No one knew how long it had been before the skies cleared and the land grew bright again.
The thunderclouds from before had vanished without a trace, as if it had all been nothing but a dream.
But the people of Teyvat knew full well—it had been real.
Every nation was in an uproar, exchanging information at a frantic pace, trying to find out what exactly had happened in Liyue.
Even Ningguang herself was stunned. She tried to contact Zhongli, but received no reply, and for a time, a faint panic took hold.
Fortunately, a wisp of divine power from Zhongli soon returned, telling her everything was fine and that the rest would be explained later.
Only then did she manage to calm down, ordering the Millelith to maintain order in Liyue Harbor.
The commotion reached even Celestia, where many gods attempted to contact the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles.
But the Sustainer seemed more dormant than ever, as though the earlier events had dealt her a massive blow.
There was nothing to be done—Celestia could only fall silent for now, biding its time until the destined cycle came again.
One tribulation had stirred the winds and clouds of the entire Teyvat; who knew how many butterfly effects would follow?
Jiang Yan, however, paid it no mind.
In this world, what "destined cycle" was there, really?
The nature of the world was strange and unfathomable—its essence was the unknown, a ceaseless, incomprehensible flux.
No matter what Teyvat had been before, now that a true cultivator like Jiang Yan had arrived…
Teyvat would be as he made it.
On the high mountain where Cloud Retainer dwelled in the heights of Jueyun Karst—
Jiang Yan and the others had gathered once more at the stone table. Around them, it was as if nothing had happened at all.
Only Jiang Yan bore a change: the violet sigil at his brow now glimmered faintly with gold, carrying a subtle air of nobility and mystery.
Zhongli and Cloud Retainer, by contrast, were utterly drained from enduring the aura of the tribulation; their condition was far from ideal.
Jiang Yan noticed this and offered an apologetic smile.
He raised a hand and tapped the air. Several threads of violet-gold light appeared out of nothingness and merged into the bodies of the four present.
In the next instant, all fatigue and restlessness were swept away.
Even Zhongli felt as if a warm spring breeze had washed over him, as though he had returned to the moment of his birth, untouched by wear or decay—
Wear?
His gaze flickered, and he calmed himself to sense carefully.
Moments later, he looked up at Jiang Yan in disbelief.
"Your Excellency…?"
Cloud Retainer noticed Zhongli's reaction and looked at him in puzzlement.
"What's wrong?"
Zhongli shook his head, fell silent for a moment, and said in a complicated tone,
"My wear… has been reduced by a fifth."
"What?!"
Cloud Retainer was stunned, but her expression quickly turned to delight.
"Wear… it can… be removed?"
"Of course it can."
This time Jiang Yan took over, speaking in a gentle tone:
"What you call 'wear' is merely the lifespan constraint Heaven and Earth place upon the long-lived."
"But we cultivators are a race that defies the rules of Heaven and Earth themselves. Naturally, such constraints are no more than a trifle to us."
Cloud Retainer had been about to suggest he take advantage of the moment to remove all of Zhongli's wear, but Zhongli gave her a subtle look to hold her tongue.
She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Today's events were simply too fantastical—she still half wondered if she was dreaming.
The ordinary man she'd known for a hundred days had, right before her eyes, crossed a grand tribulation to become an immortal?
Compared to him, she herself almost felt unworthy of the title.
What immortal could possibly be so outrageously strong?
It was more absurd than the idea of Zhongli falling in love with swimming and diving into the deep sea for seafood every day.
And that golden thunder greatsword Jiang Yan had wielded earlier—honestly, if that had been elemental power, or even adeptal or divine power…
Cloud Retainer would have blown up her own abode just to prove a point.
It was a force of a kind she had never seen before—mysterious beyond belief, yet indescribably alluring, and belonging to no known attribute in all of Teyvat.
Elemental power? Please—let's not flatter ourselves.
The matter was far too complex; she would need time to sort it out.
Nearby, Ganyu and Shenhe were equally at a loss for words, stealing dazed glances at Jiang Yan now and then.
Seeing that Jiang Yan was waiting for them to speak, Zhongli took it upon himself to find the words.
"It is often said in rumor that there are those who cross tribulations to ascend. I had always thought such tales to be nothing but exaggerated fiction."
"Never did I imagine that today, I would witness with my own eyes that such a thing truly exists."
"However… if I am not mistaken, that tribulation lightning was not born of Teyvat's energies. No… it must have been some manifestation of a law higher than this world's, mustn't it?"
Jiang Yan smiled and nodded.
"It is the manifestation of the Dao."
The Dao…
This was the word Zhongli had heard most often from Jiang Yan's lips.
Somehow, deep down, he felt it was of vital importance.
But before he could ask, Jiang Yan continued:
"Make no mistake—it was indeed a tribulation, a real one. But I have not ascended to immortality—only broken through to a higher realm, thus drawing Heaven and Earth's test."
"In your terms, you could say that, by defying the heavens, I incurred a debt to them, and had to repay it through a battle of nine deaths and one life for what I had taken."
Interest gleamed in Zhongli's eyes. He set down his teacup and spoke softly:
"Like the law of contracts I preside over—if you wish to gain something, you must give something in return. A fair trade."
"But you… what you pursue is an unfair exchange with Heaven and Earth, and so you suffer such punishment. That is the essence of a heavenly tribulation, is it not?"
Jiang Yan let out a helpless laugh and nodded.
"You could put it that way."
Zhongli's eyes shone gold as he studied Jiang Yan intently.
Compared to before, the man now exuded a strange mix of nobility and mundanity, a contrast that almost made one physically uneasy the longer one looked.
Sensing this, Jiang Yan did something—no one knew what—and in the next moment, his presence returned to its most natural, transcendent state.
Zhongli suspected it had been a suppression born of differences in life level.
He shook his head with a touch of melancholy.
"Cultivators… truly a strange breed."
"With a mortal's body, they defy the will of Heaven, contend against fate itself, walking every moment on a path opposed to the cosmos."
"In over six thousand years of life, I have never heard of such beings."
Jiang Yan sipped his tea and said quietly,
"Cultivation… is the pursuit of eternal life, of standing equal with Heaven and Earth. And how could such supreme powers tolerate rebels of this kind?"
"Thus, we cultivators are breaking the rules of Heaven and Earth to set our own, seeking not only to contain all power within ourselves…"
"But also to seize the might of Heaven and Earth into our own hands."
"In short—"
He paused, a faint smile on his lips.
"It's really just 'My fate is mine and not Heaven's.' As childish as it may sound, it's still the truest description of a cultivator."
To Jiang Yan, it was a line he'd heard too often—corny enough to make him cringe.
But to Zhongli and the others, it was entirely novel.
"My fate is mine… not Heaven's…"
Zhongli's gaze grew brighter as he repeated the words, thoughts tumbling in his mind—sometimes surging with excitement, sometimes clouded by resentment and loss.
In the end, it all became a single sigh.
"'My fate is mine, not Heaven's.' Arrogant, yes—but a beautiful hope nonetheless. Yet for us… it is an unreachable dream."
"In that light, our so-called immortals are indeed of a lower order than yours."
Hearing this, even Cloud Retainer grew sullen, resting her chin in her hands and sulking at the side.
Sensing the heavy mood, Jiang Yan waved his hand awkwardly.
"That's not quite what I mean. Every path has its merits; if it achieves its aim, it has value."
"Different Daos do not necessarily mean no common ground. What I said earlier was not meant as disrespect to your immortals."
"Every world has its own unique traits. But from my perspective, your 'immortals'…"
"…are divinely born and nourished by Heaven and Earth, not beings who cultivate their way to that state."
"Sometimes, I even envy you."
"At the very least, you are born sacred, spared the need to struggle against men and Heaven alike, treading a path of contention from birth to death."
"Win, and eternal life is in sight; lose, and the soul perishes and the Dao is extinguished."
Looking at the pensive expressions of the others, Jiang Yan spoke softly:
"Do you know what that heavenly tribulation just now truly was?"
"…"
They fell silent, recalling it—a thing that inspired despair even in memory.
It was hard to imagine how Jiang Yan had faced it head-on.
"That was the Three-Nine Lightning Tribulation—the easiest tribulation a cultivator will ever face. Beyond it are the Six-Nine Tribulation, the Nine-Nine Tribulation…"
"Even lightning tribulations like this are among the most forgiving."
"What we fear most are the Three Disasters and Five Tribulations—the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, the Heart-Demon Tribulation…"
"These tribulations come without sound or warning, yet each is a calamity etched into the soul: birth, old age, sickness, death; meeting what you hate; parting from what you love; yearning without fulfillment…"
"They strike at the human heart and nature, at the very core of the Dao-heart."
"Fail such a tribulation, and at best your Dao-heart shatters and your cultivation is lost; at worst, you fall into madness forever."
"And even for the most basic thunder tribulations that strike the body but not the heart, the odds of survival are one in a hundred."
"You only see the cultivators who make it, radiant and revered as patriarchs—but you do not see how many perish midway, leaving not even a grave behind."
Jiang Yan let out a long sigh, gazing up at the deep sky, as though piercing through Teyvat's false heavens—
And seeing in the endless worlds beyond, each brilliant spark of a genius burning and blazing forth.
How was he any different from those prodigies?
Only that he had a not-very-smart, not-very-helpful system.
But in the end, cultivation was a path walked alone.
The realm he had now was the fruit of his own improved state of mind, tied together with the Huang ting Jade View Classic.
That was the greatest gift the system could give him.
From here on, if he wished to advance further, he would have to delve into the Huang ting Jade View Classic by his own effort.
When he thought of that…
He found it rather amusing.
The corners of Jiang Yan's lips curled faintly.
So what if he wasn't some overpowered cheat character from a blue planet?
His own "cheat" was still strong enough.
And this immortal path… was by no means impassable.