deal with, since the God of the Righteous Mechanism is his creation, and he knows all its weaknesses. But the Heart of the Grass God is a different story.

Facing both the Great Tree King and Nasita, brute force was definitely out of the question. The only thing he could think of was to tamper with the World Tree while the two were away from Sumeru, and then use that as leverage to obtain the Heart of God.

"So that's why you gave Thor's Heart to someone else?"

“He is more suited to the body of the God of the Righteous Machine than you are. I need data on the success or failure of the experiment, which you obviously cannot provide.”

"However, since we succeeded once, there's always a second chance. Perhaps we can cooperate again."

The doctor spoke eloquently to the stragglers, showing no shame whatsoever for breaking his promise.

"Hahaha... Cooperation? Perfect, don't I have another Heart of God here?"

The skirmisher raised his palm, in which lay the effigyed Heart of God.

"This? It's just some kind of counterfeit made from who-knows-what." The doctor glanced coldly at the stragglers, feeling that their brains had been corrupted.

"Tell me, what's down there?" Ignoring the doctor's mocking tone, the skirmisher simply pointed to the white mist beneath the World Tree and asked.

"The source of the ley lines, the convergence point of all information in Teyvat," the Doctor said slowly, then looked somewhat puzzled:

"Why are you asking this? The information inside has no physical form; it can only be interfered with through the World Tree."

The white mist beneath the World Tree is the ever-expanding "past," established facts that have already occurred. It has no physical form; it is only known to people because the World Tree database is here.

"What are you doing..."

The stragglers reached the edge of the World Tree's extending roots. He raised his head and laughed, a laugh that sounded both self-deprecating and disdainful:

"The Shogunate, the Fools, the Empress..."

As the soldier spoke, waves of chaos and madness emanated from his chest, and then his entire body began to ooze writhing starlight.

His consciousness was fading. He turned around and saw the doctor's figure, equally blurry, in his field of vision. The stragglers' almost lost consciousness instantly cleared for a moment.

"And you too! All of you, die!!!"

"boom!"

He plunged his hand, which held the fake God's Heart, deep into his chest, and the skirmisher breathed his last.

He fell stiffly, like a real puppet, with the flowing starlight around him, and plunged into the white mist beneath the World Tree.

The ocean currents of information surged and churned, engulfing the puppet, and then a fiery red appeared in the white.

"call……"

Flames rose from the bottomless abyss and shone on the doctor's face.

Chapter 739 Replicating the Burning Tree

2024-06-24

"Oh!"

"Hey, hey, hey... what's going on? Why has the sky turned so gloomy?"

"I don't know? Can you smell it? It smells like burning?"

……

The sky over the mainland suddenly darkened, and the thick dark clouds brought not only darkness but also light.

However, the light was crimson, and the dark clouds in the sky were surrounded by a ring of smoldering embers, looking like burning charcoal.

In the towering mountains of Liyue, the robed man stopped. He raised his palm, and a tiny spark slowly landed in it.

"Wait... this sign..."

Zhongli Weihan's eyes widened instantly. He leaped from the mountain path to the top of the mountain and looked out at Sumeru, located in the east of Liyue.

As expected, the once vibrant Sumeru Rainforest was now shrouded in a dark red hue.

The flames spread through the rainforest, but they burned smolderingly, much like the dark clouds high in the sky.

"The surface of the earth's veins is burning. What on earth is happening to the World Tree?" Zhongli rested his chin on his hand, his eyes darting around. Then, a loud explosion rang out from the mountain peak.

High above the broken mountaintop, one can vaguely see the jade dragon soaring through the dark clouds.

"Wait... let's ask where Brother Yu Jin is first."

Zhongli, who was caught in the midst of billowing dark clouds, suddenly realized what was happening. He turned around and, in the blink of an eye, arrived at the chaotic streets of Liyue below.

The streak of light arrived in an instant. Even if someone saw it, they would only think it was a silent thunderclap or a blur of vision, and would never imagine that the streak of light contained a jade dragon.

"Don't panic! Don't panic! Leave the street in an orderly manner!"

"It's just a large-scale ley line disturbance! The sorcerers of Liyue have already activated the alchemical array in the city, so everyone doesn't need to panic!"

"Remember, do not leave the city before the dark clouds dissipate! I repeat, do not leave the city!"

The shouts of the Thousand Rock Army echoed through the streets. Zhong Li, who was walking among them, nodded and shook his head upon hearing this.

A nod indicates approval of Liyue's response, while a shake of the head reflects concern for the future.

The World Tree is burning, which is an event that could destroy the world... at least the world built by Sky Isle.

Although the world created by Sky Isle is not a good place, now is not the time to destroy it. This crisis came too suddenly and too hastily.

As he pondered this, Zhong Li's brow remained furrowed. Before he knew it, he had quickly arrived at the Adventurers' Guild.

Catherine was packing her things, getting ready to leave work.

"Towards the stars and the abyss."

"Mr. Zhongli? Are you here to post a commission?" Upon seeing someone arrive, Catherine calmly stopped what she was doing and smiled at Zhongli.

However, Zhongli didn't have time for formalities at this moment. He immediately said, "Catherine, could you contact Brother Yu Jin and ask him to go to Xumi? Tell him it's my request, it's extremely urgent!"

"Understood! Mr. Zhongli, please wait a moment!" Catherine nodded immediately upon seeing this. After saying that, she lowered her eyes slightly and began to contact Catherine in Sumeru.

After a period of anxious waiting, Zhongli saw Catherine raise her head with a strange expression.

"How is it? Any news about him?"

"Yes, there is. In fact, I just saw Mr. Ember about Sumeru."

"As he ran, he kept muttering things like 'Make way, make way, fire, fire'."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Li's tense expression instantly relaxed.

"Shh!"

He pulled out a fan from somewhere, and with a flick of his finger, a landscape painting appeared on the fan.

"It's good to put out the fire, it's good to put out the fire..."

Zhongli kept repeating the same sentence as he walked along the deserted street, fanning himself.

His relaxed demeanor was exactly the same as usual.

……

"Fire! Fire! Make way! Firefighters are here!" Countless people on the streets of Sumeru heard these words, but no one knew who they came from—because Ember was moving too fast for anyone else to see.

How anxious was he? Just look at the God of Motion, who was half-squatting at the gate of Sumeru City, with smoke billowing from his legs—the frequency of his strides was almost too much for the God of Motion's support structure to handle.

A gust of wind swept through the ruins of the Church of the Nation, followed by a series of loud thuds as the Pure Land Palace was pierced through the depths.

"Ugh... I feel so dizzy..."

"Where...where am I...?"

"Jing...Jingshan Palace!"