Bai Ye had never known where he had learned all these Adeptal Arts.
Even his teacher did not know.
She was an Archon; her power was something humans could never learn. Therefore, all she could teach him were the Adeptal Arts she had learned from who knew where.
Now, it seemed the source of those Adeptal Arts had become clear.
Bai Ye found it quite a coincidence. When he had been learning these Adeptal Arts, he had thought the Adepti who mastered them were long gone. Yet now he was being told that Adeptus was still alive and well—and even had two especially formidable disciples.
He thought back to when he and Yelan had been dealing with the labyrinth map. His teacher had once told him that she felt she had fought with the map's owner before.
Teacher, teacher... I hope the means you used to obtain these Adeptal Arts were proper ones.
At that moment, Ganyu walked over to Bai Ye's side, lightly patting his shoulder as she continued asking, "Where did you meet Master? It couldn't have been Mt. Aocang, could it? If it had been Mt. Aocang, Master should have told me."
Just where had Bai Ye been secretly taken in as Master's disciple?
Could it be that, because neither her other disciple nor I could inherit her Art of Automata, Master had secretly raised a final disciple? And because she cared about our feelings, she never told us?
Was she waiting for him to achieve something before revealing him to us?
Feeling Ganyu's aura, sweat involuntarily began to bead on Bai Ye's forehead.
"Huh? What's wrong?"
Seeing Bai Ye's condition, Ganyu hurriedly took out a handkerchief from her waist and wiped his forehead.
"Big Sister Ganyu, I'm really not Cloud Retainer's disciple."
He spoke earnestly.
"Not? Then where did your Adeptal Arts come from?"
Ganyu looked at Bai Ye with an expression that plainly said, "Are you joking?"
The Art of Automata could perhaps be learned through imitation, but what was going on with his Adeptal Arts?
Bai Ye honestly explained, "I found manuals on Adeptal Arts and the Art of Automata by chance in an abode in Liyue's mountains. To this day, I don't actually have a teacher. I've learned everything by following those manuals."
"Huh? How could that be possible?"
Ganyu found it even harder to believe.
First, she did not believe her teacher would casually leave her own Art of Automata and Adeptal Arts inside an abode for someone to learn.
Second, if merely relying on two manuals could allow someone to learn such Adeptal Arts and Art of Automata, then Bai Ye was far too gifted.
Seeing that Ganyu still did not believe him, Bai Ye immediately said, "If you don't believe me, Big Sister Ganyu, I can take you to that realm."
That realm truly existed, and every trace of his teacher's presence within it had long since faded away. Only the traces Bai Ye had left behind while practicing Adeptal Arts remained.
"No, no, I didn't mean to say that I thought you were lying." Ganyu blushed, shaking her head hard as she tried to reassure Bai Ye. But after holding it in for a long while, she still could not help confirming it with him again.
"You really didn't learn Adeptal Arts from anyone?"
"Really. I only learned today that the Adeptal Arts I practiced came from Cloud Retainer."
Bai Ye spoke seriously.
Seeing how certain Bai Ye was, Ganyu could not help but believe him.
Then what was going on?
Ganyu imagined one possibility.
Could Master have intended to pass down her teachings to those destined for them? Had she left her Adeptal Arts and Art of Automata in a realm to see whether someone could cultivate a path of their own without relying on her guidance?
After thinking it over, Ganyu felt that this was the most likely possibility.
Otherwise, aside from Rex Lapis, no one alive could obtain her methods for cultivating Adeptal Arts.
So he was still her junior disciple—he simply did not know it yet.
After thinking it over, Ganyu felt she should not tell Bai Ye about it just yet.
Perhaps Master did not want others helping Bai Ye.
She would speak with her teacher about it when she had time to visit Mt. Aocang.
"Then perhaps you really did discover something Master accidentally left behind years ago, Bai Ye."
Ganyu said to Bai Ye.
"Yes, yes, I just got lucky by chance."
Seeing that Ganyu would not continue questioning him, Bai Ye hurriedly nodded.
Then, to keep Ganyu from dwelling on the matter, he quickly said, "Forget it, let's discuss what's happening here first. Big Sister Ganyu, this Hilichurl King is clearly abnormal. Should we inspect it and find out what happened to it?"
"Alright, senior... Bai Ye."
Ganyu nodded in agreement.
They walked over to the Hilichurl King's side and examined its corpse.
Bai Ye had used the Art of Automata and Adeptal Arts to tear the Hilichurl King apart, so examining its corpse now saved them the trouble of cutting it open again.
Both of them had spent years in the wilderness, so witnessing death did not place the slightest psychological burden on them.
Bai Ye and Ganyu looked at the Hilichurl King's corpse.
Both of them frowned.
"Under normal circumstances, since we just killed it, its muscles couldn't possibly have decayed like this."
As Ganyu examined the corpse, she said to Bai Ye, "This is the effect of Archon Residue. Some Archon Residue must have leaked out nearby and infected this Hilichurl King."
"Archon Residue..."
"Yes. Back then, Liyue was the region where the Archon War was fought most fiercely. Countless Archons were defeated or fled, and remnants of many Archons' wills still remain in Guili Plains and other places."
Ganyu stood up.
"Perhaps the residue of an Archon has recently been exposed after being worn down by time. I have to go and investigate the situation now."
She said to Bai Ye, "This is my responsibility. Of course, there's no need for you to come along."
"Big Sister Ganyu, aren't you slapping me in the face by saying that? I was the one who wanted to develop Guili Plains. I definitely have to do my part in investigating something like this."
Bai Ye took out his Handheld Crossbow and gathered all the mechanisms from before back onto himself.
Ganyu could not help smiling as she watched from the side.
"Let's go. Remember to be careful later."
"Don't worry. There are still plenty of wonderful things in this world that I haven't experienced, so I won't get myself into trouble so easily."
As Bai Ye walked forward, he spoke to Ganyu.
The two of them then followed the direction from which the Hilichurl King had come.
This Hilichurl King should not have been infected for long. Otherwise, the Millelith would have killed it long ago.
After walking forward for only a short while, Bai Ye and Ganyu saw the Hilichurls whom Bai Ye had just driven away.
Those Hilichurls had now gone mad. The instant they saw Bai Ye and Ganyu, they roared and charged at them.
They were much faster than ordinary Hilichurls.
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