—Teyvat
Qingce Mountain, inside the cave.
The sudden appearance of Ruin Guards and a Ruin Hunter made Lumine flashback to the Guyun Stone Forest F4—being spun around by those four single-eyed little treasures in painful windmill combos.
The lineup in front of her not only had one more than the Guyun Stone Forest F4 but also included a Ruin Hunter.
The combination of single-eyed little treasures and a bomber.
Truly enough to make one's vision go dark.
"Yiya, yiya." Yiya shouted to Lumine, then spread her small flame wings to engage the Ruin Hunter.
Paimon was about to translate, but Lumine stopped her:
"No need to translate this part—I can understand."
From her actions alone, it was clear Yiya was saying something like "Leave the flying big guy to me."
Now with one less Ruin Hunter, the difficulty dropped a whole tier. Although five single-eyed little treasures' windmill combos were still no joke.
But it was still better than fighting Ruin Guards while a bomber harassed from the side.
Yiya and the Ruin Hunter clashed fiercely in the high air of the cave, while on the ground Lumine drew the Sword of Dawn.
"Turn to dust!" Lumine simultaneously used two elemental powers to meet the Ruin Guards.
Anemo surrounded her to boost speed, while Geo converged on the Sword of Dawn—the great treasure sword that shone brilliantly during the Osial incident appeared.
[Yiya—not only cute, but also really strong.]
[At critical moments, you may not believe Paimon, but you can definitely believe Yiya.]
[Ruin Hunter: Why do you get five against one, but I have to go one-on-one? No one told me the other side had an aerial combat unit too!]
In the limited-height cave, the Ruin Hunter's aerial combat ability was inferior to Yiya's.
But if one really thought about it—below the level of gods, were there really opponents whose aerial combat ability and mobility could compare to Yiya's?
Soon, the Ruin Hunter was knocked down by Yiya.
Yiya recalled how Lumine had handled defeated Ruin Hunters earlier, then dismantled the Ruin Hunter's frame and rummaged out materials from inside.
[Frugal household management.jpg]
[If there really was a kid like Yiya in real life, his parents would be blessed.]
On the other side, Lumine had also successfully dealt with all the Ruin Guards. Carrying the Sword of Dawn, she walked over with Paimon.
"Yiya." Yiya offered the materials.
Taking the materials from Yiya's hands, Lumine beamed: "Thanks, Yiya. When we're back, big sister will treat you to something delicious."
Then she looked at Paimon: "Learn from her."
"Don't make it sound like I have Yiya's kind of power." Paimon looked at Lumine with speechless eyes.
She only had one-fifth the strength of a wild boar—she couldn't violently dismantle Ruin series constructs like Yiya.
"Then you need to work hard on training. Yiya's food expenses are only one-fifth of yours, but she's a hundred times more reliable than you."
Lumine made a cheering gesture toward Paimon: "Come on, even reaching a little bit of Yiya's level would be progress."
"I think eating, drinking, and having fun suits me better." Paimon was very self-aware. "If you really want me to be more useful, I can go find Guizhong and ask her to make me a mechanism that only I can use."
Lumine looked at Paimon accepting reality and sighed helplessly.
Maybe she should just find a pot?
[Paimon: As long as I accept my incompetence, then I'm invincible!]
[Paimon~ Have you forgotten you're also emergency food? Aren't you worried we'll start a fire right here?]
Suddenly, Yiya's expression changed. She pounced toward Lumine and Paimon: "Yiya!" (Watch out!)
The one big and one small were knocked down by Yiya.
A sharp stone pillar flew through the air, grazing Yiya's back and embedding itself in the ground.
Without Yiya, Lumine and Paimon might have been seriously injured by that stone pillar. Of course, with Lumine's skills, it would be hard to sneak attack her—so only a possibility.
After knocking Lumine and Paimon down, Yiya did a forward roll, crouching in a half-squat stance. Her flame wings spread behind her, her big eyes glaring furiously upward.
"Dodged it? As expected of Phenex."
A frivolous tone rang out. Lumine and Paimon looked up to see the archaeologist Qingyuan—the one who had pointed them in this direction.
[Big twist!]
[So the villain was here from the very beginning.]
[Not that surprised. No buildup, but this NPC's appearance and every action have been too coincidental.]
"Qingyuan?" Paimon's tone was shocked mixed with absurdity.
"Qingyuan, Qingyuan, Qing…" Lumine also realized there was something off about the name.
In ancient Liyue, "Qingce" referred to a certain creature: Chi.
Qingyuan's "Qing" and Qingce's "Qing" were homophones. Normally, this was just a coincidence.
But now, Qingyuan—or rather Qingyuan—appeared in the remains of Chi, who bore the name Qingce, and even showed undisguised malice toward them, especially Yiya.
The implication was already very clear.
"You're Chi." Lumine held her sword horizontally in front of her, Anemo and Geo pulsing around her body.
Qingyuan tilted his head, gave a light laugh, and the corner of his mouth curved upward: "Correct answer."
The aura of god remnants rose around him. A presence Yiya had never felt before but found strangely familiar surged forth.
The entire cave shook violently at this moment, as if resonating with the aura on Qingyuan.
"Ah!"
Yiya's face turned fierce as she charged toward Qingyuan.
Jun Bai was filled with hatred toward Chi, so naturally Yiya wouldn't show any kindness to Qingyuan who had revealed his true form.
Qingyuan met Yiya's fist head-on without budging an inch, then sneered contemptuously:
"Phenex, the current you isn't even as good as when you first emerged from Nirvana."
"You're so weak!"
Qingyuan struck Yiya's chest with one palm. Yiya flew straight back along the path she came from.
[Everyone draw your blades! Qingyuan, I **** **** ****]
[You can hit me, you can hit Jun Bai, but you can't touch my daughter!]
[Where's Jun Bai? Save her, hurry up and save her! Your daughter got hit]
[Though to be precise, Yiya is actually genderless, and if we're really classifying, she's considered male like Jun Bai… but whatever makes you happy.]
Paimon caught Yiya in midair, and the two crashed into the cave wall together.
In the end, she only had one-fifth the strength of a wild boar.
Lumine had already drawn her sword and charged forward while Paimon caught Yiya. No matter what Qingyuan's purpose was for appearing here at this moment—whether it matched their guess or not.
First strike anyway.
Lumine's skills were still a bit better than Yiya's. With dual elements driving her, she at least had the qualifications to fight Qingyuan back and forth.
Qingyuan was the reappearance of Chi from the period when he devoured the Dream God's lingering thoughts.
At that time, Chi had only just recovered—entry-level god power—and after being reappeared by the ley lines, his strength had further decreased.
So now he could only trade blows evenly with the dual-element Traveler.
[Chi is only at this level?]
[Just this level? Then I'll take revenge for Second Brother on Jun Bai's behalf right now!]
But being able to fight was limited to just being able to fight.
In the clash of sword and palm, Lumine fell into a disadvantage and was sent flying by one of Qingyuan's palms—fortunately without injury.
Lumine adjusted her posture midair and landed steadily.
"Yiya, let's attack together."
"Yiya!" (Understood)
Lumine and Yiya gathered their power, ready to launch a joint assault on Qingyuan.
Qingyuan sneered coldly, aura condensing around him.
The next moment, Qingyuan's expression froze.
A scarlet three-pronged, double-edged spear pierced straight through his chest.