Jueyun Karst had been modeled on Zhangjiajie in the game. Although he had never visited Zhangjiajie in his previous life, experiencing a different kind of scenery in the game world made the trip worthwhile.
Three thousand peaks and eight hundred waterways. Peaks stood like straight trees across the land of Liyue, their towering heights and magnificent overlapping ridges leaving Yucheng utterly awestruck when he first saw Jueyun Karst, even through a screen.
But when he stood in person at the foot of Jueyun Karst's mountains as an herb gatherer, a sense of helplessness and fear welled up in him, even though he was a ninja.
With this terrain and scenery, developing it into a tourist attraction would surely make a fortune. Unfortunately, the adepti in Jueyun Karst probably wouldn't agree. Disturb their secluded cultivation, and there would definitely be hell to pay.
Qiqi, beside him, paid no heed to the steepness or danger of the peaks. She simply picked one and climbed straight up.
Qiqi certainly lived up to her title as an herb-gathering apprentice. Although her climbing performance in the game had been poor, in reality, she was remarkably agile and practiced, making full use of the terrain and gaps in the mountainside to climb steadily, one step at a time.
Not to be outdone, Yucheng gathered chakra in the soles of his feet and leaped upward. With a series of nimble movements, he caught up behind Qiqi. Chakra was simply far too much of a cheat when it came to rock climbing.
As Qiqi huffed and puffed her way up, she suddenly remembered that Yucheng was behind her and that she ought to take good care of him. But when she looked down, she found him standing on the steep cliff in an unnatural posture. The angle between his body and the cliff had clearly exceeded ninety degrees, yet he had not fallen. His feet were firmly anchored to the rock as he walked up it step by step.
Qiqi might have been slow to react, but she was not stupid. At the sight of this unusual climbing method, her little head filled with enormous questions, and her normally placid eyes widened a little without her realizing it. Soon, however, her puzzled expression gave way to envy.
If Qiqi could climb like that, wouldn't she be able to gather more herbs? That was the first thought that came into her head.
After easily picking five Violetgrass plants, Qiqi and Yucheng reached the summit without trouble. Seven Qingxin flowers bloomed there.
Looking at the Qingxin growing there, Yucheng suddenly remembered an unreliable story he had heard in his previous life. Supposedly, the half-human, half-adeptus Ganyu had grown fat because she loved eating Qingxin. To help her lose weight, Rex Lapis had used his divine power to change the conditions in which Qingxin grew, moving them from the plains to steep mountaintops. To eat Qingxin, Ganyu had to climb one peak after another, getting some weight-loss exercise in the process.
Although he knew the rumor was unreliable, that did nothing to spoil Yucheng's mood. Remembering the story put him in high spirits, and he laughed aloud without realizing it, leaving Qiqi beside him quite puzzled. Why was he so happy over picking just a few Qingxin flowers?
Once they had climbed one peak, what followed became easy. Qiqi and Yucheng leaped straight off the towering summit, and a pair of wings unfurled behind each of them.
Yes, they were Wind Gliders, wings invented by Leonard, an adventurer from Mondstadt. Once introduced, they had quickly spread throughout Teyvat. Although they could only glide, the sensation of soaring through the sky was addictive.
Qiqi was no old stick-in-the-mud who refused to adapt when needed. A Wind Glider could multiply her herb-gathering efficiency several times over, so of course she would learn to use one. Besides, Wind Gliders were very simple to operate. Even a beginner like Yucheng had mastered it easily in just an hour.
Anyone with the courage to leap from a height was already well on their way to learning how to use a Wind Glider. As it happened, courage was something Yucheng, a ninja, did not lack.
With their Wind Gliders, Yucheng and Qiqi glided steadily to the middle of another peak, successfully picked a few Violetgrass plants, and then continued climbing.
Although it sounded easy, drafts often swept between the peaks of Jueyun Karst. This turbulence could destabilize a Wind Glider, and improper handling could send its user plunging headfirst to a tragic end.
So before every use of their Wind Gliders, they needed to check whether any troublesome winds were blowing between the peaks. Even if they could not avoid them, they still needed to prepare in advance. That was better than being caught completely unprepared.
And so, under Qiqi's guidance, Yucheng traveled back and forth between the peaks. In just one afternoon, the two had gathered over forty Qingxin flowers and over twenty Violetgrass flowers, nearly half the quantity of herbs required for the task. Of course, Yucheng also knew that these herbs were not all his; some belonged to Qiqi.
At that point, Yucheng discovered something novel on one of the peaks: a Statue of the Seven. The figure atop it was Morax, the Geo Archon. It was this landmark that told Yucheng exactly where he was.
Without realizing it, he had reached Qingyun Peak. Yucheng reached out to touch the Statue of the Seven, then waited quietly...
Sure enough, nothing happened. It seemed he was no protagonist and could not gain Geo power from a Statue of the Seven merely by touching it, as Aether and Lumine could. This left Yucheng a little disappointed, but he soon put it behind him.
Bathed in the evening sunset, Qingyun Peak presented a scene of exquisite natural beauty that had Yucheng exclaiming in delight. With a plentiful harvest now in hand, he could finally set aside his identity as an herb gatherer for the moment and become a tourist again, taking in Qingyun Peak's magnificent scenery.
Yucheng and Qiqi sat near the Statue of the Seven and took out their dry rations, eating dinner while admiring the magnificent view. Although the rations were cold and somewhat hard to swallow, with such splendid scenery to accompany them, Yucheng enjoyed even those few steamed buns.
Although Yucheng very much wanted to secretly heat the food with Fire Release, Qiqi disliked high temperatures and had no sense of taste. He also did not want to tell her the secret that he could use Fire Release just yet, worried that it would make her dislike him.
Qiqi did not seem particularly interested in anyone with a Pyro Vision. It was not because of anything wrong with the person, but because her zombie body naturally resisted things with high temperatures. Conversely, she had an innate fondness for cold things.
As the sky darkened, Yucheng and Qiqi finished dinner, tidied up briefly, and jumped straight off Qingyun Peak. This time, rather than flying between other peaks, they flew straight to the foot of the mountain, ready to find somewhere to make camp.
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