"Ah… let's stop the topic here," Madame Ping said with a sigh.
"This old woman is getting on in years and tends to ramble. Young ones, what brings you to see me?"
Lumine answered directly, "We would like to borrow your Cleansing Bell."
Madame Ping seemed to recall old memories, and her words once again flowed unrestrained.
"This bell didn't originally belong to me. It was a small trinket carried by an old friend of mine. When I was young, I loved pretty things, and I took a liking to that bell, so I kept pestering him endlessly…"
"He couldn't refuse me in the end, but he told me that if someone ever came to borrow the bell in the future, I must not be reluctant to lend it out. Over all these years, I've lost count of how many times the bell has been borrowed. But at some point, I don't know when exactly, no one came to borrow it anymore."
[Paimon: So… that old friend was the Geo Archon, right?]
[Lumine: It should have been Zhongli.]
"Sigh. These old bones of mine move slowly when searching for things," Madame Ping continued.
"I'm afraid you won't have the patience to wait."
Paimon was momentarily speechless. "Uh… why are you suddenly proud of that?"
Madame Ping laughed warmly. "Alright, children. The bell isn't stored very far away. There's no need to worry."
Paimon asked, "Madame, do you live nearby? This is Yujing Terrace—you must be very wealthy."
"Hehe," Madame Ping replied.
"This old woman can't afford a house in the city. Look at that lake—everything I own is stored inside it."
Paimon blinked. "Everything… you own?"
Lumine suggested, "We can let Paimon take a look."
Paimon stomped in midair.
"That pot is way too small! There's no way I can get inside! And Lumine—why do you always want me to go in? Can't you just open the lid and look?"
Madame Ping laughed.
"Haha. In any case, the bell is inside the pot. If you want to find it, go see for yourselves."
The two began examining the pot.
Paimon muttered to herself, "This granny is really strange. Saying all her possessions are inside a pot—she must be joking with us, right?"
Suddenly, a stream of azure energy surged out from the pot.
Lumine's vision darkened, and in the next moment, she found herself in an unfamiliar world.
Islands floated freely in the air, connected by bridges formed of elemental energy and intricate formations.
[Furina: This is an adeptal abode! It's huge—and beautiful! If Fontaine had something like this, the flood would surely have passed safely.]
[Zhongli: This is Madame Ping's unique approach to artifact refinement. By engraving formation patterns onto special materials and guiding elemental energy along those paths, various extraordinary effects can be achieved.]
[Furina: Such a mysterious power!]
[Zhongli: It is merely a specialized application of elemental energy. However, the space within a Serenitea Pot is ultimately limited. It can only help so many people, and the materials required to create one are extremely rare. They cannot be mass-produced.]
[Furina: I see…]
[Paimon: Always worrying about the future, huh? Even after already seeing the outcome.]
[Furina: Is the future truly unchangeable? Perhaps what we saw was merely a future where the livestream never appeared. This time, we might be able to write our own script. Take Poisson, for example—so long as the result aligns, the process can be changed. Maybe the people there don't have to die.]
[Lumine: That answer… I'm afraid no one truly knows.]
[Navia: Thank you for your concern, Lady Furina. That responsibility should be mine.]
[Furina: No—it's mine too. Protecting you is also my responsibility. Don't try to take that away from me.]
[Paimon: Navia can use elemental power, you know! Furina, you can't even beat a Slime…]
[Furina: A Vision—sooner or later, I'll have one, okay? One day I'll show you how amazing I am!]
[Paimon: I've got the Traveler helping me. I'm not afraid of you at all!]
After entering the Serenitea Pot, Lumine and Paimon were both stunned.
A voice echoed from the sky above.
"Alright, children. This is the pot where this old woman stores her belongings. Hurry along and find the bell."
The world inside the pot was far from safe.
Numerous Slimes and monsters roamed about. Upon spotting Lumine, they charged at her one after another, forcing her into battle.
The voice sounded again.
"This pot hasn't been cleaned in a long time—there are spider webs and all sorts of clutter. You can help me tidy things up."
Paimon muttered, "Say… with such a magical pot and that Cleansing Bell, could this granny actually be an adeptus?"
"This place is so big, with so many layers. If we had a pot like this, we wouldn't have to camp out in the wild all the time."
After a round of cleaning and combat, Lumine finally found the Cleansing Bell at the highest level.
Immediately afterward, an unknown force sent them back outside.
Madame Ping commented, "Young people really are quick and efficient. You found it in no time."
Lumine asked curiously, "Are you an adeptus?"
Madame Ping fell silent for a moment.
"It's been a very long time since anyone seriously called me that. As for whether I'm an adeptus or not—child, don't you already know the answer in your heart?"
Paimon was still dizzy.
"Uh… I think I get it, but maybe not completely. Still, Granny, aren't you surprised? The Geo Lord just passed away, and we came rushing to borrow the bell."
Madame Ping spoke slowly. "Silly child. Throughout Liyue's long history, countless adepti have departed, stirring up no small amount of turmoil. Yet every time, the rule was the same—first, the Rite of Parting must be conducted with dignity. Only then would people deal with what comes after."
"Shouting about catching the culprit while neglecting the Rite of Parting—that, to me, is putting the cart before the horse."
"Now that you've come to borrow the bell, I can roughly guess that one of my old friends has finally stepped forward to take charge. How could I refuse to lend it to you?"
[Paimon: No wonder Zhongli sounded unhappy when talking about the Qixing—they really abandoned tradition.]
[Zhongli: The adepti have protected Liyue and sacrificed much. Matters concerning the adepti are, of course, important.]
[Ningguang: My apologies. This was indeed an oversight on my part.]
[Yae Miko: As one of the Liyue Qixing, Ningguang is naturally very busy, so it's understandable she didn't know. Unlike a certain someone who was quite lazy in governance—creating a puppet to handle affairs, throwing all of Inazuma into chaos, and then spacing out at home.]
[Paimon: Lady Miko, who are you talking about?]
[Kuki Shinobu: No… I do not make puppets.]
[Kamisato Ayaka: I believe Lady Miko is referring to the Shogun.]
[Raiden Ei: I am watching… For eternity, this was necessary.]
[Paimon: The Electro Archon! Lady Miko is blaming the Shogun?!]
[Yae Miko: To be precise, the Narukami. Sigh, it gives me such a headache. Never mind—let's keep watching the video. Foreign stories are more entertaining than novels.]
Regarding the bell, Lumine asked, "What if your old friend borrowed it and never returned it?"