"I've wandered across many worlds," Alice began, "and yes, in quite a few of them I've heard of a place called Mount Shu on the Divine Continent.
"But in all cases, it was just… mountains and rivers—nothing particularly special.
"As for the myths he spoke of—Goddess Nuwa, the Heavenly Emperor Haotian, the Three Pure Ones—those do crop up in many worlds.
"And judging from what he said about 'Great Luo never dying, illuminating the heavens,' well… it does line up with that kind of legend.
"But I can't say for sure. You'll have to figure that out yourselves."
In the end, Alice had given them nothing truly constructive. This topic, it seemed, had struck right at her blind spot.
Zhongli pondered a moment, then asked,
"So… you're in favor of us pursuing cultivation?"
Alice rolled her eyes.
"Oh, please. Haven't you already made up your minds? Cultivation! If it's real, even I would want to do it!"
"By your account, cultivation truly is an incredibly powerful path?"
Something in Zhongli's gaze shifted, but before he could say more, Alice straightened her back and declared with pride:
"Do you even understand the value of cultivation?
At the summit of immortality, I stand above the world—if I exist, the heavens endure!
I seize sun and moon, pluck the stars—none in the world can compare!
Heaven and earth are heartless, and all creatures are but straw dogs.
One golden pellet swallowed, and my fate is mine, not Heaven's.
When yin and yang fall into chaos, I'll stain the sky with my demonic blood.
I am the Heavenly Emperor, sworn to suppress all foes beneath the sun!
Do you even grasp what it means for a grain of sand to fill the sea, or for a single blade of grass to cut down sun, moon, and stars?"
Alice wore the smug grin of a child showing off memorized lines, and to be fair, she'd clearly read more than her share of cultivation novels over the years.
Zhongli's temples throbbed.
If Jiang Yan's words had at least some grounding, Alice's were pure… exaggeration without restraint.
"These… are the words of cultivators? Why are they so—"
"—rebellious? Overbearing? Ruthless? Lawless?" Alice finished for him, cheerfully shrugging.
"Can't be helped. Cultivators all have their noses in the clouds, convinced they can control everything.
"And honestly—understandable, right? If you're defying Heaven itself, what business do you have being humble or mild?
"Don't believe me? Ask Jiang Yan.
"What cultivator doesn't crave standing at the very peak, holding the power over all life and death under the heavens?
"If he didn't have that desire, how could he have reached his level at such a young age?
"Remember—every cultivator is greedy, domineering, and ruthless. Don't be fooled by Jiang Yan's gentle, benevolent demeanor.
"In the treacherous world of cultivation, if he were truly kind, he would've been eaten alive ages ago.
"Cultivators are not only powerful, but cunning—when they decide to scheme against you, they leave no way out.
"According to the records, every core disciple of a cultivation sect must go through trials. You really think Jiang Yan has never killed?
"More likely, he's killed more people than you've even met. In the cultivation world, human life is the cheapest currency.
"Some demonic cultivators, just to grow stronger, will slaughter tens of billions to forge a weapon."
That landed like a heavy bell struck in the minds of Zhongli and his companions.
Clearly, cultivators did not value humanity the way their own kind—the archons—did.
Cultivators stood high above, each one a chosen child of heaven, and they would never see themselves as ordinary folk.
Killing a few mortals along the way? Hardly worth noting. In the cultivation realm, cultivators were Heaven.
Zhongli and Cloud Retainer exchanged wary glances.
Up on a distant peak in Jueyun Karst, Jiang Yan, sipping tea, felt the corner of his mouth twitch.
At his current realm, he could stir the quantum sea without anyone daring to interfere; in Teyvat, wiping out worlds was a casual gesture.
Naturally, the moment his name came up, he heard it.
And so, he also heard how Alice was describing him.
Heaven bear witness—he'd only been cultivating for one day!
Since when did that mean he viewed all life as worthless?
If not for knowing this mess was the fault of the Mount Shu backstory he'd made up himself, he'd have already zapped Alice with some remote lightning therapy.
Still…
Without a grand, ancient history, how was he supposed to justify all the future rewards the system would give him?
A lie built of nothing but truths was the hardest kind to unravel.
Zhongli, after a long silence, asked softly:
"We'll take your warning to heart. But… where exactly did you get these records? Didn't you say you'd never heard of cultivation before?"
"That's easy," Alice said, hands on her hips with a grin.
"Once you get a chance to travel to a modern world, I'll give you a website—it's full of cultivation novels, and they're all free! Took me ages to find it, too."
"…"
Zhongli's face darkened.
"So… you got all this from novels?"
"Mmm… close enough," Alice said, laughing nervously. "Anyway, don't be stupid enough to believe it all wholesale."
"Just remember—'Heaven and earth are heartless, and all creatures are straw dogs.' That's the creed of cultivators. Mount Shu may not be a demonic sect, but that doesn't mean they have no demonic methods.
"At the very least, every cultivator knows the path of dual cultivation—tell Shenhe to keep her guard up.
"If Jiang Yan's cultivating the Path of Affection, fine—he'll have some humanity left.
"But if it's the Ruthless Path, watch out. That one, taken to its end, leaves you caring for neither kin nor parents—willing to kill anyone for strength."
"Anyway, can't chat—more guests at the border. I've got work. Be smarter about this, and stop calling me unless it's urgent.
"Oh, and if you do decide cultivation's safe, take Klee over there for me—the little one needs to learn something useful.
"And Jean, honestly—she's still mad about Klee blowing up Stormbearer Point? Back in my day, I blew up the city gates and the Stormterror's Lair, and no one said a thing!"
The call ended with Alice's rambling complaints.
Some of Zhongli's doubts had been eased, but they'd been replaced with even bigger headaches.
Ganyu bit her lip.
"Jiang Yan would never hurt Shenhe… and he wouldn't cultivate the Ruthless Path."
Zhongli said nothing. If Jiang Yan was truthful, there was no way he'd practice the Ruthless Path.
After all—what sect would let their heir-apparent cut all emotion? If he did, why would he care for Mount Shu at all?
That, at least, Zhongli wasn't worried about.
But Alice's words rang true in one sense—cultivators were indeed a lawless, domineering lot.
Even though Jiang Yan was mild in manner, his domineering aura when crossing his tribulation had left a deep impression.
That alone was proof enough—cultivators were tyrannical by nature.
If Liyue were to embrace cultivation on a large scale…
There would surely be trouble.
For now, Zhongli was at a loss. The benefits of cultivation were plain to see, but so were its dangers.
And truth be told, there was no way he could give it up.
Even a slim chance to revive an old friend was worth it. Those who had fought for millennia deserved to see the land they'd won in peace.
"Lord Rex Lapis, what should we do?" Xiao asked in a low voice.
"I—"
Zhongli's words froze in his throat as his pupils contracted.
On the stone table before him, a mirror had appeared—silent, without warning.
It was the very same treasure Jiang Yan had used to test their aptitude earlier.
Before they could react, Jiang Yan's voice drifted into their ears—close enough to feel his breath.
The ability made Zhongli's skin crawl.
"You left in such a hurry earlier, I forgot to give you a few other gifts," Jiang Yan said.
"This Xuanyuan Mirror was condensed from my true essence, tempered with remnants of tribulation lightning.
"It's useless to me, just a casual creation—but for you, it should have meaning.
"With it, you can gauge someone's spiritual roots. The instructions are sealed within—just awaken it with elemental power.
"Beyond that, it can gaze into the heavens above, the seas below, or stand guard over a room—and it can survey the entire land.
"If you meet a powerful foe, you can throw it—the mirror holds a single Golden Light Talisman. That should be enough to deal with most archons.
"But remember—it isn't a proper magical artifact. Once used in combat, it will shatter.
"Consider it my gift to Liyue.
"And one more thing…"
Jiang Yan paused, his voice now tinged with amusement.
"You can rest easy. I practice the Huangting Jade View Classic, the lineage scripture of successive Mount Shu sect leaders—not the Ruthless Path.
"As for dual cultivation—no need to worry. We Mount Shu don't stoop to such heretical methods. We actually encourage free romance.
"And lastly—I didn't mean to overhear your conversation. It's just that at my realm, whenever any being in Teyvat speaks my name, I become aware."
With that, his voice vanished completely, as if it had never been.
Yet the group couldn't help but glance toward Jueyun Karst.
An inexplicable chill ran down their spines.
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