Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue

Floating Island.

As before, everyone gathered around the monster farm.

But this time, things were different.

The last time, at least, Ningguang and the others had followed Ryen's instructions, learning how to construct the monster farm alongside him.

But this time…

All they could do was watch.

And even watching, they couldn't make sense of what was happening.

Most of them just stood there, staring at each other in confusion as they watched Ryen perform a series of operations that went completely over their heads.

This was particularly awkward for Cloud Retainer, who had boldly claimed earlier that she would assist Ryen in upgrading and perfecting the monster farm.

Now, she was so embarrassed she wanted to curl her toes into the ground.

She—an esteemed master of mechanisms—could not understand Ryen's techniques at all.

This was a serious blow to her pride!

Standing on a six-block-high pillar, Ryen glanced down and saw that Ganyu had already finished eliminating all the monsters.

Without hesitation, he pulled out his pickaxe and broke open the monster farm's drop channel.

Then, he retrieved some cobblestone and sealed off the passage six blocks above the ground, preventing monsters from falling further down.

Once everything was in place, Ryen knocked down the pillar supporting him and landed back on the ground.

As soon as he touched down, Keqing rushed up to him, eyes filled with curiosity.

"Ryen, are we starting on the trident killer now?" she asked eagerly.

Ryen chuckled and nodded. "We'll build the trident killer first, then move on to the next steps."

With that, he turned and walked toward the workbench.

If he remembered correctly, there were three ways to build a trident killer.

But only two methods stood out in his memory.

The first was the standard design: using an observer and pistons to push the trident around.

However, he suspected that in this world, the trident might be instantly sucked into the hopper below the moment it hit the ground.

Not to mention, he didn't have Nether Quartz yet, which meant he couldn't even craft an observer.

That left the second method…

A technique so absurd it almost felt like an exploit.

By throwing a trident onto a hanging sign, it would start vibrating indefinitely, ignoring both time and physics.

And the constant tremor of the trident would function just like a piston-powered setup, continuously dealing damage to monsters.

However, this new version of the trident killer had a drawback—after some time, the trident would eventually fall off the sign.

When that happened, it would be collected by the hopper below.

But honestly, that wasn't too much of an issue.

If anything, it served as a natural on/off switch.

When he wanted to farm monsters, he would simply toss the trident onto the sign and let it do its work.

When the trident eventually fell, that would signal the end of the farming session.

In a way, it was an automated system—with built-in control.

At first glance, this seemed like the perfect trident killer to complement the monster farm.

But…

This feature only existed in certain Minecraft versions.

Ryen wasn't sure whether this exploit would work in his world.

Deep in thought, he quickly crafted two hanging signs.

Then, he took out glass blocks.

He removed the slabs below, replaced them with stacked glass blocks, and positioned a hopper beneath them, leading into a chest.

He then attached the hanging signs to the glass.

Midway through, Ganyu asked why he was using fragile glass blocks.

Ryen explained that transparent glass made it easier to observe the entire setup and ensure everything was functioning smoothly.

It was a simple explanation, but Cloud Retainer and Keqing reacted as if they had just uncovered some world-shattering secret.

They immediately jotted down Ryen's words in their notebooks.

Ryen had a feeling that, in a few years, Keqing's notes could be compiled into an "Official Beginner's Guide to Minecraft."

With everything set up, Ryen retrieved the last two tridents.

His expression grew serious as he stared at the hanging signs.

For the first time, he hesitated.

If this didn't work, wasting materials was the least of his concerns.

It would mean that many of Minecraft's unique mechanics simply wouldn't function in this world.

After all, this hanging sign exploit had only ever existed in specific versions of the game.

Ryen wanted to use this opportunity to determine whether his world contained features from all versions of Minecraft…

Or if it was locked to just one.

Ganyu, standing beside him, didn't understand why he suddenly seemed so tense.

But she simply moved closer, her large eyes gazing at him steadily.

It was as if she was silently cheering him on.

Ryen felt a warmth in his heart.

Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind of all unnecessary worries.

He raised the trident, aimed at the hanging sign.

Then, gathering his strength, he hurled it forward.

The trident shot through the air, cutting the wind with a sharp, whistling sound.

BANG!

Before anyone could react, the trident embedded itself firmly into the hanging sign.

It trembled violently, quivering as if struck by a powerful force.

To the others, it seemed as though the impact had simply been too strong, causing the trident to shake.

But Ryen knew better.

He stared intently at the trembling trident.

Five seconds passed. Ten seconds. A full minute.

The trident continued to shake without stopping.

Defying all logic, it kept vibrating without losing any energy, as though no force in the world could halt its movement.

Finally, Ryen let out a breath and smiled.

"It worked!" he declared, grinning from ear to ear.

"It worked?"

Cloud Retainer, who had been watching closely the entire time, was dumbfounded. She examined the trembling trident, then turned back to Ryen.

She didn't understand. She had observed every step, memorized every action.

And yet…

How had such a seemingly simple process resulted in a fully functional monster farm upgrade?

"Wait!"

Seeing Ryen pick up the second trident, preparing to embed it into the second hanging sign, Cloud Retainer abruptly transformed into her human form and hurried over.

With the earnestness of a dedicated researcher, she demanded:

"I don't understand! Everything was constructed according to standard principles—so why did this modification work?"

"Is there something special about the trident? Or is there a precise requirement for the throwing force?"

"Could it be that the interaction between the hanging sign and the glass triggered some hidden rule?"

Cloud Retainer was practically pressing herself against Ryen, her eyes burning with curiosity.

Ryen, caught off guard by her intensity, hesitated for a moment before handing her the trident.

"Well… why don't you try it yourself?"

"Alright!"

Cloud Retainer nodded decisively and took the trident from Ryen's hand.

She weighed it carefully, confirming that this trident was no different from the one Xiao used.

That at least ruled out the possibility that Ryen had done something special to it.

She glanced up at the first trident, still vibrating nonstop after several minutes, and pursed her lips before asking in a soft voice:

"I'm supposed to throw it at that hanging sign, right?"

Ryen nodded.

Receiving his confirmation, Cloud Retainer wasted no time. Gathering her strength, she hurled the trident forward with all her might.

Just like Ryen had done before.

Cloud Retainer fixed her gaze on the trident, watching intently.

Two minutes passed. The trembling did not cease.

She fell into silence.

Her eyes shone with the light of discovery, filled with endless possibilities. As Liyue's foremost inventor, Cloud Retainer suddenly realized she had stumbled upon an entirely new and unexplored field of mechanical design.

As a master of mechanisms, she had always believed that everything operated according to precise principles and calculations.

But this?

This defied all logic.

It left her questioning everything.

However, unlike Cloud Retainer, Ningguang and the others were unfazed.

After observing the rhythmic tremors of the two tridents for a while, Ningguang finally asked patiently:

"Ryen, so this… is the Trident Killer?"

As she spoke, she carefully put away the notes she had just taken on its construction process.

Ryen smiled and nodded. "This is the simplest version of the Trident Killer. Honestly, I wasn't entirely sure if this property would even exist here…"

He paused for a moment before continuing, "But either way, the monster spawner upgrade is complete. Now, it's time to test the performance of this fully automated monster farm."

With that, he gestured for the others to step back a little. Then, pushing off with his foot, he jumped up and smashed open the blocked drop chute.

Almost instantly, at least four or five monsters plummeted down.

Among them, a familiar green, four-legged creature stood out.

A Creeper!

Seeing the Creeper start to flash and swell, Ganyu panicked.

If it exploded, Ryen, clad in iron armor, might be able to withstand it.

But the monster farm?

It would be ruined!

Ganyu couldn't allow Ryen's hard work to go to waste.

She instinctively reached for her bow, swiftly nocking an arrow and aiming at the Creeper.

She was just about to loose the shot—

When suddenly, the Creeper collapsed on its own.

Not just the Creeper. The zombies that had been flailing about like headless flies also crumpled to the ground in unison.

A puff of white smoke rose into the air.

A moment later, all the drops funneled into the hopper, feeding neatly into the chest.

And the experience orbs?

They flowed directly into Ryen.

At the base of the glass-walled monster farm, only the two tridents continued their relentless shuddering.

"Ganyu… did you shoot?"

Keqing turned to look at Ganyu, perplexed. But the expression on Ganyu's face was just as bewildered.

"Did… did I?"

She glanced at the neatly stacked bundle of arrows still sitting untouched in her inventory, her mind reeling.

Could it have been her Frostflake Arrow?

As Ganyu and the others were still caught up in speculation, Ryen chuckled and walked over.

"Stop guessing. It was the Trident Killer at work."

At these words, everyone fell silent.

A long, heavy silence.

Then, all at once, Cloud Retainer spun around and locked her gaze onto the still-vibrating tridents.

On the vast floating island, the only sound left was the steady rhythm of their breathing.

No one spoke.

No one dared to break the quiet.

Until—

Another monster tumbled down from above.

A zombie this time.

Before anyone could do anything, before they could even fully register its presence—

The vibrating tridents struck.

The zombie dropped dead.

Ryen watched as the experience orbs drifted toward him and merged into his body. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Looks like the Trident Killer is a complete success. Now, all that's left is to test how long it can run continuously."

That said, he had no intention of standing here all day just to see when the tridents would eventually fall off.

He had better things to do.

By the time he finished another major build, he could already have a functioning iron farm up and running.

The others, however, were still fixated on those ceaselessly trembling tridents.

They were confused.

They had assumed Ryen would at least use some Redstone.

Or maybe some sort of special tool or enchanted artifact they hadn't learned about yet.

But this?

A hanging sign?

A thrown trident?

That was it?

Even Cloud Retainer, who had personally hurled the second trident, was replaying the entire process in her mind, wondering if she had unknowingly infused a trace of adeptal energy into her throw.

"Is it really that unbelievable?"

Ryen chuckled, then shrugged casually before turning serious.

"This is what I want you all to learn. This is the second kind of power that's just as important as strength—something you must explore with curiosity and persistence."

"The bizarre, illogical properties hidden within this world and its resources."

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There was a mess up yesterday due to which a future chapter was posted here on webnovel. It now has been corrected.