Chapter 214: The fierce instinct burning deep in one's bones

Although Zhongli's invitation was sincere, it would naturally be inappropriate to directly bring Luo De to the Hall of Repose.

Others don't know what Luo De came here for.

Ningguang and Keqing are all too clear about it.

With this premise in place.

Luo De openly following Zhongli to the Hall of Repose like that would certainly be unsuitable.

It's not that Luo De is afraid of anything.

Rather, Zhongli's identity would be too easy to guess that way.

So after making arrangements with Zhongli to meet again.

Luo De still returned the same way and found Ningguang, who had been waiting all along.

"Sorry, Mr. Luo De, you've come all this way; Ningguang should have prepared a banquet to invite you."

"But at this moment the Emperor has summoned me; I must go to see the Emperor."

"Once today's affairs are settled, I will then apologize to you."

It must be said.

The way the most formidable merchant and the strongest-willed ruler in Liyue speak just makes people feel comfortable.

After saying those words to Luo De, Ningguang slightly bowed and hurried away.

"The Emperor has summoned. Hey—"

Luo De subconsciously touched the Gnosis in his pocket, then smiled and left.

Under the Jade Chamber.

Venti had already been waiting there.

Even though he is also one of the Seven Archons.

In Liyue's territory, even if Zhongli summons Ningguang to discuss state affairs, it's not something he can interfere with.

As for what exactly the matter is.

It must be some arrangements regarding his abdication.

Having Xiao succeed the Geo Archon to take on that original contract for him is indeed a win‑win solution.

But the problem lies in.

Xiao is a martial man; his forte is killing, and he knows nothing about politics and economics, the arts of governance.

Therefore, returning divine authority to mortal rule and letting him act like a pure protector similar to Venti and the Electro Archon is still necessary.

For this, Zhongli must make proper arrangements to avoid any possible chaos and panic.

Therefore.

The matter of abdication still absolutely cannot be called off now.

At the very least, we must wait until Zhongli feels everything is arranged before announcing it to the world.

"Tsk, with that sentence of yours, old sir, you're going to be very busy lately."

Venti, making faces at the Jade Chamber, said a line.

However, from his words.

Luo De didn't hear anything serious from it; instead, it sounded rather schadenfreude.

"Aren't you afraid of getting beaten?"

Luo De pouted and asked.

Venti has been beaten by Zhongli.

He has talked about this before.

Moreover, he shamelessly wrote this incident into his own poems, spreading them far and wide.

Not only that.

What stealing the Ice God's staff, imitating the Geo Archon's signature, drinking dry the Pyro Archon's wine cellar—these dark histories he never missed, he wrote them all into his poems and even personally sang them beneath his own statue.

For this.

The nuns of the West Wind Church have sought him out many times, wanting him to stop singing these songs.

However, Venti never paid attention to these gossips and continues to delight in spreading his dark history.

Mondstadt is a land of freedom.

This freedom includes freedom of speech.

So even if those nuns are furious, aside from polite suggestions, they have no harsher means to stop Venti from uttering those "blasphemous" verses.

In the end, they simply keep their distance whenever they see Venti busking, for fear they might not be able to restrain their anger and strike him, no matter how well he sings.

Followers beating their own deity is a big joke.

Gods beating other gods is an even bigger joke within the joke.

Luo De guessed.

Probably it's just that Venti, this clumsy fellow, keeps getting dealt with by the other gods when he's idle, and he's the type who would shamelessly spread the story of his own beatings everywhere, even daring to recount the full circumstances.

"Hehe—"

Regarding Luo De's question about whether he fears being beaten, Venti gave a sly smile: "Our old friends are down to just the two of us; even if he's angry, he won't hit me like he used to."

Our old friends are down to just two.

Luo De had been laughing while listening to this, but after hearing it he fell silent.

The relationship among Teyvat's original Seven Gods was excellent.

Since the Wind God first visited the Geo Archon, the Seven Gods have often gathered in Liyue.

As previously said, Venti often gets beaten.

That was also mostly just friends teasing each other; no one would get genuinely angry over Venti's pranks.

Times have changed.

Of the old friends, five have fallen; the Seven Archons are now mostly succeeded by unfamiliar second-generation gods, and their once-close ties have largely been severed.

"I haven't finished speaking yet."

Seeing Luo De silent, Venti suggested, "Old Master has been busy these days; taking advantage of this time, I'll take you to meet those adepts and play together."

"Adept?"

Luo De tilted his head: "You're quite familiar with them?"

"Isn't that strange?"

Venti likewise tilted his head and replied, "In Teyvat, there's nobody I don't know."

"Uh"

What a confident answer—Luo De was momentarily speechless.

Venti could be called the very embodiment of Teyvat's street‑rat personality; indeed, his figure can be seen everywhere.

Take, for example, Sumeru's Flower Goddess Festival.

This festival originated from the banquet held when the Great Merciful Tree King celebrated his birthday, at which the gods gathered; by then, the Wind God Venti, inspired by drink, played the lyre to honor the Great Merciful Tree King, after which the Great Merciful Tree King sang, the Flower Goddess danced, and even the gods present remained intoxicated, a memory hard to forget.

The Flower Goddess Festival thus came down from that divine banquet.

Thus, looking at it this way,

Venti was naturally on the best terms with Zhongli, so it's only natural that he's also familiar with those adepts.

Next,

One could see Venti's spirits high as he reminisced about the past there.

"You're young; you haven't seen what we were like back then."

"We'll have to start from the gathering of the Seven Archons."

"Although it's called a gathering of the gods, no one comes alone; everyone brings their favorite retinue or subordinates to Liyue."

Having said that,

Luo De interrupted him: "May I ask? Who did you bring? Tevalin? What's his size?"

Luo De gestured with his hands to indicate.

Even knowing it was a gathering of the gods,

bringing Tevalin, whose size rivals a mountain, wouldn't Venti fear causing panic among the populace?

"You don't know, Tevalin can take human form, right?"

Venti gave Luo De a strange look: "When we arrived, he was in dragon form, flying with me; once we reached the venue, he turned human and went to the banquet with us."

"Then it's fine; please continue."

After confronting Tevalin in dragon form, Luo De forgot that such high‑level elemental beings can change their shape according to will.

"Eh, then can the Ruotuo Longwang also assume human form?"

Luo De stroked his chin, pondering.

"Exactly, Old Master always brings that dragon king to his banquets."

Venti seemed to see through Luo De's thoughts, smiling narrowly: "As the host in Liyue, the adepts all come with Old Master to welcome us."

"Oh."

"Ah?"

Luo De blinked: "What you just said, was that the Ruotuo Longwang?"

"Yes, though that fellow's temper isn't very good."

Venti spread his hands: "At first Old Master always brought him; later he kept fighting with others, so Old Master stopped bringing him."

His temper isn't very good.

Luo De guessed the reason.

It's still that old chestnut—wear and tear.

Speaking of which,

Luo De never figured it out; logically, long‑lived species should endure the wear and tear brought by time, so why is the Ruotuo Longwang's wear so severe?

If I remember correctly,

Not long after the Archon War ended, the Ruotuo Longwang fell into the pain caused by wear and tear, forced to retreat to the Chasm's depths to recuperate, and later even relied on Zhongli, who likewise suffers from wear, to help him resist it.

Yet in the end he was tormented to the point of losing his reason, breaking the pact he had made with Zhongli, he ruthlessly attacked Liyue, ultimately provoking the adeptus‑monster war that shook all of Liyue.

The temper Venti spoke of isn't very good.

Probably at that time the Ruotuo Longwang was already suffering from wear and tear; Zhongli bringing him to the Archons' banquet was likely also meant to let him relax.

But the result wasn't satisfactory.

The jovial atmosphere of the Archons' banquet couldn't ease the Ruotuo Longwang's wear and tear, and conflicts still arose from time to time.

"Fate toys with people."

Thinking of this, Luo De couldn't help but sigh.

"Who would say otherwise?"

Venti echoed him, then continued the previous topic: "I met the adepts back then; it was lively—there was delicious food, fine wine, lovely music, dancing; when the mood struck, we'd go out to wrestle, while others cheered for their favored side, and the losers would down a cup of wine or do something else."

"Hiss——"

"Once I had a drinking contest with that shadow warrior and won; as punishment I made her prepare a pastry, and the gods present could barely make it home."

Bringing that up,

Venti still looked shaken.

"Eh?"

"Explain in detail."

Luo De became interested.

Shadow warrior.

Only one person is called by that name at the Seven Archons' gathering.

That person really can't cook.

I just didn't expect that.

She actually still has such a dark history.

And the creator of that dark history is actually Venti.

Upon further thought, Venti, who always has a face thicker than a city wall, actually didn't write this past event into his own dark history poem.

This is interesting.

What kind of snack could make even the peak Seven Archons barely able to return home, and even Venti unwilling to mention it much?

"Forget it, don't mention it."

Whenever Venti recalls that scene, his face still turns pale: "It's too scary, scarier than when I faced the Storm Archon head-on during the Archon War."

"Huh—"

"It's so scary."

Luo De twitched the corner of his mouth, suppressing the urge to laugh.

Don't say it.

These stories among the gods really do have quite a few interesting things.

However, Luo De didn't wait for Venti's next gossip.

Instead, he saw him suddenly close his mouth, stop his steps, and look ahead, puckering his lips at Luo De.

"Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

Luo De looked ahead.

What came into view was a girl with purple hair.

That girl was currently supporting an old woman's arm as they strolled down the street, and beside them was a little brown bear following along.

"Xiangling, it's her."

The last time Luo De came to Liyue, he had seen Xiangling at the Hall of Ten Thousand People; he just didn't know if Xiangling still remembered him.

"Say, I was just telling you about going to see an immortal, and here we've run into one."

Saying this, Venti's eyes smiled into crescent moons.

Quite obvious.

Seeing this old friend made him very happy.

"True Monarch of Song Dust Wandering World."

That old woman's appearance is not quite the same as Luo De's impression.

In his memory, this immortal, whose title is True Monarch of Song Dust Wandering World and who calls herself Pin Laolao, was merely a generic appearance template; thrown into a crowd, she would be just an ordinary old lady.

But now, this Pin Laolao not far from him—

They say she's called Laolao.

Actually, she doesn't have the feeble look of an old person; instead, she stands straight, her steps steady, her silver hair coiled high, held by an ancient-style hairpin; though her face is full of wrinkles, she has a vigor that old people lack.

One could say that if Venti hadn't confirmed and Xiangling weren't beside her, Luo De wouldn't have realized she is that immortal hidden in the mundane world.

"This True Monarch of Song Dust Wandering World and I get along swimmingly~~~"

Venti laughed happier and happier: "She plays the zither very well; back when there were no Seven Archon gatherings, I would sometimes go to Liyue to find her and discuss music."

"A zither buddy."

"No wonder it's so familiar."

Luo De asked: "Do you want to go catch up?"

He said.

He checked the time.

The time he had agreed to meet with Zhongli was still far off; if Venti wanted to go, accompanying him for a while would be fine.

No matter how you say it.

Luo De doesn't have many acquaintances in Liyue.

Only Venti, the god he knows from Mondstadt, is someone he can chat with; anyway, being idle is being idle, so following Venti, this all-knowing guy, around is not bad.

However, this was unexpected for Luo De.

Venti shook his head: "Forget it, we're not going; she's currently enjoying her family bliss; we'll visit her again when we have time."

"Oh, okay."

Luo De didn't continue to persuade him, nodded, and shifted his gaze.

No matter how you say it, she is a powerful immortal.

Moreover, Pin Laolao and Xiangling have an Archon accompanying them.

If they stare for too long, with their sharpness, they'll easily notice Luo De and Venti.

Venti does the same.

Unlike Luo De, he also glanced at that silly-looking little bear.

Stove God Makexius.

The current name is scorched rice.

Before Luo De went to the Hall of Rebirth, he hadn't seen him.

This one is also an Archon worthy of respect.

During the Archon War of old.

Zhongli's ally, the Dust God Hargitus's governed Return-Leaf Collection was destroyed by a flood unleashed by the invading Archon, the Dust God himself perished in that battle, and the Return-Leaf Collection was utterly shattered, corpses littering the wilderness.

To repair the devastated land, during the war the Stove God Markasus continually poured his divine power into the earth, hoping to salvage the Liyue land that had been ravaged and shattered by the Archon War.

After the Archon War.

He also chose to completely overexert his Archon power, losing most of his intellect and becoming the simple-minded fool he is now, sacrificing himself to restore Liyue's former fertile land.

What a pity.

That land once honored as Liyue's granary, lush and fertile, has been completely destroyed; even if the land returns to its original state, it can no longer be farmed normally.

"Wait——"

Thinking this through, Luo De let out a soft 'yi', rubbed his chin, and said: "The reason that plot can't be planted is because after being scoured by the flood, it turned into heavily salinized alkali soil, right?"

Quite a coincidence.

Desert, too, is a kind of salinized alkali land!

I don't know why.

Luo De then had another restless idea.

(End of chapter)