"Master, they've arrived. They're already ascending the mountain…"
Shuyu's voice came through the communication device in Cloud Retainer's hand…
"Cloud Retainer, I told you before, your so-called seclusion here is just like hiding a piece of silver in broad daylight—it only draws more suspicion!"
Inside Cloud Retainer's cave, Dottore seemed a bit irritated as he said:
"Now look at this. I'm not even fully healed, and they're already showing up at the doorstep…"
"Cloud Retainer, don't you think you should be responsible for this?"
"Dottore, you better understand this clearly…"
Cloud Retainer said coldly:
"I am not your servant controlled by your eerie power…"
"The relationship between you and me is nothing more than a simple cooperation…"
Dottore furrowed his brow—sure enough, cooperating with the eerie powers was still hard to control...
In Dottore's original plan, he intended to defeat Cloud Retainer in the art of mechanisms, then take advantage of her weakness to corrupt and control her with his own eerie power.
But who would have thought that after losing to Dottore in the mechanisms art, Cloud Retainer would directly enter an eerie state, completely ruining Dottore's plan for control.
So Dottore had to settle for a fallback—using his mastery of ancient machinery techniques to strike a temporary deal and cooperate with the eerie "Cloud Retainer."
However, now Dottore had clearly noticed that as time passed, Cloud Retainer seemed increasingly dissatisfied with the mechanisms art, as if she wanted to break free from his guidance and control.
While Dottore was pondering this, Shuyu's voice came through the communication device again:
"There are eight of them in total—Su Yuan, Yanfei, Zhongli, Baizhu, Qiqi, Gaming, Chongyun... and one person I don't recognize, seems to be called Furina..."
"Shuyu, well done. As expected of my disciple!"
"'Cloud Retainer' nodded with satisfaction and continued:
'I will let your grandmother end her punishment training early, restore her human form, and no longer be forgetful. She won't forget you again...'
'Wait, just now Shuyu mentioned Furina, didn't she?'
Upon hearing the name 'Furina,' Dottore's interest immediately piqued…
If the person Dottore most wants to obtain right now is Su Yuan, then without a doubt, the second is Furina…
Dottore clearly knows that Furina, like Su Yuan, must be hiding many unknown secrets waiting for him to uncover…
Although Dottore doesn't know why Furina suddenly appeared here, none of that matters anymore…
As long as he can get both Su Yuan and Furina, this trip to Liyue will be a huge profit, a bloodless victory with great rewards!"
But Dottore couldn't help but feel a bit worried—if Furina appeared here, did that also mean that Neuvillette was here too?
Even if he wasn't injured, there was absolutely no way he could match the fully transformed eerie dragon Neuvillette, let alone now when he was wounded and his strength greatly diminished…
However, if Neuvillette really had come here, perhaps "Cloud Retainer" could use that method to deal with him…
"Cloud Retainer, if I'm not mistaken, within Liyue's territory, you have the power to call forth wind and rain, don't you?"
Dottore looked at "Cloud Retainer" and smiled as he spoke.
..............
Su Yuan and his group climbed up the rugged mountain path.
The path was designed to be so rough for a reason—after all, if one didn't have the determination and ability to even climb this difficult mountain trail, how could they seek immortality or inquire about the Dao?
However, what surprised Su Yuan and the others was that they originally thought Cloud Retainer would have set some traps or mechanisms along the mountain road to block them...
But in reality, there was nothing.
Su Yuan and his group arrived quite smoothly at the entrance of Cloud Retainer's cave dwelling.
"Isn't this all a bit too smooth?" Su Yuan said with some doubt.
"Could it be that Cloud Retainer really isn't controlled by the eerie force and is truly just secluded, studying mechanism arts?"
But in the next moment, the surroundings suddenly began to shake.
Then, from underground, bushes, and caves, many strange-looking stone men, tree men, and mechanical beings appeared...
"Ah! What are these things? Why do they look so much like Fontaine's autonomous mechanisms???" Funina was startled by the sudden situation and kept exclaiming.
"This must be the mechanism arts that Cloud Retainer has been studying these past days…" Zhongli watched the scene thoughtfully.
"Looks like we have to defeat these strange mechanical creations first before we can enter Cloud Retainer's cave."
Yanfei said this as the fire elemental power in her hand began to gather...
Then, she fired a fireball directly at one of the tree-like mechanical beings!
"Grass elemental power reacts with fire elemental power to cause a burning reaction…"
Yanfei said confidently, "Fire elemental power is strong against grass elemental power!"
But what happened next shocked everyone!
The tree-like mechanical being completely ignored Yanfei's attack and fired vines from its hands, quickly wrapping Yanfei up...
Meanwhile, Yanfei's attack seemed to be completely nullified upon hitting the mechanical being — it had no effect at all.
The first to react was Zhongli.
Holding his stone spear, he quickly dashed forward and slashed through the vines binding Yanfei, rescuing her!
"Everyone be careful, these aren't ordinary mechanical constructs!"
"These constructs, just like those people and monsters corrupted and controlled by the Eerie, are immune to elemental attacks!!!"
Hearing this from Zhongli, everyone was shocked...
Because based on the intelligence so far, only living beings could be corrupted and controlled by the Eerie, gaining immunity to elemental power...
And yet now, these mechanical constructs created by Cloud Retainer actually possess that very same ability?
This indirectly proves that Cloud Retainer may indeed have already been corrupted and controlled by the Eerie!
"Interesting… mechanical constructs immune to elemental power, huh?"
Just then, Tartaglia's voice echoed in Su Yuan's mind:
"If these things can be mass-produced, they'd be way more powerful than those Ruin Guards…"
"Once these constructs are used in warfare, who knows how much chaos they'll stir up..."
"Su Yuan, let me take control of your body."
"Even the Primo Geovishap fell before me..."
"I refuse to believe these mechanical constructs are tougher than an Primo Geovishap!"
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