He changed Tiwat

Strangely enough, the light and airy drawing paper landed straight in front of Amber and Bennett as if it were an iron ball.

"Stand on the paper!" Abedo instructed the two.

Although they didn't understand what Aberdo was going to do, Amber and Bennett still followed his instructions.

Seeing the two standing on the drawing paper, Abedo immediately squatted down, slammed his hands on the ground, and the Geo Eye hanging on his chest shone with a dazzling golden light—

"Creation Method: Simulating Yanghua!"

The drawing paper beneath Amber and Bennett's feet also emitted a dazzling golden light. A golden rock flower, two meters in diameter, suddenly bloomed from the drawing paper, lifting the two of them into the sky like an elevator, and soon flew up to the cliff.

Once the two landed safely, the radiant sunflower vanished on its own, as if it had never existed.

It seems that Abedo infused his painting with elemental power, bringing the flowers in the painting into reality.

Even though this was the second time Han Fulai and his companions had witnessed Abedo's alchemical creation techniques, they still couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of alchemical creation, especially Abedo's skill in creating things through drawings, which, in Han Fulai's eyes, was comparable to the legendary "Ma Liang's Magic Brush."

Judging from Abedo's relaxed appearance, such creation is probably just a piece of cake for him. Although Abedo usually appears as a scholar, his true strength is likely no less than that of a celestial being.

Under Yura's questioning, Bennett gave a detailed account of his experiences:

About four days ago, Bennett rushed to Dragon Ridge to look for the missing Joseph.

He climbed to the summit of Fendernir via the usual route but didn't find Joseph. So he changed routes and descended the steep slope. Although this was a risky move, Bennett was indeed very capable; he actually succeeded in climbing down the sheer cliff—this adventurous young man, who wasn't a professional mountaineer, conquered Dragon Ridge twice while searching for Joseph.

Aside from the complete failure of the search and rescue mission, Bennett's snow mountain adventure can be considered quite successful...

However, on the last stretch of his descent down the mountain, he encountered a snow avalanche from the tree branches.

This kind of snow avalanche is not a large-scale avalanche; it's more like snow sliding off a roof. Even if it hits someone on the head, it usually won't cause injury; at most, some snow will get into your collar.

So Bennett didn't deliberately avoid the snow, and then... then a rock hidden in the snow hit him squarely on the head, knocking him unconscious...

It has been about a day since he fell into a coma and was rescued.

According to the speculation of those present, the unconscious Bennett rolled down the hillside and, in his unconscious state, made countless perilous leaps—until he fell into the snowdrift and got stuck.

"This is simply a miraculous misfortune..." Han Fulai made an accurate assessment of Bennett's miraculous experience, which was strongly agreed upon by Yura and Amber.

He was unlucky, not only failing to complete his adventure mission but also getting knocked unconscious by a falling rock. But he was also lucky, as the probability of him rolling to safety while unconscious and waking up just in time to meet rescuers was much lower than winning the lottery. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was the luckiest person in all of Teyvat.

In addition, he suffered almost no injuries while unconscious, nor was he attacked by any monsters. The most serious damage he sustained was simply catching a cold from being buried in the snow for a day...

Only the word "miracle" can describe it.

Abedo then solemnly grasped Bennett's hand: "Bennett, please be my test subject!"

Chapter Ninety-One: The White Horse?

Bennett naturally declined Abedo's invitation—not because he was afraid Abedo would conduct some horrific human experiments on him, but because he feared his own misfortune would cause Abedo's experiments to suffer unexpected failures.

After all, the current state of his "Benny Adventure Team" speaks volumes.

"Benny's Adventures" is a special case within the Mondstadt branch of the Adventurers' Guild.

The "adventure group" mechanism, designed to support each other and reduce the accident rate, requires that there be at least three to four resident adventurers in the group. However, Bennett's "Benny Adventure Group," which is led by him, only has him in the group, and this situation has been going on for a long time.

The loss of team members is inextricably linked to the team leader Bennett's "bad luck" constitution.

One of Mondstadt's "Four Kings of Drinkers," Jack the Apprentice Adventurer, was once the first victim of the "Benny's Adventure Team."

He and Bennett had overcome countless hardships to reach the end of the secret realm. Just when they were a few steps away from the treasure, a once-in-a-century turbulent flow of rock element suddenly occurred, and a powerful earthquake created a bottomless chasm in front of them.

Although Jack only suffered minor scrapes from the rockfall, the incident dealt a huge blow to his adventure career, making him look like he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

"The feeling of being so close yet so far... is like love." Jack later described the experience when he went to a bar to drown his sorrows.

During a secret expedition, Royce, a member of the group, heard a "heave-ho" sound and then lost consciousness amidst a loud noise.

Afterwards, Klee, the culprit, was put in seven days of confinement for mistaking the secret realm the adventurers were exploring for a giant rabbit hole and blowing it up. Royce, on the other hand, developed PTSD from this experience and left the Adventurers' Guild.

Since joining the "Benny Adventurers," member Heckler had been suffering from severe diarrhea for a week. Although it was clearly a symptom of food poisoning, Heckler insisted on blaming it on the leader's bad luck. After the diarrhea subsided, he immediately went to the association to complete the transfer procedures.

The former owner of the "Adventurer's Pocket Watch," the once-famous adventurer Hermann, once teamed up with Bennett while searching for sword training materials for his daughter. Afterward, he remarked, "As long as you do the opposite of Bennett, all adventures will go incredibly smoothly."

In short, the reason why Bennett's "Benny Adventurers" was not deregistered by the association was entirely due to the influence of the chairman, Serius, and his group of fathers.

To avoid dragging others into his bad luck, Bennett gradually got used to acting alone, completing every task by himself.

Hearing that the old men from the Adventurers' Guild were now coming to find him, Bennett was eager to go down the mountain to let them know he was safe. However, Abedo persuaded him to come back to the lab with him first, and at least drink a bottle of alchemical potion to cure his cold before leaving. As for whether Abedo was planning to use Bennett's bad luck to do some experiments, no one knew.

It was past noon when the group finally arrived near Abedo's alchemy laboratory, with only the last stretch of mountain road remaining between them and their destination.

At the end of this mountain path, there was a section that was destroyed by a landslide, leaving a crack about three meters long. Later, people connected the path with a wooden plank bridge. After crossing this bridge and turning a corner, you will reach Abedo's laboratory.

But now, the pier has been broken.

According to Abedo, the bridge was in good condition at least two weeks ago when he set off to search for Star Silver, but it was broken when he returned to the lab this morning.

There could be many reasons for the breakage. Perhaps it was due to years of disrepair, perhaps it was broken by a landslide, or perhaps it was deliberately broken by the criminal who stole the alchemy notebook to create obstacles for the tracking.

Crossing the broken bridge was not difficult for them. This team now had four holders of the Eye of God and one inheritor of the Demon God. With their physical abilities, the broken bridge was just a matter of leaping across.

But after Amber and Yura finished surveying the broken bridge, they discovered some strange traces.

Yura pulled a silver, thread-like object from the broken wooden plank of the bridge—

"Silver-white fur..."

Bennett, with his white hair, shook his head repeatedly. "This isn't my hair."

“...like a horse’s mane,” Yura said, finishing the sentence.

Amber found a broken piece of wood in the cracks of the stones around the bridge, with clear footprints on it.

"Yura, look, this mark, doesn't it look like..."

“Hoofprints. Hoofprints left by a wild horse that didn’t have its shoes nailed,” Yura answered.

Unlike special squads like Amber and Abedo, Yura's Sixth Squad is a numbered main knight squad, true "knights," and horsemanship is part of their daily training. Half of the guerrilla squad originally consisted of cavalrymen accustomed to mounted combat, but unfortunately, they were all transferred away by the Grand Commander.

Before the Grand Master's expedition, Captain Yura also had a mount. The boots she is wearing now are riding boots, and the back of the boots is even inlaid with spurs.

Han Fulai summarized the clues from their investigation: "So, during the time Abedo was away from the lab, a wild white horse crossed this bridge?"

Amber and Yura both nodded.

"But where would you find horses in these mountains?" Bennett exclaimed incredulously.

In fact, everyone found it unbelievable that Longji Snow Mountain was not a suitable place for horses to live.

Horses cannot thrive without grasslands, and the Longji Snow Mountain is particularly lacking in pastures. Moreover, horses are naturally inclined to run, and the mountain paths are difficult even for humans to traverse on foot; a horse would likely break its legs after only a few steps…

Moreover, this horse was not shod, which means it was not a domesticated horse, neither a warhorse brought by the Fools nor a lost horse of a caravan or coachman, but simply a wild horse.

Even if we take a step back and assume that there really is a wild horse living in these mountains—what would it be doing in Aberdo's laboratory?

If this horse was brought by the person who stole the Alchemy Notes, wouldn't that mean that person was riding a white wild horse through the Dragonspine Mountains?

Surely this thief isn't trying to cosplay as some kind of "Prince Charming" in the mountains, is he? What kind of performance art is this?

Everyone present was baffled.

There's no use dwelling on things you can't understand. Abedo silently put away the clues Yura and the others had found, saying he would go back to the alchemy lab and try to find more clues using alchemy.

After crossing the broken bridge, the group was finally able to visit Abedo's snow mountain laboratory.

The laboratory was built inside a natural cave, the walls of which were lined with wooden shelves displaying various reference materials and alchemical products. The laboratory contained an alchemy table, a standard feature of any alchemy workshop, and next to it stood a record board covered with various experimental notes.

—But now all these things are overturned on the ground, as if a wild horse had really barged in and caused a ruckus.

Thankfully, Abedo let Sugar return to the camp first. If Sugar had seen the state of the laboratory, this obsessive-compulsive girl who had to label and name every experimental subject would probably have fainted on the spot.

The only standing part in the laboratory was the storage cabinet that Abedo had tidied up before returning. It used to contain Abedo's alchemy notes and rare alchemical materials. The gold, silver, mora, and various natural gems in the cabinet were all still in their original places.

Just as Abedo said, the prisoner's purpose was clear: he was after his alchemy notes.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Projection, Begin!

The messy laboratory didn't leave many clues about the thieves; the only valuable clue was a line of footprints left in the mud by the door, leading back the way they came.

Aberdo followed the trail of footprints to track down the thief.

Han Fulai specifically asked Abedo to compare the footprints with those footprints, and found that the footprints were completely identical to Abedo's—meaning that the thief had already begun to disguise himself as Abedo when he left the alchemy laboratory.

It seems that this thief was already preparing to replace Abed after stealing the Alchemy Notes, which once again strongly validated their previous deductions.

Unfortunately, there are still no clues about the thief's identity.

The alchemy lab couldn't stay in such a mess forever, so everyone pitched in and quickly tidied up the lab for Abedo.

Fortunately, although the furniture in the laboratory, such as shelves and chairs, was damaged to varying degrees in the disaster, the most important piece of equipment remained intact.

Aberdo relit the alchemical furnace in the laboratory, and spring-like warmth immediately filled the room—everything in this laboratory could break, but this thing absolutely could not.

After a busy morning, the group wanted to find a place to sit down and rest, only to discover that there wasn't even a chair in the laboratory...

Fortunately, they still have the amazing teacher, Abedo.

"Please wait a moment."

Abedo pulled out his sketchbook again.

Amber leaned closer and was shocked to find that Abedo was actually sketching the shape of a chair in his sketchbook.

"Will the chair I draw... ah, will it jump out of the painting like that flower?"

Yura was also greatly surprised: "Wait... does that mean you can conjure up anything you draw? Alchemy can do that?"

Although she had witnessed Abedo's "simulated Yanghua", Yura felt that something as a practical skill should be different from ordinary painting. She did not expect that Abedo seemed to really have the ability to turn paintings into reality.

Abedo shook his head modestly: "My painting can be regarded as a design blueprint, drawing out the structure and using alchemy to eliminate the manufacturing process—it's just a very low-level skill. For inanimate objects, as long as you understand their concept and structure, master the texture of their materials and the manufacturing techniques, you can easily reproduce them in reality."

“Things like chairs, bookshelves, and lockers are easy to make. With enough research and experimentation, these techniques can even be extended to the creation of living things, such as the ‘Yanghua’ you saw before. However, my creation techniques are far from perfect…”

The more Han Fulai listened, the more familiar it sounded – Damn, Abedo, this isn't "alchemy," it's clearly "projection"!

So most of the furniture in Abedo's lab was drawn by him... No wonder he didn't seem too bothered when it was smashed.

If a certain protagonist from Type-Moon were to explain the process of creating this chair, it would probably be something like: "Identifying the creative concept; defining the basic framework; replicating the constituent materials; imitating the manufacturing techniques; empathizing with past experiences; recreating the accumulated years..."

At this moment, Bennett excitedly interjected, "Since you can conjure up chairs, can I have a chair with a back?"

Abedo nodded: "Sure. How many people need chairs with backrests?"

Bennett raised his hand: "Me!"

Amber raised her hand: "I want it! I want it!"

Yura wanted to raise her hand but held back, and finally couldn't help but say, "...I also want a chair with a backrest, one with velvet cushions."

Yes, she even has to have her cushions custom-made.

“No problem.” Abedo nodded calmly. “How about ‘A Clear Blue Afternoon’?”

As he spoke, he flicked his brush, and a magnificent high-backed chair appeared before everyone, just like "A Clear Blue Afternoon".

This light blue chair, with its velvet cushion and backrest, is extremely comfortable. It's said that the processing method for this material originated in Fontaine, and upon arriving in Mondstadt, it immediately became one of the most beloved pieces of furniture among the Mondstadt nobility—Yura sat in this very chair at Lawrence's house when she was a child.

Amber rushed to sit down.

"Wow, it feels so good, so soft and bouncy, just like Yora's thighs..."

Yura covered Amber's mouth.

"And Mr. Han? Are you the same?" Abedo asked, turning to Han Fulai.

Han Fulai waved his hand: "No need to trouble yourself, we Liyue people bring our own chairs when we go out."

Then he squatted down, just like Abeddo had done, muttering to himself: "—Trace, On! Surpassing, completing many projects—"

"At this very moment, the chair that embodies all of fantasy is complete!"

He pulled a chair out of the ground.

This is also a chair with a backrest, and the armrests have a clever curve to ensure a comfortable sitting posture. Sitting in this chair to listen to opera and enjoy tea would surely add a touch of elegance—in fact, this is a common tea chair in Liyue teahouses, mostly made of pine wood, and is very popular among old-fashioned Liyue residents.

However, the chair that Han Fulai created using the power of the Salt God was made of marble.

Since he subdued the remnant soul of the Salt God within the Salt Sorrow Spear, his strength has increased dramatically. Creating salt-based furniture like this is a piece of cake for him. Although they are not as aesthetically pleasing as those drawn by Abedo, they are just as practical.

Since the intention was to have an "academic exchange" with Abedo, this "alchemy exchange" is certainly part of that academic exchange—and incidentally, it also showcases the technical prowess of the Liyue people.

Aberdo didn't seem particularly surprised, merely smiling and nodding, leaving Bennett and the others speechless.

Han Fulai explained this by saying that he himself had some knowledge of alchemy.

With the seating issue resolved, lunchtime was next. Although everyone had brought their own food, there was a stove here, so a hot meal was a must.