Hearts in Her Eyes

"Go. Take your Sigil of Permission and help me notify the other adepti."

Although Zhong Baiye knew roughly where the other adepti were in the game, who knew whether things had changed in the real world? It was better to ask Moon Carver.

"Where should we go to find the other adepti?"

Moon Carver raised his head and gazed into the distance, then slowly said, "Mountain Shaper and Cloud Retainer often reside in Jueyun Karst. Fate will bring you together before long. There is no need to seek them out deliberately."

"There is also the Conqueror of Demons, the Guardian Yaksha. Go to Wangshu Inn, and you may have a chance to meet him."

With that, Moon Carver turned and headed into the cave.

Zhong Baiye thought it over and decided to ask Lumine and Paimon what they wanted to do.

"Lumine, Keqing and I are going to find the other adepti. Would you like to come with us?"

Lumine lowered her head and thought for a long while, but Paimon spoke first.

"Of course! Maybe we'll run into Aether if we stay with you. Right, Traveler?"

After saying that, Paimon gave Lumine a meaningful look.

Lumine glanced at Zhong Baiye, fiddling with the hair hanging over her shoulders.

"If that's all right, I'd like to stay with you, Big Brother Zhong Baiye."

In truth, Lumine didn't know why, either. She had been drawn to Zhong Baiye the moment she met him, feeling naturally close to him and wanting to stay by his side every moment.

Seeing Lumine looking just like the sweet girl next door from an anime, Zhong Baiye readily agreed.

Keqing wanted to step in and put a stop to the atmosphere between them, but she had no reason to do so. She could only endure the heartache herself.

Lumine noticed Keqing's expression as well. Instead of hugging Zhong Baiye's arm as she had before, she kissed his cheek and ran off, not daring to look at his reaction.

They hadn't even set off yet, and something like this had already happened. Zhong Baiye felt like a scumbag himself.

Keqing, meanwhile, felt as though Lumine had stolen something that belonged to her. Her expression began to twist as she spoke to Zhong Baiye in a sarcastic tone.

"Hmph! It's only been a few days, and you've already lured a girl into your arms. Aren't you something?"

Naturally, Zhong Baiye heard the sarcasm in Keqing's words, but with the facts right in front of him, he couldn't argue. He could only rub his forehead and smile.

Amid that awkward atmosphere, the group set off together for Wangshu Inn.

"Wow! So this is Wangshu Inn? It's incredible!"

Zhong Baiye marveled at the inn built around the enormous tree before him.

After all, before crossing over, he had never even heard of a tree thousands of meters tall, let alone an inn built around one.

Since Lumine had clung to Zhong Baiye the whole way, Keqing was still in a foul mood.

"Hmph. What's so special about it?"

Although Zhong Baiye didn't understand why Keqing was in such a bad mood, he knew it must have something to do with him, so he immediately followed up on her words.

"Of course. You must have seen things even more magnificent than Wangshu Inn, Keqing. I'm just ignorant."

Hearing Zhong Baiye admit his mistake to her, Keqing's stern expression softened into a smile once more.

Paimon, beside them, broke up the strange atmosphere.

"Hey! Zhong Baiye, don't forget what we came here for. Finding the Conqueror of Demons comes first!"

Zhong Baiye thought for a moment, then told everyone, "There's no rush. Let's find someone else first."

Keqing knew Zhong Baiye always planned ahead and would never act without a purpose, so she didn't ask.

Lumine practically had hearts in her eyes as she looked at Zhong Baiye. How could she possibly object?

Paimon, however, was different. As lively as she was, there was no way she could hold back her questions.

"Who are we looking for? Why do we need to find this person?"

Zhong Baiye couldn't exactly tell them they were looking for Ghost Xiao Ming. After all, he was only trying to test a theory.

"The One-and-a-Half-Meter Adeptus... no, the Conqueror of Demons won't readily help others, even if they have a Sigil of Permission. The person we're looking for has a way to make him help us."

After hearing Zhong Baiye's answer, Paimon stopped asking questions.

"The Conqueror of Demons sure is hard to please. Let's do it your way."

Zhong Baiye and the others soon took the wooden elevator up to Wangshu Inn's lobby.

The sight of all the landscape paintings hanging on the walls gave Zhong Baiye a headache. He had no idea which one concealed the Demon-Suppressing Seal.

This was the real world. There were no quest prompts like in the game.

"Help me check the paintings on the walls. There's something good hidden in one of them."

The moment Paimon heard there was something good hidden there, she flew over to the paintings and examined them one by one, nearly drooling as she muttered to herself.

"Something good! Something good!"

Keqing and Lumine exchanged a glance. Both wanted to find it before the other, and they immediately began inspecting the paintings.

"Look! There seems to be something in this one."

Before long, Keqing pointed at a painting in front of her and called out to Zhong Baiye.

Everyone stopped examining the other paintings and gathered around Keqing.

As Zhong Baiye studied the landscape painting, something seemed to occur to him.

He shifted his viewing angle, letting the sunlight fall on the painting.

In his eyes, the painting shone brilliantly, and a streak of light flew into his eyes.

He rubbed his eyes and realized he seemed able to see things he hadn't been able to see before. Knowing he had found the right one, he immediately had everyone try it.

"Quick, stand where I am and look at this painting."

Paimon immediately flew over, pushed Zhong Baiye aside, and looked at the painting.

"What? This is the treasure you were talking about? How boring."

Paimon stamped her feet in midair, unimpressed by the treasure Zhong Baiye had mentioned.

Soon, Keqing and Lumine could also see things they hadn't been able to see before.

Keqing and Lumine were puzzled. Hadn't Zhong Baiye said they were here to find someone? Why did they have to look at a painting first? The two asked in unison.

"Big Brother (Zhong Baiye), aren't we here to find someone?"

Seeing that everyone seemed to have obtained the Demon-Suppressing Seal, Zhong Baiye said with an air of mystery, "Of course. You couldn't see her before, so we didn't go straight to her. Now that you can, we can find her."

He looked around, seemingly spotting something, then pointed toward the kitchen below.

"Look. That little girl down there is the person we're looking for."

Everyone looked in the direction Zhong Baiye pointed.

"Waaah! T﹏T"

Paimon was the first to cry out.

"What is that? How come I've never seen anything like her before? Big Brother Zhong Baiye, she won't attack me, will she?"

Once Lumine saw clearly what it was, she immediately hid behind Zhong Baiye.