Yunqin stumbled back a step, her pupils shrinking violently as she stared fixedly at Yunxuan's corpse. Her body trembled uncontrollably, and the hand gripping the Abyssal Blade Glow also began to shake violently.
The next second, Yunxuan's body turned into specks of warm starlight, like a shattered star, slowly dissipating into the air.
This starlight seemed to possess a life of its own, drifting toward Yunqin, circling and descending around her, before finally and gently merging into her body.
In an instant, countless long-buried memories exploded in Yunqin's mind: the sails fluttering in the wind at Liyue Harbor's docks, the sweet and lingering Almond Tofu in Wangshu Inn...
That pure beauty and sincere affection flooded her chaotic consciousness like a tide.
The Abyss's whispers were utterly powerless before these warm memories, gradually dissipating until they vanished completely.
Yunqin clutched her chest, her body trembling violently, as silent agony swept over her.
Tears fell uncontrollably, rolling down her cheeks and splashing onto the ground in tiny droplets.
She opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound. Only the regret, despair, and pain churning in her eyes spoke of her current state of mind.
"Zhongli" noticed none of this.
He watched Lumine and Lydia's heartbroken expressions, a cruel smile curling his lips as he sought to plunge them into even deeper despair.
"Look, the people you care about are leaving you, one by one." His voice was sinister and bone-chilling, like poisoned ice spikes. "Next, it's your turn to taste the agony of losing your companions."
His gaze shifted to the side, where Osial and Beisht lay severely wounded and unable to move, the killing intent in his crimson eyes intensifying.
With a wave of his hand, several pitch-black Stone Spears materialized once more, hurtling toward the two with destructive force!
"No!" Lumine screamed, struggling with all her might to break free from her restraints, but her efforts were futile. She could only watch helplessly as the Stone Spears closed in.
Yet, just as the spears were about to strike Osial and Beisht, a thick and solid Geo Barrier suddenly materialized out of thin air, steadily blocking the path before them.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The Stone Spears struck the barrier one after another with deafening crashes, but they were instantly deflected, failing to leave even a single crack.
"Zhongli" froze, the smile on his face instantly hardening in utter disbelief.
He could feel the Geo Elemental Power within the barrier, dense, pure, and radiating a solemn righteousness.
That power was both familiar and strange, making him blurt out instinctively, "Morax?!"
"Incorrect." A cool and majestic voice echoed from the depths of the black mist.
The voice resonated with such force that the surrounding black mist churned violently like boiling water, and even the ground trembled with fine tremors.
The black mist was forcibly dispersed by an invisible power as a figure slowly emerged.
The obsidian armor on Yunqin's body was cracking inch by inch, emitting a series of crisp "crack, crack" sounds.
The energy leaking from the cracks was no longer the nauseating dark energy, but a pure elemental glow, as gentle as the morning sun.
Her crimson eyes, once stained by the Abyss, were visibly fading in color, returning to their former clarity.
Yet those eyes were now filled with tears of remorse, which streamed down her pale cheeks.
The teardrops fell to the ground, splashing into tiny droplets.
Yunqin's hand, which had been gripping the Abyssal Blade Glow, had already let go, and the blade forged from malice dissolved into wisps of black mist in the air.
She walked slowly to Lumine and Lydia's side. With each graceful step, a gentle elemental power swept past like a spring breeze, instantly dispelling the suffocating pressure on the two women.
"I am Immortal Lixi." She raised her eyes and stared coldly at "Zhongli," her tone filled with disdain and awe-inspiring majesty. "Abyssal Fiend, you dare to use the Rex Lapis's name, harm living beings, and desecrate the majesty of a God. Today is the day you die!"
"Zhongli's" expression changed drastically, a clear hint of dread flashing in his crimson eyes.
"You... How could you?!" "Zhongli's" voice cracked, turning sharp with a trace of panic he hadn't even noticed himself, his final syllables trembling uncontrollably.
The Abyssal Seed he had personally planted had clearly completely taken over Yunqin's consciousness, crushing her reason into dust. How could it completely collapse just because a "fake" had died?
This completely defied the rules of the Abyss!
He could clearly feel the Abyssal Power within Yunqin's body crumbling, replaced by her own clean and pure Elemental Power.
That was the "Power of Light" that the Abyss feared most, and also the very foundation of his control over Yunqin.
Once he lost control over Yunqin, the plan he had meticulously prepared would be missing its most crucial link!
Panic, like cold vines, rapidly climbed up "Zhongli's" spine to the back of his neck, making the hair on his body stand on end.
He could even hear the frantic "thump-thump-thump" of his own heart pounding in his chest, disrupting its original steady rhythm.
"Zhongli" instinctively took a half-step back, the broken stones beneath his feet crunching, his crimson eyes locked onto Yunqin with a mixture of fury and the terror of a plan spiraling out of control.
"The Power of the Abyss... How dare you resist it? Have you forgotten the power and freedom the Abyss gave you!"
Yunqin didn't answer, but simply raised her tear-filled eyes and stared fixedly at "Zhongli."
The hatred, regret, and resolve churning in that gaze were more lethal than any sharp weapon.
She had finally awakened, remembering with clarity the blade she had personally struck into Yunxuan, remembering Yunxuan's form calling out to her even as she lay in a pool of blood, remembering who had pushed her into the Abyss, and who had bought back her reason with their life.
"Zhongli" stared fixedly into Yunqin's eyes, which were filled with hatred. That gaze was like a blade quenched in ice, and the panic in his heart surged like a broken levee, nearly overwhelming his forced composure.
It was the panic of a plan utterly lost, the unease of a pet personally raised and now breaking its shackles; even his fingertips involuntarily grew cold, and a cold sweat quietly broke out on his back.
Yet, he was, after all, a pawn that Lu Qiuyun had poured her heart and soul into training, having long since engraved "calmness" into his very marrow.
He took a deep breath, and a power so immense it was reassuring surged from his chest, instantly smoothing away his agitation.
A flash of ruthlessness crossed his crimson eyes, and all his panic was instantly suppressed by this power, replaced by an arrogance that was sinister to the extreme.
A cruel smile slowly curved his lips, his voice as cold as icicles: "You've merely broken free from a sliver of control. In the end, you are still a useless wretch swayed by emotion!"
Feeling the power churning within him as if it would burst from his body, the contempt in "Zhongli's" eyes deepened.
What did it matter if Yunqin had broken free from his control?
What did it matter if she had recovered her so-called reason and memories?
Before "that thing," any cheap emotion and belated regret were merely futile struggles!
He could not lose!