"Qiu Nian, you're actually that strong?"
Lumine walked over to him, clearly surprised.
"Haha… I wouldn't say I'm that strong."
"If I trained in martial arts for two and a half years and still couldn't beat two Fatui soldiers, that would be truly embarrassing."
Qiu Nian replied with a light laugh.
"I saw everything just now!"
"Those moves of yours were seriously cool!"
Paimon flew over, looking at him with admiration.
"Paimon…"
"I was the one who defeated the most Fatui."
Lumine looked at Paimon, who was clearly siding with someone else, with mixed feelings.
"The Traveler is amazing too."
"But Paimon just thinks Qiu Nian's moves looked cooler."
Paimon explained with a smile.
Only then did Lumine relax and smile again.
"It's hard to imagine what you'd be like if you had a Vision."
"You'd probably be unstoppable!"
Paimon said.
"…The heavens above are the domain of the gods."
"Those who carry Visions walk upon the earth. When they pass away, the chosen ones ascend to the sky, dedicating their entire lives to the desire they once felt in a single moment."
"So… is that truly a blessing, or a curse?"
When the word Vision was mentioned, Qiu Nian lifted his head slightly and gazed up at the starry sky as he spoke those words.
"What does that mean?"
Paimon scratched her head in confusion.
"Ascend to the sky…"
"Devote one's life to a single moment's desire…"
Lumine followed his gaze toward the stars, murmuring thoughtfully.
"Haha… it's nothing."
"Just think of it as me talking to myself."
"Anyway, with so many Fatui gathered here, they must be guarding something important."
"Let's search the area."
Qiu Nian said with a smile.
"A riddle again?"
"Oh… but if it's Qiu Nian saying it, then that's fine."
Xuehua laughed on the livestream.
She had a very high tolerance for handsome men.
[Streamer, that's some double standards]
[But what did that line actually mean?]
[People who talk like that are never ordinary]
[Exactly. And when Qiu Nian fought earlier, his expression never changed]
[Every enemy went down in one move]
[Honestly, even if the Traveler wasn't here, Qiu Nian could probably defeat all of them alone]
[And he doesn't even have a Vision! Imagine how strong he'd be with one]
After searching for a while, the three found a wooden chest on top of the ruins.
Several Talismans of Permission were pasted onto it.
On top of the chest sat a lantern, along with blank sheets of paper and several talismans.
"So the Fatui really are trying to replicate the Talismans of Permission."
Lumine frowned.
"The one Childe gave you looked exactly like this."
"And a token connected to the adepti ending up in his hands…"
"That's pretty suspicious."
Paimon nodded.
"And it's not just a token."
Lumine suddenly realized something and looked at Paimon.
"Oh right!"
"Cloud Retainer said before that when Rex Lapis created the Talismans of Permission…"
"They weren't originally meant to be identification tokens."
"Their original purpose during the Archon War was to channel divine power."
"So if the Fatui are copying these talismans…"
"Are they trying to replicate the effects of the real ones?"
Paimon guessed.
"The one Childe gave me…"
"Was probably just a byproduct of their bigger plan."
Lumine added thoughtfully.
"I think it's more than that."
"If the one Childe gave you was only a byproduct…"
"And even the adepti couldn't detect anything wrong with it…"
"Then it means the Fatui may have already succeeded in replicating the real Talismans of Permission."
Qiu Nian said as he looked at the talismans.
"This is getting complicated…"
"Anyway, we should be even more cautious of Childe and the Fatui from now on."
Paimon sighed.
"Even if we know they're copying the talismans, there's nothing we can do about it."
"I'm sure Lady Ningguang already knows about this."
"If she has a way to deal with it, we don't need to worry ourselves."
Qiu Nian waved his hand casually.
"Right."
"It's about time we meet Zhongli."
"Let's head to Dihua Marsh now."
"By the time we get there, it should be dawn."
Lumine suggested.
Qiu Nian nodded, and the three of them set off toward Dihua Marsh.
After they left—
A tall woman wearing a blue-and-white leather outfit stepped out from the shadows.
A Hydro Vision hung at her waist.
Her aura was mysterious.
It was Yelan.
Behind her stood more than ten Millelith soldiers.
"Bind all these Fatui and take them away."
Yelan ordered calmly.
The Millelith captain nodded.
Soon, the soldiers began tying up the unconscious Fatui.
Meanwhile, Qiu Nian and the others were walking along, enjoying the scenery.
"By the way…"
"You were able to use two elemental powers earlier."
"That's something I've never seen before."
"Even Vision holders can't do that."
"And you don't even have a Vision."
Qiu Nian pretended to be curious as he asked Lumine.
"Her body is probably special."
"Every time we arrive in a new nation, when she resonates with the Statue of The Seven, she gains that region's element."
"And she can freely change the element inside her body."
"So she can switch between different elemental powers."
Paimon explained.
"That's right."
"But I don't know how it works either."
Lumine nodded.
"So that's how it is…"
Qiu Nian rubbed his chin, pretending to ponder.
"Oh right."
"You said you only became this good after training for two and a half years."
"But haven't you been living in Jueyun Karst the whole time?"
"There's no one there to teach you."
"So how did you learn martial arts?"
Paimon suddenly asked suspiciously.
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