Genshin Impact, Teyvat's own beloved immortal.

As they stepped onto the last step, a dazzling golden light illuminated their faces.

The enormous tomb chamber ahead was filled with glittering golden treasures!

Countless gold coins and treasures were carelessly piled up in the corner of the tomb chamber like trash. A peculiar elemental brazier burned with round fireballs, and the light emitted by the braziers, after being refracted by the gold and silver treasures, illuminated the originally dim tomb chamber in a dazzling and brilliant way.

"It's such a waste to bury so much treasure here."

Lu Sheng squatted down and inserted his hand into the pile of gold coins. The clinking of the coins produced a satisfying sound of wealth.

These are genuine gold coins, each one worth a fortune. Moreover, they are antiques from a desert dynasty a thousand years ago, and their historical value far exceeds the value of the gold coins themselves. They will definitely fetch a good price if sold to the archaeologists at the Order of the Church.

“Get up quickly, stop doing such a worthless thing,” Sandonne urged. “Money can only bring temporary pleasure, while eternal power is the source of all things.”

She strode quickly to the enormous coffin in the center of the tomb, her eyes revealing an impatient longing and the joy of a dream come true.

"Finally... the forbidden knowledge of the Red King... is finally going to fall into my hands!"

However, before opening the Red King's coffin, one last hurdle awaits her.

The Red King's coffin was protected by a mysterious force, similar to a seal, and could not be opened by ordinary means.

After thoroughly studying the environment surrounding the coffin, Sandonne suddenly realized the truth.

"The placement of these braziers is a bit strange... Could this be a test left by the Red King for his descendants? He knew that someone would break into his tomb after his death, and he didn't want to leave his wisdom to fools, so as long as we can find a way to light these four braziers, we can safely open the coffin."

Having learned this, Sandonne began searching inside the pyramid for the mechanism to light the brazier.

Lu Sheng secretly chuckled.

Another fool who has been deceived.

The coffin was completely empty; he had already fallen for that trick once while playing the game.

However, seeing how eager Sandone was to solve the mystery and prove himself, he didn't say much, but instead hid to the side and secretly stuffed gold coins into the Dust Song Pot.

Soon, Sandone solved the first puzzle; the brazier on the left emitted a blue light and was lit, completely confirming Sandone's initial idea.

"Just as I thought, there are only three left. We should be able to finish soon."

She called out to Lu Sheng, "Go to the door on the left and unlock the mechanism like I did. You're so smart, it won't be difficult."

"Ok."

Relying on his memories from the game, Lu Sheng entered the door on the left and solved all the mechanisms with almost no difficulty, bringing the fire back to the second brazier.

The third one was a little tricky.

When Sandone brought back the fourth spark, a rumbling sound suddenly came from above. She looked up and found that a floating stone slab was slowly sinking down, and Lu Sheng and the last spark were right on the stone slab.

"Done!"

Once the four fire seeds had activated all four braziers, the Red King's coffin instantly emitted a blue projection similar to a hologram.

Click!

With a crisp sound, the Red King's coffin opened.

Sandonne eagerly directed the gentlemen to open the coffin lid, but the result was unexpected.

The coffin was empty; there were no remains of the Red King, nor any forbidden knowledge.

Lu Sheng thought Sandone would be furious, but to his surprise, she only paused for a moment and then smiled with relief.

"Hehe~ What a cunning fellow. I was so excited that I actually imagined the Red King burying me at the entrance of the tomb."

Once Sandone realized what had happened, she thought about it carefully and realized that she had been tricked by the Red King.

"Since he anticipated that the tomb would be broken into, the Red King certainly wouldn't have hidden anything of real value here. The surrounding treasures and the empty coffin were merely to appease the tomb raiders who would break in for wealth. The treasures he truly wanted to bury forever must be inside that upside-down pyramid above."

"So how do we get up there?"

"The Red King must have a purpose in setting up so many traps here. Follow me, I just discovered a passage over there that seems to lead to a special place."

Sandonne led Lu Sheng to the place she had described, activated the mechanism, and a secret passage appeared before them.

However, this passage does not lead to the inverted pyramid above, but downwards.

After passing through the secret passage, a vast underground world suddenly appeared before them.

The collapsed giant bird-headed statue and the scattered ruins all tell the story of how this place was once a prosperous nation.

However, these things have now been buried by the yellow sand, leaving only decay and desolation.

"Interesting. Could this be the carefree paradise 'Aru' that the Red King once dreamed of building?"

"Aru?"

Lu Sheng vaguely recognized the name; it wasn't a person's name, but rather a place name.

Aru Village.

The Aru that Sandonne mentioned certainly didn't refer to that small village, but rather to the origin of that village's name—the carefree paradise that the Red King desperately wanted to establish after the death of the Flower Goddess.

"That's right," said the Crimson King. "In the original world, the barriers were torn apart, and a dark poison seeped into the earth. To heal that fragile, pitiful, and imperfect world, long nails descended, piercing the earth's crust." It was the Abyss's invasion of the world that caused the Sky Isles to send down celestial nails to mend the world's past.

He further stated, "The laws I have established are more beautiful and precise, so there is no need for them. Nor should any followers die in vain for them, nor should any poems be lost because of them." Therefore, I speculate that the Red King knows the secret of Sky Island, and thus harbors resentment towards the laws of nature, desiring to use forces from outside the world to reshape a new world and become the creator god of that world.

At this point, Sandonne couldn't help but sigh with a joking expression.

"However, it is obvious that he ultimately failed because he could not control the forbidden power and feared that his kingdom would be destroyed as a result. So he chose to commit suicide to save his people."

Lu Sheng commented, "That's alright. At least he hasn't lost his mind. As a god, being able to care about the safety of his people already surpasses the vast majority of gods."

"Keep moving forward, I can feel what I crave getting closer to me."

The two of them thus stumbled into the intricate underground world.

During this time, their actions disturbed many sleeping primal constructs, and these mechanical rectangular and triangular creations instinctively launched an attack on the outsiders who had invaded the Red King's slumbering land.

For once, Sandonne personally dismantled these structures and enthusiastically began studying their fragments.

"I see... that's how it can be done..."

Lu Sheng didn't know what this woman could glean from a pile of fragments, but judging from her performance, she seemed to have learned a great deal of knowledge from them.

To reach the inverted pyramid, you must first find the teleporter located underground.

Lu Sheng remembered that he had to pass through a place called the Hall of Crossing Calamity.

After several tens of minutes of exploration, they finally found the entrance to the Hall of Salvation.

However, their path forward was blocked by a pile of corpses scattered everywhere.

"That's... the Fatui?"

Sandonne's face darkened, and he immediately ran to examine the corpses on the ground. They were indeed the Fools, and the elite advance team that had been sent to investigate the Red King's Tomb not long ago.

"They must have found another entrance, but who killed them? There are no signs of traps here. Could it be that someone else is also coveting the Crimson King's forbidden knowledge?"

Lu Sheng's curiosity was also piqued by the unexpected turn of events.

After examining several bodies, he analyzed, "The wounds on these people are strange. They were all killed by the same type of attack in one blow, and there were almost no signs of struggle. Hmm, it looks like a sudden sneak attack that killed everyone. The killer is very strong."

Sandonne frowned deeply. "It couldn't possibly be a group of thieves, could it? These people are all handpicked elites. Who in Sumeru would let them die so easily?"

"Excuse me, it is I."

A male voice echoed from the empty underground world.

Lu Sheng and Sandone turned their heads together and saw a man dressed in a black tuxedo, wearing a top hat and a gold monocle hanging on his chest, walking out of the Du'e Hall while twirling his notebook.

Behind him followed a dozen or so empty knights, their entire bodies clad in dark gray armor, creating an oppressive atmosphere.

Seeing this, Lu Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

The fact that they can command the Empty Knights means they are undoubtedly from the Abyss.

Sandonne was the first to question, "Who are you? You have some nerve to kill one of our Fools."

"Haha~ Sorry, but in my eyes, the mere Fools are no different from anyone else."

The man said very politely and gently, "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am the preacher, follower, and student of the great 'Prophet' Lord Vesevernil. You may call me Mr. Hat."

"The reason I am here is that my master learned through prophecy that someone is coveting the forbidden knowledge left behind by the Crimson King. In order to prevent the world from falling into chaos again, my master sent me here to retrieve the forbidden knowledge of the Crimson King in advance. As a result, I accidentally encountered your companions and accidentally hurt them."

The man in the hat bowed deeply to Sandoni. "Would you feel better if I apologized?"

Sandonne didn't care about that issue; all she cared about was forbidden knowledge.

"So, you've already obtained the forbidden knowledge left behind by the Crimson King?"

"No, no, no! Don't misunderstand! Although I tried to get it, it seems we've all been tricked by the Red King."

"What do you mean?" Sandonne pressed.

"You want to go to that pyramid up there, right? Sorry, I just came back from there. There's nothing there except a really scary machine. The Red King's remains aren't here at all. We've all been fooled!"

"Hmph! You think I'd believe your nonsense?"

After working so hard for so long, this was the answer Sandonne naturally refused to accept.

She firmly believed that this hat-wearing fool had hoarded the Red King's forbidden knowledge.

The only way is to kill.

Sensing the killing intent in his master's heart, the puppet gentleman immediately assumed a fighting stance.

"Sigh~ I thought someone as beautiful as you would be a dignified lady, but I didn't expect you to be so unreasonable. Oh well, I just escaped from that broken machine, I don't have time to deal with you!"

Mr. Hat tapped his cane lightly on the ground, and a spatial rift appeared behind him.

At the same time, the empty-shell knights behind him swarmed forward and engaged Sandone and her puppets in battle.

Just as Mr. Hat turned and stepped into the crevice, a bolt of lightning flashed.

He was kicked into the rift by Lu Sheng. In the chaos, the rift's fluctuations randomly teleported the two of them to a corner of the Crimson King's Tomb.

The next second, Mr. Hat coughed up blood and flew out of the suddenly opened crack. After a loud bang, he became a work of art embedded in the wall.

"The Prophet Viserfnir, if I heard correctly, you said that name, right?"

Lu Sheng slowly walked up to Mr. Hat and pulled him off the wall.

After Rheindorf, he conceived a plan to hunt down the five sinners of Canria.

Unfortunately, these people are all very mysterious, hiding themselves away and refusing to show their faces.

At this moment, the sudden appearance of a "prophet" student was like a gift delivered to their doorstep.