The wind current deposited me with a gentle finality at the base of Mt. Aocang. I stood on solid ground for the first time in what felt like an eternity, the sea of clouds a remote, beautiful ceiling far above me. The air here was thin and crisp, filled with the scent of pine and wet stone. The sheer scale of Liyue was breathtaking. Soaring, pillar-like mountains pierced the sky, their peaks shrouded in mist, their slopes adorned with ancient, amber-leafed trees. It was a world painted on a scale far grander and more ancient than the gentle, rolling hills of Mondstadt. I was an ant in a land of titans.
I took a moment to get my bearings, consulting the map Xianyun had given me. My path was clear: travel east, through the treacherous terrain of Jueyun Karst and Minlin, towards the distant promise of Wangshu Inn, the first major outpost of the mortal realm. I was healed, I was equipped, but a profound sense of loneliness began to settle in.
Just as I took my first step on that long road, the sound of another swirling wind current made me turn. Shenhe descended with the same effortless grace, landing silently a few feet away. I stared at her, confused. Her expression was its usual mask of cold neutrality.
"My master has given me a new task," she stated, her voice a calm, even monotone. "The energies within you are still unstable. The path to the mortal realm is fraught with peril. One is to ensure you do not get yourself killed before you reach the edge of the Adepti's domain." She paused, her ice-blue eyes studying me intently. "And… to observe the nature of your 'conflicting souls'. It is a training mission. For my own control."
I was taken aback. An escort. A guardian. I wasn't going to be entirely alone. A wave of relief, so potent it almost buckled my knees, washed over me.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: New Party Member (Temporary) has joined your party: [Shenhe].]
[Quest Updated: [A Path to Recovery]]
► New Sub-objective: Travel safely to Wangshu Inn under Shenhe's observation.
"I see," I said, managing a small smile. "Well, I'm grateful for the company."
Shenhe simply gave a short, almost imperceptible nod. "The path is this way. Keep up."
Our journey began in a comfortable, if slightly surreal, silence. Shenhe moved through the treacherous mountain paths with the quiet confidence of a creature born to them. She knew every hidden trail, every crumbling ledge to avoid, every stream with clean drinking water. I followed, my own body, guided by Eternal Arms Mastery, moving with an easy, sure-footed grace that seemed to surprise her.
Our interactions were sparse, communicated through actions more than words. I saw a cluster of vibrant Violetgrass growing on the face of a high, unreachable cliff. Remembering the Adeptal herbs Xianyun had given me, I knew they were a valuable ingredient. Without a word, I used a gentle updraft from my newly-awakened Vision to leap higher, plucking the flowers with ease. When I landed, I offered one to Shenhe. She simply stared at it, then at me.
"A simple flower," she said, though she took it.
"It's a useful ingredient," I replied. "For medicine."
"One has no need of medicine," she said, yet she didn't discard it. She tucked it carefully into a pouch at her belt.
Later, as we shared my dwindling rations of dried meat, I noticed the way she ate. It was efficient, mechanical, devoid of any pleasure. It was the way a soldier refuels, not how a person enjoys a meal.
"Don't you enjoy the taste?" I asked, unable to help myself.
She looked at the piece of meat in her hand as if seeing it for the first time. "Enjoyment is a form of desire," she stated simply. "Desire is a powerful emotion. My master has taught me that all strong emotions must be tempered. They feed… the other part of me."
Her words were a stark window into her lonely, disciplined existence. She lived her life on a razor's edge, constantly suppressing her own nature to protect others. I thought of the red rope on my own wrist, a physical reminder of the taint I now had to suppress. Our battles were different, but the nature of our struggle was the same.
The true test of our strange partnership came on the second day. As we navigated a narrow pass between two towering stone pillars, the ground began to tremble. With a roar that shook the mountains, two massive creatures burst from the earth on either side of us, blocking our path. They were Geovishaps, the fully-grown, terrifyingly powerful versions of the hatchlings I had fought in The Chasm. Their bodies were covered in thick, rocky armor, and their eyes glowed with a primal, geo-infused rage.
"Adeptal Art: Spirit-Warding Seal," Shenhe said, her voice dropping a full octave, losing its monotone quality and taking on a chilling, deadly calm.
A whirlwind of Cryo energy erupted from her. It wasn't a wild blast, but a controlled, beautiful storm of ice and mist. A spectral clone of herself, a "Talisman Spirit," formed and shot forward, slashing at the Geovishaps and imbuing all of our attacks with Cryo damage.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Party member 'Shenhe' has activated an elemental skill. All of host's attacks will now periodically apply [Cryo].]
The Geovishaps charged. I moved to intercept the one on the left, while Shenhe met the other head-on.
The synergy between us was instantaneous and instinctive. I used a Palm Vortex, not to do damage, but to stagger the charging beast for a split second. The gust of wind, now infused with her Cryo energy, blasted the Geovishap with a shower of ice, slowing it down.
In that moment of hesitation, Shenhe struck. She was no longer just a graceful warrior; she was an avatar of winter's fury. Her spear, glowing with a light so cold it seemed to burn, slammed into her target with the force of a glacier. The Geovishap, a creature of pure earth and stone, was thrown backwards, its rocky hide cracking under the sheer, overwhelming power of her Adeptal-infused Cryo.
My own fight was one of technique over power. I couldn't hope to match the Geovishap's strength, so I didn't try. Eternal Arms Mastery guided me. I became a blur of motion, my sword a silver flicker. I parried its crushing blows at the last possible moment, redirecting its immense force, letting its own momentum become its enemy. My Anemo-infused blade swirled with Shenhe's Cryo, and with every strike I landed, I left a trail of frost on the beast's armor, exploiting the weaknesses her initial blast had created.
I was the setup. She was the execution. I would use Anemo to stagger a beast or to spread the Cryo from her attacks, freezing multiple enemies at once in a Swirl of icy wind. She would then follow up with a devastatingly powerful spear thrust that shattered the frozen armor. I was the gentle breeze that set the stage, and she was the blizzard that ended the show.
We fought back-to-back, a perfect, unspoken coordination between us. We cornered the last Geovishap, and with a shared look, we launched our final attack. I sent a powerful updraft to throw it off balance, and she leaped into the air, her spear held high, and came down like a frozen comet, shattering the beast into a thousand pieces of stone and ice.
The battle was over. The pass was silent again, save for our breathing.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Combat complete. Significant EXP gained.]
[New Combat Synergy with 'Shenhe' has been logged. Coordinated Cryo-Anemo elemental reactions (Cryo Swirl & Freeze) are highly effective against heavily armored targets.]
[Bond with 'Shenhe' has increased significantly.]
Shenhe stood amidst the wreckage, her spear planted in the ground. She turned to me and, for the first time, gave me a clear, unambiguous nod of approval. "Your control is excellent," she said. "You fight with your mind, not just with your power."
Coming from her, it was the highest compliment I could have imagined.
Our journey continued, the shared battle forging a new level of trust between us. We eventually descended from the high peaks of Jueyun Karst into the gentler, mist-shrouded valleys of Minlin. Here, we came across a small, isolated herbalist's hut, a tiny pocket of mortal civilization in the vast wilderness.
An old woman, her face a kind, wrinkled map of her long life, invited us in for tea. Shenhe immediately tensed, her hand gripping her spear, her body language screaming discomfort. The presence of a normal, fragile human in such close proximity was a trigger for the violent urges her red ropes were meant to suppress.
I stepped forward, placing myself slightly in front of her, and gave the old woman a polite, formal Liyue bow. "Thank you for your kindness, esteemed elder," I said, handling the social interaction for both of us.
While I spoke with the woman, learning of the safest path towards the Dihua Marsh, Shenhe remained near the doorway, a silent, beautiful, and terrifying guardian. After we left, the tension in her shoulders finally eased.
"Being around people… is difficult," she admitted, her voice barely a whisper. "The urge to… correct their weaknesses… is always there. The ropes help, but the thoughts are a constant struggle."
I looked down at the matching red rope tied around my own wrist. I thought of the cold, insidious whispers of the Abyssin Taint. "I understand," I said softly. "I have… something similar I have to fight, every day."
She stopped walking and turned to look at me, truly look at me. In her cold, ice-blue eyes, I saw not a killer, but a fellow prisoner, a fellow soldier fighting a war no one else could see. And I knew she saw the same in me. In that moment, the bond between us solidified into something unbreakable, a kinship forged in shared solitude.
Finally, after days of travel, we reached a high vantage point. Below us, the Dihua Marsh spread out like a green and silver blanket, and in its center, a single, impossibly tall structure reached for the sky like a giant spear. Wangshu Inn. The edge of the Adepti's domain.
"This is as far as my master commanded me to go," Shenhe said, her gaze fixed on the distant inn. "From here, you are in the realm of mortals."
The thought of parting, of being truly alone again, brought a surprising pang of sorrow.
"Thank you, Shenhe," I said, my voice filled with a sincerity that surprised even me. "For everything."
She turned to face me, her expression as unreadable as ever, but her eyes held a new light. "You are strong, Arthur of Mondstadt. Stronger than you look." She paused. "The next time we meet, I will be stronger. See that you are as well."
It was both a promise and a challenge. With a final, silent nod, she turned and melted back into the mists of the mountains, leaving me alone once more.
I watched until she was gone, then turned my gaze back towards Wangshu Inn. I was still a stranger in a strange land, a thousand miles from home. But I was no longer just a survivor. I had faced the wilderness of Liyue and emerged stronger. I had forged a bond with a kindred soul. And now, my journey into the heart of the mortal realm was about to begin.