Archon of Cynthis [Book 1]

Chapter 26 - Yuheng

time to do a day-long chapter

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You reached down to hoist Aether up as the two of you finally made it up the mountain. Paimon floated up and pointed.

"Look, up there! That's the Jade Chamber!" 

"Question is, how do we get there?" Aether grumbled. 

Paimon scratched her head. "Hmm... uhh.... this is bad... Paimon's supposed to be your guide, but Paimon doesn't know where the way up to the Jade Chamber is..." 

"We should have asked Ganyu," You sighed, placing your hands on your hips. 

"Well, since we want to go to the Jade Chamber, heading to its location on the map is the sensible thing to do! Let's look around. There has to be a way up there nearby!" 

The three of you walked around, until you turned and spotted something weird. 

"Hey, look! There's some sort of mechanism thingy!" Paimon exclaimed. "Since this is the right place, it must have something to do with the Jade Chamber." 

"It looks like a trap." Aether said, frowning. 

"No way! Just trust Paimon's instincts!"

Aether blew at it with Anemo, and a wind current brought you up. We opened our wind gliders, flying over to a little island with a chest.

"Huh? It only takes us up to here..." Paimon said, disappointed. "Aw, if that wind current was stronger, we'd be able to reach the top in one go!" 

"Best we go back to the Millelith..." Aether sighed. 

"Huh? Why?" 

"The way up shouldn't be a secret, or..." You trailed off. 

"Or? ... Oh, Paimon gets it! If it was a secret, Ganyu wouldn't have let us try to find it ourselves, right?" 

"Exactly Paimon," You said sarcastically. "Nice job using the one braincell you have." 

"Don't be rude, y/n!" Paimon yelled, then floated back a bit. "Wait, on second thought, best not to anger a god... alright, let's follow your guys' plan, then we can..." 

Paimon looked down, eyes widened. "Oh. Hang on a moment. Look down there!" 

We turned, looking down at a stone structure. 

"Looks like we've gotten close to the Guizhong Ballista. Hmm... Uh... Paimon has a new idea! Why don't we shoot you up to the Jade Chamber using the Ballista??" 

"No thanks, I don't have a death wish." You and Aether said in unison. 

"Oh... Paimon may have just forgotten to think about the safety measures..." 

"There goes the braincell," You mumbled. 

"Still, I do remember that the Ballista had a scope," Aether reminded us. 

"That's right!" Paimon agreed. "Now that you mention it, we could use the Guizhong Ballista to see if there's another way up nearby!" 

~

As the three of you walked up, you were stopped by Millelith.

"Halt!" One said. "Who trespasses on these hallowed grounds?" 

"Hallowed what now? These are the wilds around Mt. Tianheng..." You said, crossing your arms. 

"Exactly. What're you talking about?" Paimon asked. "We're invited guests! What makes you think you can treat us like this?"