The afternoon in Liyue Harbor was alive with noise and energy.
The farce involving Wangsheng Funeral Parlor gradually wound to a close. Before long, Liyue Harbor returned to its usual rhythm — calm and steady, just like any other day. The market was still packed with voices, and long queues had formed at the fruit stalls. But one by one, the vendors began hanging up their signs.
[Today's imported Sumeru fruits — SOLD OUT]
The news left more than a few latecomers and wealthy young masters utterly crestfallen, lamenting aloud that they had missed their chance at such exquisite produce.
At Three Bowls Drunk, the storyteller's voice rang out with crisp, measured cadence, and the tea-house patrons sipped and listened, same as always. Only one thing was different: the tea table where Zhongli used to sit remained empty.
This was the crowd's small tribute to him. Just for this one day — at least give the man a shred of dignity.
[...Countless sea creatures crossed the ocean, surging into Liyue Harbor! The slimy, viscous things clung to the buildings and caused tremendous trouble. His Excellency the Rex Lapis himself was deeply vexed by the whole affair...]
Just as everyone was leaning in, thoroughly absorbed, a familiar silhouette quietly appeared.
After enduring an entire afternoon of nonsense, Zhongli had ultimately decided to come back and hear the rest of the story. He figured he deserved at least that much, as compensation for the afternoon he'd had.
Hu Tao had granted him time off, naturally. As Hall Master of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, she understood perfectly well what a black-and-white portrait meant. But she had found Ye Xi to be the rare sort of genuinely entertaining person — so she had played along with his game. Consider it payback for all of Zhongli's chronic slacking and chronic avoidance of any real work.
Zhongli had only just settled into his usual seat when a wave of screaming erupted around him.
Every tea-house patron and passerby went pale with terror, scattering in all directions.
"Aaahh——! A ghost! There's a ghost!"
"M-Mr. Zhongli! How — how is this possible! He... he's risen from the dead——!"
"Ah... poor Mr. Zhongli, he just couldn't bear to leave!"
"Zhongli, it's time to go! Move on in peace——! Let it go! Let it all go!"
"..."
Zhongli pressed a hand to his forehead in resignation, a faint, creeping despair settling over him.
"Today has taken yet another heavy toll on my dignity..."
Life was truly not easy. Zhongli sighed.
He found himself thinking — perhaps he ought to start over. The alias [Zhongli] was thoroughly, irreparably ruined.
Only Iron Tongue Tian, the storyteller beside him, kept right on telling his tale — voice trembling, but never stopping.
It wasn't that he wasn't frightened. It was that he didn't dare to stop.
He knew Zhongli had loved listening to his stories in life. What if he had come back for one last chapter? If Tian stopped before the story was finished and Zhongli decided to drag him along for company — that would be a true catastrophe.
Heavens, the sin of it!
....
Yuehai Pavilion.
"Hahahahaha...."
Ye Xi listened to the Millelith's report and laughed without a shred of decency.
Of course. He had sent someone to shadow Zhongli, with orders to relay anything entertaining back to him. He hadn't expected it to be this funny.
Beside him, Keqing and Ningguang exchanged a look of quiet discomfort. They wanted to laugh along — but laughing too freely felt a bit much, considering that was a god they were talking about. And yet keeping a straight face felt like they were failing to keep up with Ye Xi's mood.
There was, however, one thing they both fully admired.
Ye Xi's connections.
The man had married two Dendro Archons, cracked jokes in front of the Geo Archon's face, and the Geo Archon hadn't minded in the slightest. What kind of standing did someone need to act with that much abandon?
And that was precisely the most remarkable part — Rex Lapis himself didn't mind.
The legendary Rex Lapis was said to be like an immovable stone, swift and decisive in all things, killing when he chose to kill. For Ye Xi and Hu Tao to pull something like this and not draw his ire — that was genuinely extraordinary.
Of course, in truth, Zhongli couldn't possibly feel displeased over something like this. After all, he had watched with his own eyes how much effort and energy Ye Xi had put into running back and forth for the sake of Liyue Harbor's development.
For one, Ye Xi was a candidate for the future throne.
For another, Ye Xi had no ties to Liyue by blood or bond, and yet he was helping build it anyway.
On both counts, Zhongli should be grateful.
Ye Xi knew this perfectly well. He wasn't about to let a good opportunity go to waste — of course he was going to enjoy watching Zhongli squirm.
Still chuckling, he was interrupted as another Millelith soldier returned.
"Lady Ningguang, Lady Keqing, Master Ye Xi — I've just come back from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor!"
"How are things over there?" Ye Xi asked.
The soldier answered bluntly: "What Wangsheng Funeral Parlor? The place has practically turned into Mr. Zhongli's own memorial hall!"
"If you ask me, sir, Mr. Zhongli probably won't dare skip out on a single debt ever again. The social destruction is complete. If it were me, I wouldn't dare show my face outside for the rest of my life!"
"Mm. Delightful."
Ye Xi could already picture it vividly. Wangsheng Funeral Parlor right now must be a sight to behold.
What a shame that Lumine and Dehya had already gone off with Ying'er to make perfumed balm — he couldn't share this particular joy with them.
Noticing that Keqing and Ningguang still had business to attend to, Ye Xi also remembered something important of his own. He still hadn't decorated the Serenitea Pot. Why not use this time to design the interior of his new home?
With that thought in mind, he spoke up. "Keqing, carry on — I'll be back by evening."
"Master Ye Xi, don't forget about tonight's arrangement!" Ningguang called out urgently as he turned to leave.
She had worked up her resolve with great difficulty. If Ye Xi forgot, she'd be devastated.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."
With a smile, Ye Xi left the reception room.
Out in the corridor, a pink-clad figure stood watching his retreating back, lost in quiet thought.
"Little Miko? What are you doing lurking out here?"
"Sister Ganyu — was that gentleman who just walked out Master Ye Xi?"
"Hm?"
Ganyu glanced toward the hallway, but there was no one left to see. "Is something the matter, Little Miko? Were you looking for Master Ye Xi?"
Yae Miko covered her lips with a delicate smile. "It's my Lord Shogun who asked me to seek out a certain Master Ye Xi."
"If you're well acquainted with him, Sister Ganyu, might you introduce me?"
"Ah... let me go ask Keqing."
Ganyu knew her own word carried less weight here. Keqing was the one Ye Xi currently doted on most — she was the right person to ask.
....
Ye Xi made his way to Yujing Terrace and found Madame Ping.
Upon seeing him, the old woman chuckled warmly. "My, my, young friend — you and that Hu Tao girl really did a number on the Rex Lapis today."
"The Rex Lapis is sighing again!"
"Hahaha, you flatter me."
Ye Xi laughed and got to the point. "Madame Ping, I'd like to step inside the Serenitea Pot right now and do a bit of decorating. I was hoping you could help keep watch."
"Of course, of course — that's well within this old woman's ability. Go right ahead, young friend."
With those words, Ye Xi was at ease. He lifted the lid of the Serenitea Pot and in the next instant, slipped inside.
The realm within was truly something else.
The spot where Ye Xi found himself was clearly a small island. The beach was bathed in sun, with white sand stretching peacefully in every direction — the very feeling of a summer retreat.
If the girls were to put on light, breezy swimsuits and toss a ball around on this beach, basking in the sun... the image would be simply magnificent. They could splash at the water's edge, ride the waves, maybe even get up to something a little exciting.
Turning back toward the land, the interior was lush with greenery — the shade of those small forest groves reminded him strikingly of the Ye Family Compound back in Sumeru. This was a fine spot to settle down.
And there was one thing that pleased him very much.
When he had copied the Serenitea Pot earlier, the internal model of the realm had been imprinted in his mind. According to that model, deep beneath where he stood, there was a natural heat source — groundwater had accumulated there and formed a completely natural hot spring.
All he needed was to open a small crack in the rock, and the spring water would come gushing up.
This was a genuine natural hot spring — nothing like the heated pool back in Sumeru that relied on Slimes for warmth. Scientifically speaking, the mineral-rich groundwater here would be wonderfully restorative to soak in. The water back in Sumeru was just ordinary river water.
With that settled, he decided on the location for the new home.
At that moment, Madame Ping's voice drifted to his ear from outside.
[Young friend, everything within this realm is sustained by Adeptal Energy. The Traveler is no Adeptus — she does not cultivate Adeptal arts, and has no Adeptal Energy within her. So when she wants to furnish this space, she can only buy materials from outside the pot and carry them in piece by piece to build.]
[But if you have Adeptal Energy, all you need to do is close your eyes, channel your energy, and envision what you want in your mind.]
Ye Xi was taken aback.
Isn't that remarkably similar to the function of the Abyss Core? Thinking it and having it appear.
As for Adeptal Energy — he did have that. Every reward from the system mentioned physical enhancement. Not long ago, he had obtained an Adeptal breathing technique. Through that technique, he could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine it into Adeptal Energy.
Which meant...
Ye Xi closed his eyes. He began channeling his Adeptal Energy, envisioning the structure, layout, and orientation of his new home — from the main body of the building down to each individual room. Living room, bedroom, kitchen, veranda...
The next moment, an ethereal force gathered within the realm like a whirlpool condensing.
Before Ye Xi's eyes, a magnificent villa rose up from the ground.
It was large, and it was beautiful.
All of this was thanks to his old habit of watching those property tour videos. Villas, luxury mansions, every style imaginable — he'd watched so many that the layouts had etched themselves into his memory. He had enjoyed them the way one enjoys a fantasy — admiring the wealthy life he could never afford, since such properties ran tens of millions, sometimes hundreds of millions. He had watched purely for the fun of it.
Who could have imagined they'd actually come in handy here in Teyvat?
With one thought, he had conjured a fully realized luxury villa right in front of him.
He looked up with a grin. "Madame Ping, how does this look?"
Watching the transformation occurring within the pot, Madame Ping felt yet another jolt of astonishment.
She hadn't actually believed Ye Xi could channel Adeptal Energy.
And yet here he was — and the mastery he displayed was effortless. He looked like someone who had cultivated for centuries.
Most astounding of all was that he had completed an entire, breathtakingly elaborate manor in a single instant. The architectural style was unlike anything Madame Ping had ever seen, but its design was extraordinarily complex. Even with the power of 'envision and manifest,' most people couldn't produce something this detailed and refined on the first try.
[As expected of you, young friend. Truly remarkable!]
[This old woman cannot help but feel humbled.]
Ye Xi exhaled softly. "It's a shame the realm is so quiet inside. No birds, no beasts, no creatures of any kind — it's eerie, honestly."
[Indeed, hehehe...]
[That is precisely why the Adepti often venture outside — because everything within a realm is fundamentally illusory, and the quiet can feel unnatural.]
[If you find it too silent, young friend, you could catch some creatures from the wild and bring them in. They will breed across generations, and the place will come alive.]
Now that was a fine suggestion.
Ye Xi made a mental note to go catch some creatures. The idea of doing a bit of fishing out at sea someday sounded quite appealing. And waking up in the morning to little round sparrows chirping outside the window — that was the kind of domestic atmosphere he wanted.
He also thought about catching a few Slimes to use for generating electricity.
Hilichurls, though — he'd pass. He could control them, yes, but with so many wives at home, having Hilichurls lurking around the place felt distinctly odd.
With the villa designed, the next priority was the most important feature of all: the hot spring.
The image of the girls half-obscured by rising mist, their silhouettes soft and hazy through the steam — just thinking about it was wonderful. How could something so essential be left out?
The problem was that the spring water was deep underground. For it to rise to the surface, there needed to be a fracture in the rock layers. How was he supposed to open those fractures?
"...Madame Ping, can Adeptal Energy alter the terrain and environment within the realm?"
Madame Ping's voice came from outside the pot without hesitation. [Of course. My own realm is built up in the sky — I channeled Adeptal Energy to lift the rocks up into the air.]
Ye Xi's mind clicked.
Of course. The Serenitea Pot had several realm forms, and one of them — the Floating Abode — featured all its structures built atop enormous rocks suspended in the sky.
He crouched down and pressed his palm to the ground, letting his senses sink into the layers of rock deep below. Using the mental model in his mind as a guide, he began carefully shifting the strata, one layer at a time.
The immense water pressure below began to build upward.
Ye Xi snapped his eyes open and activated [Walk on the Wind], launching himself off the ground.
Fwooom——
Warm spring water surged up from the earth, flooding across the ground and quickly pooling into a natural basin.
[A hot spring? ]
Madame Ping peered in with undisguised curiosity. She couldn't begin to understand how he had done it.
Even she, when constructing the Floating Abode, had simply split open large boulders at the surface and sent them skyward one by one. What Ye Xi had done — guiding groundwater up through layers of bedrock with delicate, precise control — was something else entirely. It required an intimate knowledge of every stratum below, combined with surgical precision over both the path and degree of each crack in the rock. Too much force, and the pressure would explode — and the water would never reach the surface. Too little, and the spring would shoot straight up into a pillar instead of spreading gently.
To achieve something this refined on the first attempt — that was a feat she could only attribute to Rex Lapis himself.
And she wasn't wrong, in truth. Without the amplification of his spiritual power, Ye Xi could not have managed this level of precision. In all honesty, the difficulty was no less than performing a delicate surgical operation.
In any case, the hot spring was complete. Now came the finishing touches.
Ye Xi and Madame Ping chatted leisurely as he worked, embellishing and refining bit by bit. Before long, a magnificent estate had taken shape beneath his hands.
[What a lovely little world this has become.]
Madame Ping couldn't help but sigh in admiration. She thought of every realm she'd ever seen as a kind of bonsai — a miniature garden of her own. Even Liyue Harbor, in her eyes, was no different.
She smiled and spoke. [Young friend, this realm — thanks to your improvements, its Adeptal Energy is growing more vibrant and abundant than ever.]
[If you were to raise fish in these waters and plant flowers and herbs along the banks, they would grow with extraordinary speed.]
[The fish would be tender and plump; the fruits and vegetables crisp, sweet, and utterly delicious.]
Ye Xi wiped a trace of sweat from his brow and brightened immediately upon hearing this.
"Is that so?"
He hadn't expected the realm to have that effect on things grown within it. So he could farm and fish here as well? Funnily enough, the mechanic felt familiar — the better you decorated the Serenitea Pot, the richer the Adeptal Energy; the more barren it was, the thinner the energy.
In any case, with the house built, he turned his attention to the portal network.
He had already placed an Anchor point at the Ye Family Compound back in Sumeru. Now all he needed to do was place a corresponding Anchor point inside the pot. Then he set up a second one for Liyue.
Once everything was deployed, he could travel from Sumeru to the Serenitea Pot, and from the Serenitea Pot to Liyue. Add Mondstadt and Inazuma later, and the whole network would be seamlessly connected.
Naturally, he designed the portals to be private. Not just anyone could come wandering in.
With everything finished, Ye Xi stepped back out of the pot.
"Young friend, you've truly opened this old woman's eyes!"
"That realm of yours is the most beautiful one I have ever seen!"
Madame Ping offered her praise without any reservation, her satisfaction with Ye Xi growing ever more profound. For her precious disciple to marry such a man — why, that girl was marrying up.
Ye Xi smiled. "Many thanks for your guidance, Madame Ping. The pot will continue to be in your keeping."
"Rest assured, rest assured — this old woman can certainly manage that much."
Outside, the sky was beginning to darken. It looked to be around four or five in the afternoon.
It was time to go find Dehya and the others.
Those girls were probably still with Ying'er, having their perfumed balm made. Hopefully that Ying'er would behave herself.
With that thought, he turned and bid farewell. "Madame Ping, I'll be heading off."
"Go on, go on, take care!"
Madame Ping watched Ye Xi's retreating figure, and the more she looked, the more satisfied she felt.
......
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉