Interface prompt:
「Record current four-player team information?」
「Next challenge can start from this point」
Mu Yang's location also had a save point, and all four streamers clicked confirm.
Guinaifen said she was going to grab some food first and take a short nap.
See you in an hour.
——————
Mu Yang took this time to check out some strategy videos and forum posts.
Players who had already cleared the content had compiled several optimal team compositions.
But, as the saying goes, having a strategy ≠ being able to clear it.
Right now, only a minority had managed to clear it.
Still, it was only the first day, so Mu Yang wasn't in a hurry.
Whether people were currently complaining or praising it, the most important thing was to keep the hype at its peak.
The discussions couldn't stop.
——————
An hour later, the four-person team regrouped.
Mu Yang also symbolically sent them a wave of gifts.
'Thanks to Mu Yang for the super chat': "Hang in there, Little Gui, rooting for you!" (10,000 yuan)
"Thanks, Big Boss Mu Yang. Hope we can clear it today."
Earlier, Guinaifen had just lain down for a bit before opening the guide Silver Wolf sent.
Damn, Mu Yang really lived up to being the final boss—even his phases were more numerous than the previous bosses'.
And each phase was tied to those three statues.
[Hurry up and start, I can't wait—my takeout's getting cold]
[What are those statues next to Mu Yang?]
[That snake is probably Changsheng, but the other two—no idea. A fish and a tiger?]
[Goddammit, so that's why they dropped the 'Lone Guardian' update yesterday! They were setting us up for this!]
[Mihoyo really won't let a single chance to stab us in the heart slip by, huh?]
The four of them controlled their characters as they stepped onto the platform. Mu Yang emerged from 「Withering Glory: Snow Burial Over a Thousand Peaks」 and immediately launched an attack without saying a single word.
Guinaifen hurriedly dodged.
"Holy crap, hubby, it's me! Don't you recognize me?"
[Who are you?]
[This feels different from the usual one]
[No idea, but it probably has something to do with those statues]
Mu Yang's first phase was the simplest—just straightforward normal attacks.
Ranged sword energy attacks and a marked ultimate that targeted a single player.
If someone got marked, they needed to interact with the statues using three different elements.
Otherwise, once the charge-up finished, Mu Yang would instantly kill the marked player.
"Now I get why the team needs at least three different elements to enter."
Once the three statues were touched with different elements, Mu Yang would cancel the mark and enter a weakened state.
After practicing all morning, this team had gotten much more coordinated.
But even so, they still wiped once in this seemingly simple first phase.
Because Mu Yang's damage was ridiculously high, and his sword strikes were lightning-fast—you had to stay hyper-focused, or you'd get wrecked.
——————
The four of them regrouped, and this time, they steadily made it to the second phase.
In the second phase, Mu Yang's attack patterns remained the same.
The only difference was that the first statue activated, summoning a white snake onto the field.
While the white snake was present, Mu Yang gained a continuous healing effect called 「Routine Treatment」.
It also assisted Mu Yang in battle.
Players hit by 「Venomous Fang」 would suffer continuous poison damage.
Those hit by 「Paralysis」 would be unable to dodge.
Those hit by 「Constrict」 would be immobilized.
[Not being able to dodge is straight-up broken]
[Python constriction! I'm suffocating, bros]
Mu Yang's onslaught was already ferocious, and now there was a snake added to the mix.
Aside from Silver Wolf, the other three were scrambling to keep up.
Silver Wolf wasn't faring much better—she'd been playing for way too long and had only gotten a short break earlier.
Then, Mu Yang triggered his instant-kill mark.
Since the team had both Klee and Diluc, Silver Wolf had no choice but to interact with the statue.
But her focus was slipping, and the Zhongli she was controlling got immobilized by the white snake.
Because they didn't interact with the statue using different elements in time (the pedestal lit up after activation), Zhongli was instantly cleaved down by Mu Yang's sword, collapsing in exhaustion.
"Ah... feeling a bit tired..."
[The character voice lines are hilarious—it's extra funny when they match up with what's happening]
[Feeling tired? Keep the party going, keep dancing!]
[But seriously, this event is way too hard!]
[Yeah, it's kinda rough. Did the devs not actually intend to give out a 5-star?]
[If you're bad, just practice more. If you can't handle losing, don't play. Check my profile, I've already exchanged everything]
Group chat:
[Guinaifen]: What do we do? Those three skills from the white snake are way too broken.
[Sparkle]: The worst part is having to interact with the statues on top of that.
[Silver Wolf]: Let's take it slow. Little Gui and Sparkle should hold the snake's aggro near the statues and take turns tanking her skills while healing.
[Silver Wolf]: Kafka and I will focus on Mu Yang. When it's time to interact with the statue, Sparkle can do it—Little Gui, don't touch it.
[Kafka]: Got it.
——————
The four of them exited and restarted, getting three more challenge attempts.
The first phase went smoothly.
In the second phase, after the white snake statue activated, Guinaifen and Sparkle stood right at its feet, waiting.
Then, following Silver Wolf's strategy, they slowly whittled down Mu Yang and the white snake's HP.
Watching the stream, Mu Yang was pleasantly surprised.
They were actually clearing it pretty fast. With this strategy, as long as they didn't mess up, the second phase should be a guaranteed clear.
Yaojun's damage wasn't particularly high—her main role was disruption.
Her mechanic was that she used skills in a set sequence.
Once a skill hit, she'd lock onto the last character that attacked her.
So if two players took turns tanking her skills while healing, it was completely manageable.
[That's it? I thought it'd take at least two hours]
[From what we've seen, this streamer team's composition and strategy are both pretty easy to learn]
[Easy? Who's gonna play the Zhongli role then?]
[I'll just pull a 'suddenly, a friend appears' move!]
[Flawless]
The white snake was relatively fragile and went down first.
By then, Mu Yang's HP had also dropped to the threshold for triggering the third phase—half health.
The stream cut to a cutscene.
The white snake turned back into a stone statue before breaking into five segments.
The 'Mu Yang' in the cutscene clearly couldn't accept this and went berserk.
The carp statue awakened, marking the start of the third phase.
For people on Earth right now, they wouldn't understand the significance of the statue breaking into five pieces.
Because in most animations, this was how stone statues exited—either shattering into pieces or breaking into segments.
So they wouldn't pay attention to this detail.
Their focus was on the newly appeared koi and the even more terrifyingly imposing Mu Yang.
[Scary—hubby seems pissed]
[Of course he is. From the earlier story, Changsheng was someone really important to him]
[Does Qiqi also have a berserk state?]
[But this is just a statue—Changsheng's fine, she's still at Bubu Pharmacy, right?]
[Who knows? Guess we'll have to wait for the official lore drop]