The western area of the Liyue region is home to the adepti, illuminated beasts who have taken the role of protecting Liyue, living atop the numerous mountains past the Jueyun Karst.
And the further down the path we go, the more rugged the terrain becomes. Rocks started to jut out of the dirt path, high walls started to surround us from both sides, and the appearance of a mist that slightly obscure our vision are telltale signs of our closing distance towards the mountains.
Walking past a small pond using the bamboo bridge, the three of us entered a small valley not dissimilar to the one we pass through in Mondstadt. Only this time, there are a lot more ores present on both sides of the rocky road. Not to mention the occasional geo slimes occupying the area.
Which turns out to be a lot more troublesome to deal with than I thought. Being a concentrated form of geo, even the small ones have a hard carapace, rendering Lumine's sword stack and my wind blade ineffective.
Thankfully, the bottom part of their body is as squishy as their other elemental counterpart, so the moment I lifted them off the ground, they became easy pickings for the two of us.
Once the coast was clear, Paimon popped out of nowhere with the map in hand, ready to lead us towards our next destination.
In the meantime, I went back to making all kinds of shapes with anemo, though it's less of a training and more of a way to distract me from my growing boredom.
"How's your control coming along?"
"It's not much different than when I use anemo." To my left, Lumine was currently experimenting with her control over geo, with small shards of rocks floating on top of her palm, giving off a yellow hue. "I do find it easier to manipulate them with my legs though."
"Hmm… is it because it's always touching the ground?"
"Maybe. It'll take some time to figure out, but I can probably utilize them in combat just fine."
"That's good. Do keep in mind that controlling more than one element is not possible through normal means, so don't go around flaunting it every chance you get."
"I know." Closing her hand, the shards lost its color before falling to the ground. "Other than me, only the Fatui with their Delusion can do so. Don't worry, I remember."
"Good." Nodding my head in satisfaction, I ruffled her with my free hand, much to her visible delight. "That's one less thing for me to worry about."
"Aha, so you do worry about me."
"When do I not worry about you?"
"I wouldn't know." Grabbing my free hand, she brought it down towards her face as she leaned into it before letting out a sigh. "You never seem to show it. Having your face covered most of the time certainly didn't help."
"Fair. But yes, I do worry about you."
"Well, you shouldn't be. I'm plenty strong, so I can take care of myself."
"The fact that you don't realize why I'm worried about you makes me worry even more than I already am."
"Fufu, don't worry, I'm joking."
"Are you though?"
"That's for you to figure out."
"Come on, you two!" Ahead of us, Paimon floated in place, the map in her hand fluttering along the wind. "Stop flirting and keep up! We're almost at the first one!"
"Coming!"
With a chuckle, Lumine clasped my free hand and dragged me along with her, catching up to the impatient Paimon.
After the three of us walked through an incline, the two wall surrounding us suddenly opened into a large opening, with the path we were following cut off by a cliff, connected to the other side by a wooden rope bridge, with a small gazebo-like structure in the middle, built on top of a rock pillar.
To our left is a small house, with several tables and chairs that seems to serve as a resting place, though the sight of an adult throwing punches accompanied by an old man with a straw hat that occasionally gives him instructions casts that notion into doubt.
"What do you think they're doing, Lumine?" Paimon asked.
"Who knows?" Standing quite a distance from the duo, Lumine took some time to observe the man's moves. "One thing I'm sure about is that guy is going nowhere with what he's practicing."
"Really?"
"Yep. It's all style and no substance. Though from the looks of it, he doesn't seem to think that way. In fact, he looked pretty confident in himself."
Wiping the sweat from his face, the man addressed the old man respectfully before bowing his head and taking a break on one of the seats.
"Let's just ignore them. Come on, Yuu, Paimon."
Unfortunately, before we could quietly pass by the two, the old man seemed to have his interest piqued at the sight of us.
"Please wait a moment, fellow truth seeker!"
"So much for ignoring them huh, princess."
"Sigh. Let's just listen to what he has to say and move on."
As the old man slowly walked towards us, he lifted his straw hat and proceeded to take a good long look at me and Lumine before eventually nodding his head.
"It seems that my eyes have yet to fail me. As expected, no normal mortal could ever succeed in entering Jueyun Karst, save for those of superior strength and aptitude!"
"Actually–"
"Ah, no need to be so humble, fellow truth seeker! It must be fate that guides you here, for you are undoubtedly destined to receive my guidance in the divine path of the Way."
"The what?"
As I glanced towards Lumine, I can see that even she was dumbfounded by the words coming out of this old man's mouth.
"The Way! The most peerless form of martial arts to ever exist. And why is it divine you ask? Why, it's because the guidance comes from none other than an adeptus such as myself!"
"Sounds like a load of gibberish to Paimon."
"Such irreverence!" With a tone unbefitting of his looks, the old man raised his head arrogantly as he looked down on us. Well, as much as his short stature allowed him to. "How dare you insult the Archaic Lord of Lightning and Blitz!"
As he walks slowly towards the table, he puts his hand on its edge, trying to stabilize himself if the shaking in his legs are any indication. Whether it's from the anger he exhibited, or fatigue of his old age, who knows really.
"Hmph, mortals are so lacking in respect these days. You should be more like Ling over there!"
Hearing his name being called, the man called Ling immediately stood up before bowing in respect towards the self-proclaimed adeptus.
"Since you don't believe my words, why don't you see it for yourself. Ling, give these lost souls a demonstration of my guidance."
Hearing the words of the old man, Ling was silent for a bit, staring in disbelief. Eventually though, his confusion was replaced by excitement.
"Yes, master!"
Taking a stance, Ling took a deep breath and slowly, his excitement disappeared before he focused his gaze forward.
"How do you think it's going to go?"
With the three of us gathered together, I whispered my words towards Lumine, careful not to provoke the irritable-looking old man. Wouldn't want to accidentally anger him to death.
"Probably won't be much different than before."
"Well, who knows, Lumine," to my right, Paimon, despite her skepticism, seems to be looking forward to what Ling's going to do, "maybe he'll do something different this time."
"I highly doubt that."
With that, the three of us waited for Ling to start.
"Behold! I call this, Dance of the Frenzied Turtle!"
For a move with such a grandiose name, I was honestly expecting the guy to start doing some outrageous moves befitting of its name. What I got instead, was a man still in the same stance, still focusing forward onto nothingness.
After shouting his move energetically, instead of doing something, he does absolutely nothing but staring, before suddenly relaxing his body and standing straight after several seconds passes.
"Great demonstration, Ling. As expected of my best disciple!"
"Thank you for the praise, master!"
Looking at the so-called adeptus praising his student, the three of us are dumbfounded, to say the least.
"Well, you're right about one thing, Paimon." Massaging her temples, Lumine tried her best not to show her frustration. "He did something different this time."
"Oh, he did something alright."
"Did he, white mask? Paimon didn't see anything though."
"He wasted our time, that's what."
Seemingly finished with their discussion, the old man turned towards us, with a proud look on his face.
"So, what do you think? Amazing right?" Before we could even answer, he continued, not even giving us the chance to talk. "'Of all the martial faculties in the world, speed reigns supreme.' And, in accordance with that tenet, Ling has displayed his marvelous proficiency of the Way."
"He didn't even do anything."
"Bah! That's because your mind cannot keep up with your eyes! Ling is simply too fast for you to perceive!"
"Yeah, I think we've heard enough, old man. Let's go, guys."
Having had enough of his farce, I grabbed both Lumine and Paimon's hands and started walking away, ignoring the pleading of the old man behind us.
"Are you sure you're not willing to reconsider, truth seeker?! It's only seven thousand Mora per month!"
"That's seven thousand Mora too many!"
___________________________________
Blocking one of the treasure hoarders' shovels, I noticed a surge of cold wind suddenly blowing in my direction. Looking up, I noticed a vial of freezing cryo potion coming my way. Seeing an opportunity to conduct a live test, I stopped it in mid air using anemo and redirected it back towards the potioneer.
I would've used my own potion, but it's hard for me to find an opportunity to do so when we're surrounded by treasure hoarders from all sides.
"Do you think I should do what that old man is doing, princess?"
"What, scamming people out of their hard-earned Mora?"
Leaning her head back to avoid an incoming jab, Lumine kicked the treasure hoarder in front of her in the stomach, causing him to curl his body in pain, before an elbow swung at the back of his head hard, rendering him unconscious.
"I was thinking of something a lot less malicious, but when you put it that way…."
"No, you will not." With a harsh step towards the ground, spikes of rocks suddenly appeared out of the ground, stopping the treasure hoarders behind her from moving closer. "Not to the general populace, at least. Try some corrupt nobles or something. On top of getting their riches, you wouldn't lose sleep over their misery either."
"Wow, you must've held some grudge over their kind of people, huh?"
"Their arrogance brought no end of troubles in my previous travels, so yes, I'd say so."
"Like what, some rich young master started courting you out of nowhere, and immediately got offended when you said no and proceeded to play the 'I'm from this influential family' card?"
"Exactly."
Taking advantage of the stunned treasure hoarders, Lumine immediately dashed towards them, swinging the front of the sword towards one of them, hitting straight in his head, before backhanding the other in the jaw and immediately following up with a knee towards the stomach.
"And then they get offended, attack us, get beaten up, come back with his elder, attack us again, get beaten up again, come back with another elder– you get the idea."
"Sounds like a nightmare."
"You have no idea. How did you know about that anyway?"
"I read that in a book once. Never thought it's actually true."
After knocking out the other two treasure hoarders, I look towards the now shivering potioneer.
The effects are, as expected, a lot more potent. A single vial and he's already on the edge of passing out by the looks of it, and, similar to the previous test, the ground surrounding him shows signs of being frozen over. And that's disregarding the potential effect when combined with reactions.
"Well, they do say reality is stranger than fiction."
"Don't I know that."
Once they're all unconscious, Paimon comes out of her hidey-hole and helps us search through them for anything valuable. Of course, any potions that they still have goes straight to me.
"So, Captain Paimon, any idea where the treasure is buried?"
"Hmm, well the text next to this cross says it's somewhere behind this gazebo."
"Hear that, Yuu?" Turning towards Lumine, I hurriedly catch the incoming shovel, nearly dropping it in the process. "Let's start digging."
"Please don't throw a shovel at other people, princess."
"I have faith that you'll catch it." Walking towards the patch of grass behind the gazebo, she vaulted over the large tree trunk blocking her way. "Besides, even if you don't, I'm sure you'll walk away just fine."
"It still hurts if it hits though."
"And I'll be there to soothe the pain if you ask nicely."
Shaking my head at her remark, I make my way to her, carefully avoiding the dirt she's throwing before finding a different area to dig through.
Thankfully, we managed to find it on our third try.
Thunk!
"I found it!"
The sound of a shovel hitting something hard on top of Lumine's shout caught our attention.
As I ducked under the tree blocking my way, I saw Lumine dragging a wooden chest out of the ground, while Paimon was bouncing mid air, excited beyond belief.
"Go on, Paimon, you can have the honor."
"Oh! Thanks, Lumine!"
Once Lumine destroyed the lock with her sword, Paimon immediately flew down and grabbed the chest by its locking mechanism and opened, albeit with a bit of struggle on her part.
Thankfully, despite the shoddy exterior, the content of the chest more than makes up for all the traveling.
"Look, Lumine! There's a lot of stuff here."
Inside the wooden chest are several bags of Mora, several chunks of what looks like weapon upgrading crystals, as well as several unused daggers that looks to be in a surprisingly good condition.
"Our first proper haul and it's already looking good." Taking the purple crystal out, she tapped her finger against it whilst taking a closer look. "And we've got a bunch of presents for the Milleliths too."
"Hopefully there are some Millelith in this area. I don't want to keep lugging them around forever."
"There's bound to be one at the top, right?"
"Not sure, after all, we're quite close to the adepti's territory, and the Millelith might not want to intrude upon them too much."
"Why?"
"That's because it's dangerous for normal people to do so!"
Paimon, having been satisfied after looking over our loot, jumped at the chance to continue my explanation.
"Oh, do you know about it, Paimon?"
"Of course!" As she flies closer towards Lumine, Paimon cleared her throat. "The Adepti of Liyue continuously release adeptal energy from their body, which, with prolonged exposure, could overwhelm the human's soul!"
"I see." Nodding her head, Lumine suddenly grabbed Paimon and hugged her close. "You're such a knowledgeable guide aren't you, Paimon?"
"Ehehehe~ of course!"
While Lumine is busy doting Paimon like she's her child, I lifted the chest and brought them back away from the pile of dirt back towards the gazebo.
'I wonder just how much Paimon knows in that small head of hers.'
"Come on, you two." After dropping the chest in front of Lumine, I then gathered the rest of the treasure hoarders scattered around us. "Let's get going. I'd rather not continue listening to those rumbling waters any longer than I need to."
"Sure. Come on, Paimon, you can continue leading the way."
After storing the loot in her inventory, the three of us continued our journey upwards, passing by the intricate wooden arch with a giant bell hanging on top of it.
Currently, the three of us are about halfway up this mountain, following the dirt road and the occasional bamboo bridges. The view from back down was amazing, but up here, it's hard to appreciate it with how loud the waterfalls are.
That might just be me though, Lumine and Paimon seem to be having a blast. Occasionally, they would stop at some other arch along the way, or just in front of the giant waterfall and take a picture of the three of us.
Of course, I made sure that the treasure hoarders were out of frame.
'Not worth messing around if I'm going to be held back for that perfect picture every single time. I had enough of that back home.'
During the entirety of our walk, thankfully, there's nothing troublesome suddenly popping up to ruin our day. Other than some stone slate explaining the significance of Jueyun Karst and a poetry someone left on a wooden sign, there's nothing significant worth noting.
Other than the stunning view, that is.
"Sigh. It's been a while since I've gone and walked around a mountainous area like this."
"Is that so? How does it feel now compared to before?"
"Not on the brink of collapse from all the climbing, for one."
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever had any sort of fatigue from too much physical activity. Though he mentioned that I'm as close to a human as I possibly am right now, it doesn't change the fact that, physically, I am still a puppet.
'Now how does that work?'
It all seems strange if I think about it, but there's not much point in pondering such a thing, is there?
'Just enjoy your life, he said. I wonder how long that can last. What is he playing at?'
"I told you, I ain't performing anything!"
"Calm down, Ms. Xinyan, we're just making sure–"
"I get that my performance was too much for y'all, but sheesh, would it kill you to just not be so trigger happy?"
'Xinyan? What's she doing here of all places?'
Walking past the toad statues and dense trees, we were greeted by an open area with a circular pathway surrounded by a stone lantern and what looks to be several talismans tied to a rope in the back.
In front of said pathway are two visibly flustered Millelith arguing, or perhaps, being berated, by a dark skinned girl wearing primarily red clothing with her back to us.
"I'm just looking for inspiration! It's not like I'm just gonna set a stage right here. Who would even be my audience, you?"
"Based on your track record–"
"Look here, you two." Dropping the axe-like guitar from her shoulder, she stabbed it towards the ground before placing one of her legs on one of the axe's blades. "This here is a place for the adepti, I know that much. I'm just taking a walk, enjoying the scenery, while trying to come up with a new tune. Is that too much to ask?"
"No it's not, miss, but I assure you, we're just making sure you won't set this sacred ground on fire!"
"Come on, are you even listening to me?!"
As their argument became increasingly heated, I debated whether to intervene, or simply wait things out.
In the end, I didn't have to choose.
"Excuse me, are we interrupting something?"
Not expecting Lumine's call, the two Milleliths suddenly brandished their weapon as they entered a combat stance, while Xinyan jumped slightly, but otherwise looked unperturbed.
"Oh sorry, didn't mean to startle you."
After realizing we're not a criminal or something, the Milleliths lowered their spear before bowing their heads.
"Apologies, travelers, for reacting in such a way."
"That's fine, you're just doing your job." Once things calmed down, the three of us calmly approached the two guards. "Speaking of which, we'd like to turn in some people that attacked us along the way."
Noticing my cue, I brought the treasure hoarders forward and dropped it in front of the guards, startling them once again.
"Treasure hoarders, huh?"
"Yep. We were ambushed on one of the gazebo's near the arch with the bell. We brought them up here in hopes of finding Millelith to hopefully resolve this issue."
"I see. Thank you, travelers, for your hard work." Nodding towards his partner, the two of them moved towards the unconscious group of criminals before tying them with a rope they brought with them. "We'll make sure that they're dealt with accordingly."
"Of course."
Once they finished tying the criminals, the Milleliths brought them towards a small outpost to the side, though not before turning towards the silent rock enthusiast once more.
"Ms. Xinyan, I'd like to once again remind you that this is a sacred ground. Please do not perform here, and more importantly, please do not use your vision so carelessly."
"I know already." She said, as she huffs in annoyance.
Letting out a sigh, the guard nodded towards us before walking away.
Once they're out of sight, Xinyan gives a glance towards the direction the Milleliths walk off to, before suddenly turning her attention to us with a toothy grin.
"Thanks for that, travelers! I know they're just doing their job, but I'm just so tired of having to deal with all their nagging."
Sheathing her axe-guitar, Xinyan approached us, the buns of her brown hair tied by spiked bands bounced along with her, as did the braided hair-like cloth tied to her black-red short sleeves.
"No problem. Though I'm curious, they said something about setting stuff on fire? What was that about?"
"Oh, that? It's nothing big. I always use my vision during my performances." She said, as she showed Lumine the crimson orb inlaid in a diamond frame and an octagonal border. "Accidentally set stuff on fire sometimes, but nothing too dangerous. I made sure of that."
"I see. Ah, I almost forgot." Giving the rock enthusiast a smile, Lumine offered her hand to her. "My name's Lumine, by the way. That one over there is Yuu, and this one is–"
"Paimon's name is Paimon!"
"Ahaha, is that so?"
Laughing at Paimon's antics, Xinyan took Lumine's hand and started enthusiastically shaking it in response.
"Xinyan's the name, and rock 'n' roll's the game. Nice to meet the three of you."