The Embers of King's Teyvat Journey

Children running around, women carrying farm tools, and men carrying ore—everything was so noisy yet harmonious.

Yu Jin glanced at it; it was a sight he had never seen before. And this was all thanks to the somewhat bald Washizu standing before him.

Dinner was prepared long ago. In this small village, especially during such a special time, everyone likes to get together for dinner.

Chatting together helps relieve negative emotions and also allows one to temporarily forget about the war.

Aside from crystallized bone marrow, Hiki Village lacks everything. Wood is very precious and is mostly used to build the framework of sheds; even for cooking, dry grass is often used as fuel.

So there was no bonfire party, but there's always a way. People used the stamens of the misty flowers as bait to catch many fireflies as a light source.

Wild fireflies, having not undergone elemental cultivation and selection, are naturally much less dangerous than those carried by the lightning firefly sorcerers.

However, the pale purple light made Yu Jin look somewhat eerie.

At this moment, there was a plate with some side dishes in front of Washizu, a steamed bun in his hand, and a bowl of meat soup next to the plate.

This is considered a rare treat of meat. Usually, when there is prey, everyone likes to make soup. On the one hand, the Inatsumi people have a habit of drinking soup, and on the other hand, stewing soup allows everyone to enjoy some meat.

"Aren't you going to eat? Although it's a war, the two sides have only just started fighting. We've prepared some food, so one more person won't make a difference."

When Washi saw Yu Jin sitting under a tree with nothing in his hands, he assumed that Yu Jin was afraid of not having enough food and was too embarrassed to ask for a meal.

Yu Jin shook his head and said, "You guys eat, I brought something."

As he spoke, he casually pulled something out of his pocket and started chewing on it, but it still tasted bland, just like before.

Washizu nodded when he saw Ember's appearance. Adventurers always wander around aimlessly, so it's only natural that they would carry food with them.

"Hey! What are your plans for tomorrow?" Yu Jin asked, looking at the darkening sky.

Washizu listened and thought for a moment, then replied, "Chop some wood in the morning, and dig out the crystallized bone marrow in the afternoon."

Yu Jin nodded; he would go along to take a look tomorrow.

……

Yu Jin sat in the tree, watching the stars fill the sky and then dim again, as the rising sun heralded the arrival of a new day.

Early in the morning, Washizu and a group of men gathered at the village entrance to prepare for the day's work.

Yu Jin looked around and wondered, "Why do we need so many men just to go out and chop wood?"

"Is it really that hard to cut wood here?" Yu Jin asked curiously.

When everyone saw Yu Jin ask a question, although he looked strange, considering that he was brought by the village chief, a man still enthusiastically answered him.

"You have no idea how difficult it is to cut! We're close to the Musou Blade Rift here, so either nothing grows there, or what does grow is extremely tough."

Then another person added, "There are few trees around us, and cutting down trees would require traveling a long distance. Now that there's a war, it's always better for a group of men to go out than a group of women."

Yu Jin glanced at the somewhat rudimentary watchtower not far away, then at the bamboo tubes in the women's hands, and nodded. It seemed that Washijin was quite well-prepared.

"Alright! Let's go!" Yu Jin shouted and ran ahead of the others.

Although the area around Hisada Village is somewhat barren, there are still life forms that can overcome environmental challenges and thrive against the wind.

For example, this waist-high tree in front of him, when Yu Jin slashed down, "crack!", it got stuck.

"Tsk!" Yu Jin sighed, then increased his strength and cut it in two.

"Boom!" The tree fell to the ground, leaving only a smooth-cut stump.

Those following behind Ember stared wide-eyed at the sight before them, knowing that trees tempered by lightning could be as hard as steel!

They were quite surprised that the embers could cut it off so easily.

That's just how it is. In Teyvat, where there are extraordinary powers, cutting through steel is not easy, but it's not impossible.

For example, Washizu is also an option, but it's not as easy as Ember.

But they soon realized they were wrong, because the embers turned into a blur, and the trees in front of them were collapsing rapidly.

Meanwhile, logs, processed by the embers, continued to pile up on the open ground not far away.

Soon, a large pile of logs was neatly arranged in front of everyone.

"Is that enough?" Ember poked his head out from behind the pile of wood and asked.

"Enough... enough, more than enough!" Washi nodded. He hadn't expected the embers to be so effective. With so much wood, if used sparingly, it could probably last a year.

"That's good!" Ember pulled his head back in, and then he saw the logs, which looked like small mountains, slowly lift off the ground—Ember had lifted them up!

The logs were unrestrained, yet they didn't scatter. However, the group was too preoccupied to care about that now, as their heads were already spinning from the embers.

"Return!" Ember shouted.

Then "Kiyama" sped off towards Hikimura, as if Ember felt it wasn't enough.

Then Washizu and the others saw several such "wooden mountains" piled up outside Hishiki Village.

When they returned to Hiki Village, all they saw was a pile of wood in the village's open space. They were not surprised, because they had been so amazed that morning that they had shouted themselves hoarse.

"When are we going to dig out the crystallized bone marrow?" Yu Jin asked Washijin, who was still somewhat dazed, with a hint of lingering interest.

Upon hearing Yu Jin's words, Washijin shuddered and hurriedly said, "We don't need your help, we'll do it ourselves."

"Why?" Yu Jin asked, puzzled. He was somewhat confused.

"Because crystallized bone marrow is a strategic resource, we in Hiki Village only secretly dig up the remnants. If there were too much, it would cause a lot of trouble," Washizu explained.

Hachiyun Island is rich in crystallized bone marrow, but the large deposits are all controlled by the rebels and the shogunate. Hiki Village can only find some scattered fragments from abandoned mines and open fields to trade with pirates for food.

"Moreover, our village is in a very good location, close to Musou-no-Rin-hazama. It is in a remote location with barren land and almost no strategic value. Neither the rebel army nor the shogunate army has any intention of coming after us."

"????"

"Don't look at me like that. Although we have a lot of shortcomings, it is precisely because of this that Hishiki Village is able to be close to the battlefield yet maintain a sense of peace."

Seeing the look in Yu Jin's eyes, Washizu hurriedly explained.

Yu Jin understood Washizu's words: Hishiki Village was a rotten place, so rotten that neither the resistance army nor the shogunate army wanted to deal with it.

"So, if you bring us a whole bunch of crystallized bone marrow, we'll be in trouble," Washizu concluded.

Then, looking at the pile of wood on the ground, Ember said, "I think this wood is pretty good; its strength is almost comparable to steel. Is there any problem with so much of it?"

Washizu scratched his head and said, "It's okay. No matter how strong they are, they're not as good as real steel, and they have a lot of flaws."

"What drawbacks?" Yu Jin asked, since he didn't feel there were any drawbacks at all.

“For example, it’s difficult to process, or it can shock people.” As he spoke, Washizu touched the wood on the ground, and a small arc of electricity immediately shocked him, causing him to pull his hand back.

"Ouch—, what a piece of junk! It still hurts so much when I get shocked."

Yu Jin looked at Washijin, who was clutching his hand, and remained silent for a long time before asking:

"Does your Hikimura clan have any merits?"

"Is being a nice person a good thing?"

"..."

Thank you HuankongHK for the monthly pass.

Chapter 38 Target: Inazuma Castle!

2023-08-28

"Hey! Ember, if you ever have nowhere to go, you can come to my place!" It was a new day, and Washizu shouted loudly as he watched Ember walk away.

Although Ember's stay here was short, he helped Hisa Village a great deal.

"Oh! Don't dig up the tree I planted. I'll come back to see it again later," Yu Jin replied upon hearing the call from behind.

Upon hearing Ember's words, Washizu looked towards a patch of newly turned earth in the center of the village. There, a tender green sprout had already emerged from the soil.

Besides its green color, the newly sprouted green shoots are even more eye-catching because their stems also emit a faint golden-red hue, making them look quite charming.

Last night, Ember spent the entire night working on this land, and when he finally left, a new sprout had appeared.

It's no wonder he's an adventurer; he always has some unexpected and strange things on him.

If this tree grows beautifully, maybe after the war ends, we can use it as a gimmick to develop tourism.

Just as Washizu was envisioning the wonderful future ahead, the embers had vanished without a trace.

He had already run to Nashida Beach again.

On Nashii Beach, broken flags and tattered weapons lay scattered about. Only the faint smell of blood in the air hinted at the battles that had taken place on this land.

Yu Jin could only sigh at this; he was still an illegal immigrant and was probably still on the wanted list.

Yu Jin thought about it and realized that this wouldn't work; if he did, he would be hunted down wherever he went.

So, after a long time, Ember took off his knight's armor and put on a set of Eastern warrior armor.

He looked at it, and although it was still strange, it finally matched the atmosphere of Inazuma.

Moreover, at this moment, Ember was wearing a wooden mask on his face, which, although made of wood, looked just like a real one.

The Old Man Mask—a wooden mask made in the shape of a grinning old man, the origin of the nickname of the Great Swordsman of the Reed Lands.

When you hone your mind to its limits, you'll see things that seem uninteresting. After discarding those things, the "old man" is born—the sword and himself, both of which should be perfected.

From then on, the "old man" transformed into a demon.

Asura is someone who kills for the sake of killing.

Unfortunately, the old man encountered Ember. Martial arts forged from countless corpses could never compare to the skill of slaying through the world with death.

The old man was also a major source of Ember's impression of the stubbornness of the Eastern warriors. It was incomprehensible to Ember that someone could live in a state where killing was happening whether their eyes were open or closed.

Although he was in a similar situation, Ember was passive and forced into it. Undead are disliked everywhere; even dogs would bite them.

Yu Jin put on the skin of an old man and started wandering around.

As the front lines of the resistance against the shogunate, Hachiyūjima and Kannazuka saw very few civilians coming and going.

Unbeknownst to them, Yu Jin spotted a vast expanse of tents and a dense array of watchtowers in a distant valley—the headquarters of the Shogunate army, Kujo Jinya.

Yu Jin considered the current situation and realized that if he rashly entered, he probably wouldn't get any good results.

And so, it vanished without a trace!

You think I'm a samurai? Actually, I'm a ninja!