"Such a pity, so close yet so far."
Deep within Wuwang Hill, a young girl sighed with regret, carrying a shovel on her shoulder as she walked leisurely from a distance. The shovel was stained with a bit of mud.
Walking through such a eerie place, she showed no signs of fear. Instead, she skipped along, occasionally kicking the grass blades by the roadside or striking the protruding dead branches with her shovel.
When she swung the shovel, it was clear she was using some kind of technique. What seemed like casual swings actually contained a certain pattern.
She stood out starkly from her surroundings, like a splash of color in a black-and-white image.
"Huh?"
Not long after walking, she seemed to sense something and suddenly slowed her pace, tiptoeing closer to the front.
She lay flat on the ground, not caring whether her clothes would get dirty, and inched forward bit by bit.
"Zhongli?"
One of the people standing in the flat area ahead was someone she recognized—Zhongli, one of the consultants at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. He was a man who seemed to know everything except, perhaps, the Geo Archon himself.
The other person, however, she didn't recognize. After wandering around Liyue Harbor for so many years, this was the first time she had seen someone like him. He looked clean and fair, and didn't seem like a bad person.
"Mr. Zhongli, may I propose another contract?"
"Speak freely."
"Can we keep what happens next between us and not be told to a third party?"
"Agreed."
Perhaps because her stealth skills were quite good, or perhaps because facing Zhongli left him with no attention to spare, the strange man in black didn't seem to notice her.
Zhongli glanced in her direction but didn't expose her.
After receiving Zhongli's confirmation, the man finally relaxed and took the mask hanging at his waist, placing it over his face.
Zhongli had initially thought that Bailuo simply wanted him to help conceal his identity as a Fatui Harbinger in Liyue, as he might be staying in Liyue for a while.
But when Bailuo lowered his hand, both Zhongli and the girl hiding nearby were stunned.
Because the white mask on his face had transformed into a strange cat-like mask, and his black coat had turned into a red kimono, typical of Inazuma.
In that instant, it was as if he had become a completely different person. His entire aura had changed.
If before he had been filled with an air of death and mystery, as if he could vanish into the shadows at any moment and stab you in the back, now he was like a sharp blade sheathed in its scabbard.
Though no sharp edges were visible, the danger he exuded was palpable.
"Mr. Zhongli, I won't hold back."
Not only his aura, but even his tone of voice had undergone a change.
As he slowly drew the katana in his hand, Zhongli finally understood why he was like a blade without any visible edge—because the sword in his hand was a reverse-blade sword.
At any time, having the blade facing oneself is an unwise move, especially when using such a sword.
If faced with an opponent of great strength, wielding this sword wouldn't harm the enemy but could instead injure oneself due to the blade facing inward.
It wasn't a weapon suited for prolonged combat.
After drawing the reverse-blade sword, Bailuo gently ran his left hand along the blade, feeling its cold surface.
The attributes of this True Reverse-Blade Sword far surpassed the one he had previously bound. After steeling his resolve, Bailuo reversed the blade and stabbed it into his own body.
Zhongli: "???"
The girl: "...A potential client. must note this down."
Raising a hand to stop Zhongli from stepping forward, Bailuo pulled out the sword and forced a weak smile. "Mr. Zhongli, stabbing you counts as one move, but stabbing myself doesn't count toward the three moves, right?"
Did it hurt? Of course it did. A blade going in and out of his body—it would be strange if it didn't hurt. The True Reverse-Blade Sword's effect was that normal attacks couldn't kill, but the pain was still very real.
"The contract didn't explicitly state this, but... fine, I'll allow it."
Zhongli could tell that Bailuo was likely using some special secret technique, perhaps using blood as a medium or stabbing himself as a ritual.
But seeing Bailuo's pale face, Zhongli couldn't bring himself to refuse. He sighed and agreed.
"Thank you."
Glancing at the Nine-Headed Dragon Flash skill icon, which remained unchanged, Bailuo raised the blood-stained reverse-blade sword and plunged it into his abdomen again.
Once, twice, three times...
By the third time he pulled out the sword, perhaps because this strike triggered a critical hit, the originally light blue Nine-Headed Dragon Flash icon turned into the red Heavenly Soaring Dragon Flash.
After obtaining the True Reverse-Blade Sword, Bailuo had a sudden idea to try this method of borrowing power.
After all, stabbing himself counted as a normal attack and wouldn't kill him. Even better, the power of the True Reverse-Blade Sword would protect him from dying of blood loss, organ failure, or other special conditions.
So...
"Mr. Zhongli, I'm ready."
The blood-stained reverse-blade sword was sheathed, and after reminding Zhongli, Bailuo slowly lowered his stance, assuming the posture of a Battōjutsu technique.
The posture was undeniably cool, but the sight of him vomiting blood was equally gruesome.
"Battōjutsu?"
After all, as one of the oldest gods, Zhongli had once met the Electro Archon of Inazuma, though at the time she was not yet the Raiden Shogun but merely a shadow following behind Baal.
No, this was a Battōjutsu technique different from hers!
As soon as Bailuo assumed his stance, Zhongli immediately sensed the difference in his technique and promptly raised his hand to cast a Jade Shield around himself.
The moment the shield was formed, a strange force suddenly affected him, preventing him from lowering his arms.
this peculiar force suppressed him, rendering him unable to move at all.
"How is this possible?"
Staring in shock at Bailuo, who had almost pressed his upper body to the ground, Zhongli even had the same illusion as Ei—that Bailuo was someone from their era.
Or perhaps a god.
Because in their memories, aside from gods, no one else could achieve such a feat. However, he quickly calmed down. He was eager to see what kind of strike Bailuo would deliver.
Bailuo, with his body lowered, seemed to be preparing only one move, but in reality, he had already applied the Twin Dragon Flash technique. ([Twin Dragon Flash] Increase movement speed by 275% and become immune to control effects for 1 second. The next blade strike within 3 seconds will attack twice. The so-called double attack is essentially using the same trajectory of the draw slash to follow up with a strike from the scabbard.)
This meant that the moment he unleashed the Heavenly Soaring Dragon Flash, the two strikes of Twin Dragon Flash would also be incorporated, delivering an explosive burst of damage in an instant.
After charging up sufficiently, Bailuo moved.
The Heavenly Soaring Dragon Flash was a technique that suppressed the opponent in an instant, then closed the distance at extreme speed to deliver a slash.
Combined with the movement speed boost from Twin Dragon Flash, Bailuo transformed into a red lightning bolt.
"Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū: Secret Technique—Heavenly Soaring Dragon Flash!"