After resolving the grievances with A-Mao, Ei carried A-Mao's remains and flew back to Tenshukaku; the gathering of the four Archons could now be considered truly complete.
Ei: "Apologies for keeping you all waiting. I went to handle some private matters, which delayed me for a while."
Zhongli: "It is no matter. We have also witnessed a brilliant duel, so it was not a wasted trip."
Venti, on the other hand, shouted boisterously: "Ei, it seems Inazuma has a rule: those who are late to a gathering must be punished with three cups of wine!"
Ei swept a sharp gaze across Venti, as if he were about to draw his blade and strike him down the next moment.
Realizing the situation was wrong, Venti immediately changed his tune: "In that case, I will not stand on ceremony."
With that, Venti hoisted the jar of fine wine and began gulping it down, unable to stop the grin on his face. Forcing a drunkard to drink as punishment—this wasn't a punishment at all; it was clearly a reward.
Nahida looked at A-Mao's shattered body and hurriedly stepped forward to check on the situation, asking anxiously: "Ei, how is A-Mao?"
Ei said calmly: "That strike avoided his core. Only his shell was damaged. That fellow, the Doctor, modified A-Mao's original body to the point where even I found it unfamiliar. It is better to take this opportunity to forge him anew."
"I will reshape a more advanced body for him and also fill the void previously in his chest."
"Nahida, rest assured. I guarantee that before you return to Sumeru, I will have him repaired. I promise you will take back a brand-new A-Mao."
Hearing this, Nahida breathed a sigh of relief and said: "So that is how it is. That is good, that is good."
Miyashiro chimed in from the side with a teasing suggestion: "Ei, since you are already forging him anew, why not find a way to fix A-Mao's foul-mouthed habit? He is now a scholar of the Logic School; he insults people for sixty seconds every minute. Not only does it affect the image of the Akademiya, but it also makes it inconvenient for him to make friends at the academy."
Upon hearing this teasing, Ei actually began to think seriously and said: "What? This child learns nothing good, only bad habits. It seems I must find a way to deal with this."
Venti shouted from the side again: "Alright, alright, let's discuss such things later. Now that we have finally gathered the four Archons, we shall not stop drinking tonight until we are drunk! Young Master Miyashiro, you must continue your efforts. I am still counting on your help to gather all seven Archons; that would truly be lively."
Ei looked at Venti with some disdain, but he did not show it to avoid dampening everyone's spirits, as Ei himself felt that a gathering of four Archons was a rare occasion.
However, this senior's personality had not changed in all these years. Since the first time he met him, Ei's opinion of him had also remained unchanged: they just could not get along. If it weren't for the fact that this gathering was organized by Miyashiro, he truly would not have wanted to come.
Originally, among the seven Archons, it had always been Venti, the idle Anemo Archon, who acted as the social butterfly. The few gatherings of the seven Archons in the past had all been arranged by him.
It is just a pity that since the Cataclysm of Khaenri'ah five hundred years ago, the first Electro Archon Raiden Makoto and the first Hydro Archon Egeria had successively fallen, Lesser Lord Kusanali had been imprisoned by the Akademiya, and the Tsaritsa had turned against them. Under these circumstances, even Venti had been unable to organize a new gathering of the seven Archons.
Unexpectedly, now, the heavy burden of the social butterfly had fallen onto Miyashiro's shoulders. By visiting the three nations, he had managed to trick all three deities into coming to Inazuma. If he were to go to other nations, he might actually be able to pull it off.
In the end, the four Archons and Miyashiro drank through the entire night, talking about a great many things in every aspect. In short, when Nahida walked out of the gates of Tenshukaku, Miyashiro felt that her wisdom and experience had grown by decades, or even centuries, out of thin air.
Now in Inazuma, the other three Archons were already in place, and the delegations from the three nations had also arrived. Since the most important guests had already arrived in Inazuma, this meant that the grand ceremony of Inazuma was about to reach its climax: the countdown to the wedding of Miyashiro and Shenhe had officially begun.
In the following days, the others could immerse themselves in the lively celebrations of Inazuma, but Miyashiro and Shenhe could not. They had already begun various rehearsals for the wedding process, and among these, naturally, there was much guidance from Zhongli, who was serving as the master of ceremonies for this wedding.
Etiquette, to an outsider, might just be some superficial formality. Those who hold such views must have surely come to that conclusion after experiencing all sorts of improper, half-baked procedures.
In fact, true etiquette possesses an unparalleled cultural charm, allowing both the couple on stage and the audience below to personally experience what true cultural cultivation is and why the ancients valued the existence of etiquette so much.
As the living dictionary of Teyvat, the etiquette Zhongli advised was naturally the most orthodox, classical etiquette. Although the process was extremely cumbersome, the effect was nothing short of extraordinary.
The audience below, after watching the rehearsal demonstration by Miyashiro and Shenhe, had eyes filled with fervor and envy.
Especially Sara, Eula, and Ayaka—there seemed to be some disappointment in their eyes. How they wished that on the day of the wedding, the one attending and accompanying Miyashiro could be themselves.
However, they all knew that although they were Miyashiro's women just like Shenhe, the protagonist of this wedding was not them, but Shenhe.
Even if Miyashiro were to give them a wedding and an explanation in the future, it would definitely not reach the level of this wedding. This was the difference in treatment between a Matriarch and a non-Matriarch.
Shenhe, standing on the stage, naturally noticed the gazes of those beauties among the audience.
However, when Shenhe's gaze focused on them, they were also forced to admit defeat and did not dare to look directly into Shenhe's eyes, fully displaying the might and demeanor of Shenhe as the Matriarch. Shenhe looked at his sisters and fell into thought.
Another day of rehearsal ended. Taking advantage of the break, everyone sat around laughing and discussing various matters related to the rehearsal. It had been a whole day, and they seemed to have endless things to say; the atmosphere was incredibly lively.
Even though the process was indeed very cumbersome and tested their physical strength and energy, everyone was still in high spirits and did not feel tired at all, somewhat like women who never feel tired when going shopping.
As the sky grew late, everyone finally agreed to leave. Just then, Shenhe called out to a few of them and said: "Sara, Eula, Ayaka, wait a moment. I have something to tell you all."
Sara, Eula, and Ayaka looked at each other, full of confusion, but Shenhe did not give them much chance to ask questions and walked straight into the room, and they had no choice but to follow.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right nobut who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/TripleCrown
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"