Chapter 1: A person in Teyvat, already the Heavenly Principles

Liyue, atop Mt. Tianheng, two men stand looking out at the brightly lit Liyue Harbor not far away.

"How about it? Morax, how about handing the Gnosis over to me?" A white-clad man with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, possessing a refined and handsome air, asks the man beside him who is dressed in black and gold with golden eyes.

"The Gnosis?" Morax, also known as Zhong Li, takes out a chess piece imbued with a rich aura of Geo energy, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

Heaven help him, even Morax was stunned at this moment.

As the oldest god currently on the Teyvat continent, he had been a witness to the great war between the First Wang Zuo and the Second Wang Zuo. He had seen all manner of great storms and waves, yet upon meeting this youth, he found himself unable to regain his composure for a moment!

Although the youth's strength was still very weak, the aura he carried was undoubtedly that of the Heavenly Principles.

When had the Heavenly Principles changed?

Why was he completely unaware of it?

Moreover, the information the other party provided was truly too shocking: the Heavenly Principles had died, and the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles had fallen into a deep slumber.

He had become the new Heavenly Principles. Currently, the barrier of the Teyvat continent was still being maintained by the previous Heavenly Principles, but it could last for at most five years. If the other party could not grow during this time, the Teyvat continent would be annihilated by the Abyss.

Such words sounded like alarmism, but after Zhong Li felt the other party's aura—which was indeed the aura of the Heavenly Principles—and realized he could no longer contact Celestia using the Gnosis, he had no choice but to believe the other party's words.

"Yes! It is the Gnosis.

In exchange, once my strength grows in the future, I can help you and your friends resolve the issue of erosion.

Furthermore, I can also help you resolve the Abyssal invasions and the remnants of gods in the Liyue region!" The man named Seeing Mu Yang said with a serious tone.

His gaze would occasionally drift to the Gnosis in Zhong Li's hand; he had a premonition that this Gnosis would provide him with a great boost and unlock new abilities!

Although the Gnosis was merely a token distributed by the Heavenly Principles, and even gods like Barbatos, Morax, and Beelzebub held the Gnosis in disdain, for him—a transmigrator who had just arrived in Teyvat and had muddled his way into becoming the new Heavenly Principles—it was of vital importance!

"It is indeed a very tempting condition; it is even a profit for my side!" Zhong Li glanced at the Gnosis in his hand, then looked at Liyue Harbor in the distance: "The Gnosis itself was an object handed to us by the previous Heavenly Principles. Now that you wish to take it back, it is only right and proper.

However, as the new Heavenly Principles, how do you view Liyue?"

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?" Seeing Mu Yang looked at Zhong Li with a serious expression and asked.

"Since I have asked, I naturally wish to hear the truth!" Zhong Li felt a moment of speechlessness inside; this new Heavenly Principles did not seem like the previous one at all!!

He seemed relatively easy to get along with.

Previously, to verify his abilities, he had even specifically taken him to purify a portion of Abyssal filth. The other party could indeed accomplish this; perhaps this was the main reason he could become the new Heavenly Principles, though this purification speed was somewhat slow, and it seemed to consume a great deal of the other party's stamina.

However, this was enough for him to invest in the other party.

"If it is the truth, then behind the apparent prosperity, quite a few problems have already emerged. If you, the Geo Archon, were to always exist, these problems would be covered up. Once you, the Geo Archon, are gone, these problems will be exposed bit by bit," Seeing Mu Yang said with a serious expression.

Yet his words caused Zhong Li to be moved. Could it be that the other party knew about his plan to retire?

And was Liyue really as bad as the other party said?

"You must have guessed that I come from outside this world!

What I want to tell you is that I myself do not know how I came to the Teyvat continent or how I became the new Heavenly Principles!

But since I have become the Heavenly Principles, I naturally must protect this world!

Likewise, I am both human and the Heavenly Principles." Seeing Mu Yang paused and continued: "In the world I was in before, there were no so-called gods. At first, humans were ignorant, and gods were more like a means for the upper echelons to fool the common people.

With the liberation of human thought, humans also became increasingly bold, just like the current Snezhnaya; as long as it is something they want, they dare to do it.

In just a few decades, two large-scale wars broke out, with the death toll exceeding one hundred million.

In fact, in the thousands of years of our human development, we were almost at war every year!

Humans can start wars and plunder for the sake of their own resources and interests!"

Zhong Li was directly moved upon hearing this. Was a world without gods like that?

This made him involuntarily think of that nation that ran with all its might!

Even he felt great admiration for that nation, but thinking of what they had done, Zhong Li fell silent.

It seems that nation was indeed very crazy; they not only researched the power of the ley lines and the power of the Abyss, but they even captured weak gods to study!

Otherwise, the Heavenly Principles would not have led them to annihilate it.

He seemed to still not understand humans well enough.

"Moreover, this is only an external problem. Have you not considered the class issues in Liyue now?" Following this, Seeing Mu Yang continued: "A merchant's child is a merchant, and the children of the Qixing will inevitably be able to join Liyue's official institutions, while it is very difficult for the children of commoners to change themselves and cross classes.

People like Ningguang are, after all, a minority!

You can imagine, if not for your existence, which makes some people afraid to act recklessly, what kind of treatment would people like Ningguang receive?"

Zhong Li fell silent upon hearing this. He understood Seeing Mu Yang's meaning. Indeed, these problems existed in Liyue; he had just ignored them before, believing that humans could change themselves and slowly improve all of this.

Now, assuming for a moment that if he disappeared and the adepti did not interfere, I fear Liyue's power would be completely controlled by the Qixing and the Eight Sects, classes would become increasingly solidified, and people like Ningguang would find it very difficult to grow!

Unless the other party joined them, they would be suppressed!

Thinking of this, Zhong Li felt a chill of fear. He asked Seeing Mu Yang in a deep voice: "Then, if it were you governing Liyue, what would you do?" ===== CHAPTER 3 =====