Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

For Gan Yu, one arrow would be enough to shatter the mask; for Tie Qi, this distance would allow him to breathe fire and burn his opponent without being affected by the Ice Spirit Orb.

The outcome is about to be decided—Ironclad has seized the initiative!

The raised hand spewed forth a massive fireball, completely engulfing the Qilin girl. Foul black smoke billowed out, proof that the creature had been burned.

The ice spirit orb in the sky slowly dimmed, the ice cones stopped falling, and the chill in the air gradually disappeared. But Tie Qi believed that Xiao Yi's heart at this moment was definitely colder than the frozen ground.

He stopped looking at the billowing smoke in front of him and walked towards Xiao Yi, who was sighing and looking down. If he could hold him off until midnight, that person's wish could be fulfilled.

"What's wrong? Are you grieving over your wife's passing?" Tieqi deliberately poked at a sore spot. "Think about it, if you're tired of this one, wouldn't it be better to find a young and beautiful one?"

Xiao Yi raised his head, revealing an expression that shocked the other party—a look of pleasure.

"I find it strange, why don't the villains know how to finish off their enemies?" Xiao Yi spread his arms wide. "I predict your next words will be: 'How could you not be dead!'"

Tie Qi was stunned for a few seconds.

Is this guy trying to say that his wife still has a chance to turn the tables? Don't be ridiculous, the billowing black smoke is proof that his body has been carbonized. Does he think he can use his soul to kill me?

This guy is probably too heartbroken and his thinking is all muddled.

Just as Tie Qi's attention was diverted by Xiao Yi, the Qilin girl, radiating agility, leaped lightly out of the black smoke. In order to avoid being detected by the opponent's change in elemental power, she did not even create ice arrows. Instead, she held a red and black horn-shaped object in her hand and used it as a chisel to suddenly stab at the crack in the opponent's armor.

Ping!

In an instant, cracks spread like vines, engulfing the entire upper half of the armor, and the sturdy ice armor shattered into ice shards that fell to the ground.

"How could he not be dead!" Tie Qi was stunned. "You brat, you actually..."

He realized that Xiao Yi had anticipated his words, which distracted him and prevented him from immediately countering Gan Yu, thus losing his last chance.

Gan Yu kicked Tie Qi in the abdomen, causing him to fall to the ground. Then, several ice arrows pierced through his body, pinning him firmly to the ground, rendering him unable to move.

"The outcome is decided!" Xiao Yi shouted hurriedly.

"Thank you for the gift." Gan Yu examined the ornament pendant on the [chisel].

At this moment, the beautiful crystal pendant, like melting ice, slowly decomposed and disappeared completely.

This is an item that Xiao Yi extracted from the earth's veins, capable of reviving the deceased. He gave it to Gan Yu as a hair ornament as a gift.

Now that it has completed its mission, it is making a grand exit.

Gan Yu held the slowly disintegrating pendant up to her face, gazing at this opportunity that would help her turn the tide. Like releasing a bird, she lifted the pendant into the air until it disappeared completely.

"I understand! This is a resurrection item extracted using the power of the Celestial Venerable!" Tie Qi roared. "If it's a resurrection item, then I won just now. I've already killed her once!"

Upon hearing this, even the honest Gan Yu couldn't help but smile slightly, while Xiao Yi displayed an extremely cheerful expression, looking down at the bald man lying on the ground.

"You spend all day reciting the Heavenly Venerable's theories, spouting bullshit clichés like 'justice,' but do you know that there's hardly any justice in reality? Do you really think everyone in the world is your mother, and that everyone will give in to you?" The purple gem on Xiao Yi's chest shone brightly, with lightning crackling around him. "Gan Yu's purpose in initiating the duel before the Emperor was to kill you, and as the acting Thunder General, I am the referee of the duel. How to judge it is up to me. If it weren't for maintaining the integrity of the ceremony, I would have judged you to lose from the very beginning!"

"In short, the ritual is complete. According to the rules, Xiao Yi can now break your immortal body." Gan Yu remained calm throughout, but looked at Tie Qi with the eyes of someone looking at trash. "You should give an explanation for killing our companions."

Tieqi's bald head was covered with blue veins.

"How dare you scheme against me!!!" Enraged, he manipulated four elements simultaneously, as if he wanted to fight Xiao Yi and Gan Yu to the death.

sizzle-

Suddenly, the halberd pierced Tieqi's chest, pinning him firmly to the ground, and lightning circulated continuously within his body like roasting meat.

"It feels real to the touch, so it seems the ceremony was a success."

The gem on Xiao Yi's chest lit up again, and the gray hairs mixed in with his black hair also shone with brilliant light. Behind him, the evil eye of the Thunder General unfolded.

"Ahhh... Spare my life, and I'll take you to find... the nail's weakness..." Ironclad, covered in a high concentration of lightning element, managed to squeeze out a few words.

"If you dare to stand your ground, I—won't let you go either." Xiao Yi increased the energy he poured into his halberd. "When you're about to die, all you think about is begging for mercy? Is this the cheap, worthless thing you call justice?!"

Rumble!!!

After the roar subsided, only human-shaped traces remained on the frozen ground, like relics proving that the bald man had once existed.

"I'm wondering if it's too early to use Thor's power now," Gan Yu said worriedly.

“With my powers unleashed, I’ll be able to reach the Dragon Tree very soon.” Xiao Yi sheathed his halberd and assumed a crouching starting position. “There are only about ten minutes left. Gan Yu, wait here for my good news.”

With things having come to this point, Gan Yu had no choice but to obediently agree.

Bang! ! !

The next moment, Xiao Yi transformed into a bolt of lightning and surged toward the Fulong Tree. Upon getting close, he discovered that the elemental power released by the nail was hindering his flight, so he had no choice but to land a few hundred meters away from the nail.

Like lightning striking the ground, dust and smoke billowed up near the point of impact.

2 minute and 30 seconds remaining.

"Narukami-ko?"

The voice behind him prompted Xiao Yi to turn around, and Yu Di's thin and haggard face came into view.

I didn't see Ying and Dadalia.

"Where are your teammates?" Xiao Yi couldn't help but ask.

“They covered for me,” Foolishly replied.

Xiao Yi quickly approached the giant nail under the tree. When he was about 100 meters away, he noticed that the light spots near the nail were exceptionally dense, forming a unique protective shield.

Without hesitation, Yudi explained his plan: "We don't have much time left. You summon the halberd to unleash its power and break through the protective shield. I'll take the opportunity to rush in and use the golden pestle to stab the nails inside."

“I have a better idea,” Xiao Yi said with a smirk, “Release TheWorld inside.”

Yudi shook his head in denial: "Time stop? No way. Even if time stops, these elemental particles will still exist. Forcing your way through would be like stopping time and passing through flames, or more accurately, like running your body into a knife while time is stopped..."

The elemental particles around the nail suddenly stopped, interrupting Yu Di's incessant ramblings. Everything in the world ceased to function, except for Xiao Yi and Paimon, the source of his power.

He seized the five-second opportunity, summoned his halberd, and thrust it into his companion's chest, sending him flying like a javelin.

boom!!!

The one-eyed spy from Haizhi Island was propelled onto the tip of a halberd, flying dozens of meters before crashing into the ground, creating a dazzling deep purple explosion.

"Gotcha, Celestial Venerable." Xiao Yi stretched his shoulders.

As the smoke from the explosion dissipated, Yu Di, unharmed with a halberd embedded in his chest, emerged from the crater. His injured left eye, which had been covered by a thick white film, now shimmered with the purple light of lightning.

He drew the elemental weapon from his chest and crushed it to its most primitive state.

"Not bad, not bad, how did you figure that out?" Yu Di Tian Zun clapped his hands gently.

"You rescued Lu Renjia's daughter in the snowy mountains and the workers at Ningguang's secret base. Both times you forgot to bring your Vision of Aegis, yet you were still able to unleash elemental power. This means your Vision of Aegis is fake." Xiao Yi summoned a new Fangtian Halberd. "Besides, the general who returned to Inazuma told me that the warden of Haiqi Island had already resigned due to Miyamoto Jiro's escape and had no intention of becoming a high-ranking agent to help in Liyue."

The Celestial Venerable raised an eyebrow helplessly: "You've only a little evidence, yet you've rashly attacked me. What if I were just someone with a secret, but had no intention of betraying you?"

“I remember, the Celestial Venerable and I are both transmigrators from another world.” Xiao Yi gave the other party the middle finger. “What kind of Teyvat resident would associate “The World” with time stop? If I had really been deceived by you just now, I’m afraid I would have been stabbed in the back when I got close to the nail.”

The Celestial Venerable remained silent. He finally realized his oversight. His left eye, covered by a scar, turned crimson, like a burning coal. Flames burst from his palms, and his gaunt face gradually regained its vitality.

……

The thick fog that had enveloped the entire Liyue region instantly dissipated.

On the main battlefield, all the divine weapons given to the soldiers by Xiao Yi disappeared, and tens of thousands of spare weapons in the warehouse also vanished.

The Celestial Venerable reclaimed all the power that had been lent out.

……

"To me, the Righteous Society is just bait to distract me and buy time. As long as the final ceremony can be completed smoothly, the organization can be used as a pawn." The energy of the fireballs in the Celestial Venerable's hands gradually increased, and the light became more and more dazzling. Then he sighed and complained, "This is also why I pretended to be a spy from Haiqi Island and played with you to kill time. However, the process did not go smoothly. I was almost killed by your high-frequency lottery."

Ding-dong!

That was the sound of the golden pestle falling to the ground. Without hesitation, Xiao Yi discarded the tool that could safely destroy the nail.

1 minute and 50 seconds remaining.

"Now, the golden pestle is no longer needed." Xiao Yi twirled his halberd with a beautiful flourish. "Once you, the mastermind behind it all, are gone, everything will be over!"

The Celestial Venerable suddenly unleashed two fireballs as a retaliatory strike after being ambushed, and Xiao Yi swung his halberd to block them.

Rumble!!!

After the violent explosion, as the smoke cleared, Xiao Yi lay sprawled on the ground, his fingers outstretched forward.

"Heh, playing dead?" The Celestial Venerable's left eye turned deep blue, and two streams of water swirled in his palm. "Get up, don't lie there like Commander Olga."

Wow!

Wind and thunder quickly intertwined around Xiao Yi, who fell to the ground and transformed into lightning, rushing towards the enemy. The Celestial Venerable gathered water elements into a giant hammer, intending to knock the opponent away in one blow.

Xiao Yi thought to himself: If I touch his water hammer with my thunder halberd, won't the energy be transferred to him? Does this guy really know how to use such a clumsy technique?

Just as he was about to approach the enemy, Xiao Yi suddenly stopped. As expected, the Celestial Venerable's left eye turned red just before they were about to clash, and the water hammer instantly turned into a fire hammer.

If Xiao Yi hadn't stopped his attack, the lightning and fire would have reacted and blasted him away on the spot.

"You're really something." Xiao Yi maintained a safe distance of about ten meters. "How exactly did you obtain power from the Dragon King? I want to do it too."

He then charged at the enemy, smashing his thunder halberd onto the fire hammer. The explosion ravaged their bodies, but they endured it without moving, like two people in a sauna who had just finished bathing and were competing to see who could last the longest.

"You think my power is strong? If you witnessed my life, you wouldn't feel even the slightest envy!" The Celestial Venerable gritted his teeth and said, "I was only a teenager when I transmigrated, and now I'm over forty. The first half of my life was almost entirely tormented!"

Amidst the explosions of overload reactions, the Celestial Venerable recounts his past.

"Teyvat is a rotten place lacking justice and harmony. Not long after I arrived, a wandering samurai slashed out and blinded my left eye. Not for money or other benefits, but just for his amusement, using me as a cheap test subject!"

"Later, I finally managed to get a job at Coral Palace, but because of the scar on my face, people around me mistook me for a fugitive from Narukami Island. They treated me coldly. I spent decades winning the trust of those around me and cautiously became the warden of Umijima Island. However, because the villain Miyajiro escaped from prison, my reputation as a guard plummeted!"

(Miyamoto Jiro: A pot fell from the sky.)

"Because of that incident, I left the Isle of Hyjal, drifted across the sea to Liyue, and became a homeless man who would die on the streets without anyone noticing. I kept thinking about why I became like this, and finally concluded that Teyvat lacks justice and love!"

“If the wandering samurai hadn’t used me as a test subject, if someone had saved me, if everything had gone according to the principles of love, justice, and peace, how could I have ended up like this?”

boom!!!

The overloaded fire hammer exploded completely, sending the two men who were facing each other flying apart.

Xiao Yi steadied himself and couldn't help but think to himself: Wait, after all that nonsense, you still haven't told me how you obtained the Dragon King's power!

Considering that Ningguang's artillery fire was about to strike and that he only had 30 seconds left to use his power, Xiao Yi did not intend to waste any more time and prepared to settle the score in one fell swoop.

"Next, I'll launch a full-scale attack," he announced. "Let's finish this mess quickly!"

The eyes of the Celestial Venerable were divided into four equal parts, like the cardinal directions (east, south, west, north), with each part lit up with a different color, symbolizing four different elements.

The four forces flowed like liquid, slowly wrapping around his right arm.