Green Pool was one of Liyue's classic sights. Though it did not have as many colors as the real-world Five-Color Pool, its overall style still made it a remarkably rare landscape.
Unfortunately, it had not been developed into a tourist attraction. Monsters could appear anywhere on the Teyvat continent, even in Liyue. Though a certain High-Jumping Adeptus tirelessly cleared the land day and night, monsters still appeared, leaving the tourism economy rather underdeveloped. Otherwise, with all the varied terrain across Liyue, wouldn't tourism bring in money hand over fist?
However, monsters that normally threatened travelers and tourists were now merely specimens for Li Yue to collect.
"This is a Water Slime. It looks like a ball of water, and its entire body is made of Hydro Elemental Power. Since it is an elemental creature, it has a certain immunity to attacks of its corresponding element."
Holding a small Water Slime, Li Yue imagined the sight of Keqing unleashing her ultimate and carving out a string of "Immune" messages. He seriously explained it to Aizen and Kasumigaoka, who were watching the live stream in the group.
"For ordinary people, small Slimes are not much of a threat. But large Slimes are different. Ordinary people who cannot fight could easily be injured or even killed."
Small Slimes could at most ram into you, but large Slimes were different. Every large Slime had its own special skill, and nearly all of them shared one extremely lethal attack method: justice from the heavens!
"Godfather, let me see if I can send this thing to you."
Li Yue held the Water Slime and tried to send it through a red packet, but failed.
"Alright, it's been classified as a living creature, so it can't be sent."
Hair Gel Man in the Sky: That's fine. If living creatures cannot be sent, you can just send me the corpse instead.
"Slimes won't work. Once a Slime dies, it turns back into pure Elemental Power and dissipates. At most, it leaves some Slime condensate behind. I'll catch some other monsters for you. Other monsters leave corpses."
Li Yue tossed away the Water Slime in his hand and began looking for other monsters. He remembered that there should be a field boss not far from Green Pool—the Blazing Arbor! Also known as the super Flame Whopper!
Of course, that thing was not the point. The point was that Flame Whoppers and Hilichurls could be found nearby, and those monsters left corpses.
Li Yue hurried along with Flash Step and quickly found the Blazing Arbor's location. At the entrance leading to its cave, two Whoppers were moving about, while a Hilichurl camp stood not far away.
"Talk about effortless."
He released his Reiatsu, directly suppressing the two Whoppers with it and leaving them unable to dart around. Then he used Flash Step to close in and slashed both Whoppers across the head. The strike split the two Flame Whoppers' heads down the middle, exposing their flower cores before they fell backward. Without stopping, Li Yue used Flash Step again and charged into the Hilichurl camp, cutting down the Hilichurls one after another. Since there were no Hilichurl Brutes, only ordinary Hilichurls, Li Yue easily killed them all with one slash each.
Once the Whoppers and Hilichurls had become corpses, they could be stuffed into red packets and sent out.
"Godfather, I sent everything over in red packets."
Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Ah, I've received them. Their condition is excellent. They are very fine specimens.
Fat Woman in Black Stockings: The way you two talk really gives off the vibe of evil scientists.
When he saw Kasumigaoka's message, Li Yue immediately broke into a sinister grin.
"Hehehe, you finally noticed? We are evil scientists!"
Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Judging from what Aizen plans to do in the future, he truly deserves that title. But what about you, Li Yue-kun? What are you going to do?
"If we're evil scientists, then of course we're going to destroy the world! We shall be destroyers of worlds!"
Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Li Yue-kun, I have no desire to destroy the world. I merely pursue higher realms and the unknown. If you are the same, then please call us seekers of knowledge in pursuit of truth.
"Yes, yes, seekers of knowledge in pursuit of truth. Godfather really knows how to speak. As expected of Soul Society's foremost philosopher."
When it came to talking nonsense with style, Aizen was still the one to watch. His pretentious lines came one after another.
"Alright, we've seen the scenery and caught some monsters. Godfather, study them for now. I'll keep traveling and see whether I can reach Wangshu Inn before tonight."
Setting off from Green Pool again, Li Yue returned to the main road and arrived at the ruins of Guoli Plains. There, he introduced Kasumigaoka and Aizen to the Teyvat continent's super organization, the Treasure Hoarders. Then he set out along the main road once more, using Flash Step to travel every so often. Whenever his ankles ached after using Flash Step, he switched to leisurely walking. The scenery along the way was all excellent, making for a thoroughly enjoyable journey.
At around three thirty in the afternoon, Li Yue finally reached Wangshu Inn.
"This is Wangshu Inn, one of Liyue's landmark buildings—a massive treehouse inn built atop an ancient giant tree."
Fat Woman in Black Stockings: It already looked incredible from afar, but looking up at it from close range is even more breathtaking. How can this tree be so huge? And how can it support such a large building? How many years has it been growing?
Aizen had already gone off to focus on his research, leaving only Kasumigaoka in the Live Stream Room. For her, it was an excellent spectacle to pass the time during daytime classes.
"I don't know exactly how many years, but judging by its scale and size, it has probably existed for thousands of years. Otherwise, it could never have grown this large."
Li Yue looked up at the giant tree before him as he commented.
"Oh, and an Adepti lives on the top floor of this inn. Back when I was still an ordinary person, he even saved me."
That High-Jumping Adeptus—Li Yue did not know whether he was on the top floor right now.
"To the northeast from here is Stone Gate. Once we pass through Stone Gate, we'll enter Mondstadt. But it will probably already be night by the time we get there, and there is nowhere to sleep there. So we'll stay at the inn today and continue tomorrow. We'll try to set off early in the morning and head straight to Mondstadt."
"Alright, Senior, that's it for today's live stream. I'm going to check into the inn. See you tonight!"
Fat Woman in Black Stockings: See you tonight.
After ending the live stream, Li Yue took the inn's water elevator up to the higher floors and checked in with the proprietress, who called herself the boss.
After Li Yue entered his room and shut the door, he used Reiatsu to sense his surroundings and discovered that the High-Jumping Adeptus was not currently on the top floor, because he could not sense his Reiatsu.
After becoming a Bleach, Li Yue naturally gained the ability to sense Reiatsu. He had studied this back in Liyue Harbor. People with Visions had stronger souls than ordinary people, so they could see his Zanpakuto, and their Reiatsu was far stronger than that of ordinary people. As for the strength of their Reiatsu, there were differences. The strongest he had sensed so far reached Captain level, equivalent to Kensei Muguruma's level, the same as his own. Even the weakest were at the level of Seated Officers. As for Zhongli, a god, his Reiatsu was even stronger, already beyond Captain level. Li Yue did not know what level the Captain-Commander and Aizen were at, but Zhongli was definitely monster-class.
Since he could not sense any powerful Reiatsu here, that meant Xiao was not present.
"He's probably out clearing the land."
As he spoke, Li Yue drew his Zanpakuto.
"Since I'm resting, I'll take this chance to practice with my Zanpakuto."
Along the way, Li Yue had practiced Flash Step and swordsmanship. His Flash Step proficiency had risen rapidly through constant use, but his swordsmanship was still dreadful—nothing but brute force. Kido was highly destructive, and since he needed to preserve monster corpses for Aizen, he had not used it. As for his Zanpakuto, he had not released it even once.
Taking advantage of this rest, Li Yue planned to try practicing the release of his Zanpakuto—namely, cutting open a Portal.
He was going to rest soon anyway, and Wangshu Inn was safe. He did not need to worry that expending Reiatsu would affect his later combat strength. After one night of rest, it would recover. He could use this opportunity to see where the Portal he cut open would lead.
"Sever the world, Enma's Blade!"
Blue light lit up along Enma's Blade. Li Yue gripped the hilt in his right hand and slashed a cross through the air before him. The blue cross tore open the air, and Li Yue felt his Reiatsu rapidly draining away. It stopped only after a third of his Reiatsu had been consumed.
The blue cross slowly spread open, transforming into a stable Portal. The scene on the other side became clearly visible as well.
The moment he saw it, Li Yue's face lit up with delight. He had hit the jackpot!
Nahida, Come Be My Daughter!
Inside the Sanctimonious Palace of Sumeru City, Nahida had been imprisoned alone within a jade-green sealing sphere for five hundred years. Today was no different from usual. Unable to move freely, she used the Akasha Terminal to control Katheryne, the Adventurers' Guild puppet, and secretly observe the daily lives of Sumeru City's residents, looking for children who might need help.
However, a fluctuation of energy forced her out of Katheryne's body.
When Nahida opened her eyes, she saw a cross-shaped rift suddenly open in the air outside the sealing sphere.
"What is that?"
Never having seen anything like this before, Nahida tilted her large head in curiosity.
The cross-shaped rift continued expanding until it became a stable spatial gate wide enough for two people to walk through side by side. Then a young man wearing a floral shirt, baggy shorts, and flip-flops jumped through from the other side.
"Whoa! This place is huge!"
The one who had jumped through was naturally Li Yue. While attempting to randomly cut open a Portal, he had directly carved out a passage to the Sanctimonious Palace. And inside the Sanctimonious Palace was the little Dendro Archon, Nahida. This was a super jackpot!
"Hello there, little one."
Li Yue raised his head and greeted Nahida, who floated within the sealing sphere.
Though confused, Nahida politely returned his greeting.
"Hello, sir."
"Little one, is this your home? Your home is really huge."
Li Yue looked around as though he were genuinely curious.
"Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Li Yue, and I'm from Liyue. I was conducting a spatial teleportation experiment and accidentally ended up here. By the way, little one, where is this? Are we still in Teyvat?"
Nahida thought for a moment.
"Mr. Li Yue, this is the Sanctimonious Palace in Sumeru City. We are still in Teyvat. Strictly speaking, this is indeed my home."
Li Yue nodded, then put on a deeply sincere expression.
"Little one, where are your father and mother? I barged into your home while conducting an experiment, so I should apologize to them."
"Um..."
After thinking for a moment, Nahida began to explain.
"I am actually the little Dendro—"
"I understand!"
But Li Yue gave Nahida no chance to explain.
"Nahida, you're an orphan, aren't you?"
?
Nahida was instantly struck silent.
"Your parents must no longer be in this world, right? I know you want to show that you're strong. Children your age want to prove themselves the most, but it's alright. No one understands orphans better than I do!"
Li Yue struck his signature OK sign while pointing at the sky.
"And judging by how you are now, you've been locked up by someone, right? After all, no orphan would lock herself inside a sphere that obviously looks so high-end for no reason."
Nahida, who had been rendered speechless by Li Yue's bizarre train of thought, suddenly grew sorrowful. Yes, she had been locked up here because she was not a qualified god.
"Tch, I hate seeing things like this the most. A perfectly adorable child, not only an orphan but also locked up by an evil organization. I can't tolerate this!"
Li Yue spoke with righteous indignation, and Nahida perked up slightly.
"Mr. Li Yue, it's alright, I—"
"I've decided. Nahida, come be my daughter!"
"Huh?"
Nahida was stunned. Young man, did he even hear what he was saying?
Yet Li Yue did not explain at all. He directly swung his blade at Nahida's seal.
Seeing Li Yue's actions, Nahida hurriedly tried to stop him.
"This is the Grand—"
"The Grand what?"
Before she could finish, the seal had already been cut open. Li Yue appeared inside the sealing sphere, wrapped one arm around Nahida, and hoisted her over his shoulder.
"I've never been to Sumeru, so I don't know what the situation here is. But you're an orphan who has been locked up like this, so there must be an evil organization here. I'm unfamiliar with this place and don't understand them, so naturally I don't know how to deal with them. I'll take you and run first. Don't worry, as long as I'm here, they won't be able to catch you!"
"I don't think that's necessary..."
Nahida still tried to salvage the situation.
"Don't worry, I'm very strong!"
Li Yue held Enma's Blade in a reverse grip and struck a bodybuilding pose.
"On the Teyvat continent, the Seven Archons are the strongest level. No matter how powerful this evil organization is, it cannot possibly reach the level of the Seven Archons. I may not be at the level of the Seven Archons yet, but one day I will be. When that day comes, as my daughter, you'll be able to carry my name and run freely across the Teyvat continent!"
The moment he finished speaking, alarms suddenly rang throughout the Sanctimonious Palace.
"Not good. Looks like we triggered an alarm."
Li Yue looked around with Nahida over his shoulder.
"Before anyone comes, let's go. We can't leave any traces for the enemy!"
Before Nahida could save herself, Li Yue had already carried her into the Portal with a Flash Step. After passing through it, he immediately closed it.
By the time the Akademiya personnel rushed into the Sanctimonious Palace, the Portal had just completely vanished, and they saw nothing.
Not long after, the Grand Sage Azar hurried into the Sanctimonious Palace. Seeing the empty hall, he immediately flew into a blood rage.
"What happened? Where is she?!"
"Grand Sage, it was already like this when we arrived. There was nothing here."
The guard reported with a stiff upper lip.
"Then what are you still standing around for? Go find her! No matter how many people you have to mobilize, you must find her!!"
Under the Grand Sage's orders, all the guards in Sumeru City who could be deployed, apart from those needed at essential posts, were sent out to search the city from top to bottom for Nahida.
Meanwhile, the Nahida they were searching for had already arrived in distant Liyue with Li Yue.
At Wangshu Inn, Nahida stared at the unfamiliar surroundings. After being stunned for a moment, she realized that she had arrived somewhere entirely new. She could not sense or connect to the Akasha Terminal here. Combined with the interior design and Li Yue's earlier introduction, she knew she had come to Liyue.
"The nation of the God of Geo?"
"Oh, you're pretty smart. No wonder you were captured. The smarter a child is, the easier it is for an evil organization to target her."
Before you continue