Genshin Impact: The Vision of Gods Shines Again

The figure's dark yellow attire didn't look old-fashioned; instead, it exuded a sense of heaviness and luxury. He wore a coat, but it wasn't draped loose; instead, it was fastened with two small buttons at the waist, giving off a feeling of "a fine sword cutting through, yet concealing its sharpness."

Zhongli, a guest elder of the Hall of Rebirth, is also the man who signed a contract with Mu Xian and pulled Mu Xian back from the earth's veins.

"You've arrived." Zhongli said with his hands behind his back, his tone unusually calm: "I've been waiting for a long time."

"How long you wait is your own business."

Even knowing that Zhongli was quite powerful, Mu Xian still spoke rudely out of resentment for not being able to keep the earth's veins peaceful: "He's clearly just a guest elder, yet he's become a hands-off manager."

Zhongli wasn't angry. She reached out and took the walnut from Mu Xian's back, only to find that the walnut's little hands were tightly gripping Mu Xian's clothes.

Zhongli glanced at Mu Xian, who had transformed into a child, only to see Mu Xian turn his head away and drape his coat over Hu Tao's shoulders.

A rare flicker of emotion appeared in the usually calm eyes of the listener, while his right hand rested on Hu Tao's back.

"It seems you and Master Hu get along quite well."

Zhongli's right hand glowed with a pale yellow light as he walked towards Liyue Harbor, glancing at Mu Xian as he said, "I'm a little unsure how to deal with this child."

“Indeed.” Mu Xian thought of what happened in the mining area and, unusually, did not mock Zhong Li: “She always says things that are out of place.”

"I can't say it's annoying..."

As the purple veins on Hu Tao's face gradually faded, she accidentally caught a glimpse of the building in the sky and immediately looked away in disgust.

"But it always makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

Chapter 22 The character in the play is yourself

Upon reaching the room door, Zhongli stopped and handed the walnuts he was carrying on his back to Mu Xian.

"You should take her to her room," Zhong Li said.

Mu Xian barely managed to hug the girl, feeling somewhat puzzled. He could sense that Zhong Li's tone was a little strange.

illusion?

Mu Xian shook his head, then pushed the door open and entered.

Then a pleasant fragrance wafted through the air. The room was quite well-furnished, with some oddly shaped trinkets on one side and a cluttered table on the other.

There were a few sheets of paper on the table, and it seemed like there was something written on them.

This is Hu Tao's room. It's the first time Mu Xian has entered this place. The room is quite in line with Hu Tao's personality; she seems to be interested in everything.

The girl was placed by the bedside. At this moment, she was no longer moaning in pain, and even the dark purple veins on her face had faded considerably.

This was Zhongli's doing. If Hu Tao always showed unexpected interests, then Zhongli occasionally revealed some unexpected skills.

Just as the rumors say, this guest elder of the Rebirth Hall seems to be able to do anything.

However, Zhongli did not explain these things, nor did Mu Xian ask.

Mu Xian knew that her relationship with him, or with others, wasn't that good.

Thinking of this, Mu Xian looked at the girl lying on the bed. She was curled up in a ball, with a comfortable expression on her face.

Looking at the robe that had been covering Hu Tao, Mu Xian hesitated for a moment, then took a chair and sat down next to her.

Mu Xian did not leave. Because the sect leader was injured, Mu Xian would at least wait for her to wake up.

Fortunately, while waiting might be boring for others, Mu Xian actually enjoyed the tranquility of waiting.

With his mind at ease, Mu Xian drifted off to sleep, vaguely sensing some movement beside him.

When he opened his eyes again, those plum blossom eyes were looking at him, and the next moment he seemed to be frightened.

Before Mu Xian could speak again, his eyes suddenly closed, and then with a thud, he lay back down on the bed.

The inexplicable movement startled Mu Xian, but now that he was awake, he should leave.

"I'm going out for a bit," Mu Xian said.

Hu Tao, who was pretending to be asleep, quickly opened her eyes and remained lying in bed, but stared straight at Mu Xian.

The girl seemed a little reluctant, but in the end she turned her back to Mu Xian.

Mu Xian took Hu Tao's agreement as consent and got up to leave.

After a long while, the girl stood up from the bed, touching her slightly flushed cheeks with both hands, her face inexplicably angry.

She glared angrily at the closed door, then deflated, replaced by a dejection never before seen on the girl's face...

The strange occurrences at the Lava Abyss yesterday did not affect Liyue Harbor. On the contrary, the incident became a topic of conversation, making the streets much busier than usual.

It's a profession that people usually avoid, but the ancestral hall is located in a bustling area. Although it's not the location with the highest foot traffic, it's not far off.

Mu Xian didn't know where Zhong Li had gone, but he was relatively easy to find.

Given this guest's idle and carefree nature, he seems to flock to wherever there's excitement, and knowing that Mu Xian would come looking for him, he's probably not far away.

Squeezing into the crowd, one sees rows of vermilion pavilions, with wooden arched bridges connecting one end of the pavilions to the other. Below is a sea of ​​people, and above is a constant flow of people.

Shouts, singers' voices, clinking glasses, spilled drinks, laughter and curses from fellow entertainers...

The sound reached his ears, but Mu Xian remained oblivious.

Knowing that Zhongli disliked looking up at others, he went straight up the stairs of a certain pavilion.

The sparse streets could not contain the prosperity of Liyue Harbor, so there was another layer of streets above the pavilions.

Before long, Mu Xianzhong found the most crowded area.

It was a stage, a wide stage that was empty, and the melody with the zither as the main theme had just begun its prelude.

Even the prelude quieted the noisy surroundings considerably, and the silent audience showed the play the utmost respect.

Mu Xian spotted Zhong Li at a glance. This well-mannered fellow held a cup and listened to the middle-aged man at the next table talking sparsely. Every now and then, when the middle-aged man was about to finish speaking, he would interject a few words, and the middle-aged man's eyes would light up.

Just a few seconds after Mu Xian looked at Zhong Li, Zhong Li also shifted his gaze from the middle-aged man to Mu Xian, who was walking over.

The middle-aged man noticed Zhongli's gaze, followed it to Mu Xian, nodded to Zhongli, and turned to leave.

Mu Xian understood what the middle-aged man meant and sat down without hesitation in the empty seat that had been vacated because the middle-aged man had left.

"The play has already begun."

Knowing why Mu Xian had come here, Zhong Li put down his teacup and spoke up before Mu Xian could.

"What you need to say, we'll talk about it after this scene is over."

There was an undeniable air about him in his plain words. Mu Xian felt a little uncomfortable because of this undeniable air, but he also knew that Zhong Li rarely went back on his word. So he simply closed his eyes and listened quietly to the music in his ears.

The melodious sound of the zither, accompanied by the occasional notes of the guzheng, calmed my mind.

But the melodious piano music didn't last long; instead, the accompanying guzheng music became more frequent, replacing the piano music without anyone noticing.

The gradual change in the music made it more urgent, and the original melodiousness was completely gone.

Like raindrops falling in small drops, yet suddenly becoming denser in a short time.

The music is dense and rapid, continuous and uninterrupted, constantly drawing the listener's emotions.

Zheng!

The melody contains an extremely discordant tone, which is very high and sounds particularly jarring against the low melody.

Wrong sound?

Mu Xian opened his eyes, wanting to look at the musician, but couldn't find the musician offstage at all.

She couldn't help but turn to look at Zhongli beside her, but Zhongli remained calm and composed.

Zheng!

Another wrong note, and the originally perfect melody was completely ruined in an instant.

Mu Xian frowned, only to find that the more he played, the more wrong notes there were, completely ruining the previous melody.

As the music ended and the play concluded, just when Mu Xian thought the performance had been a disaster, he discovered that the audience was applauding.

Ah this...

Are all the people of Liyue so polite?

The play is called "Playing with the Sea".

Zhongli's voice rang out from the side: "The play ends in tragedy."

“It’s quite tragic,” Mu Xian said decisively. “If my ears could shed tears, I would definitely cry for a long time.”

"The wrong note is indeed jarring; it ruins what should have been a perfect piece of music..." Each wrong note represents an injury suffered by a character in the play, and that injury also kills someone who should have been alive.

Zhong Li didn't say the second half of his sentence. Looking at the figure on the stage, he could feel that the figure was staring blankly at the person next to him.

"What do you think of this scene?" Zhong Li asked.

"I didn't see it," Mu Xian replied bluntly. "But if the music is so awful, the play must be terrible too."

Zhongli took a sip of tea, concealing the expression on her face, but not the strange emotion in her eyes.

"You're from Mondstadt, so it's normal that you don't understand this play. I imagine you wouldn't be able to tell either..." The person in the play is yourself.

Chapter 23 The Yellow Bear's Cha-Cha-Cha

Everyone has desires, and powerful desires converge to form the Eye of God, but who can guarantee that desires will remain unchanged?

The so-called wear and tear is the erosion of time, which, under the catalysis of time, makes us forget our lofty ideals and distort our desires.

That's why there is death; death destroys distorted desires, and new sublimity is born in new life.

Life is short, and for ordinary people, the threat of death is far greater than the wear and tear of life.

For a near-immortal demon god, wear and tear is a formidable enemy, causing him to become someone he no longer is.

As the oldest of the seven ruling gods, Morax has suffered more wear and tear than the other six, and naturally has a deeper understanding of wear and tear.

Sometimes Zhongli wondered what would happen if an ordinary person were subjected to the same level of wear and tear as a demon god.

Later, Zhongli found the answer: that ordinary person would lose the will to live.

Looking at Mu Xian, Zhong Li finally shifted the topic away from the stage: "I can suppress the abyssal erosion within the Hall Master, but I can't completely eradicate it."

Zhongli's words made Mu Xian look up, and the perfunctory expression on his face disappeared: "Just tell me what you want me to do."