The once-existing hillside had been completely leveled.
All that remained on Wuwang Hill were scattered trees, pools of accumulated water, and a leaking earth vein.
With a casual press of his hand, Zhongli placed a stone gate over the leaking earth vein, completely suppressing it.
He had always known that the earth veins in Wuwang Hill were sowhat chaotic, but he hadn't expected that a re battle would force the energy of the earth veins to surface.
Under his deliberate manipulation, the stone gate transford into a secret realm and sank deep underground.
For now, this was the only way to deal with it. Otherwise... the energy from the earth veins would throw the entire area into chaos.
After handling the earth vein, Zhongli turned his gaze to the "Bai Luo" who had fought him for so long.
The special ability that had been shrouding the man had faded, revealing the youthful figure underneath.
If he rembered correctly... this person seed to be Bai Luo's colleague, and also a Harbinger of the Fatui—code na: Childe.
Had Bai Luo sent him to take his place?
No... that didn't seem right.
After all, just now, this man had called out Bai Luo's na the sa way he had. And when he realized the person before him was not Bai Luo, he had nearly coughed up blood from sheer rage.
If that hadn't happened, he wouldn't have lost the battle so quickly.
It seed they were both victims in this situation.
"Hey... You're Morax, aren't you?"
Having reverted from his Foul Legacy transformation, Tartaglia's rationality had returned sowhat. As he took notice of the surrounding stone spears, he finally recalled why this mysterious man in strange robes looked so familiar.
He was wearing divine attire.
"Why are you the one here today? Where's Bai Luo?"
Zhongli did not answer Tartaglia's question, nor did he deny it.
Instead, he crossed his arms and posed a question of his own.
At the ntion of Bai Luo, Tartaglia felt another wave of frustration in his chest.
Three days! Did Morax know what he had been through these past three days?
He had thought he was finally going to be free from using a bow, but instead of Bai Luo, Morax had shown up!
"We agreed to have a spar here today, so..."
Tartaglia trailed off, as the implication was already clear.
"Did he say that he would definitely be here in three days?"
Compared to Tartaglia, Zhongli—being the God of Contracts—was much quicker to pick up on the loophole in Bai Luo's words.
Bai Luo's exact words had been: Within three days, soone will be here. The Fatui always honor their word.
Indeed, soone had arrived within three days, but Bai Luo had never explicitly stated that he would be the one to show up. In the end, he had only vaguely ntioned the Fatui.
Which ant... even if the one who ca today wasn't Tartaglia but just an ordinary Fatui mber, the contract would still be fulfilled.
If it were anyone else, Zhongli would have found this utterly ridiculous.
But coming from Bai Luo... it actually made perfect sense.
Tartaglia realized this as well.
At first, Bai Luo had said, Be there if you're truly a brother.
But later, when he made his oath, he had used the sa kind of misleading wording.
That earlier statent had just been a way to mislead him.
In other words... the so-called contract they had signed with Bai Luo was, in reality, nothing more than Bai Luo acting as an interdiary to arrange a duel between the two of them.
Tartaglia suddenly understood why the Tsaritsa had granted Bai Luo a Dendro Vision.
Her Majesty truly was wise and insightful.
But still, Bai Luo had the audacity to provoke both himself and Morax at the sa ti?
Did he not fear the consequences?
Wait a second...
Tartaglia suddenly recalled Bai Luo's reason for traveling from Mondstadt to Liyue—to borrow a ship to Inazuma.
Could it be that guy had already...
Zhongli also seed to realize sothing. His expression changed slightly before he transford into a golden light and shot into the sky.
Amidst the sea of clouds, Zhongli assud the form of a golden dragon and used his authority as the Geo Archon to search for Bai Luo within Liyue's borders.
But he failed.
Was Bai Luo hiding? Or had he used that shape-shifting ability to change his appearance again?
No... neither.
Three days. No wonder he had insisted on waiting three days before the duel.
It only took a single day to leave Liyue's borders—let alone three.
In three days, even a moderately fast ship could have reached Inazuma.
Realizing this, even the usually composed and steady Geo Archon let out a warm smile.
Compared to Zhongli, Tartaglia processed the information even faster.
After all, Bai Luo hadn't hidden the fact that he was planning to board Beidou's fleet, so using the Fatui's intelligence network, Tartaglia quickly confird that after they had parted ways that day, Bai Luo had gone straight to the Crux.
In other words... leading him to Wuwang Hill for a battle against Morax wasn't a spur-of-the-mont decision.
It was preditated.
< >
"Lord Childe, this is a letter left for you by the Ausbilder."
After hesitating for a long ti, the Pyro Agent—who had helped investigate the dock informant—finally pulled out a letter Bai Luo had entrusted him with.
The Ausbilder had repeatedly emphasized that it must be delivered to Lord Childe personally.
Taking a deep breath to suppress his urge to beat Bai Luo to a pulp, Tartaglia accepted the letter.
The envelope was a standard one used internally by the Fatui, but at the seal, there was a small, adorable drawing of a yellow duck.
However, the contents of the letter... were indescribable.
Aside from the neatly written "Tartaglia" at the beginning, the rest of the text was utterly illegible.
For a mont, Tartaglia even doubted whether these were actual words.
"Oh, this is a cipher invented by the Ausbilder. Our intelligence departnt frequently uses it for communication."
Noticing Tartaglia's confusion, the Pyro Agent took the letter and began translating it for him.
= = =
My dearest Tartaglia,
By the ti you read this letter, I should already be in Inazuma.
But I had my reasons for doing this.
It was my fault. I shouldn't have kept this from you.
I had my reasons for deceiving you.
You'll understand my good intentions, right?
Of course, you have every right to be angry.
But I just saw how you kept struggling to find Morax.
You've always taken such good care of ,
So naturally, I had to help you too.
I really hope you enjoy this little surprise.
It might be a difficult fight at first, but Morax is a good person.
A kind-hearted person.
When we et again, I hope you'll have completed the Tsaritsa's mission.
Until we et again, Bai Luo.
P.S. If you're still angry, read it again from the start.
= = =
"...Huh?"
At first, as Tartaglia listened to the Pyro Agent read the letter aloud, he didn't think anything was off.
In fact, Bai Luo's seemingly sincere apology even soothed so of his anger.
But the more he thought about it, the more sothing felt wrong.
So he had the Pyro Agent rewrite the letter using Liyue's language...
And then—
"Pfft—BAI LUO!!!!!"
Tartaglia coughed up a mouthful of blood, splattering it all over the letter.
Already gravely injured from his battle with Zhongli, his vision went dark, and he collapsed.
The blood covered most of the letter, leaving only the first word of each line visible.
It read:
"I was lying to you, but I had fun. Goodbye!"
It was a goddamn acrostic cipher.
. . . . .
If you want to see more Chapter of this story and don't mind to pay $5 monthly to read till the latest Chapter, please go to my Patreon
Current Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 167: Nathan
Link to the current Chapter: /posts/genshin-impact-127663337
/Thatsnakegirl
/Thatsnakegirl/posts/genshin-impact-127663337/posts/genshin-impact-127663337/Thatsnakegirl
User Comments
0 comments from readers