His protective amulet had been damaged, and Si Xuan, with no other choice, had to activate his self-defense mode.
The auspicious cloud pattern flickered with golden light, and a transparent shield isolated Si Xuan and the sandstorm.
Originally, Si Xuan hadn't wanted to use this power.
Because this power was created by the Celestia.
In the original Teyvat, before the arrival of the Primordial Ones, there was no Geo energy.
Apep, a dragon of ancient lineage, harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Celestia and the gods and humans who lived on this land.
If he had rashly interacted with Apep while wearing the garment empowered by his voice of creation, it could have triggered his extreme reaction.
But now, the Hydro element energy that Nahida had given him was gone.
Without using the voice of creation, he would truly be blown away by the wind.
"This is... Geo power. You are not a human of the previous generation, yet you can use this power. Could it be that the humans of this generation are already stealing the fragments of the Primordial Ones?"
To Si Xuan's surprise, Apep didn't become enraged by Si Xuan's use of Geo energy.
Instead, he felt a sense of melancholy.
Suddenly, the sandstorm ceased, and before Si Xuan's eyes, a glowing entrance seemed to appear.
"The messenger of the Hydro Dragon King, come forth, enter my body, I have something I need to ask you."
Although Si Xuan understood what Apep meant,
the way he said it was simply misleading.
Si Xuan wasn't some kind of barbarian, willing to do anything.
Si Xuan walked forward a short distance.
Suddenly, his body flickered with green light.
Then, his body vanished from sight.
The filth, the turbidity, caused the surrounding elements to become thick and sticky.
Si Xuan felt like he was immersed in snot.
Although Si Xuan knew that the current Apep was on the verge of death, tormented by forbidden knowledge,
he hadn't expected it to become like this.
His body was nothing short of a garbage dump.
"You feel it, don't you? This is my current state. I am now powerless against the forbidden knowledge within me. In a few decades, I will likely perish. When that happens, the entire Sumeru will undergo a great change. The desert will become an oasis, the short plants will become towering trees...,"
While Apep was still lamenting the events that would happen after his death,
Si Xuan directly and frankly interrupted him.
"No, your death will only create more dead zones. There will be no life left in the entire Sumeru."
Except for his core, the elemental energy in all parts of Apep's body was extremely polluted.
If this elemental energy were to spread, it would only create dozens more dead zones in Sumeru.
Apep didn't speak. He knew Si Xuan was telling the truth.
But he didn't care.
This land was no longer his domain anyway.
The gods had stolen his authority.
Humans had occupied his land.
He hated the species created by the Primordial Ones with every fiber of his being.
What did their life or death have to do with him?
"Is that so, the Water Dragon King? You sent him to find me just to spout cold words?"
Si Xuan didn't respond to Apep but instead retrieved something from his magic pocket.
Four round discs, each the size of a palm.
Seven blue crystals shaped like trihedrons.
Si Xuan closed his eyes and carefully sensed.
The time in his mind turned into a world of black with green streaks.
Black was the forbidden knowledge, and green was Apep's own elemental energy.
"Now, I have to separate the forbidden knowledge from your body. You are simply too large, I can't get distracted."
Si Xuan took a deep breath and began acting according to his past experience.
Forbidden knowledge was Abyssal power. Whether it was Abyssal power or Luminescent power,
they were all energy with consciousness.
Once you absorbed this energy, the most terrifying thing was not the energy itself, but the consciousness it carried.
What Si Xuan had to do was to separate the consciousness from the Abyssal energy.
Then, use the artificial Luminescent power to collide with it, causing an annihilation reaction.
This was the only way to purify the Abyssal power within Apep.
This method was only known to Si Xuan in the entire Teyvat continent.
Twenty years after arriving in Fontaine, Si Xuan accidentally discovered that he could control the consciousness within the Geo veins.
This included various forms of energy, such as faith and memories.
To confirm whether he could do this with all the conscious energy in Teyvat,
Si Xuan had visited dead zones, the Chasm, and Dragonspine.
The answer was yes, although the reason was unknown.
He could easily extract the consciousness from the energy, turning it into pure energy.
But he wouldn't dare to store the Abyssal consciousness in his own mind.
After all, for a short-lived species like him, five hundred years of memories were a huge burden in themselves.
Si Xuan wouldn't dare to add to the burden.
The seven crystals were tools that Si Xuan had researched specifically to contain consciousness.
Si Xuan stretched out his palm, the dark consciousness, enveloped in piercing screams, constantly gathered in his palm.
Apep, who was suffering from the torment of the forbidden knowledge, suddenly felt that the consciousness that had repeatedly tormented him began to flow and disappear.
For him, the most unbearable thing was the torment of his consciousness.
He had long become accustomed to the energy's erosion of his body, but the mental torture was pushing him to the brink of collapse.
Si Xuan's actions brought Apep's consciousness a lot of relief.
At the same time, he was internally shocked.
An ordinary human, being able to plunder the consciousness within the forbidden knowledge.
How was that even possible?
Had humans on Teyvat advanced to such a terrifying level?
As Si Xuan absorbed the consciousness within the forbidden knowledge, he transferred the consciousness in his palm to the seven crystals.
The originally brilliant crystals instantly turned as black as ink.
After a day and a night, almost all the consciousness within the forbidden knowledge had been gathered into the crystals.
Si Xuan sighed and quickly stored the seven crystals in his magic pocket.
Helping a being of Apep's size absorb the consciousness from the forbidden knowledge,
even he felt extremely tired.
Without that annoying consciousness, although the surrounding environment was still chaotic and disordered,
it no longer had the previous sticky feeling.
Si Xuan took a deep breath and pressed the red button in the center of the four discs.
White light emanated from the discs, and a gentle, warm energy spread from them.
The surrounding elemental energy began to be purified, and the erosion of the forbidden knowledge was being dissolved by this white energy.
"This is... the power of the Primordial Ones. You have actually stolen this power?"
At this point, Apep no longer considered Si Xuan an ordinary human.
After all, the things he could do were simply too shocking.
Even a god, even a full-fledged Elemental Dragon, couldn't do this.
"Saying stolen is a bit harsh. This Luminescent energy was synthesized by me. It's a little inferior to the real deal, but it's more than enough to purify the forbidden knowledge within you. At this rate, it should be pretty much done in about half a month."
As Si Xuan was speaking, Apep felt that the Dendro element in his body was becoming clearer.
The waning strength he had was also getting stronger.
"Human... what is your name?"