Check out my new translation!
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"Ah? The exit above the domain on this side is gone too, and the traces from the fight with the clones are still here. Even though we came from different directions… both sides are actually identical?"
After a whole round of running back and forth, the four returned to the starting point, and Arataki Itto was on the verge of losing his mind.
He thought for a moment, then suddenly whispered with mystery: "There's a saying in Inazuma—when someone walks alone at night, they may fall for a tanuki's trick, wandering in circles in the same place until sunrise, completely unable to leave… I suspect we've run into that kind of weird event!"
"I think it's already way more complicated than tanuki illusions…"
"So Benefactor knows too! Don't worry, I actually have a helper for dispelling evil. In situations like this, we can call him out and give it a try." Arataki Itto, full of confidence, even made some local-style—yet utterly unrecognizable—hand signs. He pressed his index and middle finger together, pointed forward, and shouted: "Come out, Ushi!!"
"Mooo—!"
"This here is the Arataki Gang's honorary member, Ushi."
"Moo moo."
"Oh, Ushi's saying hello. He's really good at finding paths. I'll have him lead us out now." After interpreting proudly, Arataki Itto turned back around and commanded: "Ushi, go! Find us a way out!"
"Moooo—!!"
Victor Wang couldn't help but find the scene funny. Itto and Ushi looked like they were performing a comedy routine. In a place like this, they were surprisingly good at brightening the mood.
Only Itto had the nerves to stay lively while trapped. Kuki Shinobu and Yanfei looked calm, but they were certainly uneasy and anxious inside.
"I'm going to look around too, see if there's any other exit."
Victor Wang temporarily left the group, exploring the stone walls along a route opposite Ushi.
This space was bizarre—truly bizarre. Trying to find other people by ordinary means here was absolutely impossible.
Victor Wang was certain of that. So when he and Ushi finished exploring, they came to the same conclusion.
"Moo… moo moo… mooo!"
"Hm? …Ah! No way?!"
"What is it?" Kuki Shinobu asked. "What did Ushi say?"
"Ushi said… he checked the whole path. There's no exit at all…"
"What about you?" Yanfei looked at Victor Wang. "Did you discover anything?"
"…I did find one area of the rock wall that's slightly different from the others. Something seems to be hidden behind it."
"That must be a hidden passage! It might even be… the exit!" Arataki Itto didn't doubt it for a moment. Excited, he shouted, "Even Ushi couldn't find it—Brother Victor, you're amazing! Hurry, take us to see!"
"Don't get your hopes too high. If the exit were this close, the person I'm looking for wouldn't have gone missing… However, if she didn't stay here, she probably followed this hidden passage forward."
"Ooh, that's possible! Then we can catch up to her first and think about escaping together! Having a path is still better than having none!"
Seeing the atmosphere shift, Victor Wang nodded and led the other three toward a seemingly ordinary section of rock wall.
"This is it? Huh… looks… not much different. Wait—these stone patterns… really do look slightly different!"
Kuki Shinobu frowned. "Boss, I think that's just your imagination."
"Is it?"
"Yes." Without giving them time to overthink, Victor Wang explained: "The difference isn't superficial. This wall is created with some kind of illusion technique. I've seen similar methods before, but I don't know how to break it."
"So that's it… Then Yanfei, you're an adeptus—do you know how to break these illusion arts?"
"Um… I've heard of illusion techniques…" Yanfei forced a stiff smile.
Just like being trapped here and having no solutions—her vast knowledge was entirely in the field of law. She knew nothing about escaping magic illusions…
Similarly, though she was technically an adeptus, she wasn't adept at combat or arts. She had only learned some basic adeptus techniques as a child. Ever since she and her father made their contract to "live happily," she threw herself entirely into the legal profession she adored.
But now, all of their hopes were pinned on her. The pressure was on her too.
"I'm not sure if it'll work, but… I'll try."
I have to succeed. I have to succeed…!
Chanelling her focus, Yanfei formed a seal used for dispelling illusions and thrust it toward the section of rock Victor had pointed out.
"Dispel!"
The perfectly normal rock face vanished soundlessly—revealing a portal.
This also validated Victor Wang's theory.
He had simply picked a wall at random.
His mind wandered back through the entire incident of the Perilous Trail.
This mysterious space was passive. It did want to trap everyone inside, but it wouldn't attack on its own. Other than preventing exit, it always reacted passively to the group's expectations and imagination.
Xiao meeting Bosacius, Yanfei finding the Fantastic Compass, Yelan discovering the truth about her ancestor's disappearance, and his own suspicion the moment he arrived that these three might be fakes—and then clones appeared immediately… They were distorted, but they manifested nonetheless.
Yelan had announced discovering a new exit in an area everyone had thoroughly searched for days—only after everyone began hoping for one. Perhaps she had already noticed the flaw in this space then.
Yanfei, using the illusion-breaking method she had seen earlier, had imagined Xiao's voice together with Lumine and actually found the rift connected to him.
Itto, with just a casual punch, opened the entrance to the Fantastic Compass's chamber.
If they used this characteristic properly and simply kept moving forward, they would surely find Zhiqiong and Lumine.
"Thanks to Yanfei being here."
"Hehe… I only learned this one technique, but it actually worked…"
"Great! Let's move on! I'm sick of wandering around this stupid place!"
As always, Arataki Itto charged ahead first. Passing through the portal, the inside wasn't the scene Victor Wang had expected—no Zhiqiong, no Lumine…
Instead, it was a low ravine formed by the rock layers of The Chasm, a mountain-sized mechanical apparatus, and a portal standing tall on the opposite side.
"That enormous disk in the distance… Wait—is that the Fantastic Compass?!"
"The Fantastic Compass?"
"That's the artifact I'm searching for! But this isn't right—it's way too big! How am I supposed to bring that back?!"
"Don't worry, Benefactor! I'll carry it out for you!"
"Boss, you have got to know your limits. If you can actually carry that thing out, I'll hand you the leader's seat of the Arataki Gang myself."
"Exactly, exactly. The Fantastic Compass is the size of a mountain—even if you brought it to Liyue Harbor, there wouldn't be anywhere to store it." Yanfei joined in persuading him, then looked around. "For it to appear like this, something must be off. Let's investigate the surroundings."
Just as she finished speaking, someone stepped out of the portal on the opposite side.
"Yelan? What are you doing here?!"