Venti coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject. His gaze returned to the Pyro Regisvine not far away, and his tone grew serious. "Let's not talk about that for now. Dealing with the immediate problem is more important."
Yunqin followed his gaze, and her heart clenched.
The Pyro Regisvine before them no longer resembled the elemental being it once was.
Corrupted by the Abyss, its trunk was shrouded in dense black mist, clinging to it like moldy rags. Black slime oozed from cracks in the bark.
Its once-sturdy roots were now twisted and tangled, resembling the sharp claws of a colossal beast. They gouged deep furrows into the ground, each movement accompanied by a grating creak.
Even more unsettling, the roots surrounding the Pyro Core had contorted into the shape of a single crimson eye. Black mist churned within its pupil, staring fixedly at her and Venti like a living creature, radiating a bone-chilling malice.
Meanwhile, the Pyro Core at the center of the corolla resembled a gaping maw. Countless Pyro particles materialized from thin air, coalescing into a swirling ring of fire around the core—it was clearly charging an attack.
Venti's gaze hardened. "Ah, that familiar sense of revulsion."
He lightly plucked his lyre strings, and a blade of wind sliced through the drifting black mist.
"Only the Abyss could take a perfectly fine elemental being and twist it into this... grotesque mockery of life."
"What exactly is that black stuff? And what about that impostor from before?" Yunqin leaned closer to Venti, her curiosity piqued.
"You don't know about the Abyss?" Venti looked at her, surprised.
"I've only ever seen the word 'Abyss' in ancient texts and storybooks," Yunqin replied. "I knew it was an evil force threatening Teyvat, but I never imagined... I never imagined it would be this disgusting, or that its imitations of people would be so uncanny."
"That's the Abyss's specialty—a twisted sense of humor," Venti said with a wry smile. "They mimic others' appearances, using familiar faces to lower your guard. Then, just when you let your defenses down, they strike."
"The Abyss..." Yunqin murmured to herself, then suddenly looked up at Venti. "You told me about Lydia from Mondstadt before. Was what she encountered... something like this?"
Venti's smile froze instantly. The strings of his lyre snapped taut with a sharp twang, and even the wind around him turned bone-chillingly cold.
He didn't answer immediately, simply putting his lyre away.
The thought of Lydia—the girl who could wield a Dual Vision, whose smile was as bright as a small sun, yet who had ultimately perished, taking the Abyss with her...
A long-suppressed rage surged within him. The gale that erupted from his body was so fierce it nearly scattered the fiery walls enclosing the cavern.
Seeing Venti slowly nod, Yunqin's anger seemed to burn even hotter than his. "Lydia was so powerful! If she had been able to grow, she might have become the first person in Teyvat to wield three Visions! For such a genius to die young at the hands of the Abyss... It's unforgivable!"
"Which is why," Venti's voice grew colder, "it needs to be taught a lesson."
He raised his hand, which glowed with a pale cyan light. Anemo energy rapidly converged around him, and the Elegy for the End materialized in his grasp.
As his words faded, an arrow condensed from pure, concentrated Anemo appeared out of thin air.
The moment Venti released his fingers, the arrow shot out like a meteor, whistling sharply as it precisely pierced the Pyro Core at the center of the Pyro Regisvine's corolla.
Bang!
As the core shattered, the Pyro Regisvine let out a piercing shriek, and the black aura surrounding it instantly fell into disarray.
Its once-thrashing roots lost their power and collapsed limply to the ground, leaving the creature momentarily paralyzed.
Venti glanced back at Yunqin and winked, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere. "Now, it's your turn."
"I've been waiting for this!" Yunqin's eyes lit up, her earlier fatigue and anger instantly transforming into fighting spirit.
She cracked her knuckles with a faint click, and Geo energy began to swirl rapidly around her, gathering as a warm golden light in her palm.
"Only a battle like this can truly get me excited!"
Before her words had even faded, the Pyro Regisvine began to shake violently, causing the ground to tremble!
Its limp roots suddenly shot upward like dozens of black claws, dripping with viscous black slime as they lunged viciously toward Yunqin
Yunqin tapped her toes against the ground and leaped backward like an arrow released from a bow.
"Airborne!" she shouted.
Small Geo spikes materialized beneath her feet, and she used them as footholds in mid-air, nimbly weaving between the roots to effortlessly dodge each attack.
Facing an incoming claw, she twisted her body and ducked, simultaneously striking the root with her palm. Geo energy surged from her hand, dispersing some of the black aura clinging to it. "Ride the momentum!"
The Pyro Regisvine, enraged that its attacks had missed, roared furiously. Dozens of roots shot toward Yunqin at once, forming a massive net that threatened to ensnare her.
Unfazed, Yunqin suddenly dropped low, sliding across the ground. The hem of her skirt brushed against the earth, kicking up tiny pebbles.
As she evaded all the roots, she channeled Geo energy into her fingertips and carved a sharp line into the ground.
The line instantly erupted into a razor-sharp Geo blade, severing the entangling roots in a single motion. Black slime splattered onto the ground with a corrosive hiss, filling the air with a pungent stench.
The Pyro Regisvine's core reignited with red light. Several Pyro lasers shot out from its corolla, fanning out toward Yunqin and sealing off all her escape routes!
Yunqin's pupils constricted. She suddenly flipped in mid-air, spinning like a top to evade two of the lasers, but the third closed in relentlessly.
While dodging, she shouted to Venti, "Venti!"
"On it!" Venti replied with a cheerful nod. A transparent wall of wind instantly materialized in front of Yunqin, blocking the remaining lasers.
The wind wall shattered upon impact, dissolving into a shower of fiery sparks.
Yunqin landed gracefully on a thick root, taking a deep breath. The Geo energy in her palm grew viscous, glowing with a warm, gentle light like molten glaze.
"Looks like I need to get a little more serious," she murmured, forming hand seals.
Pale golden Geo walls erupted from the ground, forming a sturdy cage that trapped the Pyro Regisvine.
Yunqin's gaze sharpened. She leaped into the air, her body tracing a graceful arc, and slammed both hands onto the Regisvine's trunk. The Geo energy surrounding her surged into the trunk like a tidal wave.
A violent tremor shook the Pyro Regisvine from within. The Geo element detonated inside its trunk, completely shattering the swirling black miasma. The cracks on the trunk widened as black slime dripped continuously.
Yunqin seized the opportunity to retreat. She gathered the last of her Geo energy into her palm, forming a sharp Geo spike coated in a faint layer of adeptal energy. "Myriad forms, one heart!"