A chance at a windfall

Although Xiangling had left, Yucheng was already halfway there. He felt he would look rather foolish if he did not at least visit the summit of Mt. Tianheng.

Mt. Tianheng was difficult for ordinary people to climb, but for a ninja, it could not have been easier. With just a few leaps, Yucheng reached the lower peak near Mt. Tianheng and saw a Teleport Waypoint standing atop it.

Whenever Yucheng saw these Teleport Waypoints, he hated that he could not use them. Otherwise, he could have spared himself the exhaustion of traveling by carriage and horse.

Just then, Yucheng noticed a group of Hilichurls in the low ground between the two mountains. There were two Hilichurl Shamans, one Hilichurl Berserker holding a stone shield, and three Hilichurl Shooters.

Yucheng looked around and found no sign of anyone else nearby, so he decided to practice on this group of Hilichurls.

The enemy was in the open while he remained hidden. For a ninja, if he chose to strike, he had to go straight for a vital point.

Yucheng rapidly formed hand seals, drew a deep breath, then blew an enormous fireball from his mouth toward the two resting Hilichurl Shamans.

[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique]

The fireball appeared too suddenly. Although a Hilichurl Shooter on watch spotted it and sounded a warning, the Hilichurl Shamans lying on the ground had no time to dodge. The fireball swallowed them outright, drawing the screams unique to Hilichurls.

This ninjutsu, which had never killed anyone in the world of Hokage, finally killed two Hilichurl Shamans and one Hilichurl Shooter in the world of Genshin Impact.

Before the two surviving Hilichurl Shooters could even understand what had happened, Yucheng appeared beside them. He snapped one's neck, then picked up an arrow they had yet to fire and drove it hard into the other's forehead.

In a single instant, the entire group of Hilichurls had been reduced to one Hilichurl Berserker holding a stone shield.

Upon spotting Yucheng, the Hilichurl Berserker raised its stone shield and charged wildly at him. By now, it had gone completely berserk.

Unfortunately for it, the Hilichurl Berserker's charge was far too obvious. Yucheng easily dodged it with a slight sidestep. The Hilichurl Berserker crashed into the rock face of Mt. Tianheng, the tremendous impact breaking away some of the rock.

Now, the Hilichurl Berserker's bare back lay fully exposed before Yucheng. There was no need to explain what happened when someone willingly exposed their back to a ninja.

[Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique]

Another scorching fireball engulfed the Hilichurl Berserker's massive body, making it cry out in agony. Its wails gradually faded, and its signs of life dwindled until it collapsed unwillingly to the ground.

Yucheng stretched his limbs, reasonably satisfied with the battle. Although it had looked like he was simply crushing weaklings, Hilichurls were creatures at the bottom of Teyvat's hierarchy, after all. Besides, he had attacked by surprise. If even that had required a bitter struggle, his combat strength would have been far too low.

Fire Release proved quite powerful in the real world. For ordinary creatures, fear of fire was innate. The only problem was that he currently lacked a Pyro Vision; without one, he did not dare display this ability in front of others.

Should I ask old man Zhong for one? He seems to have made himself a fake Geo Vision as a disguise, so he should have a way.

Or am I overthinking this? I only want a fake Vision, not a real one. Liyue is a major jewelry-producing nation. Surely there are artisans who can make one.

Yucheng extinguished all the flames his Fire Release had produced. After all, setting a mountain on fire meant spending the rest of one's life in prison, so he still needed to be careful. Then he leaped straight up to the summit of Mt. Tianheng.

Although Mt. Tianheng was not particularly high above sea level, much of the surrounding terrain consisted of depressions. With one rising and the other falling, standing atop Mt. Tianheng still gave a sense of looking down upon all the lesser peaks.

Legend had it that Mt. Tianheng had not been this tall before. During the Archon War, a god fought fiercely with adeptal deer number two-[Skybracer Adeptus]. The god threw a punch that blasted a gap straight into Mt. Tianheng. With its support gone, the mountain began to totter and fall toward Liyue, threatening disaster.

At that critical moment, [Skybracer Adeptus] asked Xiao to gouge out his most treasured antlers and place them at the foot of Mt. Tianheng as supports. The antlers were treasures bestowed by Rex Lapis and were extraordinarily sturdy. Not only did Mt. Tianheng remain standing, but it was raised by several hundred zhang, reaching its present height.

Sadly, without his most crucial treasure, [Skybracer Adeptus] suffered a drastic reduction in combat strength. In the battles that followed, he shed his last drop of blood and died a heroic death.

For that very reason, [Skybracer Adeptus] held an exalted place in the hearts of Liyue's people, arguably second only to Rex Lapis.

Huh? Wait. The mention of adepti suddenly reminded Yucheng of something important. There seemed to be another adeptus's abode near Mt. Tianheng, apparently belonging to adeptal bird number three-[Sea of Clouds, Sea of Moonlight Adeptus].

This adeptal bird number three had long since passed away, leaving its abode completely abandoned. But in Yucheng's memory, there was a gigantic [Mingxia Floating Life Stone] inside. It was one of the things Ningguang would need to rebuild the Jade Chamber in the future and was worth a fortune.

In the main storyline, Xingqiu's Feiyun Commerce Guild had mentioned that the Mingxia Floating Life Stone it auctioned at the time had fetched over five hundred million Mora.

Whether in quality or size, the Mingxia Floating Life Stone in Sea of Clouds, Sea of Moonlight Adeptus's abode was beyond comparison with the Feiyun Commerce Guild's piece. Its value was all the more immeasurable.

Most importantly, Sea of Clouds, Sea of Moonlight Adeptus had been broad-minded by nature. He would not have cared about such trifles even while alive, much less after death, so there was no need to worry about being charged with disrespecting an adeptus.

In other words, the Mingxia Floating Life Stone and the other treasures in his abode were first come, first served, provided one had the ability to claim them. If the Traveler could take them, so could he. He was utterly penniless right now and could not easily let this chance at a windfall slip away.

The problem now was that Sea of Clouds, Sea of Moonlight Adeptus's abode had been abandoned for so long that all sorts of monsters had already occupied its interior. Combined with the mechanisms inside, exploring his abode would still involve some difficulty and danger.

More importantly, even if he overcame countless hardships and finally found that Mingxia Floating Life Stone, how was he supposed to take it away?

He was not some woman with the strength to uproot mountains and might that overshadowed the world. He could not possibly move such a huge stone. What should he do? As Yucheng pondered a solution, his gaze unconsciously drifted toward a long-abandoned village at the foot of Mt. Tianheng.

A sudden burst of elemental light erupted from the supposedly abandoned village, instantly catching Yucheng's attention.