"Where did my giant tree go?!!!"
When Yun Xu arrived near Hulao Mountain and found the original location of the Fulong Tree empty, he couldn't help but cover his face with both hands and let out a sharp cry.
"Who dug up my Martial Grand-Aunt's grave?!"
"This is too much, at least leave me some…"
Yun Xu approached with a sorrowful expression, only to find that after the Fulong Tree disappeared, all that remained was a large pit that had been mostly filled in.
"Sigh… It seems the Geo Archon released Martial Grand-Aunt…"
Confirming there was no longer any trace of the Fulong Tree, Yun Xu figured the seal beneath it was probably gone too, so he could only sigh.
"But without the Fulong Tree, how can I continue refining elixirs?"
Remembering that a large portion of his elixir recipes included volt locust wood as an ingredient, Yun Xu couldn't help but feel pessimistic.
For him, if one ingredient was missing, the effect of the elixir would become uncertain, and the recipes recorded in the Grand Pill Compendium would become useless.
"…"
After lamenting for a while, Yun Xu finally started moving again, searching around the former location of the Fulong Tree.
Yun Xu first glanced at the underground passage leading to the seal, found that it had also been filled in, and then continued searching the surroundings.
Persistence paid off; Yun Xu found a broken branch of the Fulong Tree nearby.
The Fulong Tree had strong vitality, and even a broken branch could survive for a long time, so the leaves on this branch had not yet withered.
"I'll take it back and try to plant it…"
Yun Xu mumbled, then took this last branch and left the original location of the Fulong Tree.
However, on his way back to Mt. Aocang, Yun Xu suddenly noticed the grave he had dug for the large yellow Slime.
"This place is quite nice, very spacious, and relatively close to Mt. Aocang…"
Yun Xu mumbled, then walked closer, dug a small pit behind the Slime's grave, and inserted the Fulong Tree branch.
After doing this, Yun Xu took a cup of water from his qiankun bag and also pulled out Lime, as she hadn't visited her family in a long time.
While Lime visited her family, Yun Xu carefully watered the Fulong Tree branch he had planted in the ground.
Lime naturally remembered her sister's grave; she approached it and then slumped into a puddle in front, expressing her sorrow.
However, after Yun Xu finished watering, she also snapped out of her sadness and began to excitedly jump left and right in front of her sister's grave, seemingly showcasing her growth over these past days.
She had absorbed a lot of elemental power while with Yun Xu, and as a pure elemental lifeform, her power had greatly increased.
The original large Slime had a combat power similar to a Hilichurl.
But now, her strength was more than enough to defeat an axe-wielding Mitachurl, and she probably even had a chance against a Hilichurl King.
"You little one…"
Watching Lime's actions, Yun Xu gently shook his head, squatted down, and petted her.
The excited Lime then stopped moving and affectionately rubbed against Yun Xu's hand; she was becoming more and more like a pet.
"…Never mind, I'll do this: I'll move your friend's grave, move it into the qiankun bag."
After some thought, Yun Xu made this decision.
Because he suddenly thought of something: the Fulong Tree was extraordinary, not an ordinary plant, and perhaps its growth also required abundant elemental power.
Although the external space generally didn't have an abundance of elemental power to squander, Yun Xu had the sun and moon cup, and he could attract elemental power into the qiankun bag when he refined elixirs.
Thus, Yun Xu dug up the soil from the ground and collected it into the qiankun bag, including the Slime's grave and the Fulong Tree branch.
Lime had no objections to this; after being collected into the qiankun bag by Yun Xu, she continued to stay next to her sister's grave.
After so many days apart, she still had many Slime words to tell her sister.
"I wonder where the Geo Archon took Martial Grand-Aunt; maybe I should go back to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to check…"
Leaving the qiankun bag, Yun Xu couldn't help but mumble.
Now that the Fulong Tree was gone, he couldn't obtain volt locust wood, but his Martial Grand-Aunt Azhdaha was also a rare material he hadn't touched yet.
Thinking this, Yun Xu immediately set off towards Liyue Harbor.
It was already late when he returned to Liyue Harbor, so Yun Xu made a detour to Bubu Pharmacy and gave Qiqi five of the refined Sweet Sweet Pills.
These things were only refined from sweet flowers; in his opinion, they weren't valuable, and he kept some only for future trades with Lumine.
As thanks, Qiqi cut off a small tuft of hair from her body and gave it to Yun Xu.
Yun Xu, putting away the hair, bid farewell to Qiqi, then headed straight for Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Upon arriving outside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Yun Xu happened to see Zhongli.
However, he was accompanied by a girl with her hands on her hips.
From a distance, Yun Xu thought it was Hu Tao, as the girl also had brown hair, but upon closer inspection, he found that this girl was much shorter than Hu Tao, only about Qiqi's height.
Looking closely, Yun Xu noticed that this girl also had large yellow dragon horns on her head, identical in shape to Azhdaha's dragon lords crown.
The large dragon lords crown was located near the girl's temples, growing upwards in a crescent shape, and behind the dragon lords crown, the girl's black-to-brown gradient long hair was tied into high twin pigtails, hanging down on both sides.
The girl wore a modified cheongsam in orange and black, and her fleshy thighs, clad in black short socks and sandals, were exposed to the air.
Behind the girl, there was also a plump tail, the tip of which had golden branches and leaves, somewhat resembling the Fulong Tree.
Seeing this, Yun Xu somewhat guessed the girl's identity… "Hehe, Morax, I didn't expect that after all these years, you would also be reduced to having to act according to others' whims."
The little girl, with her hands on her hips, mocked Zhongli, who stood with her outside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
"Geo Archon… why are you standing outside the door?"
Yun Xu approached at this moment and asked quietly.
"Ah, Yun Xu. Earlier, I took Azhdaha to dine at the Liuli Pavilion and had the bill sent to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor."
Seeing Yun Xu's arrival, Zhongli explained the whole story.
Ever since Tartaglia left Liyue Harbor and returned to Snezhnaya, Zhongli's bills had been sent to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
"It's just a bit of Mora; it made you so scared you didn't dare to enter. You wait, I'll go persuade this little one."
The little girl beside him said, then walked forward, pushed open the door, and entered the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
"Hmm, with a guest inside, Director Hu surely won't get angry anymore. Let's go in together."
Seeing the little girl enter the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor first, Zhongli finally nodded with relief, then suggested to Yun Xu…