Superconduct, Superconduct, Superconduct…
Electro-Charged, Frozen…
Neo and Tartaglia continued fighting at Yaoguang Shoal without any restraint.
Neither of them could gain an advantage in terms of stamina in a short period of time.
They fought for three or four hours, until the sky had already turned dark.
“Whew…”
“Ajax, how are you planning to take Liyue’s Gnosis?”
Neo, who had no injuries on his body but whose clothes were already tattered, panted as he asked Tartaglia.
“Isn’t it obvious? Of course I’ll find the Geo Archon, fight him, and then openly take the Gnosis!”
The damage to Tartaglia’s clothes was much less than Neo’s, but he genuinely had wounds on his body.
The bleeding wasn’t too serious, however, and he answered with certainty.
“Then… you’re pretty bold…”
“I can’t do it anymore, I can’t do it anymore. Let’s stop here. Can’t you just count it as your win?”
Hearing that Tartaglia wanted to fight the Geo Archon, Neo simply threw away the shield-and-spear set in his hands, then plopped down onto the beach, which had become full of pits and bumps from their battle.
“Whew… that was satisfying… It’d be even better if you could get a little stronger, Neo. I was just a little short of being able to use Foul Legacy and really enjoy myself…”
Tartaglia also plopped down beside him, supporting himself with both hands behind him on the sand as he looked up at the night sky.
“How are you going to lure out the Geo Archon?”
After resting for a while and recovering, Neo asked Tartaglia.
“Hmm… I got an interesting little gadget in my hands. I’ve already had my subordinates try to reproduce it. When the time comes, we might be able to use that thing to release whatever is down there.”
Faced with Neo’s question, Tartaglia thought for a moment before choosing not to hide it from him.
He raised his hand and pointed toward Guyun Stone Forest in the distance.
From Yaoguang Shoal, Guyun Stone Forest on the opposite shore happened to be visible, although it wasn’t very clear under the moonlight.
“Don’t you know how much harm the appearance of an Archon will cause?”
Hearing Tartaglia say the plan himself, Neo, who had just lain down on the beach, immediately sat up.
“There’s no other way. As one of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers, I have to carry out Her Majesty the Tsaritsa’s will.”
“If Her Majesty wants it, I’ll take it, no matter what means I have to use.”
“But don’t worry. This is only a backup plan. I won’t use it unless absolutely necessary. I’ll continue looking for a way to make the Geo Archon appear, which is the upcoming… Rite of Descension.”
After returning to Liyue Harbor together, Neo said goodbye to Tartaglia outside the Northland Bank and walked back to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor alone.
He thought about it for a long time on the way.
Tartaglia couldn’t possibly abandon this backup plan unless the Geo Archon appeared as he wished and let him obtain the Gnosis.
But that was impossible, because the Geo Archon himself wanted to test the Liyue Qixing and the adepti.
In that case, even if Neo used another method to stop Tartaglia from using the backup plan, perhaps Osial would still be released in another way.
And it would definitely happen after the Rite of Descension, because that was when the adepti of Jueyun gathered in Liyue and confronted the Qixing, making it the best time for the test to begin.
‘If that’s the case, if I can’t stop Ajax, an Archon will definitely appear…’
‘The biggest victims when an Archon appears will be the fishing boats and merchant ships that have gone out to sea…’
‘The game never mentioned any of this, but with the power of the Vortex Archon, there’s no way there would be no impact.’
‘And as the side being tested, the Liyue Qixing can’t possibly know about it in advance and take precautions.
I’m afraid the situation won’t be very optimistic…’, Neo thought to himself.
As Teyvat’s most prosperous commercial port, the amount of cargo passing through Liyue Harbor every day was impossible to calculate, and the number of merchant ships and fishing boats coming and going was enormous.
“Then there’s only one way…”
“After the Rite of Descension, temporarily ban fishing and close the harbor.”
“That way, when the Vortex Archon emerges, no one will be affected.”
When he arrived at the entrance of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Neo finally realized this, then pushed open the door and entered.
“…”
After Neo entered the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli’s figure slowly emerged from the darkness.
“To care so deeply about the people of Liyue…”
“As the only person on Liyue’s side who knows that an Archon is about to emerge, just how far will you go…”, Zhongli muttered quietly.
He had already prepared a response to what Neo was worried about.
All he needed to do was make the weather at sea turn bad some time in advance.
The ships in the harbor naturally wouldn’t go out, and ships coming from far away would temporarily dock elsewhere.
Neo, however, didn’t know any of this.
After returning to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor…
“Who did this! How dare they mess with someone from our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor!”
“Come on, Neo. The Director will stand up for you!”
Seeing Neo looking battered all over, even his hair a mess, Hu Tao angrily went to get the Staff of Homa.
“Hu Tao, calm down, calm down. I did this to myself!”
Seeing the Staff of Homa in Hu Tao’s hand, Neo hurriedly stopped her.
“?”
“Do you think I’m that easy to fool? Don’t worry. There’s one thing this Director is good at, and that’s burying people. Just take me there.”
Hu Tao tilted her head and carefully looked at the obvious cuts from sharp weapons in several places on Neo’s clothes.
Thinking that Neo was scared, she immediately thumped her chest twice.
“Really, really. Actually, I just went mountain climbing. Then I accidentally stepped wrong while coming down and rolled all the way down the mountain. These are actually just scratches from tree branches.”
Neo couldn’t exactly say he had gone to fight, so he could only make up an excuse.
“…”
But it was obvious that Hu Tao didn’t believe this excuse at all.
She had an expression that clearly said, “Do you take the Director for an idiot?”
‘Who would roll all the way from the top of a mountain to the foot of it?’
“Sigh, forget it, forget it. If you don’t want to say, then forget it. After all, you just came back to Liyue. It’s normal that you don’t want to cause trouble.”
“But remember this. If someone bullies you, just come to the Director. No matter what, I’m still the Director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. I definitely have to protect you from being bullied.”
Hu Tao could only sigh and then pulled Neo along while reminding him.
Neo could only keep nodding in agreement.
“So you haven’t eaten yet, have you? Should the Director cook something for you?”
After reminding Neo for quite a while, Hu Tao finally thought of something.
She looked at Neo’s stomach and made the suggestion.
“Hehe, sure. Then thanks, Hu Tao.”
Neo subconsciously touched his stomach.
After fighting for so long, he really was hungry.
“Then go take a bath and change your clothes first. The Director will personally cook. It’ll be ready by the time you’re done.”
As she spoke, Hu Tao rolled up her sleeves and headed toward the kitchen.
Neo also followed Hu Tao’s instructions, taking a bath and changing into a new set of clothes.
When he came out, Hu Tao had already prepared a fairly sumptuous meal.
“…”
After sitting down, Neo carefully picked up his chopsticks, picked up a little, and tasted it.
Fortunately, the taste was pretty normal…