On the day the new Returning Flame Holy Night Pilgrimage was held.
"Rios, come over here and fish with us."
Mualani was holding a fishing rod by the river, with Kachina and Kinich beside her.
"What are you doing?" Rios walked over and asked.
"Of course, it's to fish up Lord Xbalanque."
Now everyone in Natlan knew that Lord Xbalanque would return.
When Mualani learned of this news, she quickly had a flash of inspiration and thought of a great way to find Xbalanque: fish him out of the water.
"A genius idea," Rios said. "If Xbalanque weren't the Pyro Archon but the Hydro Archon, your method would definitely work."
"Tch... I think only a stupid god would fall for such a trick," Ajaw, who was staying by Kinich's side, said. "Xbalanque isn't a fish; how could ordinary bait attract him to take the hook?"
Kinich didn't scold Ajaw like he usually would, probably because he also felt Mualani's approach was too fanciful.
"Ajaw has a point. To fish up Xbalanque, ordinary bait really won't do," Rios said. "How about we throw Ajaw into the water instead?"
"If Xbalanque sees him, he'll definitely be curious and pick him up to look at him a few times. Then we can fish him up," Rios suggested.
"What a great idea!" Mualani's eyes lit up. "Then let's throw Ajaw into the water right now."
"I have no objections," Kinich said in a calm tone.
"Wait!"
"I object!"
Ajaw's face turned completely red: "How can you treat the great holy dragon like this!"
"Wah wah, I at least helped out during the Abyss monster invasion, and now you're treating me like this." Ajaw said while shedding tears.
"Don't be sad," Rios comforted. "Think of it this way: if Xbalanque is in the water, then he's drinking your foot-washing water. Isn't that doing you a favor?"
Hearing Rios's words, Ajaw immediately stopped crying, his voice excited: "Now that you put it that way, this holy dragon is indeed a bit tempted. Then I'll reluctantly just dip my feet into the water..."
"Get lost."
Before Ajaw could finish his words, Kinich slapped him to the opposite shore.
No chance of getting back up.
"Ajaw really puffs up as soon as you praise him a little," Mualani said.
"Good thing big brother Kinich smacked him away," Kachina said.
Otherwise, if Lord Xbalanque found out about this, his mentality would explode.
At this moment, the Traveler and the others walked over.
"Rios, what are you all doing?" Paimon floated over curiously and asked.
"Just giving Xbalanque a bit of a great holy dragon shock," Rios said.
"?"
After explaining what had happened, Paimon looked at Rios somewhat helplessly: "You really have no issues with the first Pyro Archon?"
She always felt that each of Rios's ideas harbored a lot of malice toward Xbalanque.
"Compared to the others, my ideas are still pretty good," Rios said.
Upon hearing this, Paimon subconsciously recalled what the others were doing.
Ororon was setting traps, Mualani wanted to fish the first Pyro Archon out of the water...
Rios's suggestion, compared to those people, wasn't much different.
Though historical records said that the first Pyro Archon Xbalanque got along well with the people of Natlan.
But it wasn't about literally getting along by beating them into pieces.
"The competition is about to start soon; you all should hurry to the competition venue," the Traveler reminded.
"Oh, right." Mualani smiled and said, "We were all preparing to head over, but Ajaw delayed us a bit. I almost forgot about this."
"It's all Ajaw's fault."
Ajaw was just like Benzema, Danzo, or Tokiomi—as soon as there was a mistake, they blamed it on them.
Everyone, including Mualani, was very interested in the new version of the Returning Flame Holy Night Pilgrimage.
"However, just thinking about Lord Xbalanque watching us from the side makes me feel a bit nervous," Kachina said, clutching her chest with some worry.
"Don't be nervous," Rios comforted. "The last time you participated in the Returning Flame Holy Night Pilgrimage, it was under the gaze of me and Mavuika, two Pyro Archons. Now it's just changing from two Pyro Archons' gaze to three; there's not much difference."
"Besides, Xbalanque won't stay for long, but Mavuika and I will be around for a very long time. No matter how you think about it, the pressure from us on you is greater."
Kachina was stunned for a moment: "It seems... you're right?"
Being embarrassed in front of Lord Xbalanque is only temporary, but being embarrassed in front of Rios and Mavuika, these two Pyro Archons, would be remembered for a lifetime.
And Rios was a novelist too. If one day he wrote Kachina's blunders into a novel, she'd be remembered by everyone in Teyvat.
Thinking of it this way, the pressure was even greater!
"Rios, will you participate in the Returning Flame Holy Night Pilgrimage too?"
On the way to the Stadium of the Sacred Flame, Paimon asked curiously.
"I won't participate," Rios shook his head.
If he participated, the competition would have no suspense at all, so it was better not to.
"The first Pyro Archon is coming for once; why not participate?" Paimon asked. "Don't you want to compete with the first Pyro Archon to see who is the strongest Pyro Archon?"
The strongest in history vs. the strongest in the modern era?
That wasn't something to compare.
"Even Granny Citlali is participating in this new Returning Flame Holy Night Pilgrimage. Rios really isn't participating?" Paimon continued.
"I didn't expect even Granny to join in," hearing Paimon's words, everyone was slightly surprised.
After all, in their eyes, Citlali rarely showed up usually.
Now that even Citlali was participating in the competition, it meant she really cared a lot about Xbalanque coming.
"Rios, you used to be the Pyro Archon too; can't you sense Lord Xbalanque's position?" Mualani asked.
"I read your novel where there's a girl who defected from a villain organization, and later, when she encounters other members of the villain organization, even without introducing themselves, she can sense their identities."
"I've seen that trope too!" Paimon, also a book fan, chimed in. "But that's just a novel setting. In reality, achieving that level is impossible, right?"
"It's not entirely impossible," Rios said. "I can actually sense Xbalanque's position right now."
"Really or not?"
Everyone widened their eyes one after another, excitedly looking at Rios: "Where is Lord Xbalanque now?"
Rios pointed in a direction: "That red-haired little boy is Xbalanque."