Rewinding the clock a bit...
A little after Alicia had informed Zhen Liu of the existence of the [Hellfire Mountain Range], Zhen Liu immediately decided to make plans to go and explore the place in earnest.
If he could find a large enough deposit of this [Malevolent Gold] stuff, then he could use it to not only fix his key but maybe use whatever is left over to make some really nasty Kaijin or crazy dangerous cursed aether treasures.
He was already swinging around a hammer of the damned anyways, might as well use the thing to make some even more questionably vicious cursed items for his own use.
'That or make trojan horse gifts for my increasingly long enemy list,' Zhen Liu mused. 'Ah, and maybe bodies for those three divine fragments?'
When he informed his friends and family that he was going to visit this dangerous place, he half expected them to either outright stop him or refuse to join along.
