[From Jun Bai's expression, it's clear he's really angry. Since that's the case, someone is about to be in big trouble~]
[Let us begin mourning for the existence that is either Chi or some unlucky god who doesn't know what's coming.]
[Is this the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor? There's about to be new business near Qingce Village. Please have Director Hu and Consultant Zhongli come to Qingce Village right away—be quick, or the body will be gone.]
Jun Bai: "Lumine, Paimon, can I ask you two for a favor?"
Paimon: "Just say it, Jun Bai. As long as we can help, we'll definitely do it."
Lumine: "Even if we can't help, we'll give it our all."
Jun Bai: "Then I'll have to trouble you to go in that direction and look for any traces that might belong to a god."
Jun Bai: "Splitting up will be more efficient. The moment you find anything, contact me through Yiya."
Yiya: "Yiya!" (Leave it to me!)
Lumine: "Don't worry, I'll definitely find that god for you."
Paimon: "But what if you find traces of that god first, Jun Bai? How will you contact us? Through Yiya too?"
Lumine, Jun Bai, Yiya: "…"
[The atmosphere suddenly became very awkward.]
[Jun Bai: I find it and contact you? If I find that guy, I'll just deal with Him directly—why would I contact you?]
[This Paimon is beyond saving. Having Yiya with me is enough.]
—Teyvat
After deciding to split up, the group of four parted ways at the entrance to Qingce Village.
Jun Bai immediately spread his flame wings and searched from the sky for traces of that lucky god.
Lumine, carrying the accessory—Paimon—and Yiya, used teleport waypoints within the Qingce Village area to continuously search for traces of god remnants.
Following god remnants would surely lead to clues.
If nothing was found around one waypoint, they teleported to the next and continued searching.
At this moment, the three arrived at a bamboo forest.
As soon as they landed, Yiya sensed the aura of god remnants deep in the bamboo forest. Spreading her small flame wings, she flew straight toward the depths of the bamboo.
"Lumine, keep up—Little Yiya must have found something." Paimon said as she followed.
[Yiya-brand radar, an essential item for home and travel.]
[Three, two, one—link up!]
[Am I the only one thinking we should contact Jun Bai first? Didn't we agree on that earlier?]
[We have to confirm it's actually related to a god first—otherwise wouldn't Jun Bai come running for nothing?]
Lumine followed Yiya deep into the bamboo forest.
"Ah!~~~"
A burst of ghostly wailing and howling came through.
Following the sound, a boy holding a dull blade was being chased by a group of monsters emanating black gas.
Although Lumine and Paimon couldn't sense the aura of god remnants, they had eyes—they could see the black gas formed by the god remnants.
Without a doubt, these monsters were the ones Lingya mentioned: monsters near Qingce Village polluted by god remnants.
So without any hesitation, Lumine drew the Sword of Dawn and charged into the monster group, slaughtering in all directions.
Yiya charged alongside Lumine.
[Paimon at this moment: OMO]
[OMO requires the ability to intervene, but Paimon... not causing trouble is already a blessing.]
[Yiya is still the useful one—one punch per monster.]
Under the combined efforts of the two, the group of monsters quickly turned into a pile of fresh materials. Paimon came over with her backpack.
These materials could be exchanged for Mora at the Adventurers' Guild, and they were useful for alchemy too—they had to be stored properly.
Since she couldn't fight alongside them, she'd handle logistics. Paimon is useful too! (๑＞ ₃ ＜)
"Yiya—"
Yiya looked at the god remnants dissipating from the monster corpses, her little expression very serious.
"Yiya, yiya ya…"
"Paimon, translate." (To the one who couldn't understand long stretches of Yiya-speak)
"She says the god remnants on these monsters don't look like they appeared recently."
"In other words, if our earlier assumption with Jun Bai holds, this god didn't just recently reappear from the ley lines." The Paimon translator completed her task.
[If Yiya could speak normally, Paimon would truly have zero use right now.]
[She can be our external voice.]
[External flying vocal organ?]
[But can't Yiya do that too?]
"Thank you so much, three heroines, for your righteous assistance. This little one is truly endlessly grateful."
At this point, the boy who had been chased by the monsters stood up from the ground and thanked the three.
Only then did the three notice him.
The boy had been knocked down by a hilichurl brute's axe.
Yet now that he stood up, it was as if he hadn't been injured at all.
Lumine and Paimon thought of that Bennett from the adventure team far away in Mondstadt—this guy's durability seemed no less than his.
"No need to thank us. I'm Paimon, she's the Traveler, and this is Yiya." Paimon introduced herself very familiarly to the boy.
"Hello, three heroines." The boy straightened his disheveled clothes before introducing himself: "This little one is Dongfang Yueming. Greetings to the three heroines."
Only now did Lumine and Paimon notice that the boy's clothing didn't seem to belong to this era.
Dongfang Yueming looked about eighteen years old, with handsome features. His black outfit looked expensive, but now it was covered in dust.
Although he held a dull blade, his frame was frail—not like someone who had trained in martial arts.
Noticing Lumine and Paimon's strange looks, Dongfang Yueming clearly misunderstood.
"Please don't look at me like that, heroines. I could handle these monsters alone; it's just that a few days ago, something went wrong during training, so I had no choice but to flee as the best option."
Lumine and Paimon's gazes became even stranger.
Yiya... hadn't paid him any attention at all.
Under such strange gazes, Dongfang Yueming's face flushed red. He said: "Do the three heroines not believe me?"
"Everything I said is true. Who in the jianghu doesn't know that Dongfang Yueming's martial arts are outstanding—he can be considered the second best in the world!"
"Let alone that I am the Qingce Sword Immortal…"
Lumine, Paimon, Yiya: "!"
[What? You, a guy who can be chased around by hilichurls for half a day, are my Marshal's second brother?]
[Where did this monster come from? Pretending to be human! And offending the respected Marshal! Doesn't he know that Second Brother and the Marshal share the Jun surname!]
[Everyone draw your blades! Someone's impersonating Second Brother!]
"…'s chief disciple."
Lumine, Paimon, Yiya: "…"
[…My silence is deafening.]
[Anyone who likes pausing mid-sentence, get out!]
[Chief disciple doesn't feel right either. According to Big Bro Bai, Second Bro could solo a hilichurl camp at eighteen like drinking water—his disciple getting sent flying by one axe?]
[High probability he's lying, but that escape speed and durability... definitely trained.]