Nantianmen.
This place had always been one of the least explored areas of Liyue.
After all, it was far from Liyue Harbor, and reaching it required passing through Tianqiu Valley, where an important ruin lay and monsters were countless.
Moreover, according to legend, the Geo Lord Morax had sealed a demon god here.
The monsters in this area were even more powerful.
Liyue wasn't like Mondstadt, which pursued freedom.
A place with no real value or profit—people rarely came here throughout the year.
At Nantianmen stood a towering tree.
Crystals of all kinds shimmered along its trunk, as if elemental energy surged within it.
But from its shape, it looked less like a tree and more like… a tail.
This was the Dragon-Queller Tree.
Beneath it stood a young girl dressed in Liyue attire—that was Jiu, or rather, the memory avatar of Azhdaha.
Today, Jiu—or Azhdaha—
As always, extended a thread of power through the crack in the seal, condensing into Jiu.
Usually, Azhdaha could only emerge briefly to glimpse the world. And each time, the first thing he'd shout was the same as it had been for a thousand years:
"Morax! How do you plan to repay a grudge a millennium old?"
"Morax! I slap your ancestors!"
This was Azhdaha's classic, resentful tirade.
But truly, no one could blame him.
The mighty Dragon King Azhdaha had been sealed by his old boss, the Geo Archon Morax, and stuffed headfirst into Nantianmen.
With his butt facing upward… for centuries...
Azhdaha had a right to feel threatened!
Yet the people of Liyue even gave the tree—formed from his tail—a proud name: Dragon Queller.
Azhdaha would rather not have known.
If that tree became famous, wouldn't more and more adventurers come to investigate?
Wouldn't that make his situation more dangerous?
With such a strong sense of crisis, how could Azhdaha not become mentally twisted?
The young girl Jiu, speaking in a deep, ancient tone as steady as rock, stood beneath the tree and unleashed a barrage of angry curses at the nearby hatchling Geo Vishaps:
"Morax! Cold-blooded and heartless!"
"Morax! I slap your ancestors!"
He'd shouted lines like that countless times before.
Unfortunately, the little Vishaps weren't intelligent enough to understand.
They could only sense their superior's bad mood, and so they trembled in fear.
Ever since being sealed by Zhongli, Azhdaha spent his days worrying about the safety of his rear end,
And the rest of his time thinking about better ways to curse out Morax, and how to someday destroy Liyue to make Morax suffer.
Usually, this strange calm would not be broken.
But today, high above Nantianmen, Jade Chamber came flying in.
Through Jiu's eyes, Azhdaha saw it all.
And he sensed that Morax—his eternal obsession—was aboard.
Instantly, Azhdaha flew into a rage.
"Morax! Morax!!"
"How will you repay a thousand-year grudge!"
"Morax! I'll cut off your limbs! Shatter your soul! Chop apart your filthy body!"
"Slice you! Hack you up!"
"Morax! Come! Come face me!"
"I'll show you darkness!"
The curses Azhdaha had rehearsed over centuries erupted all at once.
Sadly, the Jade Chamber was flying far too high, and he hadn't used Jiu to shout them aloud.
All he could do was squat angrily in the sealed space, impotently furious.
"Come! Come see me! Morax…!"
He pounded the ground madly. But the seal was unshakable, and though his blows caused tremors, they only made golden light ripple across the stone.
And yet… the Jade Chamber seemed to have heard his call.
It calmly stopped in the skies above Nantianmen.
Its position…
Just so happened to be right over Azhdaha's butt—err, the Dragon-Queller.
A powerful sense of crisis surged up. Azhdaha froze.
Moments later, he exploded again, though his words had slightly changed:
"Morax! Get lost! Get out of here!"
"Morax! Don't come near!"
Through the cracks of the seal, Azhdaha's emotions burst forth, and the remnants of his divine power poured out violently,
Changing the color of the skies and winds.
The hatchling Vishaps on the ground howled upward in response.
Finally, one of Azhdaha's deep growls managed to escape and reach Zhongli's ears:
"Morax! I slap your ancestors!"
On the Jade Chamber.
Zhongli, who had originally intended to persuade Ningguang and the others to leave, instantly darkened.
That furious cry of "I slap your ancestors"…
Not just Zhongli—Xiao, Cloud Retainer, Venti, Ryen, and Nahida all heard it loud and clear.
Xiao and Cloud Retainer looked deeply embarrassed, quickly averting their eyes to avoid meeting Zhongli's gaze.
But Venti and Ryen had no such restraint.
The two of them exchanged a glance, then simultaneously bent over the table, clutching their stomachs in silent laughter.
Zhongli's face turned even darker.
Now this was thoroughly humiliating.
Not only had his two subordinates heard that crisp insult, but the gods Venti and Nahida had heard it too.
More importantly…
Ryen had also heard it clearly!
Utterly humiliating!
And with Venti's love for making up exaggerated bard tales,
What if decades later, a ballad about the Geo Archon and Azhdaha spread throughout Teyvat—
Featuring the iconic line:
"I slap your ancestors."
That would be a massive social death.
"Ryen, Venti? What are you laughing at?"
Ganyu asked innocently.
The two immediately felt the heat of Zhongli's nuclear gaze and straightened up.
"Nothing. We weren't laughing."
"But I just saw—"
"You saw wrong, Ganyu," Ryen said with a straight face.
"We've been rigorously trained. No matter how funny something is, we won't laugh."
Venti solemnly nodded.
"Unless we really can't help it."
The two of them struggled to cover their mouths, shoulders shaking.
Since Ryen refused to explain, Ganyu didn't press further. She only voiced her concern:
"Ningguang, this is where the Archon sealed Azhdaha. Isn't it a bit dangerous to test the Redstone Cannon here?"
Ningguang hesitated for a moment, opened her mouth to reply—
But Zhongli spoke first, his voice calm, with just a hint of simmering rage:
"It's fine. The Geo Archon's seal cannot be easily broken. This is the best location for the test."
"But..."
Ganyu still wanted to argue, but Zhongli pointed at the ground beneath their feet and said gravely,
"There are too many Juvenile Geovishaps gathering here. If we don't act quickly, they could pose a serious threat to the adventurers."
At his words, everyone looked down at the howling beasts — indeed, they were densely packed, numbering in the hundreds.
These weren't some low-tier monsters. If they all charged at once, even Liyue's current Millelith would suffer heavy losses.
Still, Ganyu wanted to protest. After all, dropping explosives here would practically be slapping the Geo Archon in the face.
"But if we conduct an experiment here, the Lord of Geo might—"
"The Lord of Geo wouldn't be bothered by such trifles," Zhongli said flatly, eyes calmly fixed on the teacup before him.
Ryen and Venti exchanged glances, both realizing Zhongli was, in fact, very much bothered.
Struggling to hold back a laugh, Venti nodded at Ningguang.
"It's fine, the old man isn't that petty. We're just testing the power of the Redstone Cannons, after all!"
"He'd be delighted to see it, I'm sure!"
He even winked at Zhongli as he spoke.
Zhongli's face was composed, but the aura he gave off clearly said "stay away."
Normally, Xiao and Cloud Retainer would try to dissuade them — detonating explosives here wasn't exactly reasonable.
But...
First, the area was indeed swarming with enhanced monsters, empowered by Azhdaha's residual strength — even Xiao found it troublesome.
Second...
Everyone had heard that one clear sentence: "I slap your ancestors."
If it were just Xiao and Cloud Retainer, they could've pretended not to hear it for Zhongli's sake.
But Venti, Nahida, and Ryen were here too.
This grudge — Zhongli would never let it slide.
Ningguang glanced at Venti and Ryen, who kept exchanging knowing looks, and then at Xiao and Cloud Retainer, both maintaining an expression of complete indifference to the world.
Smart as she was, she had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
That big guy sealed below must have said something truly offensive — enough to disgrace Zhongli.
She found it amusing but responded seriously:
"Then… let's just test the TNT duplicator here."
"Only the TNT duplicator? Don't we also want to test the Redstone Excavator and the Redstone Aerial Bombardment Cannon together?" Zhongli asked lightly.
Ningguang went silent.
She really wanted to ask Zhongli outright:
What exactly did Azhdaha say to make you this dead set on blowing him up?
But considering the consequences of asking, she forced a polite smile and gently replied:
"The Redstone Excavator can level mountains in that other world — it's far too dangerous here."
"As for the Aerial Bombardment Cannon, it's way too destructive. One misfire and we could flatten this whole area. Better not…"
Zhongli took a deep breath, calming the storm inside.
TNT couldn't kill Azhdaha.
Or rather — as long as Liyue's ley lines persisted, Azhdaha would not truly perish.
Even if his consciousness faded, his body would remain.
He lived and died with the ley lines.
So, Zhongli had no qualms about using the most ruthless means to remind Azhdaha:
He, Morax—
was born of the primordial. He has no ancestors!
He, Morax—
was the one who enlightened Azhdaha, making him his elder!
Zhongli would make sure Azhdaha knew —
what could and could not be said —
especially in front of others.
Ningguang turned and walked outside.
The TNT duplicator, like the other Redstone cannons, hung off the edge of the Jade Chamber.
To be honest, duplicating TNT like this only worked thanks to the world's special rules.
As Ryen had put it: aside from causing chaos, it was basically used for vertical mining.
Unlike the other cannons or bombers, this device dropped payloads in a fixed spot.
Which meant... to avoid blowing a bottomless hole through Mt. Tianheng, Ningguang had to reposition the Jade Chamber manually.
She grasped the control core of the Jade Chamber. While at it, she also attached a lever to the TNT duplicator.
Turning back to face the eager crowd, Ningguang smiled lightly.
"Alright then… I'm starting now."
With that, she yanked the lever.
The sound of TNT igniting rang out — several TNT blocks launched from the dispensers.
Before anyone could react, the blocks plummeted downward — in droves.
A thick, unrelenting stream.
For a moment, even Ningguang was stunned.
She hadn't expected the TNT to deploy that rapidly.
By the time she recovered and moved the Jade Chamber, it had already dropped several stacks.
Quickly, Ningguang maneuvered the floating palace over the Juvenile Geovishaps.
Then, the first earth-shaking explosion erupted in the stillness of Mt. Tianheng.
Immediately after, a thunderous voice — equal parts furious, indignant, and oddly aggrieved — boomed up toward Ryen and the others:
"MORAX!!"
"What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"I SLAP YOUR ANCESTORS!!"
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