Moulder of Mountains

Moon Carver told me to look for Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, and Demon Conqueror. The first two were living around Jueyun while the latter lived at Wangshu Inn. I should visit the other two first. I'm already at Jueyun Karst after all. I should be able to find them fairly quickly as well. I got here in just an hour or two with my flight after all.

I decided to meet Mountain Shaper first. Moon Carver told me that Mountain Shaper lived at Mt. Hulao. It was a mountain that had a huge amber to the side and a lot more little ones. I already knew where it was though. I mean, I could see it from where we were talking earlier after all. I was just about to go on the move since I took a bit of a rest. I wanted to enjoy the scenery after all. Well, I already had a good look at the place. I looked at the Sigil of Permission that Moon Carver gave so that I would no longer run into problems.

I then looked behind me and saw that Moon Carver was already nowhere to be seen. I flew to the mountain with the large amber with great speed. When I arrived at the mountain, I saw a man kneeling on the ground. I was a bit cautious of him, so I teleported behind one of the trees that was nearby. I heard the man begging the adepti to release his brother. What the? Just what the hell did they do for it to come to this? After a bit, I decided to just show myself to him since he didn't seem to be a threat.

"A-ah! Are you the messenger of the adepti?!" said the man as he crawled to me.

"No, wait. I-"

"Please forgive us! Please let my brother go!" said the man as he looked around frantically.

I guess he doesn't really know where his brother is. I asked him what happened and he said that he and his brother were going up the mountain when his brother suddenly became encased in amber. I already know where this was going so I repeated what I did earlier when I investigated the body of Rex Lapis. However, I realized something. I could only see Elemental Energy and Gnosis with these eyes. Maybe I can see Life Force, but I haven't tried it. I was looking for Elemental Energy and Geo Gnosis earlier when investigating the body of Rex Lapis after all.

There were two reasons I need to sense only the Life Force. First, I don't know if this brother of his has a vision, don't wanna bother to ask since he's such a mess right now, so I don't know if I could even detect his Elemental Energy.

Second, I couldn't see very well if it's Elemental Energy I'm looking for. These ambers have a certain type of energy within them that is akin to Ganyu's. Ganyu had two energy signatures, but since their color is so alike, I couldn't differentiate them. I guess I'll call this Adeptal Energy.

Anyways, I focused on trying to view Life Force rather than Elemental Energy or Gnosis. It took me about a minute or two to finally get a grasp of it and be able to use it. I looked around a bit and found his brother in an amber a few ways away from here. I needed to be careful as to not accidentally cut this guy down, so I instead just used my fist to destroy the amber.

'Control your breathing…'

Once I controlled my breathing, I punched the amber lightly. Even though I said I punched it normally, it was still a pretty strong punch. Cracks ran through the amber until it finally broke. A man who was wearing the same clothes as the man kneeling earlier came out.

"Bro-brother!"

I would say that this was touching, but with what I just witnessed earlier, I can't really feel much. When the brothers reunited, they quickly said their goodbyes and said that they'll never set foot on this mountain again.

When they left, Mountain Shaper appeared, seemingly angry at something. I was just about to speak when he suddenly started scolding me. So he was angry at me… figures.

"How dare you free that thief and disturb my mountain!"

"Ah, here."

I decided to just get to the point so I just showed Mountain Shaper the Sigil of Permission. When he saw the Sigil of Permission, he questioned why I was here. I told him about the death of Rex Lapis and his reaction was just the same as Moon Carver. He was really furious. With nothing else to say, I was just about to leave when he suddenly spoke.

"I will join with my fellow adepti, but I shall ensure that the karst flowers that I have planted shall not encase any innocent beings in my absence."

"Thank you, that would be very helpful."

"Boy, you should also be careful with that power of yours. I sense a sinister presence when you use it. Be sure to not use it in front of other adepti unless you know them."

"I'll keep that in mind."

I flew up and started to head to Mt. Aocang to meet Cloud Retainer. When I got there, it was a lot more peaceful than Mt. Hulao was since there wasn't really anyone here. There was a stone table with seemingly all of the stuff set up for dinner. Looking at the seats, I found names carved on them.

"Here sits Retainer."

"Here sits Rex."

"Here sits Guizhong."

Just by that alone, I could tell that the first two were Cloud Retainer and Rex Lapis' seats, but I don't know who Guizhong is. A friend of theirs perhaps? I didn't really know what to do right now, but I think it has something to do with food. Seeing that this table is already set up.

I investigated more by walking around and found ingredients in some parts of the mountain. They seemed like offerings. Thinking of what I could cook based on the set of ingredients I got, I went to a nearby pot and made three dishes. Matsutake Meat Rolls, Jewelry Soup, and Mora Meat. I placed them on the stone table. Just then, I heard a familiar sound. The sound of a Domain opening. I guess she accepted my offerings. I took a deep breath and went inside.