228: Wild Dreams Hidden in the Abyss

"Come here, let's distribute some items."

After a flash of blue light, everyone arrived at an underground cave. Huo Xi suddenly opened the Gate of Babylon to distribute Noble Phantasms to everyone.

Among the group, except for a few individuals holding five-star weapons, the others either lacked such high-tier equipment or had come empty-handed.

In a while, they would have to face a massive number of Abyssal Monsters and the remains of Bosacius at the innermost depths. How could they manage without some handy gear?

Huo Xi was generous this time, taking out many high-level Noble Phantasms to lend them, including some with strong utility.

"Bosacius, you use lightning arts and excel at stealth. Take this [Perseus's Invisibility Helmet]."

"Alatus, you are agile and can easily get close to enemies. Take [Gae Bolg]."

"Shenhe, you possess immense strength. Keep this [Belt of the War God] safe."

"Yanfei, you are exceptionally intelligent. I give you [Rule Breaker]."

"Yakoda, you need to protect Zhi Qiong, which is the most difficult task. I'll leave this [Achilles Cosmos] to you."

Of course, Huo Xi didn't just distribute these few items; he essentially gave everyone a Noble Phantasm he deemed most suitable.

For someone smart like Yanfei, a functional item like [Rule Breaker], specifically designed to sever contracts and cut through magecraft, was quite fitting.

For the Yakshas, he distributed items based on their combat habits. For instance, despite his immense strength, Bosacius was actually better at stealth operations, so Huo Xi gave him the invisibility helmet used to slay Medusa.

The Gae Bolg he gave to Xiao is the so-called 'Gay Bulga'. In Celtic mythology, it's the divine spear of the Sun God, but in type-moon history, it was modified by Mushroom into a causality-based Noble Phantasm that guaranteed a strike to the heart once launched.

Shenhe's [Belt of the War God] was left by Mars to the Amazon warriors, while Yakoda's [Achilles Cosmos] was a shield.

Actually, Huo Xi originally wanted to give her a great bow, since Miss Yakoda is an Archer.

But ordinary bow-type Noble Phantasms were somewhat beneath her. Should he give her Heracles' [True Nine Lives] or Gilgamesh's [Merodach]?

No, with Miss Yakoda's strength, she might actually unleash 100% of a Noble Phantasm's power. If she upgraded Merodach into a strike of The Hunt and blew up my Teyvat, that would be bad.

Considering Zhi Qiong was an ordinary person who didn't even possess elemental energy, even giving her some automatic defense Noble Phantasms might not be safe. So, in the end, he gave Yakoda a shield.

Yakoda looked at Huo Xi with her mouth slightly open: "But, but I'm an Archer!"

Sorry, Miss Yakoda, I'm doing this for everyone's safety.

After distributing a round of items, Huo Xi gradually fell silent as he saw the expectant gazes of Hu Tao and Lumine.

He thought for a moment and pulled out a banner emitting black mist.

"This Anti-Army Noble Phantasm, the Ten Thousand Souls... Human Emperor Banner. Which of you likes it?"

"You just said Ten Thousand Souls Banner, didn't you?"

"It's the Human Emperor Banner."

"Take back this evil thing that's gushing out black mist!"

"This is Primordial Purple Qi."

"Take it back."

"Fine..."

Finally, Huo Xi pulled out another banner and a jar.

"Give the banner to Hu Tao. This is called the Soul-Guiding Banner. You have experience with souls, so use this for guiding them."

Then he gave the jar to Lumine: "This jar is called [Canopic]. It's a Noble Phantasm for containing souls. As for why I'm giving these two to you..."

Huo Xi leaned down and whispered: "I might do something later that has a chance of triggering another heavenly nail. When that happens, I can't leave the Adepti to deal with it alone. If I interrupt the ritual to intercept the heavenly nail, you two will be responsible for collecting the lingering souls here."

Lumine and Hu Tao were dumbfounded: "Big Dummy Xi, what are you planning to do?!"

...That being said, they didn't actually encounter any danger in the subsequent process. Everyone excitedly held their awesome Noble Phantasms but found no place to use them.

Huo Xi led the group like a tour guide, strolling here and there, opening a few treasure chests as they walked, and solving a few puzzles along the way.

Believe it or not, they really did find that room that reflects what everyone fears most.

Menogias smiled gently. He thought Huo Xi was just exaggerating and wondered what could actually be in there. Then, he took the lead and walked in.

Inside, a maddened Indarias rushed over, claws waving.

"Eek!!! Don't come over here!!!"

Not wanting to die at the hands of his siblings again, Menogias turned and ran. Indarias, who was in the group, covered her face: "I was out of my mind back then, stop looking at me!"

Lumine went in to try it out. Just like in the game, she was transported into the Abyss and then fell from the sky. But rest assured, with Huo Xi there, Lumine fell directly into his arms.

Hu Tao went in to try it out and saw Liyue's Ley Lines completely collapsed. She needed to serve as the Gate of Death to re-forge Taodu. It was unclear whether she feared the destruction of the boundary between life and death, or her own inevitable fate of dying.

Yanfei also walked in, and inside appeared... a blurry figure of a man going out to have fun with Huo Xi, followed by a scene where Lumine filed a lawsuit against her brother and husband in court. It was her greatest fear: a civil dispute.

Finally, Huo Xi went in to try it out. He saw a scene where Surtalogi realized he couldn't beat him, turned around, and fled, while he chased after him with a spear.

He flees, he chases, he cannot escape even with wings.

Huo Xi suddenly realized, "So I'm afraid of him running away..." Shortly after the group left, as several hidden secret rooms were forcibly demolished by Huo Xi, a Domain entrance appeared before them.

Huo Xi said to everyone: "This is where Yelan's ancestor and Bosacius used the fantastic compass to seal the Abyssal Monsters."

"fantastic compass?" Yanfei immediately caught the keyword.

Huo Xi smiled at her: "Unexpected, right? The fantastic compass is a Catalyst that requires both an Adeptus and a human to use. Back then, Boyang and Bosacius worked together to set this seal, locking the Abyssal Monsters in the deepest part of this underground palace. Only then was the pressure on the front lines above Liyue greatly relieved."

"This place is a one-way passage—once you enter, you can't leave."

The group didn't worry because of the 'one-way passage' comment, as Huo Xi's demeanor was far too relaxed. It was obvious he had a backup plan.

However, Lan Yan took out her small compass. After carefully interpreting the information ahead, she looked into the Domain with a slight gravity: "The epicenter of the riot my family sensed before is also in here, and... there's more than one! It's not just the Abyssal pollution rioting; there's another massive, murky thing rioting as well!"

Huo Xi knew what that was. That so-called 'other thing' was likely the vengeful spirits Zhongli was worried about. After five hundred years of accumulation and constant erosion by the Abyss, they had likely turned into some kind of indescribable entity.

Huo Xi spoke up to dispel everyone's doubts: "Let's go in and take a look. Everyone do your part. Yakoda, your main job is to protect Paimon and Zhi Qiong. If things really get out of hand, I'll step in."

Then he was the first to step into the Domain entrance.

Lumine gripped her twin swords and followed closely, with the others entering one by one.

The five Yakshas were at the very back this time. Xiao and the others looked at Bosacius, who was quietly staring at the entrance.

"Is this... my end?"

His four arms reached out and patted the backs of the four: "Let's go. Accompany me one last time."

""Okay.""

The figures of the five also disappeared into the gate of light... Everyone was carrying the Noble Phantasms Huo Xi had given them. Entering this gate came with its own positioning, so there was no need to worry about being transported to different places.

And when everyone entered the Domain, the sight before them was truly breathtaking.

Inside the Domain was a vast, open space. Surrounded by jagged high mountains and bizarrely shaped trees growing wildly, there was also a half-person-tall compass embedded in the ground.

However, further away, a colossal compass that seemed to reach the heavens stood like a giant object supporting the sky. Perhaps because it was too far away, its appearance was somewhat blurred.

"Wow... so cool. Is that the fantastic compass?" Yakoda asked, pointing at the giant compass in the sky.

Seeing Huo Xi nod, Yakoda looked at Yanfei: "How are you going to move it?"

Yanfei's mouth twitched: "I don't need to move that. That big one, including this half-person-tall one in front of us, should just be some kind of mechanism left behind after using the fantastic compass."

Yakoda leaned back in tactical awe: "Cool!"

Yelan walked over to the fantastic compass with her arms crossed and began to observe: "So, we should solve the mechanism of this compass, right?"

At these words, the eyes of Lumine, Zhi Qiong, Yakoda, Hu Tao, and the others lit up, and they all crowded around to start studying it.

Huo Xi strolled around the area with his arms crossed, already prepared to laugh. If he could connect to Earth's internet right now, he would definitely start a bet with everyone.

Every time this fantastic compass was adjusted incorrectly, the portal would lead to another similar space where there was also a fantastic compass, requiring you to readjust and run another lap.

The median for the bet would be set at CEO Hun's 34 laps. He'd bet with everyone to see if these guys could surpass CEO Hun and create a legend!

However, while Huo Xi was fantasizing, a loud roar suddenly came from the sky. Huo Xi quickly looked up and saw that a giant crack had appeared, piercing through the entire fantastic compass in the sky!

The entire fantastic compass tilted to both sides like Mount Hua being split open. Its massive weight actually crushed the high mountains on both sides.

Huo Xi quickly looked back at Hu Tao and the others, only to see Yanfei still maintaining the posture of piercing the fantastic compass with [Rule Breaker].

Yanfei looked at Huo Xi with an embarrassed expression: "Uh, didn't you say this knife can cut through all magecraft and contracts and stuff? I just thought I'd give it a try..."

Huo Xi gave her a thumbs up. Giving this thing to you was really not a mistake; I didn't even think it could be used like this.

In the next moment, all the spaces acting as illusions shattered layer by layer like mirrors. It turned out that different spaces were superimposed within the same area, with several layers of space acting as each other's inner and outer surfaces. Every time a failed adjustment was made, the top-layer relationship between the spaces would change.

And now, all the false layers acting as misleading options were deleted in one go, and the only correct space was revealed before everyone.

Centering on the position where Huo Xi and the others stood, the entire space began a Hitchcock zoom toward the surroundings, and the depth of field instantly stretched!

This was a situation like the expansion of the universe itself—it wasn't the distance increasing, but the space itself expanding.

And dotted on the ground like stars were densely packed Abyssal Monsters.

Rifthounds, Hilichurl Rogues, Lawachurls, Abyss Heralds, Abyss Commentators, and even the thousands of Millelith soldiers who had died here a thousand years ago. The only common point among these diverse monsters was that they were all formed by the mimicry of constantly restless Abyss Power.

Seeing this, everyone raised their respective five-star weapons or Noble Phantasms.

Zhi Qiong hid behind Yakoda, unable to help feeling some lingering fear. If she hadn't come here with everyone, would she have had to face this kind of scene alone one day during her adventures? Would she have become one of the thousands of missing persons in The Chasm?

Her body shuddered, and her fingers gripped Yakoda's arm: "Aren't there a bit too many? Can we fight our way out?"

The next moment, thousands of golden light portals appeared in the sky simultaneously. Countless shining golden Noble Phantasms were fired all at once, stopping after a short while.

The remaining monsters on the field were less than one-thirtieth of what they were before.

Huo Xi looked back at everyone: "Now then, can we finish them off?"

The several Yakshas looked at each other and nodded. Then, led by Bosacius, they charged straight out. In an instant, dozens of monsters were shredded into minced meat by the five Yakshas.

Paimon flew over and nudged Huo Xi: "Couldn't you just kill them all?"

Huo Xi grabbed Paimon's small face and rubbed it: "If I kill them all, wouldn't the people I lent all those Noble Phantasms to have zero chance to go on a rampage? Let them have some fun, okay?"

"You're really a perfectionist! Why don't you just turn into a big monster yourself and let them hit you instead!"

Sure enough, in the next second, led by Shenhe, everyone rushed into the battlefield clutching their newly acquired weapons, various special effects intertwining with each other.

Zhi Qiong and Lan Yan stared at Huo Xi in dumbfounded amazement.

Zhi Qiong looked at the weapons gradually turning into light particles and dissipating on the ground in the distance, swallowing hard: "This, this isn't much different from the legendary Red-Clothed Immortal, is it? Huo Xi, you aren't an Adeptus too, are you?"

Lan Yan also blinked her lively big eyes at Huo Xi, then wordlessly charged into the battlefield clutching the Noble Phantasm Huo Xi had given her.

With an old hand at 'ground-plowing' like Xiao, it didn't take long for the group to clear out the remaining monsters. The Yakshas also displayed their superb combat literacy.

Every attack could precisely hit the corresponding monster's weakness, achieving a near one-hit kill against all types of monsters.

And when all the monsters had dissipated into black smoke, everyone, panting heavily, looked toward the center of the open field where two items lay.

One was a compass floating in the air, glowing with a blue light, and the other was a purple, damaged mask.

Bosacius looked at the mask. He took off the helmet on his head, handed it to Xiao, and walked toward the mask step by step.

Three meters, two meters, one meter. Bosacius's hands touched the mask, which looked like it would turn to dust if his movements were any larger, and gently pressed it onto his face.

Purple thunder spread through the air, and lightning danced wildly like silk ribbons blown by a gale. All the strange phenomena gradually withdrew a moment later, converging to form Bosacius's new body.

At this moment, his memories were finally complete.

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Brothers, I have to prepare for moving tomorrow, so I've updated a bit more today. This chapter is 4,000 words as compensation.

Tomorrow I'll probably just update once with 5,000 words around noon. Moving has been really busy lately, and I haven't had time to look at the comments. I'll take a look once I have some free time.