Reading poems from Teyvat

So they just thought that these two young people got along well with each other.

But soon, they discovered that Keqing's attitude towards the young man was indeed a little unusual.

Because these past few days she had actually been asking that young man for advice on swordsmanship.

My daughter has always been extremely smart. The swordsmanship of her peers who don't have the Divine Eye basically can't last more than ten moves in her hands. Why would such a Keqing actually ask that young man for advice? Is she really not looking for an excuse to get along with him?

So they decided to find out when the two were practicing swords, and then they saw a scene that stunned them:

Even with the use of the Eye of God, Keqing's speed, which she was so proud of, was still slightly inferior to that young man!

Could this young man be an immortal who traveled down the mountain under an assumed name?

Chapter 14: Adventurer's Guild and Xiangling

But in fact, Shen Zhigui had learned from the thunder element on Keqing's sword that he had been exposed to during that duel that true Qi and elemental power are essentially two different properties. Even though there are some similarities, someone like Keqing who can use a move like "Stars Return" must have used the thunder element to deeply penetrate and transform her body. Therefore, if Keqing wants to fully learn this move, it is almost a fantasy.

In the worldview of the continent of Teyvat, people who possess the Eye of God can actually be called "original gods", so the moment they possess the Eye of God, they are qualified to ascend to the throne of God. From this perspective, they and normal people can be said to be two different creatures.

Therefore, it was impossible for her to completely copy Shen Zhigui's martial arts.

Shen Zhigui didn't have the Eye of God, so he didn't know the difference between the control methods of true Qi and elemental power. He only taught Keqing those moves and described the principles of why he was able to have such speed. The rest was up to Keqing to figure out on her own and try to see if she could use elemental power to replace the effect of true Qi.

Although in fact, Shen Zhigui wanted to find an ordinary person without the Divine Eye to serve as a control group.

But he still felt that with his current strength, if it was really as he imagined, that this martial art could allow ordinary people to cultivate true energy, he would definitely be harassed to the point of being annoyed afterwards, so it was better to have less trouble than more. After teaching Keqing the outlines of the martial art, he wandered around Liyue Harbor to see if there was any opportunity.

However, in the end he just went to the Adventurer's Association to register.

"Toward the stars..."

After arriving at the place, when Shen Zhigui saw Catherine, he actually felt quite strange.

Because no matter how you look at it, this level of puppet or robot technology is far more advanced than the world he was in before. When he traveled through time, AI like ChatGPT only looked like a human. How could it be as lifelike as Catherine and be flawless in her interactions with others?

But this world doesn't even have communication devices like mobile phones and computers, and entertainment options are pitifully scarce. Although perhaps because of natural disasters and man-made disasters everywhere and the precedent of Kanrea, the seven rulers of Teyvat may be intentionally or unintentionally preventing technology from developing in the direction of people's livelihood, and then spreading and applying it to the middle and lower classes, and only developing war-related technologies. And this automatic doll named Catherine in front of him may, in some sense, also serve as a spy planted by Solstice in various countries?

Shen Zhigui couldn't help but think about it while registering.

Although Shen Zhigui does not have the Eye of God, and it is a bit troublesome to have his strength certified, most of the registered members of the Adventurer's Association do not have the Eye of God. It can even be said that those who possess the Eye of God are a minority among the minority. How does the saying go, the great fighter - ahem - people who possess the Eye of God are a rare breed on the continent of Teyvat. Shen Zhigui just showed his speed a little bit, and Sister Lan, the president of the Liyue branch, agreed to his joining.

However, Shen Zhigui looked at the tasks issued by the Adventurer's Association and saw that the rewards for most of the tasks added up were not as much as the royalties he earned from copying the two poems. For a moment, he suddenly looked embarrassed:

He might as well continue copying poems!

But just when he was about to give up, he saw the father and daughter from Wanmin Hall rushing towards the Adventurer's Association from afar. He thought about it and just stood in front of the signboard and watched for a while. Then he heard Master Mao say, "I won't stop you from going on adventures outside the city, but at least you have to find someone to look after you, right?"

Shen Zhigui couldn't help but glance at Guoba, who looked like a little raccoon and followed Xiangling like a pet. He thought to himself, Master Mao, you still underestimate your daughter. Who does she need to take care of her? Just the status of an immortal disciple is enough for her to walk around, not to mention that there is someone like Guoba around her!

Then he heard the footsteps of the girl with thick eyebrows approaching him, and asked curiously, "Is it you?"

Shen Zhigui couldn't help but turn around and look at her.

Then Xiangling smiled shyly and said, "Hello, I'm Xiangling, the chef at Wanmintang..."

Shen Zhigui nodded: "I have heard of your great name for a long time."

"I don't have any great reputation..."

Xiangling shook her head.

Shen Zhigui thought to himself that just the fact that you have the Divine Eyes must have made countless people envious and jealous of you, and you are also a disciple of an immortal - of course, Xiangling is probably still kept in the dark about this, and doesn't know that Grandma Ping is the immortal "Ge Chen Lang Shi Zhenjun". But even so, she must be a famous chef in Liyue Harbor.

"You seem to know me?"

"You're not the one who had dinner with Keqing that day..."

Xiangling said.

Shen Zhigui thought of the strange looks from the people around him that day, and wondered if Lord Yuhengxing was really the idol of Liyue Harbor and even the entire Liyue? How could he get so much attention just by having a meal with someone? But he didn't need to deny anything, so he just nodded.

Then Xiangling opened her eyes wide, her amber eyes seemed to sparkle: "So, what is your relationship? How far have you progressed?"

She doesn’t seem to be such a gossipy person in the game, right?

Shen Zhigui said this in his heart, but his face remained expressionless, and he just shook his head: "The relationship between me and that Lord Yuhengxing is just one of rescue and being rescued, nothing else."

is it?

Xiangling couldn't suppress her worries at all, and all her thoughts were written on her face, and she immediately looked suspicious.

As far as she knew, Keqing had saved so many people, so why didn't she get so close to them? Or was it just because of the boy's appearance? But there were many young talents who came from the same famous families as her and were also handsome, so why didn't she take a second look at them?

"Afterwards, I wrote a poem for her."

Seeing that she was still looking at him suspiciously, Shen Zhigui added something.

"Are you the author of the song 'Peerless Beauty'?"

Xiangling seemed to remember something and couldn't help but speak out loudly for a moment.

"Xiangling, what are you doing? Come here quickly! You're not an author, don't talk to strangers casually."

Master Mao heard her shouting not far away and immediately said.

Xiangling couldn't help but apologize to Shen Zhigui, and then walked to the reception desk of the Adventurer's Association. Coincidentally, Sister Lan saw Shen Zhigui looking over at this time, so she said to Master Mao: "Master Mao, if you want to find someone to go on an adventure with Xiangling, Mr. Shen Zhigui is also one of the recommended candidates of our association. I just don't know if you two have this intention."

Master Mao immediately cast a suspicious look at Shen Zhigui.

Chapter 15: Commission and Conditions

In fact, Master Mao himself knew that Xiangling herself had the Eye of God, and she could handle most of the monsters encountered during the adventure by herself. If she couldn't deal with them, it would not be difficult for her to just run away. But he also understood that his daughter's innovative spirit in cooking was really terrifying. She dared to add everything to the pot and put everything into her mouth. What if she really got something bad while eating on the way and happened to be attacked by a monster, then it would be too late to say anything.

Of course, this is based on the fact that Master Mao has insufficient knowledge about rice crust.

Of course Shen Zhigui wanted to have a good relationship with Xiangling, but he glanced at Guoba and thought that it was better to have less trouble than more. Anyway, he didn't want to go out of the city and sleep in the wilderness again in the short term, so he said: "Miss Xiangling already has the Eye of God, so she doesn't need anyone to take care of her, right?"

"Yeah, that's what I told Dad."

When Xiangling heard the young man's words, she immediately nodded and said.

"Go away, what do you know?" Master Mao waved his hand and said, "I'm just worried that Xiangling will add everything to the pot on the way. What if she gets sick and is attacked by monsters? That's why I want to find someone to go out of the city with her."

This is quite reasonable.

Shen Zhigui couldn't help but glance at Xiangling.

After all, in the game's setting, this guy even dares to throw the Hillilchul's stick into the pot to cook.

Who knows what that stick was used to hit.

What if that hillbilly encountered the dried excrement of some large monster on the road and was so shameless as to hit it with a stick? When he was still a young upright ape, he often stuffed firecrackers into cow dung, so what Master Mao said was not nonsense.

Although this is not a problem for Guoba.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhigui quietly moved aside and said, "Then you guys can chat slowly. I'll leave first."

He really had no interest in this kind of thing where it made little difference whether he was there or not, and he had to run around everywhere and the final reward was just a little bit of Mora. Although it was possible to build a good relationship with Xiangling along the way and gain her approval, he was not willing to actually eat Xiangling's particularly innovative dishes.

But Sister Lan said at this time: "But if Mr. Shen is unwilling to accept this commission, for the sake of your respective safety, the Liyue Adventurer's Association cannot find a vacant candidate for recommendation at the moment, so please go back and wait for news."

So this kid who looks skinny, looks like he hasn't been out of the house for a long time, and has a face as pale as paper, really has that kind of strength?

Master Mao looked at Shen Zhigui and said in his heart.

Although if Shen Zhigui knew his true feelings, he would definitely say that his pale complexion was entirely due to his practice of "Nanshan Xiaoxue Yulinxun", otherwise he would have been tanned long ago from the month of practicing sword-fighting from dawn to dusk.

When Xiangling heard what Sister Lan said, she immediately said hurriedly, "Why is that? I have thought of a lot of new recipes and can't wait to find the ingredients to try them out. Dad, can you just let me go by myself?"

Master Mao couldn't help but waver, but for the safety of his daughter, he finally shook his head.

Seeing that he still didn't agree, Xiangling moved closer to Shen Zhigui again, her eyes rolling around, wanting to discuss things with him in a low voice. Shen Zhigui said immediately, "I know what you want to say, Miss Xiangling, but let's not talk about the fact that I won't agree to act with you just for that little reward. If something happens to you, I can't afford it. Even if I agree, what if Master Mao or his acquaintances see us when we return to the city?"

"Okay, Xiangling, you are actually thinking about this!"

Master Mao became furious when he heard what the young man said.

Shen Zhigui, who was standing aside, just shook his head and thought to himself, if Xiangling really wants to go, can you stop her?

But after all, all parents in the world are so pitiful that he couldn't say much.

Xiangling just explained a few words to her father, then came close to Shen Zhigui and said, "Then will you really go with me? I can exempt you from the Wanmin Hall bill for half a month... no, a month! I can give you a private lesson!"

Shen Zhigui thought to himself, are you thinking I'm the food taster and trying to poison me?

Although given her professional ethics as a chef, this shouldn't be the case.

But when Shen Zhigui saw her like this, he couldn't help but think that this seemed like an opportunity. After thinking about it, he said, "I can accompany you out of the city, even without payment, but Miss Xiangling needs to agree to one condition of mine."

"Boy, don't push your luck!"

For a moment, Master Mao couldn't help but suspect that Shen Zhigui had bad intentions at this time.

Shen Zhigui just shook his head, patted the new long sword that Keqing gave him as compensation, and said, "I heard that Miss Xiangling is not only an excellent cook, but also a great spearman, so I want to ask for advice. As long as Miss Xiangling can beat me, I will accept this commission. How do you think?"

Xiangling hesitated for a moment: "But didn't you say that you were saved by Keqing?"

The implication is that Shen Zhigui is overestimating his own abilities.

Shen Zhigui just shook his head: "But I have passed the assessment of the Adventurer's Association. A man should be treated with new eyes after three days of absence. It has been a month, and Master Yuhengxing's eyes are about to be scratched."

Xiang Ling didn't doubt him, but still said hesitantly: "But you don't have the Eye of God. Do you want me to fight you without using elemental power? But I haven't done that for a long time."

As a chef, Xiangling's talent is basically concentrated in the use of fire element, so in daily life she would unconsciously use fire element to control the heat of her cooking. On the contrary, as for pure martial arts with guns, although she is not negligent in practicing, she is definitely accustomed to incorporating the use of fire element into it, so if she is asked to agree to this battle with her hands and feet, she may not be able to fully control herself.

"It doesn't have to be..."

Shen Zhigui glanced at Guoba, who was looking around like a cute little raccoon next to him, pointed at it and said:

"As long as you don't let it get involved in our fight."

Xiangling thought about it and decided that there was nothing wrong in agreeing to Shen Zhigui's request. It would also allow her to test the level of her travel companion in advance, so she agreed.

As a person with divine eyes and whose marksmanship was taught to her by Grandma Ping herself, she didn't think she had any reason to lose.

Master Mao, who was standing next to him, had a different opinion of Shen Zhigui after hearing what he had said before, saying that he had seen through his daughter's little thoughts. He thought that if he didn't behave badly, it was not impossible for him to go with Xiangling. He could give him a month's exemption as Xiangling had said.

He also didn't think his daughter had any reason to lose.

Whether there is God's Eye or not is a chasm that is difficult for ordinary people to overcome in this world.

So he followed the two young men and watched them walk to an empty space where no one was. Guoba stood between them as a referee, looking left and right, then waving a small flag that he had taken out from somewhere, and announced the start of the game!

Chapter 16: Cinnabar disappears without a trace when exposed to fire

But Shen Zhigui felt that there might be a chance this time.

First of all, although both of them possess the Eye of God, Xiangling does not have the need to improve her martial arts like Keqing. Her ambition is to become the God of Cooking in Liyue, and her spear skills are enough for her when she is adventuring. Not to mention that Keqing, who is good at speed, has been suppressed by him to some extent. It can even be said that if he had been a little faster and his weapon was equal to Keqing's, the outcome would have been uncertain. For a long-handled weapon player like Xiangling, the tactic of using fast to defeat slow is much more useful. In addition, the weapon Xiangling took out looked like a white tassel spear, which was of the same quality as the weapon compensated by Keqing, and the gap was not as big as when he fought Keqing before.

Last time, he had warned Keqing in advance, so that she could be mentally prepared.

Although that was only because he was not very familiar with fighting at that time.

But in recent days, his sparring with Keqing has allowed him to gain a lot of combat experience.

So this time, he knew clearly that if he wanted to defeat Xiang Ling, he had to suppress her from beginning to end, not giving her the opportunity to unleash elemental bursts, and even concentrating all the keys to victory or defeat in a brief moment.

So, after Guoba made the starting gesture, Shen Zhigui instantly burst out with unparalleled speed, and the sword light was like a dragon, going straight to Xiangling's vitals. Xiangling was caught off guard and could only hastily wave her gun to block it, but she saw the sword light in the boy's hand bypass the gun shaft like a poisonous dragon, and then chopped down along the gun shaft towards the girl's hand holding the gun. This series of changes made Xiangling suddenly break out in a cold sweat. She subconsciously let go of the gun under the threat of the sharp sword light, but the boy immediately grabbed it with his other hand, then pulled the spear out of her hand and threw it away, and then he pointed the sword at her neck -

"The winner has been decided, right?"

said the boy.

"This……"

Xiangling thought, you don't want to compete at all, do you? You just want to scare me with your speed!

What can you learn from this kind of discussion?

Although Xiangling only wanted to be a chef and was not that serious about martial arts, she was taught by Grandma Ping after all, so she was not convinced. Shen Zhigui put away his sword, looked at the girl's expression, thought for a moment, and said, "Actually, I know that this is not a fair victory, but from the beginning this was not an equal battle. If I let you use your full strength, I can't get close to you, so if I want to defeat you, I can only use this method."

After Xiangling calmed down, she could of course understand what he said.

But this method of his can only be used against people who don't understand him at all, right?

Xiangling just felt that his behavior was a bit weird. If his purpose of sparring with her was just to defeat her, then what could he get from it?

To defeat the false reputation of the one who possesses the Eye of God?

Xiangling didn't think he needed this either.

From beginning to end, he had no chance to display the marksmanship he learned from his master. He certainly had no chance to appreciate the essence of his own marksmanship, thereby broadening his horizons, or even absorbing the nutrients he needed from it. His behavior was just like showing off his speed to himself.