Liyue Harbor, the docks.
What was originally a clear, sunny day had at some point become covered in dark clouds. Layers of pitch-black, heavy clouds seemed to appear out of thin air, making even the air feel several degrees heavier.
Although the climate of coastal cities is usually volatile, this change didn't look like a normal weather shift no matter how one viewed it.
As time ticked by, raindrops began to fall from the dark clouds. The drizzle soon intensified, and in just a few moments, the light breeze and rain turned into a torrential downpour.
"Please evacuate this way! Quick, stay safe!"
"This way! Over here!"
At the harbor's wharf, the Millelith were organizing an orderly evacuation of civilians. Although they didn't know what was happening, the higher-ups had ordered the harbor cleared as quickly as possible, so they naturally obeyed.
However, many foreigners who had come to Liyue for business didn't know what was going on and stubbornly refused to follow the Millelith's arrangements, causing the evacuation to be far from smooth.
"Instructor Feng, those foreigners are refusing to leave the merchant ships docked at the wharf. They're saying we don't have the authority to make them leave and won't follow our evacuation plan."
Hearing his subordinate's words, Millelith Instructor Feng Yan couldn't help but frown. At a time like this, these people were clearly merchants, yet they couldn't read the situation.
"Ignore them for now. Focus on evacuating our own citizens first. Move fast—this is an order directly from the Qixing."
"Yes, sir!"
As the evacuation efficiency increased, most people at the harbor, the area with the highest foot traffic, were soon safely evacuated.
Although these evacuating Liyue citizens didn't know what was happening, they trusted their nation's soldiers, so no accidents occurred.
Under the increasingly dim sky, a bright light suddenly flared up.
Rumble—!
Thunder, sounding like the roar of a giant beast, boomed across the sky. The light from silver-white lightning illuminated the pitch-black sea.
This clap of thunder seemed to signal the start of a cataclysmic shift. Gale winds swirled the ink-like dark clouds in the firmament, and vortex-like holes began to appear in the cloud layer.
Then, several water sprouts suddenly rose from the sea, which was now the same color as the sky. These water sprouts spiraled higher and higher until their tops connected with the holes in the clouds.
In the next moment, a roar that shook heaven and earth echoed from the sea. The surging ocean's water level suddenly began to rise, and the lower-lying harbor wharves were instantly submerged.
Some people who were unwilling or hadn't had time to evacuate were swept into the deep sea by the rising water, their fates unknown.
This was the situation even with most people evacuated; otherwise, the number of senseless deaths would have been far higher.
The biting, cold wind mixed with raindrops whipped against Instructor Feng Yan's face. Watching the figures being swept into the sea and crying out for help, he closed his eyes in pain.
Even as a Millelith Instructor, he couldn't save everyone. In the face of a natural disaster, humans were always so insignificant.
Rumble—!
Just then, a sound completely different from thunder came from the sky. Feng Yan subconsciously looked up, and his pupils suddenly constricted. He saw the Jade Chamber, the building that had always floated above Liyue, flying toward those water sprouts at extreme speed.
Was this event not a natural disaster after all?
Just as Feng Yan was thinking this, a change suddenly occurred in the center of the chaotically moving water sprouts.
On the sea's surface, a cerulean glow suddenly appeared. The radiance, which was completely out of place with the dark sea, was so conspicuous. In the next moment, this glow transformed into sea serpents seemingly made of flowing water.
These sea serpents were imbued with dense Divine Power. Their several heads swayed continuously above the sea. This dreamlike scene made everyone who saw it tremble uncontrollably.
"What... is that?"
Watching the monster emerge from the sea, wave after wave of panic rose in Feng Yan's heart. If he hadn't been forcing himself to hold on, he might have already collapsed to the ground crying like those ordinary people.
"Instructor, what... what should we do?"
Hearing his subordinate's trembling question, Feng Yan clenched his teeth and forced the words out: "Save people!"
"We are... the Millelith, the soldiers of Liyue! Even if we die, we... cannot run away! This is our final battle, move out!"
"Yes!"
Feng Yan's words ignited infinite morale in the hearts of all the Millelith. Under this morale, the panic in their hearts began to gradually dissipate, and even strength began to well up within them.
Feng Yan also felt strength surging within himself. He immediately looked at everyone and shouted loudly, "This power must be the spirit of Rex Lapis in heaven protecting us. God bless Liyue!"
"God bless Liyue!"
Slogans echoed in the heavy rain. No longer having any doubts, the Millelith immediately ran toward the figures being swept away by the sea. Since they didn't have the strength to fight the monster, they would do their best to minimize casualties!
"Tsk, damn old man Zhongli. I'm the one putting in the effort, but he's the one getting thanked."
Watching the Millelith saving people everywhere, Xia Yu stood on the roof of a building and muttered unhappily.
How could the pressure of an ancient god be resisted by morale alone? Even if it was just a temporary break in the seal and the god hadn't reached its peak power yet.
If he hadn't secretly neutralized Osial's pressure, no matter how strong the will of these Millelith was, it would have been impossible for them to recover from the pressure of a god.
Even the sudden surge of strength was his doing. Otherwise, after being soaked by the storm and then hit by the pressure unintentionally emitted by a god, they'd be lucky just to be standing.
"Fine, fine. I suppose it's just my lot as a low-profile good guy."
Xia Yu sat cross-legged on the roof, watching the Millelith save people everywhere. Restoring the Millelith's strength so they could save people was enough.
If he were to personally step in and save everyone, that would be cheating. It wouldn't serve as training for Liyue.
Only by going through blood and tears can one grow in the shortest time possible.
After seeing the Millelith save everyone they could, Xia Yu finally stood up from the roof and flew toward the distant Jade Chamber.
With his proficiency in the Breath Concealment Technique, if he didn't want to be discovered, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to find him. He would just be a spectator watching the show from the side.
As Xia Yu flew toward the Jade Chamber, it suddenly erupted with light. Cerulean and gold magic circles lit up above and below the Jade Chamber, then gradually drew closer and merged.
"Oh? It's already started."
Xia Yu's eyes lit up as he flew toward the Jade Chamber. He didn't expect it to start so soon. It was truly spectacular—much more so than in the game.
Hmm... now I not only need to take photos, but I also need to record a video. This kind of scene isn't common.
While thinking, Xia Yu turned on the Chat Group's recording mode and clicked the live broadcast button next to the recording button... [clash of clans]: Holy crap? A live stream! Since when did the Chat Group have a live stream feature?
[dark souls iii]: Where? What live stream?
[dark souls iii]: Holy crap! It's Genshin!
[ghostwire: tokyo]: Holy crap! It's Genshin!
[Genshin]: Shut up! Watch it if you want, or don't!
[clash of clans]: When did the Chat Group get a live stream function? How did you pull that off?
[Genshin]: Have you guys never used the recording function?
[dark souls iii]: Er... I've always used the photo function. I've never used the recording one.
[clash of clans]: +1
[ghostwire: tokyo]: +1
[Genshin]:...Ignoring the group of idiots' comments, Xia Yu focused his attention back on the outside world. He had already reached the top of the Jade Chamber.
At this moment, Ningguang had already performed a hand seal, summoning three new Guizhong Ballistas from the massive cerulean magic circle. The Guizhong Ballistas were Adepti mechanisms, powered entirely by Adeptal Energy.
After they were summoned, the two cranes and one deer—three illuminated beasts—stepped through the air and arrived above the new Guizhong Ballistas, injecting them with Adeptal Energy.
In the next moment, circular magic circles appeared at the firing points of the new Guizhong Ballistas. Then, dense energy beams shot out from the circles like a Gatling gun, striking Osial's several sea serpent heads and kicking up waves of cerulean water.
Originally, for Osial at full strength, such an attack wouldn't even be an itch; it would be completely negligible. But unfortunately, his current strength was greatly reduced, and even his seal wasn't fully broken.
Thus, under the dense energy beam attacks of the new Guizhong Ballistas, Osial painfully twisted several of his sea serpent heads, occasionally letting out an involuntary hiss to show his anger.
Of course, faced with such an attack, Osial didn't just stand there and take it. He also whipped up sea tornadoes, sending them toward the floating building in the sky.
However, Ningguang's 'driving' skills were too good. Facing Osial's tornado attacks, she managed to maneuver the Jade Chamber left and right, narrowly avoiding them every single time.
"Tsk tsk, serious Ningguang is pretty cool too."
Above the Jade Chamber, Xia Yu floated beside Ningguang, leaning in close to carefully examine her face and then taking a photo as a souvenir.
He wanted to clarify here: he wasn't a pervert; he just wanted to observe beauty up close. Compared to the 'beef offal master' below, Ningguang appealed to his tastes much more.
Just imagine: a high-and-mighty ruler, forced to close her eyes with a face full of reluctance after being humiliated, then biting her lip with tears in the corners of her eyes... "ROAR!!!"
Osial's sudden roar pulled the fantasizing Xia Yu back to reality. Glancing at Osial, who was still being beaten, Xia Yu shook his head in disgust.
I'll give you a stab in the ribs in a bit and let you roar then.
At the same time, black-hole-like portals suddenly appeared on the magic circle platform below, and Fatui members in various outfits stepped out from them.
The Adepti needed to maintain the new Guizhong Ballistas, and Ningguang needed to control the Jade Chamber, so the task of fighting the Fatui fell to the Liyue Qixing and the Traveler, Aether.
Although there were a few Millelith on the Jade Chamber as well, they were ineffective against the well-equipped Fatui and could only be beaten down.
After a short battle, the Jade Chamber's side began to show a disadvantage. But under the protagonist's halo, the Adepti one after another gave Aether buffs—combat healing, speed boosts, Madame Ping's shockwaves, and so on—all of which were bestowed upon Aether.
With the Adeptal Energy boost, Aether was practically invincible. Some of the weaker Fatui didn't even have time to cause trouble before being struck down by Aether's 'divine weapon,' the Dull Blade.
The sprayed blood directly stained Aether's golden hair, but under the wash of the torrential rain, the blood didn't stay long before being washed away completely.
The 'beef offal master' Keqing watched Aether fighting with increasing vigor, and a hint of softness couldn't help but appear in her eyes. However, that softness was immediately replaced by an unyielding fighting spirit.
She was one of the Liyue Qixing; how could she lose to a traveler!
As the Jade Chamber's side fought with more and more vigor, those Fatui who had come to interfere became a floor full of corpses within moments. Even with the rain washing it, the cerulean magic circle platform was stained crimson.
"The interference has been removed. Finally, we can focus all our efforts without distraction!" Mountain Shaper, standing on a Guizhong Ballista, spoke calmly.
In the next moment, the muzzles of the three Guizhong Ballistas suddenly lit up with golden radiance. Then, the three energies merged, and a massive energy fluctuation emerged.
Adepti were not gods, but they possessed power far exceeding that of ordinary Vision holders. Moreover, they had the Adeptal Energy they had cultivated for thousands of years.
This Adeptal Energy, under the aggregation of the Guizhong Ballistas, formed powerful energy beams. Now, the three ballistas merged all their energy, creating a peerlessly massive power.
In the blink of an eye, this massive energy condensed into an energy cannon flashing with blinding light, firing toward the still-swaying Osial.
Boom—!!!
The intense energy cannon expanded and exploded in the sea area where Osial was. The explosion shooting into the sky kicked up a mushroom cloud that obscured the battle situation.
According to the'smoke but no damage' rule, under this strike, Osial suffered almost no damage, other than a few heads falling off only to be replaced by new ones.
"DAMN Morax!!!"
However, although the damage wasn't great, it had clearly enraged Osial. After being hit by continuous attacks, Osial roared in the Language of the Gods in anger.
Ordinary people couldn't understand the Language of the Gods, but the Adepti and Xia Yu could. Perhaps Zhongli, who was watching the show from somewhere unknown, also understood.
After the roar, several of Osial's heads suddenly reared up high, and cerulean Divine Power condensed in each head's mouth.
At the moment the power condensed to its limit, all of Osial's heads opened simultaneously, spitting out deep blue energy spheres that merged. In the next second, the merged energy sphere turned into a massive light-blue beam that shot into the sky, disappearing into the pitch-black clouds.
As the energy beam entered, a huge vortex appeared in the center of the sky full of dark clouds. Judging by the diameter alone, the vortex was nearly a thousand meters wide.
Boom!!!
Another clap of thunder boomed. In the center of the massive vortex, dots of starlight appeared.
In an instant, the cerulean light flowing in the vortex converged toward those starlights, like a swarm of snakes from all directions converging on their prey.
Against the backdrop of the torrential rain, inside the dark vortex where starlight gathered, the starlight that should have been phantom-like suddenly solidified and then fell from the firmament with a sky full of flowing light.
Rumble—!
Amidst the earth-shaking roar, the meteor-like flowing light brought a dazzling radiance to the pitch-black sea, but it also brought destruction.
Because the range was so vast, the flowing light's attack range included not only the Jade Chamber but also Liyue Harbor below. There was no way to dodge such an ultra-wide-area attack.
Under the attack of 'Hydro: Starfall,' the Jade Chamber's magic circle platform shattered instantly. A large number of Millelith remaining on the Jade Chamber fell, and even the Guizhong Ballistas were destroyed.
"Save people!"