Genshin Impact: The Beginning of the Wind

After all, it's like someone who's been tightly bound by cable ties finally loosened up a little, only to be bound again with new cable ties, leaving them completely immobile.

This must be extremely uncomfortable.

"..."

"I will arrange to handle this matter. Even if we don't deal with it now, the issue of Ruoduo breaking the seal will definitely need to be addressed later, otherwise..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhongli sighed. If he could, he would not want to face his old friend again, but the current situation left him no choice. He did not even dare to let his old friend out to stretch his body a little.

"Old man, that's just how some things are."

Perhaps sensing Zhongli's sadness and lament, Wendy, contrary to his usual self, offered a few words of comfort, but unfortunately, his words were of no use to Zhongli.

After all, over the long years, Zhongli, who has always endured wear and tear, has experienced far more of this kind of thing than Wendy, who has been asleep most of the time.

"It's alright, I'm just feeling a little sentimental."

"Afterwards, I will gather the Liyue Asgardians to deal with Ruoduo's matter, and I think that will strengthen Ruoduo's seal."

"But I'll have to trouble you with what happens next."

Having experienced countless things, Zhongli quickly overcame her emotional turmoil and made arrangements for her next actions.

The matter of the Dragon King Ruoduo cannot be delayed, but reinforcing the seal is no easy task. Even Zhongli must gather the Liyue immortals to make detailed arrangements.

After all, sealing Ruo Tuo Dragon King back then wouldn't have been so simple without his help. Even now, just repairing and reinforcing the seal isn't a simple matter either—Zhongli can't find Ruo Tuo Dragon King's goodwill to help him now.

"Sure, now that an agreement has been reached, I will naturally do what I should do, especially since there is something I need in this."

Su Feng agreed without hesitation, as he would never entrust the 'cocoon' and his own life to someone else.

“I will lend a hand, but now we need to figure out who did this.”

Wendy also offered to help, since he had known the old man for so many years and now that the old man was in trouble, he naturally had to do his part. Moreover, Wendy almost instinctively felt that this matter was definitely not trivial.

If things go wrong, it could be another major event that affects the entire Teyvat!

Wendy has always placed great trust in his premonitions, because he knows very well that most of the time his so-called 'premonitions' are not really premonitions at all.

Since this matter involves my job duties, it cannot be taken lightly.

But after Wendy made his stance clear, he looked at Su Feng with a strange expression. Su Feng, who hadn't expected Wendy to look at him like that, couldn't help but shiver.

"What's wrong with you? Have you also awakened an interest in some kind of flesh-and-blood life form?"

Feeling uncomfortable being stared at, Su Feng launched the first attack—don't be fooled by the fact that Wendy and Zhongli look no different from humans, they are genuine demon gods and elemental beings, and the desires of flesh and blood are mostly nonexistent in them.

If some elemental being were to suddenly develop an interest in this area, it would be a major event that would shock the vast majority of demon gods—after all, it would be too difficult to expect a group of demon gods, most of whom would not even have a decent corpse left after death, to do certain things.

Even in the eyes of the demons, a demon who falls in love with a mortal in a physical sense is equivalent to a human being throwing themselves at a lump of mud. This is not just outrageous; it is something that should result in being expelled from the human race.

"Hey! What kind of vicious curse is this?!"

Wendy was startled by Su Feng's unexpected words and shuddered. As a pure elemental being, he had no interest in flesh and blood.

"I'm just curious whether you have some kind of power over war or chaos. After all, I haven't been able to rest since I met you. There are all sorts of problems everywhere."

"I finally managed to sort out my own family matters and went to visit my grandfather, but then this kind of thing happened."

"Do you think this is your problem?"

Wendy's words were full of sarcasm, and upon hearing this, Su Feng instinctively retorted, "How can you say that? I'm not the kind of jinx who brings chaos wherever I go."

"You should go ask that traveler about this!"

While that's true, it's clear that some people don't believe it. Wendy has even started writing poems like "The War Epic of the Wind God's Families Compiled by an Unnamed Bard" right in front of Su Feng, which are obviously full of false information.

Sure enough, this guy always manages to find enough time to cause trouble!

Chapter Thirteen: Liyue is not just Liyue of mortals

"Phew~ It seems Liyue won't be quiet for a while. I wonder what Liyue will do this time."

After exhaling a puff of fragrant smoke, Ningguang stood in the Jade Pavilion and looked down at the ever-bustling Liyue Harbor below, and couldn't help but sigh.

As the most successful self-made merchant in Liyue and even Teyvat, Ningguang's ability to become one of the Seven Stars and even be associated with the Liyue people's saying "Heaven's authority is supreme" speaks volumes about her skills and strength.

Ningguang naturally possesses the most important intelligence gathering and analysis skills, as well as the more enigmatic 'intuition,' which are crucial for a businessman.

It was precisely because of this that Ningguang, who had vaguely sensed something from certain small things, let out such a lament. What made it even more troublesome for her was that the anomaly that was about to sweep across the entire Liyue region and even a wider area was very likely initiated by Liyue's guardian deity himself.

What happened that made the Geo Archon, who had stopped managing Liyue a long time ago, take action again? What kind of storm will Liyue face next?

The Fatui have suddenly become completely quiet recently. Could it be that it's because of Winter...? No, Winter and the Fatui in Liyue haven't reached a point where the Geo Archon needs to intervene.

Ningguang pinched her brow in frustration, knowing that she lacked crucial information and couldn't see the current situation clearly. This feeling of being trapped in a fog made Ningguang quite uncomfortable.

'How many years has it been since we've encountered something like this?'

Ningguang, realizing that she was actually a little panicked, couldn't help but smile bitterly. Since she became the founder of Tianquan Star and established the Qunyu Pavilion, she had never experienced this feeling again. It seems that she has regressed a bit.

But it's really bad luck. After seeing Mondstadt turned into a mess, I was somewhat amused, but now I might be the one being amused. Is this karma?

"You don't seem to be feeling very well right now?"

Just as Ningguang was gazing at the ever-bustling Liyue Harbor, smoking alone and trying to piece together some usable information from the meager intelligence she had gathered, a languid voice suddenly pulled her back to reality.

Did you get any useful information?

Even without turning around, she knew that Ye Lan had returned. Ning Guang wasn't annoyed at all by being disturbed in her thoughts; she just hoped that Ye Lan could bring her some different and useful information.

Otherwise, she, the star of Tianquan, would really know nothing.

“The entire area of ​​Tianqiu Valley has been overturned—at least five ancient rock dragon lizards have appeared there at the same time. I think you understand what that means, right?”

"It's fair to say that the entire map of Tianqiu Valley and its surrounding area needs to be redrawn."

Ye Lan immediately gave Ning Guang a piece of news that sent chills down her spine.

Even a single Ancient Rock Lizard is enough to put the Thousand Rock Army on high alert, and at least five or more Ancient Rock Lizards would be enough to inflict heavy losses on Liyue without the intervention of the immortals and the Emperor.

Under normal circumstances, Ningguang would definitely have asked Yelan to find out the location and range of these ancient rock dragons when she heard this news. If the impact was not significant, Ningguang would even be willing to fence off those areas as protected areas rather than provoke these big guys.

But that's not the point right now, or rather, compared to the deeper issues, these ancient rock dragons are probably just a trivial problem.

Ningguang did not believe that a mere few ancient rock dragon lizards were enough to warrant the Emperor's personal intervention.

"Besides these big guys, I've gathered some information from the surrounding area—on the day those big guys appeared, the Fatui Executor 'Young Master' went to Tianqiu Valley with Zhongli, a guest elder from the Hall of Rebirth, and two Mondstadt friends who suddenly appeared claiming to be Zhongli's guest elders. According to 'Young Master's' report, he went to Tianqiu Valley to spar with someone."

This was quite easy to ascertain, because D'Artagnan had indeed honestly reported to the Thousand Rock Army, so a simple check of the files would reveal the truth. When Yelan learned of this, she was almost dumbfounded—she had never seen such an honest executor of the Fools.

"Because of the 'Young Master's' presence, my men didn't dare to get too close. After all, it was too difficult for my subordinates to hide themselves in front of the Fools' Enforcers. However, not long after they entered Tianqiu Valley, the entire Tianqiu Valley began to tremble."

"It's pretty much certain that they're the ones who provoked those big guys."

"But these last few all came out of Tianqiu Valley unharmed! Although that 'young master' didn't look too good, the other three didn't seem to have a single injury!"

Ye Lan, who had rushed to Tianqiu Valley to investigate after receiving a message from her subordinate, poured out all the information she knew to Ning Guang. After listening to Ye Lan's words, Ning Guang fell into deep thought once again.

"Can you confirm the identities of those two mysterious figures from Mondstadt?"

Although she had some guesses, Ningguang still wanted to investigate indirectly, but unfortunately, after hearing Ningguang's question, Yelan decisively shrugged.

“I knew you wanted to ask that, but unfortunately, I don’t have any information on that. In fact, I can’t find any information about their route from Mondstadt to Liyue. It’s as if they suddenly appeared outside Liyue Harbor. Neither my people nor your people had found any trace of them before.”

Ye Lan had made her point quite clearly, and Ning Guang, having confirmed her guess, had no intention of delving further.

Since those people didn't choose to seek her out at this moment, it clearly means that ordinary people simply don't have the power to get involved in this matter.

Although it may sound unambitious, the people of Liyue are not yet capable of surviving in this dangerous world without the Emperor's protection.

Ningguang took a deep drag on her cigarette and couldn't help but think of her colleague, Keqing. Keqing's idea of ​​letting mortals take over Liyue was good, but it wasn't the right time yet.

Teyvat has never been safe. If it weren't for the sacrifices of the Emperor and the Immortals, they would never have been able to live so peacefully in this world.

Without strength, nothing else matters!

Ningguang unconsciously tightened her grip on the pipe in her hand, but quickly readjusted her mindset.

She's not the kind of person who's overly ambitious. What Liyue needs to do now is to continue developing step by step. Only in this way can Liyue, which truly belongs to mortals, appear before everyone's eyes.

Only in this way will the Emperor truly feel at ease entrusting Liyue to the mortals.

After all, Liyue belongs to the people of Liyue, but it also belongs to the Emperor and the immortals. Without the Emperor and the immortals' contributions, this kingdom where thousands of ships gather would probably never have existed in the first place.

People may want to pursue independence, but not at the cost of abandoning the country’s original founders and protectors!

Chapter Fourteen: Even slackers will be looked down upon in Teyvat!

In fact, the immortals of Liyue are considered formidable throughout Teyvat—not only because these immortals are skilled in combat, but also because they are numerous and each possesses unique abilities. Moreover, the best among them can rival even the demon gods in certain refined techniques and methods.

After all, compared to immortals, demons only have an advantage in elemental power. In fact, if demons didn't have innate authority, they might not even be as powerful as immortals in elemental power due to their shorter lifespan.

If the immortals joined forces, they might not be able to defeat the demon god, but at least they wouldn't have difficulty fighting a moderately powerful demon god to a standstill in a short period of time.

This can be seen from the fact that the three True Lords were able to assist the Rock God in sealing the Dragon King Ruo Tuo.

After all, the battlefield between the gods and the Dragon King is not something anyone can participate in. If you don't have the ability, even if you are a god's servant, you probably won't even leave behind a wreckage in no time.

"Your Majesty, the Dragon King's seal is indeed in a very bad state. If this continues, the Dragon King will probably be able to break free again in just over a month."

After carefully examining the situation with the help of the other two True Lords, True Lord Xiaoyue Zhuyang reported to Zhongli what they had discovered—in order to prevent his aura from stimulating Ruo Tuo, Zhongli did not approach the South Heavenly Gate where Ruo Tuo was sealed.

"Has it really come to this?"

Zhongli, who hadn't expected the situation to be so bad, couldn't help but close her eyes slightly.

Although he knew that it was only a matter of time before Ruoduo broke free of his seal and fought him again, he still didn't really want to face it when that day arrived at a visible speed.

Even the most solid rock will tire and eventually turn to dust over time. More than six thousand years have passed since it descended to the mortal world. Even the once invincible Rock King has become powerless in the face of the passage of time.

And now, he may have to say goodbye to another old friend?

After thinking about this, even though Zhongli could remain calm even if Mount Tianheng collapsed before him, there seemed to be a slight change in his expression.

Can the seal be repaired or reinforced?

However, he was, after all, the Rock King Emperor, the oldest and most powerful of the seven rulers of the mortal world, so Zhongli quickly shook off the influence of his inner emotions and focused his attention on the current problem.

The Dragon King Ruoduo, already tormented by wear and tear and the loss of power, had almost no chance of regaining his sanity. Even if Zhongli didn't want to, he could only continue to imprison his old friend with the seal.

Perhaps... this is also a form of wear and tear?

"Your Majesty, the main body of the seal is still intact, and we can maintain it with a little care. However, if the Dragon King Ruo Tuo is trying to break through the seal, then we are powerless to repair it under such circumstances."