Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 326 Ronawa: Hu Tao is a troublesome child

"What does this mean?" Ye Lan asked incredulously. "What do you mean by saying that the current boundary between life and death only came about because of the remnants of the demon god?"

"So you didn't know? The so-called Eight Wonders Peach Refining Capital is actually a method of first killing the Demon God Peach Capital through an array and then using its power to transform it into the boundary between life and death."

The energy released after the demon god's death, along with its remnants, was used to create the boundary between life and death at the cost of concealing one of the eight gates. This is the truth behind why one of the eight gates was concealed. Furthermore, Tao Du willingly underwent the refinement; otherwise, why do you think eight extraordinary individuals who weren't demon gods could refine Tao Du, who had become a demon god?

"Where did you learn these things?"

To be honest, what Bronya said had a significant impact on Yelan. She found it hard to imagine where the other party had gotten these secrets that even they didn't know.

"Did you think I was just admiring the scenery when I traveled around Liyue? Of course I explored every historical site I could find there."

Of course, Bronya's words were partly true and partly false. She had indeed explored almost all the ruins in Liyue and learned a great deal of history that even the higher-ups in Liyue did not know. However, she did not know much more about secrets such as the Eight Wonders Peach City than Yelan and the others. The reason she knew these things was entirely because Kiana told her before she left.

Ye Lan took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind of distractions; after all, now was not the time to think about such things.

When Yelan opened her eyes again, she looked at Bronya and Seele and said that she was ready to take them to the edge of life and death, but Bronya refused.

There are two reasons. First, Yelan is not familiar with the situation inside the boundary between life and death, and she cannot lead the way if she goes in. Second, Yelan's body cannot withstand the environment inside the boundary between life and death, which is filled with death energy. If she goes in rashly, she may hinder Bronya and the others.

Therefore, Bronya refused the request. Yelan understood Bronya's concerns and knew that she had no right to be willful. After giving her a respectful farewell, Yelan returned to report.

Seeing that Night Orchid had already left Bronya, she did not linger any longer and called Seele to enter the boundary between life and death through this entrance.

The moment they entered the boundary between life and death, the entrance closed.

Sensing the familiar power appearing at the entrance, Bronya could only shake her head helplessly. Kiana clearly knew that even if the entrance wasn't closed, Yelan would guard it after returning from her mission to prevent others from getting involved.

Now that this entrance/exit has been closed, Bronya can already imagine the chaos that will ensue among the Liyue leadership.

"Sister Bronya."

“It’s alright, Seele. You should be able to sense that it was Kiana who closed this entrance. Her meaning is quite clear: we should come out after we’ve finished dealing with this. She’s also wondering how the people outside will react when they find out that this entrance is closed.”

"It'll probably be chaotic for a while." Seele closed her eyes and began to imagine the scene outside, a helpless smile appearing on her face.

"Sometimes I feel like Kiana really likes playing pranks."

"Haha, that's just how she is. Although her personality has changed for some reasons, Kiana is still Kiana. That's the only thing that both the captain and we firmly believe in."

“That makes sense,” Seele nodded. “But speaking of which, where is Captain?”

Looking around, Seele found no trace of the captain except for the gloomy, winding path.

“This is where we’ll come in handy.” Bronya said, taking out an item that Seele had never seen before. “Ta-da, Captain’s Location Device! This is an item I made based on the energy fluctuations after the Captain obtained His power. With it, we can quickly locate the Captain’s position.”

"Sister Bronya..."

"Ahem, I know what you're going to say, so Seele, please don't say it."

Bronya said awkwardly, well aware that her device could easily be misunderstood. Honestly, was she the kind of infatuated woman who would secretly follow the captain around?

Okay, I did do that back in the academy, but that was just investigating whether the captain was having affairs. It caused rumors about me to circulate, and even Mei and Kiana started looking at me strangely.

No, no! Now is not the time for reminiscing!

Bronya shook her head, banishing these random memories from her mind, and began to carefully observe the data on the device. Soon, the device automatically planned a feasible path based on the captain's energy fluctuations.

So the two set off. Along the way, Bronya and Seele encountered many death nodes, which they easily cleared using the method Kiana had told them.

In just a short while, the two arrived at the area where the captain was located, where a large amount of death energy was permeating the air.

The dense aura of death even stained the entire area black, and the tree in the center, which was originally just an ordinary tree, gradually returned to its former form as a demon god due to the appearance of the demon god's remnants.

Bronya could even sense a large amount of New Abyss energy on that tree, clearly indicating that the remnants of the demon god within it had begun to break the seal after absorbing the energy of New Abyss.

Bronya and Seele didn't dare to delay and summoned their weapons to come to the captain's side. The captain subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was Bronya and Seele.

Before they arrived, the captain had already fought the phantoms of Kong and the others no less than ten times. This was probably because the opponents were merely remnants of a demon god after Tao Du's death, and even with the power of the new Abyss, they had only regained a portion of their powers. The phantoms they could create were only those who had been to the border between life and death, and their strength was less than one-tenth of the original's.

Although the phantom created by the opponent was not very strong, it still caused the captain a lot of trouble when combined with itself.

After all, the captain's full-force Heavenly Judgment was enough to incinerate this space. The captain's mission was to prevent this place from collapsing, not to destroy it. With no way to use his strength, the captain could only play a game of instant kills with the opponent in frustration. Gradually, the captain's physical strength began to fail.

Bronya and Seele's arrival not only relieved the captain's gradually depleted strength, but also brought good news to the captain.

The captain once again swung his sword, dispelling the charging Paimon phantom along with the empty phantom. The captain asked, "So the outside world has already prepared the relevant countermeasures, right?"

"Yes, if we just hold on for two more days, the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation will be activated from the outside, and then the problem of the life-and-death boundary will naturally be solved."

"But it's not enough."

"What do you mean?"

"After fighting this remnant of the demon god for so long, I can sense that simply activating the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation is useless."

"why?"

"Because this remnant of the demon god has completely broken through the seal, it is unlikely that it can be resealed using the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation. Moreover, now that it has absorbed the power of the abyss, it is impossible to keep it as a hidden danger."

"That would be difficult."

Bronya shot Kurumi's phantom in the head and then explained the situation to the captain with a headache.

"The energy released after Taodu's death was all used to create this boundary between life and death. The remnants of the demon god are the backup energy source for this boundary between life and death. As long as there are still remnants of the demon god, we can recreate a boundary between life and death at any time by using the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation. But if the remnants of the demon god cannot be kept, we will have to find another pure energy source."

"What if we can't find it?" the captain asked.

"What else can we do? The people in charge of the formation at the eight nodes will have to sacrifice themselves to fill the energy gap. If we're lucky, a few more might survive, but if we're unlucky, all eight of them might die!"

"So what's your plan? Kiana called you over, it's not just for support, right?"

"It's a pity it's that simple, but give me some time and I can figure out a way to solve this problem."

“I understand. Until then, Seele and I will be your shield. Please, Bronya!”

After speaking, the captain and Seele began to protect Bronya in the middle, and Bronya took the opportunity to retrieve her weapon and begin to analyze the remnants of the demon god with all her might.

Ultimately, the remnants of the Demon God are also a form of conscious energy. Once the energy form of the remnants of the Demon God is analyzed, Bronya will naturally be able to create a corresponding replacement.

Bronya only needed time to distinguish between the two because the remnants of the Demon God were now mixed with the power of the new Abyss. And so, time passed by, second by second.

Within the boundary between life and death, all concepts of time became blurred. After an unknown amount of time, Bronya, having completed the analysis, ordered the two to quickly deal with the remnants of the demon god.

Upon receiving Bronya's orders, the captain and Seele immediately unleashed their full firepower, swiftly and completely annihilating the remnants of the demon god.

The large tree, having lost the remnants of the demon god, fell silent and showed signs of withering. After the three of them cautiously explored the boundary between life and death, and only after ensuring that all the power of the new abyss was completely eliminated did the captain allow Bronya to begin creating a replacement for the remnants of the demon god.

With the addition of the substitute for the demon god's remnants, the tree, which had shown signs of withering, regained its vitality.

However, these were all just appearances. Without the remnants of the demon god, the boundary between life and death had already entered a countdown to destruction. All the captains and the others could do was try to slow down the approaching destruction. During this time, the three of them were also actively trying to clear away the ever-emerging death energy, but no matter how hard they tried, the death energy appeared much faster than they could clear it.

The dense aura of death around them blurred the consciousness of the three exhausted people. Just then, butterflies that seemed to fly in from nowhere awakened their weary spirits.

Where these butterflies passed, bursts of flames instantly ignited. Fueled by death energy, these flames burned ever brighter, eventually incinerating all the death energy within the boundary between life and death.

Even so, the sky at the boundary between life and death remained dark, and the large hole in the tree that slowly released death energy was still open, only the amount of death energy emanating from it began to decrease.

Just as the captain and others were pondering how to completely solve the problem of the leaking death energy, Time arrived here, but instead of Paimon, he was accompanied by a vine person modeled after Kurumi.

Sora and the three of them officially met, and with Sora's explanation, the three of them understood the current situation.

Thanks to the captain and his team, the outside world's efforts to burn away the death energy using the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation were progressing very smoothly. However, the situation did not change in the slightest; on the contrary, the flames on the altar were gradually dying out.

Hu Tao, who was guarding the Death Gate node, resolutely chose to sacrifice herself and activated the final step of the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation, hiding the Death Gate from the earth veins. This is why the captain and the others were able to see so many butterflies earlier.

Now that the Eight Gates and Seven Gates Formation has ended, the Death Gate is gradually disappearing. Once it disappears completely, then Hu Tao will never be able to return.

As Kurumi's friend, Sora naturally did not want to witness such an ending. With Zhongli's reminder, Sora realized that if he was not recorded by the ley lines, did that mean that even if he took the price in Kurumi's place, he would not disappear?

After receiving confirmation from Ying from another world in the group chat, Sora asked Zhongli to escort him. Considering the level of danger this time, Sora did not let Paimon come with him, but only brought Fujito, who could locate Kurumi's position, and hurriedly asked Zhongli to take him to the edge of life and death.

After Sora's explanation, the captain instantly understood the meaning of the hole in the tree. Without saying a word, the captain pulled Sora to the hole and gestured for him to jump in, while he would hold him from the outside to prevent him from falling in and never coming back.

Just as the captain had guessed, Sora found Kurumi in the cave and rescued her. However, Sora also fell into a deep sleep after absorbing a large amount of death energy to take the blame for Kurumi.

Looking at the now completely closed Void, the captain understood that this matter had finally reached its best conclusion. As for Void, he sensed that it was not seriously injured and would naturally recover after a period of rest.

So, in order to ensure that Kong received the best care, everyone carried him to Bubulu. At the same time, two figures were silently watching all this from a hillside near Wuwangpo.

"I never imagined that someone as powerful as the ruler of death would overstep his bounds. Is the influence of the former Hall Master Hu's consciousness on you that severe?"

The speaker was a tall man with brown eyes who silently stared at Qiqi. His brown clothes were being fluttered by a gentle breeze.

"Aren't you the same? Even though you're retired, you've been doing a lot behind the scenes, even using the tricks she taught you. Morax, don't you think you're paying a little too much attention to that girl, Kurumi?"

"After all, Master Hu is also my boss, and I only want to be a guest advisor, which is insignificant compared to what you've done. I think you should think about how you're going to deal with their questions next."

Jonathan snorted coldly: "My affairs are none of your business. In the end, I'll leave that child, Walnut, to you."

After saying that, Ronawa's consciousness left, and Qiqi's body fell straight to the ground. In the end, Zhongli, who was quick-witted and agile, caught her and picked her up.

Looking at Qiqi in his arms, Zhongli sighed deeply and left, leaving behind only a faint sentence that echoed in the valley.

“My dear friend, I will certainly take good care of your daughter; you can rest assured about that.”