There are far more Adepti in Liyue than imagined. Besides Adepti, there are also humans transformed from Adeptal beasts.
Ganyu and Yanfei both fall into this category. The combat power of this nation is also much stronger than other places due to their existence.
Take Mondstadt, for example. Besides a lazy Anemo God, there's only Dvalin and Andrius of Wolvendom. Apart from these top combatants, no other powerful characters have been seen.
Ah, and Durandal? Indeed, one could say that. With Durandal there, the situation might be better than in Liyue.
Hmm~ I always feel like I've been taken advantage of greatly, especially by that Venti fellow. Could it be that he's able to slack off every day precisely because of my existence?
Outside Liyue Harbor, near Lingju Pass, Durandal took Klee to play around. There were quite a few ruins here, and broken buildings were easily spotted.
Although she wasn't entirely sure when these buildings were constructed, she knew there must be some treasure hidden within them.
It wasn't that Durandal possessed the ability to find treasure, but rather that traces of Treasure Hoarders could be found outside those buildings.
The Treasure Hoarders had set up camp outside the buildings, clearly intending to drive away treasure hunters or preparing for a long-term operation, not leaving until they found the treasure.
"Besides the Treasure Hoarders, there are also Abyss Mages active in this area. And... these Hilichurls tainted with God's aura."
Durandal observed the special Hilichurl, pinned to the ground by her scythe, which was emitting a dark aura, and spoke.
Ordinary Hilichurl are very easy to deal with. Even if they have torches, wooden shields, or stone shields, as long as an effective method is found, they can still be easily eliminated.
However, the combat power of these Hilichurl tainted with God aura is far greater than that of ordinary Hilichurl. While Vision holders might manage, it's very difficult for ordinary people to deal with these Hilichurl.
Durandal casually dispatched the Hilichurl and looked at Klee and Shenhe; they both had their own targets to handle.
Klee showed no tension regarding these invading Hilichurl; it was as if she were playing a game, taking out her self-made bombs and throwing them at these strange Hilichurl.
Shenhe, on the other hand, used the adeptal arts she had learned to deal with these Hilichurl. Her adeptal arts are very special, capable of summoning an Ice-element puppet to fight. She calls this move "Ice Puppet Escort".
Besides Hilichurl, these God auras can also infect humans. They had already seen infected Treasure Hoarders. Their condition was not severe, only that the infection time was a bit long. For a long time to come, they would remain in a weakened state.
"Evil spirits are restless; this is a sign of impending disaster. Is it because Osial was unsealed, causing other Gods sealed in Liyue to break free?"
If that were truly the case, Liyue Harbor would not be peaceful. If such evil spirits are causing trouble right from the start, when the situation becomes severe in the future, will other Gods also gradually awaken?
"A God unsealed? You don't need to worry about that, Shenhe. If such a thing really happens, I will help."
Durandal reached out and absorbed all the God auras from the eliminated Hilichurl into her Main Body, so they wouldn't enter Klee or Shenhe's bodies and affect them.
Compared to the strong-willed Yaksha, Klee and Shenhe's willpower is not as strong, so it's better for her to absorb these God auras.
Watching Durandal easily absorb the God aura, Shenhe nodded. With Durandal as a powerful ally, these evil auras that alchemists couldn't handle were no longer troublesome.
"Durandal sister! Durandal sister! Is this a grand adventure? Is this a grand adventure?"
Klee excitedly came to Durandal's side, hands placed in front of her, looking at Durandal with excitement.
In her opinion, these Hilichurl she had never seen before were a sign of a grand adventure. What they needed to do now was to find the cause of all this. Isn't this what a grand adventure looks like in books?
Uh... does she want to handle this matter? It's not impossible, but Durandal felt there must be a lot of trouble involved.
But... facing Klee's expectant gaze, she couldn't refuse Klee's desire for adventure.
(The Indestructible: Just spoil her.)
Finally, she looked at Shenhe. Facing Durandal's questioning gaze, Shenhe nodded: "Although you can absorb evil auras, ordinary people cannot resist them. Before it causes a greater impact, we need to find the problem and deal with it."
She is, after all, an adeptal disciple, and once a member of a family that exorcised evil spirits. She has the responsibility to deal with these issues.
Two votes! Now, no matter how unwilling Durandal was, she could only go along to investigate the cause of this anomaly.
Fortunately, although the God aura was very faint, Durandal still sensed it and led them in the direction from which the aura emanated.
Along the way, Klee walked ahead cheerfully, swaggering with a very peculiar gait.
"Hmm? What's that thing?"
Suddenly, Klee noticed something on a nearby cliff and asked curiously.
"That's Violetgrass. It can be used as a seasoning or as medicinal material. It usually grows on these cliffs. Do you want some?"
Klee shook her head, looked curiously at the sparse Violetgrass on the nearby cliff, and soon discovered something else, asking,
"What's that again?"
Durandal thought Klee had discovered another Liyue specialty item. She followed the direction Klee was pointing and saw a small figure, diligently climbing the cliff to gather Violetgrass.
Hmm? Durandal narrowed her eyes, watching the small figure moving on the cliff, and exchanged a glance with Shenhe beside her.
Shenhe also saw the little one climbing the cliff and nodded, indicating that what Durandal saw was real, that someone was indeed gathering herbs on the cliff.
Just then, the little one climbing the cliff lost her grip and fell directly from the cliff.
This scene startled Klee. Shenhe quickly took out a talisman and summoned her Ice Puppet Escort. The puppet flew at extreme speed below the little one, steadily catching her in its arms, and delivered her to Durandal.
The little one, held in the puppet's arms, tucked her small hands in, staring blankly at Durandal, seemingly not yet having reacted to what had just happened.
Durandal noticed a talisman similar to Shenhe's on the other's head. Her aura was also very strange, not like that of a mortal.
"That was so dangerous just now. What were you doing in such a dangerous place?"
As soon as the puppet put the little one down, Klee walked over and asked.
"Qiqi... was gathering herbs. Those Violetgrass, they are Qiqi's goal."
The little one pointed to the Violetgrass on the cliff and said.
"Gathering herbs? And the talisman on your head, are you from Bubu Pharmacy?"
The other person had a strong medicinal smell, very similar to the smell she encountered at Bubu Pharmacy. Connecting that with what she was doing, was she from Bubu Pharmacy? That guy Baizhu's apprentice?
"Ah~ yes, Qiqi... usually helps at Bubu Pharmacy. This big sister, do you know Qiqi?"
Durandal shook her head. She hadn't seen Qiqi when she went to Bubu Pharmacy before. Perhaps Qiqi had also gone out to gather herbs when she visited.
But... does she always use her name instead of a pronoun when speaking? This way of speaking is just like Klee's.
Her gaze lingered on Klee and Qiqi. Perhaps seeing a Children similar to herself, she couldn't help but want to talk to her.
Qiqi was not as lively as Klee, but perhaps due to having similar attributes, the two quickly started chatting.
Shenhe looked at Klee and Qiqi chatting, and couldn't help but turn her gaze to Durandal.
Why suddenly look at her? Because Durandal's height was similar to Klee and Qiqi, at most only slightly taller by a few centimeters.
Although it might be rude to say so, if Durandal joined their conversation, there would be no sense of incongruity at all. How to put it? Is it because they are all lolis?
"We should go, Klee. Your grand adventure isn't over yet."
Durandal, seeing that Klee had no intention of leaving, spoke up to remind her.
They came here to solve a problem. Although she was happy to see her make a new friend, they still had important matters to attend to.
"Ah! That's right, Klee's grand adventure isn't over yet. Hmm~ this..."
Klee looked at Qiqi with some reluctance. She had finally met a peer in a similar situation and wanted to spend more time with Qiqi.
"Ah~ you... do you have something to do?"
"Yes, Klee is going on a grand adventure to find the bad guy who caused all this."
"Bad guy? What does that mean?"
Qiqi took out a notebook from her body, flipped through it, but didn't find the "bad guy" Klee mentioned, and asked.
"Just now, we encountered..."
She briefly told Qiqi about the strange Hilichurl they encountered. After listening to Klee's account, Qiqi nodded.
"Qiqi knows about this... Qiqi saw Hilichurl in the same condition when gathering herbs in other places before."
Saying that, Qiqi tried hard to recall what had happened before, and finally pointed uncertainly in a certain direction, which was the same direction Durandal had sensed.
She silently looked at Klee. She, who should have left, suddenly had an idea: she... wanted to go with them.
Klee was very happy that Qiqi was willing to accompany them. Durandal and Shenhe didn't comment. Although they were part of this great adventure, it wouldn't work if the team members had no strength at all.
"It's okay, Qiqi won't be a burden."
Despite how he looked, he was also a Vision holder. He had very good healing abilities, and their team happened to be missing a healer.
Durandal had Qiqi deal with a few Hilichurls alone. Facing the Hilichurls' encirclement, Qiqi easily used his sword techniques and the adeptal arts he had mastered to eliminate them.
He actually mastered adeptal arts? This was a bit different from what Durandal had imagined. Was he also an adeptus? Or was he a normal person who learned adeptal arts like Shenhe?
Regardless, Qiqi passed Durandal's test, and the four of them set off towards their destination.
Their final destination was Jueyun Karst, where there was an extremely large tree called the [Azhdaha Tree].
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