He changed Tiwat

"This, this..." Yuehui was speechless. In his memory, the seal of the Abyss of Layered Rocks had always been impregnable.

"Looks like I'll have to write a weekly report again. I don't know who came up with this 'ledger system,' but now every little thing has to be written in a report... Sigh, my hairline is really receding lately." Mu Ning sighed and touched his forehead.

"Don't worry, I'll find out the truth." The culprit who introduced the civil servant ledger system patted Mu Ning on the shoulder and then said to Yue Hui, "Recently, you should keep your men in check and not let them go down into the mine. Wait for me to come back."

"Okay, okay. I'll leave it to you!" Yuehui nodded quickly.

As the saying goes, "the deepest fear is the fear of the unknown." If the cause can be found out, the miners will no longer have to overthink things.

"Then we'll go down and find out what's going on. Farewell, gentlemen." Han Fulai bid farewell to the two.

After saying goodbye to Mu Ning and Yue Hui, the two walked down the boardwalk.

Seeing that no one else was around, Han Fulai spoke again: "Senior Jiang Xue, you actually know something, don't you?"

"What do I know?" Jiang Xue asked curiously.

"The secret hidden deep within this abyss of rock. It's related to the 'Abyss'... or to 'Kanria,' right?" Han Fulai asked.

Jiang Xue remained silent, and Han Fulai continued speaking without waiting for her reply.

"The monsters that attacked us in Dihua Isle that day... to be precise, the monsters that attacked me included an 'Abyss Mage.' Also, the 'Ruins Hunter' that you slew was Kanria's creation. And you suddenly changed your attitude that day after hearing that I was going to the Layered Rock Abyss. I suspect you know some secrets related to the 'Abyss' or 'Kanria,' which makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Just now, when Yuehui mentioned that Hilichurls had entered the depths of the Laminariat, you clearly reacted. I previously suggested that due to the 'Seven Star Formation,' Hilichurls shouldn't be able to enter the Laminariat, but you didn't react much, which means you know how those Hilichurls passed through the 'Seven Star Formation.' Combined with what you previously told me—'I'm very familiar with monsters, and I understand their principles, so I can speculate about them.'"

"So I'll venture a guess: do you know what those Hilichurls are doing in the Layered Rock Abyss? You might even be coming down to the Layered Rock Abyss with me for this reason, right?"

Han Fulai stopped and turned to look directly at Jiang Xue.

Jiang Xue pressed down his straw hat, letting it cover his eyes, seemingly trying to avoid the question. But Han Fulai stubbornly blocked his way.

After a long silence, Jiang Xue sighed, "Alas, being too smart isn't a good thing, I'm serious."

"So, Senior Jiang Xue has tacitly accepted my statement?" Han Fulai asked with a smile.

"That's the downside. It makes you seem like you can 'read minds,' which is really annoying. Everyone has one or two secrets they don't want others to know." Jiang Xue gripped the hilt of the bladeless sword.

Han Fulai pretended to look around at the scenery.

“Brother Fulai,” Jiang Xue’s voice suddenly turned serious, “If one day you find that your hands are stained with blood, will you regret it?”

Han Fulai was taken aback, recalling that Zhongli had also asked him a difficult question in the Salt God Ruins.

“I’m actually an office secretary, so I’ve never killed anyone before…” Han Fulai forced a smile, “But… if it’s something I should do, I’ll do it even if it means getting blood on my hands.”

“Is that so…” Jiang Xue did not comment on Han Fulai’s answer. After a moment, he pointed to the “Panjian” below.

"The Ningguang Cloth array is more of a warning than a seal; it only protects against ordinary people. If it were me, breaking a hole in the array's seal would be a piece of cake."

"But Hilichurls shouldn't have that ability, right?" Han Fulai frowned.

"So someone inside broke the formation and let those Hilichurls in."

After Jiang Xue finished speaking, she walked straight past Han Fulai and stood in front of him.

Han Fulai stood frozen for a full five seconds before taking off to catch up with Jiang Xue. He knew in his heart that the secrets within this giant abyss of rock were probably far more numerous than he had previously guessed.

On the surface of the Layered Rock Abyss, the two quickly found the Miss Zhiqiong that Mu Ning had mentioned.

She was dressed in the Adventurers' Guild's green adventure outfit, wearing a green beret and carrying a travel backpack, making her stand out conspicuously against the red earth of the Layered Rock Abyss.

Zhiqiong was standing under a huge "rock key" at this moment. When she saw the two of them arrive, she waved excitedly.

"Hero Han! Hero Han! Over here!"

"Huh? Are you calling me?" Han Fulai was used to being called "Deputy Minister Han" or "Secretary Han," but few people called him "Hero Han," so he couldn't help but feel a little confused.

"Of course! I recognized you at a glance, Han the Great Hero of the Ancient Hua Sect! You're super famous in the Adventurers' Guild too!" Zhiqiong's big eyes darted around, and she exuded a restless and clever energy, as if she was always ready to go on an adventure. In short, she was far from being a "lady."

"Me? The Adventurers' Guild?" Han Fulai had no recollection of having any connection with the Adventurers' Guild.

"Yes, all the newcomers in the Adventurers' Guild have heard about your battle against the sea monster! A sea monster hundreds of stories high! Which adventurer wouldn't want to become famous in one battle!" Zhiqiong described the "sea monster hundreds of stories high" with her hands.

"...It doesn't seem that high." Han Fulai twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Then, Master Han, wielding his silver spear, leaped down from the Jade Pavilion! It was a spear technique that descended from the heavens!" Zhiqiong mimicked the storyteller's tone, "The long-lost Ancient Hua Divine Spear—Ancient Hua Secret Technique: Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens! Wherever the spear points, none can withstand it! That sea demon was pierced into the seabed by the power of this spear, just like when Lord Yan threw down his rock spear to suppress the demon god!"

"The Guhua School doesn't have this move..." Han Fulai shook his head like a rattle drum.

He was clearly the one who was knocked away by Ba Che and even vomited blood on the spot... Oh, because they were far away, it seems that no one except Shen He knew about it.

"...Although I didn't witness it live, I never missed a single storytelling performance!" Zhiqiong said proudly, puffing out her chest.

"Oh..." Han Fulai probably knew the source of this fake news.

Zhiqiong continued enthusiastically, "It's very popular in the city! Personally, I think the tea master and Tian Tiezui each have their own unique characteristics, but I prefer Tian Tiezui..."

"Ahem." Jiang Xue, standing behind Han Fulai, was already getting impatient.

"Haha, I understand, I understand. Not everyone can accept Tian Tiezui's style. Sometimes I also feel that his vocabulary and sentence structure are a bit too vulgar... But when it comes to tea master storytelling, he's slow to warm up, you know? Sometimes it takes two hours to get the full flavor of a story. Some people like that, but I think it's boring..."

Zhiqiong seemed to think that Jiang Xue had some differences with her in terms of storytelling preferences, and explained in a serious tone: "Fortunately, storytelling is just a story, so it won't go bad... If it were something like food or drink, and you didn't unpack it for a long time, wouldn't it have gone bad long ago? It was the same when the tea master talked about the Mondstadt Dragon Plague. When the honorary knight fought a Stormterror, he could cut off ten chapters of your story!"

"Honorary Knight! Is it called Kong or Ying?" Han Fulai suddenly became excited.

“His name is Ying… How come you don’t know him, Master Han?” Zhiqiong blinked.

So there are Travelers in this world too! I wonder when the Traveler will be able to come to Liyue... Ah, it seems like he's taken over all the work the Traveler was doing in Liyue... Does that mean the Traveler isn't coming at all?

Jiang Xue coughed heavily again.

Han Fulai quickly steered the conversation back on track: "Miss Zhiqiong, we didn't come to you to listen to storytelling."

"Ah, sorry, I got a little too excited and started talking without thinking about your feelings, hehe..." Zhiqiong stuck out her tongue sheepishly.

“We just met with Mu Ning; he sent us to find you…” Han Fulai said.

"Oh, did he also say something like 'The rock is very solid' or 'Zhiqiong wouldn't want to go to the Layered Rock Abyss'?" Zhiqiong shook her head when she heard Mu Ning's name. "He likes to put on airs and issue official documents all the time. He has to go through procedures for every little thing... making himself seem like some big shot. I don't buy into that."

As she spoke, she pointed behind her back. Behind her stood a sign with several slogans painted on it in a very serious tone—

"The 'Panjian' is a restricted area; unauthorized personnel are prohibited from approaching! Anyone who dares to damage this item will be held accountable by the 'Seven Stars'! If you have any questions, please go to the camp and consult Commissioner Mu Ning!"

Zhiqiong slammed her hand on the notice board, "These words, actually..."

"...Just listen to it the other way around, right?" Han Fulai said with a smile.

"When he told me about the rock element polymer next to the 'Rock Bond,' he was telling me how to break the 'Rock Bond.' And when he specifically introduced you, Ms. Zhiqiong, he was telling me that I needed you to guide me into the depths of the Layered Rock Abyss. He has already told me the method to break the seal and the guide I need."

"Huh? I didn't expect that guy's speech was so awkward, yet you, Master Han, could understand him?" Zhiqiong asked in surprise.

Han Fulai smiled slightly.

"Don't forget, before I became 'Hero Han,' I was a civil servant at Yuehaiting."

In fact, the conversation between Han Fulai and Mu Ning was based on a set of unspoken rules in the civil servant workplace.

The official document Han Fulai sent to Mu Ning was issued by the "Shenglu Hall," not by the Liyue Seven Stars, nor by the "Huishan Hall," which oversees mining. This in itself foreshadowed the unusual nature of the matter. It indicated that the Seven Stars' will was not unified!

—The Shenglu Hall is considered a “relevant department,” but it is a “relevant department” with a rather distant relationship with the Cengyan Giant Abyss. As the General Affairs Department’s resident commissioner in the Cengyan Giant Abyss, Mu Ning should, in principle, only recognize the orders of the Seven Stars.

If Han Fulai doesn't produce the official document signed by a certain Seven Star, Mu Ning can simply refuse to acknowledge it. At the very least, he should, according to regulations, send a letter to the Jade Capital Bureau to confirm the situation.

However, as the son of the deputy director of Shenglu Hall, Mu Ning was well aware that the Cengyan Giant Abyss maintained the enormous interests of Shenglu Hall. The fact that Shenglu Hall issued this official document must have been driven by vested interests. Although he was a civil servant in the General Affairs Department, his faction was Shenglu Hall, and that was undeniable.

Moreover, Han Fulai's status is special; he is both the Vice Minister of Yuehaiting and the personal secretary of Yuheng Star. His personal presence represents the will of Gan Yu and Ke Qing. Furthermore, the fact that he carries a receipt given by Gan Yu further confirms Gan Yu's involvement in this matter…

Mu Ning was facing this situation: Han Fulai, a big shot from Yuehaiting, came with the will of Gan Yu and Ke Qing, demanding that the seal of the Layered Rock Abyss be opened. At the same time, he also represented the interests of the Shengluting faction, leaving Mu Ning no choice but to cooperate. However, Han Fulai did not have any official documents issued by the Seven Stars, which meant that this matter was not backed by the Seven Stars' decision. If anything went wrong, the Seven Stars would not take responsibility.

For example, Mu Ning helped Han Fulai open the "Seven Star Seal," and the bad things under the Layered Rock Abyss came out. The first person responsible for this was him, the chief steward of the Layered Rock Abyss.

This is equivalent to the leaders of Yujingtai giving Mu Ning a heads-up, asking him to help open the seal of the Layered Rock Abyss. If something goes wrong after opening the seal, the leaders will say that they never gave him a heads-up, and the responsibility lies entirely with Mu Ning for violating regulations and opening the seal privately—you should have refused to open the seal according to work discipline!

Mu Ning cannot afford to offend Han Fulai and the powerful figures behind him, nor can he bear the responsibility of secretly opening the Layered Rock Abyss.

So Mu Ning's choice was—I warned him not to mess with the seal, and I also warned him that he wouldn't be able to find his way down the Abyss of Lapis Lazuli; he broke the seal himself. Ah, you ask what I was doing when Vice Minister Han broke the seal? I was writing a weekly report and asking the General Affairs Department for instructions! The report was delivered by the time Vice Minister Han finished his business and came out? This is all because Liyue's technology is underdeveloped; we don't have a Void Terminal Internet!

Chapter 126 First Exploration of the Layered Rock Abyss (Part 3): The Five-Point Concentric Circle Key

Zhiqiong clapped her hands.

“Alright, let’s get down to business. First, uh, you two…” Zhiqiong glanced at Jiang Xue, who was still completely covered up, clearly unwilling to show her face in the Abyss of Layered Rocks.

“…Esteemed heroes.” Zhiqiong decided to be polite to Jiang Xue, who seemed unapproachable despite his unknown background. “In order to enter the depths of the Layered Rock Abyss, we must first destroy…I mean, disarm these ‘rock keys’.”

She pointed to the floating giant rock behind her. The rock was surrounded by the power of rock element, constantly transmitting energy into the formation to maintain its existence.

The giant rock is shaped like a golden key, hence the name "Key to the Rock," which is quite apt.

“There are five such ‘rock keys’ in total, all located on the surface of the Layered Rock Abyss, but they are quite far apart. I’ve drawn a map… Please wait a moment, my esteemed friends.” Zhiqiong said, and began to unpack and rummage through the backpack on her back.

Even without Mu Ning and Zhi Qiong's explanation, anyone unfamiliar with the "Seven Star Formation" would immediately recognize these uniquely shaped keystones as the keys to unlock the formation.

Generally, the nodes of a sealing formation, being its weak points, are hidden quite well to prevent damage. However, this "Seven Star Formation" does the opposite, placing its nodes in obvious locations, making them glow and float in the air, as if afraid others wouldn't see them. This is practically an explicit indication of how to destroy the formation.

However, as Jiang Xue said, this formation can only defend against ordinary people. The reason why the "Panjian" is made so huge and conspicuous is to show the authority of the "Seven Stars" and demonstrate the "will of the Seven Stars".

In short, this "Seven Star Formation" is more like a seal affixed by the General Affairs Department. The seal itself has no function of preventing external damage and can be torn open by hand. What people are afraid of is the consequences of tearing open the seal.

The "Seven Stars Formation" is the highest-level administrative seal, representing the authority of the Seven Stars government. Unauthorized destruction of the seal carries the severe consequences of incurring the wrath of the Seven Stars—a consequence that Liyue's merchants and treasure-hunting guilds certainly cannot afford.

But in the eyes of Yuehaiting's executive secretary, the deterrent power of this magic array was roughly equivalent to Keqing puffing out her cheeks and saying, "Subordinates cannot contradict their superiors."

Zhiqiong finally found the blueprints in her backpack and spread them out in front of the two of them.

Although this map was hand-drawn by Zhiqiong, it is quite detailed. Not only does it depict the terrain of the Layered Rock Abyss in minute detail, but it also marks the altitude and location of various regions. It could be used directly as an engineering blueprint. In the lower right corner of the map, there is also a cartoon portrait of Zhiqiong as her signature, which is quite amusing.

The location of "Panjian" is clearly marked on the map, but there are only four places marked.

"Didn't you just say there were five key points in total?" Han Fulai asked, puzzled.

"Yes, there are five keystones in total, but I can only confirm four right now."

As Zhiqiong spoke, she picked up a drawing pen and drew a fairly large circle in the northeast corner of the map.

"As for the other one... well, it's hard for me to pinpoint its location now. After the miners left, there was a leak in that mine, and the key's pillar was submerged underwater. Let's deal with the four known keys first, and as for the remaining one... we'll find it slowly later..."

Zhiqiong's tone sounded uncertain, clearly indicating that she had tried to find the last remaining key herself, but without success. Even with Han Fulai and Jiang Xue included, she wasn't sure how long the three of them would need to search in these mountains.

Han Fulai took the map from Zhiqiong, examined it carefully, and then asked, "Miss Zhiqiong, can you guarantee the accuracy of the locations of the four Panjian you marked?"

“Of course. The General Affairs Department specially hired me to come to the Layered Rock Abyss to be in charge of drawing maps.” Zhiqiong patted her chest and answered without hesitation.

If the Abyss of the Layered Rocks hadn't undergone an anomaly and closed off, Zhiqiong should be deep within the Abyss with the exploration team, drawing up maps for the investigation.

"That makes things easier. Can I borrow your pen?"

Han Fulai extended his hand to Zhiqiong.

Zhiqiong suspiciously handed him the drawing pen.

"Senior Jiang Xue and I once observed the 'Seven Star Formation' above the Layered Rock Abyss. The formation should cover the entire central part of the Layered Rock Abyss. If drawn, it would look something like this."

Han Fulai drew a circle in the center of the map with a drawing pen.

“We know that the ‘Seven Stars Formation’ is still in operation, so the coverage area of ​​the formation will not change. No matter how the positions of the keystones change, it will always maintain the formation. Moreover, we now know the positions of four keystones, so we can calculate the position of the fifth keystone using plane geometry.”

“Plane geometry?” Zhiqiong heard a new term.

"Ah... it's geodetic techniques in drawing, using diagrams to deduce." Han Fulai quickly covered up, as there was no Euclid or Euclid's Elements in this world.

"Huh, Master Han even knows this?" Zhiqiong's eyes lit up, just like a little girl who was a fan of a star and heard that her idol could play basketball in addition to singing, dancing and rapping.

"I know a little." Han Fulai smiled and used a pen to connect the positions of the four keypads with line segments.

"Because of the circle in the middle, this task is very easy. We know the positions of the four points and the approximate range of the fifth point, so we only need to draw a few auxiliary lines..."

As he moved, a strange shape gradually appeared on the drawing.

“This… looks like a five-pointed star with a missing corner.” Zhiqiong quickly noticed what Han Fulai was drawing.

"Yes, and what we need to do is fill in the missing corner. Because any pentagram will have five triangles, and the circumcircles of these five triangles will intersect at five points."

As Han Fulai spoke, he extended two dotted lines towards the area where the unknown rock key was located, forming a five-pointed star shape.

"Although it's just my visual estimation, the difference shouldn't be too big. Next, we'll make some fine adjustments based on the circle's range."

He began drawing circle after circle on the blueprints.

Soon, six circles appeared on the drawing. In the center was a large circle symbolizing the area sealed by the magic array, and on the side were five smaller circles that intersected with the large circle.

"...As long as these five intersection points converge in the large circle in the middle, we will find the location of the final key. This is called, 'Peace reigns throughout the world, and the five points converge in a circle.'"

With a heavy stroke of Han Fulai's drawing pen on the map, the entire map was completed.

“This is… another mine tunnel about a hundred meters east of that abandoned mine shaft… Oh right! How come I didn’t think of that!” Zhiqiong excitedly patted the map. “The abandoned mine shaft collapsed after water seepage, but the collapse also broke through the wall of the adjacent mine tunnel, causing Panjian to fall into the space of another mine tunnel. That’s why I couldn’t find it in the original abandoned mine tunnel. I thought it was buried under the water…”

Zhiqiong raised her head, and her eyes were now fixed on Han Fulai with starry eyes.