Genshin Impact: The Sharpshooter of Teyvat

Chapter 1085: Burning Incense

……

Ningguang was telling the truth. The immortals were secretly observing them at the moment. If a conflict really broke out on the scene, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Keqing looked at Ningguang, who was at the peak of her career and had a powerful aura, and whom she could not compete with for the time being. She took a deep breath and forced herself to suppress the resentment and anger in her heart.

"Damn it... I lose. As expected, the higher the rank, the more powerful the person."

Ningguang saw that Keqing had finally calmed down, and the smile on her face softened a little.

"Don't be so confrontational, Keqing. We are all members of the Seven Stars of Liyue, shouldering the heavy responsibility of protecting Liyue. Civil strife among the Seven Stars will do no good to Liyue. It will only unsettle the people and provide opportunities for those with ulterior motives."

She paused, then continued, "This temple fair was a great success. This is your contribution to Liyue."

"I came here today to support you, and also to let the people see that the Seven Stars are united. This will make them feel more at ease."

Under the gaze of the Liyue people attending the temple fair, Ningguang adjusted her cheongsam and slowly walked towards the statue of the Geo King, her aura becoming solemn.

When the people who were passing by to pay homage saw that it was Lady Tianquanxing who was coming, they subconsciously took a half step back to make way for her, their eyes full of awe and curiosity.

When she reached the statue, Ningguang stopped and took the three incense sticks that had been prepared long ago from the accompanying maid.

The incense stick was wrapped in a thin layer of gold foil, which shone softly in the sunset. Compared with the incense and candles used by ordinary people, it looked more refined and solemn.

She raised her hand to take the tinder, blew gently, and the orange flame danced on her fingertips, making the gold foil on the corners of her eyes even brighter, as if the afterglow of the setting sun was condensed in the corners of her eyes.

Ningguang put three sandalwood sticks together and carefully tilted them closer to the flame.

The flames gently licked the incense head, and soon ignited the blue core. Then, dense white smoke rose along the dark brown incense body, carrying the crisp scent of sandalwood, weaving into a hazy mist in front of the statue.

Next, she prepared to begin the incense burning ceremony.

Ningguang held the incense steadily in both hands, gently raised the three sandalwood sticks to the height of her eyebrows, and leaned forward slightly. The hem of her cheongsam naturally unfolded into a soft arc due to this movement.

Then, Ningguang slowly opened her eyes, holding the incense in both hands and inserting them into the copper burner in front of the altar one by one.

After lighting the incense, she took a half step back, adjusted the collar of her cheongsam, and bowed to the statue again.

And in my heart I pray for good weather in Liyue Harbor and hope that the people of Liyue will live and work in peace and contentment.

Ningguang finished bowing to the statue and stood up, her eyes slowly sweeping over the people gathered around her at the temple fair.

When the people saw that she had finished the ceremony, they stopped and their eyes were full of anticipation.

Lady Tianquanxing rarely appears in public, and many people want to hear what she has to say.

Ningguang raised her hand and gently adjusted the hem of her cheongsam, the sound clearly carried throughout the area around the statue.

"My fellow Liyue people, I am honored to be able to participate in this lively temple fair with you today."

"The grand scale of this temple fair is inseparable from the tireless efforts and meticulous preparations of Yuhengxing Keqing. It is she who has brought such a joyous event to our Liyue."

"Now that I've offered the incense and expressed my wishes, Ningguang will not bother me any further."

"Now, please enjoy this temple fair brought to you by Yuheng Star. May everyone have a pleasant time here, and may Liyue remain peaceful and stable forever."

After she finished speaking, Ningguang nodded slightly to everyone, then turned and walked towards the sedan chair.

He neither stayed too long to steal the spotlight because of his identity, nor did he deliberately emphasize his presence.

This action just created the impression for everyone present that "this temple fair was jointly supported by Tianquan Star and Yuheng Star", which not only maintained the image of unity of the Seven Stars, but also gave Keqing enough face.

The accompanying maids and Qianyan Army followed closely behind, and soon disappeared into the crowd of the temple fair along with Ningguang's figure.

Ningguang's brief presence and departure instantly made the atmosphere of the entire temple fair more lively.

The people began to discuss: "I didn't expect that Lord Tianquanxing would also come and burn incense in person. It seems that this temple fair is truly the result of the joint efforts of the seven stars!"

"Yes, yes. Lord Yuheng has made excellent preparations, and Lord Tianquan has personally supported us. We in Liyue are truly becoming more and more hopeful about the future!"

Although Keqing didn't want to admit it, Ningguang's presence did indeed make the entire temple fair even more popular.

But little did they know that this did not help warm up the relationship between Ningguang and Keqing, it was just a flash in the pan...

……

Liyue Harbor was shrouded in silence late at night, with only the sound of waves crashing against the dock, gently echoing in the night.

In the Qun Yu Pavilion high in the sky, the warm yellow lights were still on. Ningguang was sitting behind her desk, flipping through the income and expenditure accounts of today's temple fair. Her fingertips ran across the paper, and she would stop from time to time to think for a moment.

At this moment, a hearty laugh came from outside the pavilion, and then Beidou strode in.

His whole body exuded a sense of pride, as if he was in high spirits when good things happened.

Ningguang looked up and saw Beidou's expression. She put down the account book in her hand and said teasingly, "Hey, Beidou, you look so happy. I guess you made a lot of money from today's temple fair, right?"

Upon hearing this, Beidou raised his chin unabashedly, walked to the chair next to the desk and sat down, picked up the teacup on the table and drank it all in one gulp, his tone full of heroism.

"Of course! Not to mention that Miss Keqing rented my entire Southern Cross Fleet to serve as a backdrop for the temple fair. The rental alone is enough for the brothers in the fleet to rest for a while."

She paused, thinking of the deal she had made today, and her smile grew wider.

"Besides, I've also been able to leverage the temple fair as a platform to negotiate freight partnerships with several Liyue businesses."

"They saw that the Southern Cross Fleet was trusted by the Seven Stars and made a ton of money from these deals. How could I not be happy?"

At the end of his words, Beidou leaned close to Ningguang and winked.

"Speaking of which, this is all thanks to you, Ningguang! If you hadn't spread the word ahead of time, letting everyone know that the Southern Cross Fleet was participating in the temple fair preparations at your recommendation, how could those merchants trust us so easily? I wouldn't be able to borrow your Tianquan Star's influence!"

Ningguang chuckled softly after hearing Beidou's flattering words.

"Captain Beidou, you can't just smear someone's innocence out of thin air... I only told you to help Keqing. I never said anything about 'spreading rumors'. What rumors? How come I don't know about them?"

As she spoke, she deliberately showed an expression of "confusion", and the "affectedness" in her tone was almost overflowing.

Beidou rolled his eyes unabashedly at Ningguang's sudden attempt at innocence, then made an exaggerated nauseous expression and grumbled,

"Come on! You might fool people who don't know you with this kind of talk, but it's pointless to fool me, right?"

"You do things so flawlessly, keeping quiet on the surface, but secretly you've already arranged everything?"

Ningguang, seeing her trick exposed, didn't get angry. Instead, she dropped her joking expression and said to Beidou with an apologetic smile, "Okay, okay, you're amazing. I can't hide anything from you. Whatever you say is what it is. Okay?"

After the two of them joked around for a while, Beidou put down the teacup in his hand, fumbled behind him for a moment, and took out a wooden box tied with a red ribbon. It was obviously a gift.

She pushed the wooden box in front of Ningguang and said mysteriously, "By the way, I was so busy talking about the temple fair that I almost forgot about the real thing. I have something nice for you."

Ningguang's gaze fell on the wooden box, and her fingertips gently touched the patterns on the box's surface, her eyes full of curiosity.

She remembered that Beidou always liked to bring back fruits from other countries, so she smiled and asked:

"What is this? Could it be another exotic fruit you brought back from some country? The Fontaine oranges you gave me last time were pretty good, but they didn't keep for long."

When Beidou heard Ningguang thought he was going to give her some fruit, he rolled his eyes and said helplessly:

"If you want to eat fruit, ask the servants to buy it for you. You are already a grown-up, but you are still thinking about fruit like a child. My gift is much more valuable than fruit. Take a closer look."

As she spoke, she reached out to untie the silk ribbon on the wooden box and gently opened the lid.

There were several transparent glass bottles neatly arranged in the box. Some of the bottles were filled with light blue or light purple liquid, with tiny spots of light floating in the liquid.

There was a label on the bottle with words like "Alchemical Potion" written in Mondstadt.

"See? This is the alchemical potion that Mond just produced recently!" Beidou pointed at the bottle with a hint of pride in his tone.

"I specially asked someone to find the source, and spent a lot of money to buy these bottles, specially as a gift for you."

Ningguang looked at the strange liquid in the bottle, her brows raised slightly, and a scene from a few years ago suddenly flashed through her mind.

At that time, Miss Ying had mentioned Mond's alchemical potion to her and briefly explained its uses.

She said thoughtfully, "Alchemical potion? I remember Miss Ying used something similar. It's said to temporarily enhance elemental perception and increase affinity with elemental forces..."

"For people like us who need to use elemental power, it's quite practical."

When Beidou heard Ningguang talking about old knowledge from a few years ago, he immediately shook his head, his tone full of ridicule that "you are out of date".

"Hey, that's all old news! Mond's alchemy technology is much more advanced now. These potions are all advanced versions!"

As he spoke, Beidou picked up another bottle of purple charm potion from the wooden box.

She handed the purple potion to Ningguang and introduced it cheerfully:

"Look at this! It's a special charm potion! I heard from the knights of Mond that drinking this not only improves your complexion, but also subtly enhances your temperament. It saves you the trouble of getting up early to put on makeup and taking it off at night. It's so much easier."

"By then, even without makeup, you'll be able to charm the businessmen you're negotiating with!"

Ningguang took the purple potion, examined it carefully in the light, and gently stroked the bottle with her fingertips.

"A potion to enhance your temperament? That's the first time I've seen one. It does sound a lot more convenient than putting on makeup."

Seeing this, Beidou took out a bottle of light blue potion from the wooden box. The label on the bottle read "Energy Potion".

"This is an energy potion. You're busy handling Liyue's government affairs from morning till night, so what you lack most is energy."

"This potion is much more effective than the tea you drink every day. Just a small amount can keep you energetic for several hours!"

As she spoke, she pulled out a neatly folded note from the bottom of the wooden box, unfolded it, and handed it to Ningguang:

"This is the instructions for the medicine. It lists the dosage and precautions for each medicine. You must drink it according to the instructions."

"Although these potions are certified by the Knights of Favonius and are guaranteed safe, you don't want to experience diarrhea or vomiting due to not paying attention to the dosage or a conflict with your own elemental power. That would be more trouble than it's worth."

Looking at the several bottles of sought-after potions with different functions and detailed instructions in the wooden box, and remembering how Beidou had specially asked someone to find a channel and spent a lot of money to buy these potions, Ningguang felt a warm feeling in her heart.

She closed the instruction manual and placed it back into the wooden box along with the potion, then looked up at Beidou with a genuine smile on her face.

"You are such a spendthrift. I accept this gift, thank you."

Beidou's smile widened when he saw Ningguang accept the gift.

She patted her chest, her posture still heroic.

"Hehe, no big deal!"

……