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

Xiao Yi and Gan Yu quickly broke their embrace and ran towards the spot where the arrow had been shot, trying to catch it before it hit the ground to prevent it from accidentally injuring the residents of Qingce Village.

……

Beside the stream, the machine of boundless merit continues to operate.

The owner of this despicable machine—a middle-aged man—sat on the ground, with a tall, handsome man from the Zhidong Kingdom standing in front of him.

The young man, named Zhidong, wore a red mask on his forehead and held a knife made of water elements in his hand. His smile concealed a strong murderous aura.

The young man in the red scarf laughed heartily.

"Haha, you're quite clever and resourceful. Even though you're bankrupt, you managed to swindle money from the Northern Bank to buy machines for the Fools. Not only did you kill the debt collectors who were chasing you, but you also went to the wilderness to defy fate..."

The middle-aged man grabbed a relatively dry piece of sand that was far from the riverbed and threw it violently at the face of the young man from the winter country.

Taking advantage of the sand obscuring the other person's vision, the middle-aged man suddenly scrambled to his feet, turned around, and ran away in a panic.

Unexpectedly, an arrow fell from the sky and struck him squarely in the knee.

*Thud!* The middle-aged man tumbled to the ground.

The young man with the red scarf, who belonged to the Fools, looked puzzled. He remembered that he had not called for help. He looked at the thick fog beside him and saw two figures running wildly toward him.

Chapter 118 Battle Against the Young Master; Thor Arrives

The man's name was Lu Renjia. In his youth, he was a member of a treasure-hunting gang. Later, he was arrested by the Qianyan Army and imprisoned for several years. After his release, he reformed and made a living through business.

Leveraging the connections he had built up in the underworld, he quickly earned his first fortune. In the following years, he continued to engage in opportunistic speculation, eventually becoming a well-known businessman in Ligang.

This time, he seized the opportunity of trade with Inazuma in Liyue, wanting to import high-end wine from Mondstadt and make a fortune off the Inazuma people. However, the diplomatic relations between the two countries were deadlocked because of the Jade Pavilion.

Not long after, an unlucky number 4 appeared above his head, and later a strange person appeared in his dream and told him that the number above his head represented his fortune.

In an attempt to defy fate, Lu Renjia used his experience from his days as a treasure-hunting gang to swindle and deceive. He first fabricated the illusion that he was not bankrupt, then borrowed money from the Northern Bank, which was established in Liyue by the Kingdom of Winter, and then purchased the Meritless Machine from the Fools of Winter.

In order to increase his "justice value", Lu Renjia completely offended the entire Winter Kingdom, throwing the dignity of the Ice and Snow Kingdom to the ground and trampling it.

The powerful Zhidong faction could not possibly remain silent. The Northern Bank and the Fools sensed something was amiss and sent debt collectors to find Lu Renjia, wanting to confront him face-to-face about the issues with Mora and the machine. If they found conclusive evidence of bankruptcy and defrauding the bank, then, according to Zhidong's custom, they would maintain Zhidong's prestige with bloodshed.

Unexpectedly, Lu Renjia was no pushover either. He used the rudimentary skills of the previous treasure-hunting group to first delay the time by claiming he needed to return the money to the Northern Bank, then tried to distract the other party, and finally used a potion bottle to trigger an elemental reaction and kill the debt collector.

Lu Renjia then brought the Boundless Merit Machine and used the fog as cover to arrive at Qingce Manor. He felt that since he had nothing now, he might as well defy fate and reappear in Liyue under a new identity to continue doing business as before.

Nevertheless, the 5 points of justice above his head indicate that he couldn't have been lucky before the value increased.

Early this morning, a man and a woman came to his side and kept asking him all sorts of questions, disturbing his peace and quiet.

However, compared to those who came after him, he missed the couple who had gone missing – the debt collectors had lost contact, and the Northern Bank had asked one of its idle Fools' executives to handle the matter.

Logically speaking, the financial loss was not significant enough to warrant the deployment of an executive-level official. However, this involved the dignity of the Winter Kingdom, which changed the nature of the matter entirely.

The executor currently in Liyue is none other than Tartaglia, the last of the Fatui, codenamed "Prince," and is one of the more dangerous battle maniacs among the Fatui.

When the orange-haired, blue-eyed young man in a red scarf came to Lu Renjia's side, he had already sensed the danger. Although he had dodged the first wave of attacks, he realized that he could not turn the tide.

The guy in front of me was different from the debt collector; his fighting power was on a completely different level.

Having finally found a chance to escape, Lu Renjia's 5 points of justice triggered his bad luck again, and an arrow shot from who-knows-where hit his knee.

He was certain that he was doomed.

……

Xiao Yi and Gan Yu arrived at the accident scene and saw a middle-aged man lying on his side with an arrow in his knee. He couldn't help but raise his right hand to cover his eyes—he couldn't bear to look.

Unexpectedly, on his first time playing with a bow, he not only broke the bow but also injured an innocent passerby.

But he quickly lowered his hand from his eyes, and he felt that the young man in the red scarf who was walking towards the middle-aged man who had fallen to the ground looked very familiar.

“The Executor of the Fools, Prince Tadalia!” Xiao Yi murmured to himself.

D'Artagnan heard his mutterings and, though unaware of the situation, spread his hands and reminded him, "You actually know me? Never mind, this has nothing to do with you anyway. I'm grateful for your random arrows; they've reduced my workload in the chase."

"However, I still advise you two to pretend you didn't see anything and leave as soon as possible. This random passerby named Lu Renjia has some minor grudges with the Kingdom of Zhidong."

D'Artagnan twirled the water blades in both hands, performing a beautiful flourish, attempting to scare away the two onlookers.

Unexpectedly, they walked towards him, and one of the young men with black and white hair even cracked his knuckles, making a "crack" sound, as if he were threatening him instead.

"I don't care what grudges you have with Zhi Dong or him." Xiao Yi cracked his index finger and held his hand up to his face. "I also have unresolved grudges with the Fools!"

The scoundrel who called himself "Great Righteousness and Boundless Heavenly Venerable" framed him. Since Great Righteousness and Boundless Heavenly Venerable also had a cooperative relationship with the Fools, it was practically equivalent to the Fools framing him.

Now that we've encountered such an important figure, if we can capture the young master alive, the clues we obtain will be far more useful than capturing the assassins; it would be twice as effective with half the effort.

Upon hearing Xiao Yi's inexplicable words, Tartaglia's curiosity was piqued. To be honest, it was normal for the Fatui to have enemies after their rampage in Liyue, but so far no enemy had dared to cause trouble in person or even challenge the Enforcers.

Fortunately, thanks to the other party, the target Lu Renjia has lost his ability to move. Dadalia is preparing to take a break from his busy schedule and accept the challenge from the young man in front of him.

After all, he was someone who enjoyed fighting.

“This is quite a rare opportunity, so let me enjoy it.” D'Artagnan raised the water blade and aimed it at Xiao Yi. “But as a challenger, you should at least state your name.”

Xiao Yi was secretly pleased that D'Artagnan had chosen to fight him instead of eliminating Lu Renjia and then fleeing. If he had done that, the trail would have been lost again.

He was in high spirits and smiled, "You'll be surprised when I tell you, I am Inazuma..."

Gan Yu reached out and tugged at his sleeve, reminding Xiao Yi not to get too carried away and expose his identity to an enemy that he might not be able to handle reliably.

"Inazuma?" D'Artagnan asked, puzzled.

“That’s right, Inazuma. I’m the best toy salesman in the Inazuma Islands.” Xiao Yi quickly corrected himself after being reminded by his companion, “What, do you have a problem with my identity?”

D'Artagnan felt the lines sounded familiar, but without much thought, he swung his water elemental blades and charged at the unsuspecting Xiao Yi at high speed.

"Miss Gan Yu, please don't interfere," Xiao Yi whispered. "I can handle this on my own."

Although Gan Yu was worried about Ming Shenzi's safety, she chose to trust Xiao Yi and quickly stepped back to create distance.

Faced with the young master's sharp water blade, Xiao Yi reached behind him with a solemn attitude, as if he were about to draw a divine weapon.

D'Artagnan became wary.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yi pulled out two broken pieces of a cheap hunting bow and used them as two crescent-shaped blades to barely defend against the attack.

Upon seeing the opponent's "weapon," Dadalia was instantly dumbfounded. He felt that Xiao Yi was making fun of him, but he still seriously slashed at it.

brush!!!

The water blade collided with the bow arm, and the wind element hidden within the bow immediately burst forth, directly disintegrating the weapon constructed from water element in the young master's hand.

The overwhelming situation turned into a situation where, in less than half a second, Tartaglia was left with nothing, while Xiao Yi still had two broken bows in his hands.

Xiao Yi swung his broken bow at his opponent, who jumped back to dodge.

Immediately afterwards, several jellyfish made of clear water sprayed onto the young master's face, and he summoned water blades again to cut the jellyfish into pieces.

"Using wind to spread water, you stole my weapon? Hahaha, interesting!" The young master laughed heartily, and said with some nostalgia, "I've only ever seen one person like that before, who can use elemental power without the Eye of God, and multiple elemental powers at that."

"And I must say, your weapon is hilarious, but your skill is extraordinary."

"I want to answer two things. First, comedians are the strongest!" Xiao Yi suddenly grinned. "And, what's even more unexpected is yet to come!"

The young master no longer approached the matter with a playful attitude. He took out a longbow with an elegant appearance from behind him. Although the bow was his least favorite weapon, he still did not fully know the opponent's martial arts skills and abilities, so it was best to test the waters from a distance first.

"Water that shoots from the sky!"

Unlike previous elemental bursts of fire, Tartaglia fired a massive water arrow that disintegrated as it flew toward its target, transforming into hundreds of smaller water arrows that traced perfect arcs and enveloped Xiao Yi from all directions.

"Take this! A water elemental arrow with a radius of 20 meters! Show me your full skills!"

The young master was unaware of any hidden skills Xiao Yi might possess, and wanted to force out his opponent's concealed killing moves through a wide-range attack to avoid being disadvantaged due to the information gap.

This method was something he came up with after being defeated by the Traveler, because he lost to the Traveler largely because he didn't understand the rules of the opponent's moves and was caught off guard by the wind and rock attribute combination attack.

Now, a golden opportunity has presented itself. The person before us possesses similar power to manipulate multiple elements, which is perfect for testing the effects of new skills.

Facing countless water arrows hurtling towards him at high speed, Xiao Yi, who was about to be riddled with arrows, remained calm and unmoved, seemingly unafraid of the dense barrage of water arrows.

"Useless, useless, useless!" Xiao Yi pointed at the young master, "Once I accept the new lord Paimon, I will be invincible—Zawarudo!!!"

D'Artagnan suddenly realized something was wrong. Not only had all the water arrows stopped, but he had also suddenly become unable to move. He saw the other person running towards him at high speed.

The next moment, hundreds of water arrows struck the open ground, but their opponents had vanished without a trace.

Lu Renjia, who had been watching the fight the whole time, was almost dumbfounded by what he saw, even though he had been shot in the knee and had fallen to the ground.

In his eyes, Xiao Yi, who was about to be covered by water arrows, disappeared without a trace, but the next moment, he appeared behind the seemingly impenetrable and vigilant young master.

Tadalia sensed the presence behind him, but before he could turn around, Xiao Yi raised the broken bowstring and struck the young master hard on the back of the head, causing him to fall forward.

Xiao Yi looked at the bow arm in his hand, which had broken into a quarter of its original length, and worried that he had hit the other party too hard and killed him on the spot.

D'Artagnan lay motionless on the ground, his left index finger pointing aimlessly forward, as if he were unable to rise again.

However, the Fools' Executors lived up to their reputation. A normal person would have been rushed to the emergency room after such an attack, but D'Artagnan was unharmed. He was still conscious, but was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, secretly looking for an opportunity to get up and fight back.

Whoosh whoosh! ! !

Three ice elemental arrows fell from the sky, piercing through the excess parts of the young master's clothes and his rather long scarf, pinning him to the ground, unable to move.

Not far away, Gan Yu, holding a hunting bow, explained, "I fished a bow out of the pile of junk. I apologize, Mr. Xiao Yi, for disturbing your battle, but we must finish this quickly."

Only then did Xiao Yi realize that the other party was faking death.

With her clothes fixed in place by the ice elemental arrows, not only would her speed of getting up be slowed down, but forcing herself to get up would only result in her being completely naked. Tartaglia chose to lie quietly.

A few minutes later, Xiao Yi and Gan Yu brought out iron chains and tied up the Fool Clan's executive officer, preparing to transport him back to their temporary base for further processing.

"Be thankful you escaped unscathed." Xiao Yi looked at Lu Renjia, who had been shot in the knee, and said, "This is thanks to Lord Ming Shenzi's protection. Don't curse him anymore."

Lu Renjia was completely confused. Why did he suddenly mention the blessing of Narutoko? It didn't matter. Since his savior said so, then so be it.

He said with shame, "I'm so sorry for being so impatient with you before..."

Xiao Yi ignored Lu Renjia's apology. He and Gan Yu lifted Dadalia over their heads and walked away into the thick fog.

……

Liyue Harbor, shrouded in thick fog, is unusually busy today.

Ke Qing had been standing at the port since morning, anxiously waiting for the arrival of "that distinguished guest".

There are very few beings in Teyvat that can make Keqing waste her time waiting. Even on the day Narukami arrived, she only set off for the port to prepare when she was halfway through her other work and estimated that there were only half an hour left.

Now, however, she stands from morning till afternoon without doing anything other than waiting.