"Why are you telling me all this?" Ranni pursed her lips, looking at the fingerslayer blade in her hand, stained with golden light, feeling a little at a loss.
If it was truly as the Greater Will said, then she really was quite laughable. What she thought was transcending fate was actually just predestined destiny.
"Hey, hey, hey! Why did you suddenly get so depressed?" Patches saw the dazed look in Ranni's eyes and ran in front of her, waving his hand.
But unfortunately, Ranni seemed not to see Patches at all; her gaze remained unfocused.
"Baldy, call that woman over later and open the door again. Your king is probably already very annoyed with that dragon."
"No need to look, I'm right here." No sooner had the Greater Will finished speaking than the Fire Keeper's voice suddenly appeared beside Patches' Shop.
At this moment, everyone realized that the Fire Keeper had been standing there all along, but no one had noticed her.
"But before that, allow me to deal with certain things that shouldn't exist."
As the Fire Keeper spoke, she beckoned with her hand. The fingerslayer blade in Ranni's hand suddenly sparked.
The sparks grew more and more numerous, and eventually, the dark red fingerslayer blade directly ignited.
Flames enveloped the entire fingerslayer blade, and at the same time, they also enveloped Ranni's hand, woven from straw.
But she didn't feel any discomfort. When Ranni came back to her senses, she saw a pile of ashes in her hand.
As for the fingerslayer blade, it had long since vanished without a trace.
"You should understand that your past and present have long been separated. Dwelling in the past is not a good thing."
Ranni looked up and saw the Fire Keeper smiling and nodding at her... "King, after waiting so long with no response, let's go back!" Lanssangx said with great anticipation, looking at Yu Jin, who had been "surrendering" for a long time.
Haha, another day added to the vacation!
"Buzz—"
A constantly shattering and repairing crack appeared within the Golden Tree, and dazzling light illuminated Lanssangx's frozen, beautiful face.
"Wait..."
"Get in there!"
Yu Jin, who had just been "surrendering," flashed beside Lanssangx and, with a left kick, sent her into the bizarre spatial rift.
"Pop!" The spatial rift closed, and the space within the Golden Tree became quiet once again.
"Phew! Finally, some peace and quiet." Yu Jin rubbed his shoulders and sighed. Imitating a finger holding his arms up, he was almost exhausted to death.
He looked at the calm water, felt bored, and wanted to leave.
"Xiao Huang, open the door." Yu Jin looked up and called out to the Golden Tree. Soon, a golden curtain appeared before Yu Jin's eyes.
He stepped through the curtain and arrived at the summit of Dragonspine.
Then Yu Jin saw familiar people.
Venti and Dvalin.
"I find you're really idle." Yu Jin looked at Venti, who was sitting on Dvalin's head, and said with great exasperation.
Why did he have to come and see everything?
"Then why don't you stop making such a fuss?" Venti clutched his heart, looking at Yu Jin and speaking weakly.
Those distorted ripples might be hard for ordinary people to detect, but not for Venti.
When he saw those ripples extending all the way to the heavens, Venti almost had his soul scared out of him.
As a responsible god, he loved Mondstadt very much. To prevent Mondstadt from being nailed down, Venti felt it was necessary to come and see.
"Last time! I'll leave immediately, going to Liyue, okay!" Yu Jin spread his hands, showing no sign of repentance.
"Lan Jie, has she gone back?" The always silent Dvalin spoke up. Yu Jin was going to Liyue, but Lanssangx was nowhere to be seen. Dvalin had already guessed something.
"Sis? Dvalin, you have a problem!" Yu Jin looked at Dvalin and said with great disbelief.
A dragon, alone for over two thousand years, that was Dvalin; an opposite-sex kin suddenly entering his solitary life, that was also Dvalin; and then calling someone 'sister,' that was still Dvalin!
Was Dvalin the problem, or was Lanssangx the problem?
It might really be Lanssangx who had a problem. Yu Jin thought about Lanssangx's conduct and felt it was probably true.
"..."
"What are you saying? What are you saying? Can't there be a pure friendship between men and women?" Venti saw Dvalin's silent expression and, as a good friend, immediately stood up to defend Dvalin.
"Yes, but it's rare in this situation." Yu Jin nodded earnestly.
"Lan Jie is my senior; she taught me many things that I didn't know before. I don't think there's anything wrong with calling her 'sister'."
Dvalin looked at Venti and Yu Jin, who were debating, and slowly said.
Initially, Lanssangx would tell Dvalin about the history of dragons and such. Later, when she realized that Dvalin was truly the only dragon here, she stopped recounting history.
Because history is recorded in books, Lanssangx decided to teach Dvalin things not recorded in books.
How to build a house suitable for a dragon, when claws should be trimmed, how to care for a dragon's oral cavity... and so on.
Later, Lanssangx almost personally taught Dvalin, this "wild dragon," how to live more comfortably, instead of just getting by as before.
"Then will you feel lonely in the future?" Yu Jin stopped his banter with Venti and asked Dvalin.
"No, at least not for a while. Lan Jie left many things, and I still have to learn and practice them." Dvalin shook his head.
He would definitely be lonely, but it was much better than before. At worst, Venti was still awake now, and he could talk to Venti.
"Dvalin, if you feel lonely, go out and travel. Don't limit yourself to Mondstadt; you will definitely gain something."
Venti looked at Dvalin, encouraging him to go out and travel. The Seven Nations were vast, and Dvalin would surely gain something that satisfied him.
Yu Jin glanced at Venti, the cryptic riddle-teller. He took a step forward and said loudly:
"Actually, you still have kin, um..., at least seven!" Yu Jin said, making a 'seven' gesture with his hand.
"Yu Jin, you..." Venti's face instantly changed dramatically, almost shouting like Andrius.
"Xiao Huang, give me thorns!" Yu Jin pointed to the sky. Immediately, the previously calm ground began to tremble.
Thorned vines grew from beneath the earth, enveloping Yu Jin and the others.
Thorns of Rejection. When the Golden Tree rejected everything from the outside world, it would form a hard shell woven from thorns.
At that time, no information from within the Golden Tree could be known to the outside world, unless a flame was ignited, causing a great fire, Burning the Thorns of Rejection.
"This is..."
"The Super Dark Room!" Yu Jin knocked on the thorn-covered vine wall, and specks of golden patterns illuminated the interior space.
"Inside here, no matter what happens, the outside world won't know." Yu Jin looked at Venti, then continued:
"Dvalin is a dragon; he should also know what happened in the past."
Then, as Venti's expression constantly changed, Yu Jin recounted to Dvalin everything Kutri had told him, without omitting a single detail.
"Seven Dragon Kings? And a King of Dragon Kings?" Dvalin looked at his claws. So he wasn't alone in this world after all?
After surprise and confusion came the responsibility that accompanied his identity. If the Seven Gods were usurpers, then as a dragon, shouldn't he seek revenge against the Seven Gods and humanity?
He looked at Venti, then recalled Mondstadt, and felt he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Dvalin felt that this news wasn't so worth celebrating now.
"Hehe, feeling lost?" Yu Jin looked at Dvalin's confused little eyes and smiled.
"Then go find your kin and see what they think. As Venti said, the rewards won't be small!"
----------------------------------
I've already uploaded over 40 chapters of this story on Patreon.
If you're enjoying it, you can check out the latest chapters early over there.
patreon.com/Greyhounds
Thank you so much for your support.
And if you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a Power Stone for me.