The fire‑walker watched the fox drop lightly into the crater. A moment later, without quite seeing how she did it, he saw her put the Peacock's corpse away.
Then she turned and flew toward the back of the mountain village.
"Not good. Her target is the qilin child too…"
The thought hit him like a slap.
He broke into a run.
No matter that she had stopped the Wrathbeast Peacock. A demon was still a demon. Who knew if she would kill anyone who stood in her way? And that qilin child… its safety meant his mother's life, and his younger friend's as well.
He poured everything into his steps. Fire spread in his wake, lighting the slopes.
By the time he reached the mountain where the qilin was kept, there was no sign of the fox.
"Did she… already kill them all?" he thought, a sick feeling rising.
Farther off, somewhere in the mountains, a human scream tore through the air.
The sound made his heart lurch.
He wheeled toward it and sprinted again.
A few minutes later, he broke out onto a ledge halfway up the mountain.
The fox was standing in front of a low cage, doing something he couldn't quite see. Beside her, something shone faintly, runes flickering like fireflies.
"Demon! I knew you weren't up to any good!" he shouted.
Flames roared up again.
If he wanted to save the villagers, this was where he had to risk his life.
The heat wrapped around him, turning his whole body into a walking mountain of fire. Skin and flesh darkened toward black as he forced his power higher. After what he had witnessed earlier, he understood all too well: if he held anything back, the one who died would be him.
The ground underfoot began to soften and flow. The sky itself seemed to burn.
Hearing the roar behind her, Yae glanced back and frowned.
"This man really is troublesome."
She was almost finished healing the qilin child. Of all times, he had chosen this one to rush in.
Even if she wanted to explain, it was hard to imagine him listening now. That was the real nuisance.
She looked at the fire‑walker drawing in power, then turned to Huaying. "Keep treating the child. I'll go deal with that idiot."
"Yes, master," Huaying answered.
Her small hands never stopped moving. As a five‑poison beast, she could cleanse toxins as easily as she could inflict them. With enough spiritual power, treating injuries was not beyond her.
Their exchange had barely ended when a streak of fire ripped through the air. In less than a heartbeat, the fire‑walker's figure appeared in front of Yae, fists wreathed in flame.
Before he could strike, everything around him went black.
His vision vanished.
"Genjutsu: Dark Walking," Yae's voice said calmly by his ear.
The fire‑walker spun in place, surrounded by a world of pure darkness. His stance broke; he lashed out blindly, fists and flames striking nothing at all.
He knew nothing of breaking illusions, and this one had come from Yae herself. Escaping by brute force was a fantasy.
"You should just stay put," she said. "Even if I killed anyone here, these people wouldn't say a word."
When his sight finally returned, the fire‑walker realized his power had gone dead.
Bands of lightning wrapped around his body in triple comma‑marks, sealing every flow of energy.
"W‑what… what is this?" he managed.
Then he saw the cage clearly.
Until now, the fox had been blocking his view.
Now, what was inside lay bare before him.
A qilin child.
Its features were almost a mirror of the adult qilin he had once seen—nine parts out of ten the same. That alone was enough to shake him.
But what truly made him go cold was its condition.
The small body was imprisoned in the cramped cage. Every scale had been stripped from its flesh. Its breathing was so shallow it seemed ready to stop at any moment.
Yae looked down at him and snorted. "What else could it be? Ask them."
Her gaze swept over the unconscious men on the ground.
"They locked up the qilin's child and peeled its scales off alive to refine pills.
"You've seen the villagers, haven't you? After taking those pills, I'd say half their bodies have already turned into demon flesh.
"Fools. They don't understand cultivation at all, and still they dare to meddle with a demon's body.
"If I hadn't moved quickly, all that Wrathbeast Peacock would have needed was a single breath.
"Half the village would have become monsters on the spot."
Cold sweat broke out along the fire‑walker's back.
"Then… are you here for revenge?" he asked.
"Revenge? I'm not from the Mist Mountain." Yae's tone was flat. "I come from another world. I'm only here to complete a task.
"Once Huaying finishes healing the qilin, I'll be gone."
As she spoke, she lifted the seal. The lightning marks faded from his skin, and power flowed back into his limbs.
He looked from Huaying's focused face to the wounded villagers at their feet. Nothing in the scene contradicted her words. If she had wanted him dead, it would have taken no effort at all. There would have been no reason to go about it in such a roundabout way.
It took half an hour before Huaying finally let out a soft breath and lowered her hands.
The qilin child stirred. Its scales had not grown back, but its spirit had returned; the weakness in its eyes was gone.
To keep it docile, the villagers had even gone so far as to poison it slowly.
That, more than anything, was what Yae found vile.
She watched the little creature nuzzle against her leg, rubbing its head against her knee, and reached out to scratch it lightly between the horns.
"All done," she said. "Go back up the mountain with this young man.
"And next time, don't wander off.
"Humans can be very dangerous. One moment you're playing around, and the next you've become someone's food."
The qilin child let out a soft sound, looking up at her with wet eyes. It clearly wanted her to take it home herself.
Yae only smiled faintly. She had no intention of climbing the mountain for it.
At that moment, the familiar chime of the mission group sounded in her mind.
[ Ding… Special multiverse mission complete. Reward: 200,000 mission points. ]
[ You may choose to return immediately, or remain for a short time. ]
[ Remaining stay time: 15 minutes. ]
"That's enough. Time for me to go," she said softly. "As for these people…"
Her expression cooled.
"If I had more time, I'd make sure they learned a lesson they never forgot.
"Beasts in human skin, and still they get to live.
"Disgusting."
She spat once at the ground.
Her figure and Huaying's both grew faint, then faded from the world entirely.
The fire‑walker stood there for a long moment, stunned.
Slowly, he whispered, "Did I… just meet an immortal?"
Flight, he could attribute to certain high‑level techniques.
But vanishing from one breath to the next like that was harder to explain away.
When he finally came back to himself, he looked down at the men on the ground and sighed.
"You really brought this on yourselves," he said quietly. "When An comes back, I hope you can at least find it in you to repent."
With that, he lifted the qilin child into his arms and started up the path into the Mist Mountain.
As long as he returned the child, his mother and friend's sister would be released. That was the promise he had been living for.
…
Elsewhere, Yae was already venting in the mission chat.
Yae Miko: "What kind of 'demon beast' was that? Barely any meat at all. I went there just to do hard labor. No—just to be played for a fool.
"Completely boring. Next time there's a mission this dull, don't call me. I can't stand it."
Mona: "Pfft. Weren't you saying the opposite just now? Sounds like someone didn't get enough loot and is throwing a fit."
Keqing: "Isn't that obvious? Lady Yae isn't exactly the sort to enjoy losing out."
Ningguang: "Leaving that aside… those Peacock feathers really could make quite a few ornaments. You don't mind sharing, do you?"
Yae Miko: "Why would I mind? We're all sisters here. You've all given me things before.
"I was just complaining.
"All right, Su Han, hurry up and redeem that Human‑Path holy weapon.
"Then find some time to come to Inazuma. Don't forget about the Great Sacred Sakura Purification."
Su Han's reply was simple.
"Understood."
The points had already hit his account. Combined with his previous balance, he was now sitting on eight hundred seventy thousand—a sum that could finally be traded for the Human‑Path Sacred Blade.
When he confirmed the exchange for the Xuanyuan Sword, all of Liyue shuddered.
Above the Jade Chamber, a strange phenomenon unfolded: a great scroll unfurled across the sky, painting a living map of the land below.
People stopped in the streets and stared.
"What… what is that? Why is there a map of Liyue in the sky?"
"No idea, but it's incredible."
"It's coming from the Jade Chamber's direction. Think the national treasure did something again?"
"Maybe…"
On the streets of Liyue Harbor, Zhongli also lifted his head.
Others might not understand the painting in the heavens.
He did.
Behind the image, he could feel an immense tide of will pouring toward one point.
"According to Su Han, this should be the power of human incense," he murmured. "As expected of a Human‑Path sacred weapon. Remarkable."
Even as the former Geo Archon, he had to admit the sword's presence impressed him.
In the right hand, the Xuanyuan Sword would slowly draw all of Liyue's strength to itself. In turn, it would anchor and steady the nation's fortune. The flow went both ways.
In the Jade Chamber's inner realm, Su Han stood with a golden sword in hand, a soft light haloing his body and making every line of him seem almost holy.
Ningguang and the others had already gathered.
Seeing him like that, they could not quite hide their surprise.
"So this is the Xuanyuan Sword…"
"It feels… incredible."
"Su Han, what does it actually do? And why are your eyes closed?" Keqing asked.
He opened them at last and smiled.
"With my eyes closed, I can sense what's happening in every corner of Liyue," he said.
That was the Xuanyuan Sword's hidden power.