They descended the mountain slope and entered a vast jungle.
Some of the trees were even taller than the slope itself, so Tighnari and the others were assigned to patrol these dense forests. That was what the rangers did.
Of course, Sumeru's geography was special.
Because of that, Tighnari often ran into all kinds of fools.
The rainforest was dangerous.
Especially Sumeru's rainforest.
Many plants were highly poisonous, and even the trunks of the trees were home to large numbers of venomous insects.
Keqing and Beidou walked through the forest, both of them full of curiosity.
"Beidou, have you never been here before?"
Seeing the curious look on her face, Ningguang chuckled softly.
Beidou shook her head. "I transport cargo by ship. Why would I ever walk here? Speaking of which, can't you let us use that flying item of yours?"
Everyone else was walking, while Ningguang was sitting on a magical artifact, drifting forward at an unhurried pace.
She covered her mouth and smiled. "Then you could fly with a sword too... or have Su Han make one for you."
"Tch. I'm not that delicate." Beidou snorted. "But honestly, Sumeru is a place I don't really want to come to. The last few times I came here for trade, things never went that smoothly.
People kept asking questions.
And every time I bought something, they'd start taking it apart right away..."
This world had no such thing as copyright.
If you could make it, you could sell it.
Because of that, Beidou had stopped selling goods herself later on. Other people handled sales here instead.
Anything sold here would be cracked open and reverse-engineered very quickly.
Then they would copy it.
The knockoffs might not be as good as the real thing, but they were cheap, and that was enough for them to sell well.
It was only after Su Han appeared that this situation was truly resolved.
Instant noodles and the other snacks were cheap and sold in huge numbers.
Especially in a place like this rainforest, where the staple food was mostly fruit and there was very little in the way of wheat-based food.
Instant noodles were extremely popular here.
Hamtang noodles with meat especially sold out fast.
After all, Sumeru had plenty of plants and fruit, but livestock was relatively scarce.
And not being able to eat meat had become a real problem.
For a long time, meat in Sumeru was extremely expensive.
This time, aside from the railway, both sides also wanted to import more goods.
Continuous imports.
The kind of supply that would be needed month after month.
When the old man heard Beidou's words, he looked embarrassed. "Those people... they really are hopeless. They want to research everything... and they've forgotten even basic manners and morality."
"And it's not just the things we sell," Ningguang said. "What happened to that child Collei was also stirred up by the scholars. Even in Snezhnaya, part of it was pushed along by people inside Sumeru."
The old man fell silent.
Tighnari comforted him. "Sir... this isn't your fault..."
"Heh. Yes, it isn't my fault, but I can't just wash my hands of it either. Lady Ningguang is right. If Sumeru were like Liyue, this tragedy probably wouldn't have happened."
"Collei was never the only one. And she won't be the last.
Even now, I've heard of children going missing.
But what can we do?
The scholars have already been seduced by knowledge and lost their way completely. They don't even understand that some things are not meant to be pursued..."
"When you stare into the abyss, the abyss is staring back at you."
Keqing's words made the old man's body tremble.
The other rangers were also stunned.
That sentence, full of philosophy, really struck like a thunderclap.
"Exactly..." the old man said. "Why Khaenri'ah fell, I studied that many times myself. Excessive pursuit only brings disaster.
Why did the previous Dendro Archon fall?
Those people simply don't understand.
They only think that if they grasp those things, they can become stronger.
And there are even some who..."
He did not continue.
The rest would offend certain people.
But anyone who understood would understand.
Some beings in Sumeru wanted to replace the Dendro Archon.
Or rather, they wanted to become a god.
For mortals, reaching that step was incredibly difficult.
So a group of people joined in.
As they moved onward, Ningguang and the others finally saw Gandharva Ville.
There were wooden houses everywhere, giving the place a very close-to-nature feeling.
People filled the area inside and out.
When they saw Ningguang arrive, everyone scattered flowers into the air.
"Welcome... welcome..."
"Welcome... welcome..."
Amid the cheerful greetings, a hidden arrow flew out from the flower petals, straight toward Ningguang's throat.
It was a black silver needle.
Its speed was terrifying.
But before it could get close, a sword aura cut it down.
"Hmph... so you finally showed yourself?"
Keqing turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished from sight.
A moment later, a ranger was thrown back into the crowd.
He was holding a bamboo tube in his hand.
Everyone nearby was horrified.
There really was an assassin here.
"Fida... how could this be? He was actually an assassin!!!"
"Who's Fida?"
"The captain of our ranger team... He's always been very gentle, and kind too."
The man could not believe his own eyes.
Keqing sneered. "Snezhnayan assassins are everywhere. Even the Narukami Shrine in Inazuma was infiltrated by spies... some of them were even adopted as children and brainwashed into fools.
They only woke up after we captured them.
Let me question him.
Illusion Art: Soul Delusion!"
Keqing formed hand seals.
A ninjutsu technique was directly applied to Fida.
"What is your real identity? Who do you answer to...?"
"Snezhnaya... spy, under... the Doctor... ugh..."
As soon as the words came out, a dried-up arm burst out from his body.
Fida's body was then pierced to death alive by countless arms.
The sight even scared the nearby children into tears.
Beidou frowned. "There's a seal inside his body..."
"It looks like this place isn't simple either..."
Ningguang looked at the villagers.
Who knew how many people here had betrayed their country.
What a sorrowful thing.
They had only just arrived and already found an assassin.
Tighnari and the others were furious.
But Ningguang suggested that they hold the meeting first and deal with everything else later.
When the meeting in Gandharva Ville began, however, Keqing and Beidou sealed off the entire conference room with a formation.
Golden light covered the whole room.
"You... what are you Liyue people trying to do?"
"Why seal the room?"
"Is this a scheme? Were those assassins all staged by you?"
Facing the angry Sumeru representatives, Ningguang said calmly, "I only want to confirm the Snezhnayan spies first... Besides, if we wanted to attack Sumeru, would we really need to go to such lengths?
Just my forces alone could mobilize fifty thousand soldiers.
All of them are Black Blade troops."
Hearing this, everyone fell silent.
The old man then nodded. "It's better to verify them first. Otherwise... if information leaks again, things will be terrible. I trust Miss Ningguang.
Everyone else, stop arguing."
There were twelve people attending the meeting.
All of them were respected and esteemed figures.
Keqing's method of checking them was simple.
She used hypnosis through illusion arts.
One after another, she tested them.
When she reached the sixth person, the other side suddenly pulled out a dagger and slashed at Keqing's abdomen.
What should have been a scene of blood gushing out instead turned into petals scattering through the air.
"Yo... the first one's exposed already? You really couldn't keep hiding, huh..."
With a flick of her fingers, Keqing crippled the other man's meridians.
At the same time, she handed him over to Tighnari.
After searching him, Tighnari's expression immediately turned ugly.
Inside the man's robes, he found a device used to record voices.
"Damn it... You're an elder of Gandharva Ville, one of our pillars, and you still did something like this!"
"Hmph. What do you know? A bunch of stubborn fools. Especially you, Tighnari. All you do every day is study plants. You don't understand the truth of this world at all."
Since he was exposed, he stopped pretending.
Then the second spy was exposed.
At the moment he was revealed, a woman in the room pressed a blade to the old man's throat.
"You..."
"Don't say anything. We all have our own sides. If you want to blame anyone, blame yourselves for inviting a wolf into the house."
Hearing the woman's words, the old man actually laughed in anger.
"Snezhnaya poisons Sumeru, and you don't resist it. Instead, you aid and abet them. You've twisted right and wrong beyond recognition. If today's meeting succeeds, then forget everything else, the quality of life in Gandharva Ville alone would improve fivefold.
No more living so tightly.
Trade would also grow.
If you still think of yourselves as Sumeru people, then give up all resistance..."
"Sorry. I have family too..."
The woman held the old man hostage and tried to retreat.
But before she could move, a sword aura pierced through her abdomen.
"Cough..."
Blood sprayed out.
The woman stared in terror at the golden needle that had burst out of her body.
She did not understand why she had been hit.
"The Fatui from Snezhnaya don't even dare to come here. What use are you little pawns? To be blunt, even if that Pierro came before me, I'd still dare to kill him."
Beidou let out a cold snort.
Three golden needles burst out through the woman's body.
The same happened to another person.
Their combat strength simply was not on the same level.
A sneak attack?
Sorry.
With Beidou and Keqing here, even fighting from Gandharva Ville all the way to Sumeru City would not make them fear anything.
That was confidence.
Three spies were dragged out.
Ningguang smiled and said, "How do you like the gift I prepared for you? But... let's leave the interrogation to someone else. We can continue the meeting.
We can take our time and talk."