Genshin Impact: I Made the Entire Playerbase Cry

The three of them stepped onto the floating stone slab.

Mu Yang looked down. Wouldn't ordinary people's legs go weak standing on this thing?

There weren't even any safety measures.

The game hadn't shown it, but now they were truly experiencing this process firsthand.

Paimon could fly, so it didn't matter to her. Mu Yang glanced at Lumine and shifted slightly, nudging her to stand closer to the center.

The three were transported to the Jade Chamber.

Just as the storytellers had described—

At a single glance, the entirety of Liyue Harbor could be taken in.

Ningguang walked out of the palace with her two secretaries in tow.

From the players' perspective, the focus was on her jade-like feet.

[A very deliberate close-up.]

[Holy shit, miHoYo's really going for it—they know I love legs.]

[Is that a tattoo? Now I love it even more.]

[My screen's a little dirty, let me lick it first.]

[Hurry up and serve the feast!]

"You've kept us waiting."

The eager Paimon's eyes sparkled. "Wow, it's Ningguang!"

"It's our first meeting, so we prepared a gift. We hope you like it!"

Paimon handed Ningguang a gift box containing a Sugar-Frosted Slime.

"For me? How thoughtful. I invited you here, yet you went out of your way to prepare something."

Ningguang was surprisingly down-to-earth, not having her secretaries receive it on her behalf. Instead, she took it with both hands.

The gesture earned her some goodwill from Lumine.

Ningguang was also a discerning woman—she could tell at a glance that the box wasn't ordinary.

She handed it to the secretary behind her, instructing her to place it on her desk.

Paimon: "No trouble at all, hehe."

Lumine: "The Jade Chamber is beautiful."

Ningguang: "Haha, I'm glad you think so."

After speaking, Ningguang dismissed her attendants and the Millelith guards, leading Lumine and the others to the very front of the platform.

As she walked, she explained:

"The palace floats higher than any mountain. From here, you can see all of Liyue Harbor."

"From the age I began learning business, I started saving funds to build it."

"After becoming the Tianquan, I invited the finest craftsmen to expand it further…"

"At first, it was only the size of a room. Now, it can blot out the true silver moon above Liyue."

Ningguang's tone was light, but Mu Yang knew just how much she had sacrificed for this palace.

What a shame… It'll be gone soon.

Ningguang smiled faintly, not bothering to conceal her ambition.

"I believe that one day, its shadow will stretch over all seven nations."

She also openly admitted to Lumine that ever since they had entered Liyue, she had been sending informants to keep tabs on them.

The revelation made Lumine break out in a cold sweat.

"Surveillance? I haven't done anything wrong, have I? Is wearing unusual clothing in Liyue a crime?"

[Lumine's thought process is something else.]

[She's been learning from Paimon.]

Ningguang clarified that wasn't the case—she often exchanged letters with the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, Jean.

In those letters, Jean had spoken highly of the Honorary Knight.

That was why Ningguang had taken special interest in Lumine.

Lumine: "Your way of showing interest is making me sweat."

Paimon: "So we were being watched when we went to Wangshu Inn to find Xiao?"

Ningguang raised a brow. "Oh? As expected of someone Jean holds in high regard. Your observational skills are sharp."

"That's right. Every single person in Wangshu Inn is one of ours."

This time, though Paimon was shocked, she at least didn't slip up and expose Mu Yang.

Which Mu Yang was grateful for.

But the occasional glances Ningguang sent his way suggested she already knew everything.

"We met another one of the Qixing this morning—the Yuheng."

Lumine brought up Keqing, hoping to gauge Ningguang's stance through her.

"An encounter in front of the inn where you were staying, correct?"

Paimon felt suffocated.

No one would feel comfortable knowing they were being watched the entire time.

"You weren't… secretly watching us from the sky, were you?"

Mu Yang was nine, if not ten, parts impressed by Paimon's deduction skills.

Sometimes she was sharp, but the things she said were like something out of Kogoro Mouri's mouth.

It was true that the Jade Chamber offered a view of all Liyue Harbor, but with so many tall buildings and mountains in the way—

Unless Ningguang had clairvoyance, there was no way she could've seen them with Keqing from up here.

Ningguang relied on Liyue Harbor's network of informants.

If you walked down the streets of Liyue and passed a group of ordinary children playing—

Some of them might be Ningguang's eyes.

Or maybe all of them were.

That was her method.

Lumine continued on the topic of Keqing. "Keqing said you wouldn't secretly harm Rex Lapis."

"You have close ties with the adepti, so it's only natural you distrust us. The reason I invited you here today is to clear up some misunderstandings."

When Ningguang mentioned the adepti, her gaze lingered on Mu Yang, who had remained silent beside Lumine.

As for Mu Yang's attitude, Ningguang didn't seem displeased.

Compared to the others she had met before, Mu Yang's demeanor was the most composed.

No pressure, no mocking remarks.

Mu Yang's thoughts: Thanks, but I'm maintaining a cold, amnesiac persona—what do you expect me to say?

Ningguang then dropped a bombshell.

"Have you heard of the Archon War?"

Mu Yang's sword hand twitched—not by his own will, but as a physical reaction.

He quickly tried to suppress it with his thoughts.

But Ningguang and Lumine were both sharp.

They immediately noticed the anomaly.

[Whoa, what's up with Mu Yang?]

[What's the Archon War?]

[Brace yourselves, boys—something big's coming.]

Lumine asked Mu Yang with concern, "Are you okay?"

Mu Yang shook his head slightly. "I'm fine."

To Ningguang, he said, "I'd like to hear about… the Archon War as well."

Ningguang recalled earlier, when Cloud Retainer had been whispering to Ganyu.

Ganyu had been acting strange when she delivered the letter—

She hadn't even relayed the passphrase.

And when she returned, she seemed even more melancholic.

Now, seeing Mu Yang's reaction, Ningguang could guess a few things.

Even among the adepti, their experiences couldn't have been the same.

This one before her seemed to be suffering greatly from memory loss.

Ningguang parted her crimson lips. "Once, there were many gods, and a war that lasted ages—until it finally ended two thousand years ago."

"Countless lives were lost, and blood was spilled without end."

"In the end, only seven victors remained on the continent of Teyvat. They built nations and cities upon the remains of the defeated, ushering in the era of the Seven Archons."

Ningguang pointed in a certain direction.

The three of them followed her gesture and saw—

A breathtakingly majestic sight.

"That place is Guyun Stone Forest. It isn't a natural formation, but a massive stone spear cast by Rex Lapis during the war."

Lumine was stunned. "A single stone spear could alter the landscape to this extent?"

Ningguang: "Not only that. Beneath those spears lie the defeated gods of old—those who failed to claim one of the seven seats."

"Not only can gods die, but even among The Seven, there have been changes over these two thousand years."

"Rex Lapis's passing is an unimaginable catastrophe for Liyue, but the system of the Seven Archons in Teyvat will not collapse."

Paimon rubbed her little head. "You mean… there'll be a new Geo Archon?"

Ningguang nodded.

"A new Geo Archon will emerge eventually. But how could we ever forget Rex Lapis?"

"When that time comes, the relationship between the people of Liyue and the adepti will inevitably differ from the past."

"Even in this new era, the Liyue Qixing remain Rex Lapis's former subjects."

"The crime of raising a blade against Rex Lapis… Do you think we could bear such a sin?"