I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

But then a new problem arises: what are the chances that the thing under the swamp won't show up and interfere with the main force's movements?

No one can be sure that the number is zero.

Moreover, based on previous observations, it can be determined that the creature in the swamp is definitely not small. If it suddenly appears and attacks the main force during their march, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As the saying goes, "How can one allow others to sleep soundly under one's bed?"

That leaves only the second insurance option: eliminate any non-human biological targets whose threat level is uncertain.

Ivan analyzed, "We need to find a way to lure this thing out first. We can't determine how thick the mud and water below is. If we shell it directly, it may not cause any substantial damage."

Leave the task of luring the enemy to me.

Ke Qing stepped forward from the crowd.

"My Eye of God allows me to leave a mark in a safe place beforehand. This mark is called the Star Mark and is formed from lightning elemental power. Afterward, I can teleport back to the mark's location through the connection between lightning attributes. So, just like last time, Mr. Kaeya can create a floating ice floe that I can step on, and then Ms. Jean can use wind elemental power to send me there."

After a moment's thought, Ivan nodded and agreed to Keqing's plan of action.

It is indeed more appropriate to entrust this task to Keqing.

After finalizing the plan, Kaeya quickly created ice floes using his ice elemental power. Keqing then stepped onto them, while Jean used her wind elemental power to lift the ice floes and Keqing, flying towards the swamp. Before leaving, Keqing's Vision at her waist flashed with a purple light belonging to the lightning elemental power. Then, Keqing threw out a bolt of lightning, which instantly transformed into a feather-shaped lightning dart upon landing. This was Keqing's Star Mark.

As Keqing flew toward the swamp, the people in the temporary camp also sprang into action.

Under the command of Ivan and Xiang Feng, all units quickly assembled, equipped with individual rocket launchers and portable howitzers, and were ready to support Keqing at any time.

Under Jean's control of the wind element, Keqing reached the top of the swamp pool in a dozen seconds, then drew her sword from her waist. Seeing this, everyone lowered their breathing, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

The next second, Ke Qing's gaze instantly turned sharp, and then a terrifying bolt of lightning began to gather on the sword in Ke Qing's hand. The fluctuating purple energy disturbed Ke Qing's clothes and also illuminated Ke Qing's face.

"what!"

Ke Qing gave a low shout, and a massive amount of lightning energy poured into the swamp below like a missile. A series of crackling sounds filled the air, and the entire crimson swamp was instantly enveloped in purple arcs of electricity. Under the continuous burning of the arcs, an unbearable stench of burning began to permeate the air.

Just then, the crimson muddy water below the swamp suddenly began to churn violently, followed by a piercing roar like fingernails grinding glass, which forced everyone on the shore to instinctively cover their ears.

Along with the piercing scream, a fountain of mud erupted, the crimson mud, several meters high, engulfing Keqing in the air. Keqing's expression changed, and she instantly disappeared from the floating ice. The next second, she appeared at the location where she had just left the star mark.

Everyone looked toward the swamp and saw a massive creature, as thick as a tanker truck, suddenly flung out of the mud and water. Its enormous body, which could stretch for hundreds of meters, twisted and coiled like a python. Its contorted head, made of countless vines and bark, opened a blood-red maw the size of a car and let out a piercing roar. The crimson mud and water that stained its colossal body looked like bloodstains, making it look even more terrifying.

Finally, everyone saw the true form of this enormous monster, which turned out to be a giant serpent twisted from countless decaying roots and branches of the World Tree!

Upon seeing the large snake before him, Ivan immediately frowned.

"Such a strong aura of destruction... Could this be the destructive consciousness generated by tree roots rotting and decaying due to the aura of destruction?"

At this moment, the Corrupted Root Serpent also noticed the presence of the people in the temporary camp. Its huge and twisted body suddenly turned around, lay down on the ground, and crushed the first layer of scarlet mud and water as it charged towards the group.

Ivan raised an eyebrow slightly and waved decisively.

"Fire!"

Chapter 494 The Truth Behind the Destruction of Kanria

"Fire!"

At Ivan's command, the sound of gunfire instantly resounded across the land.

The Root Serpent was a few hundred meters away from the temporary camp, not a long distance. At the monster's speed, it would take about ten seconds to reach it.

Of course, bullets and artillery fire will hit it first.

With two loud bangs, two man-portable anti-tank missiles exploded on the side and head of the Corrupted Serpent. The impact of the explosions caused the Corrupted Serpent to let out another piercing scream and temporarily halted its advance.

After the two rockets, the Corrupted Root Serpent was met with a barrage of bullets. Although each bullet was like an ant to the massive body of the Corrupted Root Serpent, when there are a terrifying number of ants, they can devour an elephant, let alone each of these blood-drinking "man-eating ants".

The dense bullets instantly tore apart the joints between the tree roots and vines on the upper part of the giant snake's body, like rows of steel needles slicing through the rotten roots of the giant snake's body, and wood chips filled the air.

On the other side, after the first round of rockets was fired, soldiers immediately rushed up carrying new individual rocket launchers, this time with four rockets.

Bang bang bang!

With four loud bangs, the fireballs instantly engulfed the body of the Corrupted Root Serpent, completely halting its advance.

A few seconds later, the smoke cleared, and everyone could clearly see that the body of the Corrupted Root Serpent had been broken into several pieces from the middle.

It was only because the Corrupted Root Serpent was formed from the entangled roots of the World Tree, which were corrupted by the aura of destruction, that it likely harbored the consciousness of destruction. It also had no life force of its own. So even though its body was blown off by the rocket, the Corrupted Root Serpent was still able to move. In fact, its severed upper body was still able to wriggle towards the temporary camp with the support of its head. At this time, the Corrupted Root Serpent's body was less than 100 meters away from Ivan and the others.

Seeing this, Ivan waved his hand again and shouted, "Incendiary bombs!"

As soon as the words were spoken, the dozen or so soldiers in the front row immediately unloaded the grenade launchers from their backs and loaded incendiary grenades into the launcher's cylinder. With a few muffled firing sounds, a dozen incendiary grenades landed on the body of the Corrupted Root Serpent. The fierce fire instantly engulfed the Corrupted Root Serpent's body. Amidst the flames, the ear-piercing roar gradually weakened until it finally disappeared completely.

In just half a minute, the rotten root serpent was reduced to a charred mess in the raging flames.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but Ivan was secretly on edge.

While it's common knowledge that trees and plants are afraid of each other, the body of the Rotten Root Serpent is, after all, composed of tree roots and vines. Ivan was initially unsure whether ordinary flames could harm it. If they couldn't, the troops still had the elemental compressed bullet as a backup plan. The flames of the fire elemental compressed bullet are much purer than ordinary flames. However, elemental compressed bullets are difficult to manufacture and cost a lot, so they should be saved unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, when the first rocket hit the Corrupted Root Serpent, Ivan had already determined that ordinary flames could also damage it. After that, it was a matter of overwhelming firepower, and the serpent was destroyed in just a few minutes.

Faced with overwhelming firepower, sometimes you really don't need so many fancy tricks.

After the battle, Ivan said to Xiang Feng, "Xiang Feng, have the reconnaissance battalion see if they can find a way to use drones to bring back some body fragments of that giant snake."

Xiang Feng asked, somewhat puzzled, "Why are you getting hold of this monster's corpse?"

“Analyzing its components and studying it carefully might reveal other weaknesses of this monster. As I mentioned before, there should be more than one of these things. If we encounter it again, we'll have more tactical options. Besides, it is made up of the roots and vines of the World Tree. If we can study it in depth, we might gain a better understanding of the World Tree and lay the foundation for our future understanding of the origin of the world.”

"I understand."

Xiang Feng nodded and was about to leave to convey Ivan's orders when, unexpectedly, a large number of bubbles suddenly emerged from a swamp not far away, and the mud began to churn. Then, another large rotten root snake broke out of the mud.

Everyone was immediately taken aback.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Unexpectedly, the second one appeared right after I finished speaking.

"All teams, prepare your firepower!"

The weapons in the hands of the soldiers were all ready to fire, and as soon as Ivan gave the order to fire, they could immediately launch a new round of firepower against the second giant snake that had appeared.

All the soldiers were waiting for Ivan to give the order to fire a second time. However, to everyone's surprise, Ivan's raised hand did not fall, and the second giant snake that appeared did not attack the temporary camp. It did not even move. Since it appeared, it had maintained the same posture. Its twisted and decaying head quietly swept over the main force of the temporary camp. Finally, its gaze fixed on the spatial teleportation channel behind the main force. At this moment, the giant snake's eyes flickered slightly.

At this moment, Ivan finally lowered his raised hand, but he still did not order the firing. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Arrogance..."

The giant snake raised its head and emitted a deafening roar.

"So you could see through my remote control of the destructive consciousness within this body. We meet again, you wretched and lowly beings of Earth. I was wondering who else besides me had come to this space, but it turns out it was you..."

Ivan sneered, "It seems you didn't expect we would follow you all the way here."

His arrogant gaze sharpened, and a murderous aura emanated from him.

"I truly didn't expect that you too had glimpsed the origin of the world and mastered this spatial teleportation technology. It seems I miscalculated... A one-in-a-billion probability has actually occurred repeatedly. The last time I felt such killing intent was against that race called Kanriya in the Teyvat world..."

The three words "Kanria" spoken by the arrogant man immediately caught the attention of Ivan, Jean, and the others.

Qin frowned and said, "You mean Kanria from thousands of years ago? Could it be that the destruction of Kanria is related to you?"

"Ok?"

Arrogance tilted his head slightly to look at Jean: "There's an aura about you that I find both familiar and repulsive. It seems to be the aura known as elemental force in that world called Teyvat... You're a Teyvat? Hmm..."

Looking arrogantly at Kaeya, Abedor, Keqing, Ningguang, Diluc, Ayaka Kamisato, Sara Kujo, and others behind Jean, he said, "And there's more than one..."

At this point, the arrogant serpent's gaze shifted slightly again: "At first, I didn't understand how I, in my slumber, came from the world of Teyvat to this world called Blue Star. Now, I think I understand..."

“Originally, I didn’t intend to tell you ants about that history, but now, I’ve suddenly become interested.”

“That’s right. I did have some dealings with the Kanriars in the Teyvat world, because they were the main force that fought against me in that world.”

"A thousand years ago, I led the forces of destruction to Teyvat, gradually eroding its power at the base of the World Tree. Unexpectedly, the Kanriyans discovered my presence and, over several years, glimpsed the world's origin, mastering the power of teleportation and arriving at the very roots of the Teyvat World Tree. My forces engaged in a protracted war with the Teyvats at the base of the World Tree. During this time, other Teyvat forces also joined the fray. Some forces revered as gods by the Teyvats joined forces against me. Their power was initially no match for mine, but tragically, at the last moment, I was ambushed by an unknown force and severely injured, falling into a deep slumber ever since..."

Hearing this, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck Ivan's mind.

Ivan narrowed his eyes.

At this moment, the secret revealed by arrogance connected all of history.

And within this lies the truth of the destruction of Canria!

Chapter 495 Unraveling the Mysteries of History

Let's rewind to the very beginning, to the moment when the aura of destruction was born.

The eternal struggle between the Tree of Imaginary Numbers and the Sea of ​​Quanta has given birth to an aura of destruction.

No one knows how long the aura of destruction has existed, but it must have been an incredibly long period of time.

The aura of destruction initially gave birth to seven destructive beings, who were the original destructive consciousnesses and represented the strongest destructive power.

Thousands of years ago, Pride, one of the seven destructive beings, swept across the continent of Teyvat with immense destructive power. As the aura of destruction continued to erode the world of Teyvat, the creatures of the continent discovered its existence. These discoverers were the most mysterious race on the continent of Teyvat to date—the Kanriyans.

The Kanriyans discovered the source of the destructive aura: the roots of the World Tree, submerged by the energy of the Imaginary Tree's self-elimination mechanism—the Abyss.

To reach that place, the Kanriyans spent years exploring the origins of the world, discovering the properties of the ley lines, and successfully developing an unprecedented spatial teleportation technology.

Thus, the long-prepared Kanriyans launched a massive invasion of the Abyss, engaging in an epic battle with the destructive forces led by Pride. The Teyvat Old Gods also participated in this battle.

This great war lasted a long time, and in the end, when Pride was facing the combined forces of the Teyvat gods, it was attacked by an unknown force, severely injured, and has been sleeping ever since.

The great battle between the creatures of Teyvat and the forces of destruction temporarily came to an end with the fall of Pride. Although the forces of destruction were not completely eradicated, they were trapped beneath the abyss.

In order to combat the aura of destruction, the Kanriyans glimpsed the origin of the world, but at a great cost.

The prolonged battles in the Abyss gradually corrupted the hearts and bodies of the Kanria people, ultimately leading to their annihilation shortly after the war ended.

Before their final destruction, the Kanriyans sealed this teleportation technology that could reach the Abyss and this unknown history within the ruins and cemetery of the ancient Dragonspine Mountains, sealing it with the Nails of Frost and warning future generations so that they would not repeat their mistakes of being corrupted by the power of the Abyss.

As the wheels of history rolled ever onward, the continent of Teyvat underwent constant changes, and eventually the secrets of the Kanriars were gradually buried in the sands of time, becoming the most mysterious kingdom in people's eyes.

Even today, under the arrogant narrative, Ivan has integrated all the past information in his mind.

At this point, the full truth about the destruction of the Kingdom of Kanria was finally revealed to Ivan.

This is an epic story buried by the dust of time.

How many untold tears and glories lie within this?

Ivan looked up at the arrogance in the distance and frowned.

"Thousands of years ago you were defeated by the indomitable spirit of the Kanriyans, and today you will surely be defeated by us once again!"