Sky Island.
Ruan Nawa slowly woke from her sleep and instinctively reached to the side—only to touch empty air.
Ruan Nawa: "…"
Every time Su Xuan came, he would torment them for days on end, not stopping until they were utterly exhausted and half out of their minds.
And every single time, without exception, when she woke up again, he would already be gone—nowhere to be found.
Ruan Nawa felt speechless, yet there was truly nothing she could do about it.
What was even more frightening was that once certain "new experiences" had been tasted, they carried an eerie sense of no turning back.
She found herself confused.
They were clearly shadows of the Heavenly Principles—how could they possibly derive pleasure from such things?
Su Xuan had actually given them an answer to that question.
Because the information used to create them was fundamentally no different from that of humans.
If the gap in information were too great, then even their outward appearance wouldn't resemble humanity at all.
So despite being the Four Shades of Heaven, in this regard, they were no different from ordinary humans.
Perhaps the only real difference was that their bodies were far stronger—capable of withstanding far more without worrying about damage during… interactions.
Resting her chin in her hand, Ruan Nawa fell into thought.
That day, Su Xuan had stepped onto Sky Island, frozen time itself, and delivered a "heavy blow" to Rhinedottir.
After that, his attention naturally shifted to her.
Fortunately, she had been luckier than Rhinedottir—at least she hadn't been embedded into a special energy wall.
Poor Rhinedottir had been stuck inside that energy wall for a full month.
Every time Ruan Nawa passed behind her, the sight made her heart tremble.
It could only be said that Su Xuan's methods were sufficiently "cruel." Even a woman like Rhinedottir, once released, had become incomparably obedient.
And because the Universe Mirror could reverse life and death, no matter whether they collapsed physically or mentally and chose self-destruction, Su Xuan could simply reconstruct them again using their memories.
Which meant that no matter what happened to them, the only thing they could do… was endure.
Over time, they even seemed to begin enjoying it.
Ruan Nawa occasionally wondered if this was a form of degeneration—but she couldn't deny that Su Xuan's existence gave them exactly what they had always yearned for.
The breaking of restraints.
They no longer had to act according to fixed rules—no longer bound by what they must do or must never do.
"Hm?"
A spatial ripple in the False Sky broke Ruan Nawa's train of thought. She looked up.
A massive, manned star skiff touched the False Sky and vanished into it, as though swallowed whole.
"That person was…" Ruan Nawa recalled the imposing woman standing proudly on the deck.
"I remember—her name was Beidou."
"Hmph. They really live carefree lives. Off they go again, beyond the world, heading to the March Base."
It had been nearly three months since Ruan Nawa's first complete union—body and soul—with Su Xuan.
In those three months, Su Xuan hadn't been idle.
After filling Ruan Nawa with power, he tossed her aside and ran straight to Natlan.
Together with Mavuika, he awakened the Night God, reshaped Natlan's ley lines, and broke the rule that Natlan's people could never leave their land.
After that, accompanied by Mavuika, Citlali, Chasca, and Xilonen, he went to the Ancient Dragon Empire.
There, he collected all the remnants of draconic technology.
Among them was Vichilopochtli, a technology capable of converting biological phlogiston into pixels.
Naturally, this was included as well.
However, after Vichilopochtli was taken by Su Xuan, there was no news of it being sent to the Crafting Division.
That, too, was easy to understand.
Although Vichilopochtli was a weapon developed by the ancient dragons to counter the Abyss—allowing living beings to turn into pixels to evade corruption—
A weapon capable of forcibly reducing dimensional existence was, in essence, another form of destruction.
Of course, the Universe Mirror could restore pixelized beings to their original dimension. But with the Abyss no longer a concern in Teyvat, Vichilopochtli served no purpose other than creating trouble.
After completely resolving Natlan's issues, Su Xuan honored the agreement he had made with Lumine.
He erased the curse of immortality from the remaining Khaenri'ahns and restored them to how they had been five hundred years ago.
During this process, he did something else—something extraordinary.
He altered the DNA information of all living beings in Teyvat.
Into their informational chains, he added the DNA trait of Skirk's race—the ability to adapt to any extreme environment.
Because of this special addition, Teyvat initiated a project known as "Exploratory Attempts Beyond the World."
Using fragments of March, Su Xuan reconstructed the long-lost Orbital Space-Based Weapons System Encircling Teyvat.
March was restored to its planetary orbit.
Then, using star skiffs as transport and spacetime transfer barriers, people were ferried to March to build a base.
This marked Teyvat's very first step toward leaving its world—and developing civilization beyond it.
After thinking for a while, Ruan Nawa looked down.
Her gaze fell straight upon the Jade Chamber, wrapped in telekinetic force.
Whether it was because she now possessed telekinesis herself, or because she and Su Xuan no longer had any secrets between them—
After being filled to the brim with energy, the telekinetic barrier no longer obstructed her vision.
At a glance—
She saw Mavuika swaying back and forth, her expression so foolish it was almost painful to watch.
Ruan Nawa: "..."
"This Mavuika… she's ridiculously tough," Ruan Nawa muttered.
Complaining aside, it didn't stop her from secretly watching with growing interest.
Daily peeking had already become part of her routine.
To be honest, she envied those down below—able to gather together every day.
Singing, dancing, full of life.
For an even better "experience," Su Xuan had deliberately separated Rhinedottir and Naberius again.
He didn't care in the slightest who held the Authority of Life.
What he cared about was Naberius's jellyfish-like hairstyle—so similar to Furina and Focalors.
Naberius, Egeria, Focalors, and Furina—at a glance, they looked like they came from the same lineage.
Fourfold happiness left Su Xuan praising it endlessly: "Magnificent."
Mondstadt's Eula, Liyue's Yun Jin, Inazuma's Kamisato Ayaka, Sumeru's Nilou, Fontaine's Focalors and Furina, and Snezhnaya's Columbina—
All of them could sing and dance.
Natlan, under Mavuika's leadership, had gone all-in on rock music.
As for Khaenri'ah—when they couldn't find anyone suitable, the blonde "auntie" clenched her teeth and stepped in herself, representing Khaenri'ah as a dancer.
To satisfy his daily appetite for song and dance, Su Xuan even dragged out the Goddess of Flowers, Nabu Malikata.
The beings of the world only knew that the radiant sphere hanging in the sky like a blazing sun was the source of all change in Teyvat.
To them, it was a true god.
Yet none of the mortals below knew the reality hidden within that light—one that overturned all common sense.
But for those directly involved, they all understood one thing clearly:
The more Su Xuan indulged in this decadent, pleasure-filled life, the more it meant that Teyvat itself was thriving.
Because only when he had nothing urgent to deal with would he live like this.
If he was idle, then the skies were clear.
Still, there were occasionally some laughable incidents.
For example—Iansan and Varesa of Natlan.
Iansan was deeply frustrated. She had originally been Varesa's coach, yet simply because of her height, she ended up a whole generation below her.
At times like this, Nahida's identity became extremely persuasive.
"So what if you're a coach?" Nahida had once been Sumeru's god—yet now she was also a generation apart from Nilou and the others.
They even gathered to seriously discuss how to handle such situations.
In the end, they reached a universally satisfying conclusion:
Everyone does their own thing.
Stationed high above in the firmament, Ruan Nawa actually longed to descend and join the bustle like Istaroth and Naberius.
But as the Sovereign of Death, she had spent millions of years expressionless, steeped in stillness.
She didn't smile—or rather, when she did, it looked strange.
Coupled with her status and natural intimidation, it was genuinely hard for her to mingle with the other diary holders.
In this regard, she lagged far behind Istaroth and Naberius, and couldn't even compare to Rhinedottir.
Fortunately, the cold and serious Asmoday was much like her—also not someone who smiled easily.
Thus, among all the diary holders, only the two of them had little interaction with the rest.
Su Xuan didn't particularly mind this, nor did he ever force them to change who they were.
Suddenly, space rippled violently.
The next moment, a pair of pale, slender legs stepped out.
"Asmoday?"
Ruan Nawa didn't turn around, casually calling out her name.
"Mm… you're hiding here again, spying in secret," Asmoday said coldly.
"Seems Su Xuan's 'education' wasn't enough."
Ruan Nawa: "…"
What a joke.
As if he didn't know.
This was practically tacit approval.
"Didn't you go inspect the March Base today? You actually had time to come see me?" Ruan Nawa snorted.
"I'm just here to inform you," Asmoday replied slowly.
"Su Xuan will activate the passage to the Astral realm tomorrow."
Ruan Nawa frowned slightly.
She remembered Su Xuan's earlier records about traveling to other worlds.
And judging by his intentions, he seemed to want to open a direct passage from Teyvat to other worlds through that gate.
"Oh. I see," Ruan Nawa said.
"Were we given any orders?"
Asmoday shook her head. "No. I just came to tell you."
"How boring." Ruan Nawa rolled her eyes.
The plan to venture into other worlds had already been finalized long ago.
Although the gate Su Xuan anchored—leading to the train called the Astral Express—could allow others to pass through as well,
To prevent accidents, Su Xuan decided to go alone for now.
Once he found a suitable planet and anchored the gate there, only then would others be allowed to follow.
"Sigh… who knows how long he'll be gone this time," Ruan Nawa suddenly sighed.
Behind her, Asmoday revealed a faint, proud expression.
Clearing her throat, she said, "He said—very soon."
Ruan Nawa: "?"
She turned abruptly, staring at Asmoday with a strange look.
"You know something, don't you?"
Asmoday let out a proud hum.
"Of course. Su Xuan likes me very much—he's willing to share more information with me."
Ruan Nawa: "?"
Bullshit, Asmoday.
Ruan Nawa fumed inwardly.
Don't think I don't know—you must've pestered him until he got annoyed and tossed you some info just to get rid of you.
Still, now wasn't the time to argue.
She steadied herself and asked, "So? What did he say?"
"He said he'll soon arrive at a world covered entirely in ice and snow."
"After dealing with matters there, he'll open a connection between the two worlds."
"Oh, right—and I remember him saying that world is called Jarilo-VI."
...…
PS (Author's Note):
The Genshin arc is basically finished. From here, the story will shift to **Honkai: Star Rail**, though character interactions in Teyvat will still continue.
Also, Skirk's story questand the new PV overturned many old assumptions—Teyvat's wider cosmos likely wasn't completely destroyed by the Abyss after all. That makes "Dark Fate" and "Cosmic Radiance" much harder to pin down.
As for Paimon, I don't think she's the missing Asmoday. I suspect she's closely tied to the Heavenly Principles, which may be something like an AI world-will called the "Primordial Eternal Governing Matrix."
(That said, it's just my personal speculation.)
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