I, the Rock King Emperor with 21 billion in power, have joined the chat group.

"Tomorrow will be the end of all the missions. Let me... no, let's finish what we started."

In his palm, a bright bead and a constantly flowing hourglass spun gently, emitting a bright light.

Chapter 43 The Traces of Ningguang's Murder

"Ningguang is in a coma after an accident?"

"More than a dozen Chiyan soldiers were killed?"

"Your Excellency Qunyu," Gan Yu's words caused Paimon to gasp in surprise.

“Yes, traveler. I’m on my way to visit Lady Ningguang, who has been brought back. Would you like to come with me?” Gan Yu’s voice was quick but not urgent; instead, it remained calm.

"Hmm..." The traveler looked at her and hesitated for a moment before saying softly, "I just returned from the Tomb of the End with Mr. Zhongli..."

Her words did not elicit much of a reaction from Gan Yu.

Gan Yu glanced at her and continued, "There are auras of water and lightning elements on Lady Ningguang's body."

This cryptic way of speaking made Paimon scratch her head. She exclaimed, "Let's go, let's go. Let's go see Ningguang and see how badly she's hurt!"

"Mm." The traveling girl nodded slightly.

Gan Yu didn't say anything unnecessary and quickly led the way.

About fifteen minutes later, the three of them arrived at a clinic in Liyue Harbor.

Ningguang was lying on a hospital bed in the clinic, her eyes closed, but her breathing wasn't too weak.

On her body, the once elegant cheongsam dress embroidered with gold thread was mostly burned off by lightning, and there were charred marks on the tender white skin on the inside of her thighs.

The cheongsam was completely torn open in the center of her chest, and a wound that ran across her chest seemed to have just healed, with tender new flesh still visible on her skin.

The area around the wound was covered with traces of moisture.

"It really is water and lightning elements." Paimon leaned closer to observe in great detail.

Several members of the Chiyan Army surrounding Ningguang's ward seemed displeased with Paimon's unreasonable behavior and were stepping forward to stop him.

Gan Yu waved her hand, indicating that they shouldn't mind.

After examining the wound, Paimon quickly stepped back and whispered something in the traveler's ear.

"Indeed, the wounds are all from water and lightning elements. Mr. Zhongli's power is from rock, while the elemental power used by the Apostles of the Outer Principle, if I remember correctly, is only fire. Other powers do not show any elemental reaction."

"Hmm." The traveler breathed a slight sigh of relief.

To be honest, she didn't want to be on the opposite side of Zhong Li.

The thought of having to fight against an opponent like the Rock King Emperor when she had lost all her power made her unable to feel happy.

Fortunately, the remaining evidence has temporarily ruled out Zhongli and the apostles of the "Outer Principles".

Unlike the travelers who were somewhat relaxed, Gan Yu crossed her arms and pondered for a moment.

"Lady Ningguang was discovered an hour ago, surrounded by several Thousand Rock Army corpses. Several other Thousand Rock Army soldiers, like Lady Ningguang, were also lying unconscious on the ground, unable to move, and have not yet woken up."

"None of the witnesses have woken up, but the elemental reactions and traces shouldn't have disappeared within an hour, so there's still a chance to find the culprit directly." Gan Yu analyzed the incident to herself, then turned her gaze to the Traveler: "...Um...Traveler, would you be willing to do a quest for me?"

"Although I would like to go by myself, I need to look after Ningguang here and handle some urgent matters. Right now, you are the only one by my side who can use elemental vision to find out the flow of elements. So, I can only trouble you, Traveler."

Without the slightest hesitation, the young traveler patted her chest and, swaying slightly, expressed her opinion to this request.

A few minutes later, she and Paimon were standing once again in front of the entrance bridge to Liyue Harbor.

They continued on their way while analyzing the situation.

Paimon followed the running traveler with ease, explaining the situation as they flew: "According to Ganyu, Ningguang was attacked on her way to make a pact with the immortals."

“Two days ago, after leaving the Golden Pavilion where the Immortal Ancestor’s Dharma Body was located, Ningguang felt uneasy, as if something was going to happen to Liyue Harbor. Therefore, in order to avoid any unforeseen complications, she decided to take advantage of the night and sign a new contract with the four immortals to protect Liyue tonight.”

"This matter is top secret. Apart from the Thousand Rock Army guarding it, only Gan Yu knows the specific time and place. Even Keqing, who is also a member of the Liyue Seven Stars, doesn't know the situation."

"Therefore, it is very strange that they were ambushed."

"Gan Yu's decision to have us outsiders accept the exploration mission this time is probably also to prevent interference from forces within Liyue Harbor."

The traveler listened intently as he continued on his way.

About half an hour later, she arrived at the location Gan Yu had indicated.

This is a small canyon between two mountains. The ground in the canyon is in a mess, with bloodstains seeping into the soil and signs of destruction everywhere.

Under the moonlight, the young traveler could clearly see what the marks were—knife wounds, gunshot wounds, frozen remnants, lightning strikes, and water stains.

It's clear that there's more than one person fighting here.

Paimon flew closer than the traveler. He circled the scars twice, flying up and down.

Then, with a confident air, he returned to the traveler's side and proudly reported, "Guess what I discovered?"

The traveler grunted in agreement and stated directly, "It's the Fools."

"Ah, so you figured it out too." Paimon's smug expression instantly vanished.

However, her dejection and drooping only lasted for four or five seconds before she immediately raised her head again and said earnestly to the traveler, "The scars from this battle are exactly the same as those we encountered when fighting the Fatui in Mondstadt. There is no difference in either the weapons or the elemental reactions."

"As long as there is no organization in Liyue with the same complete set of elemental reactions as the Fatui, then this must have been done by the Fatui. There is no other answer."

"That is... young master," the traveling girl summarized succinctly.

"Ahhh!" Paimon scratched his head in frustration. "There are so many things going on! One day after another, one after another, without stopping. First, there were the Outer Order's apostles, then the Fatui's executors. And then there's the Geo Archon who faked his death and escaped. Plus, the opposition between Ningguang of Tianquan and Keqing of Yuheng among the seven stars of Liyue. Liyue feels so much more complicated than Mondstadt."

"Both the severity of the incident and the complexity of its chaos are too troublesome."

"Mmm...mmm," the traveler nodded his little head, his face showing complete agreement, looking incredibly cute.

Chapter 44 Beginning (1)

No matter how much you complain, things still need to be done.

Activating her Elemental Vision, the traveling girl followed the traces of elemental remnants and quickly found a strange treasure-hunting group's camp.

It's strange that the elemental remnants of the Fatui are around the treasure-hunting group.

But that's the reality, and it can't be changed.

With renewed vigor, the traveler girl sensed the power of rock bestowed upon her body by the statue of the Rock King Emperor, and with a flick of her one-handed sword, she charged into the sleeping treasure-hunting group.

"Starfall Sword. Desolate Star!"

"Layered Rocks and Overlapping Peaks. Shockwave!"

A few minutes later, looking at the mess on the ground, the traveling girl, slightly out of breath, began to explore the abandoned camp left behind by the treasure-hunting group.

Paimon also acted swiftly.

Then soon after, they found a locked treasure chest in the house of the treasure hunters' leader.

The girl and Paimon exchanged a glance, then stepped forward and opened the box.

To her surprise, the box contained neither weapons of mass destruction, nor horrific experimental data, nor any conspiracy to overthrow Liyue.

They were still neatly folded talismans.

“These all seem to be… Unrestricted Talismans?” Paimon scratched his head in confusion. “Isn’t it said that Unrestricted Talismans are extremely rare? True Lord Xiaoyue Zhuyang seemed to have said that he hadn’t seen an Unrestricted Talisman for many years. How come there are so many here? This is too strange.”

Paimon rummaged through the treasure chest a couple more times and found a thin notebook buried under the Talisman of No Taboos: "What's this?"

Amidst the doubts, she took the notebook and returned to the traveler girl's side. The two opened the notebook and read it together.

The two of them quickly finished reading through the thin notebook.

Paimon exclaimed in surprise, "This... seems to describe the method for making the Unrestricted Talisman? What do the Fools and the young master need so many Unrestricted Talismans for? Besides meeting immortals, does this thing have any other use?"

The traveling girl shook her head.

She picked up her notebook and waved at Paimon: "We...we'll go back and ask Gan Yu."

This was indeed the correct judgment, and Paimon naturally wouldn't object.

Night had fallen, with only a few drops of moonlight streaming down. Paimon led the way, and the traveling girl followed behind.

The two walked for about another one or two hours before returning to Liyue Harbor.

By the time the traveling girl handed the Unrestricted Talisman and the notebook to Gan Yu, it was already around three or four in the morning.

The moonlight is about to fade, and the sun is about to rise.

A faint orange glow had begun to appear on the dim horizon.

Meanwhile, Gan Yu was sitting in front of Ning Guang's hospital bed, flipping through various documents in Liyue Harbor.

Having often worked 24 hours a day without sleep, she was already used to another sleepless night of overtime.

Even without Ningguang, her work efficiency remains extremely high.

She saw the traveler and Paimon return, nodded slightly, and then saw the notebook the traveler handed her.

She quickly flipped through it, her expression gradually shifting from calm to tension.

"What's wrong?" Paimon asked, noticing her strange expression.

"Did you find this notebook in the Fools' territory?" Gan Yu didn't answer, but asked in return.

"Of course, we can be certain that the Fools were the ones who harmed the Condensed Light of Tianquan. Then, we tracked down an elemental vision and discovered a group of thieves, and found this notebook in their treasure chest." Paimon explained the situation in great detail.

"The Fools are truly meticulous," Gan Yu remarked, then calmly continued, "Besides protecting ordinary people from harm by immortals, the Hundred Taboos Talisman also has another function: to break the seal of Lord Rock King Emperor."

"These Fools' imitations of the Unrestricted Talisman certainly don't have the same effects as the original, but if there are enough of them, they can be enough to break the seal on the Demon God."

"This is probably the purpose of the Fools."

"Purpose??" Paimon asked, puzzled. "Unseal the Demon God? What are the benefits?"

Gan Yu shook his head: "The Fools attacked Lady Ningguang, revealing so many flaws. They probably wanted us to use our Elemental Vision to find this treasure-hunting group and then discover the method for making the Unrestricted Talisman."

"There is one thing I am certain of now: the one who attacked Lady Ningguang was definitely a member of the Fatui. But they were definitely not wearing the Fatui's distinctive clothing or accessories. Instead, they disguised themselves as a group of thieves."

"After they attacked Lady Ningguang in the guise of a treasure-hunting gang, they used Elemental Vision to lure us into finding this gang and the treasure chest, letting us know that the Fatui had mastered the method of making the Unhindered Talisman, as a form of intimidation."

"After all, we can't just watch the Demon God revive like this. We will definitely have to send the Thousand Rock Army to protect the Demon God's seal."

"If there are more Thousand Rock troops outside the city, then there will inevitably be fewer Thousand Rock troops inside the city... This must be the purpose of the Fatui. They want to do something within Liyue Harbor, but too many Thousand Rock troops will definitely be in the way, and at the same time they don't want to be caught by us Liyue people, so they set up this trap."