"Eighty percent?!"
Off to the side, Moon Carver frowned slightly, his tone deep.
"Cloud Retainer, you must answer the Lord of Geo seriously. Every word you speak right now concerns the future of Liyue. You must think for the sake of all its people, and you must not let personal closeness cloud your judgment."
At that, Cloud Retainer's face immediately hardened. She shot Moon Carver an angry glare.
"Are you implying that this adeptus would play favorites with Jiang Yan?"
"No. I am merely reminding you to make the correct judgment."
"Hmph! Spare me!"
With a huff, Cloud Retainer flicked her sleeves. A cold gale swept across the mountain peak.
"Even if I do have a good relationship with Jiang Yan, I am still an adeptus of Liyue! I have fought at the Lord of Geo's side for thousands of years and personally witnessed the forging of Liyue's millennial foundation."
"Do not presume to lecture me! In terms of love for Liyue, I value it far more than you!"
Moon Carver's brows knit. "Cloud Retainer, you—"
"Enough!"
Zhongli's low voice cracked across the summit, making all of Mt. Tianheng tremble.
"Is this the time for bickering?"
It was rare for the immortals to see the Lord of Geo genuinely angry. The last time… had been five hundred years ago, when Bosacius vanished.
"Forgive us, my lord. We understand our error." Moon Carver and the others quickly bowed their heads in apology.
Zhongli calmed himself before speaking again, his tone grave.
"What we say and do now concerns Liyue's great design for the next thousand years. And you—adepti of Liyue—quibble over trivialities at such a time?"
Ashamed, the immortals lowered their heads into silence.
Zhongli then turned to Cloud Retainer.
"Swear to the people of Liyue that every word you are about to speak, you are prepared to be held accountable for."
"My lord may rest assured—this adeptus does not deal in groundless tales." Cloud Retainer's tone grew serious.
"Jiang Yan has been in Teyvat for a hundred days now. On that very day, I saw with my own eyes that he truly fell from a rift in space-time. Ganyu and Shenhe can attest to this."
"At the time, he was as powerless as a mortal—but his bearing and cultivation of spirit were far from ordinary. When Ganyu once asked me about certain issues in Liyue, Jiang Yan cut straight to the heart of the matter."
"It was for that reason I found him intriguing and allowed him to stay in my abode. Over these hundred days, Ganyu often posed him difficult questions, yet he always responded fluently—citing examples from many different worlds and timelines."
"At the time, I suspected he might be a traveler who had wandered across many realms, and thought to keep him under watch for the Qixing to arrange later. Now, with his mention of Mount Shu, his words align with that breadth of knowledge."
"If there were not some vast, interdimensional sect of cultivation behind him, how else could he have such learning?"
Her reasoning was sound, and even Moon Carver and the others found themselves nodding.
Zhongli gestured for her to continue.
"In those hundred days, Jiang Yan had much free time. Yet without fail, every dawn he would sit atop the mountain, reciting the Huangting Jade View Classic in meditation. I once asked him why he persisted, and he said he himself did not know—only that some will in the unseen compelled him to do so."
"In hindsight, this must have been some means left upon him by a master of Mount Shu. This also matches his current claims."
"Most important of all—his rendition of the Huangting Jade View Classic is so profound I cannot fully comprehend it, but simply by hearing it, one benefits greatly. My lord, you must know this as well."
At her words, the eyes of Xiao and the others shifted to Zhongli.
He nodded slightly.
"Indeed. From the moment I first noticed him, I went daily to listen to his recitation. This so-called Huangting Jade View Classic, even without cultivation, merely hearing it is enough to suppress my erosion. That is why I have gone to Jueyun Karst without fail for many days."
With that confirmed by Zhongli himself, there could be little doubt.
"And one more thing," Zhongli said, pausing to look toward Xiao.
"The karmic debt clinging to the Vigilant Yaksha has been purged. As for my own erosion, a fifth of it has already dissipated. No matter what else, Jiang Yan's cultivation is not a sham. His 'immortal path' truly surpasses our current understanding of what it means to be an adeptus."
Xiao gave a solemn nod.
"The karmic burden that plagued me for centuries is gone. Even if I continue to slay remnants of the old gods, I doubt it will accumulate again. Whatever else may be true, Jiang Yan has done me great service. Even if he hides something, I must repay him."
That silenced even Moon Carver. Whatever doubts they might harbor, the man had already bestowed them great benefit. It would be ill-fitting for Liyue to harbor malice toward one who had helped her.
"And then—there is the matter of his tribulation," Zhongli continued softly.
At that, everyone's attention sharpened.
"Leave aside the means he displayed—the thunder that descended upon him was unlike anything in Teyvat. I recognized it instantly. And if this so-called cultivation were full of flaws, would he dare invite us to join Mount Shu? Would he not fear we might see through him?"
"For that reason, my preliminary judgment is that his cultivation is genuine."
Moon Carver and the rest exchanged glances—this meant that resurrection, too, might be real. Their eyes lit with a barely concealed hope.
Zhongli read their thoughts, but did not speak them aloud.
Until there was proof, he would neither confirm nor deny—better to act as though he had not considered it at all. Otherwise, if it proved false, it would only be a bitter disappointment.
"Beyond that," Zhongli said, "there are the abilities he has shown—sword-riding, command over heavenly lightning, golden radiance, mastery of the five elements… all of these accord with mortal legends of immortals."
"So, for now, we can tentatively accept that cultivation exists."
His voice carried the weight of a final conclusion.
"My assessment is the same as Cloud Retainer's—eighty percent certainty."
Cloud Retainer gave Moon Carver a smug look, though the latter paid it no mind. Instead, concern furrowed his brow.
"My lord… what of the remaining twenty percent? Do you believe Jiang Yan might harm Liyue?"
That question drew a shadow across everyone's face. If Jiang Yan truly wished harm, even the Lord of Geo might not be able to stop him.
"Harm?" Zhongli chuckled softly, but his eyes slid to the side—to the doe-eyed Ganyu standing quietly nearby.
"No. Quite the opposite. I believe Jiang Yan would, by association, lend his aid to Liyue—perhaps even help it prosper."
The others looked puzzled. Ganyu, for her part, felt a strange heat in her cheeks; it seemed as though Zhongli's gaze lingered on her each time he spoke.
Inwardly, Zhongli sighed.
Mortals said Morax had no heart—but even stone can take the form of a dragon. After over six millennia of life, how could he be without feeling? It was only that his heart had been wholly given to Liyue, leaving no room for anything else.
Yet that did not mean he was ignorant of love—only that it was not his to pursue.
And Jiang Yan… however powerful, he was barely past twenty. In the terms of cultivation, an unparalleled genius, one destined for immortality. But geniuses had their common flaw: they were young, and thus easily swayed by worldly emotions.
Zhongli did not believe for a moment that Jiang Yan was unaffected by Ganyu. If that were so, there was no need to fear him turning against Liyue. On the contrary—if all went well, he might one day throw his full support behind it, using cultivation arts to help it soar.
"In that case, my lord," Mountain Shaper asked patiently, "what is the remaining twenty percent?"
Zhongli was silent for a moment, then sighed.
"By common reasoning, what Jiang Yan describes is vast, grand… and utterly beyond our reach. No matter how we look at it, we in Teyvat are still frogs at the bottom of a well. We cannot confirm the truth of his claims. Therefore… I cannot give him my complete trust."
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