09. Meeting A Loving-Books Youngster

The girl who called herself Hu Tao said something as if she wanted to curse Ryūhei to die. Ryūhei wanted to retort, but since Liyue was unfamiliar to him, he politely declined.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not interested." Then, Ryūhei walked away.

But, the girl was so persistent.

"Well, well, don't be shy! In fact, it's completely normal to buy a coffin upfront. Just like saying, "Prepare an umbrella before it rains", you'll never know when you will kiss the ground after all. Death can come all of a sudden, and it is essential to prepare a coffin beforehand."

"Are you trying to curse me?"

"No, no, no! You're absolutely wrong! Every journey has its headstart, but it will eventually come to an end. So, you shouldn't have declined my offer earlier. If you die before you buy the coffin, you won't get the discount because I will charge the normal price."

Hu Tao's nonchalant words made Ryūhei speechless. What kind of sellers curses their customers to death? Well, that person is now in front of Ryūhei. She thought that he was blind, so she offered her coffin with a discount before his demise.

Ryūhei lifted his blindfold, revealing clear vibrant blue irises in each eye.

"Listen, girl! I'm not blind. I can see your appearance vividly. I put on a blindfold to train my senses. In fact, my eyes might be better than the Electro Archon from my nation. So, can I ask you to stop bothering me!?"

Hu Tao just nodded after seeing his eyes. In fact, she didn't realize that her nodding was too slow in Ryūhei's eyes. Ryūhei immediately put his blindfold on before walking away.

"The hell. Did I just activate Infinity?" Ryūhei said inwardly.

Infinity is the base state of the Limitless and is essentially the power to stop. The Infinity is the convergence of an immeasurable series, anything that approaches the infinity slows down and never reaches the user. This is because the technique takes a finite amount of space between the two subjects and divides it an infinite amount of times.

In other words, anything that attempts to penetrate this infinitely divided space will slow down to the point of appearing to stop completely.

"It seems I need to let my negative energy flow to not just my body, but my eyes as well, so the Infinity can be activated. Well, let's get out of here at once. It seems that girl has such a powerful backing. I can feel immense power within that person. And that person is even scarier than Yae Guuji from the Grand Narukami Shrine."

Meanwhile, Hu Tao sighed in relief.

"That was so scary."

She didn't know what happened earlier. But, her instinct screamed at her to not provoke the youngster earlier. Before she knew it, the youngster had already walked away.

But then, she pouted at Ryūhei's figure.

"Death has its own rules, and yet is still hard to predict. That guy doesn't know what's good for him. He definitely wasted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Then, she heard footsteps behind her. That person asked.

"What happened, Director?"

"Ah, Mr. Zhongli. It's nothing. Just as usual, someone rejected my goodwill."

The one called Zhongli seems to be a man in his early 30s with a height of around 185 cm. He has fair skin, amber eyes with yellow diamond-shaped pupils and red eyeliner on the lower lids of his eyes, and short dark brown hair with a longer fringe on the right side of his face. There is one section of his hair on the back of his head that is waist-length instead of being cut short.

His attire is elegant and form-fitting, consisting of a beige dress shirt, a brown and amber waistcoat, slim black trousers, black dress boots, and black gloves. His left ear is adorned with a jeweled tassel earring.

Zhongli currently serves as a consultant for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He works under "The Director," Hu Tao, and seems to be well-versed in an abundance of subjects.

However, this knowledge did not come from thin air. Zhongli is in truth the latest mortal vessel of the Geo Archon, Morax, also known as Liyue's overlord and protector: Rex Lapis.

Before becoming a consultant in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli had once overheard a merchant telling one of his workers. "You've finished your duties, go ahead and call it a day." And after hearing that, he felt that it was time to let go of his duties, enjoying a mortal life while intending to witness the rise and fall of Liyue.

After hearing what Hu Tao said, he just responded curtly.

"I see."

He looked in Ryūhei's direction. He didn't feel anything unusual except the time when Ryūhei activated his Limitless technique, Infinity.

"What a peculiar art." Zhongli muttered. Then, he turned to Hu Tao. "Director, you said you wanted to go somewhere else."

"Oh, right. I forgot. I'm going then."

With that, Hu Tao ran toward the direction of Chihu Rock.

Then, he turned back to the direction where Ryūhei left.

"Well, mortal matters are none of my concern. I'd better go to the Third-Round Knockout. I wonder what story Tian is going to tell this time."

— — — —

"Fuuh. Luckily that person didn't follow me. That was so scary af. Who was that person exactly?"

Ryūhei sighed in relief. He was nervous when someone much stronger than Yae Guuji sensed his power. He had no idea whether a curse technique was good in the eyes of others or not. In any case, he didn't intend to let anyone know his power before he was strong enough to perform advanced Limitless techniques. For now, he will let people know through his style that he is just a samurai from Inazuma who wants to open a business in Liyue Harbor.

Ryūhei descended toward the harbor via the stairs connecting Feiyun Slope. At the harbor, many people passed by. Fishermen, merchants, the military force called Millelith, and others.

Because it was so crowded, someone accidentally bumped into him by dropping a book. Ryūhei had previously realized someone was about to bump into him. But since activating infinity could attract attention on a busy street, he decided not to do so.

He picked up the book that fell to the ground. But he saw that there were some scraps of paper with handwriting in the book.

"Hmmm? A Legend of Sword?"

Even with a blindfold, he can still read it thanks to his control over the negative energy flowing into his eyes. However, he still had to pretend to take off his blindfold for camouflage so that everyone would think that he was deliberately closing his eyes.

"Ah. I'm sorry. That's my book. Can you kindly give it back to me?"

Ryūhei heard a young man behind him. That young man has golden-amber eyes, a light skin tone, and dark navy blue hair with asymmetrical bangs.

And without too much thought, Ryūhei gave the book back to him.

"You seem—"

"Thank you."

Before Ryūhei could finish his sentence, the blue-haired youth gave him his thanks before leaving.

"Oi, wait! Tsk, I definitely found a person who likes novels. And from the air he gave off, he must be a young master. This is my chance."

Feeling the energy flow of the young man walking out of the city through the main gate, Ryūhei immediately followed him.

— — — —

Walking around an half hour from Liyue Harbor, he found a Statue Of The Seven, monumental stone statues that watch over the whole of Teyvat, on the right side of the road. Legends say they were sculpted in the images of The Seven who sustain this world.

And the statue in front of him was a statue that was sculpted in the image of the Geo Archon sitting on the throne while holding a cube with his right hand.

Across from it, there was a small path leading to an inn in a secluded place that seemed deserted of visitors when he saw it from a distance. And, the person Ryūhei was looking for seemed to be there. The young man was in the open by sitting in a place that had been provided by the innkeeper, and apparently, the open space filled with tables and chairs was used to treat diners with stunning views of the west.

Ryūhei immediately headed there to meet the young man.

"There you are, a youth with blue hair."

He approached the young man slowly.

According to his knowledge, Liyue is similar to China. So, he clasped his hands to greet him.

"Hello, good morning."

Xingqiu was slightly surprised as he reflexively clasped his hand to greet Ryūhei back.

"Ah, you're the one I bumped into."

"Right. You suddenly left after saying thanks. Even though I wanted to talk to you." Then, Ryūhei approached him. "Can I take this seat?"

"Uh, sure." The blue-haired youngster was astounded. How can someone even see when their eyes are blindfolded?

Without paying any heed to the young man's surprise, Ryūhei sat down in front of him.

"Oh right, let me introduce myself. My name is Ryūhei, Niwa Ryūhei. I'm from Inazuma. I came to this nation to try my luck and prove to "that person" that I can be independent."

"I'm Xingqiu. By the way, I've been wondering, how can you see when you're blindfolded? It doesn't make sense at all."

"Hmmm, aren't you unfamiliar with martial arts? That shouldn't be the case when you carry a sword on your waist."

"See! You can even see without using your eyes!" Xingqiu pointed his index finger at Ryūhei.

"You see, I use this blindfold in the form of training. I'm a bit sensitive to the flow of energy in the surroundings, and I can differentiate between different types of energy. That way, I can see the image through my senses without using my eyes."

Although what Ryūhei said was just nonsense, there was some truth within his words.