"Ji An! Hu Tao! Are you two alright?!"
"Young Ji, how are you holding up?"
Once Xiangling and Guoba had dealt with the remaining monsters, they hurried over to check on the pair, followed closely by Master Lu Ban and the others.
"Cough, cough... don't worry, I think I'm okay..." After Hu Tao's healing, Ji An felt much better. He could even stand on his own, though Hu Tao kept a firm hand on him, preventing him from moving around.
"...Eh, you're really okay? How... how can this be?" Xiangling examined his body in surprise, stammering her words.
Her heart had been filled with grief. In her mind, how could an ordinary person like Ji An survive a direct blow from an Primo Geovishap? Yet, contrary to all expectations, Ji An, who had looked critically wounded just moments ago, now appeared largely unscathed, aside from sounding a bit weak.
Ji An, his face still somewhat pale, managed a smile. "Isn't it a good thing that I'm alright, Miss Xiangling?"
Hu Tao shot Xiangling a sharp look with her plum blossom eyes.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like that!" Xiangling realized her poor choice of words and stammered an apology.
"It's fine, I know what you meant. But I don't know why I'm not dead either," Ji An said helplessly. He truly couldn't explain the Heartscale, so he resorted to a joke: "Maybe that Primo Geovishap skipped breakfast today. No strength in its claws."
"Pfft, as if!" Xiangling giggled softly.
"in any case, I'm relieved to know that everyone is safe," Master Lu Ban also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Ji an was okay after taking such a devastating blow and said with a smile, "Hehe, I knew it all along. Young Ji is blessed by the heavens; there's no way he'd die so easily!"
'Please, Master Lu, don't jinx me!' Ji An thought, mentally rolling his eyes.
Hu Tao began shooing them away. "Alright, alright! Stop crowding around. I need to continue treating Xiao An."
Ten minutes later.
Ji an felt that almost all the pain in his body had disappeared, and even the places that had been injured during the battle were healed as if they were new. He praised her sincerely, "Hu Tao, your healing skills are truly remarkable!"
"It's still not enough. If the injuries were any more severe, I wouldn't have been able to save you."
To his surprise, Hu Tao shook her head, a look of self-reproach on her face. She murmured, "If only I had that thing... it would have spared you so much pain..."
"That thing?" Ji An couldn't help but ask with some curiosity.
"Mhm. It's a ceremonial instrument passed down through generations of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."
Hu Tao carefully helped him to his feet as she spoke. "Grandfather told me that in an era long, long ago, when evil spirits ran rampant across the land and brought calamity upon the people, the earliest healers of the Wangsheng Parlor wielded a crimson staff. They used it to purify malevolent karma and corruption, and to heal those suffering from injuries and illness."
Ji An said, "That staff sounds like it possessed incredible power. Since you're the current Director, shouldn't you have inherited it?"
Hu Tao nodded, then shook her head again. "Grandfather said the staff was passed to my father... but he later lost it within the 'The Chasm.'"
"Your father?" Ji An was momentarily taken aback.
During his time in Liyue Harbor, Ji An had heard the locals mention Hu Tao. He knew her grandfather, the 75th Director, had passed away the year before last. But no one had ever spoken of her parents.
"..."
Hu Tao thought for a moment, then pinched her chin. "Xiao An, I'm 19 this year."
"Huh?" Ji An wasn't sure what she meant by that.
She looked at him with a serious expression. "You know, in a few more years, I'll be older than my father was."
Ji An opened his mouth but found no words. He couldn't bring himself to ask about Hu Tao's father after that.
...
Once Ji An had mostly recovered, he and Hu Tao walked over to the Ley Line Blossom left behind after the Ley Line blockage vanished.
"Young Ji, proceed," Master Lu Ban encouraged him with a look.
Ji An nodded. He held out the piece of Resin and guided its energy into the Ley Line, clearing the congestion.
Moments later, he released his hand and stood up. The resin had completely dissolved.
"Well? How is it?" the others asked eagerly.
Ji An turned to Lu Xian. "Brother Lu Xian, may I borrow your repeating crossbow?"
After receiving the crossbow, Ji An examined it for a few seconds. Then, as if guided by instinct, he loaded and cocked it with practiced, fluid motions.
In the next instant, he raised his arm and, without even looking, fired several bolts in quick succession towards a distant rock.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
The bolts embedded themselves into the stone.
Ji An slowly lowered the crossbow.
At first, the others were puzzled, until Lu Xian gasped, "Brother Ji! How did you...?!"
They all rushed over to the impact site. To their astonishment, they found that after the first bolt struck the rock, the subsequent bolts had hit the shaft of the first one with pinpoint accuracy—a feat that seemed almost supernatural.
"After using the resin to clear the Ley Line, I received the combat memories of a master marksman," Ji An explained, answering their unspoken question.
Among the hundreds of combat memories offered by the Ley Line's blessing, he had chosen this one because it was the most compatible fighting technique for him. It wasn't just for crossbows; it could be applied to projectile weapons like the elemental pistol he could craft. Now, with proper preparation, Ji An possessed the capability to pose a threat to a Vision holder.
Next, he urged Xiangling and Hu Tao to use their resin.
Xiangling chose combat experience with the spear, refining her already impressive techniques.
Hu Tao, however, remained mysterious about her choice after using hers, simply grinning at Ji An without saying a word.
After the three uses of resin, the congestion in the Ley Line Blossom was cleared. The gray flower gradually withered, but at its roots, a dense concentration of Ley Line energy remained.
"What a pity. We can't store and take this energy back for research," Master Lu Ban lamented, looking heartbroken after trying unsuccessfully to absorb the energy into a Magic Crystal Ore for some time. Ever since learning about the Ruin Guards' power source, he had been obsessed with the energy within the Ley Lines.
In the end, Ji An and the others managed to persuade him to leave, though he did so reluctantly.
Before exiting the cavern, Ji An glanced back with a slight smile and sent a mental message:
"Herloxia, wait until we've left, then return to the previous cavern. There's something there you'll like."
He thought happily, Judging by the energy density at the flower's roots, there must be at least three units of Ley Line essence in there, right?
...
Following their original path, the group climbed their way back to the surface.
"Master Lu, Mr. Ji An..." A Millelith soldier guarding the entrance spotted them and hurried over.
After a bit of conversation, Ji'an's expression became strange.
It was more of a complaint than a conversation.
According to the soldier, many strange things had happened here after Lu Ban and the others left.
First, there was the sound of dense cannon fire from outside. When they ran over in a panic, they only saw a small hill to the west that had been flattened, but no sign of the culprit.
Full of confusion and fear, they walked back.
Then, not long after, a massive Geovishap suddenly burst from the ground. The earth shook violently, and they were all terrified, convinced they were about to die at the hands of the monster.
Unexpectedly, the giant Geovishap paid them no attention whatsoever. It simply trudged away with heavy, rumbling steps and... ran off?
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