Chapter 542: Ch 542 : It’s just a hilichurl, nothing more

"Wait... Su Yuan..." Paimon said speechlessly after seeing Su Yuan’s choice.

"You just changed the words you said, didn’t you? Essentially, it’s no different from how you chose last time — you still picked the right path again..."

"What if Aji deliberately set the right path as the path of death this time, waiting for us to walk right into his trap!?"

"Paimon, the path we choose doesn’t really matter," Su Yuan replied calmly.

"If you can think that way, don’t you think Aji can too? He might even do the opposite on purpose."

"In the end, no matter how you look at it, the chances are fifty-fifty — one road leads to life, the other to death. There’s really no need to overthink it."

Although Su Yuan knew what he was saying sounded somewhat reckless, he didn’t care.

With his death rewind ability and Aether’s cooperation, it didn’t matter whether they chose the path of life or death — if they happened to pick the wrong one, they could simply go back and try again.

Though the others were still a bit uncertain and puzzled by Su Yuan’s reasoning, their trust in him prevailed, and they all followed him onto the right path once again.

When they arrived at the combat arena on the eighth floor of the Spiral Abyss, they were met once again by a few weak slimes and hilichurls.

The group easily defeated them and soon reached the entrance to the ninth floor.

As expected, there were still two branching paths — and another message board covered in Aji’s handwriting:

[Well, well! Your luck really is something else!!!]

[You actually managed to pick the correct path twice in a row!!!]

[With luck like that, maybe you really will reach me with your full team intact!!!]

[The rules for the ninth floor are still the same as before.]

[You must all choose one single path — which could lead to path of life, or to path of death...]

[As always, it’s all or nothing!!!]

"So then, Su Yuan," Aether asked, glancing at him, "which path do we take this time?"

"I’m too lazy to think about it — let’s just go right again!" Su Yuan said after a moment of thought.

Everyone said nothing more and simply followed Su Yuan onto the path to the right...

When they arrived at the battlefield, they were pleasantly surprised to find that there seemed to be only a single hilichurl sitting cross-legged in the center of the arena.

"Great! There’s only one hilichurl here!" Paimon exclaimed happily.

"Looks like our luck is amazing — we’ve chosen the right path three times in a row!"

However, Clorinde frowned slightly and said, "No... something feels off."

"In the previous path of life, there were always a few weak slimes and hilichurls..."

"But now, there’s only a single hilichurl here — and no slimes at all?"

"That’s true," Kujou Sara added.

"And this hilichurl’s posture... we haven’t seen it before. It’s actually sitting cross-legged on the ground."

"But in the end," Ningguang said calmly, her gaze fixed on the hilichurl ahead, "whether it’s a safe road or a dead end, it’s still just a hilichurl. No matter how strong it is — how strong can it possibly be?"

Yet the next moment, something completely unexpected happened!!!

The hilichurl that had been sitting cross-legged suddenly stood up — then transformed into a blur so fast that no one could even see it — and rushed straight toward the group!!!

By the time everyone managed to react, the hilichurl had already returned to its original spot, thrusting its blade into the ground before calmly sitting cross-legged again...

Blood dripped continuously from the blade embedded in the ground.

And Ningguang — her body had been cleaved in two, lying motionless in a pool of blood...

For a brief moment, everyone was stunned — what just happened?

Ningguang had been instantly killed by a hilichurl, moving so fast that none of them could even see it?!

But they all knew this was not the time to grieve or be shocked.

This hilichurl was definitely no ordinary monster — they had to prepare for battle immediately!

"You vile hilichurl! How dare you kill a high-ranking member of Liyue’s Qixing here within Mondstadt’s borders?!"

"Do you realize what kind of chaos this will cause between Mondstadt and Liyue?!"

"This grudge—I’ll remember it!!!"

The instant Eula declared her vengeance, everyone could clearly see that the hilichurl sitting cross-legged on the ground seemed to be moving again, as if it were about to stand up once more...

"Eula! Watch out!!!" Su Yuan shouted, "When you enter your Eerie State, there’s a short delay before it activates!"

"This hilichurl’s attack speed is insanely fast—be careful of a sudden strike!"

Although Qiqi was usually a bit slow to react, at this critical moment she moved quickly, immediately issuing her command—to protect Eula!

The next moment, the hilichurl once again turned into a blur, dashing straight toward Eula.

Qiqi successfully entered her Eerie State and tried to intercept it—

But the strange hilichurl was just too fast.

Qiqi was a fraction of a second too late, unable to block the attack...

With a spray of blood, Eula’s head was cleaved clean off in a single strike!!!

Seeing Eula—the very person she had sworn to protect—fall dead before her eyes, Qiqi’s normally blank expression twisted into fury.

She glared at the hilichurl, now calmly sitting cross-legged again, and shouted:

"You damned hilichurl! How dare you kill Miss Eula...!"

"Unforgivable... take this!!!"

As she spoke, Qiqi gripped her sword tightly, eerie energy swirling around the blade, and charged furiously at the hilichurl!

The hilichurl, sensing her hostility, began to move again.

It grasped the hilt of its blade, pulled it from the ground, and slowly stood up once more...

But after everything that had just happened, everyone understood very clearly—this path they had taken was no path of life at all.

It was, without a doubt, a path of death.

Su Yuan didn’t rush to trigger his death rewind ability.

Instead, curiosity flickered in his eyes—he wanted to see for himself whether this hilichurl possessed something even more extraordinary than just its overwhelming speed...