Chapter 382: Zhongli's Worry
Zhongli's concern was far from unfounded. Power—especially authority that touched upon the fundamental, underlying rules of the world—had always been a treacherous double-edged sword. To master such deep concepts required an ironclad will, tempered wisdom, and a deep, intrinsic understanding of the universe's natural laws.
Hu Tao was undeniably brilliant. She possessed a unique, open-minded insight into the delicate cycle of life and death that far surpassed the comprehension of ordinary mortals. Yet, despite her brilliance, she was still so very young. The former Geo Archon feared she might be treading this perilous path far too hastily, reaching for concepts her mortal mind was not yet ready to bear.
Beside him, Venti listened in silence. The Anemo Archon's trademark playful grin faded, replaced by a rare glimmer of sincerity. He reached out, clapping a hand firmly onto Zhongli's broad shoulder. His tone dropped its usual melodic lilt, grounding itself in quiet seriousness.
"Zhongli, my friend, I really have to call you out on this one. Aren't you underestimating our dear Director Hu just a little too much? And for that matter, aren't you underestimating yourself? Not to mention the rest of us 'backups' standing right here?"
The bard raised his free hand, ticking off points on his fingers. "First of all, look at that spear she's holding. The Staff of Passage, right? It doesn't merely harbor the cold, absolute rules of 'death.'Doesn't the very word'passage'imply a journey? A natural transition and a delicate balance guiding souls from'this shore'to'the other shore'?"
Venti gestured toward the dormant weapon. "Within those spectral flames, beneath the biting chill of mortality, there remains a lingering trace of warmth that represents 'life.' Life and death are two sides of the same coin; they are completely interdependent. That weapon inherently carries its own stabilizing balance. When Director Hu wields it, losing control won't be nearly as easy as your anxious mind is making it out to be."
"Secondly," Venti continued, pointing a finger directly at Zhongli's chest before tapping his own. "What exactly are we two old relics doing here? Between the two of us, what kind of apocalyptic storms, divine wars, or bizarre cosmic powers haven't we seen? If our own Director stumbles, do you honestly believe we can't handle a tiny, temporary hiccup to catch her?"
Finally, the bard threw his arms wide open, making a grand, theatrical gesture as if trying to embrace the entire sky. His signature bright, carefree smile returned in full force. "But most, don't forget that we aren't fighting this battle alone anymore! We have the entire Chat Group standing right behind us!"
His emerald eyes sparkled with excitement. "Everyone back home in Teyvat, our trailblazing friends from the Astral Express, the proxy partners from New Eridu... Think of the sheer volume of knowledge, combat experience, and entirely different power systems we have access to! If something goes wrong, someone in that group will have a solution. We have an ocean of multiversal support! We can cross that bridge when we finally come to it. Don't you think it's a bit too early to be agonizing over 'what ifs'?"
Zhongli absorbed Venti's fiercely optimistic, yet entirely logical reasoning. While the deep crease between his brows didn't vanish entirely, the suffocating weight shadowing his amber eyes noticeably lightened. The former Geo Archon let out a long, slow breath. The quiet sound carried centuries of complex, unspeakable emotions—the heavy burden of a god who had outlived too many friends.
"What you say... certainly holds merit," Zhongli murmured softly. His gaze remained anchored on Hu Tao's resting figure, though his unfocused eyes seemed to be looking straight through her, peering into a distant, tragic past. "I have allowed my thoughts to become too heavy. It is merely..."
For a fleeting second, a rare, almost imperceptible trace of deep exhaustion and bitter self-mockery cracked his stoic facade. "Perhaps it was our collective negligence just a moment ago. Allowing Sarah to slip away right from under our very noses... it stirred something within me. It serves as a harsh reminder. Even after weathering such impossibly long years, even after convincing myself that I am sufficiently steady and thorough, critical omissions and foolish mistakes still occur when I least expect them."
He paused, his deep voice dropping to a quiet, vulnerable murmur. "Suddenly watching Director Hu brush against a power of this cosmic magnitude... it is inevitable that my care for her manifests as anxiety. I am terrified that if she takes a single wrong step, I might fail to detect it in time. Or worse—that I might lack the power to remedy it."
This was the raw, unvarnished truth of his worry. It wasn't born from a lack of faith in Hu Tao's prodigious talents or her resilient character. Nor was it a genuine underestimation of his own divine strength or his companions' capabilities.
It was simply the heart of an elder. He had watched Hu Tao grow from a spirited child into a capable young woman. He stood by her side as a teacher, a friend, and a guardian. Having just experienced a sharp sting of self-doubt over their failure to track their previous target, his confidence had wavered. Now, facing this entirely new path—one fraught with unknown cosmic risks that Hu Tao was recklessly charging toward—an instinctual, overwhelming protectiveness flared within him. It was a caution deeply rooted in centuries of responsibility and quiet affection, making it utterly impossible for him to adopt Venti's boundless optimism.
Venti studied the sharp, tense lines of Zhongli's profile. The bard stripped away the last remnants of his joking demeanor, his ancient eyes softening with complete understanding. He knew his old friend's heart perfectly. The longer an immortal lived, and the more tragedies they carried upon their shoulders, the easier it became to spiral into this suffocating trap of hesitation and overthinking.
Venti didn't push the matter or offer any more empty platitudes. He simply gave Zhongli's shoulder one final, grounding squeeze. The silent gesture spoke volumes; everything was understood without another word.
Fortunately, Hu Tao's sudden state of deep enlightenment did not stretch on for much longer.
The fundamental power of universal rules was infinitely deep and wildly unpredictable. Given her current mortal realm and the purely accidental nature of the trigger, merely capturing a fleeting trace of that lingering resonance was a miracle. Managing to force her own ancestral inheritance to connect alongside it was an astronomical stroke of luck. Expecting her to completely comprehend the entirety of those cosmic laws in a single sitting was practically impossible.
"Mmm..." A soft, groggy hum slipped from Hu Tao's lips. Her long eyelashes fluttered rapidly against her cheeks before she slowly blinked her eyes open.
Within those vibrant, plum-blossom-shaped pupils, a thick haze of bewilderment and dizzying confusion swirled. She looked exactly like someone who had just been violently yanked from a centuries-deep slumber.
She stared blankly at the Staff of Passage clutched tightly in her hands. Her gaze then drifted up, landing on the deeply concerned faces of Zhongli and Venti hovering nearby. Subconsciously, she gave her head a little shake.
"I... I'm fine." She blinked hard, desperately trying to clear the chaotic, buzzing static filling her mind, though her brow remained pinched in a tight frown. "It's just... just a second ago... it seems I felt something coming from this spear. Something incredibly special, and super important... but now I can't remember a single detail. Only this weird, vague impression is left behind. It's like having a hyper-realistic dream, but the second you wake up, all you remember is the fact that you had a dream. It's so frustratingly strange."
She shook her head vigorously from side to side. As she did, that deep, mysterious sensation of universal connection vanished rapidly, pulling away like a receding ocean tide. It left behind nothing but a hollow, echoing sense of loss and emptiness in her chest.
Zhongli stepped forward, smoothly taking the lead. His deep voice had completely smoothed out, returning to its usual steady, comforting gentleness. It was as if his previous display of crushing anxiety and emotional depth had never even occurred.
"It is a relief that you are unharmed. Director Hu must have simply been testing the limits of this divine weapon for the first time. As your spiritual mind aligned with its core, you were granted a momentary flash of insight."
He offered her a reassuring nod. "Such deep insights are inherently mysterious and notoriously difficult to describe with mortal words. Attempting to force the memories to return will only cause you to lose their true essence. However, since the connection has already been made, it will never truly vanish. In the future, as you gather more worldly experience and your personal world of power improves, that exact insight will naturally resurface in your heart when the time is right. There is absolutely no need to burden yourself over temporary gains or fleeting losses."
His calm, measured words carried an obvious, grounding power. They perfectly validated Hu Tao's confusing experience while simultaneously lifting the crushing pressure of needing to understand the universe's secrets right this very second. Having just clawed her way out of that cosmic trance, Hu Tao's mind was still spinning, her thoughts muffled as if draped beneath a heavy velvet veil.
Listening to Zhongli's explanation, she couldn't help but agree that it made perfect, logical sense. Yet, deep down in her subconscious, her sharp instincts picked up on something subtle. Her consultant's tone felt just a fraction of a degree different from his usual aloof lectures, almost as if...
But her currently scrambled spiritual senses weren't sharp enough to let her pinpoint the exact anomaly. Giving up on the mental gymnastics, she simply blinked her plum-blossom eyes and let out a soft, "Oh," readily accepting his comforting explanation.
Watching the exchange from the sidelines, Venti saw right through the interaction. He knew perfectly well that Zhongli still needed a few more minutes to quietly process his heavy emotions and fully reset his mental state. The bard's emerald eyes darted around the area before he immediately leaned forward, flashing a brilliant, mischievous grin. He smoothly hijacked the conversation, executing a flawless maneuver to divert Hu Tao's lingering attention.
"Exactly, exactly, Director Hu!" Venti cheered, dramatically pointing a finger toward the center of the ruined plaza. His tone dripped with theatrical temptation. "Instead of sitting here racking your brain over elusive, headache-inducing cosmic mysteries, why don't we take a look at the substantial rewards we earned from that brutal battle! Just look over there! The ground is absolutely littered with glowing loot crates!"
He bounced on his heels, gesturing wildly at the scattered glowing boxes. "After going toe-to-toe with such a terrifyingly formidable guy, not to mention slicing through all those elite monsters, the system rewards are guaranteed to be massive! I bet my favorite lyre there are some super rare, top-tier goodies hidden in there!"
Rewards!
That single, magical word struck like a bolt of lightning, instantly shattering the remaining fog of confusion and wiping away the last lingering traces of doubt in Hu Tao's mind. Her plum-blossom eyes practically ignited with greedy delight. In a literal flash, her boundless, chaotic energy came roaring back to life!
That's right! She had been so ridiculously distracted by cosmic insights, death rules, and fighting for her life that she had completely forgotten about the absolute most important part of any multiversal adventure: the shiny, glorious loot!
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