Genshin x Minecraft: Building the Temple of Virtue Chapter 165: 165: Tartaglia Is Stunned—What On Earth Is Liyu

Walking through the utterly ravaged basin,

Tartaglia was surrounded by the remains of juvenile Geovishaps.

These materials could fetch a good price even in Liyue Harbor—

after all, they were excellent for forging weapons.

But Tartaglia didn't dare take a single piece.

This destruction had clearly been caused by a bombing from the Jade Chamber.

Soone would definitely co to collect the remains.

And if even a little bit went missing, the Fatui would instantly be suspected.

Why, you ask...?

Because in Liyue, even if a Liyuean adventurer dies while exploring their own land,

the General Affairs Departnt could find a way to bla the Fatui.

There's nothing to be done—they're blatantly targeting you.

"What the hell... what is that thing?!"

Tartaglia clenched his fists tightly, pacing back and forth through the devastated land.

Recalling that explosion—like the sky collapsing—he felt a chill of fear.

He had no idea how many Fatui troops could have possibly survived such a blast.

Liyue's true strength...

A small glimpse of it was finally revealed before Tartaglia's eyes.

But he would rather never have seen it.

Liyue was already terrifyingly powerful—

With the Geo Archon, the Adepti, and the mysteriously empowered Millelith...

And now...

They even surpassed the rest of the world in technology?

How is anyone supposed to compete with that?

Everyone had been chasing the power of the Vision system, pursuing personal strength.

Now Liyue had flipped the table—

Telling the world: "Sure, go ahead and strengthen yourselves.

You'll still be turned to ashes in a single bombing run."

For a combat fanatic like Tartaglia, this was a devastating blow.

His faith—shattered.

"Like barrels of explosives... Were they dropped from the sky?"

Tartaglia shook his head.

"No way. Even Hilichurl Berserkers are hard to kill with explosive barrels,

but this... this wiped out juvenile Geovishaps like nothing!"

"And why were there so many?!"

He stood in place for a long ti, eyes flickering with deep thought.

This information needed to be reported to the Tsaritsa.

Tartaglia, who knew her sad wish and was willing to sacrifice everything for her cause, understood:

This was a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity.

If they could get Liyue on board with resisting Celestia...

Their odds of victory would imdiately increase several tis over.

But Tartaglia wasn't sure if this was truly the right move...

The Fatui were not united.

He trusted the Tsaritsa—

but he didn't trust the Jester or the Doctor.

There was no telling what they might do with this information behind the scenes.

Snezhnaya could no longer afford to provoke Liyue.

At the very least, they certainly couldn't now.

If that lunatic Doctor decided to stir up trouble in Liyue like he had in Mondstadt...

There was no telling—

the Jade Chamber might march directly into Snezhnaya,

backed by a strengthened Millelith army, the Adepti, and the Geo Archon himself.

In that case, forget about fighting Celestia—

they'd be lucky just to survive Liyue.

Tartaglia slamd his fist into a nearby towering tree.

"Damn it! What the hell is going on?! What happened to Liyue?!"

The massive tree shed a flurry of leaves under the impact.

This infuriated Azhdaha even more—

He had already been seething in his sealed space after being bombarded for no reason.

Now, with Morax's presence having vanished,

so slightly powerful human dares touch his tail?

With a mighty slap to the ground,

Azhdaha sent a wave of divine power through the crack in the seal.

"Human! How dare you insult like this?!"

The imnse divine force slamd into Tartaglia without warning.

He was sent flying over a hundred ters, crashing to the ground and coughing up blood.

Three ribs—snapped.

Gritting his teeth, Tartaglia raised his head with difficulty to look at the Dragon-Queller Tree.

Just a mont ago, it had seed like any other giant tree—just unusually tall.

Now, it was shrouded in the power of four different elents.

Its presence...

Comparable to the Cryo Archon!

"Damn it! Another god-level being?! What kind of cursed place is Liyue?!"

Tartaglia instantly lost the will to fight.

The other party hadn't even gone all out—

they had rely vented a bit of divine power.

And yet it had already left him gravely injured.

Tartaglia wasn't stupid—

he could tell this was an opponent he could not fight.

Forcing himself to stand, he spoke in a low voice:

"My apologies, elder. I have offended you. I shall leave imdiately."

He dared not hesitate.

Regardless of how loudly Azhdaha roared behind him,

he pushed his wounded body to call upon elental power and fled at full speed.

Only after escaping the domain of Nantiann did Tartaglia collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.

He recalled the divine aura he had just felt.

"Four elents... Nantiann...?"

"So it was the Lord of Vishaps, Azhdaha?!"

Relief washed over Tartaglia as he gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

"No wonder I couldn't fight back at all. So it was his sealing ground..."

If he had been humiliated by so naless powerhouse, he'd have died from sha.

He considered himself not much weaker than the Three-Eyed Five-Manifests Adepti.

But if it was Azhdaha—

Then everything made sense.

This being was no ordinary adeptus.

He was a lifeform born from the ley lines—

A creature born of Teyvat itself.

With power rivaling that of top-tier archons.

Even among today's Teyvat powers,

Azhdaha stood near the top.

Not to ntion—

Even if it were the Jester or the Doctor taking that divine hit, they wouldn't fare much better.

This was the sa dragon once personally enlightened by Morax himself—

who had followed him into the Archon War and earned eternal fa.

His power was only slightly below that of the Geo Archon.

And back then, in order to seal Azhdaha,

Morax had summoned many Adepti.

All of the Three-Eyed Five-Manifests were involved.

At that ti, Liyue's immortals hadn't been reduced to their current small number.

Tartaglia realized—

He and Azhdaha were simply not on the sa level.

Thinking this way, Tartaglia suddenly felt much better.

Strictly speaking, that Lord of the Vishaps, Azhdaha, was even a senior to the Cryo Archon.

Back when the original Seven gathered, Azhdaha, though not a ruling Archon himself, could still sit and debate philosophy with the Seven.

"The God of Dust, Guizhong… The God of Stove, Marchosius… The God of Salt, Havria… and this Lord Azhdaha…"

"Heh…"

Tartaglia took a deep breath and shook his head with resignation.

"No wonder Morax was hailed as the God of War."

As he sighed in awe, a faint sound suddenly ca from the shadows.

Tartaglia glanced over lazily, then sneered coldly:

"What's this… just because I'm injured, even hilichurls think they can provoke ?"

A blade of water, sharp as could be, ford in his hand as he stood up cheerfully.

His icy gaze swept over the dozens of hilichurls surrounding him.

"I'm still… far from dying!"

As his voice fell, brilliant waterlight burst forth. A streak of azure light slashed through the hilichurl horde.

Tartaglia needed to vent.

To vent the shock he felt from Liyue, the grief of being grievously injured by a single divine strike from Azhdaha.

And these hilichurls…

Unfortunately, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong ti.

Suru.

Lately, Suru had been in serious turmoil.

The Matra and even all units of the Eremites affiliated with the Akademiya had been fully mobilized.

It seed they were searching for sothing on a wide scale.

Combined with the economic pressure from Liyue's comrcial blockade, the Akademiya had been forced into a frugal survival mode.

The Grand Sage who oversaw the entire institution hadn't shown himself in a long ti.

All this had left many within the Akademiya feeling increasingly uneasy.

However, this chaos also gave certain individuals the perfect cover to act more freely.

A dark, windy night.

At the foot of a small hill outside Suru City.

Alhaitham stood silently, gazing into the distance at Suru City.

A nation of wisdom… yet in his eyes now, it seed steeped in decay.

This was not the Suru of his ideals.

Suddenly, a deliberate footstep ca from behind.

Alhaitham withdrew his thoughts and said calmly:

"You finally ca… If I rember correctly, the Akademiya's current guard presence is quite thin. With your abilities, you shouldn't have taken this long."

From the darkness, Cyno slowly erged.

"I went to the Grand Sage's office."

"Oh?"

That piqued Alhaitham's interest slightly.

"Find anything?"

Cyno shook his head, speaking in a low tone:

"He's not absent—he's just refusing to see anyone. Also… I could sll it. His condition is terrible, like rotting at about to spoil."

"Figured as much."

Alhaitham nodded lightly, his expression unchanged.

"A few days ago, he was having people scour Suru for antidotes. I suspect that strange creature from before had sothing very wrong with it."

Cyno remained silent, then after a brief pause, added with so confusion:

"Did you know… he's been secretly transporting prisoners from the cells?"

That made Alhaitham frown.

"Not a single one has co back out once they're taken in…"

Cyno added, and Alhaitham seed to realize sothing terrible.

"He's…"

For so reason, the night wind suddenly turned cold and mournful, sending a chill down Alhaitham's spine.

The two fell silent, tacitly agreeing to drop the subject. After a while, Cyno said gravely:

"After I left there, I went to the confidential archives… and found detailed files about you."

"Heh… Typical of them. If you dig a little deeper, you might even find your own file."

Alhaitham didn't seem surprised at all and sounded almost uninterested.

"Besides that, did you find anything else?"

Cyno was quiet for a long mont before slowly speaking.

"It seems many sages are involved in Azar's plan. But I can't yet determine what the true purpose of that plan is."

"However… I saw a docunt detailing the extraction process of divine canned knowledge…"

Alhaitham's expression tightened into a deep frown.

"It's already gone that far? I see. Thank you for your effort…"

Watching Alhaitham's back, Cyno opened his mouth as if to ask sothing, but no words ca out.

He turned and prepared to return to Suru City. Suddenly, Alhaitham's light voice drifted behind him:

"Be prepared, Cyno. Just like I told you before…"

"One day, when you realize what the Akademiya is truly doing and you can no longer tolerate it, then… you will beco their target."

"When that ti cos… I hope to see you in the desert."

Cyno paused for a mont, then continued walking into the darkness.

"I don't need your reminder. I'll find my own answers…"

"And by the way, be careful. A sage has already set their sights on you."

The two parted ways. Alhaitham remained behind, quietly gazing out over everything.

Was he reminiscing? Or hoping for sothing…?

After a while, Alhaitham turned and left without hesitation.

Now that the Akademiya was in disarray, it was ti for him to make preparations.

The first task…

Was to head to Gandharva Ville for a chat with a certain forest ranger.

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