"Senior… is a Ruin Guard really worth such a big fuss?" Xingqiu felt as if his heart was being squeezed by something.
Each beat required greater effort, and affected by this, his breathing grew heavier.
The source of all this came from Ember, who had his back to them.
"It is. Thousands of years of resentment are not that simple." Ember looked up. He was actually very confused as to why Zhongli hadn't dealt with this thing. But it didn't matter now; if Zhongli wouldn't deal with it, he would help.
"Keep your distance. I don't know any exorcism techniques." Looking at the surging black clouds of resentment in the Sky, Ember waved his hand, and the crimson 'Qi' reappeared on Xingqiu and Chongyun.
The two felt the pressure that had been lingering in their hearts manifest outside their bodies. The crimson Qi, like a giant palm, gripped their bodies and instantly threw them far away.
"Quite effective." The Qi returned to Ember's body. At the same time, the massive resentment in the Sky seemed to sense the pressure from below and began to condense again.
The grayish-green mist covering the entire cave ceiling contracted, transformed, and finally landed, becoming two roaring Geovishap Hatchlings.
"Geovishap Hatchlings?" Ember scratched his head, wondering what these resentments were thinking.
There were many monsters stronger than Geovishap Hatchlings, so why did the resentment choose to transform into Geovishap Hatchlings?
Perhaps because they were underground, the only creatures this resentment could see were the burrowing Geovishap Hatchlings?
Ember couldn't quite figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. Why so many questions? Now he only had one thing to consider: beating up the three things in front of him!
"Chongyun, do you think we can deal with them?" Amidst a pile of rubble, Xingqiu, who had just gotten up, asked Chongyun beside him.
"If you think this place has good feng shui and is a good spot for eternal rest, you can try."
Chongyun rolled his eyes. Dealing with that Ruin Hunter had already exhausted most of his strength. If he pushed himself to half-death again, he might barely be able to deal with the newly appeared Ruin Guard.
In Chongyun's opinion, this was already his and Xingqiu's limit. With two additional Geovishap Hatchlings formed from resentment, he felt he could just find a place to lie down.
"Alright, it seems we still need to learn more." Xingqiu looked at Chongyun, who was tending to his wounds, then stopped bothering him and began to concentrate on observing Ember's movements.
Perhaps he could learn something?
However, Xingqiu was clearly overthinking. Ember only had one thought regarding the three strange things in front of him: finish the fight quickly.
Entangling with such things would inevitably lead to unexpected incidents—that's what the storytellers' novels always said.
Moreover, he didn't have any specific exorcism techniques, so Ember felt he should use more force than usual.
"The glowing one…"
Picking up a small stone from the ground, Ember gestured with it towards the core of the grayish-black Ruin Guard.
"Your weakness is too obvious!"
Shouting at the unconscious Ruin Guard, Ember forcefully threw the stone in his hand.
"Bang!"
The crimson 'Qi' and Ember's own power combined to propel the flying stone. Accompanied by the roaring wind, it slammed fiercely into the Ruin Guard's core.
"Click, click, click… Boom!"
The 'Qi' attached to the stone exploded violently the moment it contacted the Ruin Guard's core.
Countless spinning, expanding red threads transformed into razor-sharp blades, tearing apart the Ruin Guard's steel body.
A small stone, at this moment, had become a drill that shredded everything.
When the stone passed through the core, all that remained was a Ruin Guard whose body was almost ripped in half.
"Whoosh!"
A piercing whoosh came from above his head. Ember knew without looking that it was the attack of the two Geovishap Hatchlings.
Their rock-carved bodies seemed to possess immense strength, allowing them to leap high into the Sky and then use their bodies, which were almost as heavy as rock, to smash down on their enemies.
Ember did not dodge the two Geovishap Hatchlings that plunged towards him from the Sky like meteors. Are you kidding? Even if a real meteor fell, he wouldn't be afraid.
Ember simply pointed his finger upwards, and the 'Qi' followed his thought, transforming into upward-facing spikes that flew towards the falling Geovishap Hatchlings.
"Pfft—"
As expected, the two Geovishap Hatchlings were pierced by the spikes made of 'Qi'. Faintly, Ember could even see blood falling from the Sky.
It must be said that Teyvat's will has a really significant impact on reality. Such realistic physical objects, at least in Lordran and The Lands Between, could not be created by merely using soul power.
But soon, the remains on the ground underwent a new change. Their missing body parts melted like snow, but their product was not pure water, but resentment.
Ember raised his hand and looked at the 'Qi' in his hand, sighing: "Its name is so ethereal, yet its attack method is so pure."
As Ember said, although the name 'Qi' is very similar to 'Yin and Yang' or 'Five Elements' in Liyue, its manifestation is not at all ethereal.
To put it more vividly, it is a purely physical DMG. As for DMG to the soul, it is only done by damaging the physical body.
As for something like resentment, which has no physical form, it can only be dispersed by breaking its body apart.
The grayish-black resentment, like black smoke produced by incomplete Burning, surged, and the Ruin Guard and Geovishap Hatchlings that Ember had just 'killed' reappeared on the ground.
"Since ordinary methods don't work, then let's try magic. It should be effective against things like you."
As he spoke, a very ordinary wooden stick appeared in Ember's hand.
This was his staff for casting spells. In fact, this thing was exactly what it looked like on the outside—not a staff at all.
Now, when Ember cast magic, if he wasn't seeking the ultimate, he didn't need a catalyst at all. However, he felt that casting magic should have some sense of ritual, so he just picked a random stick to use as a staff.
As for why he didn't use a real staff? It could only be said that Ember had too many staffs piled up in his small warehouse, and he didn't know which one to use.
"I hope you can withstand it."
Ember finished speaking and raised the 'staff' in his hand.
"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"
At the junction of his palm and the 'staff', specks of blue-white light gathered, finally transforming into three block-shaped projectiles that shot out.
Soul Arrow—the most basic magic, capable of shooting Soul Arrows.
The soul is the foundation of everything; it constitutes all creations in the world—at least, that's how it is in Lordran.
And guiding the power of the soul, causing it to Crystalize, is the most basic theory of magic.
The Soul Arrow, as a basic magic, is the practical result of this theory.
By condensing the soul into a Crystal block and launching it, using one's own soul to violently collide with another person's soul—this is the principle of the Soul Arrow's lethality.
The blue-white Soul Arrow, like ice blocks found everywhere on snow-capped mountains, sped past, so fast that no one could see it clearly.
"Click!"
The Soul Arrow hit the Ruin Guard and Geovishap Hatchlings formed from resentment, instantly emitting a sound like shattering glass.
But the hit Ruin Guard and Geovishap Hatchlings did not look like they were merely struck by glass.
The air suddenly quieted down. Even the constantly jumping resentment on the Ruin Guard and Geovishap Hatchlings stopped moving.
Everything seemed to be paused.
"Boom!"
After a brief silence, there was a soul storm that swept through everything.
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