A Demon God's Lost Treasure-The Twelve Talismans

Before they could head upstairs to look for Paimon, her body dropped through the hole.

Lumine and Zhong Baiye hurriedly caught Paimon and checked her condition.

Fortunately, Paimon had only passed out. She did not even have a scrape.

"What exactly is this thing? Why was that Stick Figure so powerful?"

Zhong Baiye looked down at the Runestone on the table, growing more curious.

He had already thought the Runestone looked familiar, but Paimon had moved too quickly. Before he could get a good look, the Stick Figure had sent her flying.

Zhong Baiye studied the Runestone's shape and the incomplete markings on it, tapping his head, but nothing came to mind.

Lumine was also examining the Runestone. Suddenly, she said, "This Runestone doesn't seem to be complete."

Zhong Baiye had already noticed that the Runestone looked like half a bottle cap, but he had never actually considered that it was broken.

At Lumine's words, he traced out what the complete Runestone would look like.

The next moment, Zhong Baiye scooped Lumine into his arms.

"You're amazing!"

He wanted to kiss Lumine, but suddenly caught himself and stopped short.

Keqing, who was thinking about how to deal with the monsters, suddenly felt a strange emptiness in her heart.

She glanced toward Liyue Harbor in the distance, then brought her thoughts back to the task at hand.

A crowd of onlookers was still watching nearby. Even if Zhong Baiye was thick-skinned enough not to feel embarrassed, he still had to consider Lumine.

After Zhong Baiye's sudden gesture, Lumine's face had turned bright red.

"Ahem!"

Zhong Baiye coughed twice to ease the awkward atmosphere.

After tracing out its shape, he had realized that this Runestone really did resemble something from his memories. In fact, it was practically identical.

It was one of the Twelve Talismans from Jackie Chan Adventures. If the Runestone before him were whole, it would look exactly like one of them.

However, the markings on this Runestone were far too incomplete to tell which talisman it was.

As for why Zhong Baiye was certain that talismans from Jackie Chan Adventures could appear in Teyvat, something only he knew about had just happened.

The moment he recognized it as half a talisman, his system had suddenly sounded a notification.

[Ding! Incomplete Twelve Talisman detected.]

That was why Zhong Baiye dared to confirm that it was indeed one of the Twelve Talismans.

But Zhong Baiye had not noticed that his hand had unwittingly drifted close to the Runestone.

"Watch out!"

Lumine and the surrounding onlookers noticed it too and immediately warned Zhong Baiye.

But Zhong Baiye failed to react in time and touched the Runestone.

Once he realized what had happened, he immediately let go of the Runestone, closed his eyes, and braced himself to avoid getting hurt.

Yet even after a long while, nothing happened. When he opened his eyes again, the Runestone had disappeared.

Zhong Baiye turned to Lumine, hoping to find out what had just happened.

Lumine stared at his right hand in shock and spoke.

"Big brother, look at your right hand!"

Zhong Baiye was puzzled.

"What's wrong with my right hand? Don't tell me the Runestone is in it."

Zhong Baiye raised his right hand, only to discover that the Runestone really was resting in his palm.

He tried to throw the Runestone away, but no matter where Zhong Baiye threw it-

The next moment, the Runestone would reappear somewhere on him, whether in his pocket or on some part of his body.

Seeing that Paimon had woken up, Zhong Baiye tried to shove the Runestone into her hands. But the Stick Figure that had attacked Paimon appeared again and knocked the newly conscious Paimon out once more.

Lumine came over to help too, but after seeing what had happened to Paimon, Zhong Baiye did not dare let Lumine touch the Runestone.

He had also realized that although the Runestone was dangerous to others, it had no effect on him at all. He simply could not get rid of it, which was no big deal.

At that moment, Zhongli, who had remained silent throughout, suddenly said, "Try giving this talisman to Lumine."

Zhong Baiye was certain that Zhongli would not make a suggestion without reason. There had to be something behind it.

He looked at Lumine, and she nodded without the slightest hesitation.

Zhong Baiye tossed the strange Runestone straight to Lumine, then took a fighting stance. The moment the Stick Figure appeared, he would attack it.

But when Lumine touched the Runestone, nothing unusual happened. The Stick Figure they had expected did not appear, nor did the stone immediately return to Zhong Baiye's hand.

Zhong Baiye was somewhat skeptical and asked Lumine to toss the Runestone onto Paimon again.

As a result, the Stick Figure emerged once more and gave Paimon a savage beating. Even the onlookers closed their eyes, unable to bear watching.

Watching Paimon get beaten up, Zhong Baiye muttered to himself.

"It isn't broken! What's going on?"

Suddenly, Lumine seemed to discover something. Holding the Runestone, she focused and summoned a small whirlwind.

The next moment, the flowing light on the Runestone actually attached itself to the whirlwind.

Both Zhong Baiye and Lumine could clearly sense that although the whirlwind had not changed in size, its power had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

If she released this whirlwind, even a hundred Paimons would be swept into it without any chance to resist.

This was no mere Twelve Talisman. It was clearly Heavenly Emperor Ye in talisman form.

But when Zhong Baiye tried, he could not trigger the same effect. Only in Lumine's hands would that flowing light amplify her elemental power.

Zhong Baiye asked Zhongli whether he knew anything, but Zhongli only smiled without answering.

The onlookers nearby were also discussing what sort of treasure it was. Some called it a "Gnosis," others an "Intertwined Fate," and someone even claimed it was the "Heavenly Principles." Each guess was more absurd than the last.

Only then did Zhong Baiye and Lumine notice the shopkeeper, Shitou, who had been standing in a daze all this time.

Tears streamed down his face as he muttered, paying no attention to how he looked.

"I've finally opened up a treasure like this! Thank you, ancestors, for your blessings."

Zhong Baiye and Lumine shook Shitou, finally snapping him out of his frenzied state.

Shitou composed himself.

"My sincerest apologies. I've made a fool of myself in front of my two honored guests."

Zhong Baiye took out the Runestone and asked Shitou whether he knew anything about it.

Like Zhongli, Shitou wore a smile, but he did offer one sentence.

"This is a demon god's lost treasure, at least a thousand years old."

Although his voice was not loud, everyone could clearly hear what he said.

Hearing that it was a demon god's lost treasure, the onlookers grew interested. Some even cast ill-intentioned looks at Zhong Baiye and his companions.

Although Zhong Baiye was not concerned about these ordinary people, he still found it troublesome, so he took out Cloud Retainer's feather.

When these ordinary people saw the feather brimming with an Adeptus's aura, they immediately buried their desires.

After that, no matter how Zhong Baiye and Lumine questioned Shitou, he only smiled and said nothing.

Zhong Baiye looked at the Runestone in his hand. Feeling that keeping it would be of little use to him, he gave it back to Lumine.

Next came opening the Uncut Stone Zhong Baiye had chosen. Both Lumine and Zhongli had uncovered treasures like these, so he was rather eager to see what he would get.