0p0 Chapter 449 Turning Point and Breeze of Hope
Chapter 449 Turning Point and Breeze of Hope
Xu Ning didn't care at all that Katarina couldn't taste the "hope" in the food.
He tapped the rim of the bowl in front of her and said, "This wine has the same origin as that dish. It is a delicious original brew that contains the power of the wind god. Try it. You are the first person in the entire winter to have me offer you wine with a bowl. You have no idea how special you are."
The first fool to offer wine in a bowl?
"How did you treat the other Fools to drinks?" Katarina asked curiously.
Xu Ning smiled slightly, not continuing on this obviously unpleasant topic, but instead urging Katarina to try his "Thousand Winds".
Katarina curiously picked it up, took a bite, and then laughed.
"This isn't wine, it's clearly just thirst-quenching juice."
Xu Ning shook his head. "It's wine. You'll get drunk if you drink too much, as the wind god Barbatos can attest. Of course, if you don't believe me, you'll know how potent it is after drinking a few more bowls."
"You can't even finish a simple dish of wine without mentioning the Wind God. People who know you might say you like to brag, but people who don't might think you're keeping the Wind God in a gourd."
Katarina drank the "juice" in the bowl in one gulp, then took her silver pot and poured half a bowl of "fire water" into the empty bowl in front of Xu Ning.
"You should try mine too, this is what wine should be."
After saying that, Katarina stepped back, waiting to see Xu Ning make a fool of himself.
Xu Ning had known about Zhi Dong's "Fire Water" for a long time. To this day, he still remembers when he was selling wine at Wangshu Inn, he encountered two customers arguing that his wine was not as strong as Fire Water.
However, the Fools in Mondstadt offended Lupus, the local official in charge of drinking for Mondstadt residents, and in Liyue, they offended Xu, the local official in charge of drinking for Liyue residents. After causing a huge uproar in Inazuma, they were finally expelled by the Thunder God.
Therefore, Xu Ning has never actually tasted the real "fire and water" in anyone's hands.
Katarina watched expectantly as Xu Ning picked up the ceramic bowl from the table, poured the contents into his mouth, and slowly savored it.
"Tch, I should have known that you, the guy who keeps drinking from your gourd, wouldn't be so easily scared by fire and water. No fun."
Katarina drank the "juice" in front of her again with some disappointment, then curiously picked up a sweet shrimp sushi and put it in her mouth.
"good to eat……"
Before long, Katarina was engrossed in the delicious food that Xu Ning had specially prepared for her, and it seemed that even the deep sadness she felt had been temporarily put aside.
Xu Ning barely ate anything, only symbolically eating two meat rolls and two sweet shrimp to go with his drinks; the rest of the dishes ended up in Katharina's stomach.
Perhaps it's because people who are full are particularly prone to drowsiness, or perhaps she drank too much of Huoshui or Qianfeng, but Katarina quickly curled up and fell asleep on the haystack she had laid out.
The dragon eyes on the wine gourd flashed a few times. Xu Ning casually placed it down, and then his figure flashed.
When Qingyi and Wendy appeared together in the narrow cave, Xu Ning curiously looked up at Wendy.
"This is quite a rare guest. You've actually decided to leave Jiuquan one day?"
Wendy laughed and said, "Why are you making it sound like I don't want to do anything but drink?"
Xu Ning shook his wine gourd. "You talk as if you've done something wrong. But I really have to thank you this time. Without the dishes you blessed, she wouldn't have been able to relax and get a proper rest so easily."
Wendy laughed, "Oh dear, it's really hard for me to get praise from you. It seems tonight will be a beautiful night. I'm going out to get some fresh air and maybe write a couple of new hymns to add to my poetry collection."
After saying that, Wendy actually grabbed her xylophone and ran off in a flash.
The woman in green, who was tidying up the small table, turned around in surprise and glanced at Wendy's distant figure. She asked incredulously, "Why has this guy suddenly become so diligent?"
Xu Ning shook his head. "I don't know where she went, but it's not worth worrying about her. Who else around here could hurt her?"
Qingyi pursed her lips and thought about it. It made sense, so she didn't dare to slack off anymore.
"Where's that guy inside?" Xu Ning was referring to Zhiqiong, of course.
"With Wendy and me here, she's naturally drunk and asleep on the grass. Let her lie there; the wind in the cave will help dissipate the abyssal power accumulated in her body."
The next day, Xu Ning woke up after Zhiqiong called to him.
"Xu Ning, it's time to go. Although this place is beautiful and fun, if we always linger in it, it will erode our ideals."
What kind of illogical thinking is this!
Xu Ning flew down from the window where Ning Guang lived on the second floor, walked to Zhi Qiong's side, and took her out with her.
"Let Katarina be our guide today. She promised last night that she would take me to see the monsters beneath the Abyss, right?"
This question was directed at Katarina.
After a night's rest, Katarina's face regained its calm expression.
"As long as you're not afraid, that's fine. Now that we're here, let's take a closer look at that monster."
Katarina picked up a purple lamp that was placed on her haystack, and then led them toward the entrance they had come in through yesterday.
Zhiqiong called out from behind, "If you're talking about that big mechanical thing, we already took it apart when we passed by yesterday."
"Not those rigid and useless machines, but real empty shell warriors."
Katarina led the two to the broken bridge where the robot had been yesterday, then pointed to the bottomless abyss below, saying, "It's right there. Let's jump down."
After saying that, Katarina lightly jumped down.
"Hey, no!" Zhiqiong quickly ran a few steps and rushed over to try and save the Fools she had just met.
Unfortunately, Katarina jumped down without hesitation, and Zhiqiong didn't have time to grab her.
“You were just standing there, why didn’t you lend a hand? All you did was drink from that gourd. I should have realized she brought us here for a reason.”
Xu Ning looked at the kind-hearted girl with amusement. "Alright, I'm jumping now. Are you planning to jump with us, or go back into my wine gourd first?"
Zhiqiong was stunned, and then realized that the two people in front of her were not ordinary people. Perhaps they just wanted to go down and do something else.
This caused her to blush deeply, but Zhiqiong carefully considered what Xu Ning said.
"I don't have your abilities. If this continues, I'll only drag you down with me. I'd better go back to the gourd first!"
Xu Ning put the gourd back in place and returned Zhiqiong to that beautiful space that would extinguish her ideals.
Then, with a light leap, he followed Katarina's example and jumped down as well.
Looking down from this position, the bottom of the abyss was still shrouded in mist, and nothing could be discerned.
But as the body fell, the scenery below gradually became clearer.
Xu Ning could clearly see that Katarina had entered battle mode.
Opposite her was a black serpent knight wielding a long spear, and judging from the patterns and intricate designs on his armor, it was clear that this black serpent knight's rank five hundred years ago was probably not low.
This was the first time Xu Ning had seen the Thunderfire Sorcerer's fighting style up close.
Without a doubt, the fighting abilities of these Fools all come from the Evil Eyes within them. Without the help of the Evil Eyes, they would not be able to use the power of various elemental forces.
The Lightning Sorcerers, however, possessed a variety of unpredictable attack methods, namely the purple lamps they carried.
It's home to a group of peculiar lightning fireflies, tiny creatures that can unleash lightning.
Xu Ning clearly saw Katarina take a tiny bit of powder from a small pocket on her side and gently sprinkle it into the air in front of her.
Then, all the fireflies that were being nurtured in the lamp flew out, seemingly greedily licking the powder floating in the air.
"So they're using that powder to feed and control these fireflies? Then that powder must be the pollen of the legendary Mist Flower."
Xu Ning could already faintly smell a strange fragrance at this moment. Although the fragrance was strange, it was not unpleasant.
Moreover, Xu Ning had a vague feeling that he had smelled this scent on someone else a long time ago.
But I can't remember it now.
The fireflies, having consumed the pollen in the air, seemed to become excited all at once.
Lightning faintly emanated from its body, and it flew even faster.
Katarina drew circles with one hand and waved the purple light with the other, and the lightning fireflies, under her control, quickly attacked the black snake knight in front of her.
Katarina didn't just wait for Lei Ying to kill the enemy; she summoned a ring of lightning around herself and moved closer to the Black Serpent Knight.
“If these were against a living person, they would definitely be avoided at all costs. But the black snake knight in front of us has completely lost his physical body and become a kind of empty shell monster. These attacks should have no effect on him at all.”
Xu Ning only needed one glance to know that Katarina's attack was likely to fail, and she might even be injured in the counterattack.
As expected, although the lightning array formed by Lei Ying and Katarina kept striking the Black Serpent Knight in front of it, it seemed to be unaware of it. It simply raised its lance and swept it away with a horizontal strike, clearing away the harassing Lei Ying, and then charged forward.
He charged towards Katarina with his lance in hand.
This shot was ruthless and decisive, showing that the Black Serpent Knights were once a very fierce fighting force, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to develop such a vicious fighting style.
It was clear that Katarina was about to die from a sudden shot.
At this point, Xu Ning could no longer leisurely land. He immediately retracted his Wind Wings and landed beside Katarina.
With a flick of his left hand, he raised the Dust Concealing Gourd and smashed it horizontally against the side of the lance, deflecting the death spear aimed at the poor man beside him.
Without a second thought, his right fist, reeking of alcohol, slammed into the Black Serpent Knight's face, knocking his helmet off.
The black mist gushing from the neck where the helmet was removed, when it met the smell of alcohol on Xu Ning's hands, actually made a hissing sound.
Xu Ning increased the transmission of the alcohol vapor, and the black mist inside the entire armor instantly dissipated, then slumped down and broke into several parts.
Katarina was extremely close, so she naturally saw Xu Ning's attack clearly.
The speculation that Xu Ning might possess great strength was not too far off, but the fact that the smell of alcohol on Xu Ning's hands seemed to be the nemesis of these dark creatures surprised Katarina.
"Turn off your lightning ring. I'm standing in the water, and I'm reeking of alcohol. If it accidentally sets me on fire, neither of us will be in any good shape."
Katarina then remembered to rein in the lightning around her and restrain the lightning fireflies from attacking Xu Ning.
"So, when you used to meet the Fools, you would offer them drinks with your fists? You would smash their heads off with those alcohol-smelling fists?"
"It's not as cruel as you say."
Xu Ning was about to express his displeasure at being questioned instead of being thanked for saving someone, but a sudden piercing whistle made his expression change. He abruptly reached out and grabbed Katarina's slender waist, leaping with her behind a rock on the side.
Just as Xu Ning and his companion dodged, an arrow emanating a chilling aura struck the spot where they had been standing. The chilling aura suddenly exploded, instantly freezing the unsuspecting lightning fireflies into ice blocks, which then fell to the ground.
Katarina looked at the spot where the two had just fought. The shallow pond had been completely frozen into solid ice. She couldn't see any arrows, and it was highly likely that even the arrows from before were made of ice.
"Who attacked?"
Xu Ning shouted in the direction the arrows came from.
A tall, dark figure slowly emerged; it was yet another Black Serpent Knight.
However, this knight was different from the ones Xu Ning had seen before.
In its hand it was holding a longbow almost as tall as a person, with an emblem with eight spikes inlaid in the center of the bow where it was held.
Xu Ning recognized it as the symbol of the Kanria Black Sun Dynasty. Where the black sun should be in the center, there was a black hole on the bow, and a chilling ice arrow was forming inside it.
“...****, ******...*****...*********! !”
The black serpent knight, holding a longbow, roared at Xu Ning in a low voice.
Xu Ning smiled wryly, "You can actually talk? That's a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately, I can't understand a single word."
"...Who are you, daring to stop us...to purify the filth of the sky with our sacred blood...!" Katarina suddenly spoke up beside Xu Ning, "...These are the words he said."
Xu Ning looked at her in astonishment. "He must have been speaking the ancient language of Kanria. How can you understand it?"