Chapter 17

Does he dare to mention revenge?

That is a Great Luo we are talking about!

What right or ability does he have to harbor hatred toward them?

Jiang Yan shook his head helplessly.

"Revenge... I have never thought about it, I dare not think about it, and I cannot think about it."

"Shushan was indeed destroyed by the hands of the Great Luo, but what right or ability do I have to speak of taking revenge on the Great Luo?"

"I do not even dare to harbor hatred toward the Great Luo."

"In the battles of the past, countless worlds across the heavens and myriad realms were destroyed; I am merely one of the unremarkable victims of this catastrophe."

"There are surely other Taiyi who survived, but do they dare to harbor hatred toward the Great Luo?"

"Everything the Great Luo does is right, and everything the Great Luo says is truth."

"To be destroyed by the Great Luo is because we are not strong enough; it is what we deserve. Anything the Great Luo does is correct."

"This is the common understanding shared by everyone in the heavens and myriad realms who knows of the Great Luo's existence."

"If one is destroyed by the Great Luo, then it must be the fault of the one being destroyed."

Hearing Jiang Yan say this, Cloud Retainer was instantly enraged.

"How can you speak such cowardly words?"

"Since you say so, you bear the blood feud of the millions of comrades of Shushan."

"Your ancestors and your master risked their lives to send you out, yet you fear the Great Luo and speak such weak words!"

"I truly misjudged you!"

Perhaps because she was moved, thinking of the countless comrades who fought to the death to protect Liyue during the Archon War.

And the stories of them taking revenge for their fallen comrades.

Cloud Retainer truly found it difficult to accept Jiang Yan's cowardly stance.

Ganyu, standing to the side, pulled on Cloud Retainer in a difficult position, wanting her to stop.

"I know, the words I speak sound like the words of a coward and an incompetent person to your ears."

"But what other choice do I have?"

Jiang Yan asked in return.

"Do you know what a Great Luo is?"

"Teyvat belongs to the universe of the Tree and the Sea, yet the universe of the Tree and the Sea is but an insignificant middle-thousand world among the heavens and myriad realms."

"Worlds like Teyvat are as countless as the sands of the Ganges in the heavens and myriad realms."

"And what of the Great Luo?"

Jiang Yan's gaze grew dim, and after a moment of silence, he whispered:

"Not to mention the Great Luo, even a Golden Immortal can create countless small-thousand worlds with a single thought."

"The Great Luo are born at the beginning of the Dao and persist until the end of the Dao."

"To them, the heavens and myriad realms are merely a tiny sandbox for a game."

"They never care about the heavens and myriad realms; only the Great Luo can converse with the Great Luo."

"So much time has passed since the war of the Great Luo, yet I have never seen the reflection of any Great Luo disappear in any myth."

"Do you know what this means?"

"The Great Luo are immortal; even an enemy who is also a Great Luo cannot kill a Great Luo."

"They can reset everything in the heavens and myriad realms with a thought, depending entirely on their mood."

"The Great Luo have no past or future, only the present."

"Once attained, it is attained forever; in all time and space, they are eternally free and unfettered."

"How am I to take revenge on such an enemy? What does it matter if I harbor hatred? The Great Luo does not care."

"No matter how much I struggle, I am ultimately nothing more than an insect unworthy of the stage."

"The Great Luo cannot be seen, heard, thought of, or contemplated."

"We cultivators seek the Dao, but in our entire lives, who has truly attained it?"

"And what of the Great Luo?"

"They are born having attained the Dao!"

"I can only abandon everything from my past and desperately hope to survive."

"Only if I survive can I reshape Shushan and ensure that the legacy of Shushan is not completely severed."

"I have no other way..."

This was the first time Zhongli and the others had heard Jiang Yan describe the Great Luo so precisely; just hearing it, they felt a despair that was impossible to defy welling up in their hearts.

As Jiang Yan said, encountering such an enemy meant one could only blame their own bad luck.

Revenge?

To put it bluntly.

If all of Shushan were bound together, what would they count for in the eyes of a Great Luo?

A single spit would drown them all.

Cloud Retainer fell silent, and after a long while, she said with some guilt:

"I am sorry, I..."

"It is fine."

Jiang Yan waved his hand and said calmly:

"You do not understand the terror of the Great Luo, so it is not strange how you view me. Only by truly understanding the terror of the Great Luo can one understand..."

"That is an existence that no one can defy, even after spending a lifetime reading through the heavens and myriad realms."

"They are the absolute Dao."

Cloud Retainer's earth-shattering question had indeed forced Jiang Yan to think carefully about his response.

Regardless, it seemed he had managed to get through it for now.

He was not particularly good at fooling people, after all.

Had he not gone a bit too far this time?

In the future, it would be better to make up fewer of these backstories.

Cloud Retainer, opposite him, opened her mouth and looked at Jiang Yan, feeling that he was suppressing his grief.

At this moment, Cloud Retainer felt as never before that she really shouldn't have such a big mouth.

Zhongli, Xiao, and the others looked at Cloud Retainer with some dissatisfaction.

It is said that one should not judge what one does not know.

Cloud Retainer had acted on her own, standing on what she thought was justice to make a judgment.

It truly made Zhongli and the others feel quite awkward.

"My apologies, Cloud Retainer is blunt; I will punish myself with a cup on her behalf."

Zhongli gently lifted his teacup and took a sip.

Jiang Yan shook his head slightly.

"There is no need for that; Cloud Retainer, after all, does not understand what the existence of the Great Luo truly signifies."

"However, I hope that in the future, everyone will not mention the name of the Great Luo again."

"It permeates the heavens; wherever it is mentioned, the Great Luo will surely sense it."

Zhongli was stunned, his pupils constricted, and he felt a sense of fear he had never experienced before.

"You mean... we just mentioned them..."

Jiang Yan nodded.

"They know now."

"..."

A feeling of horror surged into everyone's hearts; for a moment, Zhongli and the others felt the air around them freeze.

It was as if, in the next moment, a giant hand covering the sky would reach down and crush Teyvat like an ant.

"Do not worry."

Jiang Yan chuckled, shook his head, and said:

"I have said it before: the Great Luo does not care about existences below them, whether it be people or worlds."

"The myths of the Great Luo are spread throughout the heavens and myriad realms, and people are chanting them at every moment. If they were to take it seriously, the entire heavens and myriad realms would have been destroyed long ago."