The soft white glow of "Divine Maiden's Purity" once again shimmered around Ganyu, who was wearing her short qipao and a tight black backless bodysuit.
Then, just as quickly, it faded from view.
There was no visible difference between the permanent version of Divine Maiden's Purity and the temporary one.
Ganyu immediately felt all her fatigue from working overtime melt away. The sluggishness that made her not want to move vanished, and her whole body felt reinvigorated!
"How do you feel?" Nolan asked.
"Mm… I feel wide awake all of a sudden. It's really amazing!"
Looking down slightly, Ganyu smiled brightly. She hadn't felt this refreshed in ages.
[Ganyu Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 320 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (50/700)]
Seeing the affection notification pop up again, Nolan was certain—Ganyu genuinely loved this ability that supported her overtime work.
After thinking for a moment, he offered a reminder:
"Although this ability protects your body from negative effects, you'll still feel fatigue when it hits. So even if you can push through, you should still rest when needed."
Divine Maiden's Purity prevented any negative status effects caused by things like wear, curses, poison, or external forces from affecting the body. It completely neutralized such harmful effects.
But for things like hunger from not eating, or exhaustion from overworking—while it prevented those states from physically damaging the body, it didn't actually replenish stamina or energy.
In short, while you'd still feel tired or hungry, your body wouldn't suffer harm because of it.
Take Ganyu, for example: the fatigue and drowsiness from staying up late was still felt. But after the blessing of Divine Maiden's Purity, her body no longer weakened from that fatigue. The sensation remained, but it had no real impact on her function.
It was simply a natural physical reaction.
Still, if she went on without eating or resting for too long, the discomfort would grow—just like anyone else.
And even if the body's protection system was triggered by extreme energy depletion, she wouldn't faint or grow weak.
That's what it meant by "no actual harm."
But living beings needed energy. Since Divine Maiden's Purity didn't restore that energy, the body's reserves would still deplete.
Eventually, a person might lose weight, and even their strong mental reserves could gradually diminish with overuse.
Though Ganyu, being half-human and half-Adeptus, could likely go a long time without eating, Nolan still felt the need to warn her.
He didn't want her treating Divine Maiden's Purity like a perfect tool for endless overtime—no food, no sleep, no problem.
"...I understand," Ganyu nodded softly.
She knew her all-nighters were excessive, so she had no way to refute his concern.
"Yuehai Pavilion can't rely on you alone forever. Instead of doing everything yourself, why not set aside some time to compile your experience into a systemized manual?
"Then you can teach that to the Pavilion's intelligence officers. Once they're trained, they can take over some of your responsibilities.
"And later, they can pass that knowledge on to newer staff. A truly sustainable organization should be able to function without any one individual."
Nolan shared his simple thoughts after some reflection.
If the problem was that Ganyu's experience was too essential to be delegated, then documenting it and spreading that knowledge would free her up.
"I've thought about that before… I'm just not good at teaching people," Ganyu admitted.
She could bury herself in work without issue, but the idea of playing the role of a teacher made her nervous.
Besides, with Shenhe now helping with the busywork, she wasn't nearly as overwhelmed.
But whenever she had free time, she felt restless. Her thoughts would spiral.
She'd start wondering things like "What if Liyue doesn't need me anymore?" and such odd worries would creep in.
Work was her anchor—only through it did she feel secure.
That's why she was so happy with the ability Nolan gave her—it let her keep doing what gave her that comfort.
Nolan more or less understood how she felt. After all, she had been managing Liyue's affairs since its founding alongside the Archon. After so many years, change wasn't easy.
Since there was still time before his next appointment, he stayed a bit longer, gently explaining why a workplace that depends too heavily on one person is fragile and unsustainable.
Eventually, Ganyu found some truth in his words and agreed to talk it over with Ningguang to see what could be done.
As for her anxiety about Liyue not needing her if she stopped working, Nolan suggested she go out with Shenhe or some friends to take her mind off things.
It was a classic case of environmental withdrawal—she just needed time to adapt.
The real danger lay in overthinking things to the point of being afraid to make changes.
With how quickly Liyue was developing, Ganyu didn't want to risk becoming a bottleneck for reform.
She had no choice but to try and change herself.
Seeing that the psychological groundwork was done, Nolan prepared to leave for his next business deal. Before he left, he subtly messaged Shenhe through a Waymark, asking her to remind Ganyu not to overwork herself.
He figured that with Ganyu's introverted nature, real change would take some time—and hesitation.
Leaving Yuehai Pavilion, his next stop was Qingyun Peak to find Mooncarver.
That location was relatively close. Since he couldn't use Intersteller Travel, he activated Lumine's Authority for spatial travel.
The range of his spiritual sense determined how far he could teleport in a single use.
By chaining the ability repeatedly, he could leap across space with great speed.
In less than a minute, Nolan had arrived in Qingyun Peak.
Nolan's arrival naturally caught the attention of Mooncarver, who revealed himself and asked what business Nolan had with him.
Nolan didn't waste words and got straight to the point: he explained that he could purify wear and tear and was here to offer a business deal.
He also brought out endorsements from previous "clients"—Xiao, the Geo Archon, and Granny Ping—assuring Mooncarver that it was a legitimate and trustworthy service.
Mooncarver already held Nolan in good regard for his past contributions to Liyue. With the Archon himself backing the claim, he became all the more convinced.
He did, in fact, have a need for purification, and since the requested payment wasn't excessive, he was happy to give it a try.
Back in his domain, Mooncarver rummaged around in what essentially functioned as his junk storage room and eventually managed to gather a bit over 1,200 Primogems.
He had tossed them into the domain over the centuries whenever he happened upon them during his rare excursions.
After all, Primogems were occasionally useful in setting up formations or casting Adepti arts when other materials ran short—so they made convenient backups.
But since Nolan wanted them, he had no problem handing them all over.
After all, if this purification truly worked, then such a treasure of a service was well worth far more than a few Primogems.
Nolan, naturally, had no reason to refuse the extra Primogems. However, as a man of principle, he believed in doing business fairly. The deal had been for 1,000 Primogems—no more, no less.
So he informed Mooncarver that next time, if he wanted another purification session, he'd only need to pay 800 Primogems instead.
Mooncarver had no objections.
Once again, a faint white light enveloped the deer-shaped Adeptus. The one-time Divine Maiden's Purity status was successfully applied.
After completing the purification, Nolan departed with the Primogems in hand and headed toward Mt. Aocang to visit Cloud Retainer.
She happened to be in her domain as well. After Nolan called out several times, she appeared—clearly irritated—and before she could complain, he immediately explained why he had come.
This time, he also added Mooncarver as another recent client to bolster his credibility.
Cloud Retainer, who also had accumulated wear and tear, looked at Nolan with surprise. But reasoning that believing was better than doubting, she casually flapped her wing and flung a sack containing 1,000 Primogems over to him.
Nolan caught it with his spiritual energy and stashed it away. Judging by her nonchalant attitude, it seemed a thousand Primogems meant very little to her.
Unable to resist temptation, he said:
"Ahem, Cloud Retainer, if you have more Primogems, would you like to prepay for future purification sessions? I'll give you a 20% discount if you pay in advance."
Just thinking about how many Primogems Cloud Retainer might be sitting on made Nolan restless—those meant more experience points!
"Hmph! What kind of nonsense is paying hundreds of years in advance? Enough talk—purify me first and let's see if it works!"
Cloud Retainer wasn't buying it. She had Primogems, yes, but unlike the other Adepti, she frequently did mechanical research and needed them from time to time.
"…Alright then."
Nolan was a bit disappointed. Since she wasn't interested, he had to drop the idea of securing a long-term deal in advance.
As usual, the white glow of Divine Maiden's Purity radiated from her crane-like form. The purification process went smoothly without incident.
After confirming that her accumulated wear had been completely removed, Cloud Retainer was satisfied. Nolan then bid farewell and set off for Mt. Hulao to visit Mountain Shaper.
When he teleported to Mt. Hulao, he happened to spot Mountain Shaper outside his domain stretching his orange-colored wings.
Nolan greeted him politely and explained his purpose.
As with the previous Adepti, Mountain Shaper was first surprised, then readily agreed to the trade.
However, he didn't have any Primogems on hand. Being an adept at using amber-based techniques, he had little need for them. Instead, he offered a gold-grade item called Amber Essence as payment.
Although Nolan preferred Primogems, he had no issue with accepting a valuable material of that quality.
Taking the Amber Essence, Nolan quickly completed the purification for Mountain Shaper. He still had one last appointment to keep—with the corrupted Azhdaha beneath the Dragon-Queller Tree.
So he didn't linger and soon bid farewell.
The base of the Dragon-Queller Tree was near the foot of Mt. Hulao. Nolan quickly reached the outer seal and used spatial traversal to easily slip inside.
Since the last time the seal had weakened, Zhongli had reinforced it and apparently even lulled Azhdaha into a slumber. As expected, Nolan found the dragon unconscious at the bottom of the cavern.
Perfect. Nolan had no desire to deal with Azhdaha's belligerent, corrupted self.
Once the purification was complete, the malevolent side born from wear and tear would vanish, leaving behind the original, gentle will.
Because of how severe Azhdaha's wear had become, Nolan could feel Divine Maiden's Purity consuming far more energy than usual to complete the process.
Still, it wasn't a problem for him.
With the seal still in place, Azhdaha didn't awaken after purification. And Nolan had no intention of forcibly undoing Zhongli's array.
He'd just return to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and inform Zhongli so he could handle it himself.
After settling things with Azhdaha, Nolan used Interstellar Travel to teleport directly to Hu Tao's location in Liyue Harbor.
Hu Tao was currently being dragged by Xiangling to try out new dishes at Wanmin Restaurant.
Though Nolan was tempted to sample Xiangling's latest culinary creations, he prioritized business and headed straight to the funeral parlor to collect his payment from Zhongli.
The sky was already tinged with the orange of sunset—Zhongli should have returned by now.
As Nolan walked past the alchemy bench, he spotted Zhongli from afar, hands behind his back, gazing leisurely down at the river from the edge of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Phew, he's back! Nolan thought excitedly.
He hurried over and called out:
"Hehe, Zhongli! Mission accomplished. I successfully purified Azhdaha's wear and tear. You should be able to safely unseal him now!"
"Much appreciated. Here are the Primogems you requested."
Zhongli smiled faintly and raised a hand. A pitch-black spatial rift appeared in his palm, and from it dropped a bag the size of a small wine barrel, colored chestnut brown.
The bag wasn't tied shut, and a dazzling pile of sparkling Primogems spilled forth.
Nolan instinctively glanced around—surprisingly, no one nearby seemed to notice the shimmering light. Zhongli must have used some sort of concealment art.
He scanned the contents with his spiritual sense—exactly 2,000 Primogems!
"No wonder you're the Geo Archon… You gathered this many so fast!"
Nolan couldn't help but feel the urge to ask Zhongli to go out and find more for him.
(End of Chapter)
Author's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +30 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ www.p@treon.com/RedX43
➤ +400 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for keeping the stories alive! 🙌