"Dain, are you in league with the Abyss Order? I've noticed that every time you appear, the Abyss Order pops up," Ember joked with the silent Dain as they walked along a small path in the Domain.
"Heh, you've got the cause and effect reversed. I only appear here because I've detected traces of the Abyss Order, not because the Abyss Order follows me," Dain replied to Ember while observing the stone walls around them. However, his expression was a bit unnatural.
This was because Dain remembered the Abyss Mage on the ground earlier. It turned out the Abyss Mage wasn't unwilling to speak, but he simply hadn't given it a chance.
Who would have imagined an Abyss Mage would run directly above the stronghold? Dain felt he should go easier on the Abyss Order's monsters in the future.
At the very least, he should leave them time to say their last words; perhaps he could glean some information.
His gaze gradually shifted from the unchanging stone slabs to Lumine, who was absentmindedly walking ahead. "Lumine, the upside-down Statue of The Seven you mentioned, have we not reached it yet?"
Lumine continued to walk with her head down, seemingly not having heard Dain's question.
"Hey! Lumine, Dain is asking you about the upside-down Statue of The Seven!" Paimon looked at Lumine, whose eyes were wandering, and patted her shoulder.
"Hmm, huh?!" Lumine suddenly looked up, snapping out of her thoughts.
She surveyed her surroundings, then nodded and said, "After this downhill slope, we'll be pretty close."
"Is that so? It seems those guys from the Abyss Order are quite attentive to this stolen Statue of The Seven," Dain said, not doubting her.
It was just that the Abyss Order's level of importance placed on this upside-down Statue of The Seven was too high.
Not only was an Abyss Herald stationed there, but even Aether, who led The Order, was also present. This made Dain even more curious about what these non-human beings were up to.
"An upside-down Statue of The Seven? That's… hard to imagine." Chongyun, hearing Lumine's words, imagined the Geo Archon's statue standing on its head in his mind, and then a layer of goosebumps appeared all over him.
An upside-down Statue of The Seven, that would truly be too eerie.
"Isn't that right! This statue is even the Statue of The Seven from Mondstadt next door. Who would have thought Barbatos upside down would be so terrifying!" Paimon also recalled seeing the upside-down Statue of The Seven for the first time; it had scared him quite a bit back then.
"Very terrifying?" Ember stroked his chin, sketching Venti's image in his mind, then made him stand on his head.
"Cough, cough, cough…"
He wasn't terrified, but the comical sight of Venti standing on his head almost made Ember burst out laughing.
Ember couldn't help but think, 'Next time I meet Venti, I'll make him stand on his head right there.' He was suddenly curious whether the Anemo Archon standing on his head would be terrifying or hilarious.
"What's wrong with you? Have you been corroded by the power of the Abyss?" Dain saw Ember cough a few times and felt a little worried, naturally assuming he had been corroded by the Abyss's power.
Coming into close contact with such a large amount of Abyss power, being corroded was normal. In fact, Ember's ability to last this long was somewhat beyond his expectations.
"Nothing, just thinking of something fun," Ember waved his hand, indicating he was fine.
"I'm just more curious about that Statue of The Seven now," he said, looking at a hint of purple appearing ahead, and strode forward.
Stepping out of the slightly narrow path, a corner of Ember's vision was immediately drawn to the shimmering dark purple light.
"So dazzling! It seems this upside-down Statue of The Seven hasn't been affected at all," Paimon flew over, looking at the upside-down Statue of The Seven from afar in surprise.
So much had happened, even the Abyss Herald and Aether had been driven away, yet this statue remained completely unchanged.
"This power…" Chongyun saw the dark purple light pulsating in the statue's palm from a distance, and the Yang energy that had settled in his body began to stir again.
"Evil… and extremely pure evil," Shenhe said with a solemn expression.
The aura from the upside-down Statue of The Seven reminded her of when she faced the dark "Seelie" in her childhood.
The "Seelie" at that time emitted an aura similar to the statue in front of them. However, the statue's aura was many times stronger than that of the "Seelie" back then.
"Chongyun, can you deal with it?" Xingqiu leaned close to the flushed Chongyun and quietly asked.
"Are you trying to offer me incense during the Lantern Rite?" Chongyun formed ice to apply to his face, speechless.
Unlike the others who hesitated, Dain, upon seeing the upside-down Statue of The Seven, walked directly towards it.
He extended his arm, covered by a black gauntlet, slowly approaching the ball of light held in the statue's palm.
"Hoo…"
The closer he got to the light of the upside-down Statue of The Seven, the slower Dain's hand extended. It was as if the invisible light now had weight and resistance.
"Bang!"
The light of the upside-down Statue of The Seven suddenly pulsed, repelling Dain's arm.
"This thing, it's repelling me?" Dain stared intently at the statue in front of him. In the fluctuating dark purple, he even felt that the serene smile on the upside-down Statue of The Seven's face seemed to turn into mockery.
"Hmm… this probably wasn't meant for you anyway."
"Let me see… the body of a God… a new foundation… the eye of the first Ruin Guard…"
"Uh… I don't understand."
Ember's mumbling came from behind Dain. The latter turned his head and saw everyone gathered in a circle.
"This is what you call an Abyss Herald? It looks like… it's dead?" Xingqiu saw the Abyss Herald squatting on the ground and poked its body with his weapon.
As a result, his weapon directly pierced through the Abyss Herald's body, plunging straight in.
The Abyss Herald's tough body, after death, was surprisingly soft, which was somewhat unexpected for everyone.
But Xingqiu no longer cared about that. He pulled out his Sword, and the dark corrosion marks on it were clearly visible.
Not only that, Xingqiu also saw the tip of the Sword drooping; the Sword, forged from fine steel, was now as soft as a circus's soft Sword.
"My weapon! This was a limited edition I custom-made based on a wuxia novel!"
Xingqiu cried out regretfully, holding up his Sword, which was corroded beyond recognition.
Why was his hand so itchy? If he had been a little more obedient, this limited edition Sword might not have left him so soon!
Although Xingqiu's cry was mournful, Ember couldn't help but feel that the guy was just wailing for show.
"You can't keep this weapon, throw it away quickly." So he snatched Xingqiu's weapon and immediately threw it out of sight.
Xingqiu's pained expression paused, then became nonchalant. The speed of his change in expression caught everyone off guard.
"Indeed, actually, there was a problem with the size of this Sword; it wasn't easy for me to use." Xingqiu took out another Sword and began to perform some Sword flourishes.
"How do you still have a weapon?" Paimon asked in surprise, seeing Xingqiu conjure another glowing Sword.
"Because I'm relatively wealthy," Xingqiu said with a shy smile, offering a very convincing reason.
Its credibility even made Paimon's eyes light up.
A rich person, if he could become good friends with him, then wouldn't he be able to eat whatever he wanted in the future?
Paimon's eyes darted around quickly; he was already planning how to build a good relationship with Xingqiu.
"This is your good friend?"
Shenhe looked at Xingqiu, who was showing off to Paimon with a poker face, and asked Chongyun.
As Chongyun's aunt, Shenhe felt it was necessary to prevent Chongyun from making bad friends.
"Uh… Auntie, don't look at Xingqiu like this now; normally, he's a very… very good friend."
Chongyun recalled Xingqiu's past deceptions and couldn't help but say against his true feelings.
Xingqiu was full of mischief: tales of an Ao Yin appearing in the Sea of Clouds, which turned out to be an anteater; or a great exorcist arriving at Wangshu Inn, who turned out to be a charlatan. Such incidents were simply countless.
Suddenly, Chongyun seemed to feel that Xingqiu wasn't so good after all.
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