Those black mudpiles looked like festering sores growing upon the earth itself, seeping purple-black pus that tainted the surrounding land. Just looking at it was enough to make one feel sick. Zhiqiong asked, "You mean you and Lumine saw something like this back in Inazuma? Inazuma… has these things too?"
"The form is different. What we saw in Inazuma was a deep violet mist, almost black. But the feeling it gave off was the same as this black Mud."
Passing Zhiqiong, Victor Wang continued to move closer to the Mud until his boots sank into the sticky, mucus-like muck. Feeling the strength of this body enhanced by the power of the Abyss, he spoke again, "Its essence… is a kind of energy. Just as highly concentrated elemental energy can be harmful to humans, this energy too is harmful. So don't get close."
"With something that disgusting, why would I go near it for no reason? But we do have a mission to complete…" Zhiqiong looked at the black Mud with clear disgust, then tiptoed to peer further ahead. Seeing the ground ahead completely covered in the same black ooze, she immediately felt the urge to turn back.
"Then what about you? You're getting so close—won't it hurt you?" She saw Victor Wang stepping even closer toward the center of the Mud, and as he lifted his foot, the soles were covered in sticky strings of black muck. She kindly warned, "It's—uh—it's sticking to your shoe… ew… that's so gross… it's even stringy!"
"…I'm trying to understand what this Mud is. Back in Inazuma, we could use light to disperse the black fog. So maybe… light will work here too."
Victor Wang pretended to think for a moment, then decisively took out a Lumenstone. Infusing it with a measured amount of elemental energy, he watched as the light burst forth. The light made him slightly uncomfortable, but when it touched the black Mud, it melted instantly and disappeared—including the residue on his boots.
"It actually worked!" Zhiqiong rejoiced for a couple of seconds at the disgusting Mud's disappearance, then quickly stopped him. "Wait a sec—this kind of strange phenomenon should be sampled and photographed! The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Adventurers' Guild would both love this!"
"Sampled?"
Victor Wang felt a pang in his chest. In the original course of events, he feared that when he had explored this place alone, ignorant of the Mud's nature, he had tried to take a sample—and that was when Zhiqiong had first been contaminated. Later, when she came with Lumine to take photos, that was the second contamination. After that, the coughing symptoms began.
Who knew how long ago the hallucinations and delusions from the contamination had already begun…
So he firmly shook his head. "No. We can't take samples."
"If it could be useful, why not?"
"I told you already—it's dangerous. Ordinary people shouldn't touch it. Just taking photos is enough."
Only teams composed of Vision holders, or Fatui units equipped with Delusions like the Ninth Company, could safely come into contact with Abyssal Mud. If not for that Overlord of the Vortex incident, Liyue might've already obtained substantial research data from the Fatui.
"I don't really care about the sampling anyway—it's just extra work… but my Kamera broke when I was mining earlier."
"I brought one too. Use mine."
After a series of click-click sounds from the Kamera, Victor Wang used the Lumenstone to purify a path forward. Guided by his sensitivity to Abyssal energy, he safely led Zhiqiong to the Serpent's Cave.
"I knew it—the further we went, the rounder the tunnel became, like something massive had burrowed through. And sure enough, there's a mechanical serpent moving beneath the earth here. It doesn't look friendly… Let's just call this place 'Serpent's Cave.'"
Zhiqiong scribbled notes into her map book, marking "Serpent's Cave." When she tried to align this section with the temporary main shaft map, she frowned. "This spot's directly south of the main shaft. The only two paths here seem to loop back there anyway… Forget it, we can check on the camp while we're at it. Let's take that new passage ahead—it should curve back."
Since Zhiqiong had finally decided to slow down, Victor Wang had no objections. Besides, he had a lot of information to process and simply followed in silence.
Up to this point, he had personally witnessed three large-scale manifestations of Abyssal power: the false heavens and their Fate Stars, Enkanomiya, and now The Chasm.
Regarding the false heavens—those Constellations formed by the Abyssal force seemed to act as a kind of energy source connected to humanity. Humans were originally created beings, so those Constellations must have also been shaped by the Primordial One—at least, he must have linked them with mankind.
Could it be that the Primordial One had also wielded Abyssal power, but feared humans could not control it, and thus forbade them from touching it?
Victor Wang shook his head. There was still not enough evidence for that.
However, the comparison between Enkanomiya and The Chasm was much clearer.
During the Three Realms Gateway Offering, the Light Realm's energy reacted defensively to the invasion of the Dark Realm's mist, producing crystals called Light Realm Cores, which could enhance the Bokuso Box. Thus, the Bokuso Box was likely connected to the Light Realm.
The Lumenstones of The Chasm, meanwhile, were crystals restructured by the Celestial Nail deep within the earth to resist the Abyss's influence. The Celestial Nail was cast down by the Primordial One to shape the human realm and humanity—so the Lumenstone likely connected to the human realm, and perhaps partially to the Light Realm as well.
Both the Bokuso Box and Lumenstone harness light to dispel darkness—their similarities were uncanny.
In Teyvat, there are four primary forces: Abyssal Energy, Elemental Power of the Human Realm, Light Realm Energy, and Leyline Power.
It's certain that ordinary elemental power cannot dissolve the Abyssal Mud. And since the Primordial One once sent down the Celestial Nail to purify the land—fearing the Second Throne might taint Teyvat—it implied that the leylines' willpower of the human realm couldn't cleanse it either. In other words, elemental and leyline energies of the human world were powerless against the Abyss.
That left only the Light Realm's energy.
In that case, it's highly probable that the Lumenstone converts the elemental energy it absorbs into Light Realm energy… which would explain perfectly why both the Lumenstone and Bokuso Box are tied to light—and both can repel Abyssal corruption.
That would also explain why the climate around where the Celestial Nails fell changed so drastically. When the Light Realm's power prevails, not only is Abyssal energy purified, but the human realm is also suppressed, affecting the leylines. The snow-capped mountains and deserts might even be forms of hallowed ground.
As for how that ties back to himself…
Both the Bokuso Box and the Lumenstone could repel Abyssal power—but they did not directly harm Hilichurls, Serpent Knights, or Abyss Mages. Simply put, Hilichurls were not afraid of the Celestial Nail's power.
Of course, in a physical sense they were—but not in the way the Abyss feared purification.
Considering that Hilichurls existed even before five hundred years ago, if those people had once come into contact with Abyssal energy but on too small a scale for the Primordial One to send down a Nail, perhaps Celestia's "curse" upon Khaenri'ah five centuries ago was actually a containment measure against corruption.
Maybe the Nail couldn't be driven down anymore back then—or Khaenri'ah managed to block it—forcing Celestia to resort to that curse.
Or, taking a bolder view… the Sinner of Khaenri'ah, who called himself guilty—perhaps, fearing that the Celestial Nail would purify Khaenri'ah entirely, he chose to transform its people into Hilichurls.