𝗚𝗛𝗢𝗦𝗧 ──── 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯

04. Chapter four

Authors note ;
ooo. Itto was SO insuffering this quest istg

ooo. they all stood a bit away from what looks to be some kind of domain entrance, "who woulda guessed we'd find a domain entrance in a place like this!" Paimon says in wonder, "if there's a way in, there's a way out, let's go and take a look" itto says as he takes one step forward whilst yanfei takes some steps forward as well, "the rocks here seem to be old Liyue mountain rocks, they're similar to what i've seen in books. This domain must have existed for quite some time now" yanfei comments, making yao gui nod her head quickly, "uh huh! It's been here for a long time!! I've never went into it though" she exclaims as she places her hands on her hips

Then, there was a huming sound, making everyone look over at the source, and they see a male with dark hair with some teal accents, the sight of him makes yao gui's face brighten

"Oh! It's xiao!" Paimon exclaims, "mr. Xiao!! Hehe!!" Yao gui giggles as she runs over to him, stopping before him as she gave him a grin, "conqueror of demons? What are you doing here?" Yanfei asks Xiao as the little yao gui was staring at him with glee, "oh. I came down from above. I heard a noise, so i followed it here" xiao explains as he looked down at yao gui, simply nodding his head in a greeting

"So you're not here by accident. Wanna team up?" Paimon asks, yao gui's eyes brighten at that idea, "no. I have something else to do" xiao rejects paimon's offer, making yao gui pout in disappointment. "Is it something important?" The traveler asks, "...I'm looking for someone. You shouldn't be here. I would urge you to go back as soon as possible" xiao says before disappearing, making yao gui's eyes widen in surprise, before frowning in disappointment that he disappeared

"Well, thats xiao for ya... shows up without warning and disappears without a trace" paimon says, brushing it off. "Aw..." yao gui pouts as she wanted xiao to stay longer, "heh, that guy looked pretty tough, maybe almost as tough as me. Seems like a solid dude" itto says as he puts his hands on his hips whilst yao gui turns to face the others as well

"Seriously? Bull checker, where do you get your confidence from?..." paimon insults, "miss. Paimon's right, mr. Xiao's way stronger than you" yao gui states confidently, putting her hands on her hips- itto's face sours

"Hey! You lookin' for a fight? I ain't' afraid to fight a kid!"

"Boss," shinobu starts off, well, more like says in a scold to itto- though it seems to work, allowing shinobu to continue, "should we really be letting him off on his own?" She asks

"Oh, he wouldn't listen no matter how hard you try to talk him out of it" paimon replies to shinobu, "mr. Xiao is super strong too!!" Yao Gui says loudly, throwing her arms in the air, though it has to be cut short since yelan cleared her throat a bit, "everyone, keep your eyes and ears peeled from here on out, yao gui doesn't know where this domain entrance leads to, so we must be ready for anything" yelan says, shifting the conversation to a serious note

"Oh, look, I'm happy to say we're all on the same team and everything, but...( STFU ITTO ) could you cut the little speeches and whole follow-the-leader act? I, for one, ( KYS ITTO ) think i should be able to look after myself..." itto complains, "boss!" Shinobu yells at him, her hands moved to he on her hips as she looked at him with a narrowed loom

"Ugh, okay. Okayyy!"

"Besides, yelan is just looking out for everyone. You know bull-chucker, you're a guest here, so maybe try to get along with everyone?" Paimon adds on, yao gui just blankly stared at him, "hah! Please! You're not a local either, flying lavender melon, so stop trying to sound like one!" Itto tells paimon off

"These people are weird" yao gui sneakily whispers to yanfei in regards of paimon and itto, yanfei just chuckled lightly before then, they all decided to enter the weird domain, they all pass into it, and immediately- yao gui was amazed, though she's entered plenty of domain's during her adventures- this one was much more cool and exciting

"Labyrinth's like this are unique to Liyue" yanfei says as they walked in the labyrinth, yao gui ran forward, though she got snatched by yelan before she could run off, making her pout as yelan tsk'ed in a scolding way while itto made a comment about how it was kind of cool

Then, as they walked, they had to do some weird puzzles that made some twists and turns, paimon speculated the idea of a adeptes living here, making yao gui shake her head, "nuh uh. The adeptes don't live in the chasms" yao gui shoots the idea down quickly

"Huh? Aw..." Paimon sulks, "oo! A exit!" Yao Gui exclaims as she ran through the exit, the others do as well, but when they all exited, where they were looked exactly like where they came from- yao gui blinks her pink eyes as she tilted her head a bit

"Wh- huh? Wait. This can't be right!" Itto exclaims in confusion, "uh, how did we manage to get back here?" Paimon asks, also confused as itto turned towards them all, "so we've been here already?!" Itto exclaims, "yes, this is exactly where we started" shinobu says as she puts a hand on her hip, "but we couldn't have taken a wrong turn, we were headed in the same direction the entire time. We never turned around" itto replies to shinobu

"Yes, that's what i thought too" yelan says as she lowers her arms down from them being crossed while both Yanfei and Yao Gui were silently listening, "traveler, we were going the right way, weren't we?" Itto asks the traveler, yao gui looks over at the blonde woman, "yes, i thought we were headed in the right direction..." lumine trails off, "how strange..." paimon comments as she holds her chin with her hand

"There's a legend in Inazuma about a merchant that was tricked by a bake-danuki one evening and kept circling around the same place the whole night. Even by dawn, they still hadn't found a way out" itto informs, "yeah, paimon's heard that one before too" paimon says as she crosses her arms, making yao gui look at horn man with internet

"So, we're all familiar with the story then? Good. Because I'm pretty sure that's what's happening to us right now. But fear not, i happen to have a certain sidekick who can exorcise youkai and spirits, and what not. Let me summon him real quick" itto says, the last part makes yao gui squeak, catching their attention

"No!! You can't bring in a exorcist!!" Yao gui shouts in fear of the E word, making confusion appear in the travelers, "huh? How come?" Paimon asks, "because their evil!! Don't bring one here!" Yao gui yells again in fear of such

"It's not gonna hurt ya', now go Ushi! Go get that spirit!" When itto throwed some bull thing, usually one teal head would be in awe, but instead- she yelped out as she jumped into the arms of yelan, who catched her easily, "get it away!!" She screams as it made a way towards where she was on yelan, making her climb on Yelan's head, her hands moving on yelans face as she was completely scared out her mind of exorcists, making the travelers from other lands confused, "that's just ushi! No need to be scared, he's just saying hello- seems like he really likes you" itto chuckles as it went near Yelan's feet, " eek!! Miss. Yelan! Save me!!" She shrieks, "don't be afraid. If it tries attacking you, i promise i'll remove it" yelan says, making itto frown as his ushi thing decided to listen to his directions of going to find a exit, and so it left, leaving yao gui to calm down, though she doesn't get down from yelan

"What's wrong with ushi, yao gui?" Paimon asks, a brow raised, "it's cause it's a exorcist like mr. Horn man said!!" She shudders as she still was clinging onto yelan, scared of getting down and having it attack herself, though her answer still didn't make any sense to them all, par yelan and yanfei- who already knew why she was scared of exorcists

"C'mon, he's nice when you get to know him!" Itto bargains with her, though she shaked her head, "exorcists are bad! Especially that guy!" She exclaims again, confidently this time, nodding her head harshly, even so- her answers still didn't make much sense, but they decided to put it off for now

'I wonder... how come she hates exorcists?' Lumine questions mentally, staring at the little yao gui

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