So that was an arrow carrying "intent." Victor Wang narrowed his eyes. He could also manifest sword intent, yet he felt a subtle difference between the two—close, but not identical realms. If they could fight…
Kuiyuan raised his bow with a shake and laughed loudly. "You know what 'Kuiyuan' means? It means I'm first among my peers! Including you Vision holders!"
Tighnari shrugged. "I'm just a scholar."
"Little Tighnari, your archery is good too—though still far worse than mine." Kuiyuan showed not a trace of modesty. Then he eyed Victor Wang maliciously. "Boss said that Night Spring was strong. Shame I didn't get to fight him. But you beat him, so if I beat you, that should count about the same, right?"
Then come try.
But with Tighnari present, Victor Wang didn't say it outright. "I still have my own matters to handle. If we're just going to waste time talking here, I might as well take my leave."
"Heh. Fair enough." Kuiyuan understood and said no more.
Victor Wang said a serious farewell to Tighnari and walked alone into the deep forest. Kuiyuan also said goodbye to Tighnari and left in the opposite direction.
Two minutes later, they met again at the next Withering zone—yet after a brief sensing, Victor Wang shook his head.
Tighnari popped out from behind Kuiyuan. "You two—what a coincidence. We meet again."
Kuiyuan sighed. "Why are you following again?"
Tighnari answered solemnly, "If you want to fight, fine. But not in Vimara Village."
Victor Wang was helpless about this, too. He drew his sword and approached the Withering. "Then I'll get back to business."
The enemies in this zone were all Fungi. Swordsmanship alone would suffice. But as soon as he swung, even before contact, the Fungi burst apart like they had been struck by invisible bullets.
He turned to look—Kuiyuan was plucking his bowstring. No arrow nocked; just the vibration of the string sent out shockwaves functioning as short-range projectiles.
With a cold snort, Victor Wang didn't fall behind. He had practiced swordsmanship for two and a half solid years now; adjusting sword-aura range was nothing difficult. In no time the two were competing fiercely in slaughtering foes.
Tighnari was delighted by this "harmonious" scene and joined in with his bow. They finished clearing the Withering in less time than they had spent traveling here.
Victor Wang moved on to the next zone.
After clearing two more, Tighnari was stunned. "You can locate Withering zones?"
Before Victor Wang could answer, Kuiyuan cut in, "What's so surprising? I can find them too."
He took out an ice-blue mirror. From afar, Victor Wang saw a few red arrows inside it roughly pointing directions—not too different from what he sensed.
It showed just how wary South Wing was of forbidden knowledge. After all, Irminsul was the foundation stabilizing Teyvat. If Irminsul failed, Teyvat was finished. They only wanted to awaken Celestia through extreme methods—not destroy Teyvat. So, they really were doing good deeds.
This time Kuiyuan led the way with the mirror—precise as expected. But before they even reached the Withering, the trio encountered Fatui soldiers lurking nearby.
The Fatui had something to say. When they saw the three, they immediately shouted, "So it's you who've been clearing the Withering everywhere? Meddling with our work—today you die here!"
With a rustle, a squad of twenty Fatui emerged from the forest. Victor Wang enjoyed the back-and-forth between destruction and creation of the Withering, but the Fatui didn't. After several days, they finally lost patience and attacked.
But the moment they clashed, they realized their power assessment was completely wrong—they were no match.
Losing half their men in moments, someone shouted desperately, "The child! Don't you care about the child?!"
Tighnari's heart tightened. "What are you talking about?"
"There's a child inside the Withering! He wandered in on his own! If you don't save him now, it'll be too late!"
"On his own? More like you people forced him!"
Tighnari's tail fur stood up entirely. He aimed his bow at the Fatui who spoke—but he didn't even want to waste the time it would take to shoot. He sprinted toward the Withering.
Victor Wang frowned and followed. Clearing the Withering every day was exactly to prevent something like this…
The remaining Fatui fled.
Kuiyuan drew his bow uncertainly. "What's going on? You guys sure have guts. Even when we rob people, we never mess with kids."
"You wait right there!"
"Heh. Running away and still barking threats? You want me to wait? Then you won't have to wait at all—"
Kuiyuan reached for his quiver. Times like these were the only times he envied Vision holders—physical arrows were hard to store, he could never carry enough; using one meant one less.
He drew an arrow, aimed at the fading silhouette. "You can die now."
This Withering zone had a shape like a narrow waist with two wide ends. At its center was a bright green spherical barrier, completely out of place in the sickly yellow-green environment. A quick glance confirmed that there was indeed a child inside, and monsters of the Withering were attacking the barrier.
Tighnari rushed forward to rescue him.
Victor Wang saw even more. An Aranara was fighting off the Fungi—specifically the Aranara named Arana, who often wandered near Vimara Village. Seeing people approach, she stopped and hid in the grass beside the child.
Victor Wang thought privately, So I still have a childlike heart, huh?
The child inside the barrier was Iotham from Vimara Village, whom Tighnari knew well.
After clearing the Withering, Tighnari questioned him. Iotham explained: He had heard Brother Alphonso say something, wanted to gather big mushrooms for Sister Rana, but then something bad chased him from behind, and he accidentally ran into the Withering.
"It was the Fatui. They threatened you from behind…" Tighnari muttered.
"Hey, brat, you're this small. How'd you even dare come out alone?"
Kuiyuan was blunt. Iotham glanced up at him, then looked down again, terrified to even answer. Tighnari, however, seemed thoughtful.
Victor Wang added a timely explanation, also meant for Kuiyuan and South Wing: "These Withering zones were placed by the Fatui. They have a device that can create the Withering."
"Create… the Withering?"
Tighnari could hardly believe his ears. Whether it was possible aside—why would anyone create such a thing?
But Victor Wang confirmed firmly, "Last night I saw them with a strange device, laying down a Withering zone. What I can't understand is: They create a Withering, lure children out of Vimara Village, scare them from behind, and drive them into the Withering. What are they trying to accomplish?"
"Make children leave Vimara Village…"
Tighnari felt he had grasped the key thread. He murmured, "Alphonso?"
Iotham objected in a small voice, "No… Brother Alphonso isn't with them. Brother Alphonso told me not to run outside too… It was my idea to come…"
===BREAK===
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