Jiang Xuan didn't have time to think, quickly rushed forward, grabbed Hu Tao and Ningguang with one arm each, and dodged the incoming fireball.
He then immediately erected a 3x3 Cobblestone wall.
"Ganyu, Zhongli, quickly, come here!"
Jiang Xuan shouted, continuing to stack the Cobblestone higher, ensuring their heads were also covered, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned to look at the ravaged land, which looked like the aftermath of a TNT explosion.
The power was probably second only to sleeping in a bed in the Nether.
Hu Tao and Ningguang seemed startled, but quickly recovered, shaking their heads hurriedly.
"Hu Tao and I dodged it, we were only hit by the blast and lost two health points."
Ningguang frowned slightly, glanced at her full saturation, and didn't mind the injury.
"What happened? Why the sudden explosion? Did you mine something?"
Zhongli's mood was heavy.
That explosion just now had given him a sense of crisis.
At least in this world where divine power was completely unusable and strength was heavily suppressed, Zhongli felt that the Jade Screen Shield would not have withstood that blow.
"We didn't mine anything, it was a Ghast."
Jiang Xuan shook his head.
"How did you provoke that thing? You were clearly far from it, weren't you?"
Hearing this, Hu Tao lowered her gaze, feeling a bit guilty:
"Sorry, I... I went with Ningguang to mine gold near the lava ocean just now, and I watched that guy for a while. It seemed to notice me..."
Ningguang gently shook her head.
"It's alright, it was my fault too. I shouldn't have gone to mine near the lava ocean without telling Jiang Xuan first."
Seeing both of them blaming themselves, Jiang Xuan didn't say anything, just said helplessly:
"It's fine, it's good that you're okay. Luckily you weren't too close to the lava ocean, otherwise there would've been a risk of falling in."
Jiang Xuan didn't criticize them.
After all, they had already been scared.
After this time, they would probably be more vigilant in the Nether. This place was really not like the Overworld; deadly threats were everywhere.
Moreover, they hadn't expected the Ghast's attack to cause an explosion.
That's why they didn't get away too far.
Seeing Hu Tao about to say something else, Jiang Xuan shook his head.
"Now is not the time for that. I know you have attacks against ghosts, but let's talk about that later."
"For now, let's deal with the Ghast using my method."
Hearing this, Hu Tao obediently nodded and said no more.
It seemed that she felt extremely guilty for accidentally getting Ningguang caught in the blast earlier.
"Jiang Xuan, that Ghast doesn't seem to be attacking us anymore..."
Ganyu listened carefully, then nodded:
"There's no more explosion sound."
Jiang Xuan shook his head.
"No, the Ghast is still attacking, but its fireballs can't penetrate the Cobblestone. So, this is why I told each of you to bring a stack of Cobblestone."
"It's also my fault for not explaining how to use it beforehand."
Zhongli was silent for a moment, then said softly:
"The Ghast is flying in the sky. How do we deal with it? Those explosions are too dangerous..."
"Ghasts are troublesome, but not particularly difficult to deal with. Besides, this guy drops Ghast Tears, which are essential for making Potions of Healing."
"Now is a good time for me to tell you how to kill it."
With that, Jiang Xuan took out his Bow and Arrow and had Ganyu dig a lookout hole in the Cobblestone wall.
Looking through it, the Ghast was indeed still firing fireballs, but they couldn't damage the Cobblestone wall at all.
Jiang Xuan raised his Bow and Arrow, saying softly:
"There are two ways to kill a Ghast. The safest way is to build a defensive structure using Cobblestone, and then slowly wear it down with a Bow and Arrow."
"This method is very reliable, but it's a bit slow."
Hearing Jiang Xuan say this, everyone felt relieved.
No matter what, as long as it could be killed, it was manageable.
"As for the second method, it's more difficult, but it can also be said that as long as you hit it, the Ghast will die instantly."
After a pause, Jiang Xuan said suggestively:
"There's a festival in Mondstadt called the Windblume Festival, you've probably heard of it?"
Everyone was momentarily stunned. Although they weren't sure why Jiang Xuan suddenly brought this up, they still nodded.
The Windblume Festival!
Back when Barbatos was choosing a residential area for the Mondstadters, he used the method of tossing windblumes.
Later, to commemorate this day, the Mondstadters held a grand celebration every year on this day.
The so-called windblume involved a chosen maiden tossing a windblume from a high place for people to contend for.
Later, it also evolved into a sport of hitting the windblume.
Some people in Liyue also played it.
However, they hadn't played it themselves.
Seeing everyone nod, Jiang Xuan equipped his Diamond Sword and walked out of the Cobblestone defensive structure.
"Jiang Xuan!"
Ningguang and the others were anxious, wanting to pull him back.
But Jiang Xuan smiled:
"The easiest way to kill a Ghast is to play badminton. Watch closely."
As expected, through the lookout hole, everyone saw the Ghast, eyes blazing red, look at Jiang Xuan.
It brewed a fireball in its mouth, shrieked, and hurled it at Jiang Xuan.
"High damage, but the fireball flies too slowly."
Jiang Xuan smiled, his gaze fixed on the fireball.
"I'm very good at badminton."
Jiang Xuan wasn't afraid of making mistakes.
He had Fire Protection Enchantment and Blast Protection Enchantment on his Iron Armor Set.
Taking a direct hit from a fireball would only cost him at most one and a half hearts.
Plus, he had several Golden Apples, and his saturation was full.
He couldn't say he could make countless mistakes.
But at least...
The Ghast really could only make one mistake.
The fireball slowly flew towards Jiang Xuan.
When it reached about a meter in front of Jiang Xuan, his eyes narrowed, and he swung his Diamond Sword fiercely.
"Take that!"
The newly arrived fireball was smacked away by Jiang Xuan's sword like a shuttlecock.
It flew perfectly straight, directly at the Ghast.
The Ghast was very slow in flight and had no time to dodge.
Hit by its own fireball, it let out a wail, lay horizontally in the air, and dissipated into white smoke.
Three Ghast Tears and four Gunpowder floated into Jiang Xuan's hand.
He flipped his Diamond Sword and sighed softly.
"Looting Enchantment, so useful..."
Then, Jiang Xuan turned to the others.
"Alright, it's safe to come out now. Did you see what I just did?"
Everyone was a bit bewildered; they still didn't quite understand why the Ghast's attack could be batted back like a shuttlecock.
And why it was an instant kill for the Ghast.
Jiang Xuan smacked his lips.
"Alright, I'll kill it again for you to watch."
With that, Jiang Xuan picked up his Diamond Sword and walked towards another Ghast not far away.
"Jiang Xuan, wait! We understand! You don't need to kill it again."
Ganyu quickly stopped Jiang Xuan, but he shook his head.
"Whether you understand or not, I have to deal with the Ghasts."
"These things are a bit dangerous. If we don't clear them out, they'll interfere with our mining. Besides, Ghast Tears are materials I need, so I'll have to hunt Ghasts sooner or later."
Seeing Jiang Xuan's confident look, Ganyu didn't try to dissuade him further.
She just took out her Bow and Arrow, ready to support Jiang Xuan at any moment.
Ganyu didn't even get a chance to act.
From the moment Jiang Xuan said he was going to deal with the remaining Ghasts, to him batting back fireballs like playing badminton and instantly killing another Ghast,
It took no more than ten seconds.
Ghast fireballs, in the real world, were surprisingly easy to counter.
There were three Ghasts on the lava ocean; besides these two, the last one was further away.
Jiang Xuan was too lazy to continue hunting Ghasts.
He put away his Diamond Sword and returned to the others, saying softly:
"Alright, let's continue mining. Ningguang, Hu Tao, if you've mined enough Nether Gold Ore, you can start mining some Netherrack."
"Or use a shovel to dig some Soul Sand; it's quite useful and essential for planting Nether Wart in the Overworld later."
The importance of Soul Sand was self-evident. As for why they needed to collect the widely available Netherrack...
To build blocks to find the Nether Fortress later!
Although there was no Nether Fortress visible on this lava ocean, the appearance of Soul Sand indicated that the Nether Fortress was clearly not far.
It might just be on the other side of the Netherrack mountain range.
After all, the spawning of Soul Sand had requirements.
It either spawned in a Soul Sand Valley, near a Nether Fortress, or near an Ancient City.
In any case, all of them were highly important to Jiang Xuan.
It was still early, so they could explore for a while longer before returning, making sure to mark their path along the way.
Everyone also noted Jiang Xuan's words and resumed their mineral collection.
...
Compared to the Nether, which was constantly in a state of thrilling combat,
The Overworld here was much more peaceful.
Cloud Retainer was stationed at Jiang Xuan's villa, discussing the renovation of the back mountain with the Architects from Liyue.
Hm...
They planned to use the back mountain as a base to directly start building Jueyun Karst, eventually connecting the various peaks to form a city.
As for the Grassland opposite, there were no concrete plans yet.
At the mining base, Xiao was leading ten Millelith and a hundred Miners to explore mine shaft number five.
The previous mine shafts had naturally been explored through the same process.
Of course, fifteen Millelith and one hundred fifty Miners remained stationed at the base.
Only after confirming that mine shaft number five was not dangerous, for example, by clearing out any potential Endermen and Mob Spawners,
Would they collectively descend into the mine to process the minerals.
At the base, these Miners were not idle.
From an initial base spanning several thousand square meters, they had now cleared the surrounding forest and planned out tens of thousands of square meters of land.
However, this place was not like Jiang Xuan's villa; many automated features had not been set up.
Farms, Pastures, and other facilities still required the Miners to operate them themselves.
But they seemed to enjoy it.
Planting only required scattering seeds, and farming only required feeding animals.
This was much simpler than doing these jobs in Liyue Harbor.
Xing Shi, the deputy captain of the Miners, had a Wolf by his side. Logically, combat-ready Wolves needed to be trained by the Millelith.
However, during a previous exploration of mine shaft number four, he discovered an Emerald. After reporting it, Ningguang approved his request to tame a Wolf.
This was now the most envied acquisition among the Miners.
After arriving in this world and witnessing countless resources,
At first, everyone was still somewhat shocked by things like gold.
But later...
One piece of gold ore, with Looting Enchantment, weighed over two tons.
They were so overwhelmed by the sheer quantity that they lost interest in gold.
Now, for them, receiving gold was not as practical as owning their own Wolf or getting an Enchanted Weapon.
Da Shi, the Millelith captain, received an Enchanted Stone Sword that Jiang Xuan had fished out, due to his numerous contributions.
It had Knockback Enchantment and Sharpness Enchantment effects.
Although wooden swords were very heavy in Teyvat, still...
That was a weapon with supernatural power!
Many people had personally seen Da Shi send a Mitachurl flying dozens of meters with a single swing of his stone sword.
That sword, it was said, was now revered by Da Shi as a family heirloom and he was reluctant to use it.
Xing Shi, sitting idly outside his house, felt a little envious.
He didn't really need a weapon; he was well protected anyway.
But...
He had children, and the Millelith always had good benefits, especially the Millelith stationed here now.
If he could get an Enchanted Sword, his children could also be transferred here and enjoy the benefits of a Millelith stationed in this world.
Even without other things, simply raising a Wolf on their own would be enough.
A single Wolf was not powerful in MC, but back in Teyvat,
As long as it didn't encounter creatures with strong elemental power, it could protect their lives.
Moreover, Wolves were very loyal; once fed, they would sacrifice their lives for their master.
As he pondered, Chang Yi, the deputy captain of the Millelith not far away, rushed over.
"Xing Shi! Xing Shi! Come help!"
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