Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

For the first three days that Yakoda was learning immortal arts from Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun, Fanes sat beside her and watched the whole thing.

On her first day of learning to draw talismans, the True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng personally taught her how to draw the simplest peace talisman stroke by stroke. Yakoda's posture in holding the pen was upright, and her strokes were steady enough, but the pen tip would always inexplicably break off when it reached the core of the talisman. The talisman she drew had no spiritual power at all, and after a cup of tea's time, it would float down on its own, like an ordinary piece of yellow paper dampened by moisture.

The next day, she switched to chanting incantations. The True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng taught her a Heart-Cleansing Mantra, which was short and easy to remember. Yakoda chanted it more than twenty times. Eventually, even the leaves of the potted plant in the corner started to tremble, but the protective effect that the incantation should have had was not present at all. After she yawned, the spell completely dissipated.

On the third day, True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng laid out a beginner-level book, *Basic Explanation of the Five Elements Talismans*, on the table, allowing Yakoda to choose a line she could understand and try practicing it. Yakoda lay on the table, staring at the yellowed silk scroll for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, finally pointing to a line and asking, "True Lord, what does 'explosion' and 'separation fire' mean together?"

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun leaned over for a glance, his tone flat: "A basic explosive talisman. Condensing the power of the blazing fire into the talisman and attaching it to an object can trigger a small explosion. It's not very powerful, usually used for splitting mountains or clearing obstacles. With your current skill level, you'll need some practice to draw it. Perhaps you should try something gentler first..."

Halfway through her sentence, Yakoda picked up an unused bow and arrow, took the half-drawn talisman, thought for a moment, then tore the talisman into a thin strip and wrapped it around the arrow shaft near the arrowhead. She then drew the bow, nocked the arrow, and shot it at a large rock next to an old pine tree outside the cave.

After the arrow left the bowstring, it drew a not-so-fast arc in the air. The moment the arrowhead struck the surface of the stone, the patterns on the talisman suddenly lit up with a dazzling crimson light. Then, with a loud bang, the stone exploded, scattering fragments and sending dust billowing more than ten feet high.

After the smoke cleared, a pit larger than a washbasin appeared on the surface of the large rock that was originally half a person tall. The edges were charred and cracked, and wisps of smoke were rising from it.

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun stood at the entrance of the cave, staring at the rock that had been blasted into a large crater, and remained silent for about three seconds.

Yakoda put down her bow, turned to look at Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun, her starry eyes filled with a sense of unease, as if wondering, "Did I do something wrong?" "Zhenjun... is this method considered heretical?"

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun glanced at her, then at the stone, and finally spoke with a subtle tone that even she herself did not realize.

"...No. The talisman can be activated, and the arrow can be guided. The combination of the two is more than twice as powerful as simply sticking on a talisman. Although I never thought that talismans could be used in this way, since it works, then it is your method."

Fanes sat on the stone steps outside the cave entrance and watched the whole scene unfold, his jaw nearly dropping. When he saw Yakoda wrap a basic explosive talisman around the arrow shaft and fire it, a distant image suddenly flashed through his mind—a meteor-like arrow piercing through the sea of ​​stars, its tip wrapped with some indescribable power, shooting out an arrow that brought everything to silence.

The image was blurry and distant, like a frozen frame from a game CG in a fragmented memory of a past life, but the posture of the archer overlapped for a moment with the profile of Yakoda when she drew her bow and released the arrow.

He seemed to have the air of an old friend.

Fanes shook his head to banish the image from his mind, stood up, walked over to look at the charred crater in the rock, then looked at Yakoda, who was still poking at the debris on the edge of the rock with the tip of her bow, and patted her on the shoulder.

"From now on, don't learn those fancy talismans anymore. Just focus on archery. Carve all the talismans on the arrow shafts, draw one and shoot, draw ten and shoot ten. If you're fast, set up an arrow formation in advance to create distance. If you're slow, shoot an arrow first to blast the enemy back before running away. Either way, you'll win."

Yakoda looked up at him, her eyes sparkling: "Boss, are you serious?"

"Seriously. You've wasted your talent elsewhere."

Fanes turned to look at True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng, "True Lord, from now on, let her practice the method of combining archery with talismans. Don't force her to learn those pure talisman routes."

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun stood beside her with her hands behind her back, her pale blue robes fluttering gently in the mountain breeze. She looked at the scorched talisman patterns still visible on the bow and arrow shaft in Yakoda's hand, and nodded slightly after a moment of silence.

"This child is indeed talented. I will select suitable talismans for her to practice archery."

Fanes nodded in satisfaction. Then he made a decision: "Starting tomorrow, Yakoda will go hunting every day."

Yakoda blinked: "Hunting? What kind of hunting?"

Fanes confidently listed the items on his fingers: "Those big wild rabbits that always run around on the hillside, that brood of plump bamboo rats by the stream, and those pheasants that perch on the treetops and call out every evening. You take your bow and arrows out for a stroll every day, and we'll roast whatever you bring back. It'll be a win-win situation—you can practice your archery skills and improve your meals at the same time."

Yakoda was silent for a moment, then a light of "I understand" welled up in her starry eyes: "Boss... you just don't want to eat grass every day, right?"

Fanes looked away and whistled. The whistle was completely off-key, and Jakoda's face clearly said, "I knew it."

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun stood by and watched this scene. A trace of helplessness appeared in his dark eyes, but he said nothing. He simply turned around and walked back into his cave. His blue and white robes swept across the threshold, creating a faint breeze.

From that day on, Yakoda's daily training consisted of learning new talisman patterns from Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun in the morning and going out hunting in the afternoon with a bag of drawn talisman arrows on her back.

Yakoda's talent with a bow was indeed exceptional. On her first day out, she brought back three wild rabbits and a bamboo rat. When Fanes squatted on the hillside, set up a grill, skewered the rabbit meat, and brushed it with oil, the air in the entire Jueyun Pass seemed to become more pleasant.

Fanes squatted by the fire, turning over the sizzling, oily meat skewers, while Little Black squatted by the fire, eagerly waiting for the first piece of meat to be cooked.

Yakoda sat on a nearby rock, polishing her bowstring. A bag full of talisman arrows was tucked into her waistband, and she wore a satisfied smile that said, "I've gotten a lot of good stuff today."

Fanes handed her the first skewer of roasted rabbit: "You've had a hard day, eat more. Tomorrow, let's see if we can hunt that bigger pheasant. I saw it drinking water by the stream yesterday; it had quite a bit of meat on its legs."

Yakoda took the skewer and took a bite. The flavor of oil mixed with salt and spices spread on her tongue, and her starry eyes narrowed into two curved slits with satisfaction: "Boss, you really went to great lengths to avoid eating grass."

Fanes took a bite of rabbit meat himself, chewed it a couple of times, and mumbled, "Food is the most important thing for people, what do you know?"