"Whoosh—"
An enormous wind pressure descended from the pitch-black sky. The strong currents blew away the scattered debris on the ground, leaving only Lumine and the Abyss Herald, who were still struggling to hold on.
"Lumine! Run!"
Paimon saw the scene in the sky and immediately shouted loudly.
"Rumble!"
A tremendous roar suddenly came from above. Lumine looked up and saw a giant rock plummeting towards the ground.
It seemed like the only star in the dark night sky. Of course, it would have been more like a star if it had quietly hung in the air.
"Pat-a! Pat-a!"
A shower of 碎 stones fell from above, accompanied by roars and cracking sounds. They splattered on the ground, seemingly rehearsing for the giant rock's descent.
"Whoosh!"
Seeing this, Lumine no longer cared about the Apostle or anything else. With a flicker, she instantly appeared beside Paimon, grabbed his small hand, and fled frantically.
"Thud!"
The giant rock completely transformed into a falling star, crashing heavily onto the ground.
With a deafening roar, smoke and dust billowed, and the entire Domain trembled.碎 stones flew in all directions, mixed with soil and rocks, as if the world itself was shaking from this heavy impact.
In the shockwave of the giant rock's landing, Lumine's figure was swept away by the surging air currents.
At this moment, she was like a leaf swaying in a storm, mercilessly caught in this powerful force.
The surrounding air was 波動, and the pervasive dust obscured everything, making the entire Domain seem to plunge into chaos.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
From the rising dust, Lumine stood up from the ground. She patted the dust off himself and shook the dizzy Paimon in his arms, saying:
"Hey! Paimon, are you alright!"
The situation had been too urgent just now. Lumine had simply hugged Paimon and focused on escaping. He wasn't sure if he had used too much force.
Paimon was already small in stature. If he were squashed again, he would truly become a floating white Seelie.
"Ugh..., I almost suffocated." Paimon sobered up from the shaking. He quickly took a few deep breaths.
Not being squashed, that's good.
"By the way, what's with that big rock? This is clearly underground!" Paimon watched the scattered dust slowly settle back to the ground, then reacted and asked in surprise.
Could he encounter a meteorite underground? If it weren't for the suffocating feeling Lumine had given him earlier that hadn't completely dissipated, Paimon would have suspected he had inhaled too much of the purple mist from the surface and was hallucinating.
"You ask me? Who should I ask?" Lumine looked at the scene before him, equally puzzled.
Although the giant rock wasn't too large, it seemed to have fallen from a great height. The shockwave it caused upon landing had shattered the ground of this Domain.
Countless flagstones on the ground were either overturned or pulverized, revealing the dark brown soil beneath.
"This power..., is it the Princess's special ability...?"
Beside the fallen rock, the Abyss Herald also emerged. The power contained in this giant rock was indeed immense, but to crush the Abyss Herald with it was still wishful thinking.
The Abyss Herald was equally astonished by where this falling rock had come from. This Domain was carefully selected by the Abyss Order.
Not only was the entrance hidden, but the main body of the Domain was also buried deep underground, making it impossible for such a large rock to fall.
Naturally, he attributed the origin of the falling rock to Lumine.
Aether could summon the power of the Abyss, so it was quite reasonable for Lumine, as His Highness's sister, to be able to summon meteorites.
"Crack, crack, crack..."
As Lumine and the Abyss Herald stood facing each other, a sound of crumbling came from the fallen giant rock.
"Crunch!"
The giant rock shattered, and a large piece of jade-green emerald appeared from its unremarkable exterior.
Even though the light in the Domain was dim, due to the excellent quality of the emerald, it still reflected a dazzling green light.
"Hey..., Lumine, should we capture this monster and make it summon these rocks every day!"
Paimon's eyes instantly gleamed as he saw the glowing green emerald. He and the Abyss Herald had thought of the same thing—he thought the giant rock was summoned by the Abyss Herald.
However, he went a step further; he now wanted to tie up the Abyss Herald and use him as an ATM.
This green stone clearly looked valuable. If they got a few more, he and Lumine wouldn't have to worry about their future lives.
"Don't be careless! It definitely won't be that simple!" Lumine rejected Paimon's idea without even thinking.
What kind of emerald could fly?
Yes, the green crystal inside the giant rock actually flew up out of nowhere. Although this crystal had broken off from the giant rock, it was still several people in size.
Such a large stone flying up so easily amazed Lumine and also made him perk up. This thing might have been created by the Abyss Herald. Although it looked fine, he couldn't let his guard down when it involved the Abyss Order.
The Abyss Herald also saw the crystal flying, but he took it as a sign of Lumine's weakness.
"It seems you know more than we imagined. I will explain it clearly to His Highness."
Under Lumine's surprised gaze, the Abyss Herald bowed deeply.
"Ah!" Then he immediately prostrated himself—the flying green crystal fell again, landing squarely on him.
"Hmm? Something's strange." Shenhe stepped down from the Plaustrite, a hint of confusion rising in his heart.
This feeling of landing, it seemed a bit off?
After thinking for a while with no clear answer, Shenhe stopped pondering. A bundle of golden ropes suddenly appeared in his hand. Accompanied by hand seals and incantations, the golden ropes in Shenhe's hand flew up, tightly encircling the Plaustrite.
This was one of the few useful things invented by his master, Cloud Retainer, which Shenhe used for training.
It was mainly convenient for him to pull up large trees, stone pillars, and similar objects to use as dumbbells to train his body.
"Are you done dawdling?" Just as Shenhe was controlling the golden ropes to tighten around the Plaustrite, a low, hoarse voice suddenly came from below.
The voice was full of power, like a volcano about to erupt, suppressed.
"Ah. Someone."
Shenhe exclaimed indifferently a few times. His voice showed no change, not at all like an exclamation.
Beneath the Plaustrite, a striking blue light gathered. Shenhe made a decisive move, taking a big leap from the Plaustrite into the distance.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to tug on the golden ropes, pulling the Plaustrite along with him.
This was the Plaustrite his master had repeatedly instructed him to deliver to Liyue, and no accidents could happen to it.
"Bang!"
Not long after the Plaustrite took flight, the blue light exploded. It was like a long-accumulated element bomb, unleashing Hydro element in all directions.
"That meteorite just now, did you bring it down?" Lumine and Paimon approached Shenhe, pointing to the giant rock split in half in the distance and asking.
"..."
"I suppose so."
Shenhe looked up in the direction Lumine pointed and nodded stiffly. Although the process was convoluted, in terms of outcome, that big rock was his.
Originally, he had just descended the mountain and intended to carry the Plaustrite to Liyue like that.
Unexpectedly, he hadn't walked far before he saw Dain. Seeing Dain was one thing, but the crucial point was that Dain's aura was so uncomfortable, utterly unlike what a human should possess.
Even worse, he couldn't defeat Dain. He was trying to slay demons but was almost eliminated by a 'demon.' If his master found out, Shenhe estimated that within half a day, all immortal disciples would know about it.
"So amazing, where are you from? Why haven't I heard of you in Mondstadt or Liyue?" Lumine saw Shenhe admit it and became curious about Shenhe's origins.
Judging by his attire, he should be from Liyue. But Lumine had stayed in Liyue for a while and had never heard of anyone named Shenhe.
"Disciple of Cloud Retainer, Shenhe." Shenhe pulled out a talisman and looked warily at the Abyss Herald in the distance.
If Dain was not like a human, then this fellow in front of him was definitely not human at all.
"So your name is Shenhe? Remember to learn some etiquette in the future."
A familiar voice came from above, and then Dain lightly landed on the ground.
"I finally found you all." Looking at the Abyss Herald before him, Dain's lips curved into a barely perceptible smile.
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