The Weapon Master Shall Never Die Bare-Handed in Genshin Impact [408]

Khaenri’ah…?

Lumine remembered the name. She’d even looked it up while studying alchemy with Lisa, hoping to learn more from old records. But the archives offered little.

Now, at last, she had a clear answer.

Khaenri’ah was the nation destroyed five hundred years ago—the very battle she had seen before falling into slumber.

“So that’s how it is.”

Even Jax now grasped the core of it.

“So, Lumine, that makes you... what, at least five hundred years old, guaranteed?” he said with deliberate gravity.

“You really ought to take care of yourself, you know. Age doesn’t spare anyone.”

“...?”

A few question marks slowly floated above Lumine’s head. And then, as the realization hit, a storm of angry hashtags exploded over her brow.

Excuse me?

She, Lumine, had always been—was still—a forever youthful, radiant beauty.

Elderly, he says?

She could still sit around sharing love poems with the pretty girls in Mondstadt, for Archon’s sake!

Jax the Greenie really knew how to get on her nerves.

“Hmph! I don’t even age! Not like you, Green-Lips! You practically cried when Klee called you ‘Uncle Honorary Knight’!”

Her words were sharp as arrows—and they landed squarely in Jax’s chest.

Dainsleif, uninterested in their verbal sparring match, turned his attention to Lumine.

“When it comes to Khaenri’ah… I know more than either of you.”

“It was a nation without gods. Not like Mondstadt or Liyue, where the Archons left or perished. No—Khaenri’ah had no gods to begin with.”

He said this with chilling calm, like he was recounting someone else’s tragedy, not his own.

“A nation created solely by humanity. And its people took great pride in its strength and prosperity.”

“But… five hundred years ago, the gods descended—together—and destroyed it.”

“All the gods?”

Lumine was stunned.

“You mean… Venti and Zhongli were part of it too?”

She looked at Dainsleif, dazed.

Back during their travels, she and Jax had already figured out that Dain knew Venti was the Anemo Archon, and Zhongli the Geo Archon.

And now… he even knew the details of Khaenri’ah’s fall five centuries ago?

Who was he, really?

More than that… the destruction of an entire nation—

Lumine thought of Venti’s carefree demeanor, and Zhongli’s calm wisdom.

It was hard to believe they had taken part in something like that.

“The gods descended together… and crushed Khaenri’ah beneath their feet.” Dainsleif continued, “What they called ‘human pride’… was ripped out like weeds from the garden of divinity.”

“That’s…”

Lumine hesitated, troubled by his words.

“So what were you, Dain?” Jax asked.
“Where did you stand in all of this?”

He could accept Dain’s story—but not without questions.

“Let’s keep moving.”

Dainsleif motioned forward.

“I’ll explain more on the way.”

And so, the three of them continued their pursuit of the Abyss Herald.

Along the way, Paimon brought up the Ruin Guards.

“I still can’t believe Ruin Guards and Abyss Mages both come from Khaenri’ah… Did Khaenri’ah just have tons of ruins to guard or something?”

“No. ‘Ruin Guard’ is a name modern people gave them based on their appearance. But five hundred years ago, they were called something else…”

Dain paused, then said,

“Their code name was ‘Ploughers.’”

“Ploughers? That’s a weird name. Wait, they were used for farming?”

Lumine looked thoroughly confused.

Dain explained,

“The term was a codename—Khaenri’ans gave their weapons such titles.”

“‘The land is not to be tilled with tools, but conquered with iron and blood.’

That was the philosophy that gave rise to the Ploughers.”

His voice was steady, but his words made Lumine swallow nervously.

“That kind of… farming doesn’t sound like a good thing at all…”

Dain didn’t respond.

They continued on, dispatching more Abyss Mages tangled with malfunctioning Ruin Guards.

From the defeated mages, strange runes floated into the air. Dainsleif interpreted them.

Lumine was surprised to learn he could even read the language of Khaenri’ah.

The Abyss Order’s plan had a name:

“The Loom of Fate.”

And at the heart of that plan—

—was the God of Storms, Decabarian.

The Abyss Order intended to transform Decabarian into a weapon of war.

They would rebuild the god’s body using the same technology used to forge the Ploughers—

—in short, a mechanized god.

It sounded like pure fantasy. But something about it chilled them.

The Abyss Order would use the Inverted Statue of Impurity as the base, fusing it with Osial’s remains to create the mechanical god.

And to replace the orb once held by the statue—they would use the eye of the first Plougher ever built.

“A prototype unit?”

Jax blinked.

“Wait, so Khaenri’ah built... a ‘Unit-01’?”

“As the first prototype, the materials used were extraordinarily rare,” Dain said calmly.

“As I mentioned before—placing that eye into the palm of the Inverted Statue… will grant the newborn aberration the power to shake the thrones of Celestia.”

“Shake… the thrones of Celestia?”

Lumine’s breath caught.

“But now that you’ve taken the statue,” Dain looked at Jax, “the Abyss Order would have to steal another one to continue their plan.”

“And that’s not exactly easy. Which means our priority… is to find that eye before they do.”

“But we don’t even know where to start looking…”

Paimon thought for a moment.

“Maybe we can ask around at the Mondstadt Cathedral! We might learn something about the statues too!”

…

Dainsleif’s face darkened at the mention of the cathedral.

Soon, they arrived at Mondstadt.

Back in the plaza where they’d once held a grand banquet, the towering statue of Barbatos loomed overhead.

Dainsleif stared at it.

“This one’s my favorite,” Jax said to Dain.

“The view from its hand is amazing.”

“Hmph.”

Dain scoffed.

“A massive statue. A grand cathedral. The people of Mondstadt must’ve poured enormous resources into building them.”

“But how much of that did the Anemo Archon even notice? How much did he repay?”

“A lot!”

Lumine answered without hesitation.

“I think Ven— I mean, the Anemo Archon—has repaid it more than enough!”

“Besides, faith isn’t about getting something back in return.”

Dain folded his arms.

“Assigning value to these things is absurd in itself.”

“Anyway, we should go ask at the cathedral,” Lumine said.

“We might learn something useful.”

But Dainsleif refused to go any farther.

“I’ve never received blessings from the gods. I never will.”

He looked at Lumine and Jax.

“And when a denier of faith steps into a sanctuary... it never ends well.”

“But the Anemo Archon isn’t—”

Lumine began to defend Venti, but Jax gently nudged her forward.

“Alright, if you’re not coming, then Lumine and I will go.”
He shrugged.

“Your opinion might be a little extreme, but... I’ll respect it.”

With that, Jax gave Lumine a little push, cutting off whatever she was about to say, and guided her toward the cathedral.

As they walked away, Dainsleif’s voice followed them:

“One last warning—don’t take out the Inverted Statue of Impurity.”

“If the Church of Favonius gets involved without understanding the stakes, it’ll only alert the enemy. And anyone who meddles with the Abyss… rarely meets a good end.”

Lumine and Jax left him behind. At a quiet spot outside the cathedral, they paused for a quick exchange.

“Dainsleif… definitely isn’t normal,” Lumine murmured, brows furrowed.

The amount of hidden knowledge he possessed—he was far from an ordinary person.

“And his hostility toward the gods… it runs deep. Deeper than mine.”

Even when Lumine was falsely accused of assassinating the Geo Archon, she only fled to avoid trouble.

But Dain…
His rejection of the Archons seemed rooted in something much deeper.

“I think his background’s pretty obvious,” Jax said, shrugging.

“He’s probably from Khaenri’ah. A citizen of a fallen nation, destroyed by the Seven.”

“If my home were wiped out by the Archons, I probably wouldn’t be too fond of them either…”

“But Venti and Zhongli just don’t seem like the type!”

Lumine clenched her fists.

Everything she’d seen and experienced told her they weren’t capable of that kind of cruelty.

“Still… the war five hundred years ago was real.”

Jax said casually,

“Among the current Seven, only Anemo and Geo are original Archons. The others weren’t even around back then.”

“The Dendro Archon, for instance—known as the ‘Little Lord Kusanali’—only came into power after the cataclysm. She’s barely over five hundred years old.”

“The Electro Archon? She may not be as new as the Dendro Archon, but she only ascended to her position during the cataclysm.”

“So then.”

Jax spoke with a calm tone.

“What exactly happened five hundred years ago... that led to more than one god being replaced?”

“The Ploughers were machines built to seize land by force. That alone tells us plenty about what kind of nation Khaenri’ah was.”

He continued,

“Remember what we saw back in the snowy mountains?”

“Someone once built a godless nation.”

“As a friend,” Jax said clearly, “I trust Venti. I trust Zhongli. If they did take part in that destruction... then they must have had a reason.”

“That... does make some sense.”

Lumine’s voice wavered with uncertainty.

“But... Celestia...”

“Why is Celestia suddenly involved?”

Lumine frowned.

“If Abyss Mages and Ruin Guards both came from Khaenri’ah... then doesn’t that mean Abyss Mages used to be human?”

“No idea.”

Jax answered bluntly.

“Some things just aren’t ours to understand right now.”

“Let’s keep going. The more we learn, the clearer everything will become.”

Eventually, Jax, Lumine, and Paimon entered the cathedral—

—and found Barbara, kneeling in quiet prayer.

As both a Deaconess of the Church and a descendant of the Gunnhildr family, she was sure to know a great deal.

From Barbara, they learned something peculiar—

One of the Statues of The Seven had gone missing.

When they asked about other strange occurrences, they were told of something called...

“The Tyrant’s Resentment.”

Apparently, for a time, the Stormterror’s Lair region had become abnormally dangerous—
Even approaching the area would trigger sudden fireball attacks from the sky.

Only after some time did the phenomenon settle.

“The Tyrant’s Resentment?”

Jax’s attention sharpened.

He knew the story of the Tyrant.

And he also knew—the Tyrant’s death hadn’t left behind any kind of grudge.

Which meant… the fireballs had to be something else.

Just as that thought took root, Rosaria arrived, long spear in hand.

“You’re here?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“If you’re looking for the Knights, they’re busy.”

“Those monsters are back again.”

“Monsters?”

Paimon tilted her head.

“Abyss Mages,” Rosaria said flatly.

“They’ve gathered in Wolvendom. The wolves are restless—probably because they’ve set their sights on Andrius’s lingering spirit.”

“Tch. These Abyss Mages—leave them alone for three days and they start tearing the roof off the house!”

Lumine’s expression turned dark in an instant.

Her big, fluffy one was in danger.

Without him, where would she find that perfect, cozy fur to lie in—warm in the winter, cool in the summer?!

“They’re planning to do to Fluffy what they did to Dvalin?!”

“Unforgivable.”

Murderous intent began to rise around her.

“We’re going to help. Now.”

They’d already gathered as much intel as they could—

—and Lumine was more than ready to fight.

Besides, Dainsleif would probably be interested in this new Abyss Order activity as well.

Jax and Lumine exited the cathedral and gave Dain a quick rundown.
Dain’s brows furrowed in thought.

“The god Andrius has long since passed.”

He gave his judgment.

“What those Abyss Mages are likely after... is something the Anemo Archon’s beast left behind.”

---

This is a fan translation of 武器大师在原神绝不死于徒手 by 徐人双 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!