The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 1

"One day, you will meet someone who will ease your suffering."

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"That was some kind of twisted joke, right?"

The young-looking adeptus simply slouched further back into his chair at the words, mentally rolling his eyes.

"Not at all. I genuinely believe you will. I'm unsure as to when, but I believe it regardless." Rex Lapis continued, taking a cup up to his lips as he took a small sip of his piping hot herbal tea.

Xiao, the Bane of All Evil, simply crossed his arms over his chest, choosing to remain silent.

Although he had an enormous amount of respect and loyalty towards Rex Lapis for having saved him from his previous cruel and evil God's clutches way back when, the thoughts going through his mind were pure disbelief and denial.

What kind of sappy bullshit was that anyway?

"Where did that even come from?" Xiao finally questioned, shaking his head in further disregard as he spoke, tossing up a hand with slight attitude.

"You'll just have to trust me, old friend."

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What the hell is going on today?

Usually the Wangshu Inn was moderately quiet and peaceful, but today seemed different. Even the air felt thick with a dark fog as clouds blocked the usual beautiful view of the sun from the roof of the inn.

Thankfully Xiao was swift, otherwise he may have had trouble weaving in and out of all of the people dashing in and out on his way up to the top floor.

First Morax was acting all strange with his philosophical nonsense and now it seemed the inn had almost been turned upside down.

Usually nothing of much value happened there; It was simply a mid-way point for the travelers on their way to Liyue from Mondstadt, but it also happened to serve as Xiao's base of operations somewhat, not that this fact was well known to the public besides Verr Goldet, a Qixing agent who was tasked with aiding him occasionally when it came to his protection over Liyue and its people.

Adepti were the protectors of Liyue, although it was usually behind the scenes when it came to mortals. It was dangerous for humans to be too close to Xiao, therefore he always kept to himself.

"What's going on?" Xiao finally made it up to the floor where Verr was stood behind the receptionist counter, sliding up to it while his eyes continued to follow the various people going to and from.

Verr flinched ever so slightly, not noticing Xiao's approach with all the hustle and bustle.

"Oh-hi." She began.

"Well, it seems like someone was injured on the way through here heading towards Liyue. Bandits, treasure hunters maybe, the rest of the group wasn't sure."

"Where? I'll take care of them." Xiao simply replied, not the least but worried.

"Well, the girl injured is currently unconscious, and the rest of her traveling companions seemed a little too frazzled by it all it even remember the location. That girl's in bad shape. Everyone's running about trying to find herbs and any medicines that may help. They're worried she may not make it out of this." Verr explained further, trying to get even the smallest reaction out of Xiao.

She'd been working with him over the years to try and help him become more empathetic, considering how numb he was after a millennia of-

"I'll find them myself." The cold adeptus replied quietly before slipping off to head back down the stairs in search of anything that dared to threaten Liyue.