Genshin Impact's Incense Burner Of Liyue.

"Uh, Lord Azhdaha… it's not that I don't want to let you out. It's just that your seal was placed by the Geo Archon along with several adepti. I wouldn't dare to release you."

Gu Sanqiu sighed helplessly. "If this were a seal placed by my own ancestors, I'd release you right now without a second thought."

"The winds have been shifting lately, you know? I'd love to have a powerful elder like you backing me up."

"So you can actually let me out?"

Azhdaha looked surprised, grabbing Gu Sanqiu with his enormous claw.

"I take back what I said earlier. You might not be much of a schemer, but your strength… you've inherited some of Gu Shen's talent after all."

"Come on, release me now."

…

"Lord Azhdaha, if I let you out, it'd just be you and me under the Fulong Tree by the end of the day."

"Hmph. That's fair. Morax probably already knows you're here visiting me."

Azhdaha tossed Gu Sanqiu aside. "How confident are you about breaking this seal?"

"My family has a copy of the array diagram. As long as I have enough elemental energy, I'm fully confident I can break it. After all, destruction is much easier than creation."

Gu Sanqiu shrugged. "But now's not the time."

"With your lingering malice still inside you, I wouldn't stand a chance of suppressing it. For now, you'll have to endure this place a little longer."

"Malice, is it? Hmph."

"Oh, right."

Gu Sanqiu turned toward Azhdaha. "There are actually two things I wanted to ask you."

"Speak."

"First, you seemed to have a habit of burying my ancestors into the ley lines. Was that some kind of… treatment? Like a way to suppress the strange will I mentioned?"

"Burying them in the ley lines?"

Azhdaha shot Gu Sanqiu a glance. "You're overthinking it. That was simply because your ancestors annoyed me. Do you think it's easy to bury someone in the ley lines?"

"Uh… isn't it?"

Azhdaha shook his head. "Without my protection, your ancestors would've been turned into mindless fools in three minutes, washed away by the overwhelming flow of ley line energy. They'd have been completely assimilated, and you wouldn't even exist now."

"Don't overthink it. It wasn't some kind of treatment. What's your second question?"

"There's a family rule—one I've never quite understood."

Gu Sanqiu hesitated.

"It's a rule about you, Lord Azhdaha."

"No matter what happens in the future, descendants of the family must not resent the Lord of the Vishaps."

Boom!

The elemental prison trembled violently. The Fulong Tree and much of the surrounding Jueyun Karst shook with a massive quake. The slimes Gu Sanqiu had fed to rotund perfection were launched into the air, bouncing back down and springing up again in an almost comical fashion.

"…He said that, huh?"

Azhdaha fixed his gaze on Gu Sanqiu. "You want to know the truth?"

"Yes. I want to know the truth behind all of this. My family has so many strange and confusing rules—one even says we should avoid contact with the adepti unless absolutely necessary. But this rule about you stands out. It's too specific. It's impossible not to notice."

"You already know why I was sealed, don't you?"

Azhdaha's voice grew heavy. "Because of the excessive mining of the Chasm, combined with erosion, the ancient Geo Vishap and I shook the mountains and caused great devastation through the ley lines."

"Your family was the first to come forward to stop me—and they paid a heavy price for it."

Gu Sanqiu was silent. "Their lives?"

"Yes."

Azhdaha stared at him. "As for the family rule you mentioned… perhaps their thoughts were different from mine."

Gu Sanqiu looked back at him. "But in the end, you were sealed."

"Erosion is a terrifying force. Add the Chasm into the equation, and it's even worse."

"As for avoiding contact with the adepti, that rule likely stems from the same incident. The adepti themselves are not immune to erosion's influence."

Azhdaha lay back down. "So, there's your truth, boy. Anything else you want to ask?"

"That's… a heavy truth."

"The truth is always heavy, boy."

Gu Sanqiu approached and wrapped his arms around Azhdaha's massive head, resting against it.

"Well, it's lucky you're just a smaller projection of yourself. Otherwise, I'd never be able to hug this giant head of yours."

"What are you doing?"

Azhdaha pushed him away with a claw. "Get off me."

"Nothing. As a descendant of the Gu family, I think I finally understand why my ancestors made that rule."

Gu Sanqiu smiled. "First, to ensure future generations could learn the truth, so misunderstandings wouldn't lead to something even worse."

"And second, they wanted to use us—their descendants—to tell you something: that stopping you was their choice. Even if it cost them their lives, they didn't regret it."

"They didn't hate you, Lord Azhdaha."

"If they'd wanted to play it safe, they could've called the Geo Archon directly. But they didn't. Instead, they chose to face you themselves, hoping to restore your sanity."

"If the Archon had intervened, there wouldn't have been a chance to restore your mind. He would've sealed you directly—because he has the entire nation of Liyue to protect."

"It was for you, Lord Azhdaha—for the bond between you and my family—that they risked their lives."

"They… don't hate me."

Azhdaha lowered his head, chewing on those words. Even the aura of his true form beneath the Fulong Tree seemed to grow clearer and more serene.

"No, they don't hate you."

Gu Sanqiu spoke with conviction. "There's a saying in a world blessed by a great creator: 'When life meets life, something beautiful is always born.'"

"And for those beautiful things, there will always be people who will sacrifice everything—even their lives."

"Ha… hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHA!"

The entire Jueyun Karst and Nantianmen area trembled again. Even the three adepti meditating in their abodes couldn't help but soar into the air, casting their spiritual senses toward the Fulong Tree.

"Begone!"

A massive shadow of Azhdaha swept through their spiritual probes, and an overwhelming force hurled them back across a great distance.

"They don't hate me… they don't hate me… HAHAHAHA!"

Underneath the Fulong Tree, Azhdaha roared with laughter.

"The generations of children I watched grow… the ones who died because of me—they don't hate me!"

The Fulong Tree shed beams of gentle light, weaving through the area like the hem of a goddess's gown. The light swept over all nearby creatures, and the already-oversized slimes plumped up even more.

"Lord Azhdaha, calm down! Calm down! If you don't, the old man's going to show up!"

Gu Sanqiu lunged forward and clung to one of Azhdaha's massive legs. The elemental prison didn't stop his spiritual senses from observing the outside world.

Everything outside was bursting with life, glowing brilliantly. If this continued, the place might truly become a paradise—but Azhdaha would definitely end up with a Sealing PLUS punishment.

And possibly a human prison mate as a bonus.

I'm still young—I don't want to go to prison!

"Hmph. That conniving Morax. If you've got the guts, come see me face-to-face!"

Azhdaha grumbled, but he still reined himself in.

---

T/N: aww thats so cute

I couldn't find a vic- I mean someone to do endnotes...so here's my obligatory shilling [patreon.com/WiseTL]