At this very moment, Jiang Yan had absolutely no idea what awaited him once he got back.
He was leisurely soaring through the skies, admiring the scenery below.
Sigh... No matter where I go, Liyue still has the best view.
He couldn't help but sigh in contentment.
All along the way, he alternated between darting ahead—sending startled flocks of birds scattering—and slowing down to glide lazily through the clouds like an orca through calm seas.
In short—he was an absolute menace.
But Jiang Yan didn't care. He was having the time of his life.
After harassing enough unsuspecting birds, he finally spotted the hazy outline of Liyue Harbor on the horizon.
"Ahh, finally there."
But for some reason, a chill kept creeping up his spine.
His Observation Haki (Kenbunshoku) was flaring wildly, warning him over and over: Do not go there!
Jiang Yan's expression froze.
Wait... could it be—?!
MASAKA!
Liyue Harbor's under attack?!
No, that didn't make sense!
Morax had returned ahead of him—who in their right mind would dare assault the harbor with that guy standing guard?
Still, he couldn't figure out why his senses were going off like mad.
Whatever. Better go check it out first.
He tightened his focus, channeling the four black whirlwinds behind him, and shot toward Liyue's coast.
Offshore, at the Guyun Stone Forest
(The future site of Guyun Stone Forest)
Guizhong and Cloud Retainer stood side by side, both faces shadowed and grim.
Morax stood several paces away—expression calm, but the distance between him and the two women said everything.
Even the mighty Geo Archon wasn't foolish enough to stand too close to two enraged goddesses.
"He's coming," Morax murmured when Jiang Yan's silhouette appeared on the horizon.
"Cloud Retainer," Guizhong said flatly.
"Mm." Cloud Retainer's tone was just as icy.
Morax discreetly shuffled backward another few steps.
Jiang Yan... it's not that I don't want to help you, he thought miserably.
It's that I can't.
When those two were in a mood like this—he was better off pretending he didn't exist.
"Yo! You're all here!"
Jiang Yan landed cheerfully, spotting the two Adepti standing there with stormy faces—and Morax, who was suspiciously distant, pretending to study the clouds.
"Eh? Morax, why're you standing so far away? Come over here!"
"Ahem... ah, yes. The wind today... is rather noisy, isn't it..."
Morax coughed twice and pretended not to hear.
"Jiang... YAN!!!"
Guizhong's voice slithered into his ears like a curse.
"Do you still remember the promise you made me back in the Guili Plains?" she asked with an angelic smile, resting one hand lightly on his shoulder.
"Now... why don't you explain what exactly that thing in your hand is made of?"
Almost at the same time, Cloud Retainer's cold voice sounded from the other side.
In one synchronized motion, both turned toward him.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on Jiang Yan's forehead.
Ah. So his Observation Haki hadn't malfunctioned after all.
"Lord Emperor, save me—!!!"
He tried to bolt, but Guizhong was faster—she caught him by the ear.
Cloud Retainer, not to be outdone, pinched his cheeks and pulled them long like dough.
"OW OW OW OW OW—!!!"
Jiang Yan howled in agony.
Morax, meanwhile, turned silently away, pretending not to hear a thing.
"Traitor! MORAX, you heartless bastard!!" Jiang Yan shouted, betrayed.
But Morax did not react—he was the picture of calm indifference.
"Humph. No matter what you say, you're not getting away today."
Guizhong's voice was cold and sweet all at once.
"Now, be a good boy and tell your elder sister exactly how you managed to create a sphere infused with demon god self-detonation energy, hmm?"
Her smile froze Jiang Yan's blood.
The smile of death itself.
In the end, Jiang Yan was utterly defeated—forced to sign a series of humiliating "unequal contracts."
Yes, once again—under the watchful eyes of none other than the God of Contracts, Morax himself.
Only after venting their anger did Guizhong and Cloud Retainer finally calm down, turning their attention to the energy sphere before them.
This thing was no trinket—if Jiang Yan stopped monitoring it for even a moment, one slip could obliterate half the region.
"We could try constructing a containment mechanism—something akin to the Seal of the Mortal Realm," Guizhong suggested, frowning in thought.
Cloud Retainer nodded. "We can attempt it, but we must proceed with extreme caution."
The two exchanged a look, then Cloud Retainer turned to Jiang Yan.
"You'll stay put for now. Once we've completed the mechanism, we'll bring it here and test its effectiveness."
"Yes, ma'am," Jiang Yan said obediently, face full of forced innocence.
A joke—after that beating, he wouldn't dare act out.
"Let's go," said Morax.
Guizhong and Cloud Retainer both nodded, following him back toward Liyue Harbor.
Left alone on the rocky shore, Jiang Yan sat cross-legged by the sea, idly tossing the energy sphere in one hand while propping his chin with the other.
Man... the moment they're gone, it gets so boring.
He gazed out across the endless ocean, and a thought flickered through his mind—
Navigation…?
His eyes lit up.
On land, Liyue's army had already become an elite force—so strong that even monsters far beyond human strength couldn't break through their formations.
But at sea, and in the skies…
Liyue's military power wasn't weak per se—just nonexistent.
Yet, if Liyue wanted to expand trade in the future, they'd have to secure sea routes.
Developing a naval force, huh…
Jiang Yan frowned slightly. Would that be too early?
After all, Liyue had only just stabilized—far from the flourishing golden age to come.
If they pushed too fast, the treasury might collapse.
Even though Mora, the new currency, was minted by Morax himself, over-issuing it would trigger inflation.
And inflation… that was something Jiang Yan couldn't allow.
In the future, he planned to use Mora to control the economic pulse of all Seven Nations. He needed to keep the currency's credibility untouchable from the start.
Still, that was all for later.
The Archon War might be winding down in Liyue, but elsewhere, the fighting raged fiercer than ever.
No need to rush.
He sat there for a long time, lost in idle thought—
Though to be fair, most of those "thoughts" were just whimsical daydreams far ahead of their time.
In this era, almost none of his ideas could possibly exist yet.
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