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

"I didn't make this. It was invented by the doctor himself. He thought it wasn't very functional, so he abandoned it." Xiao Yi came to Ying and took the test tube from her hand. "It wasn't until I found this book that it saw the light of day again. Although it's not very useful to the doctor, it can be used as a decent prop in my hands."

"So, how do you use it?" Paimon asked.

Xiao Yi pulled out the stopper of the test tube, held it above his head and tilted it, pouring all the liquid inside onto his hair. The lifeless black mud seemed to suddenly come to life, wriggling and covering Xiao Yi's black and white hair, eventually dyeing it pure black.

"What? It was all so fancy, but it's just hair dye." Paimon shrugged. "It looks pretty black and shiny, but that's its only use?"

Xiao Yi gently placed the glass test tube on the ground, took two steps forward to get closer to the blonde traveler, and smiled maliciously: "Come on, Ying, give me another clean and neat headbutt, just like at noon today."

Ying paused for a moment, then smiled slightly and reminded him, "I've found the trick now, so I won't make the same mistake as last time... a fatal error that resulted in both of us being hurt."

Xiao Yi continued with a laugh, "Come on, I won't hide."

Chapter 229 Layered Rock Technology, Traveler

Yingzi said confidently, "You're the one who let me crash into you. I've already mastered the trick. It won't end in a lose-lose situation like last time. You'd better be prepared!"

Xiao Yi rubbed his hair, which was stained black by the liquid, and tapped his head to indicate that there was no problem at all and that the traveler could come at him at any time.

Ying didn't know where the other party got his confidence from. At present, he showed no signs of releasing divine authority to strengthen his body, so as the passive party, he should not have any advantage.

In short, there's no need to worry about using too much force and damaging Xiao Yi. Although Ying had never heard of such a strange request before, she still decided to use all her strength to show respect.

"If you get hurt, don't tell your parents, go complain to Ying instead!" the traveler teased.

The blonde girl took two steps back in a charging stance, then jumped to make up for the height difference, placed her hands on Xiao Yi's shoulders, and slammed her forehead into his nose.

Just then, the harmless liquid, like hair dye, suddenly came to life, leaving Xiao Yi's hair and covering his face. When Ying's head collided with the liquid, it instantly solidified, becoming harder than any steel on the Teyvat continent.

By the time the young traveler realized what was happening, it was too late. Due to the excessive force, her head was unable to brake smoothly and slammed hard into Xiao Yi's "helmet".

Duang!!

The blonde girl's forehead was swollen and red. She fell backward to the ground, her dazed eyes barely able to stare at Xiao Yi.

The solid, black material liquefied again and returned to Xiao Yi's hair, dyeing it back to pure black.

"Why aren't you in pain?!" Ying shouted.

“Layered Rock Technology, Traveler,” Xiao Yi replied calmly.

To better explain to the other party, Xiao Yi walked to the pile of debris, pulled out a discarded steel pipe, and seemed to want to perform a tough act—severing a steel pipe with his head!

In front of Ying, who was lying down, he slammed the steel pipe against his own head. Without any protective measures, the liquid that had dyed his hair black began to wriggle and solidify again, protecting his head while breaking the steel pipe in two. Then the liquid receded and went back into his hair.

Seeing this, Ying finally understood the truth: she had been ruthlessly played.

You schemed against me!

The blonde girl, lying on the ground, waved her arms and legs like a child throwing a tantrum, as if she wanted to clean the basement floor.

"You cheated! I'm not playing anymore! I'm going to tell Ah Ying and the General!!!"

"Oh no, he's been knocked senseless." Xiao Yi said helplessly, looking at the traveler's embarrassing state.

Paimon flew over her to check her injuries, and after confirming that there wasn't much of a problem, he complained, "Traveler, get up! Don't do things that only Paimon would do!"

"Wife, stop staring at the slime concentrate, come here quickly..." Xiao Yi called to his wife, "Give the little girl an ice pack on her head!"

Xiao Yi pulled an armchair out of the pile of clutter, carried Ying to lie down on it, and at the same time Gan Yu also came over.

With her head still buzzing, Ying mumbled groggily, "Hehehe, I want Gan Yu to gently apply an ice pack to me with her round parts..."

Xiao Yi took the Ice Attribute Divine Eye from Gan Yu's waist and placed it on Ying Fa's red forehead: "Here, the round part you wanted."

A few seconds later, Ying regained her senses and, having shaken off her delirium, sat bolt upright in bed.

"What exactly is that?" the traveler asked, puzzled.

Suddenly, Xiao Yi's hair dye turned into liquid again, slowly flowing down his forehead, and as if controlled by Xiao Yi's consciousness, it extended forward into the shape of a baseball cap.

Xiao Yi explained, "I've already told you, it's Layer Rock Technology."

He then told the traveler about the specific origin and effects of this magical substance.

The raw material for this stuff is black mud that gushed out from the bottom of the Abyss of Layered Rocks. The Fools' advance team dug out a large amount of black mud from the huge underground mine and transported it to the doctor for research. After the mad scientist's dedicated research, this magical liquid was born.

It can even harden indefinitely, or move depending on the slightest change in the amount of lightning element injected.

However, controlling this liquid requires a great deal of lightning elemental power, and the cost is extremely high. In the end, the doctor sealed it away, intending to reuse this magical liquid in the future when a powerful engine is invented or the secret of Narukami's adopted son is uncovered.

“In a sense, it suits me quite well.” The black mud left Xiao Yi’s hair, turning into a slime-like sphere that wriggled along his neck and shoulders. “I have enough power and precise control to manipulate it as easily as moving my hands and feet.”

It seems that only Xiao Yi and Ying in this world can manipulate this wondrous liquid. Perhaps the scattered soldiers could barely attempt it, but for other holders of the Eye of Thor, the released lightning would be completely insufficient to support the movement of the black mud, and they would easily have their power absorbed and restrict themselves.

The blonde girl said sullenly, "From the very beginning, did you want me to run into this impenetrable wall?"

“That’s true.” Xiao Yi nodded slowly at first, then shook his head. “I just didn’t mean to hurt you so badly. You hit your head too hard.”

"Never mind, in a way, I brought this on myself." Ying removed the Eye of God from her forehead and returned it to Gan Yu. She looked at Xiao Yi again, her playful tone replaced by a serious one. "So, this is something that helped you find a good way to deal with the skirmishers, right?"

Xiao Yi shook his head and denied it, saying, "This thing is completely useless when fighting stragglers. Even if it can give me an outer skin as strong as a copper wall, my goal is to capture stragglers alive. I don't need a defense boost, or even an attack boost. What I need is control."

Among the seven elements, Rock, Ice, Water, and Grass have good control effects. In comparison, Electro's function is much weaker, especially when it doesn't damage the opponent. As for Electro's advantage, it is its high coverage attack range.

Xiao Yi picked up the test tube from the ground and manipulated the black mud to return it to the test tube.

Ying suddenly demanded, "Then let me use it. When you're fighting with the skirmishers, I can use it to avoid being accidentally injured, participate in the battle, and provide assistance."

As soon as she finished speaking, lightning shot out from the girl's palm, proving that she could also control it.

“With your strength, you should be able to manage,” Xiao Yi warned, “but you’ll need several months of practice. Otherwise, if you don’t control it well, you might end up stuck in one spot, unable to move.”

Upon hearing Xiao Yi's warning, Ying seemed to remember something and fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

"What's wrong? Are you scared or lacking confidence?" Xiao Yi asked.

“If you’re going to be afraid, it’s afraid of not having enough.” Ying took the test tube from his hand. “One week. I only need one week of training to control it.”

Chapter 230 The "Darkening" of Ying

A few weeks later, the craze for slime subsided temporarily. Perhaps it was because Inazuma's monsters were on the verge of extinction and hard to find due to the craze, or perhaps people found that the effort to catch slimes was not as cost-effective as they had imagined. In any case, the Shogunate received less and less slime.

However, it was more than enough for capturing stragglers. Xiao Yi had created an ultra-concentrated slime that could fill a medium-sized swimming pool, enough to make even gods frown.

His next task was to set up the scene of the Dust Song Pot in preparation for the upcoming capture operation.

As for the celebration outside, Xiao Yi entrusted everything to Linghua, Fox, and Miss Ying, along with the people sent by Seven Stars. He believed they could handle it all in an orderly manner.

Moreover, given the skirmisher's character, he probably wouldn't launch an attack before the agreed time, since this guy has his own stubbornness.

Even if he discovers Xiao Yi's plan, or launches a sneak attack without regard for martial ethics, Miss Ying will be there to defend him. However, if a real fight breaks out, the scene will not be very pleasant.

Now, Xiao Yi is overseeing the training of the traveler girl, observing whether Ying can successfully adapt to the power of the "black mud" modified by the doctor.

Inside the Dust Song Pot, in an empty area.

Ying's white clothes were gone, and her body was covered with a black substance that resembled glue, highlighting the girl's figure as she was about to shed her immaturity.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, Xiao Yi couldn't bring himself to be aroused by her.

Gan Yu stood beside Xiao Yi, holding a hard bow in her hand, with a quiver of arrows beside her. The Qilin Half-Immortal looked somewhat hesitant.

Ying stood about 100 meters away from the two of them, stretching her body as if she was about to engage in vigorous exercise.

Gan Yu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Do we really have to do this? Shoot arrows at our friends or something."

Xiao Yi replied calmly, "It's alright. She's already quite skilled at manipulating this liquid armor, so even if she gets hit, it won't cause any damage."

Even if they accidentally make a mistake, the Traveler is resilient, Xiao Yi can use the Five-Second Heart Sea healing technique, and Gan Yu's Qilin blood has the effect of bringing the dead back to life, so the possibility of an accident is extremely low—lower than the chance of a skirmisher being moved by Thor and voluntarily stopping.

Xiao Yi raised his hand and waved to the blonde girl in the distance, shouting, "When I count to one, Gan Yu will use all her strength to shoot arrows at you. You must use this black mud armor to block the attack and break through the dense rain of ice arrows until it reaches us."

"preparation--"

Ying nervously took her starting stance. She didn't know how many counts Xiao Yi would give her or how many seconds to prepare. However, for a traveler, being able to deal with sudden crises at any time was a basic skill.

"one."

"Who just shouts out one number!" Ying complained as she rushed forward.

She channeled her lightning elemental power, precisely manipulating the nanotechnology-like black liquid covering her entire body, just as she did in her usual training.

Whoosh!

Gan Yu's first arrow was already at his face.

Ying reacted quickly, raising her arm to block the arrow, which was purely a physical attack and had not accumulated ice element.

clang!

The arrowheads were clearly not as hard as the black mud and were forcefully deflected. The traveling girl continued running, only to see new arrows coming one after another.

Ding ding ding ding...

Without exception, dense attacks are completely ineffective against absolute defense.

Watching Gan Yu's rapidly fired arrows bounce off, break, and fall to the ground one after another, Xiao Yi calmly said, "The difficulty should be increased a bit."

Gan Yu understood immediately. She stopped using high-frequency attacks and began to accumulate icy elemental power into the arrowheads.

Ying noticed that the intense attack had suddenly stopped. She pulled her arm back and glanced at the scene, only to see blue-green ice element arrows hurtling towards her like falling meteors.

She crossed her arms and focused entirely on defense. A crisp sound echoed throughout the Dust Song Pot as the ice arrows broke into countless fragments that scattered toward Ying's body, all of which were blocked by the rock-solid black mud.

Only 15 meters away!

At that moment, Gan Yu silently put down the bow.

This behavior has left Ying Zheng speechless. Gan Yu, who is extremely serious about all kinds of tasks, would surely not give up halfway through the test, right?

Why, why did it suddenly stop?

Xiao Yi's actions quickly answered her questions.

The moment Gan Yu lowered her weapon, a dazzling purple lightning spear appeared in Xiao Yi's hand. Without thinking, he threw the spear, which contained immense power, at the traveler.

The current situation is far beyond Ying's expectations: this is not what was agreed upon beforehand!

She quickly realized that unexpected situations could arise during the battle against scattered soldiers, and if she acted in a conventional manner, she might be unexpectedly defeated.

This moment is not only a test of her ability to adapt to the black mud armor, but also a special training exercise against skirmishers.

While maintaining her footwork, Ying increased the amount of lightning element she injected into the black mud, ensuring it remained firmly attached to her body surface and did not dissipate due to Xiao Yi's lightning spear.