Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

There are more than just these few immortals in Liyue, but many more have long since hidden themselves in the mountains, no longer concerned with human affairs. Even among immortals, they are hard to find.

These individuals were all immortals whom Kong notified based on the information provided by Ningguang.

What are your thoughts on the Emperor's murder?

“It’s impossible for the Emperor to have been murdered.” Li Shui shook her head.

“But it is a fact that the Immortal Ancestor’s Dharma Body was smashed during the Immortal Invitation Ceremony,” Liu Yun said.

They knew, of course, that the Emperor could not have been harmed, but what they needed to consider more was what lay behind this.

Xiaoyue looked at Xiao, who hadn't spoken, and asked, "Great Sage Who Subdues Demons, you've been stationed in Liyue for many years. What do you think of that?"

Xiao shook his head, "I can't imagine the Emperor being murdered..."

As someone in the know, he didn't know whether he should reveal the truth or not, and he was afraid that revealing it would affect the Emperor's plans, so he simply chose to remain silent.

“It’s impossible that the Emperor was murdered, but the fact that the Immortal Ancestor’s Dharma Body was used in the Immortal Invocation Ceremony is also undeniable. There’s only one possibility: the Emperor faked his death,” Xiaoyue said, expressing her thoughts.

From the day he received the news, he had been thinking about this matter, pondering the Emperor's intentions, and even transformed into human form to visit Liyue Harbor.

"On the surface, the Seven Stars of Liyue invited us to examine the Celestial Ancestor's physical remains and investigate the cause of the Emperor's death. However, we all know that no one could have harmed the Emperor. This statement is merely a pretext to inform us of this matter."

Liyue was jointly established by the Emperor and the immortals. The Emperor voluntarily stepped down, and we immortals only recognize the contract, not the Seven Stars. Therefore, to the Seven Stars currently in power in Liyue, they are an uncontrollable factor. We immortals cannot possibly bow down to the Seven Stars of Liyue.

Thus, the conflict arose.

The immortals listened to him quietly, without interrupting.

Xiaoyue paused for a moment, then began to speak of the intelligence he had gathered in Liyue Harbor regarding the contemporary Tianquan Star.

"The current Tianquan Star is ambitious, shrewd, and ruthless. Although he concealed the fact of the Emperor's death and hid the Immortal Ancestor's remains in secret, such behavior is still understandable considering the current turmoil in Liyue. But, without the Emperor, can the short-lived Seven Stars really govern Liyue well?"

The immortals do not believe that the Seven Stars can govern Liyue well, and the Seven Stars are also unwilling for the immortals to interfere in Liyue's affairs. This is their real point of conflict.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do?" Liu Yun felt a headache coming on as he listened to his long-winded explanation.

Since the Seven Stars hadn't done anything wrong, there was no need for them to confront them with murderous intent. As for whether they could govern Liyue well, while she didn't believe humans could govern their own kingdom, she herself wasn't good at governing either.

"What we do depends on what the Emperor wants us to do," True Lord Li Shui Die Shan said calmly, his gaze falling on Xiao. "The Great Sage Subduing Demons should know something about this."

Xiao was silent for a moment, then said, "The Emperor's concerns are the same as yours."

The immortals don't care about power; there's only one thing they care about: Liyue.

Can the people of Liyue protect their Liyue?

This is the real concern of the Emperor and others.

As for whether anyone assassinated the Emperor, and whether the Emperor's death was related to the Seven Stars, these are all irrelevant matters to the immortals.

Li Shui sighed deeply, "Is the Emperor truly planning to let go of Li Yue...?"

The Emperor has accompanied Liyue for 3,700 years, and they cannot imagine Liyue without the Emperor.

Chapter 286 Reunion with Old Friends, Extremely Pleasant

For 3,700 years, the Emperor has been diligent and conscientious in fulfilling his duties, never slacking off.

The immortals have been living in seclusion in the mountains for thousands of years, but the emperor has never rested.

Now, the time has finally come for Him to let go.

They didn't oppose the emperor's idea, they were just confused.

Without the Emperor, what will Liyue be like? Can it remain peaceful? Where will it go from here?

"Since the Emperor has made his decision, we will have to wait and see where Liyue will go without him." Xiaoyue raised her front hoof, pausing the fruitless discussion.

"Tomorrow, let's set off for Liyue Harbor. We have to make this trip eventually."

......

In the early morning, Wendy Pan, who had arrived at Tianheng Mountain, jumped off Twalin's back and patted his old friend on the head.

"That's enough for now. Hurry back, or you'll get beaten up by the Liyue people if you're discovered!"

"Hmph!" The tool dragon Dvalin turned around unhappily, turned its dragon rear end towards the poet, flapped its wings and flew, knocking him to the ground.

Wendy rubbed her backside, grinning as she watched Dvalin fly away. "Just asking you to give me a ride, was it really necessary...?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Tvalin, who had flown far away, turned back, and a gust of wind shot towards him.

Wendy quickly flew up and apologized with a sheepish grin, "I was wrong, I was wrong! I'll play the piano for you when we get back!"

"Humph!"

Tvalin then flew away again.

In the morning, as soon as Zhong Li opened the door, the first thing he saw was two legs hanging down from the eaves.

The next moment, a familiar head emerged from between her legs with extraordinary flexibility.

Hi~ Long time no see, have you missed me~

Zhong Li smiled, and then the next moment, he grabbed Wendy's drooping braid and pulled him down from the roof.

"You'll have to pay for the damage if you sit on my roof tiles."

Wendy jumped down, dusted herself off, and said, "It's been so long since I've seen my old friend. The first thing he did was fight. It really hurts me."

“I would be happier if you hadn’t come here specifically to join in the fun.” Zhongli opened the guest room door and led him inside to sit down.

"I came here by invitation, not to see how you're going to hold your own funeral, old man!" Wendy said confidently, but the smile on his face betrayed him.

Zhongli glanced at him and decided to ignore the detail.

Seeing that the old man wasn't going to hold it against him, Wendy seized the opportunity and asked, "How does it feel to hold your own funeral?"

He was genuinely curious about this question.

Zhongli glanced at him and said, "If you want to know, I can let you experience the feeling of a funeral right here."

"No, no!" Wendy quickly waved her hand. The old man was too cruel; she didn't want to hold a funeral so soon.

“I came all this way to see you, and I brought some really good wine with me!” Wendy pulled out some aged dandelion wine that she had dug up from the wind, and then took out two oak glasses and filled them for him.

As the wine went down his throat, Zhongli's gaze was nostalgic. "It really has been a long time since I've had any..."

Wendy chugdredged up a large glass of wine and said, "Yeah, it's been a long time since I've had a drink with you."

Years have passed, the world has changed, and the gentle breeze and the steadfast rock are now rarely able to meet.

Zhongli looked up at the rising sun outside the window, "Once I'm completely relieved of my burdens, I'll have more time to come and drink with you..."

Wendy's face showed a hint of drunkenness; she lost all composure after a few drinks. "If you ask me," she said, "you should have taken it off a long time ago. Look how relaxed and free I am!"

Zhongli spoke sarcastically, expressionless, "A god who disregards his duties, nearly allowed his followers to be controlled by the Abyss Cult, and had his heart ripped out by the Fools, can actually speak so matter-of-factly about doing nothing..."

"Don't say that. I don't like ruling, and the people of Mondstadt don't like being ruled either." Wendy showed no shame, let out a burp, and continued chugging down his drink.

"As for what happened later, like having my heart ripped out by the Fools, what divine power do I, a god who has given up my rule, have left? I really couldn't win..."

"Keep pretending, then."

"Oh dear, don't say that. It's the truth, how can you say it's fake?"

Zhongli ignored the guy spouting nonsense and stretched out his hand, "Because of your feigned death, my disciple broke his leg. Pay compensation now."

Wendy nearly spat out her drink. "Your disciple? When did he become your disciple?!"

“Although we haven’t formally become disciples yet, I quite like that kid. Once we drink the formal apprenticeship tea, he’ll be my disciple. Are you going to give him yours or not?” Zhongli asked threateningly.

"Here you go, here you go. Honestly, you're already protecting me before I've even formally become your disciple..."

Wendy rummaged through her pockets for a while and finally pulled out a crystal that was entirely blue and emitted a shimmering glow.

"This is a turquoise formed from the wind elements of the land of origin accumulated over thousands of years. It contains a trace of the origin of the wind, and I have also sealed a wisp of the divine power of the wind inside and bestowed upon it a blessing."

His use of wind element is truly terrible. Having this would make him more compatible with wind element; if his talent were high enough to sense that trace of its origin, touching upon a higher level wouldn't be impossible.

Wendy placed the turquoise in his hand. "Isn't this enough?"

Zhongli nodded in satisfaction, "It's acceptable."

Wendy was extremely upset that she had given away her precious baby. "Sigh, I came here just to join in the fun, but instead of getting any fun, I ended up losing my baby. This is really upsetting..."

“He paid for all the drinks you had in Liyue,” Zhongli said generously.

Wendy instantly came to life, her eyes shining. "Really!"

"of course."

Jiang Bai was unaware that his purse was once again out of his control, and even if he had known, he wouldn't have dared to object.

He yawned and got out of bed. Turning his head, he saw Gudong on the pillow again.

"How did you get in here?"

Jiang Bai picked it up and threatened it while looking at its innocent eyes.

"If you don't tell me, I'll seal you up with stones tonight!"

Gudu showed a wronged little expression, moved to the window, and its chubby body slowly turned into a flat liquid, squeezed out of the window frame, and then squeezed back in.

Jiang Bai was stunned.

Is his slime really sentient?

You can play it like this?

"Amazing!" Jiang Bai gave a thumbs up, accepting the fact that his slime had become sentient.

"Today we should be going to find the wild glass lilies you mentioned yesterday," Paimon said, stretching and yawning as he came out of the room.

"Okay. Let's wash up and go find Zhongli."

Zhongli and Wendy were still drinking and chatting when there was a sudden knock on the courtyard gate.

"Mr. Zhongli, let's hurry and find some wild glass lilies!" Paimon flew straight in through the open gate and immediately spotted Wendy in the yard.

She stared in surprise, her eyes widening. "You street performer, what are you doing here!"

Chapter 287 I'm really not suited to using my brain

“This poet fell onto my roof early this morning, breaking several tiles. He claimed he came to see you,” Zhongli fabricated a reason for his appearance.

Jiang Bai, Kong, and Paimon all looked at Wendy.

"So you really are here!" Wendy's expression was one of surprise and delight. He didn't need Zhongli to remind him at all; he naturally continued making things up as Zhongli spoke.

"I asked Dvalin to bring me here, but when we got over Liyue Harbor, it dropped me off, and I ended up on Mr. Zhongli's roof. I thought I was going to lose you all!"

"That's quite a coincidence..." Jiang Bai and Kong were both a little incredulous, looking up at the roof and seeing that there did indeed seem to be a few broken tiles.

A stone staircase rose beneath Jiang Bai's feet, carrying him to the roof. He replaced the broken tiles, not forgetting to complain, "Mr. Zhongli, why are the roof tiles always breaking?"

It was just replaced last time, and now several pieces have broken again.

Is Zhongli's roof attracting something?

"I'm not sure either. Maybe the quality isn't very good. Let's replace them all with those trendy glazed tiles carved with lilies sometime..."

Jiang Bai suddenly regretted saying that extra thing; it had added another expense.

Wendy patted Jiang Bai on the shoulder as he walked down. "Hey, I was invited here, so my food and drinks are all up to you!"

"The ceremony to send off the immortals hasn't even started yet, and you've arrived way too fast..." Jiang Bai gained a new understanding of the Wind God's unconventional personality.

"What does it matter? It's a good opportunity for this learned Mr. Zhongli to show me the scenery of Liyue."

“But Zhongli still needs to take us to find wild glass lilies,” Paimon said.

"That's easy. Picking wild glass lilies is very simple. Just pay attention to a few things and you'll be fine..." Zhongli told the group about the growing environment of wild glass lilies and the precautions for picking them.

"Alright, you may go now. After you've finished picking them, crush the petals and put them into the incense burner of the Immortal Incense. That will complete the preparations for the Sending-Off-the-Immortals Ceremony."

As they walked out of the Hall of Rebirth, the three looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Should we go find it ourselves?"

"That's the only way..."

As the three of them left the city for Dihua Prefecture, Dadalia frowned.