[This is worth studying frame by frame.]
[Study? Do you have Brother Aventurine's financial power?]
[I remember Silver Wolf and Aventurine's teams seem to be competitors, and yet Silver Wolf's reaction...]
[Money can move the gods. With money, you can even make ghosts push millstones.]
[No one will go against the chairman, especially the red chairman. No one can resist real gold and silver.]
Wanderer: "Because of [Eternity]."
Storm: "Eternity? Wanderer, do you know the reason behind the Vision Hunt Decree?"
Wanderer: "..."
Wanderer: "My apologies. This is my secret. I cannot speak about it carelessly. Could everyone please pretend they didn't hear anything?"
Wanderer: "If you cannot pretend you didn't hear it, then please do not ask further. This would make me feel troubled, because I truly cannot say it."
[As expected of someone raised by Jun Bai. They're cut from the same cloth — very cute at certain times (๑＞ ₃ ＜)]
[Wanderer: I can't say it. I really can't say it. Please stop asking.]
Paimon: "You don't need to keep emphasizing it. Since you can't say it, we won't ask."
Wanderer: "I am deeply grateful."
Jun Mo Li: "Wanderer, should I give you the champion's ticket? I can see that you really want to go to Inazuma."
Wanderer: "Thank you, Senior. But aren't you also planning to go to Inazuma to witness the Musou no Hitotachi?"
Jun Mo Li: "It's fine. Although I do want to see the Musou no Hitotachi, I don't necessarily have to use this ticket. Even if it really doesn't work out, I can just ask my third brother directly."
Storm: "By the way, with your identity, couldn't you just go to Inazuma and inform that person directly?"
Wanderer: "Because this is my personal matter. I don't want to trouble the boss. Would you ask for help over personal matters?"
Storm: "No."
Wanderer: "Then isn't that settled? Senior, this ticket is your trophy, so please keep it. As for going to Inazuma, I will find a way myself."
Jun Mo Li: "Alright."
Jun Mo Li: "Traveler, Paimon, Yiya, as well as Captain Beidou and Kazuha — I'll be in your care from now on."
Paimon: "Mm, please take care of us too."
Paimon: "Hm? Wait, what do you mean by that, Mo Li?"
Yiya: "Yiya, yiya ya..."
-You only just realized?
-That's right. Mo Li is coming to Inazuma with us.
Aventurine laughed. "Now I understand how those merchants who wanted to buy Paimon felt. Encountering such an interesting little thing, I also feel like buying one."
[Paimon's ridiculously long reaction time.]
[Second Brother is actually traveling with the group. People who don't have Second Brother finally have a chance to try him out.]
[Even if we can't try him, it's actually pretty nice to see Second Brother in the story. Second Brother really has very little story content.]
"Rumors say that all of Second Brother's story is handled by Boss Jun alone. Apparently, he's worried that Second Brother's character setting would be ruined by other writers."
After Aventurine finished speaking, he looked at the two dialogue options. Seeing that they were essentially the same, he chose the nearest one according to convenience.
Aether: "You only just realized?"
(The little peacock doesn't look like someone who would choose the female protagonist, so the real-life little peacock account uses Aether.)
Paimon: "Uh..."
The story dialogue ended here. Players could now begin free exploration. The next story quest marker would trigger in two in-game days.
Aventurine fast-forwarded time to two days later and arrived at the harbor in Guili Assembly.
He controlled the character to find Beidou and continued the story:
Beidou: "You're here? The people who went to buy supplies should be back soon. Just wait here for a while."
Paimon: "Has Mo Li not arrived yet?"
Beidou: "He's already on the ship. He's chatting with Kazuha. The things they're discussing are quite profound — seems to be about swordsmanship. Anyway, it's something I don't understand."
After Beidou finished speaking, she went to find the sailors who had gone to purchase supplies.
Paimon: "Mo Li actually already arrived. Then let's go say hello to him."
Yiya: "Yiya!" (See Second Brother!)
The three boarded the ship and found Jun Mo Li and Kaedehara Kazuha chatting on the deck.
Kaedehara Kazuha: "Sir's understanding of swordsmanship is truly astonishing to me."
Jun Mo Li: "I actually feel that I'm still far behind. After all, according to what you said, the Musou no Hitotachi unleashed by the Raiden Shogun can split islands while slaying gods."
[Second Brother's classic Versailles while not realizing he's doing it.]
[Because this isn't Versailles. This is genuinely what Second Brother believes.]
[Comparing himself — a mortal who cannot use elemental power — to the strongest among the gods, the Seven, it's only natural that he feels he's far behind.]
Aventurine shook his head and sighed. "The Raiden Shogun can achieve that level because she is a god. But my Second Brother, you are a mortal!"
"Have you never thought that, if we set aside elemental power and divine authority, your swordsmanship might even surpass that of the gods?"
Of course, Aventurine also understood Jun Mo Li's character setting. He might feel that precisely because he had neither elemental power nor divine authority, he needed to go even further in swordsmanship.
This was the Qingce Sword Immortal, Jun Mo Li.
He wasn't even on the same starting line — not even on the same track — yet he had always been striving to overtake others through hard work.
Jun Mo Li wouldn't think the problem lay with the track. He would only think that he hadn't practiced enough.
Ever since he was instantly defeated by little Jun Bai with the Scarlet Shadow back then, Jun Mo Li had always faced everyone with the mindset of a student.
Against opponents whose reputation wasn't prominent, Jun Mo Li would treat them as equals. When facing someone clearly above him, he would believe there was something worth learning from that person.
Kaedehara Kazuha: "Uh... Sir's mindset is also something worth learning from..."
Paimon: "Kazuha! Mo Li!"
Yiya: "Yiya!" (Second Brother!)
Yiya directly pounced into Jun Mo Li's arms.
Jun Mo Li: "Good girl, good girl. Second Brother is also very happy to see you. From now on, I'll be counting on Yiya to protect Second Brother."
Yiya: "Yiya!" (Leave it to me!)
[Yiya is so well-behaved. She knows that everyone can usually only understand three words, so she generally doesn't say anything longer than three words.]
[This is the childhood form of the Sky Phoenix Marshal!]
[Little Jun Bai has been the group favorite since childhood. Yiya is even more so — even she herself dotes on herself.]
Jun Mo Li: "You arrived quite early. There's still some time before departure."
Aether: "You're the one who arrived early."
Paimon: "We're about to leave Liyue. Thinking about everything we experienced in Liyue, I really feel a bit reluctant to leave this country."
——Teyvat
"Yes. Liyue really is a wonderful country." Lumine looked back at Guili Assembly, feeling many emotions at once.
If Lumine had to describe it, she would say that Liyue felt very much like home.
Suddenly, Lumine spotted a familiar figure among the crowd.
"Saying you're reluctant to leave, but when it's time to go, you won't even say goodbye?"
Jun Bai stood at the harbor, smiling as he met Lumine's gaze from the deck.