"Miraculous potions, bizarre materials, the formidable Dragonryder Vanguard..."
"Upon careful consideration, these developments simply do not belong in Teyvat."
"Lady Ningguang has also made no effort to conceal Mr. Ryen's leading role in Liyue's sudden transformation."
"Therefore, I deduced that Mr. Ryen led Liyue to discover an entirely new world."
"Furthermore, Mr. Ryen himself might be the absolute sovereign of that dimension."
Baizhu's voice trembled slightly, a subtle tremor betraying the rapid pulse beneath his skin, though he kept his facial muscles locked in a placid mask.
Ryen studied the physician, an approving glint catching in his eyes. Regardless of the man's underlying moral compass, his intellect was undeniably sharp.
"If Teyvat offers no path to survival, traversing to another dimension might reduce my terminal affliction to a mere common cold."
"Seeking out Mr. Ryen became my sole lifeline."
"Yet, Mr. Ryen resides atop Mt. Tianheng. The defensive perimeters established there could repel a siege by countless demon gods."
"With the adepti standing guard, Millelith patrols blanketing the slopes, and my own movements constantly monitored by your agents, infiltrating that peak was impossible."
"The Lantern Rite presented my only window. I calculated that even if Mr. Ryen loathed crowds, he would eventually descend to observe the festivities."
"Thus, I maintained a constant vigil over this district."
"Until Miss Shenhe appeared. I surmised Cloud Retainer had summoned her, and I manipulated our encounter to secure an audience with you."
"That encompasses the entirety of my scheming. I have laid my desires completely bare. Every word I have spoken is the absolute truth."
"If Lady Ningguang still harbors doubts, I am perfectly willing to sign a binding contract under Rex Lapis."
"All I seek is a chance to breathe."
"Longevity. Immortality. These concepts were merely byproducts born from my desperate search for a cure."
"But the foundational prerequisite is simply to remain alive."
Baizhu lowered his head, the muscles in his jaw clenching tight as his knuckles turned a stark white against the table.
"I have endured enough torture at the hands of this illness. I wish to live as an ordinary man."
"Free from disease. Free from agony. Able to dictate the terms of my own existence."
"It sounds incredibly mundane, but I am terrified of the grave. That is the sum total of my ambitions."
"In the name of contracts, I swear upon Rex Lapis, these are my only intentions."
With those final words, Baizhu sealed his lips, fixing his serpentine gaze firmly on Ryen.
He had played every single card in his hand. He had spoken no falsehoods; his only crime was the desire to survive.
The final verdict now rested entirely on Ryen's shoulders.
"Why did you not state this earlier?"
Keqing pressed her fingers hard against her temples, exhaling a long, slow breath. With Baizhu swearing upon a contract, and Cloud Retainer scrutinizing his every breath, fabricating a lie was impossible.
After all this intense surveillance, it truly was a monumental misunderstanding. A heavy, uncomfortable silence settled over the Qixing members.
Baizhu's lips twisted into a hollow, self-deprecating line.
"In the past, I was already recognized as Liyue's finest physician. If I could not cure my own rotting core, what assistance could the Qixing possibly offer?"
"Even assuming Rex Lapis and the adepti possessed a remedy, why would they waste their attention on an insignificant mortal like me? Seeking the adepti is a fool's errand for ordinary men."
"Later, when my research into Qiqi became apparent, your agents locked onto me. You treated me as a severe threat. There was no point in offering an explanation; you would have dismissed it as deceit anyway."
"From beginning to end, my sole objective was survival. I never believed that exposing my weakness to you would yield a solution."
"Once this miraculous dimensional shift occurred and a cure became plausible, the optimal window for diplomacy had long passed. Your suspicions regarding my character had already taken deep root."
Keqing and the others slowly shook their heads, their rigid postures deflating.
Ryen chuckled lightly. "To put it plainly, it was Dottore who pushed your paranoia regarding Baizhu to its absolute peak, correct?"
Ningguang and the others maintained their silence, offering no denial.
"Dottore? Why?"
Baizhu blinked, his brow furrowing as he looked at Ryen. He was familiar with the moniker, naturally. The Second of the Fatui Harbingers. Rumors spoke of his terrifying strength.
"Because you bear a striking resemblance to him."
Ryen spread his hands casually. "That madman operates through countless clones scattered across the continent. Your physical features and overall aura match his profile quite closely."
"Furthermore, Dottore obsesses over human experimentation, dedicating his life to violating the natural order."
"Think about your own actions. Pursuing immortality is equally taboo. When you combine those factors, you essentially became the local Liyue variant of Dottore in their eyes."
"With Dottore currently standing as a paramount enemy to the alliance, maintaining absolute vigilance over you was a necessary precaution."
"After all, as a physician wielding peerless medical skill, should you step off the moral path, your capacity for destruction would easily rival his."
Baizhu fell silent, his serpentine eyes darting between Ryen and the quietly observing Qixing.
He had never, in his wildest calculations, deduced the true reason behind his suffocating surveillance.
To think he was being persecuted for a phantom connection to the Second Harbinger.
It was a completely absurd, unprovoked calamity.
Baizhu exhaled heavily, his shoulders sagging.
"I swear to Rex Lapis, even if I were driven to the absolute brink, I would never discard my humanity as Dottore has."
"Subjecting the living to cruel experiments... I have never entertained such depravity. Not in the past, and certainly not in the future."
"Regardless of my desperation, I am fundamentally a healer. I comprehend the immense weight of a life. How could I ever defile it so blasphemously?"
He had invoked the Geo Archon's name more times in the past few minutes than he had in his entire lifetime.
"You see?" Ryen gestured openly, a highly amused glint in his eye.
"Misunderstandings snowball. If you refuse to communicate, the avalanche only grows larger."
The assembled leaders cleared their throats, exchanging brief, stiff nods.
The suffocating tension in the parlor finally began to dissipate.
With the air cleared, Ningguang's gaze upon the physician lost its razor-sharp hostility.
While his interest in Qiqi was undeniably self-serving, he had never crossed the line into cruelty. He simply wanted to survive.
Clinging to life. There was no shame in that.
The core instinct of humanity was survival. The value of existence could not be easily dismissed.
Setting aside the eccentric Director Hu, not even the Tianquan could claim to have entirely transcended the fear of oblivion.
She still had an endless list of ambitions. She wished to oversee Liyue's rise to absolute supremacy. She wished to walk a long, uncharted path alongside Ryen. She wished to bear his children and construct a flawless, happy home.
Baizhu's desperation was far from humiliating.
He had merely voiced the raw, ugly truth that ordinary people were too proud to admit.
"Cloud Retainer, are you able to discern the exact nature of his affliction?"
Having secured Baizhu's confession and binding oaths, Ningguang ceased her targeted pressure.
A genius capable of independently fusing dimensional milk with advanced alchemy was an incredibly lucrative asset to modern Liyue.
The harbor lacked no martial strength, but they were severely starved for elite researchers.
Hearing Ningguang pose the question, Baizhu immediately shifted his attention to the adeptus, his posture stiffening slightly.
Surprisingly, the crane gave a slow, deliberate nod.
"In truth, Rex Lapis and the adepti have kept a watchful eye on him for quite some time following his adoption of Qiqi."
"We are well acquainted with the nature of his condition."
Baizhu leaned forward, straining his ears to catch every syllable.
To learn that Morax himself had taken notice of him was a staggering revelation. He had always assumed his struggles were entirely beneath the notice of gods.
"To speak plainly, it is beyond the reach of any medicine."
Cloud Retainer shook her head, a trace of genuine pity entering her amber eyes.
"Strictly speaking, his ailment is no longer merely a physical decay."
"Even if we adepti were to intervene personally, salvation would be impossible."
"Even... the Medicine Lord of the past would possess no remedy."
As she spoke, Cloud Retainer cast a highly conflicted glance toward the white snake coiled tightly around Baizhu's neck. Changsheng kept her head buried, completely silent.
"The Medicine Lord?" Ganyu tilted her head. "That reminds me. We have resurrected so many fallen adepti in Liyue recently, yet there has been no mention of restoring the Medicine Lord."
Cloud Retainer withdrew her gaze, her words laced with heavy implication. "How can one be resurrected if they have not yet perished? However... compared to the peace of death, enduring an immortal life can often prove far more agonizing."
The crane released a long, mournful sigh, retreating into her own ancient memories.
Baizhu had always calculated the high probability that his condition was terminal, but hearing a divine adeptus confirm the absolute finality of it caused his posture to slump visibly.
"When all is said and done, you have not truly abandoned your desire for immortality."
Cloud Retainer fixed Baizhu with a piercing stare. He remained quiet for a long moment before nodding slowly.
"I made a promise to Changsheng, and a promise to myself. I will be the final host to bear this contract."
"First, I cure the disease. Then, I secure eternity."
Ningguang and the others narrowed their eyes, their expressions hardening once more.
But Ryen simply waved his hand. "Let it go. It is not an unspeakable crime. Immortality is a concept any mortal with a pulse would chase."
"Go ask Zhongli. He acts as if he has entirely transcended the burdens of eternal life, but now that erosion is no longer a factor, he is more than eager to stick around and explore this new reality."
"Besides, do you truly mean to say you do not desire immortality yourselves, just to remain by my side?"
Ningguang and the others fell perfectly silent.
Stripped of all political posturing, their core desire mirrored his. They wished to conquer time to stay with Ryen.
A mortal lifespan was agonizingly brief. To simply fade away after a few fleeting decades felt entirely unacceptable.
A century from now, if they failed to shatter the shackles of mortality, only long-lived species like Ganyu would remain to share his bed.
"Immortality is a trivial matter for me. You do not need to stress over it." Ryen reached out, gently smoothing Ningguang's hair.
Internally, he dismissed the concern entirely. Dying of old age? Aside from a handful of chaotic mods, he had never heard of a Minecraft Steve succumbing to the ravages of time.
The Steve physique was inherently immortal.
Even if the physical template failed, he still wielded Imaginary energy. A power capable of rewriting reality itself could easily edit a biological expiration date.
Eternal life was an insurmountable peak for others, yet less than a footnote to him. If his people started dropping dead, how would they ever finish developing the dimensional world?
Noticing the feverish light of hope rekindling in Baizhu's eyes, Ryen gestured for calm. "Do not worry about immortality right now. You need to purge this terminal rot first."
With a flick of his wrist, Ryen manifested a thin thread of purplish-black Imaginary energy. Spotting the dark current, Changsheng shivered violently, burying her head even deeper into Baizhu's collar.
Baizhu remained perfectly still, allowing the otherworldly energy to pierce his chest.
A few moments later, Ryen clicked his tongue, his eyes wide with morbid fascination. "Incredible. Absolutely incredible... I have never witnessed a biological vessel in such an advanced state of decay."
Baizhu's breath caught in his throat, his voice dropping to a cautious whisper. "Is it an exceedingly difficult case, Mr. Ryen?"
"How should I phrase this." Ryen spread his hands.
"Confined to the medical boundaries of Teyvat, your death is an absolute certainty. The fact that you are standing here breathing is a statistical miracle."
"Your internal organs, your marrow, practically every single cell in your body is undergoing extreme pathological mutation. In layman's terms, there is not a single healthy fiber left in your entire body."
"A fraction of this necrosis would instantly kill an ordinary man. Yet, you have managed to forcibly anchor your soul to this rotting husk. Your medical mastery is truly terrifying."
"However, the true crisis lies within your soul. Your physical decay is merely a symptom bleeding over from a spiritual rot."
"Truthfully, did you personally offend a demon god in a past life? I have rarely seen a soul polluted to such a catastrophic degree."
"Even when Xiao was teetering on the absolute brink of death, utterly consumed by eons of karmic debt, his spiritual foundation did not look half as terrifying as yours."