After finishing breakfast, Ganyu returned to Yuehai Pavilion to continue working.
And Junze?
Considering the upcoming daily tasks, he suggested to Ganyu that he would just play outside in the courtyard.
Ganyu was still worried about this suggestion.
After all, such a small child being outside her line of sight was quite dangerous.
But she simply couldn't withstand Junze's cute pleading, so Ganyu reluctantly agreed.
Thus, Ganyu let Junze play in the small courtyard in front of Yuehai Pavilion and repeatedly warned him not to run around, saying the outside was dangerous.
Even so,
after she had just sat down, Ganyu still kept glancing outside at Junze, worried whether something might happen to him.
However, after several times looking up and seeing him holding the small shovel by the flowerbed and fiddling there, Ganyu finally relaxed.
"At least this part is the same as other children, liking to play with mud."
From Ganyu's perspective, Junze was simply playing with mud there.
"I'll have to ask someone to prepare a few sets of children's clothes later, and also help Ze take a bath."
Ganyu didn't mind Junze playing in mud and getting dirty, but he still needed to be cleaned afterward.
Muttering to herself, Ganyu entered work mode.
And Junze outside?
He planned to first practice [Skill: Planting] and complete some daily tasks along the way.
Once Ganyu was fully immersed in work, he would use the teleport waypoint to leave.
So over the next hour, Junze was seen constantly fiddling with the courtyard flowerbed.
If he wanted to plant Qingxin, he still needed to check whether the environment here was suitable.
With the boost from [Attribute: Calm Focus], [Skill: Planting] was also becoming rapidly proficient.
Finally, after noticing Ganyu had completely focused on work, Junze opened the map task.
"To avoid making Master worry, I should still sneak off."
Even if he couldn't defeat those monsters, he could quickly return to Yujing Terrace via teleport, so safety wasn't too much of a concern.
"Master, see you again at lunchtime."
Saying that, Junze waved toward Ganyu and disappeared from the spot, teleporting to the mission point.
At that moment, Ganyu was still immersed in work and didn't notice that her good disciple had already slipped out behind her back.
If she knew, she would probably blame herself again for being an unqualified master.
Yet just as Junze believed he had left without anyone knowing, he didn't realize that in the shadows there was another pair of eyes watching him.
Shenhe stood on the tall mountain behind Yujing Terrace, her gaze fixed tightly on the place where Junze had vanished.
"Gone?"
Shenhe frowned.
She silently descended to the place where Junze had been.
Looking around, she confirmed that Junze had indeed disappeared.
From this alone, she was certain that as Taotie, Junze was far from as simple as he appeared on the surface.
She glanced toward Ganyu, then shook her head.
Her master had only instructed her to keep watch on Junze and act only if he did something harmful to humanity.
Now that it was unclear what exactly he had done, there was no need for her to interfere.
Moreover, her master had said that Ganyu and this child were deeply entangled in fate, and she had best not rashly involve herself.
After thinking it through, Shenhe's figure vanished from the spot.
Soundless and traceless.
— Outskirts of Liyue Harbor
Junze landed.
"Ugh… so dizzy."
Junze held his head and took quite a while to recover.
He complained, "This teleport really is disgusting. Luckily I wasn't full, otherwise I'd have thrown everything up."
"Bla bla lu~"
At that moment, Junze suddenly heard a very familiar sound.
He looked up. "That sound is definitely that disgusting Abyss Mage."
Sure enough, not far away he spotted a Hydro Abyss Mage and several Hilichurls dancing in ritual.
"Pretty lucky. It's actually a Hydro Abyss Mage."
Junze recognized the opponent at a glance.
The Hydro Abyss Mage's most troublesome shield was completely not a problem for someone who could use Cryo like him.
"If I let you release even a single bubble, I lose!"
A fierce glint flashed in Junze's eyes.
"Shame it isn't raining today."
He looked at the bright clear sky and shook his head regretfully. Otherwise today's battle would be even easier.
Junze raised his small right hand.
Frost condensed from his palm.
He could feel the power throughout his entire body converting into Cryo energy.
"A kid doing a sneak attack is totally fine, right?"
Junze locked onto the Abyss Mage, then directly pressed his hand onto the ground.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Instantly, a path of ice spread rapidly across the ground toward the Abyss Mage.
"!!!"
The approaching danger made the Hilichurls and Abyss Mage react at once.
But before the Abyss Mage could respond, it was directly frozen by Junze's ice.
The Hilichurls beside it also began shivering violently from the cold.
"Unexpectedly easy."
Seeing their reaction, Junze grew a bit bolder and stepped out from behind.
Since he knew no swordsmanship or spear techniques, Junze chose the most primitive combat method: claws.
With his thought, his attribute [Body of Taotie] immediately shone with golden light.
His right hand became covered by an enormous claw of ice.
The claw was already larger than Junze himself, yet he could swing it effortlessly.
It was the manifestation of the Taotie clawed body through Cryo elemental power.
Just looking at that razor-sharp ice claw was terrifying.
"Whoa!"
Junze felt this claw could crush steel in an instant.
He looked at the charging Hilichurls, his brows lifting slightly as he smiled faintly. "I might actually be pretty strong."
As he spoke, Junze slashed out with a single claw.
Slash!
A violent blast of freezing wind swept forward.
The massive claw struck the Hilichurls, sending them flying several meters away.
Bloody claw marks tore across their bodies.