He changed Tiwat

Although this sword was also stained with blood, and it was also a straight sword, at first glance it seemed no different from the Corrupted Sword. However, upon closer inspection, one could indeed see that the true color of this sword, hidden beneath the bloodstains, was not that eerie purple, but a shining silver.

“It’s called ‘Cinnabar Spindle,’ and it was a gift from my master.”

Abedo gently flipped his wrist, revealing the inscription on the hilt of the sword – “R”.

The "R" represents "Rhinedottir".

This is a longsword crafted by the alchemist known as "Gold" from materials gathered from beyond this world, containing power comparable to the creations of the gods. More importantly, it was given to Abedo by Rhinedoth—an irreplaceable treasure to Abedo.

“Yes, this is the sword that Professor Abedo usually uses,” Sugar also testified for Abedo.

Yura noticed the difference between the two swords, but she remained vigilant.

“The sword can be exchanged,” she said simply.

As alibi for Aberdo, this sword alone is not enough. Aberdo is also the holder of the Eye of God, and he has his own storage space, so it is normal for him to carry multiple weapons.

“If Mr. Abedo’s rampage was predicated on being controlled by the ‘Demon Sword,’ then the ‘Demon Sword’ should not have been replaced,” Han Fulai said.

“But that’s just your inference. He could have committed the crime for other reasons,” Yura retorted bluntly.

In fact, many works of art on Earth contain the plot of a host being controlled by a "demon sword" or "magic weapon." The basic premise is that the weapon, which should be controlled by its master, instead controls its master.

Whether that sword influences Abedo's mind or "possesses" him like a remnant of a demon, he must hold the sword in his hand—Han Fulai remembered that the Corruption Sword in the game had this setting.

Unfortunately, he couldn't tell Yura that it was a problem with the game's design...

"Then why did he run away and then immediately return?" Han Fulai asked Yura.

Logically speaking, if this Abedo is the same Abedo who just ran away, why would he willingly walk into their trap knowing that Yura and Amber were after him? If he had some other advantage that made him unafraid of Yura and the others, why did he run away in the first place?

“You’ll have to ask him.” Yura still held her sword, pointing it at Abedo, not letting up for a moment.

There are various explanations for the other party's motives, but Yura only looks at the evidence. If Abedo cannot prove that he was not the one who just committed the murder, he cannot get rid of the suspicion.

Unfortunately, Abedo couldn't explain anything; he had already stated that the person from before was an imposter. If Yura couldn't accept the premise that "someone impersonated Abedo to commit murder," then nothing he said would make a difference.

However, Aberdo did not have any evidence to prove that someone was impersonating him.

However, Han Fulai certainly has other reasons to support his claim.

"Another point is that Mr. Abedo in front of us looks somewhat different from the one who just committed the murder."

Han Fulai had just finished speaking when Sugar interrupted, "I've always felt something was off about that person, and now I'm sure of it—it's the birthmark on his neck! The person who was pretending to be a teacher didn't have a birthmark on his neck!"

Sugar was deeply impressed by the look in Abedo's eyes as he wielded the Corrupted Sword and slaughtered the treasure hunters. The gentle and kind Abedo teacher would never look at people with such a cold-blooded expression. While she was lost in thought, she had been wondering if someone might be impersonating Abedo teacher.

Upon seeing this Abedo, Sugar immediately remembered the biggest difference—the real Abedo had a golden four-pointed star-shaped birthmark on his neck, while the fake one did not.

Han Fulai nodded. He had only noticed it when he saw the Abedo in front of him—because the birthmark was very conspicuous. Anyone who saw Abedo's face would notice the distinctive birthmark at first glance. But the previous Abedo had not left such a deep impression on him.

He also remembered that the star-shaped mark on his neck was practically Abedo's signature, quite popular among some players with rather unusual fetishes. He'd seen some players say strange things in game discussion forums before, things he didn't understand but were still quite shocked by—

"I really want to put a collar on Professor Abedo, with a long chain attached, and deliberately pull on the rope to force him to look up. The cold, hard collar would leave a red mark on his neck, and starlight would seem to shine in the middle of the mark. Professor Abedo, who is usually so respected and loved, is now like a little dog in my hands. I really want to do even worse things to him!"

...Well, in short, Abedo without the birthmark is out of character (OOC) and doesn't capture the essence of cosplay!

In addition, he secretly added to himself, "...and the previous Abedo had more hair than this one."

The hairline of this Abedo in front of me... well, it looks very scholarly. Compared to the Abedo with the fuller hair from before, it's basically a comparison chart of "Abedo before learning alchemy" and "Abedo after learning alchemy."

The birthmark was clearly strong evidence, and Yura hesitated, unsure whether she should believe Abedo.

Han Fulai then added, "I have a way to let Mr. Abedo in front of us prove his identity—Miss Yura, do you remember that Abedo from earlier? He never used elemental power."

Aberdo is the holder of the Eye of God—yet he never used the power of the Eye of God when he was besieged by the treasure-hunting gang.

If it were the Abedo from the game, he would have won by using various rock artifacts, instead of foolishly trying to outsmart someone with swordsmanship.

Han Fulai paused, then turned to Sugar: "If it's the real Mr. Abedo, he should be able to use elemental power to create special marks, right, Miss Sugar?"

Sugar nodded vigorously: "Professor Abedo, please demonstrate the elemental power imprint that you and I agreed upon."

This mark is like a "secret code" between Abedo and Sugar, and it is indeed very difficult for others to imitate.

"Is it alright?" Abedo looked at Yura with a questioning gaze. After all, he was going to use the power of the Eye of God, and he didn't want Yura to misunderstand that he wanted to attack them.

Yura nodded and took a small step back.

Under Yura's watchful gaze, Abedo crouched down very slowly, touching the ground with his right hand.

"Creation Method: Simulating Yanghua!"

With his low shout, a small eight-petaled rock flower suddenly emerged from the ground—the golden rays, like a tiny sun, rose from the ground in an instant and then dissipated.

Chapter 86 The Evolving Sword

Abedo withdrew his hand and said softly, "This is the 'Fleeting Flower.' Although it only exists for a brief moment, it can still leave its mark on the world."

These alchemically created rock flowers have a peculiar characteristic—born from the earth, yet always yearning to rise to the heavens and transform into the sun.

Therefore, it was named "Yanghua".

Meanwhile, Sugar and Yura simultaneously activated their elemental vision, and a flower-shaped mark made of elemental force had appeared at the spot where Abedo had created the rock flower.

“That’s right, this is Professor Abedo’s unique mark!”

Sugar beamed with joy, genuinely happy that her beloved teacher had been cleared of suspicion.

Yura finally put down her greatsword.

"...I'll accept your explanation for now. Even if it sounds unbelievable, I'll choose to believe that someone was impersonating you just now."

Abedo nodded and said, "Yura, if you don't trust me, you can continue to be skeptical. But I still hope you can acknowledge our camaraderie as fellow Knights of Favonius. The situation is so serious that I must investigate the imposter. If you're willing, you can be a witness and observe my next move."

Yura nodded silently.

She doesn't fully trust Aberdo yet—because Aberdo has only proven "he is Aberdo" so far, but he hasn't been able to prove "he wasn't the one who just killed someone."

However, proving this right now is far too difficult... and Yura also has no evidence to prove that "the person who just committed the murder was this Abedo." Since Abedo has raised the possibility that someone is impersonating him, Yura cannot directly arrest the captain of the investigation team, who is of the same rank as her, without solid evidence.

Abedo also keenly sensed the distrust in her words, so he proposed this compromise: to ask Yura to monitor him and investigate the matter so that she could personally clear his name.

This is arguably the most appropriate course of action at present.

Then he turned to Han Fulai—Abedo had a good impression of this man who was a stranger to him but was willing to speak up for him.

Abedo placed his hand on his chest and sincerely thanked him: "Thank you for your trust and help, sir."

Han Fulai smiled and extended his hand to him: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor Abedo. My name is Han Fulai, and I come from Liyue. I've come here specifically to learn about alchemy from you. I'd be very happy to be of any help to you."

Abedo smiled and shook hands with him: "Mr. Han, you don't need to be so polite. Just call me Abedo. We can have academic exchanges anytime you're willing."

Gaining Aberdo's friendship was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise for Han Fulai. If possible, he also hoped to help Aberdo find out the truth and catch the person impersonating him, which would be a way of doing Aberdo a favor.

In his eyes, Abedo was equivalent to the Mondstadt version of the Cloud-Borrowing Wind Master. How could he not make good friends with such a scientific talent? Besides being able to obtain the secrets of the "False Heaven" from Abedo, he might also be able to use his technical abilities to accelerate the industrialization process of Liyue!

Amber put away her bow and arrows and came over to the group with a grin: "I'm willing to believe you too, Abedor. Just tell me if you need any help!"

Abedo glanced sideways: "But you just pointed an arrow at me."

"Oh, don't worry about the details." Amber cheerfully ignored the unimportant details. "Anyway, as long as we catch the person impersonating you, we can prove your innocence, right? Then it's time for the Scout Knight to make his appearance!"

“Amber, don’t forget you still have to help Joel find his father…” Yura reminded Amber at the right time. Clearly, Amber’s old habit of not being able to leave people in need unattended had resurfaced.

Amber, hands on her hips, said, "Don't worry, I'll handle everything perfectly, because I am the best scout knight, Amber!"

Yura muttered under her breath, "So where does this unfounded confidence of yours come from...?"

With Amber lightening the mood, the tension from before dissipated considerably, and Han Fulai steered the conversation to the main topic: "Regarding the person impersonating you, Professor Abedo, do you have any leads?"

He still remembered Abedo's comment, "That's interesting," when Yura questioned him.

“I don’t know.” Abedo shook his head. “We can’t draw any conclusions yet… but the strange signs are all connected.”

Clearly, Aberdo has already obtained clues and conjectures, but it may not be possible to confirm them at present.

“By the way, I remember you mentioned the ‘Demon Sword’ earlier?” Abedo asked.

Han Fulai nodded and said, "That's right, a purple, eerie straight sword. We suspect that it may be related to the demonic dragon Dulin buried in the snow mountain."

Abedo's expression instantly turned serious: "Then... let me see the people killed by that sword. Perhaps there are clues left on their bodies as well."

The bodies of the three members of the treasure-hunting group, including the leader, lay scattered on the spot, all killed by a single sword strike to the throat. Since they had been murdered by the demonic sword, Han Fulai had considered transporting the bodies back to the Knights for examination, and now Abedo was conveniently there to perform the "autopsy."

With Yura and the others watching, Abedo examined the bodies of the deceased members of the treasure-hunting group.

As the chief alchemist of the Knights, Abedo had an extremely deep understanding of the human body; he could almost immediately arrive at the results of his examination after examining the wound.

"The bleeding is not right...it's too little."

He gestured with his hand near his neck, “Airway rupture, jugular vein, artery damage… Did you see the ‘fountain’? It’s like the blood is like that fountain in Mondstadt…”

Frankly, the way he examined the body and inquired about the cause of death without batting an eye was less "professional" and more "cold-blooded"... The survivors of the treasure-hunting group shrank back at the sight of his face; who would dare to speak? It was Yura, who had been watching Abedo's actions closely, who provided the answer: "I saw blood splatter, but it wasn't for very long..."

“Hmm… the blood was absorbed by the sword,” Abedo concluded.

"You mean... that sword can suck blood?" Yura asked incredulously.

“Yes.” Abedo gave an affirmative reply. “I think the reason he killed was to make that sword ‘evolve’.”

“Evolution?” Sugar couldn’t help but ask. “That sounds like something that’s alive!”

Abedo nodded again: "You're right, it is a living thing. It can absorb power from external things—such as the life force and blood in a human body. In this way, it will continuously strengthen itself and grow."

Chapter 87 The New Dragon Disaster

“You mean…it’s a ‘living sword’?” Amber exclaimed.

As a detective knight, she has seen a lot in the past. For example, in the "Black Fire Case", she even saw humans who had been mechanically modified and terrifying monsters injected with the remnants of demons... But none of these are as bizarre as a sword that is "alive and capable of growth".

Aberdo, on the other hand, seemed unsurprised, since such matters were within his area of ​​research.

He finished the autopsy, stood up, and turned to the crowd, saying, "If I'm not mistaken, the sword you saw was made by an old blacksmith hundreds of years ago. It's a 'demon sword' forged from the remains of the demon dragon Durin. Some documents call it the 'cursed demon sword' because even the blacksmith who forged it disappeared because of the sword, and the sword itself vanished without a trace. Its other name is the 'Sword of Decay'."

"The Sword of Decay..." Sugar tilted her head and thought carefully for a moment, then suddenly remembered where she had heard this term before: "Is it the Decay Poison of the Demon Dragon Dulin?"

“That’s right, Sugar, your memory is still as good as ever.” Abedo praised his disciple’s extensive knowledge and then asked Han Fulai and the others, “Do you know about ‘Dulin’ and this snow mountain?”

“Of course.” Amber, who had grown up listening to all sorts of stories from her grandfather, immediately replied, “Durin was the black dragon that was defeated five hundred years ago by the wind god Barbatos and the guardian of the east wind, Dvalin. In the end, the defeated Durin fell from the sky and crashed into the vast white snow. The ‘Sleeping Dragon Valley’ in Dragonspine Mountain is Durin’s grave.”

Han Fulai and Yura nodded in agreement. On their way here, the talkative Knight of Favonius, Rither, had told them this legend.

Abedo then raised a new question: "Have you ever thought about why Dulin ended up on Dragon Ridge? Was it a coincidence or inevitable?"

Amber blinked, asking curiously, "Can this really be inevitable?"

“The perpetual snow on Dragon Ridge is not a natural phenomenon, but rather related to the geological environment of this place. Choosing a snow-capped mountain as a graveyard might be an attempt to use this power of freezing everything to suppress the putrefactive poison in Dulin’s body. A god like Barbatos should have been able to think of this method,” Abedo said.

Han Fulai wholeheartedly agreed with this assessment—the more he interacted with Barbatos, the more he realized that this second oldest wind god among the seven gods was far from as innocent as he appeared. If Han Fulai were to describe Barbatos… well, he's a cunning schemer, just like his superior, Gan Yu.

Yura noticed the word Abedo mentioned—"Suppressing the poison of decay...Durin the dragon isn't dead?"

"Yes, like the Demon God, the Demon Dragon Dulin is also immortal. Its blood still has a vibrant life force even after five hundred years, and it is even enough to corrupt the mind of the East Wind Guardian. It was just frozen by the snow mountain and fell into a deep sleep. The demon sword forged from its poisonous blood also inherited this characteristic. To some extent, we can regard that Corrupted Sword as an incarnation of the Demon Dragon Dulin."

Abedo solemnly explained to everyone the connection between the dragon Durin and the Corrupted Sword, emphasizing the seriousness of the matter.

If we were to ask who among those present knew the most about these matters, it would undoubtedly be Han Fulai.

The land of Liyue is sealed with a large number of demon gods and monsters. There are demon gods that have been resurrected from the seal, demon gods' familiars that have attacked, and demon god remnants that have possessed people. He has experienced this several times so far.

Simply put, the poisonous blood of the dragon Durin can be regarded as "debris of the demon god," and the weapon forged from "debris of the demon god" is equivalent to his Salt Sorrow Spear—in fact, both of them can suck blood.

The Rouran initially released the seal on the Salt Sorrow Spear to resurrect the Salt Goddess Heureia. Now, the imposter wielding the Corrupting Sword is plundering lives to fuel the demonic sword. Could his purpose be...?

"You mean, if that sword continues to grow... it might even lead to the resurrection of the dragon Durin?" Han Fulai asked just as seriously.

If that's the case, it would undoubtedly be a new "dragon scourge" for Mondstadt!

Abedo's tone became more serious: "These are just my guesses, without any basis. But what is certain is that the materials used to forge that Corrupted Sword contained the remains of Dulin—the eyes, nails, scales... of the dragon were ground into powder, mixed with poisonous blood, and smeared onto the sword. In this way, Dulin's filth and poison could be integrated into the sword, becoming the source of its power."

"The records say that the old blacksmith had no children and lived his entire life solely to forge a famous sword. This pure ideal honed his skills to an exceptional level. After successfully forging the sword, the blacksmith, in his joy, personally tested it—the impure power of the sword flowed into his body through the hilt. Then the blacksmith disappeared. I think that's how the blacksmith, driven mad, vanished into the snowy mountains..."

Han Fulai interrupted Abedo's narration at this moment: "Wait a moment. I want to confirm first, Abedo, have you been in the snow mountain these past few days and not returned to Mondstadt?"

“Of course.” Abedo nodded firmly.

"So, besides you, are there many other people who know about what you just mentioned?" Han Fulai continued to ask.

"It should be very rare... Detailed historical records related to Durin are considered 'forbidden books' in Mondstadt's library, and I only discovered this recently while doing research. I think perhaps only Lisa, besides me, knows about it in the Knights of Favonius," Abedo replied.

Abedo's student Sugar and guerrilla squad leader Yura also said that this was the first time they had heard of this.

“That’s strange…” Han Fulai stroked his chin. “As far as I know, after the Treasure Raiders dug this sword out of the snow mountain, it was transported to Mondstadt and then confiscated by the Knights. Neither the Treasure Raiders nor the Knights recognized the sword, which is why they just put it in the storeroom as ordinary stolen goods.”

"And this person who impersonated you once returned to the Knights in your place and accurately retrieved that sword from the storeroom—although he can make himself look almost exactly like you and fool others, he couldn't possibly have acquired all the knowledge in your mind, could he? How could this imposter know about that sword?"

Upon hearing this, Yura and the others showed surprise. Indeed, it wasn't too hard to imagine using alchemy to disguise one's appearance, and the whereabouts of the sword could be found out from the treasure-hunting group... but why would that imposter be targeting that sword? Unless he also knew the sword's origin.