"I'm practically a genius!"
Childe laughed heartily, brimming with pride. It seemed his strength was progressing at an incredible pace.
Previously, when he used his Foul Legacy Transformation, his mind was single-threaded; he couldn't think of anything beyond combat.
But now, his intelligence seemed even higher than before he activated his Foul Legacy Transformation. It appeared his Foul Legacy Transformation had reached its highest realm—a Foul Legacy Transformation that could even enhance his intelligence!
Childe gripped his weapon tighter. He decided that once he returned to Snezhnaya this time, he would kick the Damselette, punch the Balladeer, and point his sword at the Fourth of the Fatui.
As for the top three, Childe felt he still needed more practice.
"In that case, let me see what's inside you!"
Childe roared, gripping his twin-bladed weapon with both hands and striking down fiercely.
"Clang—!"
The sound of metal clashing was even louder than when Childe and Lumine's weapons had collided earlier. Lumine and Paimon, who were on the bottom floor of the Golden House, even covered their ears.
"What is he trying to do?" Lumine asked, covering her ears and looking up at Childe, who was dozens of meters above her.
"Could it be that he wants to destroy that giant pill furnace, so we'll never have Mora to use again?!"
Paimon thought of a terrifying possibility, so frightened that she forgot to cover her ears.
Childe stared at the unmoving pill furnace, almost popping his eyeballs out. What was this thing glued with, and what was it made of? His full-power strike had no effect at all?
No, it did have an effect; Childe looked at the indented blade marks. If he kept striking, the pill furnace wouldn't fall, but it would start leaking.
As soon as he thought of the corrosive nature of the swirling solution in the pill furnace, Childe wisely gave up the idea of striking again.
But this wouldn't stump Childe. It was just a mere pill furnace; he could completely knock it over directly!
Childe took a deep breath and closed his eyes beneath his Foul Legacy Transformation. His mind sank into the lightless darkness, the darkness he had fallen into when he was fourteen.
A massive, profound Whale began to take shape in Childe's mind.
"Woo—!"
A loud and penetrating Whale cry echoed out, at first only in Childe's mind, but later, that prolonged cry directly manifested in the real world.
Accompanied by the Whale's cry, a giant Whale, condensed from the water element, leaped out and heavily impacted the pill furnace.
"Splash!"
The sound of water exploding and splashing intertwined. Under Childe's powerful strike, the pill furnace could no longer maintain its upright posture and toppled straight down.
"Clang!"
The pill furnace fell dozens of meters to the lower level, and the immense force once again sent bricks and stones flying.
Childe looked down at the smoke from above, but his mind was on other things.
Just now, did he hear something breaking?
But he quickly shook his head, casting aside the wild thoughts in his mind.
Now that the pill furnace had toppled, the Exuvia should be completely out of the golden water. It would be best to go down first and see if the Gnosis was indeed within the Exuvia.
Childe leaped down, abruptly decelerating and stopping just before touching the ground, hovering a mere dozen centimeters above the surface.
With his Foul Legacy Transformation activated, Childe could temporarily hover.
The lower level of the Golden House was now a mess. But to Childe's surprise, the expected scene of a landscape riddled with ravines did not occur.
It seemed those golden solutions only had enough corrosion to erode a divine body when they were inside the pill furnace.
"Where's the Exuvia?" Childe looked around. Besides the gradually transparent water stains, where was there any trace of the Exuvia?
He had clearly seen the churning chunks of flesh within it before!
"Oh! I seem to have forgotten about you two." Childe slapped his head. The bottom floor of the Golden House didn't seem to have only him.
"You two, if you know what's good for you, hand over the Gnosis." Childe turned his head to look at Lumine and Paimon, who were astonished beyond belief in the distance, and a wisp of killing intent emanated from him.
Perhaps due to the influence of this killing intent, the dull sword in Lumine's hand even fell to the ground.
"Haha, scared witless?" Childe let out a few hoarse laughs. Indeed, seeing his ultimate technique and feeling his killing intent, Lumine should understand the gap between her and him.
Lumine snapped out of it after hearing Childe's words. Her expression instantly changed from shock to pity, the speed of which surprised Childe.
Could it be that Lumine also knew the Liyue art form called "Face-changing"?
"Are you scared silly? If so, then I'll take it myself." The weapon in Childe's hand emitted an eerie, faint light, as if he was about to charge at Lumine the next moment.
Lumine didn't speak, but merely pointed a finger behind Childe. Floating with Lumine was Paimon.
"Such a clumsy…"
Before he could finish the words "diversion," Childe suddenly found himself seemingly enveloped by a shadow.
The shadow was immense, several times larger than the giant Whale he had just summoned, and it had many branches, looking like a tree.
A tree, very large, golden solution.
Childe immediately felt a chill shoot up to his scalp.
"Rumble!"
The Golden House's floor, which Liyue had reinforced countless times, swelled with one bulge after another. These bulges rose and fell, as if something was wriggling beneath the ground.
"Whoosh!"
A howling gale tore at Childe's body. This was not a gale formed by the convergence of Anemo element power.
It was simply due to a giant object rapidly swinging, stirring up the air.
"I dodge!"
Childe didn't even consider defense as an option. He transformed into a bolt of lightning, instantly teleporting away from his original position.
"Bang!"
Dark golden bricks and brown soil from the earth flew. With one strike, the foundation of the Golden House would need to be rebuilt.
Amidst the flying dirt, one could almost hear the cries of a certain purple-haired Damselette, but it might just be an illusion.
"Hiss—!"
This time, it was Childe who gasped. From the dust and smoke of the earth, a massive tree carrying golden light rose.
But in terms of its flexibility, it was hard to say it was still a plant.
Childe looked at the overturned earth. That color was definitely top-grade profound iron! But now, it was curled and torn like ordinary sheet metal.
Considering his own physique, Childe felt that if he took a hit from that, he would be in a lot of trouble.
The Golden Tree looked at the human on the ground emitting a peculiar aura, feeling somewhat angry. Just now, it had been using its roots to explore this world, but then a sharp pain came.
One of its hairs had been broken by someone, and it was in a spot Yu Jin had specifically instructed it to protect!
So, to vent its resentment, it decided to teach this culprit a lesson first.
Childe's body was taut, not daring to show the slightest slack. In his heart, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this thing was huge. With his agility, entangling with it for a while would be no problem.
Unfortunately, the Golden Tree had no intention of entangling with him.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Countless slender roots of the Golden Tree grew out from the overturned floor, leaving Childe with no escape.
"Why are there so many!" Childe dodged and weaved, a bitter taste in his mouth. These smaller roots were not only flexible but also incredibly tough.
After using all his might to cut off one root, Childe honestly focused on evading.
But what made him uneasy was that among the countless roots that emerged, only a few were trying to capture him. As for the others, they seemed to be watching the show.
In the distance, unnoticed by Childe, the toppled pill furnace had been righted by the Golden Tree's roots at some point.
The upright pill furnace was like a signal. The roots that had been standing still immediately swarmed forward, quickly wrapping Childe into a large golden zongzi.
"Gurgle!"
Pure water gushed from the ends of the roots, and Childe's unease grew even stronger.
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