At this critical moment, Zhongli waved his hand, and a tall stone ridge suddenly rose beneath his feet.
He stood atop it and ascended smoothly, narrowly dodging Jiang Xue's attack!
Su Yuan was stunned—so the stone ridge could be used like that?
Created directly underfoot?
And in Zhongli's hand, another weapon appeared—not a spear formed from Geo energy or eerie power this time, but a real, solid Vortex Vanquisher.
"Jiang Xue" relentlessly pursued him, leaping toward the higher ground, and Zhongli met the strike head-on!
Su Yuan couldn't help but feel a bit of disbelief—how come after being freed from the eerie corruption, Zhongli actually seemed even more at ease in battle?
As he clashed with "Jiang Xue," Zhongli calmly opened his mouth and said,
"If I disturbed your fishing just now, I sincerely apologize…"
"But in truth, not a single fish has been scared away."
"If you don't hurry back and continue fishing, then those fish might really escape…"
As Zhongli spoke, "Jiang Xue" turned and glanced back—just as Zhongli had said, not a single fish had gotten away…
Well, of course.
After all, it was just a fishing toy, not real fishing—how could any fish possibly escape?
"Jiang Xue" glanced at Zhongli one more time, then said nothing and returned to his original spot, resuming his fishing.
Su Yuan finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had thought Zhongli and Jiang Xue were about to fight to the bitter end—he never expected it to be resolved like this.
Jiang Xue really was obsessed with fishing...
But at the same time, a brand new thought popped into Su Yuan's mind—
What if, just now while Jiang Xue was fighting Zhongli, someone had stolen the fish from his fishing toy… or even destroyed the toy entirely—what would have happened to Jiang Xue then?
Well, it definitely wouldn't have been anything good...
Most likely, just like what happened with Chevreuse before, he would have fallen into a state of permanent eeriness...
Thankfully, things had turned out far better than he had expected.
Everything was resolved perfectly.
Zhongli… was finally back.
Wait, no—it wasn't over yet.
Chongyun and Xingqiu… they were still missing.
Just as Su Yuan was thinking that, a voice called out from behind in the distance.
"Su Yuan! Yelan! Everyone! Sorry we're late!"
Everyone turned to look—and sure enough, it was Chongyun and Xingqiu...
But they weren't alone.
Behind them walked a woman with a frosty, indifferent expression, as if untouched by worldly matters.
She had cool-toned drooping eyes and long, gradient gray-white hair that partly covered her right eye…
No wonder they didn't know where Chongyun and Xingqiu had gone—they had gone to find Shenhe.
But… that still didn't quite make sense…
If they had found Shenhe, couldn't they have just used Yelan's messenger pigeon to send word?
Why had there been no message at all?
"Eh? Judging by your confused looks… don't tell me you didn't receive the messenger pigeon we sent?"
Xingqiu looked at everyone, a bit puzzled.
"We didn't," Su Yuan shook his head and replied.
"It's probably because the terrain in Liyue's mountains is too complicated. Messenger pigeons can't fly at high altitudes, so there's always a chance they could get lost…"
Yelan thought for a moment and said,
"But that's not important now. The Geo Lord is no longer under the control of the eerie power, and you even found Miss Shenhe…"
"Yeah, we happened to run into Miss Shenhe yesterday," Xingqiu said, looking a little exasperated.
"She saw me and Chongyun walking along a mountain path and thought I was about to bully or mess with Chongyun again…"
"I swear, I was totally innocent this time…"
"But after we explained everything, Miss Shenhe understood our situation and agreed to help us…"
"Hello, Shenhe."
Su Yuan greeted her and said,
"My name is Su Yuan — 'Su' as in Tiramisu, and 'Yuan' as in crumbling ruins."
"Hello, Su Yuan."
Shenhe gave a small nod and responded calmly.
Then, Shenhe walked toward Aether and stood in front of him, speaking:
"Traveler, long time no see."
"Yeah, Shenhe, it's been a while."
Aether nodded with a gentle smile.
"Hi there, Shenhe!"
Paimon also waved and greeted cheerfully.
But in the next moment — Shenhe's expression suddenly changed!
She stared at Aether, her brows furrowed slightly, and her face was full of confusion and caution…
Without hesitation, Shenhe pulled out a long spear in one hand and a talisman in the other, her stance clearly wary of Aether.
"You are not the Traveler… Who are you, really?"
Everyone stood there in stunned silence, especially Su Yuan…
The rule prompt on his right palm had clearly stated that Aether and Paimon weren't affected or controlled by the eerie power…
And even Xiao had said that the feeling of someone calling his name — that was the Traveler!
Su Yuan quickly turned to look for Zhongli to ask for his opinion — only to realize Zhongli had disappeared.
He was nowhere to be seen…
"Are all these gods like this? Coming and going as they please, vanishing without a trace?"
Jiang Xue muttered softly when he noticed Su Yuan seemed to be looking around for Zhongli.
With no other choice, Su Yuan, feeling that something was off, called out loudly, "Xiao—are you there?"
In just a moment, Xiao's figure appeared beside Su Yuan.
"You called for me?" Xiao looked at him and asked.
"Xiao, let me confirm once more—when the Traveler called your name earlier, are you absolutely certain that feeling wasn't wrong?"
"That sensation... I could never mistake it. He is the real Traveler," Xiao reaffirmed with conviction.
"Shenhe, what are you saying? I am the real Traveler…"
Aether still wore a gentle smile as he looked at Shenhe and spoke slowly,
"What's wrong? It's only been a little while—have you forgotten what I look like already?"
"If I'm not the Traveler, then who else could be?"
"No… you're not… You absolutely are not…"
Shenhe touched the red ropes tied to her body, her tone unwavering as she insisted.
Su Yuan also looked toward the red ropes on Shenhe, and thought again of the rules marked on his right palm…
[In Liyue, there are currently only two people you can absolutely trust—one is Chongyun, when his Pure Yang constitution flares up; the other is Shenhe, so long as the red ropes remains unbroken.]
Absolutely… trust…
At first, Su Yuan had thought that this "absolute trust" probably meant that, under certain conditions, those individuals wouldn't fall into an eerie state due to internal factors…
But now, even though Shenhe's red ropes was perfectly intact, she still made such a judgment…
Though the current situation seems to contradict the rule's guidance…
Should he… choose to trust Shenhe instead?
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