[Genshin Impact] A world where only travelers are alone

It was the twentieth year that Mingxun had been with him that he truly realized that Morax might not be able to give him what he wanted.

Judging from human age, she is already in her forties, but due to the power of Morax left in her body, time has not left too many traces on her, and has only made her more mature from a girl.

Mingxun was ecstatic about this change, because it meant that as long as Morax was willing, there would be a way for her to escape from the cycle of birth, aging, sickness and death and achieve true immortality.

Unfortunately, Morax never mentioned this matter, and Mingxun would never take the initiative to ask him, so she chose to test it in a more obscure way.

*
"Morax, why don't you see your little priest today?"

At a rare gathering of immortals, the short-haired girl who successfully sneaked in holding the hand of Ge Chenlangshi looked left and right, but couldn't find the figure who always accompanied Morax. After a long while, she finally couldn't help but ask the man sitting at the top.

The two are allies and both are demons. Morax cannot throw her out at this time for both moral and ethical reasons. He can only turn a blind eye and watch her leaning on Ge Chenlangshi's shoulder, and shamelessly asking him why there is no one around him.

The misunderstood end: huh?
Seeing that his expression was not very good, Gui Zhong couldn't help but get closer to Ge Chenlangshi and muttered softly: "Ping'er, look at him..."

Ge Chenlangshi held his forehead helplessly.

Morax simply couldn't bear to see her like this, so he poured himself a glass of wine and explained, "Mingxun is being bothered by the new tabby cat, so he won't be here until later."

"A tabby cat..." Gui Zhong perked up, sitting up straight and said excitedly, "It seems that the little priest likes this kind of weak but cute creature very much."

She still remembered that when she came here to play last month, she accidentally saw her climbing over the wall, so Mingxun greeted her respectfully, holding a wounded baby bird in her hands.

Today she stopped by to take a look, but unfortunately the bird's nest was empty and it looked like it hadn't been used for a long time.

Now that he remembered this, Gui Zhong asked casually, "Is the little bird dead?"

Morax paused in his drinking.

Liu Yunjiefeng interrupted and said, "She's dead. Mingxun went to the Emperor and cried for several days. The clinging tabby cat was picked up by the Emperor to comfort her."

At this point, she suddenly got angry: "Really? If I were to ask you, why would I go out of my way to pick up a kitten? It's better to have the mechanical bird I made for her. It can talk and coax people!"

After hearing about this, Liuyun Jiefeng specially presented his latest masterpiece. However, within two days, the mechanical bird was thrown out by Morax because it was too noisy.

Damn it, according to Liu Yunjie Feng, he was obviously angry and embarrassed because Ming Xun was playing with the mechanical bird for the past few days and was always distracted in front of him!

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. It took a long time for the immortals to persuade her to continue drinking.

Gui Zhong didn't understand the underlying reason, but he still sighed in a serious manner: "I also think the mechanical bird is much better than the tabby cat. Think about it, how many years can a cat live? By the time the two little guys have been together for a long time and have a deep affection for each other, the cat dies - that would be really unbearable. It wouldn't be a matter of crying for a few days, I'm afraid it would take a month."

Although the little priest always cried quietly, just shedding tears without making any noise, it was always painful to watch a beautiful woman shedding tears.

In the end, he would put himself in Morax's shoes and feel that Morax, who was closer to him than himself, would definitely feel even worse at that time.

However, that guy still had a calm expression on his face, as if he didn't care at all about the hidden dangers she mentioned.

Gui Zhong recalled that Liu Yun Jie Feng had mentioned to him that Morax always liked to make the little priest cry, and he immediately spoke up angrily, "Morax, are you listening? This kitten is to the little priest just like she is to you. The difference in their life spans is too big. Although she has your power, she can only live a little longer than an ordinary person. Wouldn't you be sad about her death?"

"will not."

The two decisive words made Gui Zhong's remaining words stuck in his throat. He didn't know whether to swallow them or spit them out, and his face turned red.

She stammered, "Not what? Are you saying the little priest won't die so early?"

It's not surprising that she thought so. After all, considering how much Morax favored Mingxun, there was no way he would remain indifferent if Mingxun died. So there was only another possibility, that is, Morax decided to use a secret method to infinitely extend Mingxun's life.

There are many ways to achieve this, and the price to pay is not heavy for the demon. Someone as powerful as Morax would not care about these.

The more she thought about it, the more reliable it seemed, but Morax shook his head the next second.

"No, I mean not sad."

Gui Zhong's expression was exaggerated. Morax patiently explained, "Birth, aging, illness and death are the most normal things in the world. I have been prepared for it. Besides, you and I both know that immortality is not a good thing. Have you forgotten the existence of wear and tear?"

Gui finally lost his voice, and the fairies who were originally playing around also lost their voices. Even Liu Yun Jie Feng, who was persuaded to drink several glasses of wine and was drunk and looking for someone to chat, seemed to sober up all of a sudden.

The topic came to an end because of the two taboo words, and then both Morax and Guizhong tacitly skipped this topic.

In the distance, realizing that there was no value in eavesdropping on the following conversation, Mingxun returned the device for controlling the mechanical bird to the guard waiting outside the house.

"Thank you for your hard work. I will continue to rely on you in the future." She smiled at everyone.

This mechanical bird is also one of Liuyun Jiefeng's inventions. It is the first generation product of the mechanical bird given to her before. Although it cannot speak or sing, it was given to the department responsible for security because of its ability to see and hear the surrounding situation.

Morax and other immortals do not like to show up in front of the public, so Mingxun is mainly responsible for the daily command work.

Everyone in the tribe believed in her, including the guards. So when Mingxun asked to borrow the mechanical bird device, they handed it over without even asking, and even took the initiative to guard the door outside.

Now that they had received Mingxun's thanks, the guards were energized and agreed immediately, respectfully watching her leave.

The time for excuses had passed a long time ago, so Mingxun did not delay any longer and quickened his pace towards the banquet venue, sitting down on the right hand side of Morax as usual.

After what happened just now, even if Gui Zhong really wanted to reminisce about the past with her, he could only look at her from afar hesitantly. However, the regret in his eyes was evident no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Mingxun saw all of this and became even more curious about the "wear and tear" that Morax mentioned.

It was a pity that until she escaped from Morax due to the temptation of the Dream Demon, she was unable to get any results from the latter.

But as you live longer, you will slowly understand some things.

*
In the guest room of the Wangsheng Hall, Mingxun stroked the ugly scars on his wrists that looked like centipede coils and fell into deep thought.

She once had three cats. One was given to her by Morax. It was a very clingy kitten, but unfortunately it was in poor health and passed away within a few years.

Mingxun, a priest, also died with the kitten, and became the behind-the-scenes strategist of the Dream Demon God of Chenyu Valley.

The second one was the one she adopted after she, Fu Jin and the other two overthrew the Dream Demon. Unfortunately, unlike the previous cat, this one was a maverick kitten. His favorite thing to do on weekdays was to run around outside, and he would scratch people if they were touched.

But Mingxun just liked its little temper and thought it was just right to be so flamboyant, so she let it play outside every day, until a monster accidentally broke into where they lived and the kitten became its meal.

Mingxun was depressed for a long time. Fu Jin and Ling Yuan took turns to persuade him for a long time before he finally agreed to go out and see the sun. As time went by, he slowly returned to his previous self, but he refused to touch his favorite little animals again.

However, fate was cruel and she finally saved a dying little guy.

Although it also liked to stick to her and ask her to touch it like the first tabby cat, the stray cat still yearned for the outside world and would always slip out even if Mingxun tried to stop it.

The tragedy of the past was still vivid in their minds. Even though the three of them had reinforced the barrier around them after that incident, making it almost impossible for monsters to break in again, Mingxun still uncontrollably tied the kitten to his side.

She seemed to be in a trance. It was not until Fu Jin sent Ling Yuan to find her out of boredom that she discovered in the latter's surprised eyes that the rope she had tied around the kitten was so tight that it almost penetrated its flesh, oozing blood.

This is how Mingxun got the first scar on his wrist.

She healed the kitten's wound, and then cut herself at the same spot so deep that the bone was visible.

Only then did she vaguely realize what wear and tear actually was.

But this knowledge doesn’t stop her from hurting herself.

That state was always mysterious. When she woke up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, a cut would appear on her wrist again.

Later on, even if it wasn't night, she would be trapped in a hazy fantasy during the bright and sunny day, and would do things that hurt herself under the temptation of nightmares.

And in these endlessly painful nightmares, the face that appeared most often was Morax's.

No matter whether it was a look of disgust or a look of indifference, each one could wake her up from her dream with a palpitation in her heart.

After a long time, Mingxun herself couldn't figure out what kind of feelings she had for Morax, so she gave up on continuing to escape.

She came here to expose what she had done and let Morax, or the guy who should be more appropriately named Zhongli, give her a quick death.

But not now.

It shouldn't be now when she hasn't done all the preparations.

Mingxun's gloomy eyes finally became firm again. He turned around and picked up the wet clothes he had just changed, tore off a relatively clean strip of cloth from it, and planned to wrap it around his wrist as a cover.

Although it's a stupid method, it's better than exposing it to Zhongli.

Then, just as the sound of cloth tearing was heard, there was a knock on the door.

"Ms. Xun Ming, what are you doing?"

——It’s Zhongli.

(End of this chapter)