Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the necklace was frozen along with him.

But where did this necklace come from?

......

In an unknown ancient palace, an apostle of the Ice Abyss tears open a spatial rift and appears.

He looked at the person in front of him and lowered his head slightly.

"Your Highness."

Ying looked up. "Is there something you need?"

"Teyvat has gained an outsider."

Ying frowned slightly. "What?"

Outsiders are of great significance to Teyvat. The first outsider, Phanes, created humanity, and each subsequent visitor has stirred up much turmoil.

Now is the time when Heaven's principles are at their weakest, and she cannot allow any more variables to occur.

"Who is it? Where did it come from? When did it appear?"

“Unlike you, who were summoned here, he entered Teyvat directly through the border. He must have been in Teyvat for quite some time, but he was in a dormant state until recently when he started to become active and we discovered him.”

The Abyss Apostle looked up at her. "He also had dealings with your blood relatives; this outsider was present during the Dragon Plague of Mondstadt."

Ying quickly searched her memory, trying to find such a person, but some parts of her memory were very blurry, as if they had been deliberately covered up, and she could not find a matching person in her memory.

Ying stared intently at the man from the abyss, asking, "What is his stance?"

"I don't know. But judging from his behavior, he may be biased towards the Seven Gods."

Ying revealed a mocking smile, "Heh, Seven Gods..."

She looked into the darkness in the distance, a darkness that seemed to conceal something terrifying, yet also seemed to contain nothing at all.

She couldn't help but think of her brother, and murmured softly.

"Brother, after you finish your journey, will you understand me...?"

Chapter 336 Master, please have some tea

Jiang Bai returned to the Hall of Rebirth several days later.

I wasted some time in Mondstadt, some time traveling, and spent some time in the Hilichurls' cave, so in total, it took quite a bit of time.

Although it took a little time, Jiang Bai didn't forget about the apprenticeship tea ceremony. Every day before dawn, he would go to the teleportation anchor point to teleport to Dihua Island to collect the dew from the glass lilies.

Adding to what I collected before, I've now gathered enough dew for seven days of glass lilies.

"Master, I've collected all the dew from my glass lilies. When will you drink the tea to formally become my disciple?"

Jiang Bai fawned over Zhong Li, massaging his shoulders. Zhong Li was his most trusted patron, and he had to hold on tight to him.

"Oh? It's already healed?" Zhongli asked, somewhat surprised.

He thought Jiang Bai was delayed by something and wouldn't be here so quickly.

“In that case, let’s drink it now. I happen to have some tea here, so you don’t need to make a trip,” Zhongli said casually.

Now it was Jiang Bai's turn to object. "Why not pick an auspicious day, bathe and burn incense or something? Isn't this too casual?"

Zhongli held the teacup in her hand, lifted one eyelid, and looked at him with a hint of mockery, "Didn't you not want to become an apprentice before?"

Jiang Bai feigned ignorance, "Is that so? How come I don't know anything about it? You must be old and have misremembered."

Jiang Bai glanced at the sky, feigning seriousness. "I think today's a pretty good day. Wait a moment, I'll go take a bath and burn incense, then I'll call the hall master over as well..."

"Hehe..." Seeing Jiang Bai run away, Zhong Li smiled.

Having such a lively character around during retirement is quite fun.

Jiang Bai returned to the courtyard, lit incense, washed himself thoroughly, changed into his best clothes, and stood in front of the mirror.

He is very different now from the man who first came to the Hall of Rebirth.

Before, he didn't know where he came from, what his past was, or what his future would be; he just took things one step at a time.

Although there are no major problems, something is always missing.

But now, he has a home of his own, relatives and friends, and someone he wants to spend his life with. He no longer needs to wander.

His golden eyes shone brightly, no longer dull as before, now as radiant as the sun in the sky.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he flashed a bright smile.

"Are you done yet?" Hu Tao's voice came from outside.

She sat on the stone table under the big tree, swinging her fair legs.

Her injuries had almost healed, and she had regained her previous energy and spirit. She was very enthusiastic about Jiang Bai formally becoming her disciple.

"They're here, they're here."

Jiang Bai pushed open the door and walked out, the sunlight shining on him, warm and bright.

Hu Tao, with her hands behind her back, circled around him and said, "Oh, you've tidied up nicely."

"This is a big deal, so we can't be careless."

Jiang Bai stated that he was serious about becoming an apprentice.

"Let's go! I can't wait!"

Hu Tao took the lead and ran to Zhong Li's courtyard, with Jiang Bai following closely behind.

Gu Dong jumped and skipped anxiously, trying to catch up with Jiang Bai. Although she didn't know what was going to happen, she felt it was something very important.

Seeing that it also wanted to go, Jiang Bai squatted down and let it jump onto his shoulder.

Although Jiang Bai attached great importance to formally becoming an apprentice, it was not a very important matter for Zhong Li.

When a person lives too long, there are not many things left that can be considered important.

Zhongli poured the collected, fragrant dew into the pot and waited for the water to slowly boil.

Jiang Bai sat to the left, and Hu Tao stood next to him.

Jiang Bai watched as Zhong Li slowly put the tea leaves into the pot and poured in the dew he had collected over seven days and just boiled.

The tea leaves slowly unfurled their emerald green forms, revealing the precious aroma of this priceless tea.

Just one whiff of it is enough to soothe the soul.

"After drinking this cup of tea, we will officially be master and disciple."

"Yes."

Jiang Bai picked up the teacup, raised it to his eyebrows, and respectfully handed it to Zhong Li.

"Master, please have some tea."

He didn't know if there were any complicated procedures involved in becoming an apprentice, but since Zhongli only mentioned drinking the apprenticeship tea, then he would drink the apprenticeship tea.

Zhongli took a sip of the tea and was quite satisfied with its taste.

"This is a gift from your master to you as you formally become my disciple."

Zhongli took out the turquoise that Wendy had given him.

Jiang Bai's eyes lit up when he saw what Zhong Li had taken out.

If Zhongli gives something as a gift when he becomes an apprentice, then it must be a good thing.

He happily accepted it, saying, "Thank you, Master."

Zhongli smiled but remained silent.

Although I used gifts from an old friend as a formal apprenticeship present, I don't think my old friend would mind.

"Ah Qiu—"

Wendy, who had already returned to Mondstadt, sneezed.

"I'm standing this far away, how come cat hair is still drifting over? I really need to stay away from Cat Tail Tavern..."

The poet, dressed in green, kept his distance from the Cat's Tail Tavern, but at the same time sighed.

"Ugh, I really want to drink Diona's special cocktail..."

After the tea ceremony for the formal apprenticeship was completed, the master-disciple relationship was officially established. Hu Tao, who witnessed the ceremony, patted Jiang Bai on the shoulder with satisfaction:

"From now on, you'll be responsible for taking care of Grandpa. To be able to support him, you'll have to work hard to earn Mora!"

She issued a spurring remark typical of top-level superiors.

Jiang Bai, immersed in the joy of finally clinging to a powerful patron, felt immense pressure.

I counted my wallet, and thankfully, I can still afford to support myself.

"Hehe, don't worry, I can afford it!" Jiang Bai patted his bulging purse. "Today is an auspicious day, let's go to Wanmintang for dinner tonight!"

Hu Tao crossed her arms and said, "Shouldn't we go to Liuli Pavilion or Xinyue Pavilion on auspicious days?"

"The Liuli Pavilion and Xinyue Pavilion are very famous, but when it comes to taste, how can they compare to Wanmin Hall? If we want to eat, we should definitely eat something economical and affordable!"

Prices at Liuli Pavilion and Xinyue Pavilion are indeed too high, but it's impossible to admit that.

With so many days ahead and so little savings, we have to be careful with what we have, right?

"Tch, he just thinks it's too expensive." Hu Tao rolled her eyes, seeing right through him.

Jiang Bai grinned and went over to Zhong Li to pour him tea. "Master, wherever you say we'll go, we'll go."

"Then let's go to Wanmintang. Xiangling should go straight to Wanmintang for her meal when she's on duty."

"Speaking of which, how are the negotiations between Seven Stars and the Winter Kingdom going?" Jiang Bai asked.

He's been out these past few days and isn't very clear on what's been happening lately.

Hu Tao couldn't help but laugh when she heard this, "Of course, it was a resounding victory!"

"This is all thanks to you handing [Young Master] over to Ningguang. When those diplomats found out [Young Master] was in Ningguang's hands, their faces turned green, and they wished they could expel Dadalia from the ranks of the executives on the spot..."

Jiang Bai laughed too, "Hahaha, it's good that it's come in handy!"

D'Artagnan, who was redeemed again at an even higher price, stared at his now-empty bank account and fell into deep thought.

What about his savings?

What about his multi-figure savings?

How could he tell Tonya that he had become penniless?

Chapter 337 Business Resumes

After taking on the heavy responsibility of providing for Zhongli's retirement, Jiang Bai changed his previous lazy ways and diligently distributed flyers to expand his customer base.

Although the "Returning to One's Roots" business doesn't earn much, it's his main job. As a soul-ferryman at the Hall of Rebirth, he can't neglect his main job.

Since the release of "Snow Country Chronicles", their sales and popularity have increased significantly. To date, 34 adventurers have purchased post-death insurance for themselves.

Although this number may seem small, there are very few adventurers who have both money and the need to support themselves after death, so having this many is already quite remarkable.

Many of the people who ordered the service were not doing so to collect corpses, but to have Jiang Bai help them bring back some important items.

This even led Jiang Baisheng to consider renaming the business on several occasions.

However, they eventually gave up. Their business had already built up a reputation, and changing the name would cause their previous reputation to vanish, which would be a loss.

That day, as Jiang Bai was routinely checking the pointers to see if anyone had passed away, he finally discovered that the name on one of the pointers had turned black.

Jiang Bai was deeply moved by the fact that they were finally going to start doing business.

Although exploration is extremely dangerous, the mortality rate of adventurers who have purchased their services is actually quite low; so far, he has only been on the mission a handful of times.

This made him consider adding a slogan to the flyer: "Order our services and death will stay away from you," but then he thought better of it, fearing he might get beaten up.

He pulled out the blackened pointer and found a contract based on the name on it.

The adventurer who ordered this service is from Liyue and his name is Wan Jiliang.

Jiang Bai remembered this person; he was about fifty years old and had a very refined appearance, more like a scholar than an adventurer.