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

The explosion touched the edge of the barrier and startled Ying and Ganyu in the temple. They immediately ran towards the scene with Paimon and saw the blinding flames from afar.

On the other side, beside the burning trees, Xiao Yi and Dadalia lay motionless on the ground.

The chair that bound the young master had been shattered by the impact of the explosion, and the iron chains binding him had loosened and were no longer binding him, but he did not look to be in good condition.

Xiao Yi was in a similar situation; despite using the chair as a shield, he still took a full hit of the impact and shrapnel.

Two men dressed in black, with their faces covered by black masks and their heads wrapped in black cloth, approached the two men lying on the ground, drew short knives from their waists, and prepared to finish them off.

The attacker was completely covered by a black cloth, with only the skin around his eyes exposed, showing a deathly pallor. His eyes were glowing purple and crimson, respectively.

Just as the dagger was about to pierce Xiao Yi and Dadalia's hearts, the two, who appeared to be unconscious, suddenly sprang up.

The explosion that Xiao Yi had blocked with the back of the chair, coupled with the cushioning effect of the wind element, meant that although he and the young master on the chair suffered a powerful shockwave that would be fatal to ordinary people, their excellent physical condition allowed them to withstand it and still retain the strength to fight back.

Xiao Yi snatched the attacker's knife and stabbed him in the abdomen. Dadalia used the iron chain that was originally wrapped around himself to strangle the attacker's neck and twist it hard. With a "crack" sound, the young master swung the iron chain and flung the attacker away, sending him crashing into a large tree.

A strange thing happened: the man in black who had been stabbed in the abdomen was not affected by the pain. Instead, he grabbed Xiao Yi's wrist and tried to take the knife and continue attacking. The guy who had been thrown by Dadalia also stood up unsteadily, but his head was hanging down as if his neck was broken.

Xiao Yi kicked the attacker hard in the abdomen. The black-clad man, sent flying by the kick, crashed into his companion with a broken neck. The two seriously injured enemies fell to the ground and then tried to get up again.

Xiao Yi looked at the short knife in his hand and found that the surface was neither bright red blood nor green blood, but rather the color and state of red-hot steel.

The enemy whose neck had been snapped by Tartaglia had a purple light flashing around his neck that Xiao Yi recognized very well.

The bizarre, riddled-with-holes enemy stood up again, staggering towards the two. Xiao Yi and the young master, their faces covered in scrapes, looked at them, preparing for battle.

“These guys are less like living people and more like puppets that move using elemental power,” Xiao Yi analyzed. “I remember Zhang San said the assassins would arrive in a week, and only three days have passed. Their efficiency is so good it’s almost unbelievable.”

"Here's the question, young master: how come these monsters have equipment from the Fatui?"

D'Artagnan wiped the blood from his face and replied, "Besides the nails that concentrate elemental power, the Great Lord also commissioned a batch of equipment. We wanted to sell them the weapons that were still in the experimental stage to test their effectiveness—but the weapons and nails were all stolen."

"Can you still fight?" Xiao Yi asked.

"A broken rib is nothing to worry about," the young master said.

Xiao Yi tossed the captured Eye of the Water God back to D'Artagnan, who caught the sapphire with practiced ease.

He then summoned a jellyfish, and the gentle water element began to heal the two of them. The wounds on their faces slowly healed and eventually disappeared, and the young master's cracked bones were also automatically repaired.

"My friend, you are truly all-around amazing!" the young master exclaimed in amazement.

"I am who I am today because of everyone's help and support," Xiao Yi said, seemingly modestly but truthfully.

Five seconds later, the jellyfish disappeared, and the black-clad assassin pounced on the two of them.

Tartaglia conjured a water blade and stabbed at the torso of the fire-attribute enemy. Xiao Yi discarded the short sword that had deformed due to the high temperature, and his newly forged katana was drawn like a gust of wind, slashing at the neck of the lightning-attribute enemy whose head was hanging precariously.

brush!

The water blade pierced through the target, causing an elemental reaction within the fire-attribute enemy. Water vapor began to violently spew from its seven orifices, and finally, the red light in its eyes gradually dimmed. Like a robot that had lost its energy, it fell backward and turned into dust covered by its clothes.

On Xiao Yi's side, the lightning element inside the decapitated monster gradually expanded, and its headless body grew to two or three times its original size. He and Dadalia hurriedly dodged.

boom!!!

The uncontrolled lightning elemental force erupted completely, creating a crater comparable to the explosion of a hand grenade.

Even though all the attackers had been dealt with, Xiao Yi remained vigilant, glancing around at the ominous thick fog.

Different colored specks of light began to appear in the mist—red, purple, dark blue, and light blue—these were the monster's eyes glowing with elemental power.

As expected, there were more than two attackers.

They are powered by the four elements of fire, thunder, water, and ice, and obey the creator's orders to eliminate their targets.

“If they’re not human, it’s troublesome. We can’t get any information out of them at all,” Xiao Yi said helplessly. “We have no choice but to eliminate them all, and we can’t let them self-destruct.”

The points of light in the thick fog were flashing everywhere except the barrier behind them, indicating that many enemies were probably crouching in the trees.

Xiao Yi roughly counted the number and found that there were more than 120 light spots, which meant that the total number of enemies was more than 60. Moreover, it could be ruled out that some enemies were far away and the elemental light emitted by their eyes could not penetrate the thick fog.

Let's say there are 80 enemies.

If these 80 guys dressed like the Shadow Legion were to collectively self-destruct, a small forest would probably be razed to the ground.

Xiao Yi has a hidden method to quickly eliminate these monsters, but he doesn't plan to use that method yet. Instead, he will fight normally and eliminate the enemies one by one.

Since these monsters seem to lack independent consciousness, there must be a mastermind behind them, otherwise they couldn't have found this place so accurately.

Perhaps the commander is hiding deep in the fog; Xiao Yi wanted to try to lure him out.

Meanwhile, Gan Yu and Ying finally arrived at the scene, observing the points of light in the fog with puzzlement, as well as the large crater created by the grenade and the self-destruction of the man in black.

"These points of light are all enemies. They are not human; they contain the four elements of water, fire, lightning, and ice," Xiao Yi quickly explained to his companions. "If we don't exhaust all the elements within them, these guys will self-destruct when they die!"

Gan Yu took out the brand-new longbow hanging behind her, crafted an ice arrow, nocked it onto the bowstring, and with a slight effort from her slender arm, drew a beautiful full moon bow, aiming it at the thick fog.

The traveler also vigilantly summoned his bladeless sword, his eyes sharp as he guarded against any enemy attack.

Paimon hides in a safe zone—behind the Traveler—waiting for his teammates to wreak havoc.

Swish swish swish!!!

Several cold glints appeared first, followed closely by sharp hidden weapons, heading straight for Xiao Yi's face.

He swung his knife to knock the projectiles away and was surprised to find that they were local weapons such as shuriken and kunai. His old suspicions resurfaced.

Could Inatsuma really be the mastermind behind this? Besides, the dark attire of this "Shadow Legion" does give them a ninja vibe, not to mention their weapons.

There was no time for Xiao Yi to continue thinking. The points of light in the thick fog began to move at high speed, rushing towards the group who were on high alert. In an instant, the edge of the forest was filled with the glint of swords and the shadows of blades.

……

Above Liyue Harbor, the Eye of Thunder, exuding an oppressive aura, silently works to dispel the fog that covers the city.

Yujingtai.

The dining table where Narukami once ate is now occupied by the god Inazuma, but the person accompanying him at the meal remains the same as always: Gyokuhyo Keishin, one of the Seven Stars.

Unlike before, there were also Liyue immortals at the table, their gazes wandering, never settling on the jade platters laden with delicacies.

Ke Qing didn't eat a single bite of food. From the start of the meal, she stared intently at General Lei Dian, trying her best to decipher the hidden meaning behind every action of the god.

She noticed that Thor spent most of his time gazing at the brightly lit Glass Harbor, occasionally tasting a few bites of fruit.

What does this action mean? What is it implying? What are the eternal Narukami's feelings at this moment—Kei, think, think!!!

Yuheng frowned slightly, racking his brains.

In reality, Miss Ying was looking at the scenery simply because everyone was staring at her without eating, making her feel uncomfortable whether she was drinking or picking up food. As for picking up fruit, it was only because she wanted something sweet.

In the end, Keqing gave up speculating and forced herself to calm down while saying, "General, Liyue's restriction on Naruto's movements is not out of malice, but rather stems from our 'flexible protection.' After all, with such a major event occurring, he is a key person to be protected as a distinguished guest from abroad. However, we have gone a bit too far in terms of the form, and we hope you can understand."

"As for those 'excessive' actions that offended Naruto, they were all caused by the mistakes of the temporary workers at the Moonlit Pavilion. The Liyue side has deeply reflected on this mistake, and the temporary workers have been punished and imprisoned. They will receive the punishment they deserve."

"As for Ms. Gan Yu's behavior, her mental state has not been very good recently... However, she has no violent tendencies, and Ms. Ying is by her side, so there is no need to worry about Lord Narukami's safety. In addition, we have dispatched professional investigators to search for her."

General Thunder remained unfazed, elegantly picked up a slice of watermelon, and silently chewed it.

Ke Qing clapped her hands gently.

Qianyan Jun, who had been waiting nearby for a long time, immediately stepped forward and brought a wooden box covered with talismans to Lei Shen, presenting it to the foreign god for inspection.

Keqing explained, "This is Naruto's pendant. Liyue used the highest level of magic to preserve and protect it for him. Now, please, immortals, dispel the spell."

“It’s alright,” Ying suddenly said.

The entire arena fell silent instantly. Ke Qing stared blankly at General Lei Dian, not understanding what "it's alright" meant.

Ying stared directly at Ke Qing, swallowed the watermelon, and said indifferently:

"Xiao Yi was arrested entirely of his own free will. Otherwise, you would not have been able to restrict his movements. He was also taken away by Gan Yu of his own free will. Since Xiao Yi is willing to cooperate with you, I cannot arbitrarily make trouble for Li Yue."

"But that doesn't mean you're right; appropriate compensation is unavoidable."

"Voluntary?!" Ke Qing was extremely puzzled.

“If he doesn’t want to be arrested by you, and without the power of the Geo Archon, there’s no way for Liyue to capture him right now,” Thor said without hesitation.

……

The edge of the barrier was riddled with holes from the explosion, and several pieces of black clothing lay scattered on the ground. The remaining attackers, however, were full of fighting spirit, launching ranged attacks by throwing shurikens and kunai, as well as close-range attacks using wakizashi and daggers, and even self-destructing.

The four elements of enemies attacked in a crossfire, and even with Xiao Yi, Ying, Gan Yu, and Dadalia working together, it was still somewhat difficult to defend against, since large-scale self-destruction was simply too troublesome.

If the Traveler is alone, she can take down these elemental puppets by fighting and running away. However, in order to prevent the explosion from injuring her teammates, she must use the corresponding elemental power to weaken the enemies or summon a desolate star to cover them and reduce the impact of the explosion.

The fight between the other three was even more troublesome. Although Xiao Yi had a variety of methods, he was still caught off guard by the overwhelming attack, not to mention he had to take care of his companions.

He realized he had misjudged the situation.

The number of enemies is far more than 80. Including those we've already taken down, and the points of light in the thick fog, there are at least 300 of these elemental ninja puppets.

Suddenly, a cold light flew through the thick fog. Xiao Yi thought it was another hidden weapon and tried to deflect it with his knife, but found that he was in excruciating pain in his wrist.

The iron hook with a rope tied to its end pierced his hand!

Xiao Yi thought to himself: Damn, these ninjas have so many weapons!

Countless iron hooks followed closely behind, piercing his limbs and restricting his movement, pulling him to the ground. Then, four enemies pounced on him, making him look like a group of burly men.

Tadalia and Ying wanted to rush to their aid, but Xiao Yi immediately shouted, "Don't get close! Be careful they self-destruct! All of you, stay away from me!"

After a brief hesitation, the two stopped.

clap clap clap...

Suddenly, applause rang out from the thick fog. A bald man in a long robe walked out of the fog while clapping his hands and came to stand in front of Xiao Yi, looking down at him. The numbers above the bald man's head were changing rapidly in four colors and displayed an astonishing 100.

Clearly, he was different from the mindless assassins.

"Even on the verge of death, you still care about your comrades. What a good person!" the bald man said sarcastically. "What a pity, what a pity, you've become a burden to your comrades."

"Hahahaha..." Xiao Yi, covered in wounds, suddenly burst into laughter. His strange behavior startled the bald man. Overjoyed, Xiao Yi cursed, "I've been hiding my strength and acting for so long, and I've finally lured you out, you damned bastard!"

His tone didn't sound like impotent rage; the bald man's expression was one of confusion and shock.

……

Yujingtai.

"I'd like to ask, what does 'voluntary' mean?" Keqing asked, puzzled. "Do you mean that Narukami, having lost her pendant, wanted to rebel, and Liyue was helpless against it?"

The box that had been placed on the dining table, sealing Xiao Yi's pendant, suddenly vibrated at a high frequency. The talisman that sealed the power was turned to ashes by the powerful lightning element. A bolt of lightning completely shattered the wooden box from the inside out, soaring upwards and then shooting towards Tianheng Mountain like a meteor.

Seeing this scene, Ke Qing was dumbfounded, and even the knowledgeable immortals were somewhat surprised.