"Useless?"
Yunqin slowly raised her hand, the gold and blue elemental power swirling around her fingertips like converging streams, condensing into a longsword of flowing light in her palm.
Half of the blade glowed with the heavy gold light of the Geo element, while the other half flowed with the gentle blue light of the Hydro element. At their intersection, a faint, translucent white glow shimmered.
That was the gentle power left by Yunxuan, and also the Purifying Power unique to Immortal Lixi.
She took a step forward. With each step, golden and blue interwoven patterns of light rippled across the ground. The black mist retreated where the patterns spread, revealing the blue-gray rock beneath. Tiny green grass even sprouted from the crevices, carrying the aura of life.
"What the Abyss ever gave me was never power, but despair," Yunqin's voice was as cool as the glacial spring of Liyue, yet it carried a weight of a thousand catties. "And what Liyue taught me was to hold onto one's true heart in the face of despair, the courage to protect those I wish to protect even if I am crushed to powder. This is true power. A vile creature like you, who can only steal others' appearances, will never understand."
"Zhongli's" expression darkened further, killing intent churning in his crimson eyes as the dark energy around him surged like ink.
Countless pitch-black Stone Spears erupted from the black mist, forming a dense forest as they shot toward Yunqin, Lumine, and Lydia.
The Abyssal aura entwined around the Stone Spears was so thick it almost solidified, and wherever it passed, the air hissed as it was corroded.
"You're courting death!" Yunqin shouted, sweeping her gold and blue longsword out. An arc of sword qi erupted, instantly severing several Stone Spears in the front row.
The broken Stone Spears fell to the ground and dissipated into dark energy, yet more Stone Spears followed in their wake.
Lydia reacted immediately, Anemo energy surging wildly around her as it formed a rotating Wind Wall, blocking all the subsequent Stone Spears on the outside.
Wind blades clashed with Stone Spears, sending sparks flying as fine rock fragments and black mist drifted down together.
Lumine gripped Prototype Rancour tightly and leaped into the air, Geo element condensing along the blade as she attacked "Zhongli" from the side, attempting to distract him.
"Overestimating yourself!"
"Zhongli" snorted coldly and waved his left hand.
A dark brown stone wall suddenly rose, blocking Lumine's attack, while his right hand continued to control the Stone Spears, his offensive growing even more fierce.
He could feel the threat of the Purifying Power within Yunqin's body and knew he had to eliminate this variable as quickly as possible.
Yunqin's eyes sharpened. The gold and blue light patterns beneath her feet surged as she shot forward like an arrow, dodging several Stone Spears and charging straight at "Zhongli."
Her gold and blue longsword whistled through the wind, aimed directly at his chest, the area where the Abyssal aura was most concentrated and clearly his weak point.
"Zhongli's" pupils contracted. He never expected Yunqin to be so fearless in the face of death, and in his haste, he hastily conjured a heavy Geo Shield to block her.
CLANG!
The gold and blue longsword struck the Geo Shield with a deafening crash.
The Geo Shield instantly cracked, gold and blue light spreading through the fractures and rapidly purifying the Abyssal aura upon its surface.
"Zhongli" felt his arm go numb as his blood surged in his chest, recoiling half a step from the force of the impact.
"Impossible! How do you possess such power?!" he cried out, his eyes filled with disbelief.
Yunqin offered no reply. With a twist of her wrist, she struck again with her longsword. Wave after wave of gold and blue sword qi fell, each strike landing precisely upon the cracks in the Geo Shield.
Her gaze was resolute, her tears long dry. Only the unwavering resolve for revenge and the obsession to protect remained—for Yunxuan, for Liyue, and for all those harmed by the Abyss.
Lydia seized the opportunity to manipulate the Anemo element, condensing several wind blades that curved around the Geo Wall and shot toward "Zhongli's" back.
The wind blades glowed with a sharp, piercing cyan light.
Caught between two attacks, "Zhongli" was forced to abandon his Geo Shield. As he dodged the wind blades, he struck out with his palm, aiming directly for Yunqin's face.
The dark energy swirling in his palm carried a power that could corrode everything, clearly intending to drag Yunqin down with him.
Yunqin was prepared. The light patterns beneath her feet flashed as she suddenly dropped low, evading the lethal strike. At the same time, she swung her longsword upward, the tip slicing across "Zhongli's" wrist.
A flash of gold and blue light erupted. The dark energy at "Zhongli's" wrist dissipated, revealing a shallow wound from which black blood trickled.
"Argh!"
"Zhongli" let out a furious roar. The dark energy around him surged wildly, and his body began to swell. His human silhouette gradually distorted, transforming into a colossal Abyss monster!
Its body was covered in pitch-black scales, with curved dragon horns sprouting from its head. Its crimson eyes glowed like lanterns, radiating a suffocating pressure.
"Since you seek death, you shall be buried in the Abyss's fury!" The monster's voice was hoarse and grating, like metal scraping on metal. With a wave of its hand, its massive claw struck toward the three of them with world-shattering power.
Lumine and Lydia's expressions changed drastically as they simultaneously channeled their Elemental Power, layering the Geo Shield and Wind Wall in front of them.
"Boom!"
The claw struck the defenses with brutal force, instantly shattering the Geo Shield and causing the Wind Wall to tremble violently. Lydia let out a muffled groan, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of her mouth, clearly injured.
Lumine was also sent reeling backward by the shockwave, her arms numb.
Yunqin, however, advanced instead of retreating. The gold-and-blue longsword spun once in her hand as the golden-blue light around her body erupted. She completely merged her own Elemental Power with the aura of the earth, transforming the longsword into a giant Sword of Light several meters long, its blade flowing with a brilliance as dazzling as the Milky Way.
"This strike is for Yunxuan!"
Yunqin leaped into the air, the giant Sword of Light descending with the power to purify everything, striking ruthlessly at the Abyss monster's head.
The Abyss monster's pupils constricted as it sensed a lethal threat, frantically condensing its Abyssal aura to form a thick barrier of dark energy in front of itself.
"Clang!"
The moment the Sword of Light collided with the dark energy barrier, the world seemed to fall silent for an instant, followed by a deafening explosion.
The golden-blue light completely devoured the dark energy. The Abyss monster let out a piercing shriek, its massive body cracking inch by inch under the Sword of Light.
Black blood erupted, but it vanished into blue-green smoke the moment it touched the golden-blue light.
Yunqin landed on the ground, her figure slightly unsteady, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, clearly having overexerted a vast amount of her power.
Yet her gaze remained resolute, and the hand gripping her longsword did not tremble in the slightest.
The Abyss monster's body continuously disintegrated as it roared, "Hahaha... 'He' will not spare you... Teyvat will eventually fall..."
The Abyss monster's roar shook the rock walls, its massive body cracking inch by inch under the golden-blue Sword of Light, and from the fissures, a sliver of blinding golden light actually shone through.
That light grew brighter and brighter, gradually breaking free from the ruptured chest and transforming into a floating golden light source.
Its outline was the phantom of Yunqin's soul, her features still retaining the gentleness of basking in the sun at Liyue Harbor in the past, yet it was tightly entwined by the Abyssal aura as thick as ink, each pulse radiating a heart-stopping wave of destruction.
"It's my soul..." Yunqin's pupils shrank abruptly, her heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an icy hand.
In an instant, she understood the Abyss monster's scheme.
This was the part of her soul core that belonged to her in what "He" called the Seven Cycles, the deepest bond she shared with this land.
"Jie jie jie..." The Abyss monster suddenly burst into a bizarre, cackling laugh, its hoarse voice piercing through her eardrums with undisguised arrogance and cruelty, "Yunqin, have you finally figured it out?"