Genshin Impact's Incense Burner Of Liyue [535]

"Bastard! You have no love for Khaenri’ah anymore—you’re nothing but a pathetic clown!"

"I already told you—Khaenri’ah was never destroyed! That’s just your own stubborn obsession, not even your true belief!"

The battle between Dainsleif and the Chanting Mage didn’t last long. After about three to five minutes, they suddenly disengaged, as if they were trying to avoid detection.

If Gu Sanqiu had been watching, he would’ve definitely started speculating—maybe these underground dwellers had some kind of bizarre restriction, like getting pinged by the "Celestia Radar" every time they started a fight.

---

Back inside the Ancient God’s Arena, Gu Sanqiu exhaled, feeling a noticeable sense of relief after Dainsleif’s departure.

Of course, the main reason wasn’t Dainsleif himself—it was that their fight had barely drained him at all. In fact, he’d recovered a fair bit of energy, which was an unexpected bonus.

As for the information Dainsleif had gone out of his way to share, it served as a valuable reminder:

Never accept random gifts from strangers.

Because you never know what hidden motives they might have.

Damn Abyssal schemers.

The portal reopened, followed by the heavy, rhythmic thuds of something metallic.

A series of Ruin Machines—each with a different design—began stepping out from the portal one by one.

Gu Sanqiu’s eyelid twitched.

He counted at least four different models of farming equipment alone.

Please don’t tell me there’s a Ruin Grader waiting in the back…

"Assault, reconnaissance, defense, patrol…"

"Is there any kind of cursed machinery that isn’t here? How do these things even qualify as challengers?!"

Gu Sanqiu had the urge to flip off whatever unknown entity was watching from above.

But for the sake of his own continued survival, he restrained himself.

There’s no way you expect me to believe these machines have "a warrior’s spirit and the desire to improve themselves," right?

What kind of delusional god would try to sell me a "sentient machine awakening its soul" storyline?

The portal was still open.

Gu Sanqiu wasn’t about to sit around and find out what else might crawl through.

If a Ruin Grader showed up to perfectly complement this mechanical death squad, he’d be completely screwed.

Unlike living challengers, these things didn’t "lose" unless their cores were utterly destroyed.

BOOM!

Without hesitation, Gu Sanqiu swung both hammers and smashed into the easiest target—a Ruin Guard.

The other four types of Ruin Machines had a well-rounded tactical system:

• Long-range bombardment

• Heavy firepower output

• Defensive shielding from specialized units

If he wanted to survive, he had to eliminate the weakest link first.

WHOOSH!

A fierce tearing sound came from the side.

Gu Sanqiu twisted his body just in time to dodge the attack, but a lock of his hair was not as lucky.

High above, a Ruin Hunter hovered in midair, radiating scorching heat.

Its mechanical lance—which was actually its arm—retracted after its failed strike.

"Almost forgot about you."

Gu Sanqiu sneered.

A barrage of flaming projectiles shot toward the sky, aiming straight for the Ruin Hunter’s propulsion system.

But before they could connect, the Ruin Guard below immediately activated its spinning defense mode, disrupting Gu Sanqiu’s aim.

The Ruin Hunter easily evaded the flames, using its high mobility to its advantage.

Meanwhile, the ground units opened fire.

Land and sky alike were now covered in mechanical gunfire.

The intensity of the attacks was so overwhelming that even Gu Sanqiu had to activate his Geo shield while dodging frantically to avoid getting completely blown to bits.

This isn’t sustainable.

The Ruin Guard’s spinning attack never stopped—and unlike humans, machines didn’t get dizzy.

And these bastards were actually coordinating.

The Ruin Guard’s relentless spinning was restricting his movement.

The other Ruin Machines adjusted their firing pattern from scatter shots to precision targeting, focusing all firepower directly around him.

If there was only one Ruin Guard, Gu Sanqiu could have just stood there tanking its hits—or even stopped the machine by brute force.

But running into it now?

That was exactly what the enemy wanted him to do.

And the moment his movement was restricted, the Ruin Machine squad would unleash a full-force bombardment to bury him in firepower.

A deafening stomp echoed from the still-active portal.

A new challenger approached.

A massive figure stepped out.

Even more powerful heatwaves surged from its core.

The Ruin Grader had arrived.

"…Of course there’s a Ruin Grader."

Gu Sanqiu felt numb.

This entire encounter was just designed to be infuriating.

A perfectly coordinated squad of war machines, ganging up on a poor little forest boar—the firepower imbalance was obscene.

"[Rocksundering Strike]!"

Forcing himself through the pain, Gu Sanqiu slammed both hands onto the ground, channeling every ounce of his power into the earth.

BOOM!

At the exact same moment—

The Ruin Machines’ firepower surged to an even higher level.

Even the spinning Ruin Guard stopped moving, shifting to missile bombardment mode instead.

A barrage of warheads rained down on him.

"No way!"

The earthquake was already in motion—canceling it now would result in elemental backlash.

Forcing the energy back would only make the damage worse.

He couldn’t move.

"Screw it—"

"If I’m going down, I’m taking you all with me!"

With no time to think, Gu Sanqiu poured every last drop of energy into the arena itself.

This wasn’t just an earthquake anymore.

The tremors shattered the battlefield.

• The Ruin Machines lost their footing.

• Colossal stone spikes erupted from below.

• The entire Ruin Machine army was caught in the destruction.

The backline artillery units took the worst hit, their formation utterly devastated.

With the suppressive firepower reduced, Gu Sanqiu finally had breathing room.

But he wasn’t unscathed.

His entire body was riddled with wounds—it was as if he had just crawled out of an ancient torture device after experiencing lethal acupuncture therapy.

Looking at his hands, he noticed the worst damage—

• Internal injuries from energy overuse

• Burned, near-unrecognizable flesh from Ruin Machine firepower

His arms were practically "medium-rare" at this point.

With a deep breath, he let dark red flames engulf his wounds, burning away the damaged tissue to prevent further deterioration.

And all while dodging incoming fire.

What a pain in the ass.

But the Ruin Grader was just getting started.

• Its core glowed ominously.

• A massive energy cannon locked onto him.

• Floating energy spheres released continuous laser bombardments.

Unlike the other Ruin Machines’ wide-range attacks,

This was a direct, single-target execution.

"This is bad."

Gu Sanqiu had severely underestimated these stupid robots.

And now?

His situation wasn’t just bad.

It was horrifically disastrous.

Especially since—

The Ruin Machines were regenerating.

And their attack modules were being prioritized first.

"They can attack, they can tank, and they can heal?!"

"What kind of broken game balance is this?!"

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This is a fan translation of 原神之璃月奉香人 by 淡白蛋清. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!