You're My "Elder" and "Guardian"?

In a private room on the second floor of the Golden Goblet Restaurant, soft light shone on the [Crown of Heavenly Principles], its seven colors flowing above Chu Yuan's right palm.

Four diamond-shaped, winglike lights pulsed gently on either side of the crown. With each tiny fluctuation, the laws of Douluo Soul Power in the surrounding air, once violent and hostile, meekly retreated and transformed into the purest Primordial Divine Power, lingering around the private room.

Mona stared at the illusory crown of light, brilliant seven-colored divine radiance reflected in her mint-green eyes.

Ever since she had fallen onto this unfamiliar continent last night, the plane's rejection had tormented her like a festering wound clinging to bone, constantly squeezing and wearing away at the Hydro Elemental Power within her. Yet the instant the crown appeared, it rapidly melted away like ice and snow beneath a blazing sun.

The Hydro Vision hanging at the small of her back now gave off wave after wave of warmth, conveying an overwhelmingly strong yearning and submission.

"Th-this is the primordial authority that stands above The Seven of the mortal world?!"

Mona's voice trembled slightly. As an astrologist who studied the truth of the stars, she understood the laws behind the "False Sky" and "Visions" better than ordinary people from Teyvat.

The presence emanating from the crown before her was unmistakably the source of all Elemental Power and the paths of the stars of fate in Teyvat!

"There are too many eyes and ears here. This isn't the place to reshape your Vision."

With a thought, Chu Yuan put away the [Crown of Heavenly Principles] in his palm.

"Let's go back to the suite at the Rose Hotel first. Once we're there, I'll completely strip away the suppression of this world's laws for you."

"Mm, the restaurant really isn't convenient. Even the walls have ears."

Keqing stood, walked to Mona's side, and said softly, "Miss Mona, come back with Chu Yuan and me first. When I first fell here last night, I was in far worse danger than you are now. I was only able to reshape my Vision thanks to Chu Yuan's Heavenly Principles authority, and my strength has even improved considerably compared to when I was in Liyue."

Hearing that even the lofty Yuheng of Liyue held Chu Yuan in such high regard, Mona felt her cheeks grow warm. She hurriedly adjusted the pointed witch's hat on her head and rose from her chair.

"O-okay! Since this concerns the continued existence of Hydromancy and my Vision, this astrologist will go with you!"

After settling the restaurant bill, Chu Yuan and Keqing left the Golden Goblet Restaurant with Mona between them.

The night breeze was cool, stirring the golden star ornaments at the ends of Mona's twin tails. Perhaps because she had eaten her fill, or perhaps because she was sheltered by Chu Yuan's reassuring primordial presence at her side, Mona's steps were much lighter on the way back than they had been on the way there. Still, whenever she happened to look down at the tears in her starry black stockings on the outside of her right thigh and above her left knee, she would tug her cape down a little in embarrassment.

Before long, the three returned to the Rose Hotel.

By now, the tables and chairs Keqing had smashed in the hotel lobby during the day had long since been cleared away. The moment the front desk manager saw Chu Yuan enter the lobby with two stunning young women, he nodded and bowed as he watched the three step onto the spiral staircase leading to the third floor.

After entering the top-floor Rose Suite, Chu Yuan shut the carved wooden door behind him and casually cast a pale golden Heavenly Principles barrier, completely isolating all sound and energy fluctuations within the suite.

Stepping into such a suggestive room for the first time, with its dark red velvet carpet and translucent scarlet curtains hanging everywhere, Mona abruptly froze in the doorway.

She blinked her large, clear mint-green eyes and swept her gaze back and forth over the heart-shaped bed strewn with rose petals. Her fair, delicate, oval face turned bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Wait... Chu Yuan, Miss Keqing, the place you said you were staying in... why is it such a strange-looking room?!"

Keqing walked over to the table and poured a glass of warm water. Hearing Mona make such a fuss, the tips of her ears involuntarily reddened too, but she maintained the Yuheng's composed, dignified bearing on the surface. She gave a soft cough and said:

"This is the hotel's only top-floor suite. It's spacious and quiet, making it the best place to set up an isolation ward. Miss Mona, there's no need to read too much into it. Just focus on preparing to reshape your Vision."

"I-is that so...?"

Only half convinced, Mona drew her head back a little, clutching the brass astrological water basin Chu Yuan had just returned to her tightly to her chest.

She walked onto the dark red velvet carpet in the center of the suite and looked at Chu Yuan, who had taken off his outer robe and was sitting calmly on the edge of the daybed. The thirst for knowledge ingrained in her as a scholar and that touch of pride belonging to a great astrologist suddenly resurfaced.

Back at the street corner, hunger and elemental backlash had kept her from clearly seeing Chu Yuan's star of fate.

Now she had eaten and drunk her fill, and with the protection of Chu Yuan's barrier of laws, thirty to forty percent of her Hydro Elemental Power was circulating again.

Before reshaping her Vision, she truly wanted to use the "Astrologist's" Hydromancy she was so proud of to glimpse for herself just what a magnificent, sweeping fate among the stars belonged to this young man who bore primordial authority!

"Um... Chu Yuan!"

Mona took a deep breath and crouched down to spread her astrological velvet cloth on the carpet in front of the daybed. She raised her pretty face and said to Chu Yuan earnestly:

"Today you not only helped me out of a predicament, you also treated me to such a lavish feast, and you're even going to help me solve the problem of my Vision being suppressed... Astrologist Mona Megistus never accepts favors for nothing! Before we begin, please allow me to use the most formal Hydromancy to divine the future course of your fate. Consider it payment in advance!"

Hearing this, Keqing, who stood nearby, looked at Chu Yuan with concern. "Chu Yuan, her Vision hasn't been reshaped yet. If she forces herself to divine your fate, won't she..."

"It's all right. Since our great astrologist means well, let her give it a try."

Chu Yuan leaned back on the daybed, an interested smile in his deep black eyes. He nodded slightly to Mona, who was kneeling on the carpet. "Go ahead, Mona."

With his permission, Mona straightened her slender back, full of fighting spirit.

She solemnly closed her eyes and formed intricate, arcane astrological hand seals above the brass basin. A deep blue light lit up her Hydro Vision at the small of her back.

"Reflect, phantom of fate! Starlight and rippling water, reveal to me the true fate of the person before me!"

With a splash, a stream of crystal-clear blue water, flecked with starlight, poured from her palms into the brass basin.

Ripples quickly spread across the water's surface. Countless delicate astrological runes rose and intertwined above it, attempting to trace his star chart of fate across the universes of both worlds.

For the first breath, the water remained fairly calm.

But the next moment, when the astrological formula in the basin truly touched the creation origin belonging to Phanes, the "Primordial One," deep within Chu Yuan's soul, and the supreme Heavenly Principles fate that was unifying the laws of Teyvat and Douluo, a sudden change occurred!

"Hummm!!"

It was as though ten thousand stars had exploded simultaneously in Mona's mind!

In the reflection in the basin, she saw no single Constellation. Instead, she saw a magnificent golden throne spanning the endless void, holding the entire starry sky of Teyvat and the stars of Douluo in its palm!

Before such supreme power, which surpassed "fate" itself and even created and governed its rules, her little brass basin could not withstand even a billionth of a projection of its laws!

"How is this possible... no Constellation... he himself is the ruler of the sky and the stars?!"

Mona's pupils contracted sharply. She cried out in shock and tried to cut off the flow of Hydro Elemental Power at once, but it was already too late!

"Bang-crash!!"

With a sharp explosion, the astrological water basin, covered in alchemical inscriptions, blasted apart into countless fragments under the backlash of the laws!

The starlit water filling the basin instantly became a shower of droplets, splashing straight down toward Mona as she knelt before it!

"Ahh!"

Mona cried out. Although Chu Yuan casually swept his sleeve and froze the flying brass fragments in midair the instant they scattered, the great spray of lukewarm astrological water drenched Mona from head to toe!

From the brim of her pointed witch's hat to her fair, delicate cheeks and slender, swanlike neck, and down to the deep purple and blue bodysuit already stretched tightly over her chest and waist, she was soaked through in an instant!

The sudden mishap, combined with the momentary depletion of her Hydro Elemental Power, completely threw Mona off balance as she knelt on the carpet. Crying out in panic, she toppled backward.

Just as she thought she was about to land awkwardly on the carpet, a large, warm, strong hand shot out like lightning, lifted her bodily into the air, and set her down on the daybed.

Or, more precisely, astride Chu Yuan's long, firm thighs, face-to-face with him!

"Mm...!"

Mona instinctively wrapped both arms around Chu Yuan's neck. Her pointed witch's hat slipped off onto the carpet as she fell, revealing her long, deep purple-black hair in twin tails, slightly damp and giving off a captivating fragrance.

The air in the room seemed to turn thick and scorching in that instant.