Genshin Impact, the spear remains.

As time passed, the balloon the two were riding drew ever closer to the Windrise Mountain.

Moreover, the farther away from the place where the wind originates, the more undulating the mountains become, and the narrower their field of vision becomes.

"Have Hilichurls become more active lately?"

Watching the Hilichurls dancing around the campfire along the way, Bai Qiyun couldn't help but ask the question.

Although there are traces of Hilichurls in Liyue, there are simply too many in Mondstadt, so many that even if he wanted to avoid them, he couldn't.

Moreover, it's not just in the wild; there are also quite a few Hilichurls active near Mondstadt.

It's hard not to worry about what they'll do next.

Bennett sat up and nodded.

"Yes, the Hilichurls have been behaving very strangely lately, but no one from the association has investigated it."

Because of the Dragon Plague, the Adventurers' Guild is simply unable to spare any manpower; in fact, the entire city of Mondstadt is currently unable to spare any manpower due to the Dragon Plague.

Not long ago, Grand Master Falgar of the Knights of Favonius went on an expedition, taking about half of the Knights' manpower with him.

From that time on, the Knights began to be short-staffed, and that was only when maintaining daily operations.

In these emergency situations, once things get busy, it's basically a situation where the higher-ups are running around like crazy, while the lower-ups are powerless to do anything.

A lone scout knight, a cavalry captain without any riders, a witch bound to the library by her duties, and a wandering knight who's always out and about.

Currently, the mature and reliable Dandelion Knight only has a few capable subordinates.

As for the alchemist and the little girl who always carries bombs, the former is nowhere to be found, and the latter is lucky if she doesn't cause any trouble.

I imagine that acting leader must have had quite a few headaches about this.

But none of this was known to the two people who were now forced to hitch a ride on someone else's hot air balloon at Wangfeng Mountain.

All they know now is that the Hilichurls outside the city are behaving strangely, but no one inside the city is investigating or dealing with the situation.

"But it seems like the area around here—"

Before Bai Qiyun could finish speaking, a surge of dense wind elemental energy rushed over from afar, interrupting him.

--This is?!

Although it wasn't as concentrated as the wind elemental power wielded by the Stormterror during the previous Dragon Plague, there was no doubt that this was a level that ordinary people couldn't exude.

No wonder the number of Hilichurls, who were everywhere along the way, started to decrease here.

They find environments filled with such high concentrations of elemental energy extremely unpleasant.

"Bennett, does the Adventurers' Guild have any records of dangerous wind elemental monsters in this area?"

The balloons above their heads were also affected by the wind elemental force and began to float irregularly.

Realizing this, Bai Qiyun quickly reduced the amount of reactants in the brazier to decrease the fire elemental force generated.

Otherwise, falling from over twenty meters would mean either death or severe injury.

"No, I didn't hear anything about what to be careful about in Wangfeng Mountain when I was in the city."

Bennett held his goggles to his forehead and tried to raise his voice as the wind grew stronger.

After a while, the balloon slowly landed under Bai Qiyun's control.

"With this wind force, it seems we have no choice but to stop here."

The whistling wind in his ears told Bai Qiyun that something was definitely wrong here.

He looked around with a solemn expression.

The only sound was the rustling of leaves in the wind.

The Hilichurls, who used to be everywhere, have practically disappeared here. Although the high concentration of elemental energy is a factor, it is still extremely unusual for this situation to occur.

Bennett hid the transport balloon in a somewhat secluded little cave, as he would need it on his way back, and he couldn't let it get damaged by the wind.

"Let's hurry up and find Luo Luo Mei; this place feels a bit eerie."

Even the usually oblivious Bennett realized something was wrong.

He stuck out his tongue and licked his somewhat dry lips; the omnipresent wind elemental force here made him feel very uncomfortable.

This is not the wind of freedom sown by that god, but something more destructive and more restless.

As the holder of the Eye of God and the guardian of this test, he felt it necessary to advise Bai Qiyun to speed up the process, and even forcibly take him away if the situation became serious, to terminate the test.

However, the adventurer's blood within him continued to boil, and if he were alone, he would definitely go to see the source of this unknown wind.

That must have been an extremely exciting adventure.

But not now. He has other identities, and before he can realize his own wishes, he must first ensure Bai Qiyun's safety.

"Let's go."

Taking advantage of the relatively calm wind, Bai Qiyun began to move forward.

------------

After crossing countless hills, a swaying raspberry bush finally came into view.

However, there was an uninvited guest beside it.

It was a monster that Bai Qiyun had never seen before. It looked somewhat like a Hilichurl and a bit like a rabbit, with short limbs.

However, its entire body was floating in the air, surrounded by a light blue glow that completely enveloped it.

Although the thing was dazzling, Bai Qiyun, who possessed elemental vision, knew that it was composed of extremely pure water elemental power, and in enormous quantities.

Without a doubt, this is no monster that is easy to deal with.

"Hehe, the master's plan is about to be completed. Before hunting the East Wind Dragon, let's practice with it first."

The abyss mage, with his azure blue robes, watched the Formless Wind being chased by his superior in the distance, and kept chuckling.

But the next second, it sensed something was around it.

"Who?!"

The Abyss Mage turned around but found no trace.

The two people hiding behind the hillside were talking in hushed tones.

Have you ever seen this kind of monster?

"no."

Bennett shook his head again in response to Bai Qiyun's question.

Actually, Bai Qiyun didn't want to linger here. Besides, that guy who looked like he was not someone they could handle was clearly beyond the capabilities of the two of them. He should return to the city and report to the Knights of Favonius first.

More importantly, in his perception, there were two even more powerful wind and water elemental forces further away.

And judging from the commotion, it's obvious that a fight has broken out.

One of those wind elemental forces must be the culprit affecting the elemental concentration in the Windward Mountain area.

But if someone can confront a guy like that head-on, the other one probably isn't exactly a pushover either.

Thinking of this, Bai Qiyun felt the urge to back down.

"Hehe, the Apostle ordered me to keep watch here. If anything really happens, I won't be able to get away with it."

The Abyss Mage felt that if anything seemed amiss, those potential threats should be eliminated first.

He began to drift towards the hillside where Bai Qiyun and the other person were hiding.

After all, that was the only place in his field of vision where something could still be hidden.

Oh no! Oh no!

In Bai Qiyun's perception, the water elemental force that had been relatively close to them earlier began to move towards them.

If this continues—

"Huff~ Huff!"

I don't know when it started, but the already strong winds became even stronger.

The current situation is no less severe than that of the more peripheral areas during the Dragon Disaster.

The gale swept up the dark clouds, as if trying to cleanse everything on the ground.

Even the Abyss Apostles, who were fighting against the Wind of No Form, were intimidated by this momentum.

"This is..."

If a scholar of Sumeru were here, he would immediately recognize that this is the ultimate move of the Formless Wind – Wind and Moon!

A massive tornado rose from the ground and spread wildly outwards from the center of the formless wind.

Even trees that had been rooted deep underground for countless years were mercilessly uprooted by the tornado.

At this rate, it will soon spread to the vicinity of Bai Qiyun and his companion.

Moreover, this speed is accelerating!

The Abyss Apostle tried to leave through the portal as quickly as possible, but it was faster than the portal itself. A swift tornado shattered the water elemental power surrounding it and threw it far away.

"Lord Apostle!"

The Abyss Mage was terrified when he saw this scene. He had originally thought that with that person's help, dealing with this kind of monster would be a piece of cake.

But who could have imagined that this thing would be so difficult to deal with?

The wind was still approaching.

Before it could even panic, the storm that swept across the land threw it, along with Bai Qiyun and the other two who hadn't had time to escape, into the abyss below the waterfall, where they disappeared without a trace.