After the decisive battle...
An unknown amount of ti passed before Lingyuan could barely open her eyes.
She had regained a bit of strength now.
She tried to drag her exhausted body back to the summit of Mt. Mingyuan.
She wanted to retrieve the snake's corpse.
By now, the mountaintop was buried under thick snow, making progress nearly impossible.
Relying on mory, Lingyuan made her way to where Yaojun had been struck down.
Her right forepaw had been numbed by the recoil from Mu Yang's true form and still hadn't regained feeling.
So she could only use her left paw to dig through the snow.
She clawed away all the snow around her, her paw turning red from the cold.
In the end, she never found Yaojun's body...
Under normal circumstances, Lingyuan would've been furious enough to stomp around.
But now, she had to conserve her strength.
She collapsed onto the ground and rested for a long ti.
She had originally planned to go in and check on Mu Yang.
But helplessly, the barrier of the seal was far too powerful for her weakened state.
She had no choice but to give up.
Limping, Lingyuan arrived at Jademouth.
The massive whirlpool had already vanished.
It had fulfilled its purpose—preventing the flood from subrging Chenyu Vale.
The fish, too, had fulfilled her purpose.
Only, she could no longer erge from the water to blow bubbles at Lingyuan...
Lingyuan stood there, staring blankly at the water's surface.
No one knew what she was thinking.
Nor did anyone know how long she stood there.
It was only later, when people returned to Qiaoying Village, that so claid—
They had seen a figure resembling Lingyuan...
Disappearing in the direction of Ancient Tea Tree Slope.
Others insisted it was toward Lingng Mountain instead.
In any case, no one ever saw them again...
After that, Chenyu Vale was incorporated into Morax's dominion.
Under his protection.
The people of Chenyu Vale still commorated Clarisse.
They even recorded the deeds of Fujin and others in murals.
But as natural disasters erupted across the land,
The two largest towns eventually scattered into many small tribes.
And the legends of the ancient gods and adepti gradually faded from mory.
——————
Back to the present.
In a small house in Yilong Wharf.
Late at night, a man and a woman alone.
System: ??? What about ?
"Stop sulking. I'm fine now, aren't I?"
Mu Yang sat up from the bed and spoke to Lingyuan.
The tsundere girl wasn't having it.
After that ti...
She had stayed alone in the mountains, with no idea how many days and nights had passed.
From snowfall, to snowlt, to snowfall again...
No news from anyone.
No trace of Yaojun.
No movent from the riverbed of Chenyu Vale.
The seal on Mt. Mingyuan?
She was still recovering—she couldn't even get close...
She had thought she would never see them again.
Until five hundred years ago, when a familiar-slling demonic beast attacked Qiaoying Village.
Only then did Lingyuan see that familiar white-haired youth again.
Swinging that strange sword of his, just as he had a thousand years ago.
She had wanted to see him so badly, yet when she finally did...
Everything ca rushing back.
She rembered when Mu Yang had decided to use himself to seal Clarisse.
That hadn't been a discussion with Lingyuan.
It had been a statent.
He had already made up his mind.
Of course, that wasn't fair to Lingyuan.
That decision had forced her to personally send off two of her friends.
So Mu Yang understood why Lingyuan didn't want to see him.
Back then, his attitude had been firm—but there'd been no other choice.
He knew Lingyuan was happy in her heart.
She just hadn't sorted out her emotions yet.
She said she wouldn't see him.
But the tsundere often secretly visited him, never bothering to hide her presence.
She just refused to show herself.
With Lingyuan like this...
Mu Yang really had no good way to handle it.
All he could do was play along.
Lingyuan didn't respond to Mu Yang's words.
Instead, she asked him—why had there been a ten-hour period where his presence completely vanished?
Mu Yang replied that it was a new cultivation technique.
Inwardly, he thought, 'Can't exactly tell you it was the System blocking it, can I?'
Lingyuan didn't doubt this explanation.
Mu Yang's "sword-obsessed" persona was too well-established—he'd been like this for thousands of years.
To grow stronger, he'd try any thod.
Suddenly, Lingyuan spoke unprompted.
"The Lantern Rite is coming soon, isn't it?"
"Yeah..."
Mu Yang wasn't surprised that Lingyuan—who "disliked mortals"—rembered the Lantern Rite.
Because it was related to him...
Lingyuan's mood turned somber. "Sa as every year?"
"Mm."
"Then... I'll co find you after the Lantern Rite."
And just like that, Lingyuan left.
After that battle, she had stopped saying farewells to Mu Yang.
Mu Yang followed soon after, leaving his little house.
But the two walked in opposite directions.
Mu Yang didn't use his lightfoot technique.
Instead, under the moonlight,
He slowly made his way up Mt. Mingyuan.
To the seal.
What had once been an ordinary pit had since collected rainwater.
Now, it was a frozen lake.
The lake's surface was crystal clear, revealing the "broken sword" at its center.
That was Mu Yang's current form.
Unlike that shattered blade,
The lake also held several other swords—each one clearly a fad weapon.
No one knew who had started the rumor.
But if a chivalrous warrior could pass the trial of this frozen lake and sink their sword into it,
It ant they had washed their hands of the martial world and retired to seclusion.
From then on, they would no longer involve themselves in mortal affairs.
And if enemies ca seeking vengeance afterward...
An adeptus would step in to resolve it for them.
There weren't many swords in the lake—just a handful.
Mu Yang thought back—they'd all belonged to righteous, heroic souls.
He didn't know if any of them were still alive.
But in all this ti, no one had ever truly needed his intervention.
This "Sword-Sinking Pool" had been a setting Mu Yang himself created.
With just three words, the world had filled in the details for him.
"Probably have to wait until Chenyu Vale opens... Only then will Paimon and Lumine 'coincidentally' et one of them..."
After reflecting on these little worldbuilding touches,
Mu Yang turned to his real task.
Naly, the Lantern Rite that Lingyuan had ntioned—
Liyue's Lantern Rite.
For mortals, it was the liveliest festival of the year.
But in the days surrounding it, evil spirits and demons grew rampant.
And 'Clarisse' was no exception.
So, every Lantern Rite, Mu Yang's external avatar had to return here.
Only then could 'Clarisse' be fully suppressed.
Lingyuan rembered the Lantern Rite not because it was a mortal celebration—
But because it was the ti when Mu Yang had to enter slumber.
Recalling past years, the first few hadn't been so bad.
But in the last two, 'Clarisse' seed to be growing stronger.
And Mu Yang had to return earlier each ti.
"Hah, guess I won't be seeing Zhongli this year."
System: "Didn't take you for an optimist."
Mu Yang: "First ti trying hibernation. Bear strength, baby!"
System: "Weirdo..."
Mu Yang: "Oh, and wrap up that sword challenge event at the right mont. Lower the difficulty, hand out so compensation, that sort of thing."
System: "Got it."
Mu Yang stretched, taking one last look at Chenyu Vale under the night sky.
Then his form dissipated, rging into the Sword-Sinking Pool.
"Goodnight, System."
"Goodnight."
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