The Weapon Master Shall Never Die Bare-Handed in Genshin Impact [425]

“Ah! That was Zhongli’s voice, from behind the tree!” Paimon jumped, eyes wide with curiosity. “Did he find something again?”

“Only one way to find out,” Jia Changjiang said, already striding in the direction of the voice.

As the others followed and caught up to Zhongli, they saw—just behind him—a cave opening beneath the tree roots.

The soil around it was fresh. It looked like the tunnel had only recently been dug.

“This passage is newly excavated,” Zhongli said, his voice low. “Which means... the answer lies ahead.”

Even as he spoke, strange rustling sounds echoed from deeper inside the tunnel—accompanied by the sharp clang of pickaxes striking stone.

“Ahh!” Paimon flinched. “There’s something in the tunnel! I am not going in first!”

“Relax. I’ll take the lead,” Zhongli replied with calm assurance, his tone enough to ease the tension around him.

“Better let me go first,” Jia Changjiang said. “Since we don’t know what’s waiting in there…”

He glanced at Lumine and Paimon. “Lumine! Paimon!”

“Got it!”

Lumine and Jia Changjiang exchanged a look—clearly already on the same wavelength. Without hesitation, Lumine reached for her waist.

“Transformation time!”

With a loud shout, she and Jia Changjiang both pulled out jet-black armor and began suiting up.

Even Paimon, sensing the seriousness of the situation, clumsily wriggled into her own miniature armor set.

“What... are you all doing?” Even Zhongli—so rarely surprised—was momentarily speechless as he watched the scene unfold.

He didn’t yet realize that this wasn’t the first time Jia Changjiang and Lumine had suited up before battle…

The last time was in front of Dainsleif…

“Put on the best armor in the village—no, the best armor we have right now!”

Lumine, fully armored, casually picked up a one-handed sword, then turned toward—

She paused, reconsidered, and instead swung her blade at Jia Changjiang, who was also now fully armored.

Clang!

The sword struck his black armor with a crisp metallic ring—but not even a scratch was left behind.

“See? Doesn’t this make you feel way safer?” Lumine grinned proudly, waiting for praise with her Wasn’t that smart of me? expression.

She didn’t notice the large hand now reaching toward her golden head—unprotected by a helmet.

“Ow! That hurts!”

Jia Changjiang pinched her temples, and she yelped in protest.

“Hahaha…”

Kun Jun, who had been hesitant to enter the tunnel at first, couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Once everyone had regrouped, Jia Changjiang took up his black dragon lance and shield, fastened his helmet, and positioned himself at the front.

“Leave it to me,” he said firmly. “This time, I’ll take point.”

“So long as I’m standing, no one will get past me.”

His eyes gleamed with determination.

“…There’s something unusual at the end of the tunnel,” Zhongli added after a pause. “Be cautious.”

“Of course!”

Jia Changjiang gave a wide grin. “You can always count on me.”

As they stepped into the newly-dug passage, they quickly spotted three men in miner’s garb—digging furiously downward.

And in the rock they were chipping away at...

Was a seal.

“What’s that?! Has it been here all along?” Paimon asked in alarm.

“That’s... an ancient seal,” Zhongli replied, watching the frenzied miners. “It seems this entire tunnel was dug by their own hands, under duress.”

“If no one had found them, they might have kept digging like this...”

His gaze sharpened, focusing on the stone-bound sigil. “Until they broke the seal.”

“Hmm?” Lumine narrowed her eyes. “If ordinary miners can undo it, doesn’t that make it a pretty weak seal?”

“No, no—the important part isn’t how it’s sealed,” Paimon pointed out. “It’s what’s inside that seal!”

Even as Paimon spoke, the miners noticed the group’s presence.

With red-rimmed eyes and iron pickaxes gripped tight, they charged.

“They’re being controlled!”

“Knock them out!” Jia Changjiang ordered.

He dropped his lance, stepped forward, and landed a clean uppercut on the first miner’s jaw.

The man collapsed instantly, unconscious.

Lumine wasn’t far behind. With a single strike, she took down the second.

Just as the two prepared to subdue the third miner—

A small figure with blue hair suddenly appeared behind them.

“Zhongli!”

Lumine turned and shouted a warning—just in time to see the girl, Jiu, rush at Zhongli, tendrils of black mist swirling around her.

Zhongli didn’t turn.

But Kun Jun’s body began to glow faintly with white light—and intercepted her.

Black clashed with white.

Zhongli let out a faint sigh and finally turned to face them.

And in that same moment—

The seal behind them released a tremendous suction force, pulling everyone toward it.

Lumine had just enough time to clearly see the attacker—Jiu, the same girl she and Jia Changjiang had encountered before.

“MORAX!!!!!!”

Jiu screamed, her voice seething with fury. Her body dissolved into black smoke—and disappeared into the seal.

In a matter of seconds, the entire group was pulled inside.

Jia Changjiang landed cleanly.

Lumine, however, smacked into the ground—chest first—with a thud.

As she pushed herself up, what she saw took her breath away.

A colossal geo dragon, its form bound in place by thick, jagged earthen pillars, raised its forelegs and slammed them to the ground—shattering its restraints.

“MORAX!!! You dare deliver yourself to me! Makes my vengeance all the more convenient!!”

The dragon’s roar shook the vast cavern they had fallen into.

“What... what is that thing?! A dragon?! A geo dragon?!” Lumine exclaimed.

She’d suspected that anything involving Zhongli wouldn’t be simple—

But she never imagined something of this scale would be hidden beneath the Fulong Tree.

And in such a massive subterranean space, no less.

“Azhdaha...”

Zhongli’s voice was low, pained.

“So the girl was a manifestation of your lingering power... It was she who led the miners to break your seal.”

His eyes dimmed slightly. “But Azhdaha—if you remember anything at all—you must know this was never what either of us intended.”

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