"Lin Mo! Lin Mo!"
Amidst Shenhe's frantic calls, Lin Mo slowly opened his eyes, still holding Lumine in his arms.
Just as he was about to utter the words "I'm fine," he caught sight of the profound anxiety and worry in Shenhe's gaze. The words died on his lips.
"Shenhe..." Lin Mo spoke softly.
At that moment, a single tear traced a path down Shenhe's cheek.
Shenhe was unaware that Lin Mo possessed the power of two Archons. In her eyes, he was still the same man from years past—the swordsman who had journeyed with her through Liyue, stronger than an ordinary person, but still just a man.
The instant Lin Mo was sent flying by Beisht, Shenhe felt as if her own heart had been violently struck. It perfectly illustrated the saying: The injury is on your body, but the pain is in my heart.
In that fleeting moment, countless scenes flashed through Shenhe's mind.
She thought of her cursed fate, the Lonely Star and Calamitous Omen she carried.
She remembered the words her father had spoken years ago when he pushed her toward the monsters: "This is the fate you were born with!"
"As long as you live, you bring danger to those around you!"
"It would be better... if you just died!"
"Bring her back... bring peace back to the village!"
Now, seeing that Lin Mo was unharmed, a resolute light gradually dawned in Shenhe's eyes.
From the moment she was abandoned by her father and her clan, she had been like a rootless weed, a sacrificial offering to the monsters.
It was you who became the sole beam of light in the darkest period of my life, illuminating my path.
In my desperate battle against the monsters, at the moment I was about to perish, you unleashed a brilliant sword strike and saved me from their clutches.
You spent three whole months nursing me back to health, tending to my wounds.
Yet I carelessly wounded you in return.
You were so gentle, never blaming me. You even found the crimson ropes to help suppress my Lonely Star and Calamitous Omen.
At that moment, I had already decided in my heart: Lin Mo, wherever you are, that is my home.
So, I am willing to wander the world with you.
And for the sake of our future children, I am willing to enter the adepti's tutelage to rid myself of this cursed fate.
In this moment, Shenhe recalled the words Cloud Retainer had once admonished her with: "Only when you have the desire to use your strength for the sake of others, will you truly be able to suppress the Lonely Star and Calamitous Omen within you and truly integrate into human society."
At that, Shenhe turned her head.
A sharp glint flashed in her eyes as she looked toward Beisht.
In this instant, the wisps of black mist representing the Lonely Star and Calamitous Omen that seeped from her body began to gradually transform into ethereal strands of white mist.
Lin Mo recognized it.
This was the adeptal energy possessed by the illuminated!
Shenhe had succeeded!
In this moment, Shenhe had completely suppressed the Lonely Star and Calamitous Omen within her, transforming that tainted power into the pure adeptal energy she now possessed.
Shenhe faced the towering tsunami.
Slowly, she raised her slender leg and took a step toward the sea.
At that very moment, the sky-obscuring wave was about to crash down, ready to swallow Shenhe whole.
In this critical moment, Shenhe set her foot upon the sea.
"Whoosh—!!"
Adeptal energy suffused the air.
For over a kilometer, the seawater instantly froze solid.
Simultaneously, amidst the mingling of adeptal energy and the power of Cryo, a cold, proud declaration echoed across the icy surface:
"If you wish to harm Lin Mo, even if you are an Archon, I will not forgive you."
As Shenhe's icy voice rang out, a talisman materialized in her palm.
The next moment, with a sharp cry of "By decree! Enforce!", the talisman, formed from adeptal and Cryo energy, swept toward the hundred-meter-high tsunami amidst a blizzard of ice and snow.
In an instant, the colossal wave that should have submerged all of Liyue Harbor, including the Jade Chamber, was frozen by Shenhe's adeptal arts into a magnificent wall of ice.
Everyone who witnessed this scene was struck speechless.
"This... is Shenhe's power?" Lumine, still in Lin Mo's arms, gazed at the instantly frozen tsunami with deep admiration in her eyes.
Lin Mo looked upon the spectacle, reminiscent of an ice age, and couldn't help but murmur, "One step freezes the ice... one talisman calms the sea... Just how many Kamisato Ayakas would this take to match?"
Meanwhile, in Liyue Harbor, Kamisato Ayaka, who was observing the battle, also watched Shenhe standing upon the ice, a flicker of confusion in her eyes.
Her confusion stemmed from one question: Were Shenhe's techniques... taught to her by Lin Mo?
Because Shenhe's moves were strikingly similar to her own Cryo techniques.
She, too, could freeze water with a step, but the scale could never reach miles of ice.
Her ultimate technique, Kamisato Art: Soumetsu, also unleashed a storm of Cryo energy forward. But to instantly freeze a tsunami over a hundred meters high? That was nothing short of a pipe dream.
The combat prowess Shenhe was displaying now seemed a hundred times greater than her own, likely approaching the level of an Archon.
As the hundred-meter-high glacial wall began to crumble, Beisht's form was revealed once more to the onlookers.
The first to regain her composure was Keqing.
Raising her Lion's Roar high, she pointed it at Beisht and commanded, "Fire!!"
The twenty-some Guizhong Ballistae behind her blazed with light the moment the order was given. A dense barrage of golden beams shot toward Beisht.
Already grievously wounded, Beisht suffered another onslaught of concentrated attacks. Immediately, it fled, diving toward the massive whirlpool out at sea.
Shenhe was the first to react.
A fierce light gleamed in her eyes. Without a word, she sprinted across the ice, charging toward the whirlpool into which Beisht was escaping.
"Shenhe! Come back! That's an Archon!" Lin Mo shouted, trying to stop her.
But he was too late.
By the time his voice reached Shenhe's ears, her figure had already vanished into the depths of the vortex.
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T/N:
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