In Sumeru, pretend to be a scholar

Before the words were finished, the surrounding sand suddenly churned, and dozens of ferocious scorpions the size of washbasins burst out of the sand!

Their carapaces gleamed with an eerie purple light, their stingers were held high, dripping viscous venom, and their compound eyes flashed with menacing red dots in the shadows—clearly, they were not ordinary scorpions.

"Watch out, those are mutated scorpions! Protect yourselves!" Fodil roared, drawing his broadsword from his back and charging towards the nearest swarm of scorpions without hesitation.

Candice entrusted these two scholars to him, so that even if he died, nothing could be done to the scholars.

This has nothing to do with whether he dislikes the people of the Church; it's his promise to Candice.

Eros had already raised her hand and waved: "Stormy Wind! Disperse!"

The multifaceted scorpion of He Yao burst forth with a blue light, and a solid, fierce gust of wind erupted forward in a fan shape, violently blasting away five or six scorpions that were rushing towards it, the sound of their shells shattering clearly audible.

But more scorpions emerged from the side, their sharp segments tearing through the sand, forming an encirclement.

"Send the crossbow to support that guy," Erosanne shouted coldly.

Wang Yan was now trembling, not from fear, but from the excitement of a surge of adrenaline: "Leave it to me, mentor."

At that moment, Fodil swung his broadsword in a wide arc, the blade flashing and dust billowing as it slashed at the side of a scorpion, producing a clanging metallic sound. The scorpions' carapaces were exceptionally hard.

When his first strike failed, Fodil rolled to the side, dodging the stinger of another scorpion. The spot where he had been standing was instantly corroded by the venom, emitting hissing white smoke.

"The weaknesses are in the joints and compound eyes!" Erosham quickly reminded her.

Wang Yan took a deep breath and aimed the crossbow at a scorpion with compound eyes that was pouncing on Fudil's back.

Boom——!

A bluish light flashed past, piercing precisely into its eye socket. The scorpion hissed mournfully, tumbling and collapsing limply.

"Good arrow!" Fodil shouted in the midst of the chaos, changing his slashing motion to a thrusting motion, and taking advantage of the momentum, stabbed into the junction of the tail root and the body of another scorpion, spurting out purplish-black fluid.

Wang Yan's expression grew increasingly cold. He was completely focused, and the crossbow in his hand automatically cocked. He aimed at a ferocious mutated scorpion and lightly pulled the trigger.

The crossbow string vibrated, and the rune-enhanced bolt shot out, instantly piercing the scorpion's compound eye. The scorpion struggled violently, but gradually became still.

With Wang Yan's firepower support, Fudier was no longer in danger, wielding a large sword and fighting off four or five poisonous scorpions.

On the other side, Erossen is the main force, and she has completely let loose.

The multifaceted He Yao was like a cannon platform, unleashing gusts of fierce wind that sent scorpions flying.

At the same time, Valusan also had a bow and arrow in her hand. It wasn't a special weapon, just an ordinary recurve bow.

In Valusan's hands, this recurve bow was like a sniper rifle; every arrow fired pierced the carapace of the mutated scorpion, pinning it directly to the sand.

It's worth noting that Fodil couldn't even cut through the mutated scorpion's carapace with a single strike.

However, Wang Yan also noticed that every arrow that Falushan shot had very faint traces of wind element runes on it.

Her arrows, like his crossbow bolts, should be imbued with runes.

Just as the attacking mutated scorpions were about to be completely eliminated, a hissing sound suddenly came from the depths of the desert.

The mutated scorpions, which had been attacking furiously, paused for a moment, then burrowed into the sand and quickly retreated.

Fudir, wielding a large sword, his blood boiling, shouted: "Retreat...retreat?"

Eros reached out and retracted the He Yao multifaceted body, then walked to the side of a scorpion corpse and began to examine it.

Seeing this, Fodil did not disturb Falushan and came to Wang Yan's side: "Thank you for your support just now."

He was a little embarrassed.

He hadn't been very nice to Wang Yan and Fa Lushan before, but if it weren't for these two scholars, he probably wouldn't have fared well in the battle just now.

Upon hearing Fudeer's words, Wang Yan shook his head: "You are our guide, we are all in this together, there's nothing to thank me for."

“A group…” Fodil murmured, then breathed a sigh of relief. “Sorry before, I thought you were the kind of scholars who just talk big… Anyway, from now on you are my friends, Fodil…”

“We’ll talk about my friend’s matter later,” Ella interrupted him. “Has anything unusual happened in this area lately?”

"Something's wrong? Nothing, is it?" Fordil was taken aback and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

In his view, there are plenty of monsters in the desert, and although mutated scorpions are rare, he has encountered them before.

“Generally speaking, mutated monsters usually develop elemental mutations after living in an environment where certain ley lines have accumulated for a long time,” Erosan explained. “But when I examined these scorpions, their mutations were not caused by a long-term infection, but rather by a rapid transformation in a recent period.”

Fodil blinked, a hint of confusion on the honest-looking man's face: "What do you mean?"

"It means that something has happened in this area, causing these monsters to appear in large numbers. If this is not resolved, it may affect Aru Village," Wang Yan explained to him.

Upon hearing that it might affect Aru Village, Fudir's expression immediately changed.

He tried hard to recall, carefully recalling, and finally frowned as he looked at the two scholars: "Speaking of recent events in this area, it seems... only the new site you're going to has been opened."

Chapter 78 Arrival at the Ruins (March 20th, please subscribe)

"Then let's talk about the ruins."

Erosanne's tone remained as calm as ever, unchanged despite Fordil's shift in attitude.

Fodil frowned slightly, pondered and recalled for a while, before speaking: "I don't know the specifics either. That day, some tribesmen from the desert came to the village to trade. On their way to the village, they noticed something was wrong. It seemed like something was emerging from the sand."

"At that time, I took several village guards to the place they mentioned to check, which is the location of the later ruins."

Erossen nodded slightly: "What did you discover, or rather, what did you see?"

“That site was indeed somewhat different from the other sites I’ve seen,” Fodil recalled. “When I was with the Gilded Troupe, I saw quite a few sites, and the decorative patterns in those sites were all pretty much the same.”

"But this site doesn't have similar patterns to those other sites..."

At this point, Fodil's memory seemed to become clearer, and his eyes brightened slightly: "That's right, there were many floral patterns on the gate of that ruin."

"Floral patterns?" Erosham frowned slightly. "Anything else?"

Fodil shook his head: "No, we just went over to check, we didn't go into any more detail."

“If there are no other anomalies, then the source of these mutated scorpions is most likely this ruin,” Erosanne said.

Wang Yan frowned: "Teacher, is there a problem with the relics that caused these scorpions to mutate?"

Although not a follower of the Su Lun school, Wang Yan learned some knowledge about ley lines from Fa Lushan. Often, ancient ruins can easily lead to the accumulation of ley line nodes, thus creating monsters.

Sometimes, adventurers enter ruins that have been closed for hundreds of years and find monsters inside. These monsters are not naturally generated; most of them are born from the accumulation of ley lines, which cause the memories and elemental forces within the ley lines to react.

In Teyvat, there is a special type of stone used to suppress and relieve this kind of stagnant water in the earth's veins.

The method of relieving the problem is to send people to activate the stabilizing stone every once in a while, guide the earth veins to gather demons, and then eliminate the demons, which is equivalent to relieving the earth veins.

This method remains one of the most common commissions offered by the Adventurers Association.

Yes, this is one of the daily occurrences that players will encounter.

“No, if it were a remnant of ley line deposits, these scorpions couldn’t have snatched it from the monster.” Erosan shook her head, her gaze fixed on the direction from which the hissing sound had come. “I suspect that an outside monster has occupied that remnant, attracting a large number of scorpions, and the source of the scorpion mutation also comes from that monster.”

"An alien monster?" Fodil's pupils contracted. "Could it be a monster from the depths of the desert that has escaped?"

As the guardian of Aru Village, Fodil routinely patrolled the edge of the desert. He knew very well that there was no real danger within the village's boundaries.

But once you venture deeper into the desert, all sorts of dangerous monsters will appear one after another.

The mutated scorpions they just dealt with were monsters that ordinary people would find difficult to handle, but deep in the desert, they were merely food for those dangerous monsters.

“If there are no human factors involved, then this is very likely the case,” Erosanne replied.

Fodil's expression changed slightly, a hint of hesitation appearing: "So, are you still going? Why don't you go back to the village first, find someone to clear out the monsters, and then go?"

He was afraid, but he was also genuinely worried that something might happen to these two scholars.

“No need.” Erosan shook her head. “It’s nothing more than things like the Holy Beast. I can handle it. Let’s go and continue.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Fodil and said, "When we get there, you don't need to go near the ruins, just go back."

Fodil paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth: "No, since the problem has occurred on the outskirts of the village, as the guard, I should go with you to take a look."

“Your courage is commendable.” Erosham nodded, then shook her head. “But it’s unnecessary. I can protect the apprentice, but I can’t necessarily look after both of them. So, you’d better send us over there and then go back as soon as possible to tell Candice what’s going on here and let her make the decision.”

Upon hearing this, Fordil's hard-won courage immediately vanished. Yes, the monsters deep in the desert should be reported to Candice.

He was a little discouraged, but he still cheered himself up: "Now I'll take you there."

Eros nodded and looked at Wang Yan, who had already gone to collect the arrows and monster materials: "Hurry up and pack them up. Don't bother with the worthless materials."

"Okay, mentor."

Wang Yan casually tossed a piece of mutated scorpion carapace into his pack, responded with a sound of agreement, and then sped up.

Before long, after cleaning up the battlefield, the three set off again.

This time, Fudier's attitude was much better, and he would remind Wang Yan and Falushan to watch their step from time to time.

There were no further attacks on the road until around three or four in the afternoon, when a dark blue hue appeared at the edge of the horizon.

"That's where the ruins are located. It used to be a desert, but after the ruins appeared, water puddles appeared here."

Fodil explained, "At first it was just a small puddle, and we thought it would dry up quickly, but after a month, it turned into a pool."

He suddenly realized, "No wonder it attracts monsters."

Even monsters need to drink water, unless they are completely elemental monsters.

Therefore, where there is water in the desert, life will inevitably gather.

Eros didn't speak, but in fact, her intelligence report already described the appearance of the pool here.

During this period, it wasn't just Fordil who brought people here.

The three of them moved closer and saw a pit on the other side of the pool.

“This is the entrance to the ruins,” Fodil said to the two men, stopping in his tracks and pointing to a pit not far away.

Eros nodded: "Okay, then you can go back first."

“…Be careful.” After saying that, Fodil turned and left.

Wang Yan watched him walk away and asked, "Teacher, at this hour, isn't he going to walk alone in the dark?"

“In the desert, traveling at night is normal,” Erosanne replied, then took a portable tent out of her backpack. “Come and set up the tent. I’ll set up the protective gear. We’ll rest for the night and enter the ruins tomorrow.”

"Okay, mentor."

Wang Yan nodded and took out a portable tent from his backpack.

This tent is produced by the Adventurers Association. It doesn't take up much space when folded up, and you can simply unfold it when you need to use it. It's even more convenient than the camping tent you use before your trek.

However, you still need to secure the tent yourself, otherwise it's easy for it to be swept away by the sandstorm in the desert.

Wang Yan took out long nails and a hammer, and used them to secure the tent with a clanging sound.

Meanwhile, Erosanne began to set up various mechanical creations around her.

She set up a perimeter around her campsite, from tripping traps to pressure plate mechanisms.

Finally, she released the Heyao multifaceted body to roam around the camp.

If it were just herself, Erossan would probably have done it casually, but now that she has brought her only adult disciple along, plus Wang Yan's weak strength, Erossan feels that she still needs to do it properly.

If something happens to Wang Yan, Falushan will have nowhere to turn to cry.

By the time the campsite was set up, it was getting dark.

Wang Yan then took out a portable stove and began preparing dinner.

There's a pond nearby, and dinner is simple—just some dry food stewed together, as long as it's edible.

After all, he wasn't a traveler and couldn't possibly carry a backpack full of fresh cabbages.

"Teacher, do we have to keep watch tonight?"

"No need, just get some rest. He Yao will take good care of things."

"Oh."

Chapter 79 Three meters wide, nine meters long (April 20th, please subscribe)

That night.

Wang Yan, who was sleeping in the tent, could vaguely hear the sound of the wind, but he didn't hear Falushan's voice. So, Wang Yan turned over and continued to sleep.

The next morning.

Wang Yan's biological clock, which he had developed at the Academy of Teachings, was reactivated, waking him up.