A woman's boudoir, all soft curves and floral trimmings.
Two ladies—one wearing a red-tipped hat, the other a blue—rubbed their temples in irritation.
"His notes aren't long, but the gap between Surtrochi and him is painfully obvious."
"Weapons forged from entire star systems, gods born from the faith of countless mortals…"
Such power built on massive resources has a ceiling. Without intervention from a higher-dimensional being, it cannot leap beyond the limits of the stars.
Those manufactured forces may be unrivaled against regional foes, but facing someone who can obliterate a planet with a single strike is a different scale entirely.
There's a world of difference between directly smashing a world with raw power and inducing its detonation through indirect methods. If you measure by the latter, he doesn't merely defeat weapons fashioned from star resources—he destroys entire star systems.
Clearly, there's no contest.
"He has the gall to call Surtrochi 'nonhuman,' yet I think he is the one who hardly resembles humanity—he's a monster," the blonde elf sighed.
It wasn't just the thought of psychokinesis dragging planets into collisions or a golden staff sweeping the cosmos. If Su Xuan stood in the void and let loose electromagnetic barrages, the energy and magnetic chaos alone would annihilate nearby worlds.
The woman cradling a crystal ball puffed out a small breath.
"I never imagined he'd be this strong. And this isn't even a limit breakthrough yet."
Sikok learned, three years later, that Surtrochi had once spoken of her with a friend before he left Teyvat. Only then did she understand his intent. That meant Surtrochi wouldn't be returning to Teyvat within those three years. And if Su Xuan at that future point was this terrifying—if Surtrochi did come back, Su Xuan could probably send him scattering with a snap of a finger.
A sigh passed between the two witches.
"We can't sit this one out," one said.
Earlier, Barbatos had excitedly contacted Alice to ask why Klee suddenly insisted Su Xuan was her father. Alice could only stare in disbelief. The Knights—led by Jean—acted quickly, but this time their motion obeyed Su Xuan's will as much as their own.
"I wonder what Mona's situation is like," the woman with the crystal murmured. "I suspect she, too, is a diary-copy holder."
Since the diary copies appeared, Babylos had been unable to divine his pupil Mona's future through the crystal. Most likely because Mona's destiny had already entangled with Su Xuan's.
Alice and Babylos had been reluctant to show themselves because of a fated fairy tale that would unfold later—the kind of story that made them prefer to observe from the shadows rather than take the first step. Su Xuan disliked loud thunderous theatrics, and Alice insisted the other party was a person of noble soul. Some of them even suspected the Church of Witches was manipulating events to push the thunder-lover forward.
But now they had no choice—both their daughter and beloved pupil had been swept into crisis.
"I only guard the borders of the world's veil—I can't fully escape the map of false fate," Alice whispered. "This isn't our doing. And he himself—he doesn't care that much. Still…"
She sighed again. She knew what awaited them if they returned. That ridiculous man, impossibly strong, had all his thoughts centered on women. Did he not understand why their witch coven consisted mostly of formidable women? They didn't need romantic partners; they were more than capable on their own. One had even killed her aging partner to end his suffering. He'd wanted to taste what human emotions felt like, but the diary copies changed everything.
The diary-copy owner was domineering—he cared little about the relationships between holders and what feelings they might have. He wanted every diary-copy holder to reach self-awareness. As immortal beings who had lived for centuries, Alice and Babylos understood the deeper implications. They might have preferred some genuine emotional interaction, but the rule was clear.
"Fine. Klee's already been convinced by Jean that Su Xuan is her father—what can I do?" Alice muttered. "I'll return first and see what's happening."
She rose to leave. At that moment, their diaries flared.
[I'm speechless.]
Alice: "?"
[I was just feeding Sikok my doctrine of might. The woman suddenly clamped her hands around my neck.]
[A pair of those long-lost scissor-legs nearly snapped my old back.]
Alice froze; the image that flashed in her head colored her cheeks pink. The diary continued.
[Watching her about to die, I felt… embarrassed. I never expected her to be so fragile.]
[I was about to ask if she was alright when—guess what?]
[Before I could finish, she asked how I, like her master, became stronger by absorbing energy.]
[That cheeky girl.]
[Fine. While she rested, I'd sate her curiosity.]
[Jianmu.jpg]
A single photo blinked into being—an enormous tree, its boughs dense and terrible, the entire trunk a deep, blood-red hue. The onlookers frowned at the strange, oppressive beauty of the image.
[This Jianmu is a symbiotic artifact rooted in my Sea of Consciousness.]
[It's similar to the Universe Mirror: it's summoned, not created in the physical sense.]
[Because it's anchored in my mind, I can't bring the entire tree into the external world.]
[Only its luxuriant branches can be torn from the void.]
[Anything the branches touch has its energy siphoned and fed to the tree.]
[All that absorbed energy ultimately becomes mine.]
Alice: "!?"
[Honestly, I don't blame Surtrochi for calling this 'devouring others.']
[To the crimson tree, any living thing touched by its branches is drained of energy until nothing remains but bones.]
[With my current strength, its spectacle looks like this:]
[Crimson light rips the firmament; starry branches tumble from the torn heavens like a waterfall onto the land.]
[As they sweep, the branches capture and consume energy. They sink into the planet, ravenously draining it until the world becomes a dead, dim husk.]
[They can also leech energy gradually: embed a leaf in a living body and siphon power while keeping the host alive.]
Sikok, who'd just regained some breath, widened her eyes. Diary-copy holders could breakthrough limits; combined with Yin-Yang reciprocity with Su Xuan, this made them ideal energy producers. Stick a Jianmu branch inside a holder and you'd have the perfect, continuously generating source.
Sensing the shock in Sikok's expression, Su Xuan rolled his eyes and continued writing.
[I'm sure many diary-copy holders are imagining I'll do this to them.]
[Honestly, I won't.]
[First, limit breaking already guarantees I grow exponentially month to month—faster and cleaner than any energy-draining trick.]
[Second, absorbing others' energy is not my main method—only a garnish.]
[My growth doesn't rely on parasitism.]
[Yin-Yang reciprocity is about mutual strengthening through shared tastes; feeding off someone like a parasite is entirely different.]
[Deepening bonds via gentle 'degradation' is a kind of aesthetic. Parasitic 'training' is disrespect—something I have no need to do.]
A warmth filled the hearts of the women reading. Energy was welcome, yes—but Su Xuan's respect for them mattered most. If he chose not to use them as mere vessels, it meant something about their place in his regard.
"Actually, parasitic strengthening isn't necessarily terrible," Sikok said, voice trembling as she glanced at the crimson branches sprouting from the torn void behind Su Xuan. The branches seemed almost alive, dancing about him. The scene made Sikok—who had long carried Surtrochi's fear like a second skin—break into a cold sweat.
"Shut up." Su Xuan sneered, then reached for Sikok's hair and pushed her down. "I don't need you as carriers for the Jianmu."
"Your body and mind are valuable to me. You make me happy, so I won't arbitrarily plant things inside you."
"And besides, there are far better candidates for that role."
Sikok whimpered as an image flashed into her head: some massive creature she'd thought of. Su Xuan's diary confirmed her suspicion.
[Speaking of parasitic Jianmu branch energy absorption—]
[This method ignores distance and space. No matter where the energy source is, its branches can transmit the produced energy back to me.]
[Thus, no living being is a better carrier than the Star-Swallowing Whale wallowing in Fontaine's primordial ocean.]
[That whale already feeds by devouring—so it's perfect for Jianmu's branches.]
[I plan to return the Star-Swallowing Whale to the cosmos and let it consume everything it can.]
[And while I'm there, I'll look up Focalors—her five-hundred years' worth of Fontaine citizen faith should be delectable.]]**
[If the taste is good, I think the governments of the Seven Nations should revive encouraging citizen faith—gathering it as one.]
[This won't harm anyone; it's a sustainable approach to nourish the Jianmu.]
[…And with that…]
[Morax and Barbatos can fully retire.]
[Liyue's and Mondstadt's regimes should step into their second generation.]
After feeding a second wave of energy into the Jianmu, Su Xuan mumbled,
"Liyue's second generation ruler is an easy choice."
"She could fully become the second Geo Empress of Liyue."
"As for Mondstadt…" he mused, turning to Sikok, "Sikok, would you like to succeed Barbatos as the Anemo Archon of Mondstadt? After all, the Celestial Maiden power I gave you can certainly stir up the winds."
Sikok: "!?"
"Wha—?"
"You want me to be the Anemo Archon?"
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