Walking through the utterly ravaged basin,
Tartaglia was surrounded by the remains of juvenile Geovishaps.
These materials could fetch a good price even in Liyue Harbor—
after all, they were excellent for forging weapons.
But Tartaglia didn't dare take a single piece.
This destruction had clearly been caused by a bombing from the Jade Chamber.
Someone would definitely come to collect the remains.
And if even a little bit went missing, the Fatui would instantly be suspected.
Why, you ask...?
Because in Liyue, even if a Liyuean adventurer dies while exploring their own land,
the General Affairs Department could find a way to blame the Fatui.
There's nothing to be done—they're blatantly targeting you.
"What the hell... what is that thing?!"
Tartaglia clenched his fists tightly, pacing back and forth through the devastated land.
Recalling that explosion—like the sky collapsing—he felt a chill of fear.
He had no idea how many Fatui troops could have possibly survived such a blast.
Liyue's true strength...
A small glimpse of it was finally revealed before Tartaglia's eyes.
But he would rather never have seen it.
Liyue was already terrifyingly powerful—
With the Geo Archon, the Adepti, and the mysteriously empowered Millelith...
And now...
They even surpassed the rest of the world in technology?
How is anyone supposed to compete with that?
Everyone had been chasing the power of the Vision system, pursuing personal strength.
Now Liyue had flipped the table—
Telling the world: "Sure, go ahead and strengthen yourselves.
You'll still be turned to ashes in a single bombing run."
For a combat fanatic like Tartaglia, this was a devastating blow.
His faith—shattered.
"Like barrels of explosives... Were they dropped from the sky?"
Tartaglia shook his head.
"No way. Even Hilichurl Berserkers are hard to kill with explosive barrels,
but this... this wiped out juvenile Geovishaps like nothing!"
"And why were there so many?!"
He stood in place for a long time, eyes flickering with deep thought.
This information needed to be reported to the Tsaritsa.
Tartaglia, who knew her sad wish and was willing to sacrifice everything for her cause, understood:
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If they could get Liyue on board with resisting Celestia...
Their odds of victory would immediately increase several times over.
But Tartaglia wasn't sure if this was truly the right move...
The Fatui were not united.
He trusted the Tsaritsa—
but he didn't trust the Jester or the Doctor.
There was no telling what they might do with this information behind the scenes.
Snezhnaya could no longer afford to provoke Liyue.
At the very least, they certainly couldn't now.
If that lunatic Doctor decided to stir up trouble in Liyue like he had in Mondstadt...
There was no telling—
the Jade Chamber might march directly into Snezhnaya,
backed by a strengthened Millelith army, the Adepti, and the Geo Archon himself.
In that case, forget about fighting Celestia—
they'd be lucky just to survive Liyue.
Tartaglia slammed his fist into a nearby towering tree.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on?! What happened to Liyue?!"
The massive tree shed a flurry of leaves under the impact.
This infuriated Azhdaha even more—
He had already been seething in his sealed space after being bombarded for no reason.
Now, with Morax's presence having vanished,
some slightly powerful human dares touch his tail?
With a mighty slap to the ground,
Azhdaha sent a wave of divine power through the crack in the seal.
"Human! How dare you insult me like this?!"
The immense divine force slammed into Tartaglia without warning.
He was sent flying over a hundred meters, crashing to the ground and coughing up blood.
Three ribs—snapped.
Gritting his teeth, Tartaglia raised his head with difficulty to look at the Dragon-Queller Tree.
Just a moment ago, it had seemed like any other giant tree—just unusually tall.
Now, it was shrouded in the power of four different elements.
Its presence...
Comparable to the Cryo Archon!
"Damn it! Another god-level being?! What kind of cursed place is Liyue?!"
Tartaglia instantly lost the will to fight.
The other party hadn't even gone all out—
they had merely vented a bit of divine power.
And yet it had already left him gravely injured.
Tartaglia wasn't stupid—
he could tell this was an opponent he could not fight.
Forcing himself to stand, he spoke in a low voice:
"My apologies, elder. I have offended you. I shall leave immediately."
He dared not hesitate.
Regardless of how loudly Azhdaha roared behind him,
he pushed his wounded body to call upon elemental power and fled at full speed.
Only after escaping the domain of Nantianmen did Tartaglia collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.
He recalled the divine aura he had just felt.
"Four elements... Nantianmen...?"
"So it was the Lord of Vishaps, Azhdaha?!"
Relief washed over Tartaglia as he gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
"No wonder I couldn't fight back at all. So it was his sealing ground..."
If he had been humiliated by some nameless powerhouse, he'd have died from shame.
He considered himself not much weaker than the Three-Eyed Five-Manifests Adepti.
But if it was Azhdaha—
Then everything made sense.
This being was no ordinary adeptus.
He was a lifeform born from the ley lines—
A creature born of Teyvat itself.
With power rivaling that of top-tier archons.
Even among today's Teyvat powers,
Azhdaha stood near the top.
Not to mention—
Even if it were the Jester or the Doctor taking that divine hit, they wouldn't fare much better.
This was the same dragon once personally enlightened by Morax himself—
who had followed him into the Archon War and earned eternal fame.
His power was only slightly below that of the Geo Archon.
And back then, in order to seal Azhdaha,
Morax had summoned many Adepti.
All of the Three-Eyed Five-Manifests were involved.
At that time, Liyue's immortals hadn't been reduced to their current small number.
Tartaglia realized—
He and Azhdaha were simply not on the same level.
Thinking this way, Tartaglia suddenly felt much better.
Strictly speaking, that Lord of the Vishaps, Azhdaha, was even a senior to the Cryo Archon.
Back when the original Seven gathered, Azhdaha, though not a ruling Archon himself, could still sit and debate philosophy with the Seven.
"The God of Dust, Guizhong… The God of Stove, Marchosius… The God of Salt, Havria… and this Lord Azhdaha…"
"Heh…"
Tartaglia took a deep breath and shook his head with resignation.
"No wonder Morax was hailed as the God of War."
As he sighed in awe, a faint sound suddenly came from the shadows.
Tartaglia glanced over lazily, then sneered coldly:
"What's this… just because I'm injured, even hilichurls think they can provoke me?"
A blade of water, sharp as could be, formed in his hand as he stood up cheerfully.
His icy gaze swept over the dozens of hilichurls surrounding him.
"I'm still… far from dying!"
As his voice fell, brilliant waterlight burst forth. A streak of azure light slashed through the hilichurl horde.
Tartaglia needed to vent.
To vent the shock he felt from Liyue, the grief of being grievously injured by a single divine strike from Azhdaha.
And these hilichurls…
Unfortunately, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sumeru.
Lately, Sumeru had been in serious turmoil.
The Matra and even all units of the Eremites affiliated with the Akademiya had been fully mobilized.
It seemed they were searching for something on a wide scale.
Combined with the economic pressure from Liyue's commercial blockade, the Akademiya had been forced into a frugal survival mode.
The Grand Sage who oversaw the entire institution hadn't shown himself in a long time.
All this had left many within the Akademiya feeling increasingly uneasy.
However, this chaos also gave certain individuals the perfect cover to act more freely.
A dark, windy night.
At the foot of a small hill outside Sumeru City.
Alhaitham stood silently, gazing into the distance at Sumeru City.
A nation of wisdom… yet in his eyes now, it seemed steeped in decay.
This was not the Sumeru of his ideals.
Suddenly, a deliberate footstep came from behind.
Alhaitham withdrew his thoughts and said calmly:
"You finally came… If I remember correctly, the Akademiya's current guard presence is quite thin. With your abilities, you shouldn't have taken this long."
From the darkness, Cyno slowly emerged.
"I went to the Grand Sage's office."
"Oh?"
That piqued Alhaitham's interest slightly.
"Find anything?"
Cyno shook his head, speaking in a low tone:
"He's not absent—he's just refusing to see anyone. Also… I could smell it. His condition is terrible, like rotting meat about to spoil."
"Figured as much."
Alhaitham nodded lightly, his expression unchanged.
"A few days ago, he was having people scour Sumeru for antidotes. I suspect that strange creature from before had something very wrong with it."
Cyno remained silent, then after a brief pause, added with some confusion:
"Did you know… he's been secretly transporting prisoners from the cells?"
That made Alhaitham frown.
"Not a single one has come back out once they're taken in…"
Cyno added, and Alhaitham seemed to realize something terrible.
"He's…"
For some reason, the night wind suddenly turned cold and mournful, sending a chill down Alhaitham's spine.
The two fell silent, tacitly agreeing to drop the subject. After a while, Cyno said gravely:
"After I left there, I went to the confidential archives… and found detailed files about you."
"Heh… Typical of them. If you dig a little deeper, you might even find your own file."
Alhaitham didn't seem surprised at all and sounded almost uninterested.
"Besides that, did you find anything else?"
Cyno was quiet for a long moment before slowly speaking.
"It seems many sages are involved in Azar's plan. But I can't yet determine what the true purpose of that plan is."
"However… I saw a document detailing the extraction process of divine canned knowledge…"
Alhaitham's expression tightened into a deep frown.
"It's already gone that far? I see. Thank you for your effort…"
Watching Alhaitham's back, Cyno opened his mouth as if to ask something, but no words came out.
He turned and prepared to return to Sumeru City. Suddenly, Alhaitham's light voice drifted behind him:
"Be prepared, Cyno. Just like I told you before…"
"One day, when you realize what the Akademiya is truly doing and you can no longer tolerate it, then… you will become their target."
"When that time comes… I hope to see you in the desert."
Cyno paused for a moment, then continued walking into the darkness.
"I don't need your reminder. I'll find my own answers…"
"And by the way, be careful. A sage has already set their sights on you."
The two parted ways. Alhaitham remained behind, quietly gazing out over everything.
Was he reminiscing? Or hoping for something…?
After a while, Alhaitham turned and left without hesitation.
Now that the Akademiya was in disarray, it was time for him to make preparations.
The first task…
Was to head to Gandharva Ville for a chat with a certain forest ranger.
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