"Alright then, seems like there's nothing wrong with this place," Xingqiu said, dusting himself off. "I finally understand why you're not allowed to go all out in Liyue Harbor. If you did, Keqing and the others would beat you to death."
"Not death, probably not. But they'd definitely make me pay to repair the whole harbor, and then lock me up for three to five years," Gu Sanqiu replied, grinning.
Chongyun stared at Gu Sanqiu, his face filled with disbelief. The words "existential crisis" might as well have been written across his expression.
"Minor Quake… does that mean there's also a Major Quake?" Chongyun asked. He could tell Gu Sanqiu hadn't gone all out, but the idea of a more powerful version of what he'd just seen made his head spin.
"Honestly, it feels like you're more dangerous than everyone currently locked up in the prison combined. The Qixing should probably keep you under constant surveillance," Xingqiu said, shaking his head.
"Sure, and you'll be the one bringing me meals every day. Forget your adventuring, you'll be stuck managing Feiyun Commerce Guild's affairs," Gu Sanqiu retorted with a laugh.
The group quickly assembled a raft. "How about we throw in a little mutual destruction for fun?" Gu Sanqiu teased. "I'd probably find a way to escape, but you? Managing your family's business? I'm not so sure."
"Let's not, thanks," Xingqiu said with a chuckle, gazing toward the large island ahead. "So, we're all clear now, right? No more weird sea creatures coming after us, I hope?"
"Don't jinx it," Chongyun replied, a bit uncertain. "But we should be in the clear. Still, this place gives me the creeps—way more than any remote wilderness."
"Doesn't matter if there's more or not. Our goal is the island ahead, so let's push through," Gu Sanqiu said casually, rowing the raft forward. "We're already here. Don't you want to see the raw, untouched nature of the Guyun Stone Forest?"
The three exchanged glances and then broke into amused smiles.
"Very true."
…
"Hey, Old Gu, who knew there'd be this many monsters in the Guyun Stone Forest?" Xingqiu asked.
"Not surprising that there are this many," Gu Sanqiu replied. "What's interesting is that thing they're circling."
The three of them crouched behind some bushes, peeking their heads out like teenagers spying on something they shouldn't be.
In front of them, several hilichurls and a blue-robed figure, shorter than the hilichurls and wearing a strange mask, were gathered around a campfire. The blue-robed figure was hopping around, waving what looked like a staff, over a piece of broken metal.
The hilichurls, seemingly entranced by some mysterious power, were also swaying and dancing around the fire in a bizarre ritual.
"What are they doing? That dance is making me uncomfortable," Chongyun muttered.
"Who knows? But it's definitely not a mating dance," Gu Sanqiu said, pointing to the piece of metal being heated in the fire. "If I had to guess, that might be what we're looking for."
"That easy?" Xingqiu asked in disbelief. "A fragment of a god… Do you know of any gods made of metal? I don't recall anything like that."
"'Fragment of a god' doesn't have to mean it's part of the god's body. That giant seashell we encountered could be called a fragment too, since it was corrupted by the god's power," Chongyun said quietly. "So, if that piece of metal is from something the god often used, its effects might be the same as a true god fragment."
"That's possible," Gu Sanqiu agreed. "But you'll probably need to suppress your pure yang body to interact with it. If it doesn't work, we'll go deeper."
After the two nodded, Gu Sanqiu leaped out of the bushes, sprinting toward the Abyss Mage and aiming a punch straight at it.
He had managed to take one of these things down without a shield before, and now he wanted to see if he could do it again.
"Yah!"
Unfortunately, the Abyss Mage noticed Gu Sanqiu's killing intent before he could land the blow. A spherical shield, similar in size to a bubble, materialized instantly.
Bam!
Gu Sanqiu's punch landed squarely on the shield, creating a dent but failing to break through. Worse still, the shield retaliated with a thin stream of water, like a hair-thin tendril, wrapping around his fist.
A sharp pain shot through his hand. Gu Sanqiu realized he couldn't force his way through this and would need elemental reactions to break the shield.
Of course, one day he might be strong enough to punch through both the shield and the mage in one go—but that wasn't today.
"Chongyun, take care of the Abyss Mage! Make sure it can't move!" Gu Sanqiu ordered.
"Understood!" Chongyun swung his claymore, and a chilling gust froze the Abyss Mage, locking it in place.
Meanwhile, Gu Sanqiu shook his hand free of the water tendrils and joined Xingqiu in attacking the remaining hilichurls, whose dazed minds left them slow to react.
After Xingqiu's elegant backflip slash took down the final hilichurl, he turned toward Gu Sanqiu.
"Help me out! This guy's staff is maintaining the shield's power!" Xingqiu shouted, frustrated by the continued resistance of the Abyss Mage's shield.
"Oh?" Gu Sanqiu raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting."
Without wasting any time, Gu Sanqiu threw a flurry of talismans toward the struggling Abyss Mage, who was still trying to summon water bubbles.
"Get out of the way!"
"What kind of rich-man battle strategy is this?!"
Xingqiu had already rolled out of range the moment he saw the talismans, having learned to anticipate the chaos that followed Gu Sanqiu's methods.
Boom!
An explosion erupted, sending fire and debris flying. Gu Sanqiu raised his hand to block the incoming flames and dirt, suddenly realizing something.
Back then… he'd only ever used elemental reactions to whittle down these shields bit by bit.
But now, he was a man with a stockpile of talismans. Why had he been worrying about these shields at all?
"Brilliant."
Oho! Gu Sanqiu clapped his hands, marveling at his own overlooked tactic.
No matter what element the shield was made of, he could just toss a variety of talismans and trigger the right reactions to break it. Convenient didn't even begin to cover it.
This wasn't some fantasy world where attacking with all elements would suddenly create the ultimate "elemental water." No, this was a world where you just blew things up until they broke!
Unless… unless some earth-element Abyss Mage suddenly appeared, pulling off next-level pro-gamer moves and layering shield after shield with crystallized reactions to block every hit.
If that happened, well, the only smart choice would be to run as fast as possible. You couldn't fight that kind of precision and dexterity—just like when kids instantly hide their phones when parents or teachers enter the room. Or when someone hides their nerves in front of a crush and acts all cool.
Extreme reflexes.
Yeah, if they ran into someone capable of pulling off something like that in a fight, the best course of action would be to flee. Surviving that would be enough of a victory!
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