I'm in the Teyvat running group

Of the seven people, Yunxiu could barely recognize three. The bear-like figure was undoubtedly Maxius, with a light veil swirling behind him. The beautiful woman was probably Gui Zhong, and the man was the Emperor. The reason she recognized the Emperor was because a cube was floating behind him, which looked very similar to the one held in the Emperor's statue.

The second image is of Gui Zhong dying in battle, an image Yunxiu had also seen in the Genshin Impact game.

However, there are also many completely different aspects. First of all, there are two unfamiliar gods in this scene, one of whom is a beautiful woman who leaves sadly. This woman is the one who sat next to Gui Zhong in the previous scene. Although Yun Xiu guessed that she should be the demon god of Chenyu Valley, she was not entirely sure.

The third scene shows the Emperor fighting with a god. The other god is clearly one of the seven, but Yunxiu has no idea who this person is!

The fourth image shows two goddesses standing together. One is the woman who left in sorrow, while the other is surrounded by mist and bubbles, making it impossible to tell who she is.

The final scene shows a beautiful woman handing a peculiar magical artifact to the Emperor before quietly departing.

The five murals and clouds can roughly explain what happened, but it's impossible to be sure what exactly happened.

"Yunxiu, come quick! There are characters carved here!" Hu Tao exclaimed. "Come and see what it says! I don't know much about Liyue's ancient script!"

"I don't know much about this either..." Yunxiu scratched her head and said, "I haven't studied this area very much."

“If we’re talking about the ancient script of Liyue, I know more about it…” Shen He began, “Many things that our exorcist family learns are related to this, so we have to learn them.”

She looked at the words carved below and slowly read them aloud:

"In the spring of [year], at Tianshan Mountain, [number] people gathered by chance. Yan Jun invited us to drink under an ancient pine tree, and I went with friends. At that time, the Kitchen God, Ma [name], transformed into the form of a bear, exhaling smoke; the God of War, Gui Zhong, laughed, his voice like jade; Long Bo Ruo Tuo sat cross-legged on a rock, his aura encompassing the hills and valleys. Then, Lang Po Yu Jun arrived, his robes flowing. The seven of us drank together, the tea boiling amidst the pine breeze, discussing the initial stillness of the mountain, the harmony of all beings, seemingly a dream. Yet, during the gathering, glances exchanged, each harboring their own thoughts. I held my cup in silence, only to see Yan Jun [name] floating in the shadows."

"This is about... these seven people forming an alliance? What kind of fantasy story is this...?" Yunxiu was quite shocked. This was not a normal story about a war between demons and gods at all!

A million-word reflection: Recent and upcoming update schedule (still 10,000 words per day)

I'm almost a million words... I never expected to write so much in just two months since it was published.

Let's keep it brief.

1. As you can see, the million-word mark is just the beginning, so there's definitely a lot more to come. At least all the plot holes need to be filled, such as how Yunxiu traveled through time, who his wives are, who the mastermind is, and how to completely save Teyvat. These are all questions that need to be addressed one by one.

2. The recent instability in updates is due to the flu, my recovery, and the fact that I've encountered a critical period in the plot. Tomorrow, I should be able to completely finish this small-scale dungeon and then enter the climax of this volume. So, updates will resume as normal from now on, 10,000 words per day. I'm considering whether to update two chapters of 5,000 words each or the same as before. After thinking about it, I think I'll stick with the same approach. Starting tomorrow, I will resume updating three chapters no later than 6 PM (if there is no update by 12 PM, it will be 6 PM, but three chapters will definitely be done).

3. Many of the settings were discovered by me in Genshin Impact, such as the fate system, the Transcendental Training Method of Severing the Three Corpses, the situation during the Demon God War, and some stories about the Witch's Guild... So if you are familiar with Genshin Impact, you will definitely be able to recognize them.

4. The game has already started small-scale testing in my small group these past few days, and it will definitely be released on the fourth of this month, probably this Friday or Saturday after the update. Everyone will be able to play it right after finishing the story.

5. This book didn't achieve great success, so many parts are a bit obscure and I feel like I've said too much. So I'm extremely grateful to everyone who has supported me all this time. If possible, I hope we can play games together in the future. You can send me private messages or chat with me. If you want my Genshin Impact or other miHoYo UIDs, that's fine too (of course, I definitely won't make them public, just chat with me in private).

6. Thank you again everyone. The next volume will be the Nata arc, the resurrection and the end. Then I will write the original Winter arc, the Kanria arc, and the Retrospection arc. After these are finished, it should be almost over.

7. There should be two more major events in the Liyue arc: Blackrock Depths and some undiscovered secrets about the Sinking Jade Valley. Therefore, this Liyue arc will be longer, but the exact length is uncertain.

8. I've really hit a major writing bottleneck lately. I never imagined that resolving foreshadowing and later plot threads, and then creating twists, would be so difficult. It's been so painful (crying). So, my updates have been very inconsistent these past few days. This is the first time I've encountered this problem while writing a long novel. Just figuring out the plot and storylines has burned through so many of my brain cells and tokens—I guess I'm using AI's brain cells...

9. The mastermind behind this is definitely beyond everyone's imagination. You can guess who it is. If you guess correctly, there will be a reward!

0. Now that I've written this far, I don't think anyone thinks I'm going to abandon this project, right? Old Fish is still an honest person!

Chapter 298 Old Memories Fade Away, But the Pain Remains (First Update on Monday!)

Shen He quickly read the next few lines. Gui Zhong's death wasn't surprising; the one who left in sorrow was none other than the demon god of Shenyu Valley. And the third mural read:

"A century later, Yan Jun suddenly encountered an old friend at Yunlai Sea. His enemy was not an external demon, but one of his former companions. His face was hidden in the clouds, he held a halberd in the air, and his power was mad and insane. I looked into the distance between the collapsing clouds and saw the Heavenly Seal shining with gold, and the enemy's halberd flashing with purple lightning—but I could not bear to say his true name. Power struggles are called the Dao, but where the spirits are splashed, the mountains are all destroyed."

As expected... that conflict was an internal strife, but she couldn't bear to reveal the name of the person involved, which made Yunxiu suspicious.

Why won't you reveal your name?

There are generally only two possibilities for someone not revealing their name. The first is that they have a past relationship with someone else, which is unlikely.

As far as Yunxiu knew, it was not surprising that there were old feelings between demon gods, but generally speaking, there were very few demon gods who were troubled by love. There were not many demon gods who could be affected by emotions after cultivating to this level. After all, people like the Crimson King were not many.

Moreover, who was the war fought for over love? Gui Zhong? That's impossible, of course. Gui Zhong and the Emperor were more like allies, and there wasn't much romantic love between them. Of course, they might have had feelings for each other, but in that era, it was impossible to express them. Perhaps they both planned to marry after the war, but Gui Zhong perished before that moment arrived.

Then there is only one other possibility: this demon god did something that is hard to talk about. Considering the previous situation, it is very likely that the destruction of Gui Zhong himself is related to him.

The text on the second, fourth, and fifth images is badly damaged, and it can only be barely made out that the final emperor accepted something called "Suppressing Key," which is probably used to smooth the earth's veins and has some other mysterious effects, but these are currently unclear.

The three of them didn't linger there for too long. After recording the information, they headed to the depths of the temple. The temple itself wasn't large, but it unexpectedly contained a lot of information, many of which Yunxiu had seen in various stories, as well as many that she had never seen in any stories.

I have seen images such as the collapse of the high chariot of the moon palace, the scene of the early Seven Gods Tea Party, the scene of the flood of Tianheng during the war of demon gods, and the scene of heavenly nails falling to earth.

There were also many scenes that Yunxiu had never seen before, such as the Emperor sparring with a certain demon god, and several girls sitting together drinking tea. All sorts of scenes formed a series of stories. Yunxiu couldn't understand the meaning of many of them, but from the broken text and many stories that Yunxiu knew, she could probably piece together a lot of things.

Just as Yunxiu had predicted, at the beginning of the war between the demons and gods, the Emperor could indeed have easily pacified the others and ended the chaos in a short period of time, because the Emperor himself did not have a great need for power, nor did he need the Heart of God to strengthen his own power.

Therefore, he was indeed the most carefree of all the gods. In addition, he had always supported Maxius, Ruotuo Dragon King, and Guizhong. The demon gods of Chenyu Valley also had a very good relationship with Guizhong. The five demon gods were originally of the same ilk, and the Emperor was the strongest among them, although Yunxiu did not know why the Emperor was so strong.

But if it's strong, there must be a reason for it.

However, things were not going so smoothly. It could be said that a fierce and terrifying war broke out overnight.

The demons in the sea stirred up giant waves and fought the Emperor to the death in the Cloud Sea. Suddenly, one of the demons betrayed him and assassinated the unsuspecting Gui Zhong in full view of everyone. This powerful demon died, and the Emperor himself was still in the midst of the battle and could not return in time to deal with the situation.

However, the outbreak resulted in the flooding of Guili Village and Tianheng Mountain. The people of Liyue were forced to relocate to what is now Liyue Harbor. Yixiao Daotianzhenjun died in battle, using his horn to support Tianheng Mountain itself. Maxius was forced to infuse his power into the earth...

This can be considered the Teyvat version of "Night of the Black Knife." Night of the Black Knife was a major event in the Elden Ring. To put it simply, this night directly affected the entire Elden Ring world, and the war that broke out completely shattered the world's "laws," plunging the entire world into chaos.

The same was true of the Night of the Black Blade in Teyvat. While the Emperor was being restrained, Gui was ultimately assassinated and killed. The ensuing great war led to the migration of Liyue and the passing of several powerful immortals. At the same time, the madness of the demon god in the Jade Valley led to his own demise.

From then on, the Rock King Emperor possessed the boundless killing power of his nature.

Judging from the series of events depicted in this mural, it turns out that this was actually done unconsciously by the demon god of the Sea God Palace!

Unaware of who was manipulating her, she conspired with Oser to flood Guiliji and assassinate Guizhong. At the same time, she used her demonic beast Chi to invade Liyue, committing a monstrous crime.

When she regained consciousness, it was already time for Langpo Jun of Shenyu Valley to question her. She had no answer and could only stay there alone, watching the demon god leave sadly. In the end, she handed over her original artifact to the Emperor, asking for protection for the remaining humans of the Sea God Palace, and finally perished in the abyss of the Sea God Palace.

“There is an existing will that manipulates the demon god of the Sea God Palace... which led to all of this happening…” Yunxiu gently stroked the mural.

The existence of will itself was not beyond his expectations, because this matter was inconceivable from the beginning. No matter what, you would find it hard to imagine why these demons would fight for this chair.

This is certainly not to say that all demons are as virtuous as Zhongli, who says, "I have no intention of vying for power, but I know the suffering of the people." Rather, it is a very simple question—what benefit would it bring them to become the ruling god?

Whether looking at the actions of the gods or the situations arising from the war between the demons, becoming a demon god doesn't really bring many benefits. On the contrary, it comes with a lot of responsibilities and is a truly arduous task, without any improvement in strength or even rank.

Before becoming ruling gods, most of them were already powerful enough.

Of course, most of the demons were greatly affected by the primordial fragments, and there is another secret that is also written in the mural.

Why are most naturally born demons female? Because most naturally born demons possess primordial fragments, and their gender is at least outwardly influenced by the fragments themselves. Since Fanes is female, most demons are also female.

Aside from some external reasons, most male demon gods are male because they were male before becoming demon gods.

If the primordial fragments can have such a significant impact on these people, then there is likely only one being capable of penetrating the primordial fragments and influencing the demon god.

That was the Lord of the Abyss, Nibelungen, who was on the same level as the original and ultimately returned as a Descendant.

This actually explains why the prophet and those few were also bewitched five hundred years ago. It was the will of the abyss. So why could the will of the abyss bewitch so many people? The answer is that there was a channel to rebel against the Lord. It can be said that the will of the abyss at that time had corrupted the entire high-ranking officials of Kanria.

One thing Yunxiu has never been able to understand is why the war between the demons and gods in Liyue was so brutal. But now it seems that the brutality of the war in Liyue was likely man-made. As for whether it was Nibelungen or even the forces of nature that intervened, Yunxiu believes that both are possible.

The Nibelungen are the ones who can penetrate the original fragments, and the one who applies their own will to the power that penetrates the fragments is Phanes. There are only these two.

As for the others... Yunxiu himself doesn't believe he has that ability, and even if he were to take it a step further, it's unlikely. One reason is simply the power he wields, but another is that Yunxiu himself isn't an expert in that area...

In the magic system, the one who excels at this is the enchanting school, namely the witch Okotavia. Although Yunxiu's enchanting magic level is decent, she can't control people of the same level, let alone those of a higher level.

If even Yunxiu couldn't control it, then there are very few people who actually have this ability, and naturally only these two.

To be honest, this made Yunxiu feel extremely disgusted.

Why? Because it resembles the attitude of those so-called "necessary sacrifices."

The war between the demons and gods can be considered a necessary sacrifice. While you can't say the demons are innocent or shouldn't be sacrificed, what about the people? What about humanity itself? Were they also destined to be sacrificed?

From the Battle of the Golden City to the War of the Demon Gods, to the nails falling everywhere in the Heavenly Principles, to the War of the Destruction of Kanria, most of those who wept and died were ordinary people. Could these also be considered "necessary sacrifices"? That would be pure nonsense.

The three walked to the end, where there was nothing but an empty hall and a chair. It seemed that this being had erased everything here because of self-hatred.

Only six large characters are still engraved on the back of the chair:

"Sinners perish here."

“A sinner…” Shen He touched the six large characters and stood silently in place. This was a sense of melancholy that she could feel even without knowing that period of history—even if she didn’t seem to have done anything wrong, everything still happened in the end, and this kind of pain was something that many people did not understand.

The pain of personally assassinating her friend was also difficult to erase. Even though her consciousness was not her own at that moment, she still did such a thing, so she chose to end her own life.

Yunxiu didn't know how to evaluate it, but he felt a deep sense of sorrow. The story of this demon god himself was not recorded, and most of his stories disappeared in the war between demon gods. In the long memory, the records of the Sea God Palace itself were being erased little by little.

Sensing the aura here, Yunxiu finally understood why the seals and suppressive power left here were so strong. The reason was very simple: the self-destruction of a demon god would trigger a huge disaster. Therefore, this demon god chose the same method as Ergolia, which was to gradually wear down his aura, soul, and memories in the formation here.

This power sustained the existence of the Sea God Palace and the light barrier, but it has now reached its end, as Yunxiu can clearly sense that the aura here is also beginning to dissipate.

The Palace of Poseidon probably won't exist for much longer.

After all of this disappears, the Sea God's Palace will be completely erased from the annals of history, including that demon god who didn't even want to leave his name behind.

"Hmm?" Yunxiu suddenly saw a familiar blond figure in the corner of the palace. It seemed to be Kong. He told Shenhe and Hutao to stay where they were and walked up to him alone.

"You... you actually came here too?" Yunxiu looked at the prince of the abyss and smiled, "It's been quite a while since we last met. How have you been lately?"

Chapter 299 Questioning the Heart and Knocking on the Gate of Fate Before the Gods (Second Update on Monday!)

“My sister seems to be looking for our spaceship… so I’ve been paying attention to her for a while now.” Kong smiled, took a bottle of liquor from his bag and placed it on the ground. Yunxiu didn’t say much, took out some stir-fried snails and dried meat and some snacks from her bag, opened the liquor bottle and poured herself a glass, but then heard Kong’s unexpected question: “You saw ‘that being’?”

"Which one? If you mean a certain ruler, then I did see him." Yunxiu took a small sip. This wine was quite interesting, with a peculiar taste, but it was different from ordinary Teyvat wine. It didn't taste like normal wine at all, but it was surprisingly potent. She couldn't help but exclaim, "Where did it come from?"

“I don’t have much from home either,” Kong said with a hint of melancholy. “She can’t find the ship because it’s not in Teyvat, so I don’t know how to face my sister…”

"The spaceship...isn't in Teyvat?" Yunxiu was extremely surprised upon hearing this bombshell news. "Then where is it? Could it be on the moon?"

“The Abyss affects the operation of Teyvat itself, so the key places of Abyss erosion are the key nodes of spacetime travel, as you should know.” Kong also took a sip and said with a lot of helplessness, “Therefore, most of the time travel events in Teyvat’s history actually occurred at two nodes: the War of the Dead and the Night of the Black Catastrophe.”

“The Black Catastrophe five hundred years ago affected many things… I know that.” Yunxiu nodded. This was indeed something everyone knew, and it was even explicitly stated in the original story of Genshin Impact.

"So Columbia arrived here in that era, but the Black Catastrophe's journey was not so easy and required a balance." Kong waved his hand: "Moreover, Columbia needed to be located on Teyvat, so our ship underwent a replacement at this time and was dropped onto the moon."

He looked at Yunxiu and said forlornly, "So, it's impossible to find the spaceship in Teyvat. He's on the moon now—though strictly speaking, the moon is dead too."

This was information that Yunxiu had never known before...

Strictly speaking, he himself didn't really know what was going on behind all this. Even though he knew about the Five Great Sinners during the Night of the Black Disaster, Yunxiu didn't actually know much about the series of events involving Ilmin, Columbia, and the Battle of Kanria; he only had a general understanding of the situation.

Judging from the situation of the Black Disaster itself, none of this was unexpected, because that day was the perfect night to steal a chicken, and many things that happened still have a huge impact today. The actions of a certain Yunxiu have even affected the entire Teyvat.

However, Yunxiu still doesn't know which Yunxiu is the one who plugged the breach. Judging from all the developments, the most likely candidate is actually the Yunxiu who raised the banner of rebellion three times...

However, the line of Sanjiang himself is also very confused about his mastery of the power of the abyss, and it is also a question how he managed to survive all the way after the Burial Fire.