Original God Zhongli BG Xiao Qinglong traveled through time

Ink swallowed the final boundary between sea and sky. The sticky, salty sea breeze ceased to be a flowing gas, solidifying into an icy solid. It carried the blasphemous whispers of life seeping from the cracks of the abyss, entwined with the sobs of the ghosts of shipwrecks that lingered for millennia beneath the reefs, and pervasively sought to penetrate the souls of those who clung to it, corrupting their minds. With a resolute determination to shatter itself, the raging waves repeatedly crashed against the dark reefs, shattering into millions of cold silver beads before sliding down, leaving fleeting wet trails beneath the dimming sky.

And those two figures are the only coordinates nailed to this chaotic space and time.

Xiao stood still as a rock, his dark green robes unmoved by the gale. Only beneath his Nuo mask, his eyes, like quenched cold stars, pierced the seething waves, their gaze fixed on a vast, expanding, wriggling shadow emanating an ominous glow far below the horizon. His knuckles clasped the slender shaft of the Hepu Yuan spear with such force that even the cold metal seemed to hum, resonating with the disturbed ancient seal emanating from deep within the rock beneath his feet.

Lin Huan stood shoulder to shoulder with him, dressed in a simple, elegant blue gown. She appeared delicate, yet she resembled a weathered pine tree on a mountain ridge. The rock patterns embroidered with dense gold thread on her sleeves glowed in the utter darkness, a steady glow like the core of an earth vein. She didn't stand, but rather "lived" in the place. Her presence blended perfectly with the jagged rocks, the whistling sea breeze, and even every splash of salty water. With a near-unity of nature, she engaged in a protracted, silent struggle against the invisible, terrifying pressure from afar.

The sudden change tore apart this tense balance——

An incomparably brilliant and violent golden light pierced through the gloomy twilight above Liyue Harbor!

That light wasn't the gentle warmth of morning light, but an almost brutal, blazing heat that heralded the birth of a new era! It was like a rising sun breaking free from the earth's constraints, its resounding might instantly dispelling the gloom of the harbor city. Its radiance was so intense that it briefly overwhelmed the purple lightning swirling across the sky and the foul darkness permeating the abyss.

It's Qunyu Pavilion!

That aerial miracle, embodying human wisdom, aspirations, and the fortitude of rock, parted the clouds. Its towering pedestal cast a vast shadow, like a protective shield, sweeping across the mountains and rivers. With a majesty and resolve beyond imagination, it charted a near-perfect trajectory, hurtling toward the raging sea outside Lonely Cloud Pavilion! Streams of light illuminated the silent silhouettes of the two on the reef. Xiao's Nuo mask curved upward in a cold, hard arc, and the gleam of light on the metal surface faded in a flash. In Lin Huan's limpid eyes, the brilliant light and shadows swiftly passed, reflecting an ineffable sense of comfort and a deeper, unwavering understanding of the complexities of fate. She could clearly sense the myriad emotions borne within it—Ningguang Lingyun's resolve, the Traveler's radiant star power, and... Shen He's soul flame, suddenly burning beneath the ice, a near-nibbana of resolute determination.

However, the brilliance of civilization completely enraged the primitive chaos.

"boom--!!!"

Heaven and earth fell silent! The sea, following the path of the Qun Yu Pavilion, suddenly collapsed downward, forming a despairing, all-consuming abyss! Unparalleled force violently pushed back billions of hectares of ocean water. A massive, swirling, roaring waterspout, connecting sea and sky, dark as eternal night, suddenly formed. Carrying the power to annihilate all things, it devoured the sky-high pavilion!

Then, a roar from the war between demons and gods, filled with resentment accumulated for thousands of years, shattered the universe!

A terrifyingly massive blue dragon suddenly rose from the bottomless vortex! "The lingering power of the vortex"—a tug! Its scales shone with a faint glow of resentment and decay. Its single remaining eye burned with deep hatred for Morax and all creatures under its rule, fixed fixedly on the golden glow in the sky!

The war exploded to its extreme in an instant!

"Beat the drum! Fire!"

On the coastline, Keqing's command, clear as a dragon's roar, sliced ​​through the storm! The Guizhong machine array, already poised for action, roared like a prehistoric beast. Giant, specially crafted crossbows, trailing brilliant elemental flames, like a rainstorm of counter-flowing meteors, precisely collided with the mountainous trunk, exploding in a dazzling halo of destructive energy!

"Southern Cross! Full sails! Charge forward! Aim your cannons at that One-Eye and blast him to death!"

Beidou's rough and heroic roar actually penetrated the wind and waves. Her Death Star fleet was like a group of fearless sea-hunting sharks, cutting into the flank of the battlefield. The crossbows on the ships rang out, and the flames of the explosions continued to bloom on the scales that were harder than diamond, trying to restrain the power of the demon god with the power of mortals!

The scene is heroic and the sound is deafening.

Lin Huan's fingers, placed at her sides, curled unconsciously, their tips turning slightly white. She could clearly "hear" the frantic, raging demonic power pounding and tearing at the earth's veins. She could also sense that the crossbows fired by humans, though fierce, could not truly shake the very foundations of the earth. Her gaze swept over the Southern Cross Fleet, tossed like fallen leaves in the all-consuming waves, clinging to its attack formation and spewing flames. She saw Keqing, standing tall on the shore, commanding with composure, her lips strained. And then there were the Thousand Rocks soldiers, roaring with mortal bodies as they pushed the heavy crossbow triggers, every muscle trembling...

An unconcealable worry invaded her beautiful brows, and her body leaned forward almost imperceptibly. The power field around her, as calm as a deep pool, began to ripple slightly, as if a stone had been thrown into the calm lake - it was an instinctive impulse to intervene and protect.

At that moment, a hand covered in dark green armor, with the undeniable strength of a thousand-pound rock, firmly pressed down on her shoulder. The palm was icy cold, like the black iron deep within Solitary Cloud Pavilion, yet as heavy as a mountain. It instantly ground her slightly turbulent emotions into a state of calm.

"You can't keep your composure?"

Xiao's voice, resonating through the Nuo mask, was still as cold and desolate as an icy spring striking stone, even tinged with a faint, yet sharp, edge of sarcasm. He didn't turn around, his gaze still fixed on the raging sea beast, as if simply stating an obvious fact.

"Just now," he deliberately slowed down his speech, each word as clear as ice beads falling to the ground, "didn't you say, 'Believe in them'?"

Lin Huan suddenly tilted her head, the sea breeze ruffling her long black hair, a few strands wet and sticking to her slightly cool cheeks. She met Nuomian's cold gaze from the side, and subconsciously tried to defend herself. Her voice unconsciously tinged with the impatience and grievance of being "misunderstood," sounding even a little pathetic. "I didn't disbelieve it! It's just... look at Beidou's ship. The waves are so huge... and those soldiers, their mortal bodies, how can they withstand it..."

"Noisy."

Xiao indifferently interrupted her unfinished words, his fingers pressing against her shoulder tightening slightly. The force wasn't painful, but rather a Yaksha-like, almost absolute toughness and resolve, imbued with the ironclad principle of "On the battlefield, only stillness overcomes movement."

"Having chosen a faith, I will carry it through to the end." His voice darkened, carrying with it a cruel calmness that came from wading through countless mountains of corpses and seas of blood. "This is not a place for frolicking. Where they stand is proof of their awareness and qualifications. Your pointless worries are disturbing your mind, and what good will they do to the battle?"

Lin Huan's lips parted slightly, words seemingly tumbling to her tongue, but she pursed them quietly. She understood the truth, but her concern was gnawing at her bones, disrupting the tranquility she'd cultivated for millennia. She gazed at Xiao's cold, hard silhouette, like the side of a mountain. His figure seemed so lonely against the backdrop of a crumbling world, yet it held within it an absolute reliability capable of withstanding the ravages of a vast ocean. She swallowed back all her words, only mumbling a low, "...hmm."

Her body was once again as steady as the reef beneath her feet, and she repressed the surging worries deep within her mind, transforming them into a deeper and calmer perception, which melted into the rock veins, silently observing every change in the battle situation. However, the lines of her lips, slightly pursed to the point of losing their color, and the tiny speck of light on her long eyelashes, which was not sure whether it was seawater or moisture, silently revealed that she was not truly as calm as water.

Xiao withdrew his hand, tightening his grip on the Hepu Kite once more, the tip of his spear humming even more rapidly. Beneath the fanged, green-faced Nuo mask, at an angle unseen by anyone, his tightly pursed lips seemed to loosen, barely perceptible, for a moment, like a faint, helpless yet indulgent breeze of warm air brushing across the frozen rock face.

In the distance, the roars and drums of mankind, the roars and explosions of crossbows, the soul-rending howls of giant beasts and the furious roar of the sea, intertwined into a cruel and heroic war poem poured with blood and fire.

At the forefront of Lonely Cloud Pavilion, two celestial figures stood silently at the edge of the storm's eye. With one stillness, they controlled a hundred movements. They hadn't taken action, their very presence the final, most solid line of defense. Their trust, unspoken, had long since been placed upon the turbulent sea beneath their feet, a heavy trust they had guarded for millennia.