The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

"I...I will." The girl's lips trembled, whether from fear or anger, it was hard to tell.

With a "whoosh!" Three pairs of wings appeared on the girl's back, and then she flapped her wings slightly and appeared next to a black-clad swordsman.

"Stop—" Even though she knew the other person wouldn't listen, the girl still shouted angrily. Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inhuman.

Black Blade disappeared again. Now all she knows is killing, but killing ordinary people is definitely easier than killing girls.

"I won't let you leave!" the girl said in a hoarse voice as she sensed the black blade's aura dissipate.

Then her wings began to flap, and a dense concentration of fire elemental energy began to gather.

"Boom!" A violent firestorm swirled around the girl, its temperature so high that it melted the ground below, where no buildings remained, into lava.

"Ah!" A painful scream came from the air. Under this level of power, the Black Blade, who had lost his mind and was only driven by instinct, was simply unable to withstand it.

The raging flames found their target and swarmed forward. In a short moment, the black blade was reduced to ashes.

"Ten left." The girl took a deep breath, then looked at the other black-clad swordsmen still slaughtering in the distance.

Ordinary Fool soldiers were utterly useless against the Black Blade's full-force firepower. Even if they burned their life force with their Evil Eyes, it would only prolong their lives by a few more seconds.

But at that very moment, a sudden change occurred!

An extremely powerful aura came from the horizon, freezing everything in Winter City in time.

A black sword raised to strike, soldiers with ferocious expressions, and residents fleeing in panic...

Everything froze in time, including the girl flying in the sky.

Then a bizarre scene unfolded: the girl saw everything in Winterfell begin to flow backward.

She saw the black blade she had slain come back to life, the pervasive black flames dissipate, and the ashes in the sky reformed into houses and life. Morning turned back into night, and the dead were resurrected.

The girl seemed like an observer, watching her body being pulled along like a puppet, repeating the same moments as before.

Summoning a firestorm, causing the black sword to lose its memory, a battle of mutual probing... all the scenes that had just happened were replayed in reverse before the girl's eyes.

Ultimately, all of this came to a standstill at a certain moment.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. You can handle the puppets as you see fit. Just promise to leave after winter." The rooster's cheerful voice rang out.

The girl suddenly came to her senses and realized she could control her body. She touched her veil and opened her eyes.

She looked around and felt that everything was so beautiful. The cunning rooster was good, the scheming servant was good, and even the black knife that regained its memories was good.

"I have no objection!" The rooster had barely finished speaking when the girl's cheerful voice rang out again.

The puppet stared wide-eyed, as if it couldn't believe that such words came from a young girl.

The rooster and the servant looked at the girl in surprise. They had never seen her so happy. Usually, her eyes were always closed, and she seemed indifferent to everything.

Now, things have changed. His eyes are open, and he's even smiling. The rooster and the servant exchanged a rare glance, then both shook their heads slightly, wondering what had happened.

However, they quickly stopped caring; the top three seats of the Fatui were all incomprehensible individuals. The girl's behavior was acceptable.

"Heh, it seems you fools are quite heartless. You treat soldiers the same way, and you treat worthless executives the same way."

As Black Knife spoke, he cut out one-eighth of the puppet's soul. Then he threw her, along with the unconscious soldier, at the servant's feet.

"Bye-bye, have a safe trip, I'm going back to sleep!" The girl saw the familiar scene before her and, fearing something might happen, said that before running away without looking back.

Everyone present, except for Black Knife, looked as if they had seen a ghost. Was this really the kind of executive girl they knew? Was the seemingly emotionless girl from before a fake?

"Looks like there are some strange guys among your executives." Black Knife chuckled a few times as he watched the girl leave before disappearing as well.

The factory was quiet for a while. But it soon became noisy again—servants dragged puppets and soldiers, kicking stragglers, out of the factory.

The sunlight shining on the servant made her feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Is the night a little too short tonight?" the servant muttered to himself, then shook his head and continued walking into the distance.

……

"Burn! Burn! I'm burning to death!" In the Fruit Wine Lake, Ember lay dead at the bottom. Steam rose continuously around him, turning the surroundings pure white.

Yu Jin found it strange. In the past, he would feel dizzy from overloading like this, but now he didn't feel dizzy; instead, his body felt hot.

It's one thing that his body is hot, but the key point is that he can actually feel pain! This... this is really amazing! I wish he could taste it someday.

After rolling around at the bottom of the lake for a while, Yu Jin felt that this was not good, as his body was in so much pain that he could hardly move.

So he calmed himself down and went into the initial furnace.

"Xiao You, I know you've been hiding something. Why don't you take it out and burn it?"

"No, my God. I swear to God, I am just an empty shell now."

"You won't listen to reason, huh? Don't force me to resort to force!"

"No, no, no—stop flipping them! They both have them too!"

"Hmm? None of them are behaving themselves?" Yu Jin turned his head to look at Dian Huo and Fu Huo, who were watching the show, and rubbed his hands together.

Then the initial furnace became lively again after a long time.

Chapter 122 Dvalin's Past

2023-08-28

"Splash!" A figure suddenly emerged from the bottom of the center of Fruit Wine Lake. If anyone else had seen this, they might have thought some kind of lake monster had come out of the lake.

In fact, this figure was Yu Jin, who had been lying dead at the bottom of the lake for a long time.

He was now chewing a lump of black, muddy substance with great difficulty. It was speckled with signs of madness and decay.

"Pah! It's like eating dirt!" Yu Jin chewed for a while, but it was no use. So he impatiently stuffed the whole lump of mud into his mouth.

Then he began to worry. The first fire needs to ignite the soul, the deep requires the sedimentation of humanity, the mad fire thirsts for pain, and corruption accumulates in stagnation.

What about myself? I can't exactly rob the Dark Ones of their "secret stash" every day, can I?

Actually, this isn't so bad! Yu Jin suddenly stopped worrying. He felt that his recovery still needed the help of the Deep Ones.

In high spirits, Ember waved his arms, splashing up large sprays of water. Soon, amidst the white expanse, Ember returned to the shore.

He then walked back to Mondstadt and began to wander around.

Since Kaeya and his team severed the source of the Dragonstorm's power two days ago, the skies of Mondstadt have returned to their clear and bright state.

Meanwhile, Mondstadt, which had been quiet for a long time, became much more lively. Small vendors who had disappeared began to come and go in and out of Mondstadt again, and residents took to the streets again after a long absence.

Of course, this also includes Ember, who has nothing to do.

After a leisurely stroll, Ember arrived at the Anemo Plaza. Honestly, there's not much to see in Mondstadt; just two crowded plazas. Beyond that, there's really nothing worth exploring.

The colossal statue of the wind god still stood, untouched by the dragon scourge that swept through Mondstadt. He clasped his hands, gazing into the distance as always.

However, a large number of people had gathered at the foot of the Wind God statue, including Ying and Paimon, who had just come out of the Knights.

Paimon floated beside Luminous, constantly rising and falling. Ember couldn't help but wonder just how high Paimon could fly.

"Not bad, cutting off the source of the storm, a great achievement." Ember squeezed in and patted Ying on the shoulder next to him.

"Hmm? Senior?" Ying turned around and saw Ember staring at Wendy beside her.

"Hehe, of course! Ying is super amazing!" Paimon was even happier to hear someone praise Ying than to hear others praise him.

Ember looked at Paimon, who was constantly flying around in front of him, reached out and flicked her forehead, then said jokingly:

"Since Ying is so amazing, then you, as a guide, must be even more amazing, right?"

"Uh..." Paimon covered her forehead, not even bothering to pursue the matter of Ember flicking her head. Paimon had never been in a fight before, and she would hide faster than anyone else when she encountered an enemy.

This is something that absolutely cannot be known by others, otherwise, what will become of Paimon's reputation?

"Paimon's fighting strength is one-fifth that of a wild boar!" Seeing Paimon's embarrassed expression, Ying decisively betrayed her.

"Who said that! Have you ever seen me fight, at least... at least two-fifths of a wild boar!" Paimon stomped his foot, arguing angrily with Ying.

"You two have such a good relationship," Yu Jin remarked.

"Of course! Ying and I braved the elements for two months to get to Mondstadt!" Paimon proudly put his hands on his hips, though he didn't know what was so great about it.

Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she flew to Ember's side and said, "Firefly is an adventurer now, so don't bully her just because you're a senior!"

"Oh? Welcome, welcome! You can come to me with any questions you may have in the future." Yu Jin was only slightly surprised, not expecting the association's work to resume so quickly.

They couldn't wait to recruit people as soon as the dragon scourge was over. That's fitting, very much in line with his impression of Serius.

"Definitely, I'll be troubling you a lot in the future, senior!" Ying nodded with a smile. She was very happy to have made Yu Jin a friend and senior.

"Cough cough cough!" Just as Ember, Firefly, and Paimon were chatting happily, a loud cough rang out.

Wendy saw that the person in question had arrived, so he stopped waiting. He began to play his harp, and with the melodious music, he started to tell ancient stories.

"The story I'm about to tell begins in the ancient times, when the gods still roamed the earth..."

"The Wind Singer plays his harp, and the Lyre of the Sky answers his questions one by one..."

"The dark ages then descended, when the lion's teeth decayed and the eagle's banner fell silent..."

"The Sky Dragon swallowed the venomous blood of an evil dragon and fell into a deep slumber. Years later, however, no one recognized him when he was resurrected..."

……

The music was sometimes melodious and light, sometimes deep and rhythmic. Combined with Wendy's tone, an ancient legend came to mind for everyone.

After hearing this, Yu Jin was deeply moved. He realized that the big guy had such a tragic past, which made him feel a little guilty.

Then he led the applause, but Dvarin's tragic experience and Wendy's superb storytelling skills were two different things. Since she told such a good story, he had to show his appreciation.

"Here, let me know next time you tell a story, I'll come back to listen." Ember stuffed a Mora into Wendy's pocket.

"Thank you so much!" Wendy's eyes twitched uncontrollably. The good atmosphere had been completely ruined by Ember.

Ember's actions set a precedent, and everyone present applauded. Those with spare cash followed Ember's example and stuffed Mora into Wendy's pocket.

This also includes Bright and Paimon. Paimon even strongly demanded that Bright give her pocket money in advance so that she could personally deliver Mora into Wendy's pocket.

When everyone had left, Wendy's pockets were bulging. They were filled with glittering Mora, enough to buy several bottles of fine wine!

"Phew—" Wendy calmed her urge to punch someone, put on a smile, and said to Luminous, who hadn't left yet:

"Oh...yes! It was the one who scared Dvalin away back then, wasn't it?"

"Tvalin? Who's that?"