Lu Bu, the Thunder General, is my adoptive father in Genshin Impact.

Xiao Yi let out a breath, his expression returning to ease, and said nonchalantly, "Don't be nervous. Spreading rumors won't do anything to me. Besides, according to my information, he's already halfway out of the Fools' group, so there's no need to worry too much."

“But…” Ayaka said.

“I’m going to Haiqi Island next. Linghua, I’ll leave the teleportation gate to you.” Xiao Yi interrupted Princess Bailu. “Also, punish the patrol soldiers who failed to guard properly last night. Make them catch a giant oni beetle for Ichidou, and then send him and Miss Shinobu back to Inazuma Castle.”

Seeing that her superior had already arranged everything, Linghua had no choice but to agree.

Xiao Yi muttered to himself: "Skiptraces, oh skirmishers, why did you have to come out and cause trouble at this crucial time? I wanted to finish repairing the portal quickly, reunite with Gan Yu, and enjoy the life of a warm bed with my wife."

Chapter 209 If nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is likely to occur.

The sea is still so clear today. The bright sunlight shines through the sea, adding a touch of light to the dark shallow waters. Schools of fish are busy going back and forth, and a girl floats quietly around the small fish in a curled-up position.

The girl's pink hair swayed with the flow of the seawater, and the hem of her dress resembled a mermaid's tail, making her graceful figure even more ethereal and dynamic.

Of course, the girl did not accidentally drown; on the contrary, she enjoyed the process, enjoying the cool seawater washing over her entire body and the oxygen in her alveoli slowly decreasing. For ordinary people on land, water pressure can be uncomfortable, but for the shrine maiden Kokoro Miyako of Umijima Island, diving is a relaxing and stress-relieving activity.

Whenever she encounters a frustrating situation that she can't resolve in a short time, she either reads a few light novels during her free time or goes to a deserted beach, clears her mind, and jumps into the sea to experience the feeling of being surrounded by nature.

Only in this way can one's mood gradually recover and one's mental "energy" gradually increase.

The situation was similar this time; the reason she came to dive was because a new storm had struck Haigi Island.

A week ago, she discovered that a man claiming to be a prophet was wandering around Haiqi Island, spreading rumors and slander against her adopted son. Xin Hai quickly dispatched soldiers from the Coral Palace to deal with this defamatory behavior.

Xin Hai initially thought it was just a rumor spread by an ordinary idler, a trivial matter that didn't need to be taken too seriously. However, things soon exceeded her expectations.

The soldiers sent out not only failed to complete their mission, but some of the soldiers who were unfamiliar with Xiao Yi even began to believe his slander.

Clearly, those who spread rumors are no ordinary people.

Xin Hai provided psychological counseling to the deceived soldiers and granted them leave, then focused on addressing the rumor incident.

She was secretly relieved that Narukami's adopted son hadn't returned, otherwise, if this matter had reached his ears, she would have been in a very awkward situation.

As long as the rumor-mongers are nipped in the bud before the news spreads, it's as if nothing happened.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yi returned shortly after the incident.

The news that Raijin's adopted son had built a teleportation portal between Narukami Island and Umijima Island quickly spread throughout the Inazuma Islands, and Shinkai realized that this matter could probably no longer be kept secret.

Perhaps Xiao Yi wouldn't blame himself. He was one of the more pro-Haiji Island figures in the shogunate, after all, he had worked on Haiji Island before he rose to power.

However, the general Kujo, who was in charge of the Tenryo Regency, might take advantage of the situation to swindle the island of Umijima. Thinking about this matter, he felt extremely tired and went into the sea to try to find inner peace.

Floating in the shallow sea, she slowly blew bubbles and gracefully swam towards the surface like a mermaid, moving with elegance and speed.

There isn't much free time, so now that we've relaxed, it's time to get back to our busy work.

Because of her special physical condition, she doesn't need to ascend slowly like ordinary people, nor does she need to worry about decompression sickness or other diving-related illnesses; she can simply surface as soon as possible.

As the sunlight gradually brightened, even becoming dazzling, the pink-haired girl broke through the large splashes of water, her upper body emerging from the waves. Just as her eyes adjusted to the world "above," she saw an astonishing scene.

A young man with black and white hair sat on the beach whistling, while cooking a dish on a makeshift stone grill in front of him. The aroma, which whetted the girl's appetite, slowly wafted into her nose.

"Naraka, Naruto no Miko?!" Shinkai exclaimed involuntarily.

"Hey, tired from swimming?" Xiao Yi greeted calmly. "Come and get something to eat."

The girl didn't say much, quickly swam to the shore, leaving small footprints on the sand, and finally stood in front of Thor's adopted son.

Xiao Yi looked up and scanned the other person, then complained, "I didn't expect you to be diving in everyday clothes. Aren't you sinking?" He thought to himself that it was a real shame he hadn't seen a swimsuit.

Xin Hai explained, "This outfit was specially made for the current human-god priestess. It won't absorb water, nor will it get salt or sand on it. By the time you walk from the sea to the office, your clothes will be mostly dry, and it won't affect your swimming ability underwater..."

Xiao Yi handed the towel he had prepared to the young witch, gesturing for her to dry her hair and sit on the beach to warm herself by the fire.

As Xin Hai did as instructed, she looked at what Xiao Yi was grilling on the stone slab. It turned out to be bird egg pancakes, and he did them quite well, no less than the dishes in a high-end restaurant.

In addition, there was a small wooden bucket next to Xiao Yi, and a slightly smaller box next to the bucket.

Xin Hai was puzzled, wondering what he was doing. He didn't seem to be there to interrogate him, but rather to invite him to eat something after he had just finished swimming.

Since the other party hasn't brought it up, it's best to remain silent for now, since the topic will inevitably come up sooner or later anyway.

After discovering that the bird eggs were thoroughly cooked, Xiao Yi opened the wooden bucket. Inside was cooked, fragrant rice. He couldn't smell the scent of the rice soil in his mind, so it must be high-grade rice from Liyue. Then, Xiao Yi opened a small box next to it, which contained several layers of thin seaweed sheets.

Oyster omelet, rice, seaweed...

My mind is filled with doubt: Is he going to make bird egg sushi?

Even she herself didn't know when Xiao Yi found out that she really liked this food, and she was also glad that Xiao Yi didn't blame her.

Otherwise, he should be grilling fish in front of himself.

The pink-haired girl asked tentatively, "Sorry, I was enjoying my diving all by myself. Did I keep you waiting?"

"No, I just arrived," Xiao Yi said.

Xin Hai observed the stone-paved grill and the campfire with plenty of wood underneath; it didn't look like it had just arrived.

In fact, some time had passed since Xiao Yi used his observation skills to follow the clues to the seaside.

With his near-divine observational abilities, he discovered that the sea of ​​his heart lay hidden at the bottom of the sea, sometimes floating quietly in place like a jellyfish, and sometimes swimming around like a herring. Xiao Yi did not disturb her, but watched her silently as if she were an ornamental fish.

However, due to the obstruction of the seawater, Xiao Yi could not see very far and could only vaguely see the general outline of Xin Hai. At that time, he thought that the ornamental fish was wearing a swimsuit and was guessing whether it was a conservative school swimsuit or a daring bikini. He never expected that Xin Hai would swim in casual clothes.

After waiting for a long time without seeing Xin Hai come ashore, Xiao Yi opened the box that was a souvenir and prepared to pass the time by cooking.

Now, he uses his knife to cut the quail egg roll into several pieces, wraps them in high-quality rice, and then wraps the rice with dried seaweed, thus completing the quail egg roll sushi.

Then cut the sushi into many small pieces, and a delicious and beautiful dish is complete.

I vaguely remember that this knife has never been used to kill anyone since it was forged. It mainly uses a halberd formed by lightning to defend itself, so it's perfectly reasonable to use it to cut food.

Xiao Yi handed a small piece of sushi to Xin Hai.

"I'm starting to eat."

Firstly, out of politeness and respect, and secondly, because he really liked this kind of food, and also because he was a bit tired from swimming for a long time and needed to replenish the energy he had lost, Xin Hai took the quail egg sushi without hesitation and ate half of the sushi in a few bites.

"It tastes good, doesn't it?" Xiao Yi asked.

It's impolite to talk with food in your mouth, so Xin Hai nodded while chewing, and soon the rest of the sushi went into his mouth.

"Of course it's good, after all, the ingredients are top-notch. Especially these eggs, they're high-grade, given to me by Sara before we went to Bayun Island." Xiao Yi smirked, "She, as a Tengu, went to great lengths to personally..."

As if suddenly realizing something, Xin Hai choked on his food and coughed a few times, his face slightly flushed. He muttered incoherently, "Eh, this is General Kujo..."

“That’s right, she worked hard to climb the tree on the edge of the cliff to retrieve a bird’s nest and catch it for me. After all, as a celestial dog, she has wings, making her very suitable for this job.” Xiao Yi’s lips curled up even wider. “Ms. Coral Palace Ornamental Fish Xin Hai, why are you so surprised? What do you think it is?”

He spoke very quickly, the words "ornamental fish" flashing by.

"Cough cough cough!" Xin Hai cleared his throat. "I thought she bought it at the market. Kujo Daisho doesn't seem like the type to go to the market herself."

Xiao Yi stopped making strange jokes. He and Xin Hai shared the sushi and quickly finished it off.

A beautiful beach with no one else around, young men and women—these elements combine to create a unique landscape, just as the ancients of Liyue once said, "After a good meal and plenty of wine, one can think of... important matters."

"The weather is nice today, and the scenery is beautiful too. Let's discuss that matter right here." Xiao Yi suddenly became serious again. "Recently, Inazuma and Liyue have joined forces to build a portal, which is quite an important time. Miss Xinhai, you don't want the commercial exchanges between Mondstadt and Haiqi Island to be interrupted, do you?"

The journey from Mondstadt to Inazuma involves navigating and resolving countless problems. From severe weather to the occasional encounter with marine life, these challenges can be devastating for cargo ships, causing a sharp increase in costs.

However, once the portal was built, these problems were easily solved. Goods could be transported from Mondstadt to Liyue first, and then transported to Ba Yun Island, saving time, effort, and money. Therefore, Xin Hai fully supported Xiao Yi in building the portal.

She nodded.

Xiao Yi continued, "Then I'll trouble you to help investigate the whereabouts of that boy in the bamboo hat. He's very likely trying to sabotage the construction of the teleportation portal."

"Understood, I will send someone to handle it as soon as possible." Xin Hai replied immediately, then changed the subject, "Speaking of which, I think that some of the rare materials can actually be replaced, based on my understanding of the teleportation gate blueprints that Naruto Island sent before."

Xiao Yi asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Xin Hai explained calmly, "The amber in the materials is not actually necessary. The coral and pearls that our Haiqi Island produces can be used as substitutes. This will save a lot of time and resources and allow us to complete the construction of the portal faster."

Originally, the completion times of the Inazuma and Liyue portals were not synchronized. This was not because Liyue was built earlier than Inazuma, but because Inazuma lacked a necessary material: amber.

However, it is not easy to transport large quantities of amber across the sea to Inazuma, and because of its heavy nature, only a very small amount can be transported at a time.

In contrast, crystallized bone marrow is lighter in nature, so there is no problem transporting large quantities from Inazuma to Liyue.

If Inazuma's portal were made of coral pearl instead of amber, the progress on both sides would be much closer, allowing them to be completed and tested simultaneously.

Xiao Yi trusted Xin Hai's wisdom and judgment and agreed to her suggestion: while guarding against the scattered soldiers, use coral pearls to build a teleportation portal to Ba Yun Island.

"That's settled then. I'll head back to Bayun Island to oversee the project. The investigation into the skirmishers' actions will be left entirely to Coral Palace." Xiao Yi patted his bottom and stood up. "Oh, we've finished all the souvenirs. But this box is quite nice. You can take it back if you don't mind."

Xin Hai: "..."

……

Lonely Cloud Pavilion, the area where the Emperor hurled his world-destroying rock spear to suppress the vortex demon god.

Now, after the passage of time, this magnificent rock formation, weathered by wind and rain, has transformed into an extremely precipitous mountain peak, surrounded by some land.

The portal was built against the mountain.

Oser, the vortex demon god suppressed by the rock spear, was an absolute powerhouse among all demon gods, even inflicting a psychological trauma on the emperor regarding seafood.

However, since ancient times, Liyue has had the saying that a tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs, and a dragon swimming in shallow waters is mocked by shrimp. Now, Oser has been stuffed back into the sea by the Jade Pavilion and can only serve as a source of power for the portal, unable to refuse to provide magic.

As if expressing its dissatisfaction, a light drizzle began to fall around Lonely Cloud Pavilion. This light rain could not stop the hardworking Liyue workers from working overtime. They erected scaffolding on the mountainside, preparing to create the initial prototype of the portal.

The person in charge of supervising the work was Yuheng, one of the Seven Stars. The purple-haired girl, like the workers, stood in the rain without an umbrella, watching the builders climb up and down the scaffolding and listening to the clanging sound of hammers striking nails.

Gan Yu held an umbrella and came to her side to shield her from the wind and rain.

"This little drizzle isn't necessary." Although she said that, Ke Qing's tone was one of relief. "But it's good that you finally left the office and went outside for some fresh air—so you didn't really come all the way here just to hold an umbrella for me, did you?"

Gan Yu shook her head: "I just want to check on the progress of the project."

"I hope everything goes well." Keqing tilted her head. "If this project succeeds, both Liyue and Inazuma will reap immeasurable benefits."

Gan Yu looked worried: "I can vaguely sense that the vortex demon god Oser in the sea seems to be getting a little restless. Could it be caused by the materials that Inazuma brought over?"

The material she was referring to was crystallized bone marrow.

Crystallized bone marrow was born from the corpse of the demon god Orobas, meaning that, in a sense, Oser, who was suppressed, shared the same fate as him. Perhaps for this reason, crystallized bone marrow caused the vortex demon god to become less stable.

However, the sealing effect is still there, and the doctor's blueprints that Xiao Yi found also contain a method to make the demon god, which is the energy core, slightly more stable.

"I hope nothing will happen," Ke Qing asked. "Gan Yu, what do you think?"

Gan Yu replied seriously, "I have a bad feeling: if nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is going to happen."

Despite the terrifying words of the Kirin Girl, Keqing retorted, "Where did you learn such a strange way of speaking..."