Douluo; Zhongli Adventures in Mortal World with Paimon

Chapter 535: 535: Bringing Warmth to Tsaritsa...

At the same time, in the neighboring Zhongli residence, Zhongli and Venti exchanged glances, with the latter scratching his head awkwardly.

The "loud scheming" behavior of Ning Fengzhi and others was indeed hard to bear.

The distance between them wasn't far, and even if they didn't eavesdrop, they couldn't escape their senses.

"Aha!"

Venti laughed awkwardly, not sure what it meant.

He had been in the Douluo Continent for quite some time and had some understanding of the Nine Treasure Glazed Sect.

They seemed righteous, but in reality, all sects and factions were pretty much the same.

This might be why Zhongli allowed the Spirit Hall to integrate the sects and factions.

As for the wine from Ning Fengzhi and others, forget it...

He did love drinking, but it wasn't a must.

Because of the free wind, he couldn't enjoy wine with "bonds."

Of course, it depended on whose wine it was...

If it were Zhongli's wine, he wouldn't mind taking it all!

"Strange, such a strong person like Beelzebul is sitting right beside you, but these people only noticed me."

Venti spread his hands and said with confusion.

He didn't understand, wasn't he the most harmless among these people?

Why...

Right, it's all about contrast.

Beelzebul looked strong, with a dazed and cute appearance, yet exuded the aura of a powerful person.

In the eyes of Ning Fengzhi and others, Beelzebul's strength was limited, her aura was her peak.

But Venti, who didn't show off, gave off the "illusion" of a master.

He was indeed strong, but it was exposed in this mindset.

"Perhaps you seem more special."

Zhongli stroked his chin and said as if it were a matter of fact.

"Special?"

Venti was puzzled but didn't dwell on it.

Suddenly, Zhongli seemed to think of something, turned to look north, and murmured, "Now that the Douluo Continent has gathered four gods, yesterday's gathering failed to invite Tsaritsa."

"Today is the first day of the month, why don't we go to the Extreme North and visit the Ice Empress?"

Hearing this, Venti's eyes rolled, not sure what he was thinking. After a while, he said, "That's not a bad idea, since we don't have much to do now."

"Just wondering if there's any wine in the Extreme North..."

"Old man, shall we bring some along?"

Venti smiled, clearly eyeing the residence's stock.

Hearing this, Zhongli's eye twitched, his mouth slightly opened, but he hesitated.

Finally, Zhongli waved his hand and said, "Let's bring some."

Venti was delighted but didn't forget the main task.

"Bring Beelzebul along?"

"Yeah."

A gathering of gods naturally couldn't be just the two of them. Since Beelzebul was here, she should come along.

But before that, they needed to ask Beelzebul's opinion. If she didn't want to go, then the two would go alone.

A moment later, they got Beelzebul's reply. She was willing to go to the Extreme North to see what the Ice Empress was up to.

Actually, the order of the gods' arrival was like this.

Zhongli was undoubtedly first.

Venti followed closely.

The Raiden Shogun, Beelzebul, was third.

The Ice Empress, Tsaritsa, was currently the last god to arrive.

"Zhongli, Zhongli!"

"Paimon wants to go too, Paimon wants to go to the Extreme North!"

"Lumine and I have traveled to seven nations, but we've never seen the Ice Empress of Snezhnaya. Let Paimon come along!"

Upon hearing that Zhongli and the others were going to the Extreme North, Paimon quickly flew over and said eagerly.

She and Lumine had traveled through seven nations but hadn't seen the second Ice God, Tsaritsa, before following Zhongli to the Douluo Continent.

Now, she wanted to know what kind of god Tsaritsa, who openly defied the "Heavenly Principles," was.

Defying the Heavenly Principles?

Heh~

If the roles were reversed, would she understand the Heavenly Principles' dilemma?

Losing one nation is better than everyone being... well.

The people of Khaenri'ah weren't at fault. Most of them didn't even know what the Ley Lines were. Those who truly studied the Ley Lines and caused the war didn't help Khaenri'ah during the battle.

Perhaps those guys didn't know the consequences either...

Lumine followed behind Paimon. Though she didn't speak, her eyes said it all.

As always, the silent traveler and the external speaking organ, the divine mouth combo.

Zhongli thought for a moment and agreed.

The gathering of the seven gods wasn't a secret. Since Paimon and Lumine wanted to go, they could come along.

As for Azhdaha, Guizhong, and others, they were busy with something and had no intention of going to the Extreme North.

Today was different from the past. With a destination in mind, everyone moved quickly.

Venti summoned a gentle breeze to take care of Paimon, ensuring she didn't fall behind.

Soon, the three gods, along with Lumine and Paimon, arrived at the edge of the Extreme North.

"The Extreme North has no seasons, but the temperature has risen slightly in the past two years."

Venti stroked his chin and said with confusion.

Why was the Extreme North warming up?

It probably had little to do with Tsaritsa.

Everyone: "..."

We mortals suck in a breath of cold air every day, making an outstanding contribution to the warming of the Extreme North.

As Zhongli and the others arrived, the ice and snow of the Extreme North seemed to sense something, and the temperature suddenly rose, warming up.

A moment later, two figures appeared before Zhongli and the others.

One was about three meters tall, a woman, like a snow elf.

Snow and wind accompanied her, with white hair and ice-blue eyes, resembling a snowflake.

She was indeed a snow elf, but due to the laws of the Douluo Continent, she became a spirit beast.

The other was about 1.6 meters tall, with emerald green hair and attire, resembling a young girl.

The two "people" looked at Zhongli and the others with puzzled eyes.

Were these "people" the guests the Empress mentioned?

"Hello, I am Xue Nu."

"Hello, I am Bing Bing."

Xue Nu was the "name" of the Snow Empress. She originally had no name, born from the snow, and with a female form, hence called the Xue Nu.

As for the Bing Bing, whether her clan or other races, they all called her the Bing Bing, hence the name.

"Are you the Empress's guests?"

"Please follow me..."

Those who could be called guests by the Ice God were definitely not ordinary.

Thus, Xue Nu and Bing Bing were very polite.

If it were others, like Di Tian, they wouldn't be so polite.

Having received the "blessing" of the Ice Empress, Di Tian was a thing of the past.

Now, the two "people" could easily crush Di Tian alone.

One could only say it was indeed the "blessing" of the Ice God.

Meanwhile, Tartaglia, who left the Zhongli residence early in the morning, was still on his way to the Extreme North...

Even though he was strong, he was not a god, so his speed was naturally not as fast as Zhongli and the others.

###

Chapter 536: 536: Gathering of the Four Gods

The news of the Ice Empress Tsaritsa reached Tartaglia through Venti.

As an executive, he had the duty to head to the far north to check on the current situation of the Ice Empress.

But just as he "stepped out," Zhongli and the others arrived in the far north.

Tartaglia: Take me with you, I haven't boarded yet!

The far north is not suitable for human survival. Even titled Douluo would feel the cold here, and the chance of ordinary humans surviving here is almost zero.

It's worth noting that even the cheat king of ten thousand years later relied on the remains of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm to survive in the far north during his quasi-Soul Master stage.

If even the cheat king was like this, one can imagine how low the temperature in the far north is.

"A vast expanse of white..."

To say that the far north is beautiful is pure nonsense.

All there is here is a vast expanse of white, with constant wind and snow, and an extremely harsh environment.

In such conditions, how could it be beautiful?

Of course, from another perspective, the far north is also beautiful.

This is land untouched by humans, preserving the most primitive ecology, which is the beauty of primitive nature.

After an unknown period of time, Zhongli and the others arrived at the core area of the far north.

In the vast white snowfield, a palace stood.

This is the palace of the Ice Empress. Even without luxurious decorations, it still appears extraordinary.

"Welcome, everyone."

As everyone stepped into the palace, a soft voice rang out.

This voice was clear with a hint of coldness, yet also a hint of warmth, indicating that the owner of the voice was an extremely "contradictory" god.

The Ice God was the deity who loved humans the most, but later, the Ice God no longer loved humans...

Such a contradiction must signify a significant event.

As the voice fell, a figure appeared before everyone.

Her eyes were gentle, she wore a light blue dress, a crystal crown on her head, and had double helix ponytails...

She was a gentle god, at least she appeared extremely gentle at this moment.

"Morax, Barbatos, Beelzebul, and... the Traveler Lumine and the unidentified flying object."

"Nice to meet you for the first time, I am the Ice God Barbatos."

That's right, as the Ice Archon, one of the Seven Archons, she was indeed meeting Zhongli and the others for the first time.

Because she is not the first-generation Ice Archon, but the second-generation Ice Archon.

Whether it's Morax, Barbatos, or Beelzebul, their ages are much older than the second-generation Ice God.

Although Beelzebul is also a second-generation Electro Archon, this is only in name; she can still be considered the first-generation!

These three are old acquaintances.

"What unidentified flying object, I'm Paimon, Paimon!!"

Paimon protested, trying to correct Tsaritsa's linguistic error.

Everyone else's titles were correct, only she became... an unidentified flying object!

How infuriating!

Stomping her foot in the air, she was angry!

"Alright, Paimon."

Tsaritsa nodded, but her face showed no expression.

"Feels so perfunctory..."

Seeing this, Paimon couldn't help but complain.

This Ice Empress was too perfunctory with her...

However, the queen was quite good-looking.

"Greetings, Tsaritsa." × 4

Everyone responded and took a moment to observe Tsaritsa.

This Ice Empress didn't seem very approachable.

She was right, it was indeed their first meeting, but that didn't affect knowing each other's "true names."

"Please follow me."

Tsaritsa didn't directly ask about Zhongli and the others' purpose but led them to a place resembling a dining room.

One person per table, not a round table.

After everyone was seated, Tsaritsa finally spoke: "May I ask what brings you here today?"

When she sensed Zhongli and the others, Tsaritsa was actually a bit surprised.

She didn't expect these few to have also crossed over.

But she wasn't too shocked because she was also on this continent.

Speaking of which, there was a bit of unpleasantness between Snezhnaya and Inazuma, where an executive from Snezhnaya was killed by the Raiden Shogun while on a mission in Inazuma...

Barbatos knew the reason for the incident well, so she didn't bring it up.

It was entirely Rosalyne's own problem and had little to do with the Raiden Shogun.

"Miss Tsaritsa, don't be so cold."

Seeing the atmosphere a bit chilly, Venti took out some wine jars from somewhere, placed them on the table, and then continued: "Isn't it the New Year?"

"We came to visit you, our colleague."

"See, we even brought fine wine!"

Hearing this, Tsaritsa paused slightly, somewhat bewildered, her eyes filled with confusion.

New Year?

Visiting a colleague?

And brought fine wine?

As one of the Seven Archons, calling them colleagues wasn't wrong.

Since the battle of Khaenri'ah, the Seven Archons had no further interactions, except for the Wind and Geo Archons who remained unchanged, while the other god positions had changed.

Facing Venti's enthusiasm, Tsaritsa felt a bit uncomfortable.

This was the first time she experienced something like this.

At this moment, Tsaritsa's reaction was quite similar to Morax's when Venti first visited Liyue, almost identical.

After a moment of silence, Tsaritsa came back to her senses.

She stood up without speaking and walked towards the ice storage nearby.

Seeing this, Paimon was somewhat puzzled.

"What is this Ice Empress going to do?"

They were guests, and the Ice Empress just left them here?

Before anyone could say anything, Tsaritsa returned.

She was surrounded by ice plates, on which were some specialty fruits from the far north.

"So she went to get food..."

Paimon murmured, this Ice Empress was indeed hard to get along with, but she was also quite nice.

Without speaking, she got things done.

"Currently, the far north only has these, please forgive the poor hospitality."

With a wave of her hand, under the influence of ice-blue divine power, the floating ice plates accurately landed on each table.

Seeing this, Venti also smiled and distributed wine to everyone.

He knew there was no fine wine in the far north, so he had to bring his own!

As time passed, after three rounds of wine and five tastes of fruit.

The relationship between everyone gradually became a bit closer under the influence of fine wine.

"Morax, you are the first among us to cross over here, and also the most experienced."

"Do you think our crossing over is a plot of the Heavenly Principles?"

"After the incident five hundred years ago, she was severely injured and unable to contend with the Seven Archons, so she transferred us all here to control Teyvat..."

Tsaritsa said with a serious expression, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

She had been in the Douluo Continent for some time but couldn't find a way back.

Considering what she was planning to do, such a thought wasn't unfounded.

Paimon: "..."