Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

The thunder came from above the crow's feather. Ying could hear the thunder striking the sky, but she could not see the thunder or the brief flash of lightning.

Because the clouds over the Pure Land of One Heart were too numerous and too thick, she was separated from Lei by an entire world. What she couldn't see, naturally didn't exist.

She can't get out, and she won't get out anymore.

Disgusted by the fleeting nature of life, I rejoice in the eternal and constant way. The unchanging constant only reveals its "silent" essence after the noise has been cut away. Is thunder noise? Thunder is eternal noise, but should noise be cut away?

Ying ignored the thunder in the sky, lowered her eyes, and continued to swing her sword. But no matter what she did, the sound fell into the clouds and echoed in her heart again.

After an unknown amount of time, the thunder gradually subsided. Qing Nuoyan leaned against the barrier of consciousness, his consciousness gradually fading away, leaving this space, and finally waking up.

His form had become ethereal, and his strikes grew increasingly weak. Finally, he stopped.

As time slowly faded away, Qing Nuoyan raised his eyes and stared intently at Lei Yingdian. He paused, then took out a food box from the lining of his kimono. Inside the food box were snow-white milk dumplings.

Qingnuoyan planned to bribe him with food.

This is a space of consciousness. The milk dumpling is not a real object in the true sense, but just a memory.

"Could you open the door, Your Majesty Balzebu?" Qingnuoyan said. "I wanted to give you something—I heard from the Divine Child that Your Majesty's favorite food is milk dumplings."

But there was no response from the other side.

"I've put it here."

Qing Nuoyan gently put down the food box. "My skills are not very good yet... I don't think they taste very good. There is a gathering where Fox Palace, Tsubaki Lily, Mikoto Chiyo, and Miko will all be there... I would like to invite you to attend. At that time, I can make better desserts."

“Your Majesty Balzeb,” Qing Nuoyan paused, then said earnestly, “we must meet again next time.”

"I will come back to see you."

He woke up and left the space, the food box falling with the raindrops.

The thunder finally stopped.

Lei Yingdian raised her eyes and gazed at the quiet sky. She paused, as if she had heard someone's words.

My heart was set on a pure land, but then it started raining.

This is strange. If the world is supposed to be eternal and unchanging, then the weather should also be eternal and unchanging.

For hundreds of years, it has never rained in the Pure Land of One Heart; when white rain streaks across the dark sky and sweep past the ruins of the shrine, they seem to frown.

The rain also fell on Ying, wetting her kimono and moistening her cool profile.

She suddenly realized something.

Her delicate hand lightly touched the raindrops, her fingertips brushed against her thin lips, and she could taste a faint sweetness.

The rain was sweet.

Familiar yet unfamiliar, that's the taste of the Year of the Ox dumplings.

After a brief sweetness, there is a slightly bitter and salty aftertaste. The Pure Land of the Mind is a manifestation of consciousness. It does not rain, but it has shed tears.

Feeling the scent of the rain, Ying's shoulders trembled slightly. Her empty and lonely heart leaped with inexplicable emotions. She suddenly looked up at the sky, but Lei was gone. Only the slightly bitter rain remained in her heart, falling on the empty earth.

She had to go out, she should go out—such dissonant thoughts echoed in Ying's mind again, those 'dissonant thoughts' that should have been eliminated.

Shadow needs to get out.

-

When Qing Nuoyan fully woke up, Miss Ying was lying by his bedside, her eyes closed, seemingly asleep as well.

He saw the huge pine tree outside the window—he had returned to the Pillar State Mansion.

The boy found his hand being held—even though he was asleep, Ying was still holding his hand tightly.

"Idiot," she murmured softly, "Idiot..."

In her dream, she seemed to be dueling with the lady in the castle tower, thinking, "He's not... your Rustan..."

Qing Nuoyan subconsciously touched his shirt pocket. The seed was still there, its cold touch reminding him that what had just happened was real, not a hallucination he had experienced while unconscious.

Barzeb was indeed trapped in her consciousness space.

Qing Nuoyan slowly freed his hands, tiptoed off the tatami mat, gently carried Miss Ying, placed her on the tatami mat, and covered her with a blanket.

Ying was very clean when she was asleep, her eyelashes fluttering gently, like a well-behaved golden retriever. Qing Nuoyan smoothed the cat's messy fur—to tidy up the hair that was pressed under her body.

“He is…” Ying murmured, “my Qingnuoyan.”

Why are you talking in your sleep?

That's so cheesy.

...Qing Nuoyan stared at the fast-sleeping Ying, and after a long while, he finally smiled softly, "You've really worked hard."

“You are also my Miss Ying.” Qing Nuoyan lowered his eyes, his azure eyes reflecting Ying’s sleeping face, and said earnestly, “You are also my Ying.”

"Actually, I was pretending to be asleep."

The well-behaved cat suddenly opened its eyes, a smug smile playing on its lips. It blinked, tilted its head, and looked playfully at Qing Nuoyan, as if it were staring at a foolish human.

"What did you just say about me?" Ying stared at Qing Nuoyan with a smile. "Say it again, say it again, what did someone say? I didn't hear you clearly."

Qing Nuoyan remained expressionless, though his ears were visibly flushed.

This guy!

-

Autumn's chill has touched the trees of the Zhuguo Mansion, turning them yellow and causing the leaves to fall. The cool moonlight reflects on the puddles in front of the courtyard, leaving faint watermarks that accentuate the gentle clarity of the day.

Tomorrow will be the final duel before the emperor.

Guo Beng stared at the cenotaph of Qingye Leiming, his eyes flickering as if some emotion was stirring within them.

"Old man," he said after a long pause, but what he said was utterly disrespectful, "I'm going to dig up your grave."

That is truly outrageous.

The doll's fingers probed into the soft, rain-soaked soil, slowly digging away the dirt. Guo Beng was very serious about this task, and his fingernails were covered in soil.

Even Qing Nuoyan wouldn't dig up Qingye Zhuguo's grave, or rather, he might want to do it but wouldn't dare.

Although he said he was digging up graves, he didn't actually destroy the cenotaph. He was just searching for something, something written on the note, something written on the note by Kiyono Raimei:

"—There's a jar of barley wine that's been buried for hundreds of years under the pine and cypress trees in the Pillar State Mansion. Remember to go and retrieve it."

The old man wrote down these last words. Since it was his own instruction, then digging up the grave became an act of desecration by imperial decree.

Moreover, the doll never considered this to be the tomb of the Pillar of State. He never acknowledged it. This small space, filled with messy clothes and rotten swords, was simply a self-indulgent consolation by Inatsume.

The old man wasn't buried in the ground; he was buried in the air, in the sea of ​​clouds—so in Guo Beng's eyes, this small tomb seemed repulsive, like a damp and dark cage.

The fingers finally touched something, and Guo Beng took it out.

The ale, sealed for a hundred years, carries the weight of time. Looking at this jar of wine, Guo Beng recalled the days when he drank with the old man.

'No one's drinking with me anymore.'

'...They've all left.'

Guo Beng disliked drinking, but he opened the wine jar, filled two bowls, poured one bowl into the air, and then drank the other bowl in one gulp.

The rich aroma of alcohol permeated my lungs, carrying the fresh scent of wheat fields.

"Old man." The puppet was clearly not drunk, but Guo Beng's body swayed a little. He drank another bowl and said softly, "I'll drink with you."

I'll drink with you.

Qingnuoyan invited him to the gathering under the sacred cherry tree, but Guobeng refused, saying he had no interest whatsoever.

But he would still go, just like no matter how many times he refused Kiyono Raimei, that guy would always manage to force him to drink several jugs of sake—he could never do anything about it.

—However, this will only happen after everything has settled down.

He was slightly tipsy.

The heart was in his hand, emitting a faint glow, translucent and beautiful.

Gazing at the translucent heart, the doll's empty chest cavity trembled slightly.

From now on

His thunder will forever resonate in your chest.

Guo Beng placed the heart into his chest cavity. He heard the sound of thunder in his ears, and the howling wind mixed with the thunder in Qingye, echoing in his chest again and again. This was the heart of the great serpent, the heart of Qingye.

This is the heart of the demon god.

He saw the colossal serpent, the countless soldiers charging towards it, and their deaths one by one. He also saw Qingye Leiming and the old man's final strike.

He witnessed that pure white world.

When the nation collapsed, he finally crossed that boundary and arrived in that world. He witnessed that world, and from then on, he inherited that world.

As his heart pounded, he finally understood what he was missing, and he finally understood what the stabbing emotion that had been lingering in his chest was called.

That's called "regret".

The heartless doll finally understood human emotions.

Guo Pang gazed at the distant pavilion at the far end of his sight and whispered:

"Barzebu".

Tomorrow's duel before the Emperor will take place, and his opponent will not only be a lady.

Not just that.

"I have ascended to godhood."

He wanted to speak to the man face to face, not through a machine called 'General'.

-

P.S.: Phew, time for bed!

The last single

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