The mission timer was almost up.
Su Han and the others lingered at Narukami Shrine, talking as they waited for the twenty-third special assignment to appear.
In the multiverse group, everyone was catching up. He had been away at sea for several days; news from the various regions had piled up without a proper summary.
Sucrose reported first. Since the sea trains had gone into full operation, the flow of goods between Liyue and Mondstadt had accelerated dramatically. Transport costs had fallen, prices along with them. With the artificial islands running at scale, fish and other marine products had grown cheaper too. On top of that, after multiple rounds of experimentation, Hu Tao's merfolk line had seen a major breakthrough: stamina, endurance, even reproductive capacity had all increased by several times over the initial design.
Hu Tao, naturally, was delighted. Another booming business meant more Mora in her pockets.
Keqing relayed word from the Chasm. Dainsleif had confirmed that, after Su Han withdrew the Dragon Vein, nothing disastrous had happened. On the contrary, the corruption below had weakened even faster, and the Black Serpent Knights' condition had improved. It was solid proof of the Xuanyuan Sword's power.
Hearing that, Su Han allowed himself to relax. When he was away, his greatest fear was that something would happen at home. With Liyue stable, he could focus on Inazuma.
Ganyu added that on the cultivation front, there had been pleasant surprises as well. The Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture, in particular, had proven very useful to the adepti. Chongyun and Xingqiu had even been taken away by their master for special training.
Xiangling, for her part, was struggling through Granny Ping's lessons on teapot-world construction. She joked that she felt clumsy and that the study left her no time to cook.
Ningguang scolded her gently. Cooking could wait; mastering space arts was far more important. To have an adeptus personally teach one how to build inner realms was an honor beyond price.
In the old days, even seeing an adeptus once had been difficult for mortals. Now they were actively volunteering to train promising youngsters. All of that, everyone knew, traced back to Su Han's presence.
Su Han, perhaps to shift the mood, suddenly tagged Ningguang. "Someone once said she wanted to dance under the cherry blossoms," he wrote. "The Sacred Sakura at Narukami Shrine is beautiful this time of year."
Ningguang sniffed. "You just want to get me beaten," she answered. "If I show up now, it will look like I'm here to demand justice.
"When you've changed that Raiden's mind, we'll talk."
She had not set foot in Inazuma for some time. Once, business had taken her there briefly, but work had left no time to truly see the islands, a regret that lingered. Coming at this moment, though, would send all the wrong signals.
Lisa chimed in from Mondstadt. The Knights of Favonius had grown past fifty thousand and the new Holy Knights over two thousand. Eaglewing City thrived. She was preparing to lead an expedition to clear a cluster of ancient ruins; with the army expanding so fast, weapons and gear were lagging behind, and ruins were fertile ground for lost armories.
Jean reported that with Andrius and Dvalin both pacified, there were broad stretches of fertile land still lying waste in the north. If they could reclaim the Minlin-like region of Wolvendom and beyond, the increase in tax revenue and food would be immense. Amber's scouting had also confirmed rich mineral veins in those areas, once too dangerous to touch. Now, with the dragon calmed, the opportunity was finally there.
"If you run into trouble," Su Han told her, "just go to those ruins and drag the Anemo Archon out.
"If he dares refuse you, I'll deal with him later."
Lisa, in turn, reminded him of something he had let slide. Barbatos had said their agreed time had come; he wanted to know when Su Han would return to help clean out the last of the poison from Dvalin's body. The Twin Dragon incident had seen a partial purge, but the deeper taint remained.
Su Han did a quick count in his head. It had indeed been a long while.
"Once the situation in Inazuma is properly turned," he replied, "and once I'm sure that old dog Kujou Takayuki is dead, I'll head back."
He had come to demand an answer. With the two main culprits gone, there would be no reason to linger. Changing Ei's view on eternity would be a slow campaign: clear the rot, let Kamisato Ayaka's clan and Yae press their reforms, and drop by every so often to challenge the Archon to another duel. Sooner or later, he believed, the shut‑in goddess would open her heart.
Ayaka wrote that the timing was tight, and the new head of the Kanjou Commission had not yet been decided. She suspected Sara would shortly become the formal head of the Tenryou, at least. In any case, the reformers had no intention of wasting this chance; they would make certain their voices reached the Shogun.
Yae added, with an exaggerated sigh, that once today's mission ended and a few exchange documents were signed, Su Han would be back off to Liyue. Life would be boring again. She even tried to tempt Mona into staying as her companion, promising to grant her an official post.
Mona wanted no part of Inazuma's diet of raw fish. She preferred Liyue, where she could sneak meals at Wanmin Restaurant.
As their chatter rolled on, the countdown hit zero.
A crisp chime sounded.
A line of text appeared before every group member's eyes.
"The mission cooldown has ended. New multiverse assignment incoming."
[Mission]: Obtain the Fire Spirit Pearl from the Fire Oni King in the Elysium Realm and deliver it to Jing Tian.
[Difficulty]: Special, four stars.
[Timer]: One hour.
[Target]: An oni king who has cultivated for a thousand years. Extremely powerful. Elemental weakness: water.
[Warning]: None of the core Xianjian protagonists may die. Any such death counts as an automatic failure. Be cautious—the Fire Oni King is very strong. When fighting, do not be reckless.
[Special]: The Fire Spirit Pearl cannot be taken out of its world.
[Note]: If the timer reaches zero with no acceptance, the mission is treated as voluntarily abandoned.
Faces around the shrine grew more serious.
This world's difficulty was notoriously high.
"So this is that world," Eula said. "The one you all called 'hard mode.' The Xianjian realm."
"That's the one," Mona answered with some regret. "It's a shame, though. The Fire Spirit Pearl has to go to the protagonist group.
"If we could claim it ourselves, it would be a massive boost."
The pearl was easily worth five million points. Just wearing it granted powerful buffs, and cultivation sped up dramatically. It was a top‑tier treasure by any measure.
Keqing pointed out the obvious snag. A thousand‑year Fire Oni King would be no joke, probably even more dangerous than that gluttonous peacock beast they had once faced.
Lisa, however, had been running her own numbers. By the system's description, the oni king was indeed strong, far beyond an ordinary Daoist, but still short of the true immortal threshold. More importantly, he was a soul‑body, and water was his explicit weakness.
After so many missions, the group no longer needed Su Han to spell everything out. They were learning to read between the lines on their own.
Ningguang reminded everyone of another key line. If direct victory proved too hard, theft would also complete the mission. There was no requirement to kill the oni—only to secure the pearl for Jing Tian.
Ganyu agreed; that clause might prove crucial.
Diluc excused himself with a wry note. Against a fire‑aligned oni king, every fire user in the group was essentially benched. Even with the Five Elements Scripture, there was no way he was picking this fight. He'd be opening a bottle of champagne and cheering from the sidelines.
Su Han finally weighed in. On the surface, the assignment looked daunting, but in truth, it was manageable. The Fire Oni King matched Lisa's assessment: far above most human cultivators, but still short of the realms that made Su Han cautious.
He could be beaten head‑on.
The true pity was the system's restriction. If the Fire Spirit Pearl could be taken away, he would have gladly eaten a failure to grab it. As a fragment of Nuwa's legacy, it was almost certainly a lynchpin of that world's fate. With all five spirit pearls together, one could, in theory, mend the sky itself.
But if they stole them, the subsequent arcs in that universe might never happen.
The system, clearly, intended to avoid that.
Hu Tao grumbled that if the mission weren't so hostile to fire users, she'd be the first to sign up. Few in the group were more experienced at dealing with spirits than she was.
Yae, though, had already made up her mind. "Let Kamisato Ayaka try," she suggested. The girl had been itching for a mission like this. Water and ice both countered fire very nicely.
Mona immediately heard the implication. As the group's only pure water user, she bristled. Yae was clearly bypassing her.
"If you want me to keep my mouth shut, just say so," she huffed.
Yae only smiled. Mona was welcome to go—if she was certain she could suppress the oni king in single combat. Yae, however, was planning on a straight‑on victory, not a stealth theft.
Mona faltered. She couldn't honestly promise that. Between the pearl and a thousand years of cultivation, the Fire Oni King's raw power would be enormous. Thievery she could manage. A frontal kill was another matter.
Even Ayaka hesitated. "If I go," she said, "I'm not sure I can win."
"Don't be afraid," Yae told her. "Your Guuji has a trick prepared.
"Come up to Narukami Shrine.
"Don't keep me waiting."
Ayaka came, sword‑riding, in less than ten minutes.
"Lady Guuji," she said as she stepped onto the veranda, "perhaps someone else would be better. Against such a foe, I…"
Yae waved her worry away and placed a weapon in her hands.
"You need to believe in yourself," she said. "I've brought you something very special.
"With this, the Fire Oni King becomes a much simpler problem."
Ayaka looked down.
In her grip was a black‑bladed sword that pulsed faintly with a serene, terrible power.
Tenseiga.