Arriving in front of the Exuvia, Ryan transformed back into his human form.
He immediately took out the perfumed balm and everlasting incense he had prepared in advance, along with some snacks, and began to worship the Exuvia with them.
"I pray that Lord Rex Lapis blesses my journey with a bountiful return…"
Ryan held the everlasting incense with both hands, reverently worshipping.
"If you don't reply, I'll take it as a 'yes'…"
After saying this, he secretly opened one eye, glanced at the motionless Exuvia, and then spoke with relief.
Subsequently, Ryan inserted the lit everlasting incense into a cheap incense burner he bought from a roadside stall for five hundred Mora, placing it in front of the Exuvia. The perfumed balm and purchased snacks were placed beside it as offerings.
After completing his worship, Ryan finally relaxed and looked up earnestly at the Exuvia.
The Exuvia is called an immortal ancestor precisely because this half-qilin, half-dragon image is actually Lord Rex Lapis's "immortal" form.
Just as Cloud Retainer appears in the form of a crane, the appearance of this immortal body represents him as the immortal ancestor of Liyue.
Even without sensing any vitality, the closed-eyed immortal body still exuded a sense of majesty, inspiring involuntary awe.
"Such long whiskers. It looks like I can trim quite a bit…"
However, Ryan paid no attention to any sense of majesty. His eyes were practically glowing as he looked at the Exuvia's dragon whiskers. He quickly took out the golden scissors and enlarged them.
When these scissors were enlarged, there were no two jiao dragons entwined around the blades, but Ryan still called them golden jiao scissors.
If you asked why, he thought the name sounded cool.
"…"
Ryan swallowed, then freed a hand to form a hand seal.
He couldn't fly, and the Exuvia was too high; he couldn't reach the dragon whiskers.
"Immortal art, Spirit Invocation of my master…"
Ryan softly chanted the incantation.
This technique wasn't limited to inviting only departed immortals.
The next moment, a faint blue phantom appeared behind Ryan; it was Cloud Retainer.
However, it was not in crane form, but human form.
As far as Ryan knew, before the end of the God War, Cloud Retainer often moved about in human form. Later, she rarely descended the mountain and no longer transformed into a human.
"Master, please take me up."
Ryan requested the phantom behind him.
Although it wasn't Cloud Retainer herself, this phantom possessed some of her original instincts.
Hearing Ryan's words, the blue female phantom looked up, happening to see the Exuvia.
Then, she vanished from behind Ryan.
"?"
"Huh? Where's my master?"
Ryan, who had been holding the scissors with both hands, waiting for a gust of wind to lift him, waited for a long time without any movement. He turned around, only to find that his master's phantom was gone.
"Master… why can't I invoke her anymore?"
"What do I do now… Should I push over the altar and make the Exuvia fall? Or climb onto Lord Rex Lapis's body…?"
Ryan tried again, but found that he could no longer invoke Cloud Retainer. He could only look back at the Exuvia, hesitating.
And just as Ryan hesitated, the Exuvia, enshrined on the altar, suddenly moved, its entire body tilting forward.
"!!!"
"immortal ancestor, forgive me! It was only because I was deluded that I offended you!"
The moment he saw the Exuvia move, Ryan immediately stepped back, transforming back into his original form without hesitation and lying on the ground, his terrified, bristling tail tightly protected beneath his body.
'Mora! Lord Rex Lapis is alive! But didn't I make an offering? Why did he reanimate… Hiss? Could it be because the perfumed balm I offered is something Lord Rex Lapis loves, so his soul returned…?'
Bang—
Just as Ryan's mind raced, he suddenly heard something fall to the ground.
He looked up in confusion and found that the Exuvia had fallen from the altar and crashed to the ground.
"?"
"immortal ancestor… are you still alive?"
Seeing this, Ryan tentatively crawled forward and asked the Exuvia.
Exuvia: "…"
Ryan waited for a while, but the Exuvia showed no signs of movement.
After a moment of hesitation, Ryan extended a paw and tested in front of the Exuvia's nose.
Dead? Then why did it fall just now?
Receiving no response and sensing no breath, Ryan was somewhat puzzled.
At this moment, the Exuvia looked just like it did on the day of the Rite of Descension, falling from the sky and knocking over the offering table.
Ryan looked at the golden jiao scissors, which had fallen to the side due to his earlier fright.
After hesitating for a moment, Ryan leaned closer and poked the Exuvia's head with his paw.
No reaction.
Poked again… Still no reaction.
"What the heck, you scared me…"
After several confirmations, Ryan finally breathed a sigh of relief, wiping non-existent sweat from his forehead.
Then, Ryan transformed back into his human form and picked up the golden jiao scissors from the ground.
Although he didn't know why the Exuvia had suddenly fallen, he decided to attribute it to the Liyue Qixing's altar not being stable. Now, for Ryan, it was the perfect time to pluck dragon whiskers… Thinking this, Ryan leaned forward, opened the golden jiao scissors and propped them on the ground, then grabbed one of the Exuvia's dragon whiskers and placed it on the open blades of the golden jiao scissors.
"A bit short… Hiss, this is too long. They might notice the dragon whiskers were cut at a glance, and then I'd be doomed…"
After some deliberation, Ryan finally chose a length of one-quarter of the dragon whisker. This way, it would be harder to tell that the whiskers had been cut.
After confirming the position to cut, Ryan directly used the golden jiao scissors like a guillotine, pressing down forcefully on the open side, intending to cut the Exuvia's dragon whisker.
"Heiya—!"
"...?"
Ryan pressed down hard, but the golden jiao scissors, which could usually cut through stone and even volt locust wood with ease, wouldn't close all the way.
That thin dragon whisker, seemingly soft and easily curled, was as hard as unyielding rock, impossible to cut no matter how much force he applied.
"Is it even harder than volt locust wood…?"
Ryan, refusing to believe it, freed a hand.
"immortal ancestor, Spirit Invocation of my Martial Uncle!"
"Hey, Martial Uncle, don't go, don't go…"
Ryan tried to invoke Martial Uncle Bosacius, but the other party glanced at the scissors in Ryan's hand and the Exuvia's dragon whiskers, then vanished quite decisively.
Next, Ryan tried again, invoking every immortal he could, but without exception, each one disappeared as soon as they appeared.
After all, none of the martial uncles Ryan knew were unfamiliar with Lord Rex Lapis.
And Ryan's Spirit Invocation immortal art could only invoke those with whom he had at least a non-stranger relationship; he couldn't invoke strangers or hostile entities.
"…Hmph, that's right, this technique was taught to me by Lord Rex Lapis after all."
Ryan scratched his head helplessly.
But at this point, he didn't want to give up, so he picked up the scissors again, aimed at one-third of the dragon whisker's length, and tried to cut it with his own strength, using both hands.
"…"
"Wait… I've got it!"
Just as Ryan's tail was stiff, and his white teeth were almost ground to dust without being able to cut the dragon whisker, a Khvarena suddenly struck him.
His martial uncles dared not act presumptuously in front of the Exuvia, but there was one person who wasn't afraid of such things… "Immortal art! Spirit Invocation of Shenhe!"
...