After Tartaglia took control of Su Yuan's body, he instantly summoned his Foul Legacy transformation, covering himself entirely in the power of the Delusion.
Feeling the overwhelming strength surging through him, Tartaglia couldn't help but marvel again:
"Su Yuan, your body is simply perfect! It's practically no different from my own!"
"Even though your body hasn't undergone any special training, it can still fully wield the power of the Foul Legacy!"
"Now then, let me take on these mechanical constructs!"
As he spoke, Tartaglia joined Zhongli in the battle against the constructs.
"Qiqi, we can't just stand by either..." Baizhu said with a gentle smile to Qiqi.
"Set your command seal and go defeat those constructs."
"...Mm… Qiqi understands…" Qiqi nodded, the talisman on her forehead beginning to glow and float.
"Everyone, as we agreed before, I'm your escort — in other words, your bodyguard!"
Gaming said confidently to those behind him:
"Don't worry, I'll protect you all from these constructs!"
To ordinary people, these constructs that were immune to elemental power might have seemed incredibly troublesome—but in the end, they were no match for warriors like Zhongli and Tartaglia, whose martial prowess far exceeded the norm.
And when faced with the Eerie Qiqi, these constructs' defenses crumbled like paper before the power of Eerie energy—they simply couldn't withstand her attacks.
More importantly, just like the monsters corrupted and controlled by Eerie power, these constructs had no intelligence.
They only charged forward mindlessly, making them relatively easy to deal with.
After the constructs were defeated, everyone clearly saw a black and crimson aura dissipate from the core of each one.
So it was true—these constructs' immunity to elemental power came from energy cores fueled by Eerie power?
If the Eerie Cloud Retainer truly thought she could stop Su Yuan's group with just these constructs… then that was pure fantasy—an utterly impossible notion.
"So it's just as I thought… mere construct puppets like these still can't stop your advance..."
Just then, a voice echoed out as the seal at the entrance of the cave abode was lifted.
Moments later, "Cloud Retainer" appeared before the group, her entire body emanating a sinister, eerie aura.
"Cloud Retainer... you really have been corrupted and controlled by the Eerie power," Su Yuan said slowly, gazing at her figure.
However, before Su Yuan could say anything more, Chongyun—standing right beside him—suddenly let out a furious roar:
"Hahahaha! After all these years, I finally lay eyes upon true evil!"
"That's right! As the strongest exorcist in this world, I will purge every last vile spirit!!"
"And the Eerie are evil incarnate!!!"
A surge of dark, eerie power erupted violently from Chongyun's body as he gripped his greatsword and charged straight toward "Cloud Retainer"!
Su Yuan and the others were all stunned—what was going on with Chongyun?
Why did he suddenly enter an Eerie state on his own?
However, Su Yuan quickly came up with a possibility and spoke up:
"Could it be that the condition for Chongyun's Eerie transformation… is simply encountering another Eerie?"
"And from the looks of it, his attitude toward other Eerie seems to be one of utter annihilation..."
"In that case, the intel advising us to bring Chongyun along makes a lot more sense now…"
"Heh… so this is Chongyun of the exorcist clan?"
Faced with the charging "Chongyun," "Cloud Retainer" didn't show the slightest hint of panic.
She calmly opened her mouth and said:
"Even if the ancestors of your entire clan were to stand before me, they would still address me respectfully as 'Immortal Master.'"
"You, a mere junior—though your pure-yang constitution is indeed unusual, and you've somehow harnessed a bit of Eerie power…"
"Who gave you the confidence to think you could stand against me?!"
As she spoke, "Cloud Retainer" gathered Eerie power in her hands, forming a blood-red crane that shot toward "Chongyun" like a deadly arrow!
But rather than dodge, "Chongyun" met the attack head-on, channeling Eerie energy into his greatsword and clashing directly with the crimson crane in a brutal collision!
Then, with a deafening crash, "Chongyun" was defeated in the head-on clash.
He spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying, crashing heavily onto the ground...
Seeing this, Baizhu disregarded his own safety and rushed forward to check "Chongyun's" injuries.
"Chongyun's arm and ribs have multiple severe fractures, and there are signs of massive internal bleeding..."
Baizhu frowned deeply, his expression turning grim as he said seriously:
"If it weren't for the protection of Eerie power, Chongyun would probably have died outright from that blow..."
Su Yuan immediately felt a sense of dread—things were starting to spiral out of control.
He had originally planned around the possibility of "Cloud Retainer" being Eerie-influenced, and the strategy had been to attempt persuasion—like they had with Sayu in Inazuma—hoping that words alone might break the Eerie influence without having to resort to a life-or-death battle.
But he hadn't anticipated that Chongyun's trigger for Eerie transformation would be so aggressive—that he'd attack immediately and without hesitation...
And now, "Chongyun" had been instantly defeated by a single strike from "Cloud Retainer."
If diplomacy or psychological intervention failed, they'd be down one Eerie-powered ally—significantly lowering their odds of victory.
As expected, Cloud Retainer truly lived up to her name—as an adeptus who had experienced the Archon War and protected Liyue for thousands of years, her strength was already extraordinary.
And now, bolstered by the Eerie power, she had become even more formidable…
Under the current circumstances, with equal Eerie-enhanced conditions, the only one on their side who could reliably defeat "Cloud Retainer" might be the Eerie transformed Zhongli…
However, Zhongli's condition for Eerie transformation required someone to violate a contract…
But Zhongli had already stated that he and the other adepti of Liyue had long since dissolved their contracts—he no longer required them to guard Liyue.
Now, the vast majority of the adepti were merely following their own convictions, protecting Liyue in their own ways…
Which meant, between Zhongli and the adepti, there were no contracts left—so how could a contract be broken in the first place?
Even if Zhongli wanted to establish a new contract with "Cloud Retainer" on the spot, given her current eerie state, how could she possibly agree so easily in such an abnormal situation?
"Cloud Retainer, what happened with Chongyun… was actually beyond our expectations too..."
Su Yuan took a deep breath and spoke:
"I think… maybe we can try talking first."
"Your art of mechanisms isn't bad at all—in fact, it's truly remarkable, astonishing even! I've never seen such intricate craftsmanship before!"
Now, in order to help "Cloud Retainer" regain her confidence in her mechanical arts, Su Yuan didn't hold back and began to lavish her with praise.
"If the heavens had never birthed you, Cloud Retainer, the world of mechanisms would be shrouded in eternal night!"
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