Jueyun Karst, as the dwelling place of Liyue's adepti, is sparsely populated. With its surrounding mountains and abundant monsters, ordinary people wouldn't come here to suffer unless they had a very important reason.
Walking along the path to Mt. Aocang, Su Bai played with a few small finches in his hands. The little creatures weren't afraid of him, happily pecking at breadcrumbs in his palms.
He hadn't gone far before several Hilichurls shattered the peace. Su Bai had unknowingly wandered into a Hilichurl camp. Looking at the screeching creatures around him, he felt a bit puzzled.
Though Su Bai was a renowned fox adeptus in Liyue Harbor, in the eyes of the adepti of Jueyun Karst, he was still just a child. Their fondness for him meant that every time he visited, the adepti would secretly eliminate any monsters along his path.
But for some reason, this time he had walked quite a distance without any adeptus lifting a finger to clear his way. This puzzled Su Bai, though he didn't dwell on it. Since he'd encountered them, he might as well deal with them himself.
"No wonder Jueyun Karst is also called the Place of Mastery. Without some real skill, ordinary people really can't get in."
After taking down the last Mitachurl, Su Bai casually opened the exquisite chest in the center of the camp. Unsurprisingly, it only contained some Mora.
"Little Su Bai, have you come to see Master?"
A cool voice came from behind him. Before Su Bai could turn around, one of his tails was already grasped by a hand with a chilly feel. Hearing that familiar voice, his heart trembled. He felt like his leisurely stroll had suddenly turned into survival mode.
"S-Sister Shenhe! You're not out training? What a coincidence, haha, hahaha..."
"I'm heading to see Master anyway. Let's go together."
Shenhe walked up behind Su Bai and naturally began playing with his fluffy tail. Her fate was to be isolated, and she was indifferent to almost everything in the world—except for the pleasure she took in touching Su Bai's tails.
"Sister Shenhe, how about you go ahead? You seem to be in a hurry. I'll walk slowly."
"No rush. It's nothing important. Just some small matters."
Hearing Shenhe's answer, Su Bai could only nod with a resigned look. In truth, they had known each other since childhood. When Su Bai was little, Cloud Retainer had brought Shenhe to Mt. Aocang.
Back then, Su Bai, spoiled by the other adepti, saw how pitiful Shenhe was, grabbed her hand, and declared she would be his wife and he would protect her. Before he could finish his sentence, Shenhe had beaten him soundly and nearly pulled all the fur off his only tail.
So for the next year, Su Bai repeated the same cycle: challenging Shenhe, getting beaten, getting his tail touched. He finally couldn't take it anymore at age six. As the saying goes, a true man born between heaven and earth should not languish under others.
Yearning to become stronger, Su Bai took the Mora that Granny Ping had given him for snacks and bought a boat ticket to Inazuma. He had overheard Sister Ganyu mention that there was a very skilled fox lady in Inazuma, so the innocent Su Bai decided to go there to learn.
The result? After ten years of training in Inazuma, Su Bai returned with confidence, challenged Shenhe to a sparring match to regain his honor, and discovered to his dismay that his best skill—illusions—had little effect on Shenhe's indifferent nature.
Thus, Su Bai lost again in front of the adepti. That time, Shenhe pinned him to the ground and touched his tails. What made it worse was that he couldn't break free from her hold.
Ever since, Su Bai avoided Shenhe whenever possible, and when he couldn't, he made excuses to slip away. Shenhe caught on after being tricked a few times and got smarter. Now, every time she saw Su Bai, she would first ask where he was going. If he didn't tell her, she would invite him to spar, saying it was to see how much her little brother had improved.
"Little Bai? You came to see me with Shenhe? How rare."
Inside her abode, Cloud Retainer set down the mechanism she was working on upon seeing her beloved Su Bai. But when she noticed Shenhe playing with Su Bai's tails behind him, she paused, then covered her beak with her wing. The amusement in her voice was impossible to hide.
"Cloud Retainer, please don't tease me. Sister Shenhe always bullies me, and you never scold her."
Su Bai smiled wryly. He realized that while the adepti all doted on him, whenever Shenhe beat him up, they just watched with amusement. Not one of them ever helped him.
"Master, Little Su Bai has grown another tail. This new one is even softer than the other two."
"Oh, is that so? Let me feel."
Cloud Retainer came over and touched it too. It was then that Su Bai noticed her feathers seemed a bit thinner than before. Could Cloud Retainer be going through her own shedding season?
Shenhe, standing behind Su Bai, also noticed this. She and Su Bai exchanged a glance, and the tacit understanding built from years of her beating him allowed her to read the "keep this secret for now" look in his eyes.
Shenhe thought it over and decided not to say anything. She vaguely remembered reading in an ancient text that bathing with ginger, garlic, star anise, Jueyun Chilis, and other herbs could promote hair growth. Perhaps she could have her master try it sometime.
"This fur is indeed very soft. Little Bai, what trouble have you caused this time? Let me guess—did you secretly add ten bowls of rice to Ganyu's meal? Or did you steal the Conqueror of Demons' almond tofu? Or perhaps you got into trouble in Liyue and Yanfei sent you to Jueyun Karst to reflect?"
Cloud Retainer was getting more and more animated. Seeing that her strange habit of loving to chat was about to activate, Su Bai quickly stopped her. If Cloud Retainer spilled all his embarrassing stories, he would be completely humiliated in front of Shenhe.
"Cloud Retainer, I came to tell you that something big might happen in Liyue soon. Please stay alert."
"Something big? I understand. I'll keep an eye out."
"I didn't expect Little Bai to have grown up, worrying about Liyue's safety. Back when you were little..."
Seeing Cloud Retainer about to bring up the past again, Su Bai hurriedly said his goodbyes. As his guardian when he was young, Cloud Retainer knew plenty of dark secrets about him. Watching his hurried retreat, Cloud Retainer grumbled in displeasure.
"What's the matter? I'm not some fearsome beast. Why does everyone run off so fast?"
"Um, Master, if Little Su Bai doesn't want to listen, you can tell me. I can keep you company."
"Haha, you're truly my good disciple. Then let me tell you about the time Little Bai first went to Dragonspine and stuck his head straight into a snowdrift."