Placating the Three Adepti

Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, and Moon Carver, the three adepti of Liyue, arrived.

In their adeptal beast forms, each of the three had a distinctive appearance, yet the oppressive power radiating from them was equally formidable.

After sensing them for a moment, Lin Yi could tell that the Three True Lords' strength far surpassed that of his darling wife Ningguang, the Yuheng Keqing, and the others.

Lin Yi himself was currently too weak to truss a chicken, and the Rock-Cast Spear had only just developed a shaft.

If he said even half a word wrong in front of these three...

He might be easily disposed of before he ever reached the bridal chamber with Ningguang, then hung from Liyue's city gates for three days and nights...

At that thought, Lin Yi shivered.

Light flickered, and all three adepti took human form.

Although the anger in their eyes had yet to fade, they clearly weren't in a hurry to attack.

After choosing his words, Lin Yi actually managed to stand tall under the pressure of their power, neither servile nor overbearing.

"Calm down first. Things aren't what you think. Now that the Gnosis is in my hands, Rex Lapis must have his reasons."

"Besides, my arrival can only benefit Liyue, not harm it. I believe that under my leadership, Liyue Harbor will develop rapidly, surpassing Mondstadt and Inazuma by far. Crushing Snezhnaya in the future won't be a problem either..."

No sooner had Lin Yi finished than Moon Carver raised two fingers, light and shadow flickering.

The next instant, the three-star Harbinger of Dawn pressed against Lin Yi's throat.

The slightest movement could take his life.

"Hmph, you certainly have the nerve to make outrageous claims!"

Seeing that Cloud Retainer had gotten carried away, the other two had yet to speak up to stop her.

Then Lin Yi spoke, his tone three parts contempt and seven parts mockery.

"Pfft! Hahaha! A three-star Harbinger of Dawn, and it hasn't even been refined? Someone actually uses a trash weapon like this?"

The Three True Lords were dumbfounded. They stared at Lin Yi in disbelief, doubt and anger mingling on their faces.

Just then, the system delivered a notification in his mind.

"Resources throughout Teyvat are unusual. Three-star weapons and artifacts are already considered above average, while four-star and five-star items are exceedingly precious."

Fortunately, the rich lady raising system had given Lin Yi an incredibly awesome feature.

Naturally, that was the notorious... player-beloved gacha feature.

As long as he did anything that helped raise a rich lady, he would receive reward points.

Reward points could be exchanged for pink wishes to make pulls.

Naturally, this feature inspired both love and hate in the chronically unlucky Lin Yi. Hadn't yesterday's final ten-pull gone wildly off-banner? Instead of pulling Qiqi or Keqing, he'd pulled himself straight into Teyvat.

Coming back to his senses with this new understanding, Lin Yi naturally began forming other ideas.

He pushed the blade aside and smiled at the three adepti.

"I told you, my arrival will benefit Liyue. Take this Harbinger of Dawn, for instance. You see it as something good, but to me, it doesn't even make the cut."

The three briefly froze. Then they suppressed their laughter, maintaining the dignity expected of adepti and treating Lin Yi's words as nonsense.

"Hey, don't be so skeptical. You know the Vortex Vanquisher, Rex Lapis's weapon, right?"

The moment he named Rex Lapis's signature weapon, solemn surprise appeared on all three faces.

"Boy, tell us the truth. Where did you learn that name?"

Lin Yi shrugged.

"Is that strange? It's just a weapon. I hope you three remember this: never mind the Vortex Vanquisher, give me enough time, and I'll get each of you Venti's Elegy for the End and the Raiden Shogun's Milk-Scented Sword!"

All three froze in unison, so profoundly shocked that they couldn't recover for a long while.

Gods who possessed Gnoses were household names across the continent, yet they remained deeply mysterious beings.

People who knew the names of their signature weapons were rarer still.

Yet Lin Yi casually named the signature weapons of three gods and even said he would get one for each of them.

There was certainly an element of outrageous boasting to it, but owning the same signature weapons as the gods was an exhilarating prospect.

"Lin Yi, stop wasting time. You need to get ready in advance for the wedding preparations and ceremony."

Baishi, who had remained silent until now, spoke up to help Lin Yi out of the situation.

Her duty was to ease Lady Ningguang's troubles.

Judging by the current situation, if anything really happened to Lin Yi, it would cause Lady Ningguang considerable trouble.

Lin Yi understood that perfectly and picked up her cue.

"If there's nothing else, I'll go prepare for my wedding with my wife Ningguang. Let's talk another time. Oh, and don't forget to attend tomorrow. If you're coming to the banquet, you'll need to give a wedding gift. With your standing, it should be at least eighty thousand Mora each, right?"

Lin Yi truly was asking for the moon. For a moment, the Three True Lords were speechless, though the anger they'd shown upon arriving had already dissipated.

Before leaving, Lin Yi remembered something. He moved closer to the Three True Lords and spoke quietly and cautiously.

"Rex Lapis, Morax, hasn't truly died. On the contrary, my arrival was carefully planned by him. Right now, he's traveling through Teyvat under the identity of 'Zhongli.' That's all I can say. See you next time."

Having said that, Lin Yi left with Baishi, leaving the Three True Lords rooted to the spot, their mental CPUs overloaded as they struggled to digest the explosive flood of information.

While Lin Yi was memorizing his inauguration speech...

In a secluded tavern somewhere in Liyue Harbor...

Two travelers in elegant clothing, their bearing cold, arrived. With a sweeping gesture, they booked the entire tavern and even told the owner to get out.

The two sat down and removed their masks, revealing themselves as two of the Fatui's twelve Harbingers from Snezhnaya.

The Eighth, [La Signora], and the Eleventh, [Childe, Tartaglia].

Once seated, La Signora folded her arms across her chest, lifting two soft, snowy-white mounds, and got straight to the point.

"I've already investigated in secret. The Geo Gnosis isn't inside Rex Lapis's Exuvia, which was left behind after the Rite of Descension."

At her words, a hint of surprise crossed Childe's handsome, roguish face.

"The unexpected part is that the Geo Gnosis hasn't slipped out of our surveillance. Instead, it has fallen into the hands of someone called Lin Yikesi."

"Lin Yikesi? What a strange name. Lin Yi..."

Childe rubbed his chin, growing even more curious about this unexpected individual.

La Signora looked out the window. With mountains behind it and water beside it, Liyue Harbor lay beneath a sky like a painted scroll. It was so harmonious that she almost couldn't bear to destroy it.

"Tomorrow is the wedding of that Lin Yikesi and Ningguang, the Tianquan. That will be the perfect opportunity for us to act."

"What did you say?"

"This nobody Lin Yi pops up out of nowhere and immediately gets to marry Ningguang, the richest woman in Liyue?"

Childe slammed the table. The intelligence actually sent his Hydro power into turmoil, demonic energy surging.

"Keep it under control. Tomorrow, we must secure the Gnosis without fail!"

On the night of the wedding preparations, the moon was full and the stars shone brightly.

For once, Ningguang had left her post and hidden alone in the Jade Chamber's study. She held her book upside down, her thoughts long since drifting out the window.

Whenever she thought of Lin Yi puckering his lips and asking for a kiss...

A girlish blush appeared on her breathtaking face. With that blush, every other beauty paled in comparison.

Things had reached this point, with the abnormal Rite of Descension followed by tomorrow's wedding.

Everything had happened too quickly to take in.

Although the marriage served a purpose, as a woman, she couldn't help feeling worried that the most important wedding of her life was being held so hastily.

"Lin Yi, the new Rex Lapis... just what kind of person are you?"