Lumine had witnessed Ryan's 'dismemberment' with her own eyes, and the fury in her heart over Young Master's cruel actions made her attacks exceptionally fierce.
Just yesterday, they were still preparing for the Rite of Parting together… "Starfell Sword!"
A Geo construct was created by Lumine, but unlike her normal usage, this time she threw it at Young Master with full force.
A human-sized Starfell Sword rapidly gathered Geo element power in the air, forming and arriving before Young Master.
Young Master had just sustained considerable injuries from being ambushed by the shadows of the three Yakshas; though not fatal, it left him feeling weak. After narrowly dodging the Starfell Sword, he was directly hit by Lumine's Wind Blade.
'If this continues, I won't be able to explain his situation, nor will I be able to retrieve the Gnosis…'
This thought flashed through Young Master's mind.
Subsequently, he simply stopped resisting the power of the Wind Blade, allowing Lumine's Anemo element power to blow him away.
'Traveler, you're still a bit too green. This is how I approach the Exuvia…'
Blown away by the Wind Blade, Young Master propped up his injured body, stabilized himself, and landed next to the Exuvia.
"Oh no, he's gotten close to the Exuvia…!"
Paimon exclaimed in alarm at the sight.
Young Master wasted no time. After getting up, he immediately gathered power in his right hand and plunged it into the chest of the Exuvia.
"Morax's Gnosis, I'll be taking it…"
"Hmm?"
Young Master's expression froze mid-sentence. He pulled out his hand only to find it empty, having grasped nothing.
"So that's it… I wondered why a Liyue native like you would covet the Exuvia and get ahead of me. So your target was also the Gnosis!"
His plan to seize the Gnosis thwarted, Young Master immediately turned his head to look at Ryan, who was playing dead, from a distance.
"Waaah!!!"
No sooner had Young Master finished speaking than Paimon let out a piercing shriek, staring in horror at the three heads flying up from the ground.
"Paimon, though you're tiny, your voice is certainly loud. You're bothering me…"
Yun Zuo Xu covered his fox ears with his arm, speaking to Paimon in exasperation.
"You, you… are you human or a ghost? Why do you, Ryan, have three heads?"
Paimon wanted to hide behind Lumine, but Lumine had just taken the initiative to attack and was already some distance away. With nowhere to hide, she could only lean back and shrink away.
"We are foxes."
Yun Zuo Xu and Yun You Xu responded in unison.
Then, Yun Zuo Xu and Yun You Xu moved together. One helped lift Ryan's lower half, which had fallen to the ground, and the other lifted Ryan's upper half, merging and reattaching them.
Meanwhile, Ryan's original head flew over and settled back onto his neck, returning his head to his body.
Although having two arms flying on either side of his neck still looked a bit strange.
Yun Zuo Xu then picked up the qiankun bag, found a change of clothes inside, and together with Yun You Xu, helped Ryan put them on.
After all, his original clothes had been torn by the surge of the Riptide mark, and soaked by the impact of the water flow.
Although Ryan didn't strip completely while changing, Paimon instinctively covered her eyes to avoid looking at Ryan's upper body.
"Time's up."
After Ryan was put back together, Yun You Xu suddenly said.
"Yeah, but I haven't had enough fun yet…"
Yun Zuo Xu nodded, saying with a hint of regret.
"Mm-hmm, let's play again next time."
Ryan responded.
Then, the effect of the Three Heads Eight Arms Pill just happened to end. Yun Zuo Xu and Yun You Xu slowly disappeared, and the extra arms on Ryan's body vanished with them.
"Hmm?"
After the two disappeared, Ryan felt as if something was missing. He quickly looked left and right, only to find his tail wiggling on the ground, already quite far away.
"Paimon, quickly help me hold it down!"
Realizing his tail was about to 'run' away, Ryan hurriedly pointed at it and called out to Paimon, who was closer to it.
"I don't want to!"
Paimon, still not recovered from her state of horror after seeing Ryan piece himself back together, heard Ryan's words and immediately refused in fright.
With no other choice, Ryan had to run over himself, grab the tail from the ground, and then reattach it to its original position.
At this point, all the limbs temporarily discarded by the One Head Two Arms Pill were reattached to their original positions, and Ryan's body, which had been in a peculiar state where it could be separated, returned to its normal appearance.
Ryan checked his neck and stomach, relieved to confirm that no marks were left.
"Completely pieced… pieced back together!"
Paimon's eyes widened in shock.
..."Oh, right. Morax said that the adeptus Cloud Retainer excels in Mechanics. As her disciple, are you, Ryan, actually a mechanical being, like a doll, or perhaps a humanoid Ruin Guard?"
After seeing Ryan reassemble all his disassembled body parts and return to normal, Paimon, still shocked, quickly came up with this theory.
"Paimon, don't misunderstand, it's just a special ability. Let's quickly go help the Traveler."
Ryan moved around a bit, getting used to his body with feet, then explained to Paimon before looking towards Lumine and Young Master.
Seizing the Gnosis was Young Master's sole objective for this trip. He had originally felt he had wasted too much time here and wanted to leave immediately after obtaining the Gnosis.
But now the Gnosis was nowhere to be found, suspected to have been taken by Ryan, and his plan to assist the Rite of Parting in confirming the Exuvia's location had completely failed.
He knew Ryan's identity as an adeptus's disciple. The Fatui could not deeply investigate Jueyun Karst, and if the Gnosis was taken by Ryan, he would likely have very little chance to obtain it later.
Therefore, he changed his mind about leaving quickly; he wanted to snatch the Gnosis back from Ryan.
Ignoring his injuries, an even stronger aura than before erupted from Young Master, and purple lightning flashed within the Golden House.
Within the lightning, Young Master's body grew taller, his attire transformed into deep purple and black, a purple starry cloak spread out behind him, and even the red mask on his face changed shape, a purple gem appearing in the center of the mask like an eye.
Lightning converged into two purple swords, which then combined, transforming into a much larger and heavier purple double-headed spear, which he lifted with one hand and rested on his shoulder.
Lumine quickly turned her head after hearing Paimon's shriek, thus witnessing Ryan's 'resurrection'.
But before she could understand what had happened, Young Master had already transformed, and his powerful aura forced her to turn back.
Looking at the transformed Young Master, who was full of oppressive presence, Lumine's hand, gripping her dull blade, couldn't help but sweat.
Ryan, on his side, hurriedly brought Paimon to Lumine's side, directly facing Young Master.
"You got to the Gnosis first, didn't you?"
Young Master raised the double-headed spear in his hand and pointed it directly at Ryan.
After transforming, his voice had become much deeper, even with its own sound effects.
"Gnosis? What's that?"
Hearing Young Master's question, Ryan tilted his head in confusion and looked at Paimon beside him.
"It's… a big Vision used by gods."
Looked at with Ryan's confused gaze, Paimon could only offer this simple and easy-to-understand explanation.
"Now, hand over the Gnosis, don't make me take it myself!"
The purple gem on Young Master's mask glowed red, and the tip of his spear pointed at Ryan in a threat.
"I haven't seen a Gnosis, but who's afraid of you? Traveler, let's go together."
Ryan shook his head definitively, then said to Lumine.
Lumine nodded slightly, Anemo element power gathering on her sword, and Geo element power injected into the ground, causing tiny Geo constructs to spread around.
'The Traveler seems to have good combat power too, and we're acquainted, so it should be possible…'
Ryan glanced at Lumine, who could control two element powers, his heart stirred. He then raised his hand and formed a hand seal.
"Adeptal Art, Spirit Invocation: Traveler…"
"…Hmm?"
However, Ryan, who had activated Spirit Invocation, found that he received no response.
Normally, even with unfamiliar people, his adeptal art would cause a slight stir, though the other party would instinctively reject Ryan's summons.
But this Traveler had absolutely no reaction.
It was as if there were no records of her in the ley lines at all…?