The once-sloping hillside had been completely leveled.
All that remained on Wuwang Hill were haphazardly fallen trees, small pools of stagnant water, and a leaking ley line.
With a casual motion, the Emperor summoned a stone gate, which descended upon the leaking ley line, sealing it completely.
He was well aware that the ley lines in Wuwang Hill were unstable, but he hadn't expected that merely fighting there would unleash their energy.
Under the Emperor's deliberate control, the stone gate transformed into a hidden domain and sank into the earth.
This was the best temporary solution—otherwise, the ley line's energy would wreak havoc on the surrounding area.
Once the ley line was dealt with, the Emperor turned his attention to the "Bai Luo" he had been fighting for so long.
The strange power enveloping the man had faded, revealing a youthful figure beneath.
If he recalled correctly... this person was Bai Luo's colleague, another of the Fatui Harbingers, codenamed "Childe."
This Childe had even sent people to investigate him—both his Zhongli and Morax identities.
Had Bai Luo sent him here as a decoy?
No... that didn't seem right.
Because earlier, this man had also called out Bai Luo's name, and upon realizing he wasn't actually fighting Bai Luo, he had nearly coughed up blood in fury.
If not for that, Childe wouldn't have lost so quickly.
It seemed he, too, had been played.
"Hey... you're Morax, aren't you?"
Now freed from his Delusion-powered form, Tartaglia had regained some of his rationality. Noticing the stone spears embedded in the ground around them, he finally realized why this robed figure seemed so familiar.
He was wearing his divine attire.
"Why are you the one here today? Where's Bai Luo?"
The Emperor didn't answer, but neither did he deny it.
Instead, he crossed his arms and countered, "What about you? Why are you here?"
At the mention of Bai Luo, Tartaglia felt another surge of anger in his chest.
Three days! Do you have any idea how he had suffered these past three days?!
Just when he thought he was finally about to escape his bow-wielding misery, who shows up? Not Bai Luo, but Morax!
"We agreed to meet here today for a duel, so..."
He didn't finish his sentence—the implication was clear.
"Did he say, 'Within three days, I will arrive without fail'?"
As the God of Contracts, the Emperor quickly spotted the loophole in those words.
Bai Luo's exact phrasing had been: "Within three days, someone will arrive—the Fatui always deliver."
True, someone had arrived within three days, but Bai Luo never explicitly said he would be the one to show up. He had only mentioned "the Fatui."
In other words, even if the one who came today wasn't Tartaglia but just some random Fatui grunt, the "contract" would still have been fulfilled.
If anyone else had pulled such a stunt, the Emperor would have found it absurd.
But coming from Bai Luo... it was somehow infuriatingly plausible.
Tartaglia soon realized it too.
At first, Bai Luo had said, "If you're my bro, come fight me."
But when swearing his oath later, he had carefully worded it to mislead.
That earlier line had just been a red herring.
In reality, the so-called "contract" they had made with Bai Luo was nothing more than him acting as a middleman to arrange a fight between them.
Tartaglia suddenly understood why the Tsaritsa had given Bai Luo a Dendro Delusion. Her Majesty truly was wise.
Still, the audacity of that man to deceive both him and Morax at the same time...
Was he not afraid of retaliation?
Wait a minute...
Tartaglia suddenly remembered Bai Luo's reason for coming to Liyue from Mondstadt in the first place—to borrow a ship to Inazuma.
Had that bastard already...?
The Emperor seemed to realize it too. His expression darkened, and in a flash of golden light, he shot into the sky.
Above the sea of clouds, the Emperor transformed into a magnificent golden dragon. Using his authority as the Geo Archon, he scoured Liyue's lands for any trace of Bai Luo.
But he found nothing.
Had he hidden himself? Or used that shape-shifting ability to assume another form?
No... neither.
Three days—no wonder he had set the duel for three days later.
A single day was enough to leave Liyue's borders, let alone three.
In three days, even a moderately fast ship could reach Inazuma.
Once this realization struck, even the ever-composed Geo Archon couldn't help but smile—a smile so warm it could melt stone.
Meanwhile, Tartaglia actually got his answer faster.
Since Bai Luo hadn't hidden his dealings with the Crux Fleet, Tartaglia quickly learned through Fatui intelligence networks that after parting ways with him, Bai Luo had immediately made contact with the crew of the Alcor.
In other words... luring him to Wuwang Hill to fight Morax hadn't been a spur-of-the-moment prank.
It had been premeditated.
"Lord Childe... this is a letter the instructor left for you."
After much hesitation, the Pyro Agent who had helped Bai Luo investigate the spies at the dock took out a letter handed to him by the instructor himself.
Taking a deep breath to suppress the urge to strangle Bai Luo, Tartaglia accepted the letter.
The envelope was standard Fatui issue, sealed with a cute little rubber duck doodle.
But the contents... were something else entirely.
Aside from the neatly written "Dear Tartaglia" at the top, the rest was an incomprehensible scrawl—so messy that Tartaglia wondered if it was even language.
"Ah, this is a cipher devised by the instructor. Our intelligence division often uses it for secure communications," the Pyro Agent explained, taking the letter to translate.
"My dearest Tartaglia,
By the time you read this, I will already be on the shores of Inazuma.
But my actions were born of noble intentions.
I was wrong to deceive you.
Yet I had my reasons.
Surely you understand my sincerity, yes?
Of course, your anger is justified.
But I only acted because I saw your struggle to locate Morax.
After all the care you've shown me,
How could I not return the favor?
I do hope you enjoyed this little surprise.
The fight may have been tough at first, but Morax is a good man.
A kind and benevolent soul.
When we meet again, may you have already fulfilled Her Majesty's mission.
Yours truly, Bai Luo."
P.S. If you're still upset, read it again from the top.
"Huh?"
At first, Tartaglia didn't think much of the letter's contents. If anything, Bai Luo's "sincere" apology even cooled his anger a little.
But the more he pondered, the more something felt... off.
When he had the Pyro Agent rewrite the letter in Liyue's common language—
"Pfft—BAI LUO!!!!"
Tartaglia spat a mouthful of blood onto the page. Already grievously wounded from his fight with the Emperor, the sheer rage at the realization finally overwhelmed him, and he collapsed.
The blood splatter obscured most of the text, leaving only the first character of each line visible:
"I was totally lying, but I had fun. Bye!"
It was a fucking hidden letter!