The Chasm.
Tens of kilometers underground.
A monster, over a thousand meters in size, composed entirely of rock and some peculiar metal, patrolled here, like an emperor inspecting his territory.
The true emperor of this land, Rock King Emperor, stood by, arms folded, observing this iron-shelled tortoise.
Whoosh~
A gentle breeze blew.
Venti arrived beside Zhongli.
"Good afternoon, old man. Have you adopted a new familiar? It looks somewhat similar to Azhdaha."
"No."
"Not a Dragon King? Then who else? A Yaksha? Doesn't look like it either?"
"Since you can clearly see the glaring words 'Underworld Alloy Behemoth beneath the Rocks (☆☆☆☆ Unspeakable)', don't play the fool here. All you'll do is make my hand land on your head even faster."
Bang!
A punch, too fast to even see a shadow, struck. Venti had no time to dodge and was instantly sent flying over a hundred meters, directly splatting against the wall.
Hitting someone like hanging a painting, that was it!
A few seconds later.
Venti, as if inflated, went from shriveled to full-bodied, floating about ten meters away from Zhongli.
"Hiss! Didn't it already land on my head! Also, old man, if you're going to hit, what's with aiming for the face?!"
Zhongli folded his arms and ignored him. Seeing the iron-shelled tortoise destroying the underground cave again, his gaze sharpened.
The pit that had just been shattered by the opponent was instantly filled with a large amount of Geo elements.
"Is the old man repairing the wall?" Venti was very confused by Zhongli's actions. "Couldn't you just take down this monster instead of painstakingly maintaining the area?"
"This monster… I can't defeat it."
"Huh?"
Venti looked at Zhongli in surprise, as if trying to find humor on his face.
However, this time, Zhongli was serious.
Now Venti was truly surprised, saying with schadenfreude.
"You can't defeat this guy who shows no intelligence and only knows how to charge head-on?"
Zhongli was too lazy to explain and threw a lump of Netherite Ingot to Venti. He had casually taken it from Jack's forge last time, intending to make a few handmade Tetra Netherite Greatswords.
Venti weighed it in his hand, then took a bite.
"Hiss! So hard!"
Now he understood.
It turned out this giant creature was entirely made of peculiar metal from Jack's world, and because of that… Boss panel, its defense was the highest in Teyvat, even harder than Morax, the Geo Archon.
And Zhongli's Geo element was not good at sharpness, so relying solely on physical attacks would indeed be difficult to affect this steel-shelled tortoise monster.
"So, old man, what are you doing now…?"
"Prevent that guy from climbing to the surface."
"Oh, I won't bother you then. I have something else to do, so I'll head back to Mondstadt first..."
"Wait!"
Zhongli waved his hand, creating a chessboard with nineteen vertical and horizontal lines on the ground, and stone chess pieces floated in his hand.
"Recently, I learned a board game from the Traveler's books from another world. I find it quite fascinating. Before he arrives, why don't we discuss the art of chess?"
"..."
Before asking someone to play chess, could you please put away your Staff of Homa?
Venti saw Zhongli's posture, which clearly said, 'If you don't agree, I'll deal with you,' and instantly cowered.
"One game, only one game, alright!"
Zhongli smiled.
Playing a game of Go for four or five hours is common. Venti, you can just sit here with this old man and guard this big guy like you're in jail.
...
On the other hand, at the entrance to the Chasm.
Keqing and Jack went straight for the mine after teleporting.
A woman with short blue hair leisurely set up a tea stall at the mine entrance, waiting for the two to arrive.
Rumble!
The ground shook, a disturbance caused by the Underworld Alloy Behemoth beneath the Rocks.
However, despite such shaking, not a single drop of tea spilled from the woman's hand, showing her skill.
"Yelan, I've brought Jack. You two go to the lowest level of the Chasm together. I'm going to evacuate the civilians."
After giving instructions, Keqing looked back at Jack.
She knew he must understand her intention, so she gave him a look of encouragement.
Jack gave Keqing a kiss to send her off.
He did understand Keqing's deeper meaning, but his mood was a bit strange now.
What is this? Taking the command of his main wife to conquer other women again? Wait, why did I say 'again'?
"I didn't expect to be performing a mission in the Chasm with the Traveler again this time. The thrilling experience from last time feels like it was just yesterday, truly nostalgic."
"Let's skip the pleasantries. I think Miss Yelan, you probably don't like them either. Without further ado, let's go straight to our destination."
Jack was already somewhat impatient to take out his greatsword and trim the nails of that tough monster!
"Alright, then let's both drop the formalities, Jack... Sir!"
Yelan twirled a dice in her hand, a playful smile on her face.
Correcting the address is the first step in conquering a man.
"Then... Yelan?"
"Of course, Jack~"
Clap!
Yelan put down her teacup, circled Jack once, then chose the position to his left and hugged his arm.
The second step in conquering a man is to provide some appropriate benefits.
Especially when this man is used to eating meat, it shouldn't be too plain, nor too much. One needs to maintain an attitude of being close yet distant.
Jack met Yelan's eyes.
Out of curiosity, he secretly peeked at her inner thoughts, then instantly exploded.
She's actually trying to conquer me?!
What kind of 'meat bun thrown to a dog' is this, ah, bah! What kind of 'walking into a trap' scenario is this?!
Suppressing the corners of his mouth, which he could barely control, Jack quickly walked down into the mine.
Anyway, seeing that Keqing still had the mind to find him new sisters, he figured Zhongli could hold out for a while longer.
He'd just humor Yelan for now and see what tricks she wanted to pull.
...
Deep within the Chasm.
Jack held the Lumenstone Adjuvant with his magnetic ring, its eerie blue light illuminating the dark mine shaft, adding a touch of color.
"Yelan, are you holding on a bit too tightly?"
"Am I? How about this then~"
Yelan rubbed up and down, and Jack's elbow could distinctly feel a certain object deforming.
"Mmm... that's much more comfortable now."
That's comfortable? My position hasn't changed, has it?
After reconfirming, Yelan rolled her eyes at Jack.
This man... he's so bad! She wondered how she and her sisters fell for him; he's so shameless!
In the dark space, Yelan's cheeks flushed slightly.
Although she was dissing Jack in her mind, in her actions, she was still occasionally giving him benefits, letting a certain person use his elbow to measure her ample bosom.
Yah! --
"Monsters!"
A unique Hilichurl cry came from afar.
Then, Hilichurls emitting black smoke, as well as the clanking Skeleton and Creeper, appeared.
-------------------------------
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