"Interesting, interesting. To think you'd get your hands on it before me. No wonder I felt hostility when I first saw you."
Hearing the applause, Ryan immediately turned around and saw a man with orange hair and a red mask on one side of his head walk in.
It was the one Paimon mentioned, Young Master.
"Why are you here?"
Seeing Young Master appear in the Golden House, Ryan was momentarily startled.
"Shouldn't I be asking that question? As a Liyue native, you acted on your own god's remains even faster than I, a Snezhnayan, did."
Young Master spread his hands, walking towards Ryan as he spoke.
"…"
Hearing Young Master's words, Ryan instantly understood his meaning.
His purpose in approaching Paimon was to find the whereabouts of the Exuvia! It wasn't to pursue Paimon!
Realizing this, Ryan subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. At least he didn't have to worry about Paimon being abducted first… "But it doesn't matter. I've taken over here now. If it's not too much trouble, could you just kindly faint to the side? I'm in a good mood right now and don't want to lay hands on the weak."
Young Master walked up to Ryan, first glancing at the Exuvia slung over Ryan's back, then looking down at Ryan from his superior height.
"Who exactly are you?"
Knowing that the other party's goal was the Exuvia, Ryan carefully placed the Exuvia on the ground behind him and asked warily.
"Oh? Did the Traveler not tell you? But it's fine, I'll introduce myself."
"The Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers from Snezhnaya, [Young Master] Tartaglia. Hmm… you can just call me Young Master."
Hearing that Ryan didn't know his identity, the Fatui Harbinger named Tartaglia didn't mind too much and stated his name and identity himself.
'Fatui… Harbinger…'
Ryan rarely descended the mountain, so he had truly never heard of these foreign organizations.
But it didn't matter. Since he knew the other party was here to steal the Exuvia, he certainly couldn't let him succeed.
Although his own goal was also the Exuvia, he only intended to take some materials and would not take away or destroy the Exuvia.
But the other party was not from Liyue, and Ryan couldn't guarantee his intentions.
Thinking of this, Ryan slightly bent down. The next moment, he rushed forward at extreme speed, landing a punch on Tartaglia's chest.
Tartaglia instantly raised his arms and crossed them to block Ryan's punch, but the immense force sent him flying.
'Such great strength…'
The moment Tartaglia was sent flying, Ryan looked at his fist in surprise. When did his strength become so great?
'And the speed too…'
He had originally intended to invoke his Senior Uncle as he threw the punch, catching the opponent off guard.
However, Ryan found his speed to be too fast, so fast that he didn't have time to invoke his Senior Uncle, which in turn caught him somewhat off guard.
The flying Tartaglia quickly stabilized himself and landed on the platform.
"A sneak attack? Interesting. I heard you're an immortal's disciple, right? To have such strength and speed, you've piqued my interest a little."
Shaking his arms, when Tartaglia looked at Ryan again, his eyes seemed to ignite with a blazing flame.
That was his desire for battle; for him, the greatest pleasure was challenging all strong enemies.
Although Ryan didn't understand why his strength had increased, feeling Tartaglia's fighting intent, he dared not be distracted and immediately focused all his attention on him.
Under Ryan's observation, Tartaglia condensed water into a bow, drew a water string, and aimed at Ryan. Water flowed on the water bow, forming an arrow.
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—
The water arrows were shot by Tartaglia, attacking Ryan at an extremely fast speed, and he fired three consecutive shots.
Ryan hurriedly dodged, quickly approaching Tartaglia as he did so.
Seeing Ryan approach, Tartaglia directly tore the bow condensed from water in his hand into two halves, transforming them into twin blades to meet him.
"Come on, let me see what an immortal's disciple is capable of!"
"…"
Looking at the water blades in Tartaglia's hands, Ryan, without a weapon, had no choice but to pull out a golden ruler, which he lengthened to use as a weapon.
Like the scissors and files, Ryan had given this ruler a name he thought was cool: the measuring heaven ruler.
However, Ryan lacked combat experience after all. As soon as the two got close, Tartaglia's water blades slashed towards Ryan's vulnerable points.
With just this one move, Ryan instantly fell into a disadvantage. Startled, he had no choice but to use all his reactions to parry, avoiding injury.
But Tartaglia's twin blades were agile; how could Ryan's single ruler block them?
Pfft—
A water blade easily cut through Ryan's sleeve, leaving a wound on his right arm.
A drop of blood splattered, flying past Tartaglia's eyes.
"You seem to… not know how to fight at all."
Tartaglia said with a slight hint of disappointment.
"…"
Ryan's face showed an expression of pain. He indeed wasn't skilled in combat, as he had been focused on alchemy ever since he took human form.
As for fighting, he had only done so when gathering materials from monsters, but those were always suppressed with immortal arts.
"Blaze Dissolving Wave Blade!"
Suddenly, Ryan gritted his teeth and instantly enlarged the ruler in his hand, smashing it towards Tartaglia like a large iron plate.
Tartaglia didn't know what this enlarging ruler was, but the name of the move Ryan shouted seemed not simple, so he didn't meet it head-on, but dodged it immediately.
"I was just kidding, I don't know how to do that…"
Having tricked Tartaglia away and temporarily safe, Ryan looked at his injured arm and quickly made a hand seal.
"Immortal Art! Spirit Invocation: Senior Uncle Bosacius!"
As Ryan's words fell, a purple four-armed phantom appeared behind Ryan.
This Senior Uncle Bosacius, although he had more arms than Ryan and lacked fox ears and a fox tail, shared the same gender, which made the compatibility quite good. Furthermore, he was the strongest among the Yakshas.
Therefore, when it came to combat power alone, Ryan was strongest when he invoked him.
"What kind of technique is this… interesting."
After Tartaglia dodged the measuring heaven ruler, his attention was immediately drawn to Ryan, whose aura had suddenly changed.
His previously disappointed mood due to Ryan's complete lack of combat knowledge became excited again.
"Ora!"
With Senior Uncle Bosacius invoked, Ryan's confidence surged. He actively charged towards Tartaglia, and the purple phantom behind him swung its massive fists at Tartaglia.
Tartaglia condensed a water shield to block, but after one punch, purple electricity surged within his water flow.
To avoid being touched by the electricity, Tartaglia abandoned his shield, opting for an offensive-defensive approach, clashing head-on with Ryan.
The water blades were shattered by the punches but reformed instantly. However, the electricity also transferred to Tartaglia.
Moreover, Bosacius had four arms, delivering swift and fierce punches. Tartaglia found it difficult to perfectly parry, and before long, he fell into a disadvantage, being suppressed and beaten.
Compared to his Senior Uncle's bravery, Ryan acted as the "mount," sticking to Tartaglia and preventing him from creating distance.
After all, it was Spirit Invocation, and the invoked entity could not leave Ryan's side by more than two meters, otherwise, it would return to the Ley Lines.
Therefore, the flexibility was somewhat related to Ryan's movement speed…