"Ya! Ya! Wuu~"
"Ya! Ya! Yi~"
The Abyss Mages hopped up and down as they chanted strange, incomprehensible sounds from their mouths.
The black mist around them grew thicker and thicker.
Jiang Yan watched quietly from the sky above.
When the black fog began to spread outward, Jiang Yan frowned. The Snake Talisman lit up in his mind, and his figure vanished completely.
From what Jiang Yan remembered, in the game, this kind of chanting from Abyss Mages only happened when their shields were broken and they were summoning new ones.
But judging from the scene before him, these mages were clearly not summoning shields.
After hopping and chanting for a while, the Abyss Mages below raised both hands and began waving them rhythmically.
The black mist seemed to receive some kind of command, slowly rotating around the Abyss Mages' bodies.
Immediately after, under their control, the black mist began to condense and sink down onto the ground.
Then, a figure gradually emerged from the fog.
A red Abyss Mage appeared from within the mist. It dispersed the fog and hopped its way toward the group of Abyss Mages.
Jiang Yan stood frozen in midair, completely stunned.
This…
This, this, this!!
Holy—!
An Abyss Mage was just born like that???
So that's how Abyss Mages come into existence?!
What?!
Jiang Yan wore a look of utter disbelief.
He had always thought that Abyss Mages were humans corrupted by Abyssal power.
But instead, they were genuine creations of the Abyss itself.
This whole operation completely caught Jiang Yan off guard.
If Abyss Mages were born this way, then how were Abyss Lectors—
and even Abyss Baptizers above them—created?
Hiss…
Jiang Yan felt his scalp go numb.
After witnessing this process, Jiang Yan's understanding of the Abyss deepened even further.
After all, personally watching the birth of an Abyss Mage was about as direct an insight into the Abyss as one could get.
However, he didn't linger on these Abyss Mages for long.
He needed to continue flying deeper into the Abyss to investigate further.
Toward the core of the Abyss!
At the same time, he wanted to observe how such a massive Abyss had come into being in the first place.
Along the way, Jiang Yan saw many Abyss Mages busily occupied with their own tasks.
Some were summoning new Abyss Mages.
Others were mining a kind of stone that emitted a faint purple glow.
Tsk.
How should he put it…
After flying around for most of the day, Jiang Yan felt that these Abyssal creations were all extremely strange.
But how exactly was it strange?
He couldn't quite put it into words.
It just felt… off.
Like… a group of machines that had already been assigned their roles.
Every individual seemed to have its own fixed task to carry out.
As Jiang Yan continued flying, he suddenly noticed something surging in the far distance.
He narrowed his eyes, trying to make out what it was.
But no matter how hard he focused his vision, the surging mass remained blurry.
Damn—still too far away?
Jiang Yan was a bit surprised.
His eyesight was absurdly sharp, yet even so, that distant area remained indistinct.
Without hesitation, he immediately kicked into high-speed flight, his velocity increasing sharply!
Finally, as he drew closer, Jiang Yan was able to clearly see what that surging mass actually was.
Fog!
That's right—black fog laced with faint purple light!
Staring at the fog, Jiang Yan felt an inexplicable chill crawl up his spine.
And behind that fog… was a cliff face.
Yes, a solid mountain wall.
The entire subterranean Abyss felt as though someone had forcibly carved it out deep beneath the continent of Teyvat.
But what kind of existence could have created such an enormous region without the surface world noticing—
and even produced such a vast number of Abyssal monsters?
After scanning the surroundings and confirming that there were no other paths—only the mountain wall ahead—Jiang Yan descended to the ground.
"Tsk tsk tsk… If I were to punch through that cliff, what would happen?"
After weighing the idea for a moment, Jiang Yan ultimately abandoned it.
Leaving aside how thick the cliff might be,
even if he did break through it, no one knew what lay beyond.
If this truly was the depths of Teyvat, smashing through the rock might very well damage the continent's very foundation.
That was something Jiang Yan absolutely did not want to see.
"Tsk. Better head back for now."
After observing the cliff to no avail, Jiang Yan decided to return the way he came.
"Y–You… you are Lord Lector?"
Just as Jiang Yan was about to leave, a tiny, trembling voice suddenly rang out nearby.
A Electro Abyss Mage cautiously approached, its bean-sized eyes filled with fear.
Jiang Yan's heart skipped a beat. He immediately assumed the posture and bearing of an Abyss Lector.
"You—why are you here?"
Jiang Yan's cold voice echoed from beneath the mask, making the Electro Abyss Mage shudder violently.
"M–My lord, this subordinate was ordered to prepare the Tide-Calling Ritual here!"
The Tide-Calling Ritual?
Behind the mask, Jiang Yan's eyes narrowed slightly.
He hadn't expected that this trip would bring an additional harvest of information!
His intuition told him that this Tide-Calling Ritual was definitely not something simple.
"Oh? Is that so? Then how are the preparations coming along?"
Although he was completely in the dark about what the ritual actually was, Jiang Yan couldn't afford to reveal his ignorance.
If an Abyss Lector didn't even know about an important ritual, it would immediately raise suspicion.
Jiang Yan suddenly regretted not carefully reviewing Violet Thunder's memories.
Back then, in order to quickly obtain the Abyss's coordinates, he had skimmed them very roughly.
And after that, he had directly erased Violet Thunder altogether.
How was he supposed to know the Abyss even had some ritual like this?
"Reporting to my lord, the preparations are nearly complete."
"I was just about to return to Abyss City to report this matter, when I happened to encounter you."
The Electro Abyss Mage spoke respectfully.
Abyss City…
Jiang Yan felt that he was uncovering more and more secrets.
"Mm. Very good."
"I originally intended to come and inspect things myself. Since you've already finished, come back with me."
Jiang Yan said calmly to the Electro Abyss Mage.
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