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"It's like this~" Old Dai sighed and began to explain: "Didn't I say before that I was lucky enough to escape the disaster because I left something in the mine and went back to look for it alone!"

"Actually... I lied."

"?!" Yu Qi raised his eyebrows, but he was not surprised. After all, it was just the first time they met Lao Dai. It would be weird if he chose to tell everything.

"This is what happened." Looking at the three calm-looking people in front of him, Old Dai reached out and took out a package from his arms, carefully opened it, revealing a pale purple mask that Yu Qi was somewhat familiar with!

This is? !

His expression was shocked, and Yu Qi's pupils suddenly shrank. He stared at the mask in Lao Dai's hand.

That mask looked exactly the same as the one he forged for Xiao a week ago. The only difference was that the mask in front of him exuded an ancient and weathered aura, indicating that it was very old.

"In fact, when I was mining in the mine that day, I accidentally knocked a crack in the mountain wall, and I found this thing in it."

Rubbing his palm against the hideous-looking mask, Lao Dai had a complicated expression. "Although I'm a miner and can't read a lot, I know a little bit about identification. I can tell at a glance that it has a history of at least several hundred years. It's very likely a relic left over from the legendary disaster."

"This kind of antique is generally very valuable, and with the amethyst stones wrapped around it, it is obvious that this is definitely a rare treasure."

"I got greedy for a moment, and seeing that there was no one around, I secretly covered up the gap where it was. Then, after everyone had finished work, I used the excuse that I had left something in the well and dug it out by myself."

At this point, Lao Dai showed an expression that was not sure whether it was bitterness, shame or fear. "Who would have thought that I would encounter such an incident right after I got out of the mine? When I climbed out of the mine, A'long, Huzi and the other nine people had disappeared."

"The scene was in chaos, and some monsters took advantage of the chaos to attack the mining area. The Thousand Rocks Army that arrived temporarily could only protect us while fighting and retreating. When we arrived at the Layered Rock Abyss, I realized that I had lost this thing at some point."

"At that time, the Thousand Rocks Army managed to clear the monsters in the mining area, but considering the previous incident, they were afraid that the same thing would happen again, so they made us stay in the Layered Abyss and did not allow us to return to mine."

"I was afraid that someone else might have taken it, so I sneaked out of the Layered Rock Abyss and came back here to search for it for a long time before I finally found it."

"Then, I suddenly heard the sound of someone coming. I was afraid that the Qianyan Army had discovered that I had slipped out and was coming to arrest me, so I hid in the shed until I was found by you."

"That's it?" After listening to Old Dai's story, Yu Qi couldn't help but look at him and suddenly asked, "You came back not just to get this thing back, right?"

Because the incident happened suddenly, Yu Qi did not use his ability to sense emotions, so he was almost deceived by Lao Dai.

But now, when Old Dai was telling his story, especially the part about returning to look for his things, what Yu Qi felt from his heart was not the joy of recovering his lost treasure, but instead full of regret, disappointment and frustration.

"You, actually came back to look for someone?!"

With something in his mind, Yu Qi couldn't help but make such a guess.

"..." After a moment of silence, Old Dai nodded solemnly: "I guess so."

"I was just thinking, what if A-Long, Hu Zi and the others actually found a place to hide like me and they are not missing!"

"It's also possible that although they hid themselves, they lost consciousness because of the black fog, or were trapped in a mine. If I look for them, I might be able to find their traces!"

"But, according to what you just said, Old Dai, after clearing out the monsters, the Qianyan Army has already searched this mining area thoroughly, right? If your companions are still in the mining area, they should all be found!"

Hearing Kunjun's words, Lao Dai subconsciously retorted: "But with such a large mining area, who knows if the Qianyan Army has searched it all? What if, what if they accidentally missed something!"

"Hmm... that's true." Kunjun opened his eyes and raised his hand to pinch his chin, looking a little puzzled: "But from what I know about the Qianyan Army, if they really searched, they must have thoroughly checked the entire mining area, leaving no inch behind."

"Whether above or below the mine, unless the miners can drill underground out of thin air, it is impossible for them to get nothing as long as they are still in this mining area."

"This..." With a painful expression, Old Dai opened his mouth but could not think of any words to refute for a long time. Finally, he could only close his eyes in despair and mutter to himself.

"I know that, I know that too! But I just want to give it a try, just in case a miracle happens!"

Holding the mask tightly in his hand, Old Dai's eyes no longer had the greed and joy he had when he found the treasure before. Instead, they were full of regret and disgust: "Why should I hide it? If I had told Aaron and the others and asked them to stay with me, would they have been able to avoid the black fog?"

"Why am I so greedy!" His body was shaking violently, and Lao Dai's voice was full of anger, anger towards his past self: "Along and the others have been my brothers for more than ten years, and I actually caused them to be missing for such a small benefit. How should I explain to their families..."

"I'm so damned!"

"..." The sturdy man in front of him, who was about 1.8 meters tall, was like a child at this moment, choking with pain on his face. Yu Qi was speechless and could only slowly say to comfort him: "Old Dai, please accept my condolences!"

After a moment of regret, Old Dai suddenly seemed to remember something. He looked up at Zhongli and pleaded, "Zhongli, Mr. Zhongli, I know you are a guest official of the Wangsheng Hall and a person of great ability."

"I want to beg you, can you help me find my brothers back?"

"I, I can give you a commission..." After fumbling around for a few times, Old Dai's eyes suddenly fell on the old mask in his hand. He said hastily, "Look, how about using this as a reward? I can guarantee that this is definitely an antique from hundreds of years ago."

"If you don't believe me, I can still go..."

“That’s not necessary!” Zhongli raised his hand to interrupt Old Dai’s words. His eyes fell on the mask and he nodded slightly: “Of course I believe what you say.”

"If I'm not mistaken, it is very likely an ornament worn by a certain Yaksha from the immortal world. After the Yaksha died in battle, the mask sank under the earth until today."

“In other words…” Zhongli raised his head and stared at Old Dai seriously. His words were steady and powerful, like a heavy hammer hitting Old Dai’s heart: “The value of this mask is far more than the antique you mentioned. Are you sure you want to give it to us as a reward for the commission?”

"Really?!" After hearing Zhongli tell the true origin of the mask, Old Dai's face was filled with surprise and joy, and he handed the mask to Zhongli without hesitation: "That's great, the price of this mask must be enough to pay for Mr. Zhongli's help, right?!"

"Indeed!" Nodding, Zhongli looked at Lao Dai with a hint of approval in his eyes.

Although he was initially blinded by greed, no one is perfect, and he was able to repent and abandon the mask without hesitation after learning its true value, just to save his brothers...

Old Dai's nature can be described as being loyal and righteous.

"Mr. Yu Qi, Brother Kun, what do you think?!" Zhongli asked, turning his head to look at the two people beside him.

"It is my duty!" Kunjun pushed up his glasses and said without hesitation, "This concerns the safety of dozens or even hundreds of people. How can I refuse?"

"Of course."

“That’s good.” Nodding, Zhongli reached out and took the mask handed over by Lao Dai: “We will accept this commission.”

"Great!" Old Dai was so happy that he couldn't help but raise his hand to wipe his eyes: "With the help of Mr. Zhongli and the two of you, we will definitely find Aaron and the others."

"Even if it's just corpses, I can't leave my brothers exposed in the wilderness without even being able to return home."

As a middle-aged man, Old Dai is naturally not the kind of person who likes to show his emotions. After choking twice, he quickly calmed down and said, "By the way, Mr. Zhongli just said that he wanted to find a place to stay tonight, right?"

"It's probably not safe here for now. Why don't you all come with me to the Layered Abyss? The Thousand Rocks Army won't refuse such a thing."

"Although there are no houses to live in due to the current special situation, there is still a place to shelter from the wind and rain, and it will be safer at night if there are more people."

"Hmm~Alright." Putting away the mask, Zhongli nodded slightly: "Then please lead the way, Old Dai."

"Okay, come this way."

In this way, Yu Qi and his companions got back on the carriage, and under the guidance of Lao Dai, they soon arrived at the Layered Rock Abyss.

Faced with the request of several people to stay overnight, the Qianyan Army guarding the place did not refuse, but agreed very easily. Instead, Old Dai was severely scolded by them.

Time gradually came to night...

"Crackle~" Sparks kept exploding from the fire in front of him. Yu Qi leaned against a stone, looking at the fire with a somewhat distracted look, and the purple mask he had seen before kept appearing in his mind.

Somehow, he could feel that the mask seemed to have some special connection with himself.

'So, that's what you left behind, Fushe?'

He murmured in his heart, and at this moment, Zhongli on the side suddenly reached out and handed the mask to Yu Qi.

"Ah?" After a moment's pause, Yu Qi looked at Zhongli in confusion.

"I've taken a look at this mask. It should be an item left behind by a certain immortal Yaksha. It sank into the earth veins and has been polished by time. Now it can be considered a holy relic." Nodding at Yu Qi, Zhongli gently placed the mask in his hands.

"As for my origin, Mr. Yu Qi will probably be able to guess it. Please take care."

"But this is a commission that the three of us have taken on together. If I take this mask, Mr. Kunjun will..."

"Ahahaha, I'm just an ordinary person. Relics are completely useless to me!" Waving his hands, Kunjun said generously: "If Mr. Yu Qi really wants to compensate me, just help me find more rare ores in the future!"

"...Thank you!" After hesitating for a moment, Yu Qi nodded silently and took the mask.

However, the moment the purple mask was in hand, a strange power rippled out, and then the entire mask turned into a purple light and sank into Yu Qi's body, disappearing without a trace.

"This……"

Flower bride.jpg

Chapter 162: Valley in the Rock

The change of the mask was too sudden. Even with Yu Qi's current ability, he was unable to react. He just watched helplessly as the purple light sank into his body.

"What, what's going on?!" Yu Qi raised his hand and pressed it on his chest in surprise. He had no idea what was going on. After a moment of stunned silence, he quickly looked at Zhongli, hoping that he could explain it to him in detail.

Facing Yu Qi's inquiring gaze, Zhongli smiled and explained, "Don't panic. As far as I know, this holy relic is also known as the "Thunderbolt Appearance", and the mask that Lao Dai gave us should be the prototype of the holy relic, which is the object that Lei Yasha once wore."

"You have inherited the legacy of Thunder Yaksha, so your compatibility with it is naturally perfect. That's why it instinctively merged into your body the moment it touched it."

Following Zhongli's explanation, Yu Qi gradually gained some rough understanding of the holy relics.

Relics, as the name suggests, are relics with divine power. They usually come from extremely famous people and are items they owned during their lifetime, or they are things related to a legend.

There is also a mysterious connection between the holy relics that come from the same person or the same legend. When they are held by the same person, the increase in blessing will also increase proportionally.

Therefore, in the continent of Teyvat, relics are items as important as weapons.

But unlike weapons that can be artificially forged, relics can only be obtained by dredging earth veins or exploring ruins. Therefore, in terms of rare quality, relics are much more precious than weapons.

Generally speaking, there are five types of holy relics: Crown of Reason, Sands of Time, Cup of Void, Feather of Death, and Flower of Life. Each person can only wear one holy relic of a different type, and each holy relic can bestow certain special powers on the holder.

Each kind of holy relic is also divided into five grades according to the amount of power it can provide: ordinary, exquisite, rare, legendary, and artifact!

Yes, maybe it was out of laziness, so the same division as weapons was adopted.

Generally speaking, the quality of a relic depends on the legend or figure from which it comes. The stronger the person was during his lifetime, the stronger the power contained in the relic and the higher the quality.

For example, the "Zhu Lei Zi" that Yu Qi holds now is a holy relic of true artifact quality!

Generally speaking, although each set of holy relics can be obtained by dredging the earth veins, because they are just condensed from the earth vein energy according to the corresponding information, the quality is at least one level lower than the 'original'.

In other words, although the highest quality of the set of holy relics in Yu Qi's hands is "artifact", the replicas that can appear on the market can only reach the highest level of "epic" or even "rare".

It can be said that each set of holy relics of mythical original quality is extremely rare, and even immortals may not have many of them.

After listening to Zhongli's story, Yu Qi looked at his body in surprise. He could clearly feel that the mask was in his body at this moment, continuously providing him with power.

Although it is not powerful, its essence is extremely strange.

The most important thing is... as he gradually calmed down and carefully felt the power of "The Posture of Viper and Thunder", an inexplicable throbbing spread from his heart.

Looking up suddenly, Yu Qi looked at the distant cliff in a trance. In the northwest of the rock abyss, extremely far away from here, an inexplicable call was coming continuously, looming.

"That is..." There was a hint of astonishment on his face. Yu Qi could feel the expectation, desire and impatience conveyed in the call.

It was a feeling that was very similar to the "Snake Lightning Style", but also completely different, that is...

"The other parts of this set of holy relics?" Yu Qi felt confused. He wondered if it was a coincidence. He had just obtained the "Thunderbolt Appearance" and unexpectedly found other matching holy relics. They were not too far away from him...

"But, thinking about it carefully, it seems to be right. I remember that in the memory left by Fushe, he seemed to have died here in the Layered Rock Abyss, so it is not surprising that the accessories he carried with him fell on this land and became holy relics over time."

After coming up with a fairly reasonable explanation in his mind, Yu Qi became a little excited for a moment. After all, according to what Zhongli had just said, after gathering all the matching holy relics, the power he would receive would increase exponentially!

If I could gather a complete set of artifact-quality holy relics, then the blessing I could receive at that time...

"Huh!" Yu Qi let out a light breath and forced himself to calm down.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Noticing that Yu Qi was looking into the distance, Zhongli looked at him suspiciously, and then looked in the direction he was looking.

"Is there something over there?"

"Uh..." Somewhat surprised that Zhongli really didn't know, Yu Qi nodded and said truthfully: "Yes, I felt a few auras very similar to the "Thunderbolt Appearance" over there. They are calling me. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be other parts of this set of holy relics."

"Huh~ Is this true?" There was indeed a hint of surprise on his face. Zhongli stood up and looked into the distance, with bright golden light from the rock element shining in his eyes.

"That's Fu'ao Valley? Could it be there?!" Zhongli muttered, thinking for a moment, then turned to look at Kunjun and Yuqi: "Brother Kun, can you wait here for a moment? I'll go over there with Mr. Yuqi to take a look."

"Since we have the good fortune to obtain the original copy of the "Cinnabar Rebirth Record", we naturally cannot let it go. Mr. Yu Qi has just arrived and is not familiar with the route, so in order to avoid wasting time, let me take him there."

"Of course." He nodded in understanding. Kunjun held a cup of hot tea, his eyes wandering around the other party's ore: "You two can go by yourselves. I'll take a look at the ore here, and by the way, I'll look for the "Dragon-Suppressing Stone" I need."

"Okay, I'll help Brother Kun keep an eye out on the way."

After talking to Kunjun, Yu Qi and Zhongli quietly avoided the patrolling Qianyan Army and headed towards Fu'ao Valley.

After leaving the patrol range of the Qianyan Army, the two no longer concealed themselves and used elemental power to run quickly - well, mainly Yu Qi, after all, he couldn't fly for the time being.

Zhongli quietly used the rock elemental power to cover up the light of the lightning elemental power on Yu Qi. After thinking for a while, he suddenly reached out and gently grabbed Yu Qi's shoulder: "Mr. Yu Qi, please be patient for a moment."

After saying this, without waiting for Yu Qi to reply, he jumped up and turned into a stream of light and flew towards Fu'ao Valley.

Speeding all the way, Yu Qi fearfully grasped the corner of Zhongli's clothes tightly, his eyes tightly closed, not daring to look at the scenery below.

The wind whistled in his ears, making his ears feel a little cold, but his heart was even colder.