"Huh? That doesn't sound like a good thing!" Paimon was shocked.
Any normal person would be angry if their authority was seized by someone else, wouldn't they?
"Haha." Zhongli laughed lightly. "On the contrary, I feel it's quite wonderful. This was precisely what I'd always hoped for, though I'd worried it might be premature. It's the sincerest form of farewell I could receive as an old god."
"I knew you'd say that," Jiang Bai replied, utterly unsurprised.
A ruler who wants to step down naturally hopes his successor will be capable—and Ningguang, who had accomplished all of this, was undeniably outstanding.
"So, what exactly did the Tsaritsa trade to obtain your Gnosis?" Aether asked.
"Yeah! You keep saying a deal should be fair, but what in the world could be worth exchanging a Gnosis for?" Paimon was also full of confusion.
"Judging by conventional reasoning, indeed, nothing could match that value." Zhongli paused for a moment, drawing curious gazes from everyone present.
"But I am the God of Contracts. Over millennia, countless agreements have passed through my hands. I would never initiate a transaction without sufficient benefit. This contract with the Cryo Archon was the final pact I forged as the Geo Archon—the Contract to End All Contracts."
"A Contract to End All Contracts? How mysterious…" Jiang Bai yawned deeply. "Come on, everything's wrapped up here. Let's head back—I'm exhausted, and tomorrow we still have the Rite of Parting."
Now that he could finally relax, Jiang Bai felt his eyelids growing heavy from exhaustion.
After just a couple of steps, Jiang Bai suddenly remembered something. He turned toward Aether, saying, "Could you guys help me dig Childe out? Otherwise, he might really end up dead in that coffin."
"Sure," Aether nodded.
When they walked out of Northland Bank, the rain outside had already stopped.
Looking at Liyue Harbor, which was gradually becoming lively again, Aether felt his mood brighten.
"You know, we just sealed away an ancient god." Paimon belatedly realized what an incredible feat they'd accomplished.
Aether shook his head. "We didn't do it alone. It was the adepti, the Qixing, and all the people of Liyue who did it together."
Even so, Paimon was still extremely pleased.
"You're right. Well, let's go dig out Childe—I hope he's still unconscious."
The two left Liyue Harbor, eventually reaching the slope near the Golden House.
It wasn't difficult to find the spot Jiang Bai had dug earlier. The freshly turned soil stood out clearly, so they quickly located it.
Aether pulled out a shovel—he didn't even recall when he'd placed it in his bag—and began to dig.
"I wonder if he's awake yet… Probably not, right?"
...
Tartaglia was already awake. He had a strong constitution to begin with, and since none of his injuries had been fatal, he had already partially regained consciousness.
He felt his hands and feet bound, confined in a narrow space.
His organs throbbed painfully, waves of agony washing over his face as his memories slowly returned. He remembered exactly how he'd gotten these injuries.
Signora should have summoned the ancient god by now. Had Morax appeared yet? Did they manage to get the Gnosis?
He desperately wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds, dizziness threatening to drag him back into sleep.
Eventually, through sheer willpower, he forced his eyes open.
Utter darkness surrounded him. He channeled Hydro, forming a water blade by instinct, cutting the ropes restraining him.
Then, he began exploring the sealed space around him.
"It seems I'm locked in some sort of stone box…"
He tried pushing hard against the stone lid, but the box wouldn't budge at all.
Was it because of his severe injuries, leaving him weakened, or was the box sealed shut? Tartaglia wasn't sure.
But just this small exertion made his insides scream in pain.
Cold sweat trickled down his temples. Lying in the box and gasping for air, Tartaglia thought hard about what exactly had happened and how he could get out of here.
He remembered losing consciousness. Judging by his current situation, Signora hadn't rescued him. That meant he was still in Jiang Bai's hands.
Recalling the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor's line of business, Tartaglia suddenly had an unpleasant flash of insight. "Ugh…did that guy seriously bury me alive?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind, he faintly heard the sound of digging from above.
Pressing his ear to the stone wall, he breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming the sound was real.
As an esteemed Harbinger, dying in a place like this would've been far too pathetic.
After digging for quite a while, Aether's shovel finally struck the stone coffin. Motivated, he quickly cleared the remaining dirt off the lid, rubbed his hands, and then heaved it open.
Blinding sunlight flooded in. Tartaglia instinctively lifted his arm to shield his eyes.
"He's awake already! And he even broke free from the ropes!" Seeing Tartaglia conscious, Paimon immediately became nervous.
Aether instantly drew his sword, prepared to knock Tartaglia out again at the slightest hint of aggression.
Slowly adapting to the light, Tartaglia sat up, leaning against the edge of the coffin and giving Aether a helpless smile. "Look at the state I'm in… Do you really need to be so cautious?"
Paimon crossed her arms, turning her face away with a huff. "Hmph! Who knows if you have any more tricks up your sleeve!"
Tartaglia turned his gaze toward the now-peaceful Liyue Harbor, speaking up in confusion, "Friend, what exactly happened?"
"Who's your friend?! Don't just casually call people that!" Paimon was greatly displeased.
Tartaglia merely shrugged at her attitude. "What's wrong with that? Those walking the path of strength are naturally friends."
"So, did Morax appear to re-seal Osial?" He looked directly at Aether.
Aether shook his head. "The people of Liyue and the adepti suppressed Osial together. Your plan failed."
"Is that so…? That's unexpected." Tartaglia's surprise was genuine and undisguised, but quickly, he fell deep into thought. "In that case, unsealing another ancient god wouldn't have much meaning..."
"What?! You're actually thinking about unsealing another god?!" Paimon was utterly dumbfounded.
Without hesitation, Aether pressed the blade of his sword directly against Tartaglia's neck, warning him, "Mr. Zhongli has already given his Gnosis to Signora. You can forget about obtaining it now."
Even though Aether hadn't interacted with Zhongli extensively, nor had they grown particularly close during the Rite of Parting preparations, he was certain Zhongli wasn't the god who had taken away his sister.
There was neither enmity nor suspicion between them, and Zhongli himself was friendly—so naturally, Aether had decided to stand by Liyue's side.
He was never one to idly watch someone commit evil. If Tartaglia dared attempt to unleash another god, he would unhesitatingly cut him down!
Tartaglia, hearing this, was even more shocked than learning Osial had been resealed.
He placed a hand over his forehead, complex emotions swirling within him.
"So Zhongli was Morax all along? And here I was, constantly thinking of ways to find Morax. He really had me completely fooled…"
---
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