Still playing traditional Genshin Impact?

The people around were discussing Chi's affairs again. Xie Yan bowed to Zhongli and asked sincerely, "Are you Mr. Zhongli? My name is Xie Yan. I heard Yuhengxing Keqing mention that you are very knowledgeable, so I want to ask you something."

"Yes, I'm Zhongli." The old man nodded slowly. In fact, he was drinking tea silently just now, thinking about how to talk to Xie Yan.

As the only heir of the Xie family and now possessing part of the body of a demon god, Xie Yan must convey the warnings left by the ancestors of the Xie family. And there are some things that only Xie Yan can do now.

But the problem was that the two of them had never met each other, so it would be very strange for him to come directly to the door. She was originally planning to ask for a dream, but she didn't expect Xie Yan to come to her on his own.

"If you have any questions, just ask and I'll do my best to answer them."

"Uh... May I ask how much Mr. Zhongli knows about the Xie family? To be honest, I returned to Liyue this time for official business and to find some information about the family."

Zhongli glanced around and paused for a moment before saying, "The events of the Xie family happened a long time ago. Fortunately, a friend of mine happened to know about it. He also asked me to tell the descendants of the Xie family about these events."

Emperor, this friend you mentioned...

Fortunately, Xie Yan had facial paralysis, so he didn't have to show an expression like "Wow, what a coincidence". He asked in a deep voice: "I was fortunate to meet Sister Gan Yu today. I already know most of the things, but I still have doubts about the Xie family's curse. I wonder if there is a way to solve it? After all, it's not a good idea to always avoid it. The danger will not disappear just by avoiding it."

"It's good that you can think of this." Zhongli nodded slightly, then sighed, "The more you try to avoid it, the more disasters will accumulate, and eventually it will erupt at some point in the future. It may have already begun now, and the people affected are no longer just one family."

Ok?

Xie Yan didn't quite understand what Zhongli meant. When he was about to speak, he suddenly saw the Emperor giving him a look, indicating that he should go out and talk.

But at this time, Tian Tiezui's storytelling entered a new stage.

"I saw Xie Yan angrily scolding Kujo Takayuki and listing his ten major crimes in front of General Raiden and hundreds of shogunate soldiers. Kujo Takayuki was so angry that he ordered the shogunate army to arrest Xie Yan."

"But how could ordinary people be able to defeat Xie Yan, the Crying Death God? In an instant, he defeated countless soldiers with his unique martial art, Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Origin. The battlefield was in a dead silence. It turned out that he had entered the legendary Heavenly Sword Realm."

"General Raiden is the source of Inazuma's swordsmanship. He was overjoyed to see such a capable person under his command. He pardoned Xie Yan's crime of subversion and promised him a position as an executive. However, Xie Yan came to correct the emperor, so how could he surrender at this time? He immediately showed his peerless sword and chanted: Nine Heavens Mysterious Blade, transformed into divine thunder. The magnificent power of heaven, guided by the sword."

After hearing this, Xie Yan couldn't bear to listen any longer.

He knew that once the story of Inazuma spread to the other six countries, it would inevitably cause a huge stir. After all, even Yaedo had published a corresponding novel. But wasn't Liyue's adaptation too outrageous?

It is conceivable that someone in the Council of Eminence would consider him as the subject of a paper.

Xie Yan was more polite. Like Zhongli, he waited for Tian Tiezui to finish his dry-mouthed speech before raising his hand and saying, “As far as I know, Xie Yan didn’t list the ten major crimes at the time, and his nickname wasn’t the Crying Death God.”

This is the point!

But Tian Tiezui was unhappy with what he said. He took a sip of tea and said angrily, "I spent a lot of money to get these details from the dock. How could they be wrong? Do you understand Xie Yan, or do I understand Xie Yan?"

In order not to attract too much attention when traveling, Xie Yan specially changed into Liyue clothes before leaving today. With his appearance and temperament, no one would mistake him for a traitor.

Seeing that he was not very old, the other listeners shook their heads and agreed, "Yes, Tian's professionalism in storytelling is still very impressive. It seems that the version you listened to is not very authentic, young man."

Congratulations to Xie Yan for winning the second place in the Xie Yan acting competition!

He almost laughed out loud when he saw Zhongli's hesitant expression, but now he understood how he felt.

Turning around, he saw that Zhongli, who had always had a serious expression, was now very relaxed, with a rare smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

Seeing Xie Yan looking over, Zhongli couldn't help laughing out loud: "Sorry, I really can't hold it back anymore."

This time it was really like an old lady entering the bed, which made Grandpa laugh. Zhongli once again experienced the joy of leisurely wandering in the world.

Putting away his smile, Zhongli said as usual, "Put it on the account of Wangsheng Hall", and then left with Xie Yan.

Sanwan Buguogang is located at the exit of the dock, and in the middle of the two urban areas of Liyue. The location is really great. No wonder it can run well even with such a black-hearted boss.

“As the saying goes, walls have ears. We will go to the Hall of Rebirth to discuss this in detail. However, you should know that Liyue is the city of contracts. I will answer your questions and ask you some questions as well,” Zhongli said in a calm tone.

Xie Yan nodded: "As it should be."

After leaving the tavern, both of them became serious at the same time, without saying a word. Zhongli seemed to have made some plans, and deliberately slowed down his pace, strolling on the street with Xie Yan.

Wangsheng Hall is in another urban area of ​​Liyue. It is less lively than Chihuyan Street near the pier and is full of fireworks, but the luxurious decoration is eye-opening. There are many eye-catching plaques hanging on the high-rise buildings. Xie Yan also saw the Northland Bank and Yan Fei's law firm, and it felt like a dream back to modern society.

But Zhongli still didn't say a word. He led Xie Yan to the entrance of the Hall of Rebirth and greeted Lao Meng.

"Old Meng, is the hall master back?"

"Ah, it's Mr. Zhongli. The hall master received a business today and ran out early in the morning."

Zhongli nodded slightly. He would have a headache if Hu Tao was here. Although he raised her as his daughter, Hu Tao's eccentricity was difficult for even him to deal with... But he always seemed unable to deal with this type of person.

As if he remembered something, Zhongli's eyes showed a complicated expression, and he instructed Lao Meng: "I and the junior are borrowing the quiet room to discuss something. If the hall master comes back in the middle of the conversation, tell her not to barge in."

Xie Yan and Lao Meng nodded to each other as a greeting.

Looking at Xie Yan's back, Lao Meng muttered to himself: "Mr. Zhongli didn't say he was a customer, but a junior... But who would bring a junior here to talk? This is strange, is he looking for a husband for the hall master?"

This is not just Lao Meng's blind guess. Although no one can escape birth, aging, sickness and death, the place called the Hall of Rebirth has always been a taboo place. If you really want to discuss something, you can just go to a private room in a teahouse.

Well, although the bill will probably still be charged to the Wangsheng Hall, neither Mr. Zhongli nor the hall master are the kind of people who care about this little money.

On the other hand, due to the reputation of Wangsheng Hall, even though Master Hu Tao had reached marriageable age, had outstanding looks, and a wealthy family, no one came to propose marriage to him. Old Meng originally thought that he would have to find a son-in-law in the future.

Mr. Zhongli seemed to be always worried about this. Old Meng sometimes heard him say something like "refusing to accept a sick son-in-law".

Now this junior looks good, with a handsome face and a tall figure. Although he is a little cold, his personality matches the hall master's perfectly.

.....

Arriving at the quiet room, Xie Yan looked around. Although it was called a quiet room, it was actually more like an archive. Many organized documents were displayed on the bookcases on the surrounding walls.

"This is the record left by the Wangsheng Hall. You can treat it as a work log. However, due to the Wangsheng Hall's responsibility to maintain the boundary between life and death, some information is very important, such as..." Zhongli took out a stack of bound documents from the bookcase at the back while speaking.

Xie Yan's face changed slightly when he saw the word "Xie Family" written on it.

The two sat opposite each other. Zhongli handed over the document and explained in a deep voice, "The Immortal Sending Ceremony of True Lord Fen Tian Zhu Hai was also organized by Wangsheng Hall. Although there was no immortal transformation, Wangsheng Hall still recorded a lot of details because of my friend. In addition, due to the contract signed, the successive masters of Wangsheng Hall will go to the [Border of Life and Death] to search for the remaining souls of the other party after the death of the descendants of the Xie family."

When Xie Yan heard this, he already had a guess. He took the document and looked through it carefully. Sure enough, no matter which generation of hall master, no one had ever found any descendants of the Xie family on the border between life and death.

"The border between life and death is more complicated. You can think of it as an area where the energy of the earth veins is disordered, but you also know that the earth veins record all the information of the continent of Teyvat. From a universal rational point of view, the remaining souls of the people of Liyue can be found there."

"Mr. Zhongli, do you mean that this is a curse for the descendants of the Xie family? There will be no soul after death?"

"It can't be considered a curse. The underworld as described in operas doesn't exist on the continent of Teyvat. In a broad sense, it's nothing more than returning to the earth veins. The same is true for the descendants of the Xie family. It's just that they return directly to the inside of the World Tree, so naturally they can't be found in the external [roots]."

Return to the World Tree...

Xie Yan chewed over this sentence, but still couldn't understand it.

Zhongli's expression was stern: "Xie Yan, how do you think your family's ability to connect to the World Tree is?"

"Very strong. I should say that this is beyond common sense."

"That's right. Connecting to the World Tree requires more than just strength. It must be connected to Xumi. But no matter what, this is not a realm that mortals can reach. However, this ability has been passed down with the bloodline. Even though this ability is actually being diluted, do you think it is a gift?"

"Sister Ganyu said that this is the immortal nature of the demon's power, but I think that all gifts from fate actually have a price tag secretly marked on them."

Zhongli looked at Xie Yan in surprise when he heard that. When he spoke again, there was a hint of relief in his tone: "It's good that you understand. However, that is not what will happen after death. Returning to the earth veins is the fate of all creatures on the continent of Teyvat. But for you, your fate is more than that. You can gain power from the World Tree, but you will also be polluted. You can even serve as a breeding ground and pollute the World Tree in turn."

In other words, when the descendants of the Xie family return to the World Tree after their death, their own pollution will also be brought into the World Tree, making the situation worse.

The abilities in their blood also destined them to protect the World Tree. This was to protect the world as well as themselves.

Xie Yan was not surprised that Zhongli knew so much about the matter, but he did not expect that this new main quest would be so difficult.

Zhongli sighed softly, with a hint of reminiscence and regret in his eyes.

"Back then, your ancestor Xie Yan was blessed in Xumi, and with the Qilin bloodline as his foundation, he achieved a unique body of a demon god. Later, with the help of his connection with the World Tree, he obtained two kinds of demon god powers. In terms of combat power alone, he has surpassed many demon gods. He only needs to complete the last part of his soul to become a god. But after being polluted for the first time, he told me... my friend, he will never be able to become a god."

Xie Yan was stunned, not noticing that the Emperor was almost exposed: "Why is this? After ascending to Godhood, his life span should be extended, otherwise once he returns to the World Tree, won't the pollution be even worse?"

"The pollution of the World Tree is actually the forbidden power outside the world. This has brought negative effects to Xumi, such as the Death Realm and Demonic Scale Disease. Once he chooses to ascend to Godhood, the indestructible nature of the Demonic God's power will make the pollution even more difficult to erase. Moreover, given his close connection with the World Tree, the pollution may spread to Liyue. His existence will become the [anchor point] of the disease."

"So that's how it is... But isn't this a dead end? We can neither advance nor retreat."

"Some of your elders have thought of solutions before, and many have even gone to Xumi to explore, but unfortunately they all ended in failure. But you are different. You have the opportunity to break the impasse and sever the cause and effect."

Zhongli looked at him meaningfully: "Of course, you can also wait for Xumi's newborn grass god or the traveler to solve everything."

"Although I am willing to believe in the power of others, the situation of the World Tree is not optimistic, right? Perhaps it will take decades, or even years for the damage to completely erupt? By then, with my connection with the World Tree, I will be the first to suffer." Xie Yan shook his head slightly, "I am not the kind of person who will sit and wait for death. Mr. Zhongli, just tell me what you have to say."

16 Emperor: The Qilin bloodline cannot be diluted any further

If possible, Xie Yan would certainly like to let Yingmei rush in front, while he would deliver tons of damage behind her.

But the problem is that the current situation of the World Tree is probably completely different from the original plot.

Xie Yan didn’t know what happened to Master Burning Heaven and Boiling Sea after the battle in the Layered Rock Abyss, but he thought it was not a good situation. The pollution in his body might have been poured back into him.

To take a step back, even if the special space under the abyss blocked his return to the World Tree, Xie Yan once tried to listen to the call of the World Tree. Although he did not see the situation over there, he knew it was definitely not optimistic. At least Yingmei was not attacked by any force at the beginning of the story.

There is no point dwelling on how things happened; the important thing now is to resolve the problem.

Zhongli seemed to have expected his answer. He said in a deep voice: "No one can give a definite answer. After all, the enemy this time is... In short, even my friend can't be sure whether something is right or wrong. If I say too much, it will interfere with your making the right judgment. I can only give you some advice and take you to see your family's stone tablet."

It was indeed inconvenient for Zhongli to explain these things, and he couldn't just say that Xie Yan possessed powers beyond the world and the soul essence of a demon god, because in this way, Zhongli's cover would be completely exposed.

At least now, Xie Yan regarded him as an immortal at most.

Xie Yan asked, "Is there anything special in this stone tablet?"

"To view the stone tablet, you need the power of your family's bloodline, and the amount of information you see is related to the degree of your awakened bloodline, so you can only view it by yourself. But according to your ancestors, there is a way to save the world tree in it." Zhongli stated expressionlessly.

"So what is Mr. Zhongli's suggestion?"

"It was my friend's suggestion." The old man corrected in a deep voice, "What you hear may not be what you see."

Xie Yan did not answer immediately. He now understood the Emperor's hint.

Zhongli continued, "Also, many things are relative. For example, some people may feel that a crisis is about to come, while the people who create the crisis may feel that it is not fast enough."

After saying this, Zhongli put the document back to its original place.

"That's all I can say. As for the matter of the stone tablet, don't worry. We will go there together tomorrow morning. Tonight, you can observe and think carefully."

"Thank you Mr. Zhongli."

Fortunately, I came to ask the Emperor, otherwise if I had just rushed forward foolishly, there would probably be big problems.

He did not get up and leave, because now it was the Emperor's turn to question him.

Xie Yan's face was stern. He guessed that the Emperor wanted to ask him what he thought about retirement.

however.

Zhongli sat back down opposite him and asked in the same elder tone as Ganyu: "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Ok?

"Yes, I made a lot of...a lot of close friends at Inazuma's place, ahem, anyway, there's no need to worry about that." Xie Yan let the cat out of the bag and his old face turned red.

Zhongli looked at him deeply, his expression a little strange: "I see, then I don't need to worry."

Seeing that Xie Yan was a cold person, he thought that this guy would be single for a long time, so he considered whether he should help to match him with Hu Tao... After all, Hu Tao's marriage was also a headache.

Who knew that Xie Yan was so hidden and had the demeanor of a sea king.

But it doesn't matter. If that matter is resolved, Xie Yan will indeed have to consider expanding his family and restoring the glory of the Xie family. However, if the Qilin bloodline is diluted further, it will probably be gone.

After thinking about it, Zhongli told Xie Yan about this matter.

"Ah? It's still like this? Will the ability to connect to the World Tree still exist?"

"I don't know either, but the dilution of blood is inevitable. Just like your father's contamination, it was not because he used the power of the Qilin, but because his Qilin power was already very weak. He could only gain power by connecting to the World Tree to increase it."

Xie Yan scratched his head and fell into deep thought.

A scene emerged in his mind, in which he hugged Ganyu from behind: Sister Ganyu, it is our duty to restore the glory of Qilin!

How about discussing it with Ganyu tonight?

But to be honest, how do I open my Mangekyō Sharingan?

Zhongli continued, "Also, I... I have a friend who has been thinking about some issues recently. Since you just happened to be returning to Liyue, I would like to discuss this with you."

"Haha, Mr. Zhongli has quite a lot of friends. But you have answered so many questions for me, I will definitely tell you everything I know." Xie Yan smiled silly.

"It's actually very simple. I want to ask you what you think of Liyue."

"What do you think? I've only been to Inazuma, but when comparing the two, there's a huge gap between Inazuma and Liyue. Both are ruled by humans and gods, but Liyue's system is well-organized, commerce is developed, and the Seven Stars and Eight Gates are generally conscientious in their duties. However, two of Inazuma's three magistrates actually colluded with outsiders."

"In other words, you acknowledge Liyue's prosperity, but still think that Liyue is fundamentally no different from Inazuma?"

"It's not that there is no difference. After all, in Teyvat, humans can't be separated from gods. To be disrespectful, even if a god falls, the people will elect the next god. It's just that Liyue has developed to the point where it can solve most crises on its own. There is no need to ask gods for help in everything and treat them as thugs."

This was also one of Xie Yan's main feelings during his trip to Liyue. Whether it was the radical Keqing or Ningguang who took the overall situation into consideration, they all wanted to solve the problem before the Immortal Ceremony.

If it were the original Inazuma, even if Kujo Takayuki and others did not collude with outsiders, they would only think "It doesn't matter, the Shogun will take action."

Zhongli nodded slightly. "Yes, it is unrealistic to say that we can break away from the gods. Even with the blessing of the immortals, we still have to choose the next Rock God. But I think that it is up to humans to open up new paths. Fortunately, Liyue has already had this idea."

Although he was indeed too tired and wanted to retire, Zhongli was essentially worried that he would be worn out and make wrong decisions unconsciously, bringing harm to the country.