Ren
Ren took a slow breath as he insistently kept his eyes on Xiao.
He did this for two reasons. One was that he needed to show Xiao that he was someone worth talking to, that he wouldn't just wither from a sharp gaze.
The second reason was far less dignified. Some part of his brain was convinced that breaking eye contact with someone this dangerous would mean instant death.
"I'll be direct," Ren said. "I came here because I want to understand my own constitution better. There are things happening with my energy that I can't explain on my own, and I don't have anyone in Teyvat who could."
He stopped to gauge Xiao's reaction. The Yaksha kept his gaze even. Ren took this as a sign to continue.
"I've heard the accounts of the Conqueror of Demons, and your… situation with Karmic Debt. What it does." Xiao narrowed his eyes just slightly. "I'm sure you see my energy as something equally foul. What I carry isn't the same thing, but it's pretty close. I came to you because there was no one else more equipped to assist me with my situation."
Xiao tilted his head slightly. He was contemplating Ren's words, which were already a win in Ren's mind.
The wind moved across the upper floor. Rustling the branches and leaves around them, making the silence at the table far more pronounced.
Ren kept his gaze and expression calm, but his grip under the table tightened just slightly as he waited for the Yaksha's response.
The Conqueror of Demons didn't break his silence. It went on for so long that Ren couldn't help but think that he was doing this on purpose to torment him.
'Maybe he still doesn't trust me.' Ren thought.
Even with the Letter from Ganyu, Xiao would still be cautious around someone like Ren. If Shenhe's reaction to him was anything to go by, it would take more than just a letter to convince him.
"I have stayed in Liyue for several months. I've helped and lived as part of the city, and I believe I've proven that I mean Liyue no harm." Ren decided to say, "I have even met with Cloud Retainer—"
"You don't need to explain further." Xiao cut him off, "I already know of your interactions with my fellow Adeptus."
'What.'
"From your reaction, I assume you did not expect me to have much information about you," Xiao said. His golden gaze piercing his soul. "I know of your operations. Your interactions with the Adepti. The delivery routes you take across Liyue."
Xiao finally took the first bite of the Almond Tofu, "I was also there to witness your battle in Guyun Stone Forest."
'He was there?!' The fake commission was so far away from the harbor, and Xiao had followed him that far?
"I have observed your operations throughout Liyue enough to know you mean no harm. Though just because you mean no harm, it doesn't mean you won't bring it." Xiao continued.
"I do not eliminate something simply because they exude a foul scent. If that were my criteria, I would have spent the last several centuries killing myself." The words came out with no particular inflection. "So for now, be at ease. I have no intention of pointing my spear at you."
That last part was intended to bring Ren some comfort, and failed miserably.
'I'm an idiot!'
He had spent months avoiding Wangshu Inn specifically because Xiao was there. Mapping his routes around it. Turning down the occasional delivery that ran too close to the road past Dihua Marsh. Constructing, with considerable effort, a geography of avoidance centered on the one location he associated with the Yaksha.
And the entire time, Xiao had been watching him move cargo through the harbor.
There was nothing tying Xiao to Wangshu Inn. He went where he wanted. He watched what he wanted. The inn was just where he rested, and Ren had somehow treated it like a cage.
'I can't believe I was so naive!' Ren internally smacked himself in the head.
He filed the embarrassment away and refocused.
"Then may I ask my questions?" Ren asked.
"You may." Xiao's gaze didn't waver. "But once I have answered them, you will do something for me in return. Think of it as an exchange, if you will."
'That's fucking terrifying.'
The phrasing was open-ended in a way that was clearly intentional. Giving out no detail at all because he knew Ren would accept.
"...Alright. I agree to your terms."
Xiao nodded and took another bite of Almond Tofu.
The wind moved through the canopy again. The golden light shifted across the table, catching the edge of the Almond Tofu briefly before moving on.
Ren breathed out slowly and steadied himself.
/ — /
"You probably already know that I'm not from Teyvat."
Xiao didn't show any reaction, but he nodded after a while.
"Then you should also know that since arriving, something odd has been going on with my energy." Ren brought his hand out and coursed Cursed Energy through it. Making it light up in a vibrant purple hue.
"I noticed that my energy has been increasing ever since I got here, and I found that that is because I've been absorbing Liyue's malevolent energy passively and converting it into my own." He met Xiao's eyes. "I want to know the side effects of that. What it could mean for me in the long run."
Xiao set down his chopsticks. "Your foul scent has increased considerably since our first encounter."
Ren blinked. "You still remember what my energy was like back then?"
"Yes," Xiao said bluntly. His gaze moved across him as if he were assessing a tool. "At that time, the darkness you carried was much more contained. What you exude now is noticeably colder. You are correct to assume that it is due to absorbing Liyue's foul energies."
'Guess that basically confirms it.'
He still remembered when Baizhu told him of what he assumed was happening. The accumulation of foul energy, and Ren had been working off that assumption ever since.
Having someone like Xiao confirm it in front of you just cleared any room for doubt.
"Your body is not simply absorbing malevolent energy when you pass near it," Xiao explained. "Karmic debt. Abyssal energy. Curses. Anything that is considered foul is drawn to you. There is an important distinction."
'Abyssal Energy?' Now that was something Ren rarely had experience with. He'd heard of organisations like the Abyss Order and the Abyss itself. But not much information was readily available, and he had no reason to look deeper into that.
"What do you mean that they're drawn to me? So it's like they're actively seeking me out?"
"You aren't… wrong, but not entirely right. You act like a sponge, but a sponge placed in water just absorbs what surrounds it and stops once it's filled. What you are is closer to a drain."
Ren suddenly felt a chill move across his body, and his breath left his lungs. The Karmic Debt that exuded from Xiao exploded.
Xiao showed no change in expression, and Ren finally realised that he was trying to demonstrate it to him.
He moved his senses to his body and tried to see how Xiao's energy moved towards him—Only to see nothing.
He could feel the energy being absorbed, but he couldn't actually perceive it happening.
Xiao seemed to notice as well and stopped. Something moved across his expression that wasn't quite distaste but close enough. "The darkness of Liyue moves toward you. Wherever you go. "
Ren processed that.
'So it's not just that I soak it up when I'm near it. It's actively coming to me and trying to find me.'
He thought about the months of deliveries. The routes through the harbor, the mountain paths. Every corner of Liyue he had pushed a cart through or flown Nue over.
If what Xiao was describing was accurate, he had essentially been walking through this nation for the better part of almost a year with every piece of residual malevolent energy in the vicinity quietly redirecting itself in his direction.
'That's deeply concerning… Though I can't complain much because I am getting stronger.'
"Is there a risk of—"
"I'm not finished."
Ren shut his mouth immediately.
Xiao picked up the chopsticks again, considered the remaining tofu for a moment, then set them back down. It seemed like what he needed to say next was important enough that he needed to postpone another bite of his meal.
"There is a barrier around your soul."
…
"I'm sorry, what?"
"So you don't know about it… Interesting." Xiao hummed, "My senses tell me that it's something artificially constructed. It sits between your soul and the outer edges of your being. The malevolent energy your body absorbs accumulates in the space between them. The barrier prevents it from reaching your soul."
His eyes gained an interested glint. "None of it leaks outward either…. Whoever constructed it did so with precision and skill… I dare say skill comparable to that of Rex Lapis."
"...Comparable to Rex Lapis?"
"Yes."
Ren took a moment to process that information.
Then he looked away from the table. Then back at Xiao. Just anywhere for his eyes to wander while his brain attempted to process what had just been said to him.
'A barrier… between my soul?'
There was a barrier around his soul that he had never known existed, had never felt, had never once had any indication of.
It had apparently been there long enough and been thorough enough to contain every single piece of malevolent energy he had been passively accumulating since arriving in Teyvat, possibly longer, and whoever had built it was operating at the level of a fucking god.
'Who made it?'
The question surfaced immediately. Followed by several others in rapid succession.
'When was it made? Before Teyvat or after? Did someone know this would happen to me? Did someone put this here specifically because they knew I'd end up here, or was it built for something else entirely, and this is just— '
He stopped himself.
These were not questions Xiao could answer. And even if he could, this was not the time to spiral into them. He had more important questions to ask, and Xiao was not the kind of entity you wasted time in front of.
"You seem rattled," Xiao said.
"Yeah… I suppose I am."
A brief silence. Xiao looked at him for a moment longer in a way that Ren couldn't fully interpret, then reached for the chopsticks again. Eating another bite of Almond Tofu while Ren had an existential crisis.
Ren sighed slowly and straightened in his seat.
There would be time to think about the barrier later.
/ — /
"Second question," Ren said. "My energy… Can it become harmful to the people around me? The way Karmic Debt affects those near you?"
"No," Xiao answered immediately.
'That was quick.' Ren thought, surprised. He waited for Xiao to elaborate.
"The malevolent energy your body absorbs does not seep outward," Xiao said.
"It is contained within the barrier. What radiates from your body is not the accumulated filth." He looked at Ren with a gaze that had a slight edge to it. "What radiates from you is the energy you call Cursed Energy."
Ren inhaled sharply. "...You know about Cursed Energy?"
"I made it my business to understand what I was observing," Xiao said flatly. Which, translated, meant yes, I was that thorough, and no, you shouldn't be surprised.
'Right. Thousands of years old. Expert in malevolent energy. Observed me for months.' Ren thought. 'Of course he knows what it's called. He's a Yaksha. he probably has intelligence networks everywhere.'
It was expected. But it still caught him off guard.
"So the people around me aren't at risk then," Ren confirmed one more time.
"...Not from the accumulated energy."
'That's an odd way to phrase that answer…'
"Now." Xiao continued. "You said you've noticed your energy increasing since your arrival. You attributed this to absorbing Liyue's malevolent energy."
"Yeah."
"You are correct. Your body converts a portion of the malevolent energy it absorbs into your Cursed Energy. That conversion is the source of your growing pool." Xiao paused. "However, the conversion is deeply inefficient."
Ren perked up. This was something new to him.
"The vast majority of what your body absorbs does not become Cursed Energy," Xiao continued. "It accumulates around your soul instead. Only a small fraction of what enters your body is actually converted."
"How small are we talking?" Ren asked, slightly nervous. "If we put it in numbers, what… percentage is it actually converting?"
Xiao contemplated the answer for a moment. "When you first arrived in Liyue, I sensed approximately ten percent conversion. But now it is closer to five." He hummed, "Though I do not know why that is…"
The table went quiet.
Ren processed the number. And then, very quietly, somewhere in the back of his mind, something clicked into place.
'It's been halved.'
He knew exactly what had halved it.
He kept his expression neutral. He was fairly proud of that.
The binding vow he had made for the Shadow Bands had been worded carefully and with intention.
[The rate at which Ren Roman's Cursed Energy Pool grows decreases by fifty percent. Permanently.]
That was what he had offered. A real sacrifice, made under the genuine belief that he was permanently cutting his CE growth rate in half with no way around it.
The vow stuck because at the time of the vow, he had been fully prepared to live with that ceiling forever.
His passive conversion rate had dropped from ten percent to five. The vow was being fulfilled completely and correctly.
What the vow had not touched, and what he left purposely open-ended, was the question of whether he could actively improve his conversion efficiency through his own effort.
Learning to process and transform malevolent energy into Cursed Energy himself. Increasing the rate not through passive accumulation but through deliberate intent.
The vow governed the passive rate. That rate had decreased by fifty percent, permanently, exactly as promised.
There was nothing about what he could do on purpose.
'Looks like my gut feeling was right,' He had to stop himself from bursting into an ear-to-ear grin.
It had been a gamble of astronomical proportions. He could admit that now. When he made the vow, he hadn't known for certain that only a portion of what he absorbed was converting.
He'd had two theories.
The first was that Teyvat's malevolent energy was simply inferior to CE as a raw material, which would mean the slow growth rate reflected the quality of what he was absorbing.
The second was that the conversion itself was inefficient. That only a fraction of what entered his body was actually becoming CE, and the rest was going somewhere else entirely.
If the first theory had been right, the binding vow would have been a genuine and permanent loss with no path around it. He would have halved an already limited growth rate, and that would have been the entirety of the exchange.
So it was a good thing that the second theory was right.
The conversion was the issue. Ninety-five percent of what he absorbed every day was sitting inside that barrier doing nothing. Wasted material. Inefficiency on a scale that, now that he understood it properly, was almost insulting.
Which meant the ceiling wasn't a ceiling at all.
It was a skill issue.
Xiao had been watching him through all of this. Ren had no idea if he knew what went through his mind.
He really hoped not.
Then Xiao spoke again, unprompted.
"For now, the barrier is sufficient," he said. There was something in the way he said it. It wasn't a reassurance, per se. Ren didn't know how to describe it. "The accumulated energy is contained. It is not causing active harm."
He paused.
"However. The energy inside that barrier continues to accumulate with every passing day." His golden eyes stayed on Ren's. "At some point, the question of how long it remains sufficient becomes relevant."
Ren met his gaze.
"How long does it remain sufficient?"
Xiao held his gaze for a moment.
"That," he said, "is not something either of us can answer."
…
"Ok… Now for my final question."
/ — /
Ren decided to get it over with. "Is there a risk of me being consumed by what I absorb? The malevolent energy building up inside the barrier—can it corrupt me in any way?"
Xiao's eyes drifted away from him, "As long as the barrier holds… no."
His eyes turned back to him. Now bearing an intensity that made him freeze up.
"But the moment it fails—yes. And rapidly."
He didn't explain further. There wasn't any need to.
…
…
'So I'm basically a ticking bomb,'
Ren had been sitting across from Xiao for the duration of this entire conversation. Close enough that the weight of the Karmic Debt pressing outward from him had been a constant presence against his senses the entire time.
It flowed just like fire. Something you didn't touch, something you kept a measured distance from, something that would consume anything it reached without malice because it was simply in its nature.
Xiao was tormented by the Karmic Debt of countless fallen gods.
Ren had been absorbing that same karmic debt and more.
Who knows what could happen to him once the barrier breaks?
He wasn't like Xiao. He wouldn't be able to control the sudden influx of immense negative energy. Cursed Energy was something he could already control. But Karmic Debt? Abyssal Energy?
What could he even do against that?
'Looks like I didn't come out of the Binding Vow unscathed after all,' he thought bitterly. 'I need to find a way to actively convert the malevolent energy around my soul into CE before the barrier breaks…'
Ren looked at his hands, seeing them shaking slightly.
'Yeah, no pressure.'
The silence that followed was its own kind of weight. The canopy above had gone quieter, the afternoon wind settling, and the sounds of the inn below felt further away than they had at the start of the conversation.
Ren breathed through it and came back to himself.
He had gotten his answers. There was no reason for him to stick around any longer.
He opened his mouth to say his thanks when Xiao cut him off..
"You have your answers," Xiao said. "Now you will do something for me."
'Fuck I completely forgot about that.'
"What do you know of the Chasm?" Xiao said.
'I don't like where this is going…'
Ren knew the gist of that place. A massive excavation site carved deep into the earth over generations of mining until something had gone wrong and the whole operation had been sealed off.
What exactly had gone wrong varied depending on who told the story, but the consistent thread across every version was that whatever was down there now was not something ordinary people went near.
"I know that it's dangerous," Ren said carefully.
"What lies within goes beyond simple danger." Xiao's voice hardened. "The concentration of malevolent forces in the Chasm is stronger than anywhere else. Abyssal energy. Karmic remnants. Filth that has been accumulating for centuries."
He looked at Ren directly. "I want to see how your absorption fares in that environment."
…
…
'He wants to take me to the Chasm to see if my barrier breaks… Fucking fantastic.'
"I'll make sure you remain unscathed," Xiao continued, as if he'd heard the thought. "I want to observe how your body responds when the concentration of malevolent energy around it increases significantly. Whether the absorption scales. Whether the barrier behaves differently under heavier pressure."
Ren said nothing for a moment.
He now understood what the exchange had actually been from the beginning. Xiao had answered three questions about Ren's constitution, and what he wanted in return was confirmation.
He had been watching Ren move through Liyue for months, and he still didn't know what Ren's absorption looked like under real stress. The Chasm was the test environment to see if he can really leave Ren unattended in Liyue.
And Xiao had structured the entire conversation to get him to agree before revealing what he was agreeing to.
'I should have expected this…'
"We will leave immediately," Xiao added.
'Oh come on!'
That had to be on purpose.
Not giving Ren time to research the Chasm thoroughly, inform Ganyu, mentally prepare, or do any of the things a reasonable person would want to do before walking into a sealed excavation site full of concentrated demonic energy alongside the Conqueror of Demons.
Ren did not like his chances.
…
…
He sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Alright… Let's go."
Xiao stood up immediately.
He was about ready to start going, but turned around to look at the now-empty plate of Almond Tofu.
"Thank you for the meal… The tofu was adequate."
Then he stepped off the edge of the upper floor's guard rails and into the open air and disappeared.
Ren stared at the empty space for a few seconds.
Then he sighed loudly, brought out the hand sign for Nue, and headed off to the Chasm.