Several days later, outside Mondstadt's city gates, the Knights of Favonius diplomatic delegation to Liyue stood fully prepared for departure.
Kaeya, dressed in travel attire that was light yet undeniably stylish, was lazily inspecting the supply wagons.
When he noticed a certain black-haired youth strolling over with a medium-sized pack on his back—wearing an expression that screamed "I'm just out for a casual walk"—Kaeya raised one eyebrow in amused surprise.
"Well now, isn't this our Acting Grand Master's assistant?"
"Leaving your own earth-shaking renovation behind just to join a dull diplomatic trip? I distinctly remember someone who has 'slacking off' and 'avoiding trouble' practically carved into his forehead."
Yichen immediately lifted his chin, pointing it arrogantly at Kaeya, adopting a punch-worthy expression of supreme disdain.
"Hmph! How can sparrows possibly understand the ambition of a great swan?"
"This journey to Liyue is for studying advanced commercial thinking and exploring sustainable paths to wealth creation!"
"It's about injecting new vitality into Mondstadt's future economic prosperity!"
He waved a hand dismissively.
"A pure military man like you wouldn't understand such lofty matters. Just stand aside and make up the numbers—handle security or something."
Kaeya burst out laughing and elbowed Yichen in the ribs (lightly, of course).
"Oh please! Ambition my foot. I'd say you're either brewing some mischief again, or…"
His single eye gleamed as he leaned in closer, grin turning distinctly gossipy.
"…don't tell me you heard that Yun Jin from the Yun-Han Opera Troupe is stunningly talented, or you've got your eye on some tea-picking girl from Qiaoying Village? Using official business as an excuse to chase romance, hmm?"
"How could that be possible?!"
Yichen exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumping back and pointing at his own face in righteous fury.
"I! Yichen! A respectable, upright young man of Mondstadt!"
"Has my image really degraded to the point where you think I flirt my way across the continent?!"
"This is slander! Defamation!"
Kaeya crossed his arms and leisurely admired the performance.
"Hard to say."
Several days later, amid a "friendly" atmosphere of constant bickering and mutual sabotage, Yichen and Kaeya finally led the delegation through Stone Gate.
Ahead, standing at the boundary between Dihua Marsh and Guili Plains, rose the iconic landmark—
Wangshu Inn.
At that very moment, unseen by anyone below, at the edge of the inn's highest platform—
A young adeptus with teal hair stood upright in the wind, arms crossed, his presence distant and forbidding.
Originally, his golden eyes merely swept over the passing crowds below, like a raptor surveying its domain.
But when his gaze passed over the Mondstadt delegation and inadvertently landed on the black-haired youth joking around with a blue-haired, one-eyed man—
His pupils suddenly contracted.
That is… the aura of a qilin?
It was extremely faint—like a newborn cub, its bloodline not yet fully awakened—shrouded beneath dense human presence and an even stranger power.
Yet the essence beneath it was unmistakable: pure, auspicious.
Not pureblood. A mixed-blood descendant… and still so young.
Why would such a being appear among Mondstadt's envoys?
And act so… carefree?
The unexpected discovery stirred his long-silent emotions, causing a minuscule lapse in the flawless restraint of his adeptal aura.
Below, Yichen—currently hopping mad as Kaeya teased him about having a lover in Liyue—reacted almost instinctively.
The grin vanished.
In less than a hundredth of a second, his eyes sharpened like a hawk's.
His entire demeanor snapped from relaxed to taut, like a fully drawn bowstring.
He whipped his head around, gaze slicing upward with lethal precision—
Straight toward the rooftop of Wangshu Inn, a direction no ordinary human should ever perceive.
The speed of the reaction was utterly abnormal.
Kaeya, standing beside him, didn't even understand what had happened—only that the air had suddenly changed.
On the rooftop, Xiao felt a second wave of surprise.
Such sharp perception.
But in the next instant, Yichen's "battle face" receded just as fast, like a tide pulling back.
He casually scratched the back of his head and let out a huge yawn, as though nothing more than a stiff neck had prompted the movement.
"Ahhh—by the way, Kaeya, they say the almond tofu at Wangshu Inn is incredible. We have to try it later!"
The topic change was painfully forced.
His tone returned to its usual lazy cadence, as if that razor-sharp vigilance had never existed.
Kaeya's eye glinted briefly.
He followed the direction Yichen had glanced, quick as lightning—but saw only drifting clouds and the inn's curved eaves.
Smiling faintly, he let it go.
"Oh? You've done your homework even on the food?"
"Looks like your intentions really aren't pure after all."
On the rooftop, Xiao withdrew his gaze, thoughtful.
A mixed-blood qilin… raised in Mondstadt?
And hiding quite a few secrets.
His figure dissolved like mist into the wind.
Since this being had entered Liyue's territory—
He would keep an eye on him.
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