"...are you sure that this isn't too much?"
[If you're planning to impress someone, fix your looks first.] Pervases, who was in his small statue, told him.
Lie sighed as he gave up on arguing with his master on this topic.
At the back of his attire was the symbol of Guizhong.
He was very thankful for it but he was very distraught by the fact that it was from Zhongli's important person but was met by refusal. The words that Zhongli told him made him stop giving it back.
"I'm sure that she would have loved to see someone who is wearing one of the clothes she made herself. I can imagine..." Zhongli started reminiscing about the times he had with the Goddess of Dust with a melancholic smile.
What made him seal the deal was the eye-opening scene that made his jaw drop.
The Goddess of Dust's spiritual form hugged Zhongli from behind. While she did that, she winked at Lie and then continued to hug the man.
'Was I seeing things back then? Or I might have been in the world of the dead for too long...'
The image of Hu Tao laughing menacingly as she locked the "door" to the realm of the dead for a whole DAMN MONTH before opening it again. Though, she did cause a problem as it also locked away the ghosts from entering the realm of the dead to 'rest in peace', causing Wuwang Hill to be filled with 'weird energy' that even the Liyue Qixing had to be involved.
"I have to thank Chongyun for helping..."
[About what?]
"Nothing much. Anyway, I think I look good enough right?"
Pervases nods as he imagined him fighting a Primo Geovishap...
...then remembers he has bamboo as a weapon.
"Hey, I know that face you're making! Don't judge my choice of weaponry."
[Yes, yes. Now, time to go to your legal advisor for the papers you need to get before you go to Sumeru City.]
With a nod, they set off to finish their business so that they could get to Sumeru City without any problems.
________________________________________________________________________________
A "young" girl was searching through a pile of papers looking for something.
This girl was, Yanfei.
As she finally found the file she was looking for, she heard a knock on the door.
"Lie here."
"Oh, come in Lie!"
Lie entered her office as he looked around. It was filled with documents and as he looked down, there were some more papers that were scattered. He found one that read-
Fatuus was seen dead in an alley near the docks.
'A dead Fatuu? Yelan isn't the type of person to just kill a member and not hide their bodies like that, it's not her thing. That means...'
When he was 18, he saw someone visit the bank. She had an X on both of her eyes, with that white hair of hers...
'She was called the 'Knave' from what I had gotten from 'reformed' Fatuu members before they went missing.'
His thoughts were interrupted by a shout.
"Hey, you shouldn't look through papers like that. It has private information!"
Quickly appearing before him, she took the paper from him as he looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"If it IS private information, why in Teyvat is it scattered across the floor?!"
Lie and Yanfei had a stare down as the latter took a small card and some papers from her desk.
"Anyway, here to take your identification papers for Sumeru right? Haven't seen you in a while and you're leaving already?" Changing the subject, Yanfei gave him a pout as Lie sighed but smiled after.
"Yeah, been a long while. Haven't met you for 3 years since I was training in caves." He gave a laugh as Yanfei gave him a soft smile.
"Right, right..."
Yanfei was a really good friend to have. She's pretty serious when it comes to her job and genuinely a pretty likable girl. She's nice, and he could say that she was pretty too.
'Why hasn't someone taken her as a wife already?!'
Though, he does see a problem with her being with a mortal. Mortals didn't live long enough.
"Hey, do you still remember when you had a crush on me when you were still a child?" Yanfei's soft smile turned into a teasing one.
Lie's genuine smile then turned into an irritated one.
'I take back all the nice things I said about her.'
"That was when I was 10 and it ended when I was 15. I'm about to be 20. Stop bringing it up."
"Oh? But I still remember you blushing red like an apple when I gave you a kiss on the cheek! That was too adorable to forget."
Yanfei started giggling on her own as Lie gave her an unamused stare.
[Haha! I remember those days when you were still an innocent kid.]
'Not you too, Pervases!'
Shaking his head, he took the papers from her and rolled it and gave her a-
*BONK*
"Ow!"
Yanfei cutely rubbed her head in pain from Lie's attack.
"What was that for-"
She was suddenly interrupted by Lie again as he attacked her, with a hug.
"I'll be back in about a year or so, so until I come back, take care of yourself, yeah?"
Lie waited for a reply from her, but she didn't say anything for a few moments before finally, she replied by tightening the hug.
"Take care of yourself too, little brother."
"Yeah, you too, big sister."
They broke the hug as they nodded at each other.
Lie left the room as he closed the door shut, leaving Yanfei to her own thoughts.
"...I wonder what would have happened if I didn't reject him and waited for a couple of years?"
Yanfei thought for a moment before shaking her head as she smiled and cleaned up the scattered papers on the floor.
"Now, where was I..."
She went to her desk and took out a paper that read.
Reports on 'Regrator', from Yelan.
'Looks like I have some work to do.'
________________________________________________________________________________
Lie visited a lot of people.
Walking around, he finally arrived at the first place.
"Wangsheng Funeral Parlor..."
He looked at the sign before turning his head around, finding a bulletin board of some sort.
"Hmm?"
"30% on Incenses! Buy now before it's too late!"
Looking at the shameless advertisement posted there, he couldn't help but shake his head as it reminded him of the times he bought incense sticks from a gentle but cheerful girl-
"LIE! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU WERE LEAVING!"
Somehow erasing her presence, said girl leaped at him and tackled him to the ground.
"Ow... yeah, sorry about that, Tao."
"Hmph!"
This girl was Hu Tao
"Master Hu, please refrain from doing that again." a masculine voice told her as Lie looked up to see the man that could be the closest he can relate to as his uncle.
"Oh, and Lie. How are you and young Pervases doing?"
This masculine voice was Zhongli.
[We're doing fine, sir.] Pervases answered from his mind while Lie was busy trying to breathe as Hu Tao's grip on him was abnormally tight.
"I know you're going to miss me, little Tao-"
"Miss you? Nah. Firstly, it's just that who is going to be my number one customer when buying incense?! Secondly, don't call me little! I'm 21, one year older than you, boy! Plus, you're the same as me! Your height is something to laugh at. Anyways, see? I'm definitely an adult!"
Lie gave her a stare as Hu Tao puffed up her chest proudly.
"...there's nothing there-"
"What's nothing?"
Suddenly, Hu Tao summoned a spear out of nowhere and pointed it toward his neck.
"Nothing can be as cute as you!" Lie quickly saved himself as he spouted those words while putting his hands up in surrender.
"Aw, you shouldn't say that. I might get the wrong idea!" Hu Tao blushed as she turned a full 180 in a fraction of a second.
A few seconds of silence occurred but in the end, they both laughed.
Lie rose an eyebrow in amusement at her as he looked to his right, seeing Zhongli nodding to himself.
"Ah, yes. This is the scene that was shown in that novel I've seen Miss Keqing and Ganyu read."
Giving the man a weird look, he decided that it was time to take something from his pouch.
The Funeral Master stopped laughing and looked at Lie who was handing her a wrapped-up box.
"Oya? What's this?"
"It's something you'll have to find out later. Anyway, can I request something from you?" Lie said as Hu Tao's 'lunatic' behavior was replaced with a genuine smile when she looked at the present he gave her.
"Ah, that would be to offer an incense in Pervases's shrine, right? No need to worry! You've helped me with paying Zhongli's debt so it's the least I could do."
Both of them stare at Zhongli who got uncomfortable by their stares when he heard them mention "debt".
"See guys again soon, then."
"See you!"
"Farewell to you, Lie."
Lie nodded and ran towards his final destination.
He went to Wangmin restaurant to see 5 people talking.
"Lie! Sorry, you leaving was so abrupt that we didn't even prepare a farewell party that extravagant." A girl wearing an apron stated.
This girl was Xiangling
"I told you that I didn't need one, but this is one unique gathering."
All five of his friends look at each other then smile.
"A chef, an opera singer, a rockstar, an exorcist, and a well-renowned author..."
"Quite a gathering, I must say."
This was Yunjin.
"I know, right?"
This was Xinyan.
"Couldn't you have used a better title?"
This was Xinqiu.
"Would you rather him call you a bookworm?
This was Chongyun.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Xinqiu says as he whips out multiple books from thin air.
They all laugh as amidst the situation, Lie took a seat among them.
"I've made a special this for all of us today! This time, I made a non-spicy version for you Chongyun." Xiangling giggled as Chongyun gave her his thanks.
"You better check to be sure though." Lie added as Chongyun was about to take a bite.
Chongyun stopped his hand as he stared at the food.
He looked at the food and sniffed it, smelling no spice. But then, he went to the spoon and did the same-
"...What is this?!"
"Aw, I almost got him!"
Chongyun yelled at her in rage as the rest laughed at his predicament.
After Chongyun calmed down with Lie offering him an ice popsicle, they all talked about their lives and embarrassing moments of Lie.
"To Lie's adventure!"
"""""Here!"""""
Xinqiu gave a smirk at him as he raised his cup.
"To Lie's love life!"
""""Here!""""
Lie sighed as he raised his own cup.
"Here..."
They all said their farewells as he looked back and stared at the Jade Chamber.
[Not saying goodbye to them?]
'No, I'm fine. I already said my goodbye's to them before. Especially Ganyu. I've seen her and Shenhe every week, I'm practically their family.'
________________________________________________________________________________
He was now in front of the Chasm. There were 2 guards in front of Chasm's entrance.
""Goodmorning, Exorcist Lie!""
"Morning, Tie Hong, Tianyi. Any problems you've encountered?"
"Nothing much, Lie. Though, you've pretty much cleared out the problems being the Abyss, we can handle Treasure Hoarders just fine."
"What about the Fatui?"
"I can handle them myself, Lie." A feminine voice said behind him as he turned around, facing the woman.
"Ah, Miss Yelan!" They saluted in front of her as she told them be at ease.
"Right, like that other time when those Inazuma visitors showed up? I'm sure you can handle it."
"That was a different case. If that bumbo wasn't there, it would have gone smoothly."
Lie laughed at the implication as he swore he can hear that person yelling from Inazuma.
"Anyway, the coast is clear. You can get to Sumeru without any problems."
Lie nodded and said his goodbyes to the 3 of them.
He saw a dead tree right beside him and decided to take a little shortcut.
Lie faded into the dead tree and it came back to life as it's dead roots started to become firm and the branches started to grow in length. Slowly, the leaves came back and it stood tall.
Near the entrance of the cave, he came out of a small tree and looked around and saw a familiar face.
"Xiao, didn't expect to meet you here."
Xiao grunted in response as he crossed his arms.
"So, what brings you here? I know you're not the type of guy to visit me because you're worried."
"Tch, why would I be worried about you?"
"Worried about Pervases then?"
"..."
Xiao went silent as Lie smiled at him.
"Don't worry, he'll be in safe hands."
"Prove it."
Xiao's eyes glowed dangerously as he pointed his spear at him.
"One last fight..."
A mask appeared, covering his face. He spun his spear around and from the entrance of Sumeru, leapt towards him in fast speeds.
"Fine, you asked for it."
Lie's eyes flashed green as he summoned his bamboo bo-staff and blocked his attack.
'Just like old times...'
Using the force of Lie's defence against him, he position himself into a plunge, directly above Lie.
"It's USELESS!"
TO BE CONTINUED
A/N: To my readers, please tell me if you want me to stop posting images because first, it's hard, 2nd, it might be annoying.
I'm not good with describing things so I might post some, what I'm talking about are the character cards. If you want me to stop, then I'll stop, if you don't want me to, then sure, I'll continue.
Next chapter will be Xiao and Lie's fight, so stay tuned. Comment if you have some in inquiries.