Hu Tao pressed a purification talisman onto the cover of the journal, and Cartis once again sank into sleep within its pages.
Staring at the now-silent notebook, Jiang Bai spoke with quiet reflection.
“This… is probably the true meaning of what we do at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.”
“To accept one’s due and fulfill one’s duty,” Hu Tao replied evenly.
If we take someone’s coin, the matter must be handled right.
That had always been her principle.
“Go on, you’ve still got work to do. I’ll take a look through the journal.”
She waved a hand, motioning for Jiang Bai to leave.
Fulfilling Cartis’s commission meant turning his journal into a published book — she’d have to read it carefully to figure out how best to do that.
Jiang Bai returned to the Skyfrost Nail to continue placing the remaining charges.
After a full morning of labor, the Skyfrost Nail was now covered top to bottom in explosives.
Jiang Bai rubbed his numb face, stiff from the cold, and returned to the campfire with Albedo and Klee to warm up.
Hu Tao was already making lunch.
A pot of fish soup simmered over the flame, its milky-white broth bubbling gently with clouds of fragrant steam.
She ladled it into bowls. “Come on, have a hot bowl to warm yourselves up.”
Jiang Bai eyed the soup warily.
He had a pretty accurate sense of Hu Tao’s cooking — the results were usually in the hands of fate.
But today’s soup looked pretty normal.
He took a tentative sip. The taste was passable, though the salt had definitely been overdone.
Hu Tao noticed it too and quickly added a ladle of water. After that, the flavor was just right — salty, but not overpowering.
“I roasted a few sweet potatoes and reheated some meat pies,” she added, laying the food out one by one.
Out here in the wilds, things like meat pies — easy to store and filling — were the go-to.
The hot soup took the chill off their bodies.
After lunch, Hu Tao and Klee rested by the campfire while Albedo returned to the Skyfrost Nail for a final check — mentally simulating the blast, double-checking everything for potential weak spots.
He’d already calculated the structural flaws in the ice spires and the Nail itself, and every charge had been placed exactly where his schematics indicated.
Even so, with time left before detonation, he wanted to be absolutely sure.
At last, the hour neared 3 PM.
The group stood at a distance from the Skyfrost Nail. Just in case the blast radius was larger than expected, Jiang Bai cast shields on everyone for protection.
Hu Tao held a longbow in hand, a flame-infused arrow nocked on the string. The bow was drawn to its full arc — all that remained was to let go.
Klee clenched her tiny fists and stared ahead at the Skyfrost Nail, her eyes wide with a mixture of nerves and excitement.
Behind them, Cartis silently materialized, not wanting to spook the child.
But judging by his tightly clenched fists and the way he unconsciously held his breath, his emotions mirrored theirs.
Tension. Anticipation.
Jiang Bai didn’t dare blink, afraid of missing even a second.
Only Albedo remained calm as ever.
The world seemed to fall utterly silent — even the wind and snow held their breath.
“Fire,” Albedo ordered softly.
Hu Tao released the string.
Fwoosh—
The blazing arrow tore through the air, streaking forward like a shooting star and striking the Skyfrost Nail dead-on.
A pulse of fire exploded outward—
—followed by an earth-shaking boom.
The ground trembled beneath them. Ice howled in protest.
The deafening explosions rang in their ears, reducing everything to a high-pitched hum.
Black smoke billowed skyward, completely obscuring the Skyfrost Nail.
—
Mid-mountain.
Kaeya stood on a rocky outcrop, watching the summit from afar.
The blast echoed from above, shaking the ground. Whole sheets of snow broke loose, cascading downward in a roaring avalanche.
The sky was calm, but the mountain churned with chaos. Smoke gushed from the peak, and frightened animals fled in every direction.
Kaeya didn’t blink, his gaze fixed on the summit, his expression carrying a glimmer of hope he himself didn’t recognize.
Could they really destroy that sky-born Nail…?
—
Dawn Winery.
Diluc heard the detonation all the way from Dragonspine.
He walked from his study to the balcony, frowning as he looked toward the snowy peak in the distance.
Even from here, he could see smoke pouring from the summit where no one ever set foot.
“I’m going to the mountain,” he told the butler before grabbing a cloak from the coat rack and heading out the door.
—
Mondstadt.
The explosion had reached the city.
Jean looked up from her mountain of paperwork and walked to the window, gazing toward Dragonspine in confusion.
She couldn’t see the smoke — it was too far — but the sound of the successive blasts still reached her, rumbling from afar.
“…That direction would be Springvale and Dragonspine.”
“Is Lady Alice back? But she didn’t say anything about returning…”
“Or… Klee? But after that last incident when she blew up Windrise, I gave her a strict talking-to. There’s no way she’d cause another scene like this…”
Jean sank into deep thought.
—
Somewhere in a tavern, a certain drunken bard.
The sound of the blast roused him even through the haze of alcohol.
One moment, he was swaying in a daze; the next, his eyes were clear and sharp.
He raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.
After listening closely for a while, he chuckled softly and took another long drink.
Within minutes, he was completely drunk again.
—
Wangshu Inn, Liyue.
Zhongli stood at the topmost floor of the inn, hands folded behind his back, gazing into the distance at Dragonspine.
Beside him stood Xiao, also watching the mountain.
From this distance, they could clearly see both the plume of smoke and hear the thunderous explosions.
Xiao frowned.
Whether in Liyue or Mondstadt, it had been a long time since he’d seen such a disturbance.
“Rex Lapis, something’s happened on the mountain. Should I go check it out?”
Zhongli shook his head slowly, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“Just a small experiment from a few young ones. You needn’t worry.”
Xiao blinked, puzzled by who exactly he meant by “young ones.”
“From the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?”
“Mhm,” Zhongli nodded.
“Jiang Bai is an outsider — unbound by our ways of thinking. He sees things from a different perspective. And Hu Tao… she’s bold, daring, and decisive.”
He continued to gaze toward the snowy peak. Though far away, it was as if he could see the events unfolding right before his eyes.
Xiao tilted his head, confused, but Zhongli went on:
“They’re attempting something… even I never thought to try. Whether it will succeed, I do not know.”
He could destroy the Skyfrost Nail — but he had never once considered doing so.
Because he understood its true nature.
Yet even he couldn’t say for certain whether human-made explosives would be enough to harm it.
If they were… the floating island in the sky may be in for quite a surprise.
Xiao’s curiosity was piqued.
“Then… may I go see for myself?”
“Go,” Zhongli replied with a nod.
—
This is a fan translation of 胡桃拿我冲业绩 by 余溯. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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