"Senior!"
When Phenex returned to the traveling palace, little Ganyu who now looked about eight years old and was wearing a long skirt made from his altered feathered garment came forward to meet him, asking worriedly: "The residents didn't make things difficult for you, did they, Senior?"
"No, my relationship with everyone is still pretty good. And the people of the Guili Assembly are quite reasonable." Phenex smiled. "I've already resolved everything, so it's fine now."
"That's good." Little Ganyu let out a sigh of relief.
Watching the reassured little Ganyu walk back to her room, Phenex's smile gradually faded.
"Victorious in every battle, yet unwilling even to return? Morax, Guizhong in your eyes, does the Guili Assembly really need to be protected this much?"
Phenex sighed.
From what he knew, since the start of the Archon War, under the leadership of Morax and Azhdaha, the adepti had won every battle in the Liyue theater of the Archon War and had already become the dominant force in that battlefield.
The combined strength of Morax and Azhdaha's power, Guizhong's wisdom and mechanism arts, and the adeptal arts of the Jueyun Karst adepti had already conquered nearly half of Liyue's territory.
On the surface, the situation looked very favorable, but Phenex clearly understood that this was already the limit of Morax's side.
The further the war progressed, the harder the surviving opponents became to deal with. For Morax's side, which lacked basic-level combat forces, defeating those gods with stable and massive foundations was undoubtedly very difficult.
Even if a god was no match for Morax and Azhdaha, they only needed to tie the two down, and the god's large army would surround and attack Guizhong and the Jueyun Karst adepti.
Guizhong was not skilled in combat, and the adepti were not as powerful as gods. Thousands upon thousands of troops were simply not something they could resist.
Morax had already crushed those gods with weak foundations and low personal strength.
The remaining ones either commanded forces that the adepti could not shake or were top-tier gods whose strength was only slightly below Morax's level.
Lacking troops, Morax had already reached his limit by getting this far.
Yet even at this point, Morax had never considered returning to the Guili Assembly to let its people join the war.
In Phenex's view, Morax simply did not want the protected people of the Guili Assembly to face any sacrifices.
"But Morax, chicks kept under excessive protection will never learn to fly."
"Moreover, this excessive protection has already caused the Guili Assembly to feel unsafe. Since you won't let me join the war, the only thing I can do for you from the rear is to stabilize the people's hearts on your behalf."
"But how long I can hold it together, how long I can conceal the truth for you I don't know the answer to that either."
Phenex let out another sigh, then suddenly furrowed his brows. His fiery wings spread behind him, and his figure vanished from the spot.
The next moment, Phenex appeared outside the Guili Assembly's barrier. Facing the magical beast in front of him that was emanating pitch-black aura all over its body, he swung his sword in a single strike.
The sword qi streaked through the air like a bolt of silk, instantly carving a deep wound that reached the bone on the magical beast's body.
The beast only had time to let out a roar before crimson flames ignited across its entire body, burning it to ashes.
With a single sword strike, the magical beast something ordinary people would find extremely terrifying lost its life and collapsed to the ground.
"These incidents have been happening more and more frequently lately."
Phenex furrowed his brows tightly, then released flames to reduce the beast's corpse to ashes.
Although the Guili Assembly was protected by the barrier set up by Guizhong, wandering magical creatures or beasts would still occasionally attack the barrier.
Once the barrier came under attack, Guizhong who was far away on the front lines would sense it, and Morax would immediately lead the adepti back to the Guili Assembly.
Phenex had not been permitted to head to the front lines, but he still wanted to provide some help to Morax.
So he had constantly been sensing the movements around the barrier. Whenever any magical creature showed the intent to attack the barrier, Phenex would appear immediately and send it back to the ley lines.
In the past, it would take a very long time for even one magical creature to wander near the Guili Assembly. But recently, such incidents had not only become frequent but had even included rare magical beasts.
Both magical beasts and magical creatures were harmful beings, but there was a vast difference in strength.
Magical creatures even if they entered the city and caused chaos could be quickly subdued if they did not form a large army. But if a magical beast entered the Guili Assembly, the question would be only how much damage it would cause.
"Magical beasts usually have their own habitats, and normal magical beasts wouldn't emit black aura all over their bodies like that."
"...I have a very bad feeling about this."
Phenex sighed once more, then picked up his practice iron sword and continued swinging it.
One day, Phenex sat cross-legged, his entire body levitating in midair with adeptal energy. In his hands, he held books on mechanism arts left behind by Cloud Retainer.
After all, if he was going to take care of a child, he ought to receive some compensation, right? So Phenex had taken Cloud Retainer's lifetime of knowledge.
While he was studying mechanism arts, a voice filled with panic yet also carrying joy came from far outside.
"Senior! Senior!"
Little Ganyu pushed open the door and ran in, nearly tripping over herself again in her haste.
Phenex didn't look away. With a wave of his hand, he sent out a strand of adeptal energy to steady little Ganyu.
"Thank you, Senior."
"I just didn't want to see dust dirty my old clothes. It's not that I'm concerned about you. If you have something to say, say it quickly my schedule for today isn't finished yet."
"Oh." Little Ganyu ignored her senior's rare moment of tsundere behavior and happily said, "Senior, they're back! They're back!"
"Who's back? Speak clearly!"
Little Ganyu caught her breath slightly, then organized her words and said: "The residents who went outside to gather information have returned. They brought news that the Lord of Geo and the adepti are on their way back!"
Phenex's fingers paused on the page he was turning. A smile appeared on his face as he said: "Finally willing to come back, huh?"
But soon, Phenex furrowed his brows again.
Because even though Morax and Guizhong were clearly about to return, the bad premonition in his heart not only did not weaken but grew even stronger.
Vaguely, an inspiration kept flashing in his mind, but Phenex couldn't grasp it.
Until that night when he was sleeping, an aura similar to his own yet fundamentally different appeared in the perception of the sleeping Phenex.
He jolted awake from his dream, cold sweat instantly covering his entire body.
This single aura instantly allowed Phenex to connect everything together.
The Lord of Geo, victorious in every battle yet lacking basic troops... the Guili Assembly... the magical creatures and beasts attacking the barrier...
All the pieces linked together clearly in Phenex's mind. He flipped out of bed. His fiery wings spread, enveloping his entire body as a set of crimson robes appeared.
Phenex picked up the three-foot green blade he used for hunting magical creatures, then spread his wings and flew toward the direction outside the Guili Assembly.
At this moment, the Guili Assembly was unnaturally silent. All the residents had sunk into dreams. Even little Ganyu, who carried qilin blood, was holding her blanket and sleeping soundly.
Without a doubt, this was the work of the hidden enemy.
Phenex arrived outside the barrier, sword held in front of him. Countless memories surged into his mind at this moment.
The critical moment had arrived.
His memories were returning. He already knew exactly what was happening now.
"System... you really know how to pick your timing..."
The young god's tone was extremely helpless. Then his gaze suddenly sharpened. Adeptal energy attached to the blade. With a flick of his wrist, the three-foot green blade was placed horizontally against his own throat.
The sound of metal clashing rang out in the silent midnight.
The spear tip pressed against the sword blade, unable to advance even an inch.
A youth with ink-green hair, whose figure was similar to Phenex's and who was surrounded by ominous black aura, appeared in front of Phenex still frozen in the motion of a sneak attack.