Ignoring Paimon's accusations, Venti continued to cling to Guchen's leg:
"I knew it! Not only are you from another world, but you also know many of Teyvat's secrets. You even know Andrius's name and understand the Abyss!"
A giant vein throbbed on Guchen's forehead as he fought the urge to kick Venti away.
"I only know a little bit about the Abyss, not its inner workings."
"That's fine!"
Venti hugged his leg even tighter.
"Details don't matter! I just need to know you're the nemesis of the Abyss!"
Veins throbbed all over Guchen's head, accompanied by heavy black lines of exasperation:
"What nemesis of the Abyss? Stop slapping random titles on me. If the Abyss comes after me because of this title, I'll never forgive you!"
"That doesn't matter! Anyway... save my wolf first!"
"Let go of my leg first!"
"Save my wolf first!"
"Let go first!"
"Save it first!"
"Let go!"
Seeing that this endless bickering was going nowhere, Guchen lost his patience, threw a kick, and literally shook Venti off.
Venti flew backward and landed squarely on his bottom, sitting there with a pitiful expression, looking like he was about to burst into tears.
With his head still covered in dark lines, Guchen let out a helpless sigh:
"Venti, you... don't put on this shameless act. Where is your dignity as the Anemo Archon? Stop hugging my leg, I didn't say I wouldn't help. How about this—first tell me what's going on with Andrius. How did it also fall victim to the Abyss? Who did this? Was it the Abyss Order too?"
Venti shook his head pitifully:
"No. The Abyss Order bewitched Dvalin, but the Abyss Legion corrupted Andrius."
"Oh, the Abyss Legi— wait a minute!? The Abyss Legion!?"
Guchen finally caught onto something. In his own words, it was a change in the plot; in Paimon's words, it was a change in the established destiny.
Scratching his head, Guchen wasn't quite sure:
"Where on earth did an Abyss Legion pop out from? Who leads the Abyss Legion? What's their internal organizational structure?"
Venti struggled to his feet, dusting off his shorts as he explained:
"The internal structure of the Abyss Legion is pretty much the same as the Abyss Order's. But unlike the Abyss Order, the Abyss Legion is commanded by an Abyss Princess!"
Guchen couldn't help but freeze once again:
"An Abyss... Princess?"
Venti nodded.
"So the Abyss Prince commands the Abyss Order, then?"
Venti nodded again.
"Did both of them throw in their lot with the Abyss?"
Venti nodded still.
"Even though they joined the Abyss, they clearly had a falling out and the siblings split up?"
Venti nodded a final time.
Guchen was left speechless.
Good grief, both the prince and princess ran off to the side of the Abyss—no wonder he ended up replacing the Traveler! Come to think of it, if he hadn't come, Teyvat would be doomed for sure!
Calming his complicated emotions, Guchen looked straight into Venti's eyes and asked:
"How is Andrius doing right now? It's not going to lead the wolves of Wolvendom to attack Mondstadt and start a wolf disaster the way Dvalin caused a dragon calamity, is it?"
Venti gave a sheepish smile:
"Well... it was almost like what you said."
"What do you mean 'almost'? Give me a straight answer!"
"Uh... I mean, the moment I realized something was wrong with Andrius and Wolvendom, I immediately cast a layer of the Wind Barrier around the entire area to keep them from coming out."
Hearing this, the look Guchen gave Venti held a bit more satisfaction, and Paimon grudgingly offered a word of praise from the side:
"Fine, looks like you useless Anemo Archon are actually good for something after all."
Glancing at Paimon, Guchen couldn't help but remind her:
"Paimon, that's Wolvendom we're talking about. Wolvendom is huge. For this guy to say he just threw up a Wind Barrier around the whole place—do you have any idea how massive that barrier had to be? How much power would it take to maintain a Wind Barrier of that scale? Now think about what this guy just said earlier about his powers being heavily weakened, and see if anything clicks for you."
The little sleepyhead Paimon finally put two and two together. She stared at Venti in disbelief, leaning forward with indignation:
"So you've been lying to me all along! Humph! Talking about how your powers are weakened! Could someone with weakened powers maintain a Wind Barrier that huge?! I've figured you out, you rascal! You're the grand Anemo Archon, and there's not a single word of truth coming out of your mouth! You probably had the ability to save that Andrius person all along, but you just didn't want to put in the effort! You wanted other people to do the work while you sat back and reaped the rewards! You despicable Anemo Archon! Don't you dare ask Guchen to help you!"
Venti's face collapsed under this barrage of accusations, and the panic and pitiful look on his face right now were definitely not fake.
Seeing that Paimon was about to turn around and drag Guchen away with her, Venti was practically ready to drop to his knees, his voice laced with grief:
"I was wrong! I shouldn't have been evasive! But I really don't have the ability to save Andrius! I have the power to trap Andrius and the others inside Wolvendom, but there's nothing I can do against the Abyss, and I can't heal it! I couldn't just... straight up kill Andrius, could I?!"
This plaintive tone touched Paimon once again; the little creature was indeed a soft touch. With her back to Venti, she hesitated for a long time, stamped her foot in the air out of frustration, and spun back around:
"Ugh! So annoying!"
After venting her frustration, Paimon looked helplessly at Guchen:
"Guchen, this Anemo Archon looks a bit pathetic. Are we going to help him or not?"
Facing Venti's earnest gaze, Guchen raised an eyebrow:
"Fine, seeing as he's so pathetic, we'll help him out a little."
Venti was so happy he almost jumped:
"That's wonderful!"
Guchen held up a hand to stop him:
"Let's get one thing straight first—I'm only planning to help, I can't guarantee a hundred percent resolution!"
Who would have thought that Venti would shamelessly cozy up to him and throw an arm around Guchen's shoulder like they were best buddies:
"Don't worry, I believe in your abilities. You'll definitely fix it!"
Guchen's mouth twitched:
"Stop buttering me up."
Paimon, watching the grand Anemo Archon suddenly revert to this state, could hardly bear to look.
And just like that, the human and the god walked side by side with their arms draped over each other's shoulders, accompanied by a floating Paimon, heading out of the Whispering Woods.
As they walked, they continued to chat.
"Venti, where are we going next? Are we heading straight to Wolvendom to solve the problem?"
"No rush, no rush. Let's head back to Mondstadt first. The Knights of Favonius are also racking their brains over this matter, and resolving Andrius might require their cooperation. Just in time, I can introduce you to everyone in the Knights; they're all wonderful people. Oh, and make sure you keep my identity a secret when we get there—they don't know I'm the Anemo Archon."
"Um... Venti..."
"Does little Paimon have something on her mind?"
"No, I just wanted to ask, are we really just leaving such a huge dragon like Dvalin behind in the woods? Won't he scare other people?"
"Don't worry, Dvalin is just resting here for a bit. He'll fly off full of energy in no time."
"Uh... is it really okay to be so hands-off with your own dragon?"
"What's wrong with that...?"