He changed Tiwat

Apart from Jinwu, who stayed behind to guard the camp and rush to produce new "lumenstone" catalysts, all the main members of the exploration team were present.

Han Fulai, Jiang Xue, and Ye Lan mainly acted as "bodyguards," while Zhiqiong was the "reporter" responsible for taking photos. The two technicians, Haidifu and Husseini, also had to be present to conduct the survey in person. In addition, there were several miners who were responsible for helping to move and assemble the "Pulsina optical nail" and other exploration instruments.

The proportion of ordinary people in the team is obviously too large—to be fair, if something really happens, Han Fulai and the other two might not be able to protect everyone.

On the way, Ye Lan quietly asked Han Fulai what he was planning, but Han Fulai just smiled and remained silent.

He dared to take so many ordinary people to explore ancient civilization ruins, of course, because he was certain there would be no danger inside.

Four days have passed since Han Fulai and Jiang Xue entered the ancient civilization ruins. Even if the Abyss Order sent people to explore the ruins during these days, they would not waste their resources guarding them.

For the Abyss Order, the ancient ruins were merely a site for conducting experiments on "purification rituals," and even the killing of Dainesreb was just a side effect. Now that the "purification rituals" were over and Dainesreb had long since fled, the ruins had lost all value to them.

Whether it's the "Abyss Order" or Ye Mingxiang, the key to their plans lies behind that "Gate of the Rock Hall," and their main forces should be concentrated there as well. The ancient ruins should now only house some Hilichurls awaiting their death.

Moreover, if Han Fulai's guess is correct, even if the "Abyss Cult" wants to send people to retaliate against them, Ye Mingxiang will be able to hold them back. Jiang Xue's senior brother is still counting on him and Jiang Xue, these two "troublemakers," to play their due role in two days.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any danger in going to investigate now; it would be perfect to go there and conduct an "experiment".

In theory, they didn't need porters; they could simply put the equipment and other supplies into the Eye of God's storage space. However, Han Fulai brought Zhiqiong and several miners along for a reason: for him, it was all part of an "experiment."

The ancient ruins were now shrouded in darkness, the torches used for illumination all extinguished. After all, neither the Abyss Order nor the Black Serpent Knights were present, and the dying Hilichurls would lack the strength to maintain the torches. The unattended ancient ruins had returned to their true state as "ruins."

Fortunately, even without firelight, the extinguished torches along the way could still serve as road signs to guide the way. The exploration team successfully found the passage into the "upside-down city".

The murals along the way clearly caught the attention of Haidif and Hussein.

Although these two were not professional archaeologists, the Academy's training policy places great emphasis on students' general education, also known as "drawing inferences from one thing to another." Graduates of the Academy are all considered erudite, even if they are not in their major field, they will at least have some knowledge of it. For scholars, exchanging ideas and learning from scholars in other disciplines is also one of the ways to gain research inspiration.

In particular, Haidif's thesis was related to ancient civilization relics, so he naturally paid extra attention to the humanistic traces left in ancient civilization relics.

After sampling the stone walls and murals at the site, Haidif couldn't help but exclaim, "The geological environment here is so interesting! Seriously, Hosseini, you could easily graduate with a paper titled 'An Investigation of Ancient Creatures in the Stratolith Abyss' just by studying the remains in this site—although that topic is already included in my dissertation on ancient civilizations."

"Ancient creatures?" Han Fulai couldn't help but be curious when he heard this term. Although he had seen these animal-like murals before, he couldn't recognize what kind of creatures they were.

Hedif then showed him a stone that had just been knocked off the wall.

"This is a fossil, a fossil of a marine organism. The one I have here is a fossil of a type of seaweed."

"Seaweed? Marine life? But this is a deep abyss of layered rocks!" Hearing Haidifu say this, Han Fulai's doubts deepened.

“Yes, that’s what makes it interesting!” Haidif exclaimed with delight. “Look at this.”

He pointed to the "mural" covering the entire wall, "This complete skeletal fossil—it's a baby sea lizard! Isn't there an old saying in Liyue that goes... 'Gardens and fields, submerged by the vast sea'?"

“It’s ‘the sea changes into mulberry fields’,” Hussein interjected. Although Hussein claimed he wasn’t good at Liyue language, he was clearly better at it than Hydif.

"Yes, yes, the world changes. The fact that fossils can be found in the Abyss of Strata means that these creatures were once quickly buried underground, which is why their skeletons have remained so intact. This also means that earthquakes frequently occur in the Abyss of Strata... Hmm, that makes sense. Active geological activity is one of the necessary conditions for fossil formation."

"The presence of such well-preserved and structurally intact fossils indicates that they were rapidly buried in the soil. Furthermore, the striking similarity in the fossil styles found at this site suggests a remarkably rapid ecological change. Perhaps a massive shock or something similar?"

“A tremendous impact…” Han Fulai gazed at the fossils that resembled murals, his thoughts drifting far away.

Heidi, still excited, shared his insights with them: "Look, these are the skeletons of ancient marine creatures, and their shapes are very clear. This proves that before the formation of the Stratolith Abyss, it was actually a marine environment! We've discovered a chronology of the Stratolith Abyss!"

Hosseini excitedly gripped the temple of his glasses, his voice trembling slightly: "We...we're the first scholars to discover the deep-sea environment, aren't we? This is absolutely a great discovery that will go down in the history of the Council of the Church!"

From ocean to rocky abyss... it truly is a literal "transformation of the sea into mulberry fields".

Han Fulai recalled what Zhongli had once told him in the Salt God Ruins—

"In the former 'paradise,' the mountains were higher than the sky, and the earth was larger than the dome... But in that war, the sky collapsed and the earth cracked. The boundaries of the world were torn apart, the tides rose, and raging floods poured into the land. Many lives were lost in that war, and many civilizations were destroyed in the catastrophe, but in the end, the Prime Minister prevented the destruction of the world."

"A devastating flood swept across the land... Many civilizations were destroyed in the catastrophe..."

The ancient book of Liyue, "Jueyun Chronicles," does indeed record the story of a celestial star falling to earth. The Deep Rock Abyss is said to have been formed from this supposedly celestial star falling to earth.

If we combine this with the fact that the place retains the power of "the ruling power of life", and that Dain said that the architectural style here is earlier than that of Kanria, Han Fulai can draw a very clear conclusion - this ancient civilization is a human civilization established when the principles of heaven first descended, an ancient country from the "paradise" era!

And the power of the "paradise" era remains here!

He suddenly felt somewhat fortunate that he had brought Haidifu to conduct this "experiment" today. Thanks to these two Sumeru scholars, his "experiment" was already half successful before it even began.

Chapter 250 Machines are unreliable; people must rely on themselves. [4k]

Haidif and Hussein, of course, had no idea what Han Fulai was thinking. They were both immersed in the happiness of their "world-shaking academic discovery."

The two men huddled together in front of the stone wall, staring at the fossils on it as if they were mesmerized. Their expressions and gazes were as if they were looking at the face of their dream lover.

"Senior, such a well-preserved fossil is rare even in the Cadence Academy's inventory, right?"

"Junior, do you know what price those guys from the Theory of Causes are willing to pay for complete ancient fossils?"

"Senior, I meant we should transport these fossils back for research."

"Junior, I mean, even if they offer a higher price, I won't sell. Let them be envious!"

"If we could knock all these fossils back... hehehe... hehehe..." The two scholars simultaneously let out a laugh that sent chills down one's spine.

"Ahem." Yelan, who was accompanying them, coughed heavily twice. "From the perspective of the Liyue Ruins Protection Association and the General Affairs Department, I must remind Mr. Husseini to be mindful of your behavior."

Liyue has cracked down hard on the illegal trafficking of cultural relics, and Yelan has indeed arrested many groups of thieves who smuggled relics from ancient sites.

"From the perspective of a civil servant of Yuehaiting and a commissioner appointed by Shenglu Hall, I also urge Mr. Haidifu to be mindful of his wording..."

Although Han Fulai's duties do not include protecting cultural relics, he cannot allow Hydif to knock away Liyue's cultural relics in front of him.

Haidif rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly.

"It's a real pity. If such fossils were found in Sumeru, they could be directly brought back to the Order of the Church for research. Right now, we can only take pictures first, and then contact the Liyue government to discuss whether the relevant artifacts can be brought back to Sumeru..."

Hussein was already impatiently begging Zhiqiong to take a picture for him.

"Miss Zhiqiong, take pictures quickly, take pictures of everything!"

Zhiqiong didn't say much, but grabbed the camera and started snapping away.

As a topographical surveying expert, Zhiqiong frequently uses a phonograph as an auxiliary means to record terrain. Her photography skills are already superb. If the Adventurers' Guild were to hold a photography competition, Zhiqiong might very well win one of the top prizes.

Hosseini was full of praise for Zhiqiong's photos: "These photos! The light! The shadows! The details! It's truly worthy of the new camera model made in Fontaine; the images are incredibly clear. I'm so glad I invited Ms. Zhiqiong to come along!"

In fact, Hosseini did bring a phonograph from the Vatican—like the "Pulsina Light Nail," it was obtained from the Vatican's dusty inventory. However, the phonograph he brought was an experimental model made by the "Mysticism School." Not only were the photos blurry, but the machine was also very bulky, requiring two people to carry it, making it completely unsuitable for the complex terrain of the Laminar Stream.

This piqued Han Fulai's curiosity. In his mind, the Academy should be very advanced in this kind of mechanical technology, so how could the technology of the phonograph machine be inferior to that of Fontaine?

Hosseini then explained to him, somewhat embarrassed.

Since the death of Kapilavastu, the genius of the Myo-śāstra school who received the title "Hapāda" before the age of thirty, during an expedition, the annual funding allocated by the Śāvakabhāṣā to the Śāvakabhāṣā has never increased. According to the great sage, "For the sake of everyone's stable and peaceful life, the research and development and promotion of mechanical technology must be strictly controlled."

As a result, the Myo-lun School has even fallen to the point of having to seek sponsorship from merchants from Sumeru. Some of his classmates from the Shahavara Academy have even complained: "If it weren't for the long-term investment from insightful merchants like Lord Sang-go-ma-ba-yi, our Myo-lun School would have closed down long ago!"

Without funding and with research projects not receiving attention, naturally no results were achieved. Hosseini's cumbersome phonograph had actually been developed several years earlier, but the Theory movement subsequently declined and failed to develop new models. As the first country to develop the phonograph, Fontaine surpassed it in technology.

The scholars of Sumeru who want the latest photographic equipment have to import it from Fontaine at a high price—and most of the proud scholars are unwilling to admit that Sumeru technology has been surpassed by Fontaine; they prefer to use the older Sumeru models…

After taking photos of the fossil remains along the way, the exploration team finally entered the upside-down city.

Apart from Han Fulai and Jiang Xue, everyone else in the exploration team was seeing such a spectacular sight for the first time. Zhiqiong naturally took many photos with her camera, while Haidifu and Hussein marveled at it. Even the learned scholar of Sumeru had never heard of such a strange architectural form—Haidif only knew that there were ancient civilization ruins beneath the giant rock abyss, but he knew nothing about its specific architectural style.

What forces built these inverted buildings? Were they always upside down, or did some force cause them to become this way? How did people in the past live in such places?

This is naturally another excellent topic for a thesis.

Haidif and Husseini had already put everything else behind them, wanting only to set up camp and conduct long-term research in the ancient ruins. However, Han Fulai pulled the two Sumeru scholars, whose thirst for exploration was overflowing, back down; he hadn't forgotten his purpose for coming here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we don't have much time. Please don't waste too much time on your surprise. Don't forget that we still have things to do."

After Han Fu finished speaking, he led the way based on his memory.

Seeing his statement, everyone had no choice but to temporarily abandon their "sightseeing" mentality and follow Han Fulai's footsteps, somewhat regretfully.

Among the people in the exploration team, there was one who always maintained a calm demeanor—Ye Lan.

As a woman shrouded in secrets, Ye Lan's inability to show her emotions was the norm. If she so desired, even if her heart was in turmoil, she could remain outwardly calm, so her composure went largely unnoticed.

In fact, this was her first time visiting this site.

But this wasn't the first time she'd seen an upside-down building.

She had seen similar buildings in that place known as the "Abyss".

This is a symbol, representing the "opposite" side of the continent of Teyvat.

Teyvat and the Abyss are like two sides of the same coin; the "upside down" is actually the "heads" for the Abyss.

Although Ye Lan did not know the origin and name of this ancient civilization, she already knew why this ancient civilization had been destroyed.

As stated in the "Six Root Sins," this is the consequence of "fearing God but not performing acts of dedication."

Of course, the "god" here does not refer to the seven earthly gods—but rather to the one sitting high on Sky Island.

Han Fulai led the exploration team from one end of the ruins to the other, passing by the "city center" of the ruins, which was the "clock tower" with the "inverted pool".

Although Haidif and the others were so captivated by the eerie blue light emanating from the "clock tower" that they hesitated to move, Han Fulai insisted on going somewhere else first.

The place he was going to was the "suburbs" of the city, the camp where the Hillock people lived.

If there's one place in this ancient ruin with the most "black mud," it's undoubtedly the Hilichurl camp. Dead Hilichurls turn into black mud and merge into the darkness; he'd seen quite a few Hilichurl remains there last time. Now, without the "Black Serpent Knight's" care, those Hilichurls unable to move on their own will likely meet their end in that camp.

To test the effectiveness of "Pursina's Light Spike" in removing black slime, and at the same time help Hydif collect black slime, that Hilichurl camp is the perfect place.

In a way, this can also be seen as taking care of the funeral arrangements for the compatriots of Dainesreb, the survivors of Kanria.

As Han Fulai had suspected, the Hilichurl camp had now turned into a black mud swamp. The campfires were gone, and most of the Hilichurls who had once gathered there had become part of the swamp.

Besides the tar smell of the black mud itself, there was also the stench of rotting corpses—the remains of a few newly deceased Hilichurls had not yet completely decomposed, and the mutilated bodies lay quietly in the black mud swamp like graves, a sight too painful to behold.

On the small mound where the bundle of "Intivat" once stood, there were several broken masks piled up, presumably left behind by the Hilichurls before their deaths—the only evidence that they once existed in the world.

Everything before my eyes can only evoke one word—death.

This black mud swamp seems to be a manifestation of the concept of "death".

Even Yelan, who was used to seeing life and death, couldn't help but look away. Scholars like Husseini were even more unbearable, almost vomiting on the spot. Haidif had no choice but to pull his junior away from the area to rest. As scholars of the bio-theory school, they had handled many animal carcasses in their pursuit of biological research, so they had some resistance to such things.

Miners like Lao Tu and A Hao were seeing this for the first time. They quickly covered their mouths and noses and retreated, afraid of inhaling the poisonous gas in the swamp. If they weren't unfamiliar with the area, they probably would have run away long ago.

Hilichurls are among the most common monsters in Teyvat. As an adventurer, Zhiqiong had teamed up with others to take on missions to expel Hilichurls, but this was the first time she had ever seen a Hilichurl melt into black mud.

Logically, adventurers shouldn't pity monsters. These Hilichurls may have harmed humans when they were alive, and getting rid of them is the right thing to do. But Zhiqiong now feels sorry for the Hilichurls, especially after learning that they were once human too.

Jiang Xue silently observed everything before him, his face also bearing a trace of pity, but even more so, sorrow.

Of all the people, only Han Fulai was unaffected—not because he was cold-blooded, but because he had activated the Jade Shield in advance.

The Jade Shield kept out the miasma and putrid stench of the black mud, eliminating the physiological nausea. The visual impact had little effect on him. After all, he was cosplaying Zhongli when he activated the shield; the Rock King wouldn't be swayed by such a minor incident.

Han Fulai clapped his hands. "Everyone, please assemble the 'Pulsina Light Nail.' This is our most important task here."

Haidif led the miners in a flurry of activity, reassembling the "Pulshina Light Nail" and handing it over to Han Fulai. Han Fulai, protected by the Jade Shield, then stepped into the Black Mud Swamp, placed the "Pulshina Light Nail" in the center of the swamp, and pressed the activation switch.

A buzzing sound rang out, and the purple crystal in the center of the "Pulsina Light Nail" slowly rose from the cylindrical container and began to rotate in mid-air.

Indigo light spread around the machine, and the black mud illuminated by the light began to surge restlessly, like a pot of boiling soup, bubbling and gurgling. Then, as if evaporating, the black mud turned into black mist and was absorbed into the purple crystal.

Soon, a clearing was created around the "Pulshina Light Nail". As the purple crystal spun faster and faster, the black mud disappeared at an even faster rate. In just a few minutes, the black mud swamp had shrunk by more than half.

The experiment went smoothly, and in ten minutes at most, the black mud swamp would be completely cleared away—but unsurprisingly, an accident still occurred.

The rapidly spinning purple crystal suddenly slowed down, and the base of the "Pulshina Light Nail" also began to shake, even making a "click-click" sound, like a machine bearing jamming. Then, black smoke began to billow from the mechanical base.

Seeing this from a distance, Haidi shouted anxiously, "Turn it off quickly, it'll explode!"

Han Fulai quickly turned off the switch of the "Pulsina Light Nail".

The purple crystal lost its buoyancy and fell to the ground with a "thud." Fortunately, the crystal itself was quite sturdy and was not damaged.

When Han Fulai brought out the "Pulsina Light Nail", Haidifu immediately rushed over to inspect it.

The result of the repair was that the machine was overloaded, and the "general-purpose directional transmission element" had broken down again...

The good news is that this problem can be fixed by replacing the parts.

The bad news is that he doesn't know why it broke down, and the spare parts are running low.

"Didn't you say in the camp that the machine wouldn't have any problems if it was set to absorb 'chaotic power'?" Han Fulai asked with some disappointment.

"...This...this...I don't know why this is happening..." Haidif said awkwardly, his eyes drooping.

He had confidently declared that this machine could resolve the anomalies in the Layered Rock Abyss, but he was proven wrong so quickly that he had nowhere to hide his face.

Although Han Fulai did not really expect to solve the ley line anomaly with this "Pulsina Light Nail", this machine was too unreliable. In Han Fulai's plan, this machine should at least serve as "bait". It should be worthwhile for the "Abyss Order" to spare a lot of manpower to destroy it!

If left unattended, it will deteriorate on its own, so how can it be used as "bait" to restrain the "Abyss Order"?

Sigh, machines are unreliable; in the end, we can only rely on ourselves.

Han Fulai shook his head and said, "The experiment on the 'Pulsina Light Nail' ends here for now. Please take it back for inspection. Next, I would like to ask you all to help me conduct a new experiment."