"Huff, huff... I'm so tired from all this traveling!"
Paimon flew next to Lumine, sticking out her tongue and panting heavily. "If we hadn't seen the Jade Chamber flying in this direction just as we left the Golden House, we wouldn't know where to go now!"
Then she looked up at the Jade Chamber in the sky. "Did we catch up? Is the Demon God of Vortex still in the sea and hasn't reached Liyue Harbor yet?"
As they spoke, a streak of green light flashed to Lumine's side—it was Xiao.
"You two, why are you here?"
"Wow, it's the Yaksha! We're here to stop the Demon God of Vortex!" Paimon was startled by Xiao's sudden appearance but quickly stated Lumine's objective.
Xiao's beautiful brows furrowed slightly, but soon relaxed as he looked at Lumine. "In that case, let's go up!"
With that said, Xiao transformed into a streak of green light, gentle wind elements lifting Lumine and Paimon up to the Jade Chamber in the sky.
"Wow, it's the immortals! Everyone's here. I heard you were arguing with the Qixing earlier. Have you finished arguing now?" Paimon saw a group of immortals on the Jade Chamber and blurted out her question.
Lumine didn't know how to respond to Paimon's words for a moment.
After a brief moment, Ningguang spoke up to answer, "The intention of the immortal and star powers is that, at such a critical moment, both immortals and the Qixing should temporarily set aside their differences and unite against the enemy."
"Hmph." Cloud Retainer, snorted coldly but didn't refute Ningguang's words. The other immortals remained silent as well.
"So, what's everyone's defense plan now?" Paimon nodded and continued, "That Demon God of Vortex, just a glance from so far away, makes it hard to breathe!"
Hearing Paimon's words, Keqing also nodded. "Some of the new recruits in the Qixing Army can't even stand anymore. The pressure from the ancient demon god is not something ordinary people can withstand!"
"If even the Qixing Army can't handle it, we absolutely cannot let it approach the civilians in Liyue Harbor!"
Paimon's expression turned anxious. "It's terrifying! Wasn't the Demon God War two thousand years ago fought against such beings?"
The immortals: ...
Looking around, seeing no one speaking, Paimon continued, "So, can the Tianquan, the Qixing Army, and a few immortals here deal with the demon god in the sea?"
Ningguang's expression turned grave. "The immortals have discussed it, and the answer is... maybe not."
A look of fear appeared on Paimon's face, "No way! You are the immortals protecting Liyue, and the Qixing protecting Liyue! Can't you think of any other solutions?"
Perhaps Paimon's voice triggered a memory.
Cloud Retainer, spoke up, "I do have an idea! The Qixing have studied the Return to Dust mechanism before. Although it's not something mortals like you can study, I am the creator of the Return to Dust. With a slight modification to these old crossbows, the progress would be unimaginable for you!"
Hearing Cloud Retainer words, Ningguang showed no expression, as if she didn't perceive the sarcasm in Cloud Retainer tone.
"Hehe... I suppose it's a kind of fate!" With the calmness characteristic of a leader on her face, Ningguang's eyes were full of seriousness.
Cloud Retainer didn't care about what Ningguang said about fate. The golden immortal energy enveloped the crossbows crafted by mortal craftsmen, and these replicas emitted bursts of golden light.
Then, several immortals each took charge of a Return to Dust mechanism, linking their immortal energy with it.
"With this, we can use the new Return to Dust mechanisms to fight against the demon god. The immortals here can infuse them with immortal energy. Keqing, you will lead the Qixing Army to guard the sidelines, ensuring that the immortals are not disturbed."
Seeing that the immortals were all doing their own tasks, Ningguang's eyes flashed with seriousness. She raised her hand and formed a large void array in front of the Jade Chamber. "There's no time to waste. The decisive battle is now—activate!"
On the sea between the Guili Assembly and Liyue Harbor, the huge demon god exuded its aura recklessly, causing the entire sea to boil. Various fish and sea creatures, infected by the demon god's aura, either succeeded in mutating into monsters or turned into a mass of blood if they failed.
These sea creatures, infected by the demon god's aura, like zombies attracted to flesh, rushed towards Liyue Harbor under the influence of the demon god's will.
On the Jade Chamber, with the platform established by Ningguang, the immortals controlled the new Return to Dust mechanisms to attack Osial. Laser-like attacks flew towards Osial, leaving ripples on its tentacle-like body.
Effective, but not much.
In response to the attacks from the immortals, Osial also counterattacked. Vast Hydro elements in the world were gathered, forming huge water elemental balls that crashed towards the platform where the immortals controlled the new Return to Dust mechanisms.
Facing Osial's attack, the immortals did not dodge or avoid, continuing to infuse immortal energy, preparing for the next round of attacks.
They were confident because of Keqing and Lumine, as well as the elite Qixing Army guarding the sidelines.
They used their weapons to break apart the water balls. Although these powerful elemental balls left wounds on them and blood mixed with water fell, the elite Qixing Army showed no intention of retreating.
Meanwhile, under the Jade Chamber, at the dock where Liyue and Yunhai met.
The crowded workers were evacuating, and a line of Qixing Army formed a defensive line, resisting the invasion of sea monsters summoned by the demon god.
These Qixing Army members were originally gathered by Ningguang to prevent conflicts between the immortals and mortals, but unexpectedly encountered the sea monsters summoned by the demon god directly.
In the gaps of the Qixing Army's defense line, many adventurers formed groups to kill the sea monsters that broke through the defense line.
Stepping out of the teahouse and carefully closing the door, this damn heavy rain, don't let the books I collected get wet.
Approaching the dock, the sounds of battle entered Wang Daoyi's ears.
Blood mixed with water flowed under the torrential rain. The dock already had a fishy smell, now even heavier, making people nauseous.
But the Qixing Army and adventurers engaged in battle seemed to be unaware of the pervasive nauseating smell. They wielded their weapons, blocking the surging sea monsters firmly.
Behind them were the evacuated residents of Liyue, and they couldn't retreat.
"Is this
the final test you give to the children?"
With a sigh, Wang Daoyi stretched out his hand, gathering Geo elements, forming a radiant shield over the forefront of the Qixing Army.
Law of Command: Shield.
"As your subjects, if we don't use the power of the Gnosis, it wouldn't count as disrupting your plan, right?"
Behind him, stone spears emerged, and a golden light appeared in Wang Daoyi's eyes.
"After all, if these disgusting, sticky sea monsters rush into Liyue Harbor, it would be too terrible. I don't want to smell this fishy smell in the teahouse!"
The stone spears whistled, nailing a sea monster that broke through the defense line to the ground.
"Tsk tsk, I hope the General Affairs Department won't ask me for money to repair the floor when they repair the port!"
One slippery sea monster after another, after finally breaking through the heavily guarded defense line, was nailed alive to the dock's bricks by the falling stone spears.
Looking further away, there were too many docks in Liyue, and the sea defense line was too long. If Wang Daoyi didn't enter the Divine Form, he wouldn't be able to take care of such a long defense line.
And once he entered the Divine Form, that demon god confronting the Jade Chamber in the ocean would definitely notice him, this low-level, low-quality imitation of Zhongli.
Not to mention whether it would affect Zhongli's test plan, just attracting Osial's attention would be an extremely dangerous thing.
Giving up the use of the Divine Form, Wang Daoyi rushed around the entire defense line, rescuing everywhere.
But soon, Wang Daoyi discovered that besides him, there were many others rushing around, killing sea monsters that broke through the defense line.
These people were either adorned with magnificent badges of great adventurers or wore the eyes of the gods. There were also dark-clad General Affairs Department spies who coordinated seamlessly, pairing up and swiftly and effectively killing sea monsters.
Wang Daoyi casually glanced around and saw many familiar figures.
Miss Lan led a group of adventurers to assist everywhere.
Xingqiu wielded a magnificent long sword, surrounded by several water elemental swords, followed by more than a dozen guards from the Feiyun Commerce Guild.
Chongyun wielded a huge weapon similar to a wolf-toothed club, and under the persuasion of As I Expected, turned sea monsters into meat patties. Around him, several Fangshi wielded talismans, stepping on Bagua, faintly protecting Chongyun's guards in the center.
On the other side, Xinyan and Yunjin escorted the workers away from the dock.
They had come to watch Xinyan's performance, but unexpectedly encountered an attack and directly joined the battle.
Wang Daoyi didn't see Xiangling among them, so it seemed that Xiangling was still in Wanmin Restaurant.
(End of this chapter)