"Gulp~"
"???"
Yu Jin sat on the steps of the Golden House, turning his head in surprise. Did he just hear someone burp?
It wasn't a person burping, it was the Golden Tree.
The Golden Tree's branches glowed even more brilliantly, causing the entire Exuvia to faintly shimmer with golden light.
Truly, a God of Precious Metals!
"Full?"
Yu Jin looked at the Golden Tree before him, patting its branches as he spoke. It seemed the Golden Tree really had found something good, its joy accompanied by its swaying, even overflowing.
But the Golden Tree had clearly been quite disdainful of Abyssal power before. One could only say fate plays tricks on trees.
Hearing Yu Jin's words, the wildly swaying Golden Tree immediately quieted down. Its branches swayed left and right, indicating that it was not full at all.
"If you're full, get to work!"
Yu Jin seemed not to notice the Golden Tree's movements, directly ignoring its not-full status and forcing it to start working.
Nonsense, if he really wanted to get the Golden Tree full, Yu Jin would probably have to kill everything in Teyvat from south to north.
The Golden Tree's appetite was not ordinary.
The Golden Tree trembled. It really wanted to protest Yu Jin's exploitation of child labor, but after much thought, it decided against it.
It was afraid of being beaten.
The Golden Tree's extended branches retracted back into the Exuvia. It was about to exert itself.
Click!
As the sound of grinding stones came, the Exuvia's previously only slightly recovered wound began to heal rapidly.
Jade grew out of thin air, filling the gap Yu Jin had cut. In a short while, the Exuvia was restored to its original state.
But before Yu Jin could rejoice, the Exuvia before him underwent an even more "profound" change.
The half-dragon, half-qilin Exuvia inflated like a balloon, constantly expanding.
If it were merely a change in size, that would be one thing, but besides the increase in size, the Exuvia's appearance was also changing.
Its tightly shut eyes bulged, and its silken eyelids flipped open, unable to support the growing eyeballs beneath.
Beneath the eyelids were no longer dragon eyes shimmering with jade light, but enlarged, lifeless fish eyes.
Membranes grew on the Exuvia's forelimbs, and upon these membranes were scattered scales and mottled feathers.
As for the hind limbs, they swelled the most severely. The robust hind legs were already covered by proliferating flesh, forming limbs resembling a fish tail.
And the Exuvia's body was a chaotic mess. Feathers of birds, thick hides of beasts, scales of snakes and insects, all grew together.
At this point, the Exuvia bore no resemblance to its original form. Calling it a creature was even a stretch.
Its appearance was like a giant furnace. What was being forged within was not hard steel, but the characteristics of life.
All life was mixed into this body, looking both unsettling and yet somewhat warm.
Unsettling because of its appearance, warm because of its essence — all life emerged from here.
However, Yu Jin only felt unsettling.
"Xiao Huang, do you think you can withstand the retaliation from Liyue and the Geo Archon?" Yu Jin said with a heavy tone, his head lowered.
He now suspected whether the Golden Tree had a genetic problem with its eyes? The Golden Tree in The Lands Between had also repaired Godwyn's corpse in this manner.
Even though Godwyn's soul had been killed by the Rune of Death, the Golden Tree kept 'healing' Godwyn's corpse, directly turning him into a monstrous, neither-human-nor-ghost appearance.
Now Xiao Huang was much the same; its mother created a "Dead Prince," and now it created a "Dead Archon."
In terms of title alone, Xiao Huang was quite a bit more impressive. Is it really 'like father, like son'?
"Clang, clang, clang!"
Two of the Golden Tree's branches collided, emitting a crisp metallic clang. It seemed the Golden Tree was very confident in itself and quite satisfied with this "masterpiece."
In the Golden Tree's view, all life was identical, merely a difference of more or less flesh.
As for souls? One could only say that in the eyes of a divine construct like the Golden Tree, which exists between the ethereal and the tangible, the souls of living beings were no different from dust.
So the Golden Tree simply felt that it was incredibly amazing to be able to make the Exuvia grow from small to large!
"Alright, when they come yelling for me, don't blame me for ratting you out."
Yu Jin scratched his head. Since things had come to this, it seemed he could only accept it?
However, he then caught sight of the large pill furnace behind the Exuvia and felt that perhaps it could still be salvaged.
"Whoosh—"
A bright blade light echoed within the Golden House, causing the Golden Tree, which had been happily swaying its branches, to retract back into the Exuvia.
Yu Jin held his straight sword, looking at the Exuvia, which was twisted beyond recognition, eager to try something.
Actually, he did have a little Talent for carving.
"Pfft—"
Dazzling streaks of light flashed, and the Exuvia's body was cut off piece by piece along with the light.
It was remarkably strange that even though the Exuvia had transformed into this appearance, its internal and external properties had not changed.
The body was not composed of flesh and blood; it was still jade.
This, at least, made Yu Jin breathe a sigh of relief. Zhongli had asked for his help precisely because he was worried that Liyue would be unable to forge Mora after he "died."
If Xiao Huang had truly turned the Exuvia into pure flesh and blood, then Yu Jin would have a headache.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
The stony body fell to the ground, and Yu Jin withdrew his weapon. He confidently turned his head to look at the Exuvia, which he had meticulously trimmed.
"…"
After a brief silence, Yu Jin consciously picked up the body from the ground and threw it into the nearby pill furnace.
Because the Exuvia still looked hideously ugly, even though Yu Jin had carefully trimmed it, the final effect of this body was still unsatisfactory.
At least, Yu Jin felt it was the kind of unsatisfactory that would make the people of Liyue chase him down three streets.
He raised his hand, gesturing the size of the Exuvia and the pill furnace. It seemed it could fit?
Immediately, the gloom in Yu Jin's heart vanished. If the Exuvia was stewed, it probably wouldn't be recognizable anymore, right?
"Xiao Huang, pull back your claws." Yu Jin walked up to the "standing" Exuvia, rubbing his hands as he spoke.
"Gurgle gurgle~"
Hearing this, the Golden Tree immediately retracted its branches that had penetrated deep into the Exuvia. And the unsupported body softly collapsed.
"Hah! Go!"
Yu Jin pulled the Exuvia, and with a forceful swing, he stuffed the giant body back into the pill furnace.
Add water, light the fire!
"Bang!"
The sound of exploding fire rang out, and the Golden House became a bit hotter.
Yu Jin stepped back a few paces, nodding with satisfaction. He wondered why it had looked a bit off? It turned out there was no fire under the pill furnace.
Now it was good, everything was perfect!
"Clatter, clatter, clatter!"
The sound of Mora colliding was more urgent and louder than before. Yu Jin climbed to the top of the pill furnace and lifted the lid.
Under the 煅燒 of the flames, the Exuvia's body in the pill furnace was rapidly melting. The indescribable body, along with a thick aura of precious metal, filled the pill furnace, providing Teyvat with an endless supply of Mora.
"Clang!"
Closing the lid, Yu Jin jumped down. He then ran to the side of the Golden Tree and whispered to it:
"See that big pot?"
The branches nodded.
"When the golden-yellow aura inside decreases, you perform your… whatchamacallit…"
The branches suddenly became indescribable.
"Yes, that's it. When the yellow aura is low, you reach into the big pot and use that!"
The Golden Tree looked at the flames under the pill furnace, a bit timid.
"Don't worry, it won't burn you to death!" Yu Jin saw the Golden Tree's hesitant look and patted his chest, assuring it.
At this, the branches finally nodded.
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