Jade Chamber.
The moment Ningguang stepped out of her office, a telekinetic barrier wrapped around her automatically.
"You're out already?" Su Xuan's voice was gentle. "No sore waist, no wobbly legs? …Looks like I held back too much."
Ningguang rolled her eyes.
The Tianquan of Liyue had never imagined a day she'd need to brace against a wall just to stand. Hold back more? What next—send my soul straight into the leylines?
Buoyed by his telekinesis, she drifted to his side and lifted her gaze toward the utterly colossal, five-necked silhouette far out at sea.
"How could Osial surface this early?" she asked. "The diary's contents shouldn't be leaking."
"That's because before the entry even dropped, your Qixing had already stashed the 'immortal husk' in the Golden House," Su Xuan shrugged. "Some of you already knew the location."
"You mean a diary holder among us betrayed—"
"Not that dramatic," he smiled. "If anything, early's fine. Saves me from… waiting on him."
Ningguang nodded. Fair. What tier was Osial, really? Hardly worthy of making Su Xuan wait.
Even so, the ancient demon god's pressure made her skin prickle—she was, after all, a mere Vision holder. Good thing the barrier had formed the instant she stepped out; in her current… fragile… state, she wouldn't be standing here otherwise. Yet with this man at her side, she felt no fear—more like she was watching a curiosity at the zoo.
"Since you're using Osial as a whetstone… Yelan said you were in such a good mood that day because of your swordsmanship." Ningguang's eyes brightened. "We still haven't seen it. Take a picture of him for the record… then show us a sword, will you?"
Su Xuan cut her a sidelong look. "Your tongue is—"
Ningguang hid a smile behind her hand. "My speaking voice still has power. You understand…"
Su Xuan: "…"
If this kept up, when would he ever leave the Jade Chamber?
He flicked open the diary to steady himself.
[Osial.jpg]
[Let's archive that majestic silhouette. With luck, there'll be no Vortex God after today.]
[Ningguang asked about my sword.]
[First: my blade isn't forged steel.]
[Three chi and seven cun long, weightless to hold.]
[It looks like ice, but it's condensed energy—you can think of it as sword-qi given form.]
[I call it: condensing a strip of moonlight into a sword.]
Across the network, jaws dropped.
In the light-screen, Su Xuan now gripped a blue-luminescent longsword. It gleamed like moonlight poured into solid shape. Up close, Ningguang saw chill leak from the blade, frosting the rain to rime as it fell around them.
[The sword art is tied to moonlight as well.]
[A cold radiance to illuminate all rivers.]
[Its name:]
[Illuminating Ten Thousand Rivers.]
He lifted his hand and drew a single arc.
Cold blazed. Raindrops turned to drifting snow. The sword-qi split the swollen cloud deck clean open, carving a crack in the sky. Blue light washed over all Liyue like a wintry tide.
Then, one after another, crescent moons began to fall—thousands of them—raining toward the sea.
Tenshukaku, Inazuma.
Raiden Ei flashed to the rooftop in a bolt of violet. She stared toward Liyue, pupils narrowing. "At this distance… and it's still that clear? That feeling—"
Jade Chamber.
Ningguang stared at the lunar crescents, dazed—like not sword-qi but observable moons were falling.
Before she could speak, Su Xuan flicked his wrist again.
A second arc—pure, white-cold. It skimmed low, crossed the waves, and bisected Osial's bulk—
—and a heartbeat later, ice began to fall from the skies over Inazuma.
"Wh—" Yae Miko sprang from the shrine steps, taking the high view on Mt. Yougou. Her fox-tail hairs stood on end as she watched the ocean freeze from the coastline outward.
"He… he cut from Liyue to Inazuma with a single stroke?"
Out at sea, sailors shouted from the Alcor:
"Captain! The sea just froze! We're stuck!"
Beidou didn't answer. Her eyes were glued to the light-screen. Even the waterspout Osial had raised—still whirling moments before—hung locked in glittering ice.
And yet… the ships were untouched. Even Osial was… untouched?
Back in Liyue Harbor, a hushed world of ice-blue lay under the moon-cold glow. No one could quite breathe.
Zhongli felt the ground buck as the frozen plain shattered into drifting floes and melted back to the sea. He drew a slow, sharp breath.
"So this is the 'world-lifting' strength Barbatos mentioned… One instant—no trace to sense—then the earth shudders and mountains fall… or are lifted whole…"
What manner of being are you, Su Xuan…
Jueyun Karst.
Cloud Retainer watched the light fade and couldn't find words. As he'd said—one sword, and even the remnant of a demon god's will was gone. "Terrifying" seemed… inadequate.
"Cloud Retainer—"
Lishui, Moon Carver, and Xiao arrived together.
"What happened? We saw Osial—" Lishui began.
"All is well," Cloud Retainer said softly. "All is as it should be… Also—I will descend among mortals again."
Moon Carver: "?"
And I shall bring Shenhe… and perhaps tempt Ganyu down as well. If we don't move soon, there may be no room left for adepti in the Liyue to come.
Jade Chamber.
It felt like a dream. Disaster rose; moments later, normalcy returned.
Ningguang's gaze fixed on Su Xuan—on his casual clap of the hands.
"All done. Nothing left to worry about," he said.
She had a dozen emotions at once. What had been annihilation for them had been… a pair of strokes for him.
She'd found treasure—there was simply nothing else in the world like the man beside her.
"What are you staring for?" he grinned. "Let's head back."
"Wait." As he moved to step off the platform, Ningguang caught him. "I still have something to ask."
"Oh—right." He clapped his hands. "Almost forgot to give you what you wanted."
"No, no." She waved quickly. "That can wait. I meant… that night with Yelan—what exactly happened? She likes it… exciting. It must have been unusual?"
Su Xuan blinked, then laughed. "You're not the same as her. She's… particular, even pain-tolerant. Most people aren't."
"And I'm not the sort to think only of myself. I prefer outcomes where both sides win, you understand…"
Ningguang's face grew serious. "You're right. But how will we know if we don't try? I'd like to experience more… varieties."
"And the Heaven-and-Earth Mirror—its power is absurd. Even if I were shattered here and now, you could bring me back, could you not?"
Su Xuan: "…Woman. Do you hear yourself?"
"And who said anything about that level of 'variety'!?"
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