Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

D'Artagnan put his arm around his shoulder and said enthusiastically, "Come on, come on, I've got someone save you a great spot so you can see the Rock King up close!"

Seeing the two suddenly put their arms around each other, a question mark appeared on Hu Tao's forehead.

What's going on here?

Kong and Paimon looked at each other, and finally Paimon asked the question that was on his mind.

Who is he?

“The 11th Executive Officer of the Fools, [Prince] Tadalia.”

"The Executors of the Fools!" Paimon and Kong were both shocked.

They had just been brutally beaten by the Fatui Enforcers in Mondstadt, and then they encountered another one in Liyue!

And what about Jiang Bai? Why is he getting so close to the Fools?

Neither of them asked the question at this moment.

We arrived at the venue of Yujingtai and squeezed to the front of the venue with D'Artagnan.

Kong finally saw the whole picture of the ritual to invite the immortals.

A huge incense burner, an altar, and a very dignified woman standing in front of the incense burner.

The prelude to the invocation ceremony was extremely long and tedious.

Jiang Bai stared at Zhong Li while simultaneously staring at Dadalia, wishing he could look in different directions with both eyes at the same time.

Fortunately, both of them were quite well-behaved before the Rock King Emperor appeared.

Walnut was also very alert, constantly keeping an eye on D'Artagnan and the other people around her.

Kong and Paimon, on the other hand, were already starting to doze off.

The young master carried several "Unrestricted Talismans" in his bosom.

He was waiting for the Rock King Emperor to appear so that he could use the Unrestricted Talisman to attract his attention and thus communicate with him.

Zhongli was simply there to witness this final ceremony of inviting the immortals.

Everyone had their own thoughts.

Time passed second by second, and after a series of tedious rituals, the actual invocation of the spirits finally began.

Everyone present was on high alert.

Concentrate your gaze and close your eyes; the rock element gathers at your fingertips.

Several streams of rock elemental energy, as brilliant as gemstones, surged into the incense burner under her control. The incense burner then erupted with a dazzling light, shooting towards the sky to welcome the Emperor.

As if the gates of another world had been opened, the once clear sky was instantly shrouded in clouds, and in the center of the light, the clouds transformed into a vortex.

Everyone looked up excitedly, eagerly awaiting the Emperor's appearance.

To everyone's surprise, the clear sky suddenly darkened, and the dragon that was supposed to descend from the sky fell straight down, crashing onto the altar and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Upon seeing this scene, the venue instantly descended into chaos.

Jiang Bai immediately looked at Zhong Li.

Zhongli's face remained expressionless.

He stroked the jade thumb ring on his thumb, showing neither excitement nor astonishment, nor surprise.

It was as if everything was going according to plan.

Jiang Bai then looked at Dadalia.

D'Artagnan's mouth dropped open in astonishment, his emotions clearly showing.

Clearly, this was an accident that even he hadn't anticipated.

Jiang Bai looked at the others around him again. They looked extremely surprised, even a little confused, not knowing what was going on.

The one who reacted the fastest was Ningguang on the altar.

She stepped forward to check the situation, her brows furrowing deeply.

She could clearly sense that there was no life force emanating from the dragon, which meant that the Emperor had been killed!

"The Emperor has been murdered! Seal off the entire area!"

After confirming, she turned around abruptly, staring intently at D'Artagnan in the hall, her voice extremely stern.

All the Thousand Rock Army soldiers sprang into action, their white cherry blossom spears gleaming with a chilling light, and sealed off the venue.

The murder of the Emperor was something that had never happened in Liyue for thousands of years, so much so that they had no contingency plans or preparations whatsoever.

Fortunately, thanks to Kurumi's earlier warning, the Seven Stars were already extremely wary of the Fatui, and every member of the Fatui was under their surveillance.

Even with such surveillance, the Emperor was still murdered!

"What on earth is going on?" Paimon scratched his head in bewilderment. "She just said that the Emperor was murdered. Does that mean the God of Rock is dead?"

This news was incredibly exciting for them, who were new to the area.

Ignoring the reactions of everyone present, Hu Tao, after her initial shock, jumped directly to the vicinity of the dragon corpse to examine the situation.

As the head of the Hall of Rebirth, she was the one most capable of perceiving life and death.

The dragon corpse in front of them had lost all signs of life, just as Ningguang had said, the Emperor had been murdered.

Looking at the emperor's corpse in front of her, she slammed her fists into the ground, not caring at all even as her hands bled.

Her plum blossom-like pupils blazed with fury, her anger uncontrollable.

This is the Emperor! The Emperor whom the people of Liyue revere as their faith!

Who on earth dares to lay a hand on the Emperor!

She stared intently at D'Artagnan, her body temperature rising so high that it even scorched the air, creating a slightly hazy atmosphere.

The staff of homa appeared in her hand, thrusting straight at Dadalia's throat.

D'Artagnan dodged to the side, and while on the defensive, asked in bewilderment:

"Wait, wait! Why did you suddenly attack me?"

"Speak! Did you do it?!"

Hu Tao's eyes were very cold; this was the first time Jiang Bai had ever seen Hu Tao with such a cold expression.

They treated him like a dead man, almost to the point of no return.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm totally confused!"

D'Artagnan is truly speechless.

I was originally planning to see the Rock King Emperor at the Immortal Invitation Ceremony, but I didn't see him in person, but I did see his corpse.

He was even suspected of being the murderer...

It would be fine if he had done something, but the problem is he didn't do anything!

Jiang Bai did not stop Hu Tao from attacking Dadalia. He looked at Zhong Li, who still had a calm expression, and spoke in a deep voice.

"You did it, didn't you?"

Chapter 265 Questioning Zhongli

Jiang Bai's tone was very confident:

"You caused the death of the Rock King Emperor!"

Zhongli fell silent.

In a sense, Jiang Bai was right.

Sora and Paimon, who were standing nearby, were stunned.

Why did things turn out differently than they expected?

Why did Jiang Bai say that it was Mr. Zhongli who did it?

The two of them turned into onlookers, both looking at Zhong Li, ready to see what kind of answer he would give.

"Why do you say that?" Zhongli's expression was a little strange, as if she was very puzzled by his reaction.

"Because, uh...because..."

Jiang Bai wanted to say that all the signs pointed to this. But it seemed to be just his speculation, and he didn't have any concrete evidence.

The one-sided battle between Hu Tao and Tartaglia continued, and he couldn't figure it out after all that.

Ultimately, most of it was just his speculation.

But we must resolve this as soon as possible before Walnut notices it.

Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to bear knowing that her family's retainer was the murderer who killed the Rock King Emperor.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him, and he came up with an excellent reason.

"Because your reaction was too calm! That's right, that's why!"

Kong & Paimon: "..."

Is that really a valid reason to be so certain?

Could it be that Mr. Zhongli is used to seeing big things and remains calm even when Mount Tai collapses before him, and that he is also relatively reserved in his emotions?

Zhongli suddenly laughed.

Although I've always felt that Jiang Bai's thought process is different from ordinary people, he always manages to give the correct answer due to various strange intermediate conditions.

He looked at the dragon corpse in front of him, his tone low and somber:

"Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural laws. Humans die when they reach a certain lifespan, and immortals are no exception. The Rock King Emperor has been born for over 6000 years. Even the most indestructible rock would weather away under the erosion of such a long period of time..."

"Are you saying that the Rock King Emperor died of natural causes?" Paimon thought Zhongli's words made a lot of sense.

Gods also die; some of the seven gods have already been replaced two or three times.

Zhongli did not deny Paimon's statement, saying, "It's just my personal speculation..."

“But there are still many things that don’t make sense.” Jiang Bai frowned, not quite believing what he was saying.

"It is impossible for the Rock King Emperor not to know that his lifespan is coming to an end. Under such circumstances, He would surely have conveyed this matter at last year's Immortal Invitation Ceremony, so that the Seven Stars could prepare themselves mentally."

"But judging from the reactions of the Seven Stars and the Thousand Rocks Army, He did not make such an arrangement, which is not something a wise emperor or ruler would do!"

"Unless, he died too suddenly! He didn't have time to make these arrangements!"

Jiang Bai, transformed into a master detective, deduced along this line of reasoning, and even more illogical things emerged.

Zhongli frowned slightly, feigning surprise. "That's exactly what I'm wondering about..."

Kong He and Pai Meng looked at Jiang Bai, then at Zhong Li.

They know nothing and can only be bystanders.

Emotionally, they were more willing to believe what their old friend Jiang Bai said, but rationally, they felt that Jiang Bai's guess that Zhong Li did it was untenable.

First of all, what reason did this Mr. Zhongli, whom I only met today, have for assassinating the Rock God?

Secondly, just how powerful does one have to be to assassinate a god?

Even when Venti had his Divine Heart ripped out, he recovered quickly and was as good as new.

What kind of immense power would be needed to truly kill a god?

Does this Mr. Zhongli possess such immense power?

Why is Jiang Bai so certain that it was him who did it?

Sora looked around at the people around him. The Thousand Rock Army soldiers were questioning the onlookers. Because there were quite a few people who came to watch the ceremony, it was not their turn yet.

Honestly, if he hadn't come here with Jiang Bai and the others, he would definitely have run away in this situation.

For him, gods did not represent friends; on the contrary, they might be his enemies.

Although his identity is somewhat special, he only arrived in Liyue Harbor yesterday, and with Jiang Bai and the others testifying for them, the Lord of Thousand Rocks in Liyue should not suspect them.

In this way, there's no need to worry about getting arrested.

Jiang Bai was annoyed by Zhong Li's jack-of-all-trades reaction.