The man-eating Giant Amber

"I know where Hulao Mountain is. Come with me."

Keqing spoke as soon as she finished taking notes.

Zhong Baiye could clearly sense the change in Keqing. Before, she had shown no interest in finding the adepti and had only reluctantly agreed to look for them to help him uncover the truth.

Now, however, she was deeply invested in finding them, as her note-taking just now made clear.

"All right, let's hurry."

Together, they set off for Hulao Mountain once more.

"Phew... how much farther is it? I'm exhausted."

Paimon started complaining to Zhong Baiye again.

"This is the 152nd time you've said you're tired. We're climbing, but you're flying, and somehow you're still tired."

At that moment, Zhong Baiye and the others were climbing on their hands and feet.

They had reached the foot of Hulao Mountain in Jueyun Karst. The ascent was treacherous, with slopes approaching ninety degrees in places that they could only scale slowly.

"If you're tired, Paimon, you can rest on my shoulder."

Lumine spoke from Zhong Baiye's back.

"Don't put any more weight on Zhong Baiye. He may have a half-adeptus physique, but falling from here would be no different for him than for an ordinary person."

Climbing below Zhong Baiye, Keqing warned Lumine.

Lumine glanced at Zhong Baiye, whose face was covered in sweat, and realized she had said the wrong thing. Blushing at once, she whispered into his ear, "Sorry. ＞人＜"

"What? Didn't Zhong Baiye say he was really strong? He said climbing up with Lumine on his back wouldn't be a problem. Why can't he carry me too?"

Paimon stamped her feet in midair, displeased.

"I can fly, but flying is tiring too, you know!"

At that, Zhong Baiye suddenly felt the urge to punch Paimon.

Acting on impulse is asking for trouble. Calm down, calm down!

Zhong Baiye kept repeating this to himself. He was carrying Lumine, after all, and losing his temper could put her in danger too.

"Swift as Shadow!"

A streak of purple light struck beside Paimon, giving her a terrible fright.

"If you keep this up, the next one will hit you."

A wisp of purple light curled around the fingers of Keqing's right hand as she gave Paimon a threatening look.

Paimon no longer dared to speak, and a little more fear crept into her gaze as she looked at Keqing.

"Huff... huff... finally here."

Having finally climbed to the top, Zhong Baiye looked down at the clouds and mist below and spoke between gasps.

Lumine climbed off his back and immediately helped him sit down.

"Are you all right, Big Brother Baiye? Take a break."

Keqing climbed up too, but her attention was elsewhere. She seemed to have noticed something.

"Shh! Listen. It sounds like someone's fighting Hilichurls up ahead."

At Keqing's words, Zhong Baiye and the others immediately fell silent.

"Gulu gulu!"

"Boss, run!"

Sure enough, the sounds of Hilichurls fighting someone came from a short distance ahead.

With no time to worry about anything else, Keqing rushed over to protect those people.

Exhausted as he was, Zhong Baiye had no choice but to follow her.

Before long, they saw a group of people in traditional Liyue clothing fighting a band of Hilichurls, including a Hydro Samachurl. If there had been more Hilichurls, the people would have been caught long ago.

Deciding that these people did not look like Treasure Hoarders, Zhong Baiye and the others immediately drew their swords and went to help.

After they had fought for a while, Lumine finally brought down the last Hilichurl.

"Thank you. I'm Li Ding, and these are my brothers."

The leader expressed his gratitude to Zhong Baiye and the others.

Zhong Baiye suddenly remembered that this was Hulao Mountain. Even their own climb had been dangerous, and he immediately began to suspect these people's identities.

"Wait. Why are you here?"

"Uh..."

The leader hemmed and hawed, seemingly trying to figure out what to say.

"Boss, don't you remember? We came to ask the adeptus to save them."

Fortunately, one of his underlings reminded him.

Seeing how suspicious they looked, Zhong Baiye wanted to alert Keqing. But she was completely absorbed in her duty to protect Liyue and immediately asked why they needed the adeptus to save someone.

After the underling explained, they learned that the Giant Amber on Hulao Mountain could devour people, and several of their brothers had been swallowed.

They had heard an adeptus lived here, so they had come to ask the adeptus to save their trapped brothers.

Seeing their pitiful expressions, Keqing immediately promised to rescue the others.

Zhong Baiye knew Keqing wanted to show the adepti that even without them, the Liyue Qixing, made up of Liyue's own people, could protect the nation. That was why she had not questioned these men.

But Zhong Baiye had already recalled the game's story and knew these men were Treasure Hoarders who had come to steal.

He pretended to cooperate with Keqing in helping them, while actually keeping a close watch on them. The moment they tried anything suspicious, he would subdue them.

"I know what to do. We just have to smash the Giant Amber."

For once, Paimon had a clever idea and offered a good suggestion.

Keqing immediately found a piece of Giant Amber to test it on.

Crack!

As Keqing's Lion's Roar struck the Giant Amber, a huge crack immediately appeared across it.

Keqing then infused her blade with Electro and struck hard several more times, finally shattering the Giant Amber completely.

A dazed wild boar suddenly emerged from inside, shook its head, and charged straight at Li Ding.

Li Ding had never seen anything like it and stood rooted to the spot. Fortunately, an alert underling beside him fired an arrow into the boar's rump.

"Roar!"

The boar squealed in pain, changed direction, and ran out of sight.

This test confirmed that breaking the Giant Amber would not harm whatever was inside.

Following Li Ding and his men's directions, Zhong Baiye and the others soon arrived in front of another piece of Giant Amber.

"Let me try."

Li Ding raised his shovel and slammed it against the amber. The impact left him a little dizzy, but it did not leave a single mark on the amber.

"Boss, let's try together."

Next, his brothers picked up their weapons and began pounding the amber too.

But no matter how hard they tried, the amber remained completely unaffected.

"You'd better do it."

Seeing that their efforts had not left a single mark on the amber, Zhong Baiye formed a theory.

First, he struck the amber with the Harbinger of Dawn without using any elemental power.

Sure enough, it left no mark at all.

Then he infused the blade with Geo and lightly tapped the amber.

Crack!

A crack immediately appeared in the amber.

Paimon understood too when she saw this, and immediately waved her arms excitedly.

"I get it! You can only break this amber with elemental power."