Paimon's confusion vanished instantly upon hearing Ember's words.
Expecting Ember to come up with a reliable conclusion was harder than the sun rising from the west.
"I don't think the Abyss Order's goal is like that," Paimon said, drooping his eyelids and looking at Ember with dead-fish eyes.
"Who knows? But no matter what, their plan can't be called a good method," Dain shook his head.
In his opinion, for the "Loom of Fate" plan, he could at most endorse the objective, but as for the methods… they were still open for discussion.
"Let's not talk about these things for now; let's consider the immediate threat," Dain pondered in his mind about methods he thought might change the fate of the people of Khaenri'ah, but he found no clues.
So he temporarily dismissed that thought; there were more pressing issues to solve at hand.
He turned to look at the inverted Statue of The Seven in the distance; its purple light still pulsed rhythmically.
"What should we do with this inverted Statue of The Seven?" Dain spread his hands and asked the group.
"Send it back to Mondstadt?" Paimon looked at the eerie inverted Statue of The Seven and tentatively suggested.
Then he was met with scornful looks from everyone.
Feeling the gazes projected from all around, Paimon felt quite indignant. He put his hands on his hips and said, "Why are you looking at me? If not back to Mondstadt, then what do you suggest we do?"
"Don't tell me you want to take this thing home as a collector's item."
Paimon thought his suggestion was quite reliable. This inverted Statue of The Seven was originally Mondstadt's Statue of The Seven, so sending it back to Mondstadt was perfectly fitting.
Moreover, that bard in Mondstadt clearly had many tricks up his sleeve, so this inverted Statue of The Seven probably wouldn't be a problem for him.
"If you trust me, I can handle it," Dain did not agree with Paimon's suggestion.
The Statue of The Seven had been too deeply contaminated by the power of the abyss; no one knew what changes would occur if it were sent back to the surface.
Coincidentally, Dain had a deep understanding of dealing with the abyss, so if it was only a small amount of abyssal power, he could try to handle it.
While not completely eliminating it, he could at least ensure it would never appear on the surface again.
"Actually, I think I can handle it too," Ember stroked his chin, looking at the inverted Statue of The Seven before him, and said with some eagerness.
"How would you handle it? Burn it?" Paimon looked at Ember beside him, wondering if he wanted to burn the Statue of The Seven.
But could the Statue of The Seven really be burned? This question arose in Paimon's mind.
The material of the Statue of The Seven was extremely special; it wouldn't rot in water or show marks from fire, as if it were an element insulator.
However, this doubt came and went quickly, because Paimon recalled his experiences with Ember and immediately felt his doubts were somewhat superfluous.
What was a Statue of The Seven? Didn't he burn the large nail on Dragonspine Mountain back then? That large nail was certainly no less significant than a Statue of The Seven.
"Am I such a crude person?" Ember walked to the side of the Statue of The Seven, refuting Paimon's words.
Wisps of dark purple light connected around the inverted Statue of The Seven, looking like tangible threads, firmly securing the Statue of The Seven to the deep foundation of the earth.
After watching for a while, Ember felt the light was making his eyes a bit blind.
So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Ember's hands went straight into the oscillating dark purple light.
The resistance that had been enough to push Dain away was nonexistent for Ember. The light gradually solidified, gathering on Ember's arm armor.
Bits of black-purple clumps began to appear, staining Ember's originally iron-gray armor a deep black color.
"Hmph, get in there!" After a loud shout, Ember exerted force with both arms. Fine cracks appeared under the turbulent light.
With a "CRUNCH!" the entire inverted Statue of The Seven, embedded in the rock wall, was forcibly pulled out by Ember.
Under everyone's horrified gazes, after Ember pulled out the inverted Statue of The Seven, he gradually stuffed it into his own body.
It looked as if he had "eaten" the Statue of The Seven.
When the last part of the inverted Statue of The Seven was swallowed by Ember, the Domain, which had been quite bright, suddenly became dim.
Only the Nameless runes left by the ancient ruins around the Domain still emitted a faint glow.
"Bang!"
A string of flames shot from Ember's fingertips, the flickering firelight reflecting off his sharply defined armor, and the shadows not illuminated by the light looked like stains on his armor.
All of this made Ember look like a fiend that had escaped from a seal.
And the expressions on everyone's faces were indeed not far from seeing a ghost.
"Senior, don't your teeth hurt from grinding?" Xingqiu's expression changed, and he finally asked the first question.
He actually had many such questions when reading novels. For example, why could a hero always perfectly finish two taels of silver at an inn, or why was there always a cave at the bottom of a cliff one fell into.
"Is this the legendary 'Sleeve of the Universe'?" Chongyun's eyes were about to turn into stars.
Although Ember's action of taking away the inverted Statue of The Seven was a bit ungraceful, in terms of results, it was no different from the legendary "Sleeve of the Universe."
"Sleeve of the Universe? What's that?" Ember asked in confusion. Liyue has so many novel things? Another one he didn't understand popped up.
"A type of adeptal art that allows one to create a small world within oneself," Shenhe explained, mentioning the adeptal art he was familiar with.
"Huh? Does such an art really exist?!" Upon hearing Shenhe's words, Chongyun was the first to be shocked.
He used to think this was just a legend? From his aunt's words, such a magical adeptal art really existed?
"Naturally, but it requires extremely high cultivation. Among the adepti I know, no one has yet been able to achieve it."
"At most, they can open up a small realm by relying on external objects."
Thinking of his master's long-uncleaned Serenitea Pot, Shenhe couldn't help but add.
Speaking of which, the last time it was cleaned was by Lumine and Paimon.
"So that's it, it seems my cultivation is very high then?" Ember gestured. So "Sleeve of the Universe" meant this, he learned something new.
When the time came, he would wave his hand, and a bunch of Chocolate with grass would fly out, and he could tell others: Taste my Sleeve of the Universe!
"In that case, the matter is concluded satisfactorily." Gathered around the firelight, Dain saw the underground return to peace, a hint of relaxation on his face.
"Since that's the case, let's part ways here," Dain recalled their discussion about the Sinner, feeling a bit uneasy in his heart.
It was time to hide for a while. He had been too active recently, and the Abyss Order's vigilance was probably very high.
Moreover, Dain believed the Sinner would be even more interested in his whereabouts.
A period of separation would be good for everyone.
"Eh? Mr. Dain, aren't you staying? Liyue is about to celebrate the Lantern Rite, it's going to be very lively," Xingqiu saw Dain about to leave and couldn't help but try to persuade him to stay.
"If you're worried about having nowhere to go, my home still has some empty rooms, Dain, you can rest there for a while."
"Not just Dain, everyone can!"
Xingqiu looked around at everyone; it was finally his turn to show off. It seemed having money was still very useful sometimes!
"Wow! Lumine, let's stay in Liyue next." Paimon, hearing about free accommodation, was more excited than anyone.
"That was the plan anyway," Lumine didn't object; in fact, he had originally planned to stay in Liyue next.
Who made Liyue have a festival recently?
"No, festivals for me… never mind, I still have things to do, so I won't join the fun."
Dain looked at the excited faces of the others and swallowed the words "only add to my troubles" that were on the tip of his tongue.
He, a person of the old era, should not spoil the scenery of the new era.
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