"I will defeat that Pyro Archon and bring back her Gnosis to present to you," Il Capitano said to the Tsaritsa.
She shook her head. "No. Although she is not one of the original gods, you cannot defeat her. Face her with everything you have."
"Yes." Il Capitano nodded.
Only after all the Harbingers had left Snezhnaya Palace did the Tsaritsa reach out, take down the invitation, and unfold it.
There was very little written on it. Just as Venti had said, it only contained the time and place.
Her gaze did not change as she looked at the invitation. But beneath her fingers, where she held the bottom of the paper, ice slowly began to form. Soon, the entire invitation froze solid, then shattered.
...
Liyue Harbor, Xianyun's residence.
Boom!
A tremendous sound came from inside the house. Immediately after, a small figure shot into the sky from the courtyard and crashed onto the ground outside, billowing black smoke around her and smashing out a huge crater.
Everyone inside quickly pushed open the door and rushed out.
Lora asked, "Are you okay?"
Furina immediately said, "Mom, she's a dragon. Shouldn't you be asking if the ground is okay?"
"If we're talking about the ground, there's no need to ask. One look and you know it's not okay." Lora looked at the crater Zhongyue had smashed into the earth and shook her head.
"Ow..." Zhongyue rubbed her waist as she stood up, then turned to glare at Lora and Furina. "You two! Do you have no conscience at all? I got blasted away, and you're standing there making sarcastic comments?"
"But... you're a dragon." Furina spread her hands and looked at her seriously. "Your skin is way thicker than mine. Even I'd be fine falling from that height, so you must be fine too."
Zhongyue raised her middle finger at Furina.
"What does that mean?" Furina looked at the gesture in confusion.
"Lora taught me," Zhongyue said. "She said this is how you show contempt for someone."
Furina: "..."
Apep strolled leisurely out of the house. Looking at Zhongyue in the crater, she said, "Oh my. Are you all right?"
"Could you be any more half-hearted?" Zhongyue frowned and stared at her. "If you hadn't tried to mess with it when you didn't understand anything, would I have been blown away by the Sky-Flying Core?"
"Who told you to stuff so much Electro Slime and Pyro Slime gel inside?" Apep made it clear she would not take the blame.
Zhongyue said, "It was for power!"
"Then why did you put in both kinds?" Apep asked. "If you stuff both of them in there, who else would explode if not you?"
Lora quickly stepped in to calm them down. "All right, all right. You're both adult dragons. Don't make a fuss over every little thing, okay? Come on, let's go back inside. The competition is almost here, so you two need to hurry."
"Exactly! I heard Lumine and Paimon went with someone named Gaming to Chenyu Vale to learn kite-making," Furina said, nodding along with her.
"Chenyu Vale isn't known for making kites. What could she learn there?" Zhongyue frowned.
Furina shook her head. "Who knows? She and Paimon said they were going to learn how to make kites, and then I heard they went to Chenyu Vale with someone named Gaming. Don't they make kites there?"
"They produce tea there," Zhongyue said helplessly. "Didn't Focalors go there to buy tea?"
"How was I supposed to know they only make tea there?" Furina spread her hands, indicating this was not her problem.
As they were talking, Shuyu followed Yuandai around the corner, carrying bags of all sizes. When she saw Lora and the others at the door, she waved happily and called out, "Senior Lora!"
"Oh, it's Shuyu!" Lora smiled and greeted her and Yuandai.
The grandmother and granddaughter walked over. Lora introduced Apep beside her, and Shuyu obediently greeted the older dragon as well.
Lora then asked, "Where's your master? Have you seen her?"
"Has Adeptus Xianyun not come back yet?" Yuandai asked, a little surprised.
Lora shook her head. "No. We've been waiting here for her all day, but she hasn't come back at all."
Shuyu also shook her head. "I don't know where Master went either! I came today because I wanted to bring her some pastries I made myself."
"Something's not right... It shouldn't take her this long to come back from The Chasm." Lora frowned, thinking about Xianyun's situation.
Zhongyue said, "Let me ask you this. Is there any chance she's hiding from you?"
"Entirely possible!" Lora immediately understood and quickly asked, "Where do you think she'd be?"
"Mt. Aocang, Qingyun Peak, Chenyu Vale. Search those places and you'll find her eventually," Zhongyue listed off a few locations. "If she really wants to hide, finding her will be a little troublesome."
"I'll leave my child here. Look after her for me," Lora said to Zhongyue, then prepared to set out and catch Xianyun.
"I'm an adult!" Furina protested.
"Little girl, your age isn't even a fraction of mine," Zhongyue said to her with an old and seasoned air.
Apep said from the side, "You think you're old enough?"
"Well, I'm definitely not as old as you, old dragon!" Zhongyue retorted, then walked back toward the courtyard. "I'm going back to keep working on the kite. That Sumeru mother and daughter have already made several. Even if we lose, we can't lose too badly, right?"
"Who says we'll lose? It's just a kite. Do you think I can't make one better than theirs?" Apep followed her inside.
Furina sighed helplessly and called Yuandai and Shuyu into the house.
Lora made her way out through Liyue Harbor. Reading the direction of the river's flow, she found the road toward Mt. Aocang.
But just as she was about to leave the city, she ran into Sophia, who was bargaining with a stall owner.
"Sir, can't you make it a little cheaper?" Sophia looked at the vendor and asked sincerely.
"Oh, miss, this is already our lowest price. I really can't go any lower!" The vendor looked genuinely troubled. "I only gave you this price because I can tell you're visiting Liyue. I truly can't lower it any further..."
"I see." Sophia looked a little disappointed.
Lora walked over, patted Sophia on the left shoulder, then quickly circled around to the right, trying to scare her.
But Sophia immediately turned her head to the right and met Lora's eyes.
"Ah!" Lora was the one who got startled.
Sophia said helplessly, "Did you forget you used to love scaring me like this? You could never scare me anyway."
"It's good for the soul." Lora leaned over, looked at the stall, and asked, "What are you buying?"