Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

"Young Master Wanye, you're clearly a man of exceptional talent and ability. This is Jiang Bai; he'll be accompanying our great hero to Inazuma. He's never been to sea before, nor has he been to Inazuma, and he's not familiar with the situation there. Please take good care of him on the ship..."

Hu Tao first praised Wan Ye Ichibo before revealing her purpose.

Wan Ye waved his hand, his gaze falling on the Eye of the Rock hanging at Jiang Bai's waist. "I can't accept your help. You two are both very strong. When we get to Inazuma, we might have to rely on you two."

"Hahaha, stop with the formalities." Beidou laughed heartily and looked at Jiang Bai, extending an invitation, "Would you like to join my martial arts tournament?"

"To be honest, I encountered Abyss Apostles a few days ago and fought with them. I was seriously injured and need to rest. I can't fight anymore..." Jiang Bai coughed twice, looking very weak.

Paimon and Kong looked at him with disdain.

It's truly astonishing that he could say something like that, even though it was clearly the Abyss Apostle who was injured.

However, Kong didn't expose him, since Jiang Bai seemed genuinely unwilling to participate in the competition.

"You're injured?" Hu Tao was taken aback.

How come she didn't notice that Jiang Bai was injured?

Jiang Bai winked at her, causing Hu Tao's lips to twitch.

"You do indeed have some abyssal aura on you. It seems you encountered a tough battle..." Wan Ye's nose twitched slightly as he rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.

He didn't smell any blood on Jiang Bai, which meant that Jiang Bai wasn't injured.

But that's not important.

Like Kong, Jiang Bai is also quite special.

Beidou didn't force Jiang Bai to participate. Seeing that he really didn't want to, he patted Jiang Bai's shoulder cheerfully:

"Then let's just be spectators! Even if we don't participate, watching the competition is still fun!"

Chapter 432: How about the "Returning to Roots" package?

The match started on time, and at Kong's insistence, Hu Tao and Jiang Bai put away their equipment.

They stood at the front row of the venue, took out sunflower seeds, and started eating them.

Paimon held out his little hand, "Give me some too."

"Captain Beidou and Brother Wanye, would you like some?" Hu Tao opened the bag of sunflower seeds and handed it to Wanye and Beidou beside her.

Beidou refused, but Wan Ye readily took a handful.

Wan Ye chatted with Jiang Bai while eating sunflower seeds.

"What brings you to Inazuma?"

"Go and collect the remains of a client."

Wan Ye was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Fearing he might not understand, Jiang Bai explained, "Our Rebirth Hall provides funeral services, and we have a service called 'Returning to One's Roots,' which is highly valued by the people of Liyue. So I go to collect the remains of our clients and bring them back to their hometowns..."

As Jiang Bai spoke, he casually handed him a flyer.

"No country or region restrictions, very reasonable prices, would you like to learn more?"

Wan Ye subconsciously glanced at the flyer in his hand, and after reading it, he gently shook his head.

"I am now just a wanderer, with no fixed abode, no return date, no ties, and no desire to return to my roots."

"It's okay, we don't need it now, but we might need it later. This business is still going strong, and you can get a discount if you bring the flyer."

"Hmm." Wan Ye politely put the flyer away.

Kong was slow to appear, so Jiang Bai chatted idly with Wan Ye.

"You don't look very old, so why are you on Big Sister Beidou's ship?"

"Thanks to the eldest sister for taking me in, otherwise I probably would have fallen into the sea and become food for the sea monsters..." Wanye said with some emotion, "I escaped from Inazuma, and I'm still wanted by the shogunate..."

"Because of the Eye Hunt Order?"

Jiang Bai had noticed his Eye of God long ago, and with a little thought, he could connect it to the Eye Hunting Order.

For those who possess the Eye of God, it is undoubtedly a very important thing, but the Eye Hunt Order is going to confiscate the Eye of God, which has probably forced many people to flee.

"Yes. After the Eye Hunt Order was issued, it sparked a lot of resistance. The prize for the competition came from a friend of mine, and I had to leave my hometown..."

"Will this Eye Hunting Order ever end?"

Jiang Bai guessed that Thor issued the Eye Hunt order to consolidate his rule.

Those who possess the Eye of God can wield elemental power, possessing extraordinary strength and posing a destabilizing factor to society.

Thor seeks the unchanging and eternal, which necessitates eliminating these unstable factors and bringing society to a standstill.

I wonder what kind of god Thor really is; he sounds quite cold and ruthless.

“Once all the Eyes of God are collected, perhaps the Eye Hunting Order will end…” Wan Ye shook his head; he didn’t know either.

"If you go to Inazuma, it's best not to reveal your Divine Eye," he advised.

"Um......"

The two chatted for a while, and finally it was Kong's turn to take the stage.

The probability of encountering a strong opponent in the first round is not high. Even without using elemental power, one can win very easily by relying solely on martial arts skills.

"You're watching very intently," Jiang Bai said, turning his head to look at Wan Ye beside him.

Even if the opponents on the field seem to him to be playing minor matches, Wan Ye watches the game very seriously, no matter whose match it is.

"I want to see if anyone here can awaken that unclaimed Eye of God."

The Eye of God is the crystallization of human desires.

If someone can awaken that extinguished Eye of God, it would be another kind of continuation of friendship.

"We definitely need to take a good look at that."

Jiang Bai only knew that Ningguang's Eye of God was lit by an unclaimed Eye of God, but he didn't know anything about the other people's Eyes of God.

It is said that the Eye of God lit up as soon as it was held in one's hand. I wonder if this unclaimed Eye of God will also light up immediately if it falls into the hands of a destined person.

The competition progressed quickly, and half of the participants were eliminated in just one day.

After a night's rest, the semi-finals will be held tomorrow.

Fortunately, due to the popularity of this martial arts tournament, there are many more ships coming and going to Guyun Pavilion. Many merchants have also discovered business opportunities and are selling tents on the island, making it much more convenient whether they are going back to Liyue Harbor to rest or setting up tents directly.

Two days passed in a flash, and just as Jiang Bai had predicted, Kong became the most likely person to win the championship in this competition.

Besides Kong, there were indeed a few other outstanding players in the competition, but they all became Kong's defeated opponents.

Two days passed in a flash. In order to ensure that he could obtain the key, Kong even asked Wan Ye to give him special training.

However, the final day's competition was truly unexpected.

The final opponent, knowing that his opponent was empty, didn't even go on the field!

Completely intimidated by Kong's reputation, he abandoned any attempt to win head-on and instead stole the prize.

To this, Jiang Bai could only say, "They're quite self-aware..."

Wan Ye sensed the information lingering in the air and said, "The thief just committed the crime and didn't go far."

"This guy is pretty good at stealing prizes in full view of everyone," Jiang Bai remarked.

There were so many people here, yet the prize was still stolen.

"What's so great about this!" Paimon punched Jiang Bai on the head with his little fist.

“The Eye of God is the prize I promised. It’s my responsibility that I didn’t take good care of it. I will take responsibility for finding it.” Wan Ye looked at Kong. “You should come with me.”

Kong nodded readily and agreed, "Anyway, the enemy hasn't come yet, so I'll go and help you."

"Then I'll have to trouble you. I need to stay here and give the audience an explanation." Beidou nodded and went to explain the situation to the audience.

With their opponent absent, this final showdown could only end inconclusively.

Paimon looked around at the sea, scratched his head, and said, "But this is an island. Which way should we chase after them?"

“Come with me, [the wind] will lead us to him.”

Jiang Bai stood still, shielding his eyes from the blinding sunlight, watching Kong and Wan Ye take flight in the sudden gust of wind, and couldn't help but mutter a complaint.

"How come this Manyo is even more like the Wind God than the Wind God himself!"

The fake Venti: a street performer who buys alcohol, a drunkard, an actor, a ne'er-does-nothing, a do-nothing, and allergic to cat hair.

Wan Ye, the holder of the Wind Element Eye: Poetic, able to sense various messages carried by the wind, create wind fields, and take off from the spot.

In comparison, Manyo clearly has more potential to become a wind god.

"Hey? Doesn't the Wind God look like the Wind God?" Hu Tao became interested.

Speaking of Wendy, Jiang Bai felt resentful. "That guy, the Anemo Archon, doesn't do anything right. Last time, the Abyss Order used his statue to cause trouble, but this guy just wouldn't do anything about it. No matter how much I called him, he wouldn't show up!"

This was the first time he had ever seen a god so thoroughly give up.

Although my father is retired, at least he can still find people to give him pointers.

Wendy is fine; if he doesn't want to show up, no one can find him.

Chapter 433 Setting Sail

Hu Tao blinked, and after a long pause, finally managed to come up with a phrase that wasn't too blasphemous.

"The Wind God, he really is...free..."

"Freedom, freedom, what a nice way to put it! He's just too lazy to bother with anything! Humph, next time I see him, I'll stuff cat hair into his hat and make him sneeze all day long!"

"Ah-chu—ah-chu—"

Wendy, who was drinking at the pub, sneezed several times in a row.

"Strange, there aren't any cats here. Or is someone thinking about me?"

He looked at the wine in the oak glass with a drunken expression, "Heh heh, this is really good wine..."

……

Sora and Manyo chased after them all the way to Yaoguang Beach. With the help of the wind, such a long distance was no problem.

The person who stole the Eye of God was a member of the Treasure Thieves, but compared to ordinary members of the Treasure Thieves, the person who stole the Eye of God was much more formidable.

Unfortunately, the Eye of God did not shine in the hands of this member of the treasure-hunting gang.

Even if Wan Ye used words to make him mistakenly believe that he was in a hopeless situation, it would still be the same.

"Manyo, you seem to care a lot about whether he can restore the light to the Eye of God."

Kong looked at Wanye, wondering what this Eye of God represented that made Wanye so concerned.

"Yes, this is the last possession of a friend of mine. Although I have only heard of the possibility of an unclaimed Eye of God shining again in a few legends, since there is such a legend, I want to give it a try."

"I've tried many methods to get it back on, but none of them have worked."

Wan Ye handed the Eye of God to Kong, saying, "You can control multiple elemental forces, so perhaps you can make this Eye of God shine again. Give it a try."

"I'll give it a try." Sora took the Eye of God, but it didn't react in his hand.

"Looks like that won't work." Sora returned the Eye of God to him.

"I see, even you can't do it." Wan Ye said, somewhat disappointed.

Even something as extraordinary as emptiness cannot make this Eye of God shine. So what kind of person, and what kind of wish, could make this Eye of God shine again?

"Why are you so persistent? Do you really have to light it up?"

In response to Sora's curiosity, Manyo told a story that wasn't that long ago.

"This brings me to an old friend, someone who was once a close friend of mine. The other day he asked me if I had ever heard of 'The One-Sword Without Thought'..."

“I said, ‘Of course, that strike can only be seen when the [Divine Punishment] descends; that strike represents the pinnacle of General Thunder’s martial arts.’ But he said, ‘That strike may not be unattainable. There will always be beings on earth who dare to face the might of thunder.’”

"Later, the Eye Hunting Order arrived unexpectedly. The people's wishes gradually became the bricks and tiles used to build [Eternity]. While I was helplessly wandering around, I heard that he had launched a duel before the Emperor against the executors of the Eye Hunting Order."

"The duel before the emperor is solemn and cruel. The loser will face divine punishment, while the winner can win a chance to turn the tide."

"Perhaps he was thinking that he was the most suitable person. Facing that unexpected blow was his lifelong wish."