Genshin Impact, all those behind-the-scenes big shots are me

“Your Majesty, this is the place.” Aatrox said to Su Chen, “Back then, in order to suppress Rascola, Rek was tainted by Rascola’s forbidden power and went mad. We had no choice but to join forces to seal him here.”

Su Chen nodded slightly, released his power, and merged it with the earth. Soon, under the exploration of the yellow sand, he sensed the seal within the underground palace.

If this were in a game, it would be worth half a desert book for travelers.

The incident began when a black storm swept up the characters in the story, or when they came here on a mission from the Adventurers' Guild. Through their investigation, they discovered the secrets of the palace and accidentally released the ancient giant crocodile Renekton. However, because the latter was almost out of energy, the Traveler ultimately won the battle.

Finally, naturally, before his death, Renekton regained his senses and told the traveler the story of a distant ancient kingdom.

Hmm, this mission is worth at least 100,000 Mora.

However, at this time, Luminous was still doing quests in Nerimage. After confirming that the Grass God and His Majesty the Emperor had established a friendly relationship, they knew that the two sides would not fight. So Luminous and Paimon settled down in Nerimage temporarily without worry, and also asked the sage Hein who came to help them to introduce some quests.

Because of the reconstruction of Narimarge, even though the city has been restored to its original state, there are still a lot of internal problems. Compared to fighting the Daedric Lords, it's much better to earn a lot of Mora by running around Narimarge a few times.

It must be said that Shurima is indeed wealthy. Countless riches sank underground along with the kingdom, and Su Chen unearthed them all with his power. Now they are gathered in Narimaja and used for various expenses.

They could eat and drink for free at the palace, earn money, and the desert people were all very nice. They also had many treasures. Ying and Paimon didn't want to leave.

As for Seno, after receiving the bombshell news that both the Little Grass God and the Great Tree King had thrown themselves at Emperor Azir, it took him several days to recover before he finally decided to return to Sumeru City to help stabilize the situation.

"Rekton, my loyal warrior, it's time to awaken," Su Chen murmured, gazing at the expanse of yellow sand.

As the power lifted the palace from the ground, the ancient seal loosened, and in an instant, black sandstorms obscured the sun, and cold and gloomy winds became the rulers of this desert.

A terrifying aura emanated from within the sealed palace.

Roar!

After the beast's roar, the sound, filled with anger and killing intent, sent the sand and dust flying.

"Everyone must die!!"

boom!

A colossal figure broke free of the seal, unleashing a torrent of dark power—a terrifying giant with the head of a crocodile and the body of a human, wielding a blood-stained axe blade, as horrifying as a demon emerging from hell.

"It's alright." Although Renekton in front of me was corrupted by the forbidden power, the power was not much, and due to the seal, it did not cause any fatal damage to Renekton.

Su Chen mobilized his powers to strip away the Ascension Power and Forbidden Power from Renekton's body. Without the power to sustain it, the ancient giant crocodile instantly turned into a cute little crocodile.

"Renkerton, long time no see."

Aatrox, now transformed into the Demon of Swords, appeared before him. He had thought a fight was inevitable, but it seemed it wouldn't be.

“Aatrox… Oh, I think I had a terrible dream, I dreamt that…” Renekton’s gaze shifted and he saw Su Chen, then stood there dumbfounded. “I must not have woken up properly.”

Su Chen chuckled: "Alright Renekton, Nasus is still waiting for you at the palace."

...

After rescuing Renekton, Su Chen took him directly back to Narimarjana, used the Sun Disc to cleanse the remaining taboos from his body, and restored his Ascended power.

After a brief reunion with Nasus, the warlike Desert Butcher embarked on a campaign, having heard of Emperor Azir's plan to unify the desert. If he had waited any longer, the rebels would have been dealt with by Sivir and Asna.

Seeing this, Su Chen didn't bother with him and let him do as he pleased.

"Your Majesty, preparations for the Ascension Ceremony are complete," Nasus said as he entered the palace.

"So fast?"

"This is all thanks to that traveler... Your Majesty. She seems to possess a special power, and her sword is also quite extraordinary."

Su Chen waved his hand: "Don't worry about it, Nasus. You don't need to tell her about me, but don't make things difficult for her either. She's my friend."

"Yes, Your Majesty's will."

With the ascension ceremony in full swing, there's one more thing to do before that.

Su Chen activated the teleportation and instantly returned to the marked point in Liyue—the Human Emperor's Palace.

As soon as they appeared, they saw Zhongli sitting alone in the courtyard drinking.

The wind howls, the air is somewhat melancholic.

Upon seeing Su Chen's sudden appearance, Zhong Li was initially surprised, but quickly dismissed it.

Although he didn't know how Su Chen had appeared, compared to the shock he had experienced before, this disappearance was insignificant.

"Why are you here alone?" Su Chen asked, puzzled. Li Yue wasn't going to end in tragedy, was she? All her old friends were here; why was she alone, trying to buy osmanthus flowers?

Zhongli said slowly, "The Festival of Chasing the Moon is approaching, and they are all busy making preparations. There is nothing to do at the Hall of Rebirth today, so I came here to sit for a while."

Is it because nothing's happening today, or are you alright...? Su Chen knew that the Hall of Rebirth was actually doing very well, but in most cases, it was handled by the ritual attendants, and rarely did Hu Tao and Zhong Li need to take action themselves.

However, the enthusiastic Master Hu is always busy. Even if there is nothing to do, she will find something to do. Just now, she was selling funeral services to someone in Feiyunpo and was reported to Qianyanjun. At this moment, she is explaining her marketing strategy of "the more you buy, the more you get" to Qianyanjun.

"The Festival of the Moon, I'm actually looking forward to it."

Su Chen sat down with a smile.

To be honest, among all the countries, Liyue is the one that gives him a sense of 'peace of mind' at any time. It's strange, considering that as the Human Emperor, he should be bringing peace of mind to his people, but seeing the lights of thousands of homes lit up in Liyue Harbor and Guili Village makes him feel at ease.

Home is where my heart is... Although the simulated identity is constantly changing, this one thing has never changed.

Moreover, Su Chen discovered that his Human Emperor template was gradually progressing from gold to red, especially when he stepped on the land of Liyue, the template's power reached its peak, and he even felt that he could split the sky with a single sword.

“If you’d like, you can come and take a look together,” Zhongli said.

"I'll make time for it."

"So, what brings you back this time?"

"There's something I want to tell you."

Su Chen explained his plan to put pressure on the Zhidong Kingdom.

Zhongli didn't seem to care much about this.

"You can decide this yourself."

Su Chen laughed: "It's just an excuse to steal a moment from my busy schedule and have a drink with you."

Zhong Li was taken aback, then a smile appeared in his eyes as he personally filled Su Chen's glass with wine.

After a few drinks, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard. Gan Yu was carrying a tray with all sorts of snacks.

"Eh? Brother Xuanyuan?"

Somewhat caught off guard, Gan Yu stood there stunned for a while before hurriedly running over.

"Brother Xuanyuan is here too."

Su Chen smiled faintly: "Hmm... what are you holding in your hand?"

"This is a machine invented by True Lord Liuyun. You just need to put the ingredients in, and it will automatically make all kinds of pastries," Gan Yu explained.

Su Chen took a look and found that it was colorful and varied. One of them looked like a refreshing cake, but he didn't recognize the others. They were all strangely shaped and looked rather indescribable.

"So what are you doing..."

“True Lord Liuyun said that the things he made should be tasted by others to see if they taste good, so he asked me to bring them to the Emperor to try.”

Su Chen asked in confusion, "Where are the other immortals? Gui Zhong and the others aren't here?"

Gan Yu said, "They don't want to eat, because they're afraid they won't have an appetite during the Lunar New Year festival."

Zhong Li: "..."

Uh... so the Emperor was fine after eating it, right?

However, Gan Yu was only following her master's orders to bring over the snacks; it wasn't that Zhong Li had to eat them... Yes, she was asking for permission from the Emperor. Whether or not Zhong Li ate them was his own decision.

Seeing Zhongli's hesitation, Su Chen said nonchalantly, "Is it that scary? Although Liuyun always makes some messy machines, the ingredients for the pastries are definitely fresh."

Zhongli didn't speak, but silently pushed the tray behind her.

Handing the tray to Su Chen clearly meant, "If you're so capable, you do it."

Su Chen pursed his lips. Fine, let's go. He's thousands of years old, what's the big deal... The Qingxin cake tasted like a spilled condiment bottle, with all sorts of flavors: sour, bitter, and spicy.

Beside him, Zhongli picked up his wine cup again, took a leisurely sip, and then slowly said, "Liu Yun doesn't seem to have much talent in cooking."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"

Su Chen's roar echoed from the courtyard.

"That woman, come here and die!!!"

...

The arrival of the Emperor instantly enlivened the once quiet Emperor's Palace.

A group of people crowded over, pulling Su Chen to try making the delicious food for the Lunar Festival with them.

The full moon night symbolizes reunion, so Gui Zhong suggested that the immortals hold a full moon festival banquet themselves, and naturally they would prepare the food for the banquet.

Thus, the scene of Liu Yun inventing a cooking machine came about.

But clearly, including Zhongli, no one had any expectations for this matter, so the others continued to prepare. Zhongli also knew that what Liuyun made was inedible. In the past, when they met on Mount Aozang, they drank and ate, and the food was always prepared by Guizhong.

He was always eager to learn and enjoyed human anecdotes. In particular, he learned a few cooking tricks from Maximus, the god of the hearth. Although he wasn't an expert, his dishes were perfectly edible.

So Zhongli hadn't planned to eat it in the first place, but since Liu Yun had already made it, someone had to eat it. Since Su Chen wanted to eat it, why should he stop him?

Who says the Emperor never has a cunning side?

As for why the immortals didn't invite him to cook, it was naturally because the Emperor always only tasted and appreciated food, never lifting a finger to cook.

"So it's okay if my hands get a little oily on them?" Su Chen was speechless.

Fa Nan chuckled and said, "Didn't you used to travel through mountains and rivers, tasting all sorts of herbs to cure the plague? Cooking is the same as brewing medicine, so you'll definitely be fine!"

"Cooking is like brewing medicine? Who said that?" Su Chen rolled his eyes.

"That's what Liu Yun said."

Behind the crowd, Liu Yun, now dressed as a bespectacled mature woman, turned her back to the masses and stared at the improved version 2.0 of the automatic cooking machine in front of her. She snorted, "The machine I made can cook anything, whether it's medicine or food, as long as you put the ingredients in according to the recipe!"

Su Chen gritted his teeth: "Is this why you made the food so awful?"

"I... I just made a small mistake."

Liu Yun was immediately embarrassed. Gui Zhong, seeing this, couldn't help but burst into laughter, and the other immortals also smiled without saying a word.

The air is filled with joy.

Happy times are always short-lived. The next day, after the teleportation cooldown ended, he teleported back to Inazuma.