Chapter 544: Ch 544 : Still a path of death?

Su Yuan suddenly snapped his eyes open — that same familiar, heart-throbbing feeling again...

Although there was no stabbing pain in his left palm this time, Su Yuan knew he had died once more.

But this time, there was something different.

He felt his right eyelid twitching uncontrollably.

According to the old superstition — "Left eye brings fortune, right eye brings disaster" — could this mean something bad was about to happen?

Before crossing into Teyvat, Su Yuan had always been a firm believer in materialism.

Yet now that something as supernatural as traveling to another world had happened to him, he couldn’t help but start entertaining thoughts about gods and spirits...

He looked around.

They were standing at the entrance to the ninth level.

Aether’s expression was still somewhat uneasy — he must have realized something too.

"In that case, let’s stick to the plan we discussed earlier and take the path to the right," Eula said.

"No!"

The next instant, Aether immediately rejected the idea, raising his voice.

"The right path is a path of death. We have to take the left one!"

Everyone stared at him in confusion.

Just moments ago, he had fully agreed with Su Yuan’s reasoning, saying he would follow whichever path Su Yuan chose.

But now, in such a short time, how had Aether’s attitude suddenly done a complete 180-degree turn?

"What do we do now? The Traveler and Su Yuan suddenly have opposite opinions — who should we trust?" Paimon asked in a flustered voice.

"Ah! I’ve changed my mind too — the left path definitely feels better to me!" Su Yuan said immediately, without hesitation.

Naturally, he trusted Aether unconditionally.

"Ugh... well, it seems everyone’s back on the same page again..." Paimon sighed, pressing her hand to her forehead.

After that little episode, the group continued forward — down the path on the left.

On the way to the battle area, Aether thought to himself: since last time the right path was a path of death, taking the left one this time should be the correct route.

But when they arrived at the battleground, Aether was shocked to find — right in the center of the arena — a seemingly ordinary hilichurl, sitting cross-legged on the ground...

"The Traveler and Su Yuan were right after all!" Paimon exclaimed in delight.

"It looks like there’s only one hilichurl in this battle arena!"

However, unlike the group’s joy, Aether’s forehead was covered in sweat.

He stared grimly at the hilichurl sitting cross-legged in the center of the arena, unable to understand what was happening...

Hadn’t he deliberately chosen a different path based on what happened last time?

So why had they still encountered this hilichurl?

But this wasn’t the time to think.

Aether immediately shouted to everyone around him:

"Everyone, be careful! This hilichurl is no ordinary creature — it’s dangerous!!"

"And most importantly, don’t harbor any hostility toward it! Otherwise, it will attack you instantly!!"

Seeing how tense and alarmed Aether looked, Su Yuan and the others realized he wasn’t joking.

Su Yuan then asked seriously, "Traveler, what’s going on here?"

"This hilichurl... it’s the monster guarding the path of death."

Aether took a deep breath and said each word heavily:

"This hilichurl attacks anyone who shows hostility toward it. And what’s worse, it’s incredibly fast — so fast that you might not even have time to enter your Eerie state before it kills you outright..."

Hearing Aether’s words and seeing his expression, Su Yuan realized that Aether’s information must have been wrong this time.

The left path was supposed to be the safe route, yet the reality proved that it was still a path of death...

"My intel shouldn’t have been mistaken..."

Aether frowned deeply, thinking aloud:

"If this situation is happening now, it can only mean that Aji is toying with us..."

"Either both paths are path of death, or Aji changed which route is safe and which is death at the last moment!"

Su Yuan nodded, thinking that if Aether’s reasoning was correct — that both paths led to death — then the only way forward was to find a way to defeat this powerful and strange hilichurl in order to advance to the next level.

But facing a hilichurl that reacts to hostility and moves at incredible speed — how could they possibly defeat it?

Soon, Su Yuan thought of a seemingly workable plan and spoke up:

"Aether, based on your description, this hilichurl is only extremely fast, right? Its physical strength and endurance are about average?"

"If that’s the case, then against such an agility-type opponent, wouldn’t it be best to use Eerie power to suppress its movements through sheer force?"

Hearing this, everyone’s eyes lit up with realization.

"Oh, that’s right! That actually makes sense!"

"As long as we can restrain its movements with Eerie power, its blinding speed won’t be a threat anymore!"

"But the people under Eerie state can’t exactly take orders from us, can they?"

Aether thought for a moment, still sounding worried.

"If our Eerie-empowered fighters fail to restrain it instantly, that hilichurl’s speed could let it kill us in a heartbeat."

"And most importantly — we can’t show it any hostility at all. Otherwise, it might kill us before we even enter our Eerie state..."

"Yeah, Su Yuan, your plan sounds good in theory," the others agreed after some thought, "but it’s going to be really hard to pull off."

"Hostility... hostility... hostility??"

Su Yuan muttered the word to himself, lost in thought — until suddenly, his eyes lit up as if he had figured something out.

"Who says that using Eerie power to restrain someone’s movements has to be an act of hostility?"

"I’ve got it! And Qiqi—" he turned toward her, "you’re the perfect person to carry out this plan!"

Hearing that, Qiqi pointed at herself in surprise, her voice quiet and hesitant.

"M–me...?"

"I don’t really know... what exactly I should do... but I’ll follow your instructions, Su Yuan..."