The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

"Where? Could it be that the curse of Fontaine has already erupted?!" The Great Tree King's expression turned anxious. If that were the case, it would truly be a case of misfortunes never coming singly.

The World Tree problem remains unresolved, and now the Curse of Fontainebleau has arrived.

“No, the location of those primordial waters of the womb…” Vilet took a few deep breaths. He was about to close his eyes to sense the unusual waters of the womb when an extremely familiar aura rushed into his mind.

"Up there!" He opened his eyes, and before he could finish speaking, he saw countless cracks appear in the pinkish-white sky.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sky seemed to possess a tangible form, like a barrier. What could be more terrifying than the sky being a barrier?

That means something is knocking on the door from outside the barrier.

"Wait... something from outside the world..."

"Um...maybe not."

Yu Jin waved to the flustered group, signaling them to calm down.

The thing pounding on the sky wasn't some malicious entity from the dark universe, but rather...

"Boom!"

A tear appeared in the pale pink sky, and amidst the countless stars, a dazzling golden yellow peeked in through the opening.

With its shimmering golden surface and flawless, translucent body, there was no doubt that this was the Golden Tree that had remained dormant until now.

So what did it do?

Soon, everyone had their answer.

The roots crammed a blue narwhal into the world, then the golden tree grabbed the whale's head with one hand and wrapped the whale's tail with the other, twisting it in the opposite direction.

"Woo——"

The whale's screams were heart-wrenching.

Chapter 741 There's Always Something to Squeeze In

2024-06-26

"Woo——"

A heart-wrenching cry rang out in the air as the giant whale, tightly bound by the golden tree, was twisted into a pretzel.

"Crash!"

Its body began to seep out large amounts of seawater, unlike any other; this seawater was a bright blue, and it was brimming with life and potential.

If I had to describe it, it's a lot like the grass seeds on Appepp's body when he's firing on all cylinders—full of vitality and endless possibilities.

However, the grass seeds on Apep's body are individual, while the water here comes in patches.

Vast expanses of azure water merge into the ocean beneath the World Tree, casting a faint blue fluorescent glow over the entire sea.

"Gulu! Guru!"

There were still bubbles in the ocean, so the golden tree roots loosened, and the whale, which had been twisted into a pretzel, instantly returned to its original shape.

The previous contortion of its body and leakage of amniotic fluid seemed to have no effect on this whale.

"Is that your pet?" Ember asked Vilette as he looked at the scene in the sky.

The reason the golden tree hadn't moved for so long was because it had gone to find water! And it even knew to look for this special kind of water.

Yes, it's smarter than its old mother.

"No, I don't have a penchant for keeping pets. When... did this thing get into the primordial womb?"

Navelette looked at the whale that had been caught by the golden tree again in the sky, her face full of doubt.

When did this thing appear in the Primordial Ocean? And it looks like it has already swallowed up a lot of seawater.

"Woo——!!!"

Just as Vilett was pondering, an even more piercing cry interrupted his thoughts.

The whale in the sky was being twisted even more violently by the golden tree, and this time it was twisted for a while, then loosened, and then twisted again.

It looks as if the golden tree is dehydrating the clothes.

Even larger amounts of seawater surge from the whale's body; it's like a saturated sponge, always able to squeeze out water.

The blue of the ocean grew brighter, and correspondingly, fewer and fewer bubbles rose from the surface.

The most obvious signs of this change were seen in the Great Tree King and Nasita. As two incarnations of the World Tree, almost everything about the World Tree could be found in them.

Upon lifting their feet, the two noticed that the blisters on their faces had disappeared, and the redness and swelling had subsided considerably.

The water from the primordial womb is useful.

Although the golden tree has no eyes, it can still sense changes in the heat below. For a tree, being constantly aware of fire hazards is an essential survival skill.

So it twisted the whale even harder.

"Kakaka!"

"Woo——"

"Kakaka!"

"Woo——"

"Kakaka!"

"Woo..."

……

When the golden tree twists the whale, it shows no mercy. With its immense strength, each twist means the whale's horn and shell are shattered.

But the whale's regenerative ability is unexpectedly strong; as soon as the golden tree loosens its grip even slightly, it can immediately return to its original state.

This continued indefinitely, and the primordial cradle waterfall in the sky never stopped, while the ocean beneath the World Tree became more and more like the primordial cradle in Vilet's memory.

In the end, even Ember couldn't stand it anymore.

"Alright, alright! Stop pushing! You'll really crush people to death if you keep pushing!" someone shouted at the golden tree from below. The golden roots, hearing this, had no choice but to reluctantly release the whale.

The golden tree knew there was already enough water, but it was just being cautious. However, since the embers had spoken, it decided to let the poor big fish go.

The whale, which had been tormented by the golden tree for a long time, felt its head and tail loosen and quickly closed its eyes.

Because letting go only meant the next painful ordeal was about to begin, but this time it wasn't. The whale kept its eyes closed for a long time, yet that excruciating pain never came.

It opened its eyes and saw that the golden tree had retracted its roots, making room for it to exit.

This peculiar whale was no fool; its intelligence was no less than that of humans. In just a moment, it realized that the golden tree was going to let it go.

"Woo!"

After a cry that was clearly one of joy and relief, the whale flapped its large fins and swam eagerly toward the exit.

However, its joy was short-lived, as it soon saw that the newly opened exit was blocked again by the roots of the golden tree.

"Woo~"

The whale immediately shrank back, and then used all its strength to escape backward.

That big tree is really tasteless; it ignores all the people on the ground and insists on picking a fight with this peaceful, unassuming big fish.

Thinking of this, the whale, which had been forcibly taken by the golden tree, had tears welling up in its narrow eyes.

Eating and sleeping to your heart's content in the primordial womb, sleeping and eating to your heart's content—could that idyllic life just end like this?

The whale was incredibly fast, a speed completely disproportionate to its massive size. But the golden tree was even faster; the whale floating in the sky didn't even have time to flap its fins a few times before it was entangled again by the roots extending from behind.

"Squeak..."

The sound of roots rubbing together could be heard faintly, and the whale, which had been grabbed again by the golden tree, simply gave up struggling.

It was belly up with its eyes closed, looking exactly like a dead fish floating on its back in a fishpond.

The unbearable pain did not come for a long time; instead, the whale felt a warm sensation all over its body.

Opening its eyes, one could see drops of dew of various colors gathering at the end of a golden root.

The dewdrops on the roots gradually grew larger, displaying a myriad of colors. Before long, drops of all sorts of strange colors fell onto the broad, white fish's belly, from which came the warm feeling it felt on its body.

The whale suddenly felt incredibly healthy; its fins were stronger, its belly was bigger, its horns were sharper, and even its worst feature—its ears—had become more sensitive…

The dew no longer seeped from the tips of the roots, and the whale was completely free.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

This time, however, the whale ignored the void in the distance. It no longer feared the roots of the golden tree; on the contrary, it kept approaching.

Wherever the roots of the golden tree shrink, the whale follows. Not only that, the whale also rubs its horn against the roots of the golden tree.

"Why does this fish look so slovenly?" Yu Jin remarked as he watched the scene from afar.

“How would I know? Maybe it’s someone’s pet?” Navelette shook her head. This whale really has no backbone; it turns into a lapdog as soon as you give it a little treat.

Seemingly annoyed by the persistent whale, the golden tree stopped retreating and instead stretched out its roots to wrap it tightly into a rice dumpling.

Then, with a "bang!", a large fish-shaped hole was smashed into the pinkish-white sky.

"Woo..."

Outside the large hole, one can still faintly hear the reluctant roars of whales.

The golden tree's massive roots retreated entirely beyond the world, while at the same time, the breach in the heavens was patched up by its smaller, hair-like roots.

The finer the roots of the golden tree, the more transparent they became. Soon, the darkness before everyone's eyes vanished, and looking up, the sky was still a pale pink, showing no signs of having ever been shattered.

"It's growing really fast. It must have gone out to forage for food from outside the world." Ember recalled the golden tree's performance earlier and became even more certain that it had carved a hole in the world.

This is normal; the golden tree grew excessively large due to the embers' growth. Once it had drunk its fill of the embers' blood, it would need an equal amount of power to satiate itself.

Teyvat certainly can't withstand the Golden Tree's relentless exploitation, so the outside world is a good option.

If possible, the Golden Tree would prefer to conjure up Golden Tree Guardians to hunt prey, but doing so would result in the Embers skinning it and burning it for firewood.

So rather than taking the huge risk of stepping on the embers' red line, it's better to...

Ember looked down at the golden tree roots that had tapped his calf from below. When Ember's gaze fell on him, the roots immediately split open, like blooming flowers... or you could say, like a giant mouth.