Doubts Abound

Lu Chen gripped the four elemental powers tightly and charged at the Anemo Hypostasis.

As he closed in, the wind around him grew increasingly fierce. When he was less than fifty meters away, the jade shield surrounding his body began to flicker and showed signs of cracking.

The heavy Geo shield was already struggling to withstand the force of the gales. Feeling the pressure, Lu Chen kept channeling Geo energy from beneath his feet, causing bricks and debris to rise into the air.

He continuously drew in pure Geo energy, rapidly repairing the weakening jade shield.

When he was within twenty meters, even lifting his arm felt sluggish—it had become nearly impossible to move forward.

In a storm like this, an ordinary person would be torn to shreds in an instant.

But this distance was close enough. Narrowing his eyes, Lu Chen locked onto the core wrapped at the center of the elemental cubes.

He was confident—a single blow would be enough to paralyze the Anemo Hypostasis.

Just as he was about to strike, Venti's voice suddenly rang out.

"Wait, there's a reason it's like this!"

"What?"

Lu Chen turned toward Venti. In that moment of distraction, the Anemo Hypostasis, sensing the surge of killing intent and danger, immediately shifted form.

Its cubic shell contracted rapidly, trying to protect its fragile core.

At the same time, a dozen tornadoes erupted from all directions, swirling toward the center of the plaza.

No good! Time was running out. This thing was getting more unstable—he couldn't afford to wait!

Ignoring Venti's warning, Lu Chen thrust the Lion's Roar forward at lightning speed.

Just as the cubes were about to close, his full-force strike slipped precisely into the narrowing gap.

The clashing elements painted a brilliant tapestry across the sky.

The force of the impact sent Lu Chen flying backward in midair. He quickly steadied himself using Anemo energy.

Looking again, the core trembled violently, and the Anemo Hypostasis's movements turned stiff and sluggish.

Venti watched with a sigh as the massive elemental being began to crumble, letting out garbled, incomprehensible sounds.

All around the plaza, the tornadoes faded before fully forming, and the violent wind slowly died down.

The change made Lu Chen breathe a sigh of relief. He manipulated the wind element to fly toward Venti.

The Anemo Hypostasis spoke in broken, fading fragments, as if trying to communicate. Venti silently watched, worry etched on her face, as black tendrils twisted around the elemental creature's body.

"What's it saying?" Lu Chen asked.

Venti raised a finger to her lips, motioning for silence—the creature's voice was barely audible now.

Lu Chen glanced at the weakened elemental lifeform and, after confirming it was no longer a threat, descended to the ground.

The Anemo Hypostasis wasn't dead yet, so the secret realm merging the worlds still remained.

Lu Chen made his way toward the barren plains of Mondstadt, where almost no vegetation was left, and began searching.

Sadly, the area had been nearly destroyed by the rampaging elemental being. Lu Chen sighed as he scanned the surroundings, walking until he reached the edge of the domain.

Amazingly, a few Cecilia flowers still clung to life there.

He considered picking them but hesitated. It felt wrong to kill something that had survived such a storm. Instead, he carefully dug them up, soil and roots intact.

After wandering the empty wilderness for a while longer, the surrounding scenery began to fade—the secret realm was about to dissolve.

Looking to the distance, Lu Chen saw the island slowly return to calm.

[Achievement Unlocked: Abnormal Wind]

[Defeated Anemo Hypostasis and resolved the Anemo anomaly]

[Reward: 1,000 Primogems and 1,000,000 real-world currency]

Lu Chen walked to the center of the plaza, collected the loot from the ornate treasure chest into his inventory, then turned to see Venti still frowning.

"I've got some bad news."

"What is it?" Lu Chen asked.

Venti pointed to the spot where the Anemo Hypostasis had fallen.

"It said that not long ago, a group of mysterious individuals captured and controlled it. That was when it became tainted with this black substance."

Lu Chen looked at the black tendrils, now fading with the dissolving secret realm. The situation suddenly felt more serious.

"This black stuff... it's Abyssal in nature. So, the ones who took control of Anemo Hypostasis..."

Lu Chen and Venti exchanged grim looks.

"It was the Abyss Order," Venti said with certainty.

"Did it say anything else?" Lu Chen asked urgently.

Venti shook her head and replied with a trace of frustration, "I was about to soothe it, and then you just cut it down in one blow."

"I was just trying to keep everyone safe..." Lu Chen stared at the vanishing domain. When he saw the last trace of Abyssal energy return to Teyvat, he finally felt some relief.

"Yeah, I get it..." Venti sighed. "It had been corrupted by the Abyss for so long that it lost control and could no longer communicate. It only regained some clarity right before it died..."

"There's no other useful intel," Venti continued. "It just kept repeating how much pain it was in, how it was captured and imprisoned for a long time..."

"Imprisoned for a long time?" Lu Chen frowned. What exactly is the Abyss trying to achieve?

The Anemo Dragon incident in Mondstadt was still fresh in their minds—neither he nor Venti could take this lightly.

But the Anemo Dragon was a direct descendant of the Anemo Archon, while the Anemo Hypostasis was merely a high-level elemental lifeform. Why would the Abyss Order bother with a being of this tier?

The entire situation remained full of unanswered questions.

There was no time to ponder further—Lu Chen's sharp eyes spotted several shadows on the horizon.

"What's that...?"

He focused, activating his superhuman senses, and finally saw what those black shapes were.

"Planes... no, helicopters."

"Armed helicopters..."

Looks like the storm had caused quite a commotion. Lu Chen muttered, "We'd better get out of here. If we're spotted, it'll be a huge problem."

He turned around—only to find that Venti had already vanished, leaving nothing but a breeze behind.

Seriously?! That fast?

"What am I supposed to do now that you ran off?!"

Lu Chen grumbled, wishing he could vanish into the wind too—but unfortunately, he didn't have that ability...

Still, with power now rivaling that of a demigod and growing mastery over the elements...

Muttering about Venti ditching him, Lu Chen made his way to the edge of the island cliff. Gathering a surge of wind energy, he wrapped it around himself.

Then, he jumped into the sea.

Underwater, Lu Chen used Hydro energy to propel himself forward.

Ten meters deep, he shot through the water like a torpedo, comically racing toward the opposite shore of the strait...