While eating breakfast, Xia Zhi noticed that Cloud Retainer kept sneaking glances at him.
She seemed to be trying to confirm whether the Xia Zhi she saw in her dream that morning was truly him or just a figment of her imagination.
But it wasn't something she could bring herself to ask him directly.
So she could only sit there, hesitant and awkward.
Honestly, Cloud Retainer was kind of cute like this.
After breakfast, everyone headed to the tavern together.
Today was mainly about the mahjong tournament, followed by the eating contest in the afternoon. For the latter, only Xia Lin had signed up.
Because he had important things to do in the morning, Xia Zhi intentionally threw the match.
If he didn't enter the finals, the championship would basically be a sure win for Ganyu.
Outside the tavern, as soon as Xia Zhi arrived, Xia Lin came running over and clung to his arm affectionately.
After a short wait, Xia Ci and Xia Zhen also intentionally lost their matches and came out of the building.
Xia Zhi patted Xia Lin's head, telling her to wait here for the other sisters while he had something to take care of. He promised he'd be back soon.
Though she really wanted to go with him, the little girl still nodded obediently and stood in place, watching longingly as her father and two aunts walked away, even losing her appetite for the little cake in her hand.
--
In the tavern next door.
Fischl had also signed up for the mahjong tournament.
Though she was a beginner, her luck yesterday had been quite good, letting her advance smoothly to today's match.
But today, her luck took a nosedive, and she quickly lost and walked out of the tavern.
On her shoulder, Oz comforted her. "My lady, at least we didn't lose any Mora."
Fischl sighed. That was true—at least she didn't end up blowing all her allowance like last time.
She looked at the pedestrians on the street and suddenly felt lost, unsure of where to go next.
Maybe she should check in with the Adventurers' Guild and see if Bennett had picked up any suitable commissions.
Out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the distance.
Was that... him?
Fischl turned her head to get a better look, but the person had already vanished.
She wasn't sure if she'd been mistaken.
With the eyepatch covering one eye, her depth perception really wasn't the best.
"My lady, what is it?"
Fischl turned to the raven on her shoulder. "Oz, my loyal familiar..."
"What are your orders, my lady?"
"In the name of the Prinzessin der Verurteilung, with your hallowed wings of benediction, seek out the fated figure who just passed by in the blink of an eye."
"My lady saw him? Understood! I'll find him at once!"
Oz took flight, scanning the street from above.
After circling the area twice, he indeed spotted Xia Zhi and the two women with him.
He followed them for a while to confirm their direction before returning to Fischl's shoulder.
"My lady, I found him. He's headed toward the outskirts of the city."
The outskirts?
Fischl frowned.
During the Windblume Festival, the city was at its liveliest. What would anyone be doing outside? There was nothing fun out there.
Still, after thinking it over, she decided to follow him.
After all, she was still an investigator with the Adventurers' Guild.
And with Oz helping her, she wouldn't lose track.
But as soon as they left the city and entered the woods, the three figures suddenly vanished without a trace.
Even Oz, with his aerial view, was having a hard time. "My lady, perhaps we should turn back."
Something felt off to Fischl, and she decided to go into the woods herself to look for any clues.
--
Xia Zhi had just used a series of long-distance spatial transfers.
He had already arrived at Windrise.
Far from Mondstadt and sparsely populated, it was the perfect place to carry out his task.
He chose an open area.
Then he asked Xia Ci to move back a bit and began carving a magic circle into the ground.
Xia Zhen asked, "What do I need to do, cousin?"
Xia Zhi replied, "Just stand still right there."
When the array was complete, Xia Zhi stood up and cast Divine Resurrection magic on Xia Zhen.
A golden light descended upon her, activating the array beneath her.
Just as she had been fully conscious, she suddenly fell into a deep slumber and began floating in midair.
Leaning against a nearby tree, Xia Ci watched while casually munching on sunflower seeds.
At this moment, Xia Zhi could feel his divine power being rapidly drained—but thankfully, his [Universal Battery] kept replenishing it.
Roughly ten seconds passed.
He sensed a change in the wind.
What had been a gentle breeze suddenly turned wild and violent.
Dark storm clouds surged across the once clear sky.
A tremendous amount of Electro energy was converging over the area.
The laws of lightning were awakening.
Then, the first bolt of violet lightning came crashing down on Xia Zhen.
Xia Zhi watched calmly from the side.
This wasn't a lightning tribulation. Rather, Xia Zhen was absorbing the Power of lightning. When she reached full assimilation, she would be resurrected.
The lightning strikes came faster and more violently.
Though Xia Zhen was the target, Xia Zhi, standing so close, was also getting hit by the residual energy.
Which actually wasn't a bad thing.
He kept hearing the system's voice in his head:
"Due to assimilation with the laws of lightning, there is a chance to acquire a fragment of the lightning rule."
"Acquisition failed."
"Due to assimilation with the laws of lightning, there is a chance to acquire a fragment of the lightning rule."
"Acquisition failed."
"Due to assimilation with the laws of lightning, there is a chance to acquire a fragment of the lightning rule."
"Acquisition successful."
…
While maintaining the flow of divine power, Xia Zhi opened his system interface.
A glowing, mysterious fragment had appeared in his inventory.
Covered in intricate patterns—what looked like the fundamental runes of lightning—it was broken but brimming with power.
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold
Type: Rule Fragment
Trait: Explosive
Effect: Greatly amplifies elemental burst intensity.
Hidden Effect: +10% damage.
Recyclable: 100 points.
This thing… looks familiar...
Xia Zhi stared at the glowing shard, then dug into his ancient memories. Soon, he found the match.
[Path of the Netherworld Chef].
He had bought that one back then to let Qiqi experience the taste of food.
[Path of the Netherworld Chef]
Quality: Gold
Type: Rule Fragment
Trait: Transformation
Effect: Alters the life and death state of ingredients, allowing the starved to find peace.
Hidden Effect: +10% flavor to dishes.
Price: 100 points.
Comparing the two, Xia Zhi noticed the descriptions were shockingly similar.
Just then, the system's voice chimed again.
"Due to assimilation with the laws of lightning, there is a chance to acquire a fragment of the lightning rule."
"Acquisition successful."
Another glowing shard appeared in his inventory.
Its shape and engravings were different from the first, but its name was the same: [Path of Lightning].
[Path of Lightning]
Quality: Gold
Type: Rule Fragment
Trait: Speed
Effect: Increases casting speed by 50%.
Hidden Effect: +20% movement speed.
Recyclable: 100 points.
Xia Zhi examined the new fragment's description.
Same quality and type, but a different trait: [Speed].
With different primary and hidden effects from the first.
[Explosive], [Speed]...
Staring at the two rule fragments in his inventory, Xia Zhi fell into thought.
Both were traits of lightning.
Which meant the fragments likely belonged to a larger whole.
If he could gather all the rule fragments, he could reconstruct the complete lightning rule.
And then—he would become a lightning god.
----
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