He changed Tiwat

Han Fulai’s voice rang out beside him: “Mr. Yuan Shang likes to read. I wonder if he has read Liyue’s Qimen Dunjia?”

Yuan Shang was very honest: "That's a closely guarded secret of your Liyue Immortal Clan, how could I possibly have seen it..."

Han Fulai was very pleased: "Oh, then you're in luck. Look, haven't you experienced it firsthand?"

While Yingmei was fighting the "evil dragon" and Yuanshang was watching the battle with bated breath, Han Fulai had already begun to work on capturing Yuanshang alive.

The most troublesome skill of the Abyss, or rather, the "Abyss Apostle," is the Abyss Portal. If they can't beat you, they can really run away at any moment.

What's even more annoying is that the "Abyssal Apostles" all possess incredibly sturdy elemental shields. These life-burning shields can essentially be considered a one-time "invincible super armor." Theoretically, no matter what kind of attack it is, this elemental shield can ensure that the "Abyssal Apostle" can survive for a few seconds.

Those few seconds were enough for the "Abyss Apostle" to open a portal and escape.

If Han Fulai wants to capture Yuan Shang alive, he must break Yuan Shang's escape combo.

His solution was "space".

He couldn't prevent Yuan Shang from activating his shield, nor could he prevent Yuan Shang from "opening the door"—but he could increase the distance between the "door" and Yuan Shang, making it impossible for him to "enter the door" within the shield's activation time.

The principle is very simple, but it is very difficult to implement.

Yuan Shang isn't stupid; there's no way he would open a spatial portal to a far-off place and then slowly run there.

So Han Fulai decided to distort the "spatial distance" of the Abyss, causing him to misjudge the distance between himself and the teleportation portal, and then intercept him midway.

This matter happens to fall within the professional scope of Qimen Dunjia.

Master Boyang once said: "Unlike other sorcerers who use directions to find good or bad fortune, time, space, and the interaction of the four elements should all be determined by the person who sets up the formation. Within this Qimen formation, I am the direction, I am the fortune."

Han Fulai is not yet at the level of Master Boyang, but using Qimen Dunjia to disrupt spatial distances and conceal one's movements are basic skills for Liyue sorcerers. Yelan naturally taught him well, and he fully demonstrated this during the battle with the "Skirms" at the "Evil Eye Factory".

If given time to set up an array, even the sixth seat of the Fools' Creed Puppet could be fooled, so what difficulty would it be to bully a mere abyss?

So when Yingmei was "Dragon Quest", he activated "Stealth and Concealment", leaving an afterimage in place to pretend he was "observing the battlefield", while his real body quietly went around to the central platform to set up an array.

The abundant water element in the underground river, combined with the chaotic battle in the arena where the two dragon lizards were spewing elemental breaths everywhere, perfectly concealed Han Fulai's spellcasting actions and obscured the senses from the abyss.

The Qimen formation that Han Fulai temporarily set up was also very basic, only having the effect of confusing the sense of distance. It was a low-level formation with almost no energy fluctuations, so Yuan Shang had no way of noticing it.

Then, the Divine Child cooperated by chatting with Yuan Shang to attract his attention, pretending that she and Han Fulai were watching the battle. Then she suddenly attacked Yuan Shang, using heavenly lightning to force him step by step into Han Fulai's trap.

Well, this combination attack between the "god" and the "fellowship" isn't exciting at all; it's actually quite insidious, so insidious that I really want to complain that you guys are more like villains than I am when you do this kind of thing...

You two have such prestigious titles, like "successors of the Emperor" and "White Star Fox King," so why do you keep doing things like throwing lime powder in people's faces during fights?

You should demonstrate your power fairly and squarely, and come up with some ultimate move like spatial sealing or time freezing, so I can admit defeat wholeheartedly!

But neither Han Fulai nor Shenzi cared about such things—at least Yuan Shang, who prided himself on his escape skills, had truly failed this time.

Yuan Shang looked at the bloodthirsty demonic spear beside his neck and gave a bitter smile: "I'm not running away anymore, really. Can you please not kill me?"

Han Fulai smiled kindly: "Okay, but it still needs to be tied up. Please cooperate."

Yuan Shang has always been a very pragmatic person.

He obediently reverted to his "Abyss Apostle" form, letting the "Life-Binding Silk" bind him into a rather "painful" "artistic pose"—this wasn't Han Fulai's perverse sense of humor, but rather the only way Ye Lan had designed the "Life-Binding Silk" to bind people. It was good for binding girls like Sha Luo, showing off their figures, but binding men... well, it was just... unbearable to look at...

Yingmei and Paimon, who had collected the "Blood Coral", couldn't help but burst into laughter when they saw Yuan Shang tied up like that.

Even though Yuan Shang had a thick skin, he felt ashamed at this moment.

But he wasn't a female knight, and he valued his life highly, so he would never say something like, "Gulp, kill me."

Han Fulai's salt-stained spear never left his neck; he was afraid that if he said such a line, people would be magnanimous and grant his wish.

So he wore a humble, ingratiating smile the whole time, hoping the adults would spare his life because of his cooperation.

Tragically, Ying gets angry just looking at his face.

The "you can't hit a smiling face" principle is like a move from Saint Seiya; it can only be used once, and it won't work the second time.

Ying put on a serious expression and asked Han Fulai, "Could you let me handle the interrogation?"

Han Fulai nodded readily in agreement.

Ying cracked her knuckles with her right hand: "Tell me, what are you trying to do by releasing this black mist here? I've already warned you, if you don't answer honestly, I'll beat you up."

Yuan Shang hurriedly replied, "Yes, it's to teach you a lesson..."

"Huh?" Ying's eyes widened.

"Really!" Yuan Shang's voice trembled with tears. "You killed so many of my subordinates at the library entrance, all of them were officially employed by the Order... I have to avenge them, both morally and logically! I know I, a clerk, can't beat a hero, but if I just leave without fighting, my conscience won't allow it!"

“I know I have no chance against you outside, but this place has exotic dragon lizards that I can control, and it’s a place you’re determined to come to. So I prepared the abyssal black mist in advance and strengthened those dragon lizards, ready to fight you fair and square.”

"That way, when I return, I can say that I fought against you, but failed, my men died heroically, and I returned wounded..."

"Oh, is that all?" Ying began to pinch the knuckles of her left hand.

"And...and more!" Yuan Shang hurriedly confessed when he saw Ying's expression, "Actually, I also fantasized about beating you."

“I’ve read in novels that heroes can’t defeat dragons. If you lose, I can take what’s on you… As I said before, I’m here to find the ‘Book of the Sun and Moon,’ and that book is very likely on you. If I can get it back, that will be a tremendous achievement, enough to upgrade me directly from ‘Scripture Reader’ to ‘Priest’!”

Paimon crossed his arms, trying to put on a fierce expression: "Just taking our stuff? Aren't you going to kill us to avenge your men?"

Yuan shook his head vigorously, "No, no, no, you are Prince Kong's sister, and your companions can also be considered Prince Kong's friends. How could I dare to harm you..."

"He's lying," the divine child, who was listening in, immediately concluded.

Well, no explanation was given.

The fox spirit priestess, who can read minds, never explains, even though she doesn't actually read minds.

"I didn't!" Yuan Shang looked at the Palace Master in horror. "You need to provide evidence to support your claims..."

However, Ying didn't care about any evidence.

"I hate it when people lie to me, especially to my face!"

Before Yuan Shang could react, a fist the size of a clay pot landed on his face.

Then came a series of punches and kicks that were too painful to watch, accompanied by the sound effects of boxers training with sandbags and someone's distorted wails... Han Fulai silently looked away.

A wise person keeps away from the kitchen; not staring at it is a sign of kindness.

He has always been a gentleman.

"Stop! Stop! I'll die if you hit me again!" When Yuan Shang finally managed to stop, his face, which had originally had a "scholarly" air about it, was swollen like a pig's head.

As an elemental life form, it generally cannot be killed by a punch—unless the punch that punches it also has elemental power.

Ying clapped her hands and removed the Geo "gauntlets" from her hands.

It feels great; it's easy to use and doesn't hurt your hands.

This human punching bag isn't very durable; if you keep hitting him, he might actually die.

"By the way, can you turn back into that arrogant 'Apostle of the Abyss' look? I prefer beating you like that. You can revert to that."

Yuan Shang felt wronged: "I... I've never been unruly..."

Paimon looked down at the "pig's head" with an air of authority: "Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely! Tell me, what exactly do you want?"

Ying raised her fist without saying a word.

Yuan Shang stammered, "...Actually, my real purpose is to get you to kill those two dragon lizards."

"Kill those two dragon lizards? What good would that do you?" Paimon looked at the two dragon lizards still lying limply on the ground in the distance, very puzzled.

At this moment, Han Fulai answered on Yuan Shang's behalf: "He wants to sow discord between us and the 'Sea God Envoy,' to promote an alliance between the 'Void Realm' and the 'Dragon Lizard Realm'... or at least to disrupt the peace between humans and dragon lizards."

"What a bad guy!"

Paimon and Ying both squinted at Yuan Shang, as if trying to find a spot on his face where they could still punch him.

Yuan Shang protested, "But those lizards clearly had ill intentions towards you! I was actually helping you, really! What was the name that woman, that woman with the long, narrow pupils, called herself?"

Ying gave him a strange look, but still answered the question: "She calls herself 'Aqi'."

Yuan Shang grunted in a low voice: "Hmph, she's clearly just a lizard, but she's imitating people quite well. Think back, she brought you here, but then stood by and watched your battle. Isn't that strange? And do you even know where she's gone right now?"

Upon hearing this, Paimon remembered Aqi, who had stayed at the entrance to watch the battle, and quickly turned around—but Aqi had already disappeared.

Chapter 328 The Dragon Lizardmen's Shocking Conspiracy [4k]

Paimon shouted, "Agi! Agi! The battle is over, you don't need to hide anymore!"

However, no matter how she called out, she received no response.

The shrine maiden, who should have been watching the battle from the entrance, has vanished without a trace.

Disappearing at such a sensitive time, even Paimon couldn't help but start to suspect Aki...

"Hmph, I wasn't lying to you, was I? That lizard woman has always had ulterior motives!"

Yuan Shang adopted a "you'll regret it if you don't listen to your elders" look, raising his chin high and holding his head up—which made his face, which had been beaten into a pig's head, look even bigger...

Ying frowned and said, "What do you know? Tell me quickly!"

The "Prince's" sister is the "Princess." Since the "Princess" has spoken, Yuan Shang, as her subordinate, naturally has to obey.

He thrust his chest, bound like a tortoise shell by the "Life-Binding Silk," towards Yingmei, his tone unusually obsequious: "Your Highness, I knew the Lizard Woman would betray you, so I prepared evidence beforehand. It's all here! Please take a look!"

Judging from the appearance, he probably kept the so-called "evidence" in his chest pocket. However, his hands were tied and he couldn't move, so he couldn't "offer it to Ying with both hands" and Ying had to take it herself.

The Empress took two steps back, looking disgusted.

Yuan Shang looked to the side again, and Paimon also looked disgusted.

The divine child even looked at her as if she were looking at something dirty.

嗯，渊上现在穿的是稻妻式的浴衣，浴衣的内袋自然是贴肉的……现场并没有哪个女孩子愿意用手碰这个“深渊使徒”的身体，荧就连揍人都戴着“拳套”，就是怕碰了他会沾上什么“深渊细菌”……

Yuan Shang could only look at Han Fulai with a hurt expression. Han Fulai reluctantly undertook the body search and pulled out a stack of tattered files from Yuan Shang's arms.

"This is the 'Deep Sea Dragon Lizard Experiment Record' that I found in the library's collection. It records the experiments that the White Night Kingdom conducted on dragon lizards, as well as the origins of those 'dragon lizard people'!"

When it came to books, Yuan Shang, the "bookworm," was clearly a little excited: "I think you all know that this place used to be a 'colosseum'... Later, because it has an underground river and the environment is suitable for dragon lizards to live in, it was transformed into the 'experimental field' of the 'Dragon Lizard Research Institute'."

"Including the two dragon lizards that Your Highness just defeated, they were all products of the 'Dragon Lizard Research Institute's' breeding experiments."

"Deep-sea dragon lizards are primitive elemental creatures. The earliest dragon lizards in the Abyss Palace were all followers of the Water Elemental Dragon King, and they only possessed the power of the water element... But they are very intelligent and evolve very quickly. In the history of their battles with the White Night Kingdom, they evolved various other species of other elements..."

Ying recalled the two alien dragon lizards that could breathe lightning and frost: "You mean... those two dragon lizards just now, they 'evolved' into a new species on their own?"

“Yes,” Yuan Shang said with certainty, “and it’s not just about evolving other types of elemental power. In the experimental records, there’s a document called ‘The Akasha Record,’ which you can take a look at—this experimental record from two thousand years ago records the birth of the ‘Dragon Lizard People’!”

Han Fulai was flipping through a stack of experimental records, while Shenzi was translating them for him in real time. Sure enough, there was a copy of "The Akasha Record" tucked inside.

Yuan Shang continued, "After the deep-sea dragon lizards were repelled, they began a new evolution in order to survive. Researchers discovered in experiments that the dragon lizards began to imitate human postures, learn human language and lifestyles, and eventually a group of dragon lizards appeared that were no different from humans except for their pupils, namely the 'dragon lizard people'."

“That Aqi, her real name is actually ‘Akasha’. She is the evolved ‘Dragon Lizard Person’, the most successful product of the ancient White Night Kingdom’s evolutionary experiment.”

"These 'dragon lizard people' have a distinctive feature: their pupils—in bright light, a lizard's pupils appear as long, thin vertical lines! This is irrefutable proof of her betrayal!"

Paimon hesitated before retorting, "Uh... you mean betrayal, but aside from being a bit of a loner, Aji hasn't done anything wrong, and she's always been helping us..."

Yuan Shang shook his head vigorously, looking like he thought the child was hopeless: "Alas, she was just using you to get revenge on me."

"To get revenge on you...?" Paimon tilted his head.

“Yes, one of my missions in coming to Yuanxia Palace is to form an alliance with the Dragon Lizard and help them seize Yuanxia Palace and Haiqi Island,” Yuan Shang replied.

"Take over Haiqi Island?!"

Ying and Paimon both exclaimed in surprise.

Yuan Shang nodded seriously: "When you first came to Yuanxia Palace, wasn't it to deal with that 'sacred soil transformation'? Have you ever thought about how the 'sacred soil transformation' came about—it was caused by those dragon lizards!"

"Huh?" Ying and Paimon were even more surprised.

Yuan Shang said, "The essence of 'Sacred Soil Transformation' is actually that those dragon lizards are expanding their habitable environment, which means making the original elemental forces in the Three Realms stronger. In history, they have infiltrated the 'Void Realm Tower' several times, manipulating the power of the Light Realm to amplify it, causing Yuanxia Palace to begin 'Sacred Soil Transformation'."

"But every time they plotted, their schemes were thwarted by the 'Sea Spirit Festival' performed by the priestess of the Coral Palace..."

"Eh... I seem to remember Xin Hai mentioning something like that before...?"

Paimon looked at Yingmei, and Yingmei nodded silently.

Before they came to Yuanxia Palace, Xin Hai had indeed said that "sacred soil conversion" was a problem that had troubled Haiqi Island for a very long time, and that the "living human and divine priestesses" of the Coral Palace had held many "Haiqi Spirit Festivals" to reverse "sacred soil conversion." Ying and Paimeng's last visit to Yuanxia Palace to obtain coral branches was also to assist in this ritual.

Back then, the Divine Child mocked Xin Hai, saying that the "Sea Spirit Festival" was only a temporary fix and completely useless.

It now seems that the problem wasn't with the sacrificial ritual, but rather that there were people—no, dragon lizards—causing trouble underwater all along.

Yuan Shang observed Ying and Paimon's expressions and knew that they were beginning to believe him. His face grew even more smug: "The dragon lizards couldn't fight against the second familiar left behind by Haiqi Island and Orobas, the 'Coral King,' on their own, so they thought of cooperating with outsiders."

“Our ‘Abyss Order’ has the ability to guide the power of the abyss, allowing the black mist to permeate the Abyss Palace and suppress the people of Haiqi Island and the ‘Coral King Worms’. So, as an assistance, they allowed the ‘Abyss Order’ to pass through their territory and contributed their labor to modify the three ‘Virtual Realm Towers’ with me, allowing the ‘Virtual Realm Towers’ to emit ‘Virtual Realm Power’ towards the Abyss Palace.”