He changed Tiwat

But how did the fake product acquire the knowledge, or rather, the memories, in Aberdo's mind?

“This is exactly what I wanted to tell you,” Abedo said. “This morning, after collecting star silver ore, I returned to the snow mountain laboratory and found that it had been visited by uninvited guests. Several of my alchemy notebooks, which I had stored in the laboratory, were also taken. Judging from the situation at the scene, it must have happened several days ago. Fortunately, there were still some traces of the thieves in the snow, so I followed the trail and came here…”

"That imposter probably learned about Dulin and the Corrupted Sword from my alchemy notes. Believe me, the seriousness of my alchemy notes being stolen may even be greater than that of the sword."

Chapter 88 Using a borrowed knife to kill, substituting one thing for another

Although Abedo claimed that the loss of his alchemy notes was more serious than the devastation caused by the demonic sword forged from the remains of a dragon, no one present would disagree with him.

Master Abedo's name is renowned throughout the continent of Teyvat. Since he became the chief alchemist of the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt, in just three short years, Mondstadt's reputation in alchemy has surpassed that of the Order of the Sea. Countless alchemists travel thousands of miles to Mondstadt just to receive a few words of guidance from Master Abedo.

As the saying goes, "Knowledge is power."

To the untrained eye, those alchemical notes are nothing more than a pile of waste paper, but to those in the know... the knowledge recorded within is more precious than any treasure.

"So, it was stolen by someone who knows alchemy? But this is a snow mountain, where there are only adventurers, treasure hunting groups, and monsters. Who would need an alchemy notebook?" Amber scratched her bunny ears.

“No, don’t forget, there’s another group of people in the snow-capped mountains,” Han Fulai said.

Yura immediately gave the answer: "The Fools!"

Yes, the Fools, the "source of all evil," are also active in the Dragon Ridge Snow Mountain. More importantly, they are willing to pay a high price to the treasure-hunting group for that sword!

This likely means that they also knew the importance of the sword, and that they possessed sufficiently advanced alchemical skills, as well as the motive to steal Abedo's Alchemy Notes.

Having gathered the clues, their next step in the investigation is clear: to track down the Fools who are active in the snowy mountains.

Han Fulai even felt a little emotional: it seemed like he was going to antagonize the Fools wherever he went. He ran into a Fool executor while investigating the meteorite, and then encountered the Fools active in the snowy mountains. It was as if he was deliberately picking on the Fools... Heaven is my witness, these were really just coincidences!

If there's still any question, there's only one...

“Abedo, can you think of any reason why the other party would impersonate you?” Han Fulai asked.

Disguising himself as Abedo to steal the Corrupted Sword from the Knights' headquarters could be a reason, but once he had the sword, why would he still use Abedo's appearance?

“I still… have no clue.” Abedo paused for a moment, then said, “All I know is that that person had already started testing his sword with monsters from the snowy mountains. You should remember that I was carrying a weapon when I came here, right? That’s because I encountered several ‘retaliations’ from Hilichurls along the way.”

"'Revenge'?" Han Fulai frowned.

Abedo's voice was somewhat heavy: "Yes, I can understand some Hilichurls... When those Hilichurls charged at me, they were shouting 'Upa odomu,' which means 'family' in Hilichurls... They were avenging their comrades."

Amber whispered her opinion: "Could that person's purpose be to frame you... For example, Abedo, you offended someone, and that person holds a grudge against you, then does something bad and pins it on you... Just like how some people do bad things and then pin them on Yura, that's how many rumors about Yura come about..."

"Amber, stop talking." Yura shook her head to stop Amber.

Sugar was the first to defend Abedo: "Teacher Abedo is usually gentle and polite, he has no enemies, and everyone likes him very much."

Aberdo also shook his head: "I have no enemies, and I don't remember offending anyone."

However, Amber's words reminded Han Fulai.

"Hatred is something that is hidden in the heart and may not be noticed by others. Many times, we can offend people by doing things unintentionally."

Putting everything else aside, Aberdo's talent and fame alone are enough to make many people envious.

It's like how he got first place in the civil service exam, but also offended Ms. Huixin, who came in second.

However, that wasn't his main point. The main point was—

"The key point is what the benefits of impersonating you would be. Let's say there's someone who might hate you, who knows alchemy, stole your alchemy notes, and impersonates you to attract the hatred of monsters and treasure-hunting groups... well, maybe even the Fatui... and these forces might then attack you. However, Abedor, you don't know that many forces are already secretly harboring resentment towards you and preparing to kill you..."

Yes, simply using Aberdo's appearance to frame him is not really useful. Aberdo isn't mute, so of course he can defend himself.

Abedo lowered his head and pondered for a moment: "Then the real me could be killed inexplicably. And at that time, he could leave the snow mountain, take my alchemy notebook, and use my appearance and identity—to replace me."

The best way to take over Aberdo's identity is to silence the real Aberdo forever.

Han Fulai snapped his fingers: "In the old saying of Liyue, this is called 'using a borrowed knife to kill someone, substituting a plum for a peach,' and his next step will probably be 'stealing the beams and replacing the pillars, using a corpse to bring the soul back to life.'"

Abedo quickly came up with a way to lure the other party out: "If the other party's target is me... as long as I'm not dead, he will come looking for me sooner or later. At that time, things will naturally progress."

Simply put, Aberdo planned to use himself as bait to lure the snake out of its hole.

Although the plan sounded somewhat dangerous, Han Fulai strongly agreed with Abedo's decision—well, he was a demigod-level fighter who could go toe-to-toe with demons, and he was particularly good at opening shields. In addition, there was a bodyguard, Xiao Shangxian, who was always available, and he could completely protect Abedo.

Even excluding Sugar, a non-combatant, the team consisting of Yura, Amber, and Abedo is already strong enough, with considerable combat power.

Even if the other party really has a way to resurrect the dragon Durin, he's not afraid. That drunkard in Mondstadt might be hiding somewhere watching! After all, he's the successor of the Emperor of Liyue, with incredibly strong backing. How could Barbatos let him really get into trouble on Mondstadt's territory?

After discussing it, the group reached a consensus: Sugar would escort the group of treasure hunters back to the camp to be guarded by the stationed Knights of Favonius, and then return to Mondstadt to report to the Knights of Favonius about the Corrupted Sword and the imposter, requesting Lord Jean to send reinforcements; while the rest of the group would stay in the snowy mountains to continue investigating the incident—of course, they also couldn't forget to look for the missing adventurers along the way.

With the plan made up, Sugar escorted the members of the treasure-hunting group away first, while Abedo used his alchemy to bury the bodies, erecting a small grave for the deceased members. Although these treasure-hunting members were likely guilty of numerous crimes and deserved to die, they had, after all, died because of him.

Their next destination was the snow mountain laboratory in Aberdo.

Now that Yura and Amber, two professionals with reconnaissance skills, have joined the team, they might be able to find some new clues from the traces left in the laboratory.

Chapter 89 Rescue Bennett

Abedo's snow mountain laboratory is located in a cave below Sleeping Dragon Valley, not far from their current location, about two hours away.

The journey was quite smooth, and they didn't encounter any more monsters or bandits. Abedo gave them a brief overview of the laboratory along the way.

Abedor made a special trip from Mondstadt to Dragonspine to build this alchemy laboratory, actually to study the impact of the dragon Durin on the mountain environment.

The body of the dragon Dulin was already comparable to a mountain. After it fell here, its remains produced the effect of "one whale falls, all things live", resulting in the ecology of "Sleeping Dragon Valley" being completely different from other parts of the snow mountain.

In "Sleeping Dragon Valley," besides the crimson frozen soil and "Crimson Jade" formed by the combination of dragon venom and ley line energy, you can also find frozen dragon bones, tall trees with blood-red bark, and broken dragon teeth buried in snow.

These items, representing the power of the dragon, have attracted many fearless adventurers and treasure hunters to this place for centuries. For example, the blacksmith Urban in the snow mountain camp once commissioned the traveler Ying to collect dragon teeth as materials for forging weapons. He used dragon teeth combined with star silver ore to create an extremely sharp "Dragon Spine Spear".

However, none of the materials that the adventurers brought out of the valley had the same ability as the Corrupted Sword to absorb external power and grow, perhaps because they did not contain enough dragon remains.

According to Abedo's observation, due to the influence of the dragon Dulin, the flow of the ley lines in "Sleeping Dragon Valley" is different from other places, forming a structure similar to a self-circulation. Simply put, the ley line energy in the valley is sealed inside and will not flow out, just like the alchemical greenhouse of sugar has a heat preservation effect.

Plants grown in greenhouses usually grow better than their counterparts growing in the wild, and this is also true of the "greenhouse" in "Mianlong Valley".

The power emanating from Dulin's remains dispersed into the valley's soil, much like alchemical reagents sown in an experimental field. While the mysterious dragon power might be a curse or poison to ordinary people, it was a rare source of nourishment for the monsters in the valley. As a result, the monsters living in the valley for many years mutated, their physical attributes and combat strength far surpassing their counterparts—in Abedo's words, "the monsters are also evolving."

To record these unusual changes, Aberdo always carried a sketchbook with him, and whenever he saw something unusual that interested him, he would sketch it in the sketchbook.

Thanks to this, although the alchemy notes were stolen and the laboratory was ransacked, the sketchbook remained untouched. For Abeddo, this was probably a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

According to Abedo, outside of research, the thing he most enjoys spending time on is painting.

At first, he learned drawing techniques simply to understand the composition of objects and materials to facilitate his research. However, it gradually became his hobby and a way to relax in his spare time. Now, this thick sketchbook is almost completely filled with drawings by Abedo.

Abedo opened his sketchbook and described in detail the various wonders he had recorded, thus giving Han Fulai and his companions the opportunity to see the masterpieces of this master painter.

"These are the frozen remains of a demonic dragon..."

"These are crimson chalcedony..."

"This is star silver ore. Did you notice the silver glitter on it? Some star silver ore with high impurity content may also appear to contain fine silver particles at first glance, but the luster is poor and the color rendering of the pigment is also low. Such ore is generally classified as a defective product."

"Oh, this is just a common Hilichurl, boring and not worth wasting time on, so I stopped drawing it after only half of it."

"But look at this one, its physique, its fur, its posture—you can see its unique vitality. In the cyclical lives of primitive tribes, this distinctiveness represents evolution. Evolution is the process of going from nothing to something, from the known to the unknown..."

Although Abedo described it in a very relaxed tone, almost every drawing in this sketchbook is a masterpiece. Whether landscapes or figures, they all have an immersive and lifelike quality, not only rich in detail, but also as if the context in which they were drawn is integrated into the drawing, giving the illusion that the drawing might come to life.

Of course... there are also some paintings that don't seem to have been painted with much care—for example, an egg tied with a rope...

The author, Abedo, carefully explained the composition of this simple drawing: "This circle is the face, this line is the strap of the blindfold... this triangle is the blindfold. So this is Kaiya."

Hmm, I don't know if this counts as a "comic" or a "cold joke".

Just as Han Fulai was thinking about whether he should lend the painting to Kaiya himself for appreciation, he suddenly heard a faint call.

"Help...me! Help me!"

"Listen! Someone is calling for help!" Amber's bunny ears perked up.

"Could it be that adventurer Joseph?" Yura immediately remembered the promise she made to Joel before setting off.

Han Fulai and Abedo also tried to pinpoint the source of the sound, but unfortunately, they were not professional scouts and their ability to locate sounds was far inferior to Amber's.

Amber looked around, and the bunny ears on her head moved with her movements, as if they had a pointing function. Her bunny ears soon pointed towards the cliff by the roadside.

"The sound is coming from below the cliff, I'll go check it out." Amber said and ran straight to the cliff beside the mountain path.

The closer they got to the cliff, the clearer the voice became: "Is anyone there?! Help me!"

Amber had clearly found the right place.

Looking down from the cliff, all that could be seen was a vast expanse of white snow. The cliff had a drop of nearly 100 meters, and the snow-capped mountains were constantly battered by snow and wind, resulting in extremely low visibility. Amber was unable to spot the figure calling for help.

But Amber is Amber after all—if she can't see anyone up there, she'll jump.

Without hesitation, Amber leaned forward and leaped over the cliff, performing a "leap of faith" in front of the three of them!

"Experience true freedom like the Winged Eagle. Leaping without hesitation, the feeling of falling is like flying, it's exhilarating." — That's how Amber described it to them afterwards.

Amber did a somersault in the air, and two azure wings suddenly unfurled from her back—these were Amber's Wind Wings.

The Mondstadt flying champion was able to maintain his balance with ease even in the howling mountain winds and landed safely in no time.

Immediately afterwards, the three heard Amber shout: "Found him, it's Bennett!"

Chapter Ninety: The Miraculous Child of Misfortune

In a snowdrift at the foot of the cliff, the unlucky adventurer Bennett saw his savior descend from the sky, and he was so excited that tears and snot streamed down his face.

When Amber found him, he was in a strange state of being "buried alive"—

His head and neck were exposed, but his entire body was stuck in the pit and unable to move.

Such snow pits are common in the Longji Snow Mountain. The surface is covered with snow, but in reality, there is a bottomless pit under the snow. If you step on it, you will collapse in. It is a natural "trap".

Bennett fell into such a "trap".

The pit wasn't very deep, only about a meter high, but the key thing was... it was very narrow, so narrow that it seemed tailor-made for Bennett; he fell in and got stuck there perfectly...

With his hands and feet trapped, Bennett was like a small animal caught in a trap, with only his mouth free.

Amber was thoroughly shocked by Bennett.

How did you end up in a place like this?

—To be honest, this snowdrift is so bizarre that it's probably the only one of its kind in the entire Dragon Ridge Mountains, yet Bennett managed to fall into it. Moreover, given how narrow the snowdrift is, even if Bennett leaned forward slightly, he wouldn't have gotten stuck, but he somehow managed to sink in at a completely vertical angle.

In addition, this place is located outside the mountain climbing route and patrol path. Neither the Adventurers' Guild's search and rescue team nor their patrol team should pass through this place. If they hadn't followed Abedo to his alchemy laboratory, they wouldn't have passed by this cliff.

If Bennett was simply searching for the missing adventurer Joseph, there's no way he could have ended up here.

Therefore, the difficulty Bennett faced in finding this "trap" was far greater than the difficulty of him getting stuck in it in such an odd way...

"Ah...hehe, I don't know either..." Bennett grinned foolishly.

In fact, even Bennett didn't know how he fell in, as he had only recently woken up from his coma. Most people would be desperate upon finding themselves in this situation, but Bennett remained optimistic—as the saying goes, "nothing good will happen if you stay put," but given his luck, it didn't matter which way he went, so he might as well wait and call for help.

Anyway, this wasn't the first time he'd fallen into a hunter's trap while walking. To him, it was just another trap, a routine occurrence, nothing to mention.

See, we're saved now!

Amber grabbed Bennett's head and pulled him out of the snowdrift like a radish—don't let Amber's slender arms and legs fool you, as a skilled hang glider pilot and an archer capable of drawing a sturdy hunting bow, her arm strength far surpasses that of an average strongman.

"Finally out! Thank you so much!" Bennett thanked Amber repeatedly as soon as he came out, his snot and tears almost flying onto Amber.

Amber didn't mind that Bennett was dirty and carefully examined his injuries—aside from a large bump on the back of his head and some abrasions on his skin, he was basically fine.

"Next, we'll have to climb up together. Do you still have the strength in your hands and feet?" Amber pointed to the cliff behind them. They could fly down using the Wings of Wind to get here, but getting back would take some effort.

"no problem!"

Bennett seemed to want to reassure Amber, so he immediately got into the climbing mode.

Rock climbing is just a basic skill for a seasoned adventurer. Although Bennett is young, he has been adventuring with his fathers since he was a child. Monster attacks, ruins collapsing, falling off cliffs... In order to cope with these "unfortunate experiences", Bennett must have the skills and means to deal with crises. If you ignore his bad luck, he is simply the most "all-around" adventurer in the Adventurers' Guild.

Any tiny protrusion on the rock face, Bennett's fingers, trained to resemble claws, could firmly grip it and pull up his own weight.

However, he had only climbed a few meters up the cliff when he sneezed loudly.

"...Achoo!"

With a sneeze, Bennett let go and landed headfirst on the ground.

Amber rushed over and saw Bennett getting up and rubbing his head: "...Sorry, I think I have a cold, I feel dizzy."

Amber sighed, cupped her hands in a megaphone shape, and shouted to the sky, "Yura! Yu-la! Come help me!"

Her figure is rather petite, and she can't carry Bennett on her own, so she can only ask Yura for help.

Hearing Amber's call, Yura was about to go down when Abedo stopped her: "Let me do it."

Abedo then took out his paintbrush and drew an eight-petaled flower on his sketchbook—this was the "Yanghua" he had shown to everyone before.

Then, Abedo tore the painting down and threw it down the cliff.