Lumine and Yanfei stepped into the domain's passage.
They had reached the depths of the domain.
The surroundings were filled with bizarre and uncanny sights.
"It looks like time and space are completely out of whack here."
Lumine observed the scene before her—trees and rocks merged together,
and various ores floated in midair.
But the most striking feature was the massive compass in the sky.
The compass resembled a clock, with pale blue hands.
It was engraved with what seemed to be ancient Liyue script.
"Could this be the Fantastic Compass?" Yanfei pulled out an ancient book, flipping through it to compare.
Lumine frowned. If this was the Fantastic Compass, they were in trouble.
The artifact was about the size of half the Jade Chamber.
How were they supposed to take it back or make it work?
Even studying it would be a challenge, right?
Yanfei finally confirmed the Fantastic Compass's appearance and closed the book.
"It seems our theory was spot-on. As long as we focus on finding this artifact, it really appears."
"But this thing is way too big! How am I supposed to bring it back?"
As a seasoned adventurer, Lumine knew they couldn't just sit idle.
A massive artifact like this usually had a smaller mechanism to control it.
Otherwise, how did someone bring it here in the first place?
The three of them began searching for clues nearby.
Yanfei suddenly yelped, "Hey! Is that… the Treasure Hoarders?"
Lumine was even more baffled. Were the Treasure Hoarders really that capable?
They could sneak into a place like this to dig for treasure?
"They look oddly familiar…" Yanfei had a realization. "Wait, aren't those the thugs I dealt with a few days ago?"
Their noisy discussion caught the Treasure Hoarders' attention.
The group raised their shovels and pickaxes, charging at Yanfei.
Yanfei had said she wasn't great at fighting, but that depended on the opponent.
These small-time crooks were no match for her.
She took them down in a few swift moves.
"Phew, just as easy as last time."
[I'm not good at fighting.]
[Turns out it's just a bunch of small-time crooks.]
[Treasure Hoarders: What did we do to deserve fighting a half-Adeptus?]
Yanfei turned to the puzzled Lumine and Paimon, explaining,
"Actually, I recently handled a major commercial case, and the culprits, out of spite, hired Treasure Hoarders as thugs to come after me."
Lumine was speechless. She only knew Mu Yang liked handing legal and paperwork matters to Yanfei.
And Yanfei always got the job done flawlessly.
She'd assumed it was simple—running errands to the Yujing Terrace, filing documents,
maybe some verbal sparring at most.
She hadn't expected it involved fighting off revenge plots.
"I didn't realize being a legal consultant was that tough…"
Yanfei shrugged, clearly used to it.
"It happens. Luckily, I train diligently, and with some martial arts skills, plus a bit of guidance from Mu Yang,
I can take them out in a few moves now."
Hearing Mu Yang's name and that he'd personally trained her,
Lumine's tone turned a bit sour. "And you said you weren't good at fighting."
Hmph, he never trained me!
Yanfei gave an apologetic smile. "How can I compare to you experts? Anyway, let's talk about these Treasure Hoarders."
[Oho, why's it getting sour in this domain?]
[Yanfei got guidance from an Adeptus!]
[I want Mu Yang's personal training too—the hands-on kind!]
As Liyue Harbor's most renowned legal consultant,
Yanfei's memory was impeccable.
She immediately noticed something off about these Treasure Hoarders.
The ones that appeared were the exact same group she'd dealt with a few days ago.
Same setup, no difference.
Yanfei guessed the space was replaying fragments of her memories.
"This is probably another way it tries to wear us down. Clever."
With that, the three continued their search.
Finally, under a large tree, they found a compass identical to the one in the sky.
Judging by its appearance and layout, it was likely the artifact—the Fantastic Compass.
This smaller Fantastic Compass was half-embedded in the ground.
As a seasoned adventurer,
Lumine knew that in a domain, when you encounter something like this,
you go hands-on. (?)
Lumine chose to turn the hands on the compass' face…
As they'd suspected,
turning the hands of the small compass
made the hands of the giant compass in the sky move in sync.
Lumine noticed a change in a door at the bottom right of the giant compass.
She exchanged a glance with Yanfei—both had the same thought.
Forward.
The scene inside the door was bizarre.
There was only a stone staircase leading to another door.
Mist swirled on both sides, obscuring everything.
"Ugh! Is this a tunnel? So weird…"
Paimon clung tightly to Lumine's sleeve.
"It feels like this place connects to another world or another time…"
[Paimon's definitely off!]
[I bet a pack of spicy strips—there's a big Paimon reveal coming!]
[No way, it's only 2.7, just three nations in. We're far from that.]
Lumine and the others entered the next door.
The scenery was much like before—
still a chaotic mess of time and space.
"I thought we'd run into the others here, but they're nowhere to be seen."
Yanfei was likely referring to Yelan and Xiao.
They'd entered earlier and were exploring who-knows-where.
"Shh…" Lumine signaled Yanfei to hush. "There's someone over there. Stay alert."
Yanfei looked where Lumine pointed and saw a few Fatui Skirmishers.
"Fatui? Could this be someone's memory too?"
Lumine drew her weapon, ready for a righteous backstab.
But Yelan appeared out of nowhere and stopped her.
"Yelan, you're here!"
They'd just said they hadn't seen anyone, and now here she was.
Yelan nodded, then glared at the Fatui in the distance, her eyes sharp.
"Hmph, just as I thought."
She drew her Lifeline, "No matter how many times you show up, I'll take you down."
And so, the Fatui Skirmishers, caught off guard,
were hit with a righteous sneak attack and a righteous group beatdown…
The Fatui vanished in an instant.
But a mysterious voice echoed through the battlefield:
…Don't give up… get out… will you?
…I… record… Fantastic …
"Did you all hear that? Those voices?"
Lumine turned to her teammates.
She wasn't sure, given her unique identity.
Sometimes, only she could hear certain things.
Yelan stowed her bow. "Remember the phantoms I saw elsewhere?"
"I heard those same words then. This memory seems to have been recreated by the space…"
She paused. "Well, at least now you know what happened."
Lumine rubbed her chin. "That person mentioned 'Fantastic.' That's probably the Fantastic Compass, right?"
Yelan pointed to a spot under a nearby tree.
There, just like in the previous door, was an identical small compass…