Ningguang ignored the curious stares around her.
She extended a slender hand and turned it lightly.
A purple-gold gourd, glowing faintly with a jade-like sheen, appeared in her palm—
Looking delicate, almost fragile—
Yet the spiritual light flowing across its surface instantly told Hu Tao and the others:
This was a genuine magic treasure.
Hu Tao couldn't help feeling a stab of envy.
Keqing had the Azurefrost Sword.
Baizhu had his Dan Furnace.
Those were true life-bound treasures.
And Ningguang?
Ningguang had… a collection.
Tianxin Bell, Purple-Gold Gourd, Feathered Silks…
She wasn't Klee—her whole body wasn't made of spirit artifacts—
But with her contribution points?
Building a whole armory wasn't a problem.
Keqing leaned forward, curious.
"What is this?"
"Purple-Gold Gourd," Ningguang replied with a gentle smile.
"Strictly speaking, a Replica Purple-Gold Gourd."
Hu Tao blinked. "Replica… of what?"
"This was co-created by Elder Alice and Senior Liuyun—
A lower-grade magic tool at first.
"It's modeled after the Taishang Laojun's legendary Purple-Gold Red Gourd.
It possesses the power to draw in living beings and refine their bodies.
"Anything sucked in… turns into a puddle of slurry within the span of a single incense stick."
Keqing, Hu Tao, and Baizhu all sucked in a breath.
This thing…
was evil.
Turning people into a puddle?
A bit too vicious.
Hu Tao narrowed her eyes skeptically.
"Okay, it's scary. But can a lower-grade tool really suck in someone like Osial?"
Ningguang shook her head.
"It was lower-grade.
Now… it's top-grade."
She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, the picture of elegance.
"I haven't been idle these past weeks.
I've been completing missions from the Contribution Hall—particularly mining tasks.
"A few days ago, I gathered a piece of Glaze-Ice Crystal, one of the key materials our Sect Master needed to forge his life-bound spirit treasure.
"As a reward, the Sect Master upgraded my Purple-Gold Gourd to a top-grade tool."
Her tone was calm—
But the showoff energy was unmistakable.
"Originally, the Sect Master intended to forge me a spirit artifact—
After all, that Glaze-Ice Crystal solved a major material bottleneck in forging the Heavens-Turning Seal.
"But considering my current cultivation, I wouldn't be able to fully control a spirit artifact, so I declined.
"Still, the Sect Master promised—
Once I reach the proper realm, he'll reforge my gourd into a true life-bound spirit treasure."
Keqing, Hu Tao, and Baizhu all silently looked away.
They had fallen for the trap.
They'd asked, and Ningguang had taken the chance to flex on them all.
Keqing cleared her throat.
"Well then, can we hurry up and finish off Osial now?"
Ningguang didn't mind.
She'd gotten her moment.
Her mood was immaculate.
"It's not that simple," she said lightly.
"The gourd isn't something I can activate casually.
"Against beings weaker than me—or equal to me—it can capture them directly.
"But against someone stronger… there are conditions."
Without elaborating, Ningguang floated forward, stopping just before Osial.
The sight made many Liyue citizens' hearts clench.
Even if he had been beaten senseless the whole time, Osial was still a demon god.
One-on-one, Ningguang wasn't his match.
Going that close?
Wasn't she just… stepping into his mouth?
But after all the displays of her strength today, Liyue's trust in Ningguang had been cemented.
If Ningguang said she was becoming a goddess tomorrow, the Liyue people would start building the shrine by noon.
Keqing and the others watched with bated breath.
"This is going to be big," Alice whispered on the Jade Chamber.
She and Liuyun exchanged a knowing look and leaned in expectantly.
Ningguang hovered calmly before Osial—
Who thrashed miserably under Baizhu's golden bindings and Hu Tao's soul-rending ghostfire.
Looking at him, Ningguang felt a moment of strange pity.
A thousand years ago, Osial—Lord of the Vortex—had nearly claimed a seat among the Seven Archons.
But he had picked the worst possible place to wage war:
Liyue—home of monsters in human skin.
Zhongli slapped him into the seabed.
A thousand years later, he finally broke free—
Only to be released on purpose, by Zhongli's instructions.
And before he could even finish thinking the word "revenge,"
he got gang-beaten by a crowd of Shushan cultivators.
Osial must have owed the heavens an entire cosmos in his last life.
And his punishment?
To be reborn and meet them.
This was the new age.
Only cultivators had the right to speak.
And Ningguang—
was one of them.
Old-era demons like Osial?
Time to sweep them into the trash alongside Zhongli's retirement.
The future of Teyvat belonged to the cultivators.
Ningguang raised her hand.
The Purple-Gold Gourd spun rapidly, glowing like molten gold.
Keqing, Hu Tao, and Baizhu waited with wide eyes.
Then—
"Osial…"
Ningguang's voice was calm, elegant, devastating.
"I call your name.
Do you dare answer?"
Her clear voice spread across all Liyue Harbor.
Keqing nearly slipped off her flying sword.
Hu Tao stared, speechless.
Even the Liyue spectators faltered.
But Osial?
Osial didn't think.
All his hatred—
All his rage—
All his humiliation—
All focused on the white-haired woman floating before him.
She led the people who beat him.
She orchestrated his torment.
He roared with every head:
"ROAR!!!"
With brute strength fueled by madness, he tore apart Baizhu's bindings and lunged at Ningguang.
Shenhe frowned and moved to intervene—
Many hearts leapt—
But Ningguang didn't flinch.
She even smiled slightly.
"Good courage."
The Purple-Gold Gourd trembled—
And then—
BOOM.
A burst of blinding radiance erupted, like a second sun descending.
The gourd shot upward, then flipped—
A silent, irresistible force exploded from its mouth.
A suction not of strength—
But of law.
Osial realized something was wrong.
He tried to dive into the sea—
But the sea receded from him.
Everything warped—shrinking—twisting—
And then—
Darkness.
He vanished.
From Ningguang's question
to Osial's roar
to his complete disappearance—
less than five seconds.
The gourd hovered in the air, glowing brighter and brighter—
Before drifting back into Ningguang's palm like a well-behaved pet.
Alice pumped her fist.
"Ding ding! Pokémon captured!"
She grinned at Jiang Yan.
"Master, the design Liuyun and I made wasn't bad, right?"
Jiang Yan laughed helplessly and nodded.
If Taishang Laojun cared about copyright, Alice would've been hit with a flying bracelet by now.
The sea was empty.
The monstrous figure was gone.
Only the massive crater in the water remained.
Ningguang floated back to the others.
"That's it?" Hu Tao asked blankly.
Ningguang lifted the gourd.
"In about three hours, Osial will turn into a nice thick broth.
Afterward, his soul is yours."
Hu Tao stared at the elegant gourd.
Her scalp tingled.
Calling someone's name
them answering
= immediate capture and liquefaction
What kind of nightmare treasure was this!?
Was this really modeled after a Daoist treasure?
Which Daoist elder used such morally bankrupt equipment!?
Hu Tao suddenly felt profoundly unsafe.
Ningguang noticed her silence.
"Hu Tao?"
Hu Tao jolted upright.
"No! No no no!
I'm not Hu Tao!
I'm— I'm Zhongli!"
Ningguang's smile widened.
"Oh?
Then… Zhongli.
If I call your name—
do you dare answer?"
She shook the gourd playfully.
Hu Tao leapt back, clapping her hands over her mouth.
This thing was too unscientific.
Too unreasonable.
If Ningguang believed you were named Zhongli—
and you answered—
that was it.
Identity didn't matter anymore.
On the battlefield, Ningguang could just name her opponent however she pleased and—
Boom.
Captured.
A conceptual killing weapon.
Terrifying.
Keqing exhaled.
"Anyway, Osial is gone. He'll dissolve soon, right?"
Ningguang nodded.
Keqing paused.
"…Then please—
Ningguang—
don't ever call my name again."
Everyone subtly stepped back from Ningguang.
Her cultivation wasn't the scariest—
But her treasures were absolute nightmares.
First the Tianxin Bell that forced mental confusion—
Now this Purple-Gold Gourd that turned people into soup—
Why were all her treasures weirdly overpowered?
Hu Tao gulped.
"Ningguang… does Elder Alice have any new designs?"
"I heard she's experimenting with a Ruyi Gold-Banded Staff that can freely change size," Ningguang replied casually.
"Not sure how far she's gotten."
Hu Tao's eyes lit up instantly.
"Got it—thanks!"
Her mind rushed ahead—
A staff that could shrink and grow?
She could throw it into an enemy's food—
They swallow it—
And she shouts: 'Grow!'
That would be…
spectacular.
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