At the edge of the Jade Chamber, Su Ming sat staring at the distant, currently peaceful Guyun Stone Forest.
Lingering Abyss energy still hovered in the sky above the stone forest, refusing to dissipate. The sea nearby remained turbulent, though beneath the surface, an eerie calm prevailed.
As Su Ming watched the waves, a guest approached from behind.
"You must be Mr. Su Ming? It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Keqing, the..."
"The Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing. Yes, I know." Su Ming cut her off without turning around.
He was momentarily speechless, thinking to himself, That was your exact line when you spooked my rolls in the Event Wish. Now that I've actually transmigrated, you're still saying the same thing!
Seeing Su Ming's dismissive attitude, Keqing became somewhat stiff. "My apologies... Am I disturbing you?"
"No, not at all... So, why is the Yuheng Star looking for me? Is there something you need?"
Keqing hesitated for a moment, weighing her words before speaking. "No... it is nothing specific. I simply wished to make your acquaintance."
"By the way, what are you doing?" she asked.
Su Ming pointed toward Guyun Stone Forest. "Just taking precautions... To be honest, if the Adepti on the Jade Chamber weren't in such poor condition right now, I'd have gone over to Guyun Stone Forest myself to take a look."
"Guyun Stone Forest..." Keqing followed his gaze.
However, she didn't feel much unease. To the people of Liyue, that place had always been an ill-omened land. Every citizen knew that an ancient god was suppressed beneath those stonesit wasn't just a legend. In a world where gods truly existed, such tales often symbolized fragments of a blurred history.
"Are you saying that the suppressed ancient god might break free from the seal?"
Keqing suddenly realized what Su Ming was worried about. As one of the Liyue Qixing, she quickly regained her composure and argued, "But even if Rex Lapis has passed away, the seal he left behind shouldn't fail this quickly!"
Su Ming nodded. "Under normal circumstances, you would be right."
"But don't forget what just happened there. The Conqueror of Demons was ambushed by the Abyss Order and subsequently controlled, turning him against Liyue Harbor.
If the Adepti hadn't been on the Jade Chamber confronting the Qixing and intervened in time, today's disaster wouldn't have been as simple as a third of the harbor being destroyed."
Keqing wavered but still pressed on. "But that doesn't prove the god's seal is loosening, does it?"
"True."
Su Ming's answer caught her off guard, but he continued, "The seal of Rex Lapis is indeed not something that can be loosened easily. You must remember that back then, Liyue was not the peaceful place it is now.
Rex Lapis led the Adepti and his allied gods to carve out this land through blood. Every inch of Liyue is stained with the blood of gods slain by Rex Lapis. A seal he arranged wouldn't yield just because of a little Abyss power."
"However, that is assuming there is no outside intervention."
Su Ming reached into his pocket and pulled out a talisman, holding it up before Keqing.
"Recognize this?"
Keqing took the talisman and examined it closely before crying out in shock, "A Sigil of Permission!"
"Yes, but not entirely," Su Ming explained. "This is a counterfeit Sigil of Permission. While the design looks similar, the power within is worlds apart."
"Do you know where this came from?"
Keqing shook her head, already sensing that something was wrong.
"I found it on the Conqueror of Demons after I brought him back to the Jade Chamber. When he woke up, I asked him about it. He said there was a squad of Fatui at Guyun Stone Forest who had been slaughtered by the Abyss Order. This Sigil of Permission was found near them."
Su Ming's answer immediately provoked Keqing's anger. "The Fatui... Why would they be forging Sigils of Permission? What are they trying to do?"
Su Ming shrugged. "Who knows... perhaps they wanted to use the power of the Sigils to open a crack in the seal and let the ancient god escape? Ningguang should have told you their true objective is the Gnosis. If all goes as planned, their Harbinger should be at the Golden House right now, taking advantage of the chaos in Liyue Harbor to confirm the state of the Exuvia."
"I suspect the team at Guyun Stone Forest was their backup plan. According to their strategy, if the Harbinger confirmed the Gnosis wasn't in the Exuvia, it would prove the Geo Archon faked his death. They could use this final resort to force the hidden Archon into the open to achieve their goal."
"But as for now... their Lord Harbinger should be busy being detained by the Millelith army. From the Fatui's perspective, even if that squad hadn't died, they wouldn't dare act without orders from above. After all, releasing an ancient god means a complete and total break with Liyue."
Su Ming then smiled at the worried Keqing. "Don't worry. I used some methods to remotely destroy all the Sigils of Permission I could find. Whatever is left won't be enough to do anything significant."
"The ones we need to worry about aren't the Sigils or the Fatuithey're already out of the game. My concern is the Abyss..."
Guyun Stone Forest.
At the very place where Xiao had fought the Abyss Order, three Abyss Lectors appeared once more. Each held an ancient, mysterious codex in their hands.
"The time has come. By the order of the Prince, we shall destroy the seal of the Geo God."
"With this, we take the first step... toward the destruction of the order of the Heavenly Principles!"
The three Abyss Lectors glanced at each other and opened their codices, pouring their Abyss energy into them.
The three volumes rose into the air under the influence of the energy, beginning to merge. Once the books became one, the three Abyss Lectors sacrificed themselves, transforming into pure Abyss energy that surged into the unified codex.
In the next moment, the codex was flipped open by an invisible force. Forbidden, formless knowledge began to transform into the purest energy, forming a sky-reaching pillar of light that struck straight down into the depths of the sea.
Boom!
Such a massive disturbance naturally alerted Su Ming, who had been watching Guyun Stone Forest the entire time.
His expression turned grim. Without looking back, he shouted to Keqing, "Yuheng, notify the Adepti, the Millelith, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs immediately!"
"The god... has broken the seal!"
"Expand the evacuation zone! Move the civilians toward Mt. Tianheng!"
"If I'm not mistaken, this place is about to become a battlefield."
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