Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

Sediment! Sediment! (Part 2)

A month passed by in a hurry.

After a period of intensive training like a sports student, Li Tao gained a new understanding of the control of water elemental power, but still had not opened up the first constellation; instead, Li Tao had some ideas about the [Elemental Combat Skills] that combined elemental power to attack.

That day, Li Tao and another friend, Xingqiu's best friend and currently Li Tao's own best friend Chongyun, had a fight at Yunlai Beach. At this time, Li Tao had made amazing progress and could fight Xingqiu and Chongyun, who did not use elemental combat skills or elemental bursts, on equal terms. But if the two of them teamed up to use a freeze reaction, or used a big move close to each other, Li Tao would still be unable to stop them.

Xingqiu's [Guhua Sword: Cutting Rain and Leaving Rainbow] was just fine, it was just an enhancement of normal attacks, and its damage was mainly done by using the [Rain Curtain Sword] condensed by the water elemental force and superb swordsmanship. However, Chongyun was a Taoist priest from a legitimate exorcist family, and his level of comprehension of spiritual power, that is, elemental power, was amazing. His elemental burst move [Spirit Blade: Clouds Open and Stars Fall] directly summoned a greatsword condensed by the ice elemental force to hit Li Tao's face. Li Tao didn't dare to take it.

Can't do it (shake finger)

Therefore, Li Tao also has a better understanding of his own strength: stronger than ordinary wild monsters, weaker than four-star characters. If the original god has one-star to three-star characters, then he is at the three-star level (star level refers to rarity by default, but can also refer to basic values). If he can develop his own elemental combat skills and elemental bursts, then he can become a true four-star character.

However, this goal is still a long way to go, because the skills of these two are not so easy to comprehend. Therefore, Li Tao has been practicing in his free time after the mission.

Zheng——

A sharp sound of swords rubbing against each other was heard, and Li Tao's one-handed sword and Chongyun's two-handed sword clashed again. After a brief collision for a few seconds, they were repelled by the strong elemental force condensed by both sides. However, Li Tao did not gain any advantage in either the sword clash or the elemental force collision.

On the one hand, Chongyun's two-handed sword is longer than Li Tao's two-handed sword, with a wider attack range, and the power of swinging, smashing, and chopping is much higher than Li Tao's one-handed sword; on the other hand, the ice elemental force will react with the water elemental force to freeze. Li Tao's water whip, water blade, water missile and other basic A moves created by the water entanglement were frozen by him before they touched Chongyun's body. Now, even Li Tao's sword blade was covered with frost.

It must be said that the users of the Ice God's Eye are natural enemies of the users of the Water God's Eye and the Grass God's Eye. But despite this, Li Tao was not discouraged. Instead, he was very excited and continued to fight with gritted teeth. He knew that on the continent of Teyvat, Chongyun was already a character with a relatively low strength. If he couldn't even surpass Chongyun, how could he talk about being the strongest and controlling his own destiny?

Therefore, even though his whole body was shaking from the freezing force of the ice element, he still kept closing the distance to attack - if he didn't close the distance, his one-handed sword would not be able to hit Chongyun.

Seeing that this battle-mad adventurer had once again fallen into a state of battle frenzy, Chongyun was helpless. He had no choice but to let out a low roar, flex his muscles, and swing his sword, slashing forward with great force in a dancing posture!

Although this move has a large range of motion, it has no flaws, at least for Li Tao. Facing Chongyun's specialty, the [Four Evil-Exterminating Moves], ordinary people and monsters have only one choice: retreat, or they will be caught in the sword's edge and have their scalps cut off.

But Li Tao didn't want to retreat. He, and his heart, told him that he could take this move! Not with the short and light rapier in his hand, but with the powerful water elemental force nearby!

Li Tao's eyes flashed, and he did not use his one-handed sword to meet Chongyun's sword. Instead, he used his other hand to release the Water Shield, pretending to use this thin wall of water to block the edge of the sword.

"Can you block it, Brother Li?" Chongyun was a little confused, but he still swung his sword firmly. In order not to hurt Li Tao, Chongyun deliberately reduced his strength, just to cut off Li Tao's sword or knock it out of his hand, instead of smashing Li Tao's sternum with all his strength.

However, in a flash, the moment the big sword came slashing down, Li Tao pushed out the water shield in his left hand, shook his right wrist skillfully, put the water shield on the sword blade, and stabbed back with his backhand!

This move, like an antelope hanging on a horn, really astonished Chongyun - because under the protection of the water shield, the big sword slashing on the one-handed sword was like hitting a non-Newtonian fluid and was directly bounced back, while Li Tao's sword could go straight in and pierce Chongyun's heart at a high speed.

Chongyun knew that he could not let Li Tao get close to him, so he immediately raised his two-handed sword high, drew a semicircle in the air, and then chopped it down quickly, using the hilt of the sword to block the blade of the one-handed sword, and resolved this move in a very thrilling way.

How could Li Tao be willing to let his carefully prepared move be broken? During this rapid attack and defense, Li Tao once again had an idea of ​​attack in his mind - he put the water shield together and compressed it layer by layer on the sword blade. The flowing water left no trace, but the sword blade gave them a sharp shape! Then, Li Tao used his greatest strength and slashed at Chongyun's sword!

The strong water flow made the ice elemental force completely unable to play its freezing effect. The sword in Chongyun's hand was severely insulted by Li Tao's sword! Its steel body was quickly broken, and the water flow concentrated on the blade pierced a big hole, and then it broke into two pieces with a "bang".

At this moment, both Li Tao and Chongyun were briefly stunned. They subconsciously put away their weapons and stared at the half-broken sword on the ground.

After a while, Chongyun spoke first: "Congratulations, Brother Li. You have already mastered the technique of heavy strikes. In previous battles with you, I usually won, but this time you won, and it was a beautiful victory."

When he said this, Chongyun also had a convinced expression on his face. There was nothing he could do. Li Tao's progress was too fast. In just about a month, he could tie with him, and even beat him when he didn't use any combat skills. Was he really just an ordinary adventurer in Liyue?

Li Tao smiled happily at first, then sighed and said, "I'm still a long way from that. After all, Chongyun, you only used a part of your strength to fight me."

He didn't say the second half of his sentence. On the continent of Teyvat, whether it was himself or Chongyun, they were only slightly stronger than ordinary people. Whether it was an immortal, a demon, or even a stronger heavenly law, the upper limit of this world was still very high - at least the peak of low-level martial arts, the explosive ground level.

In short, my life is limited, but my power is unlimited. Liyue alone can crush a large number of time travelers to death. He had to be questioned by the General Affairs Department for making friends with Xingqiu Chongyun. It was really a mess.

But Li Tao had no choice. Even if he obtained the Eye of God, he could not become a being like the Rock Prince Morax overnight. He still had to live and become stronger in the human world. Although Li Tao felt that becoming stronger should only be a means rather than an end, Li Tao had no choice now. Was he going to waste his whole life here? If he had not awakened the Eye of God, perhaps he would really choose to move bricks at the dock and work part-time to make a living. But the Water God gave him a new choice and pushed him onto a path where he could not be satisfied unless he became stronger.

"I have my own ambitions, too." Li Tao seemed to be self-deprecating and answering Chongyun, "I still have a lot of things I want to do. Before that, I must train myself to be strong enough."

After hearing this, Chongyun nodded in agreement but didn't say much.

Li Tao knew that Chongyun was also a very ambitious child. Born into a family of exorcists, he was trained as the next generation of alchemists since he was young, and learned a lot of martial arts... This is the template of the protagonist no matter how you look at it. But at the same time, this also means that Chongyun has to bear heavier pressure than Xingqiu. He is not like Xingqiu, who can "steal half a day of leisure from his busy life", sneak out of the house to read books at the bookstall after finishing his own work, and put the responsibility of inheriting the family business on his brother. He can be less materialistic and less shrewd, but as free and easy as a knight.

Chongyun can't do it. He can't do it. This is very similar to Li Tao. After they gained power, they took on their own responsibilities, either voluntarily or forced. At the same time, they also have lofty ideals and higher expectations for the future, so they always have to hone themselves in work and life to move towards a better future.

Just as the two were immersed in some inexplicable emotions, Xingqiu's voice came from a distance: "Hey, are you guys done fighting? Hurry up and leave after you're done. We're going to Wynn Hot Springs to take a bath!"

Li Tao turned his head and saw Chongyun, whose face suddenly turned red, and Xingqiu, who had a smirk on his face.

......

Chongyun can't take a bath. It's not that he can't, but that he can't.

According to his own explanation, he is a "pure yang body" and usually uses ice elemental power to suppress his overly strong yang energy. Once the yang energy breaks through the blockade of the ice elemental power, he will lose his mind and become another person. Therefore, Chongyun doesn't know how to take a bath at all, and usually takes a cold bath. For him, taking a bath is as terrifying as facing a billion hillbillies who want to alkali him!

However, Xingqiu said: What pure yang body? Oh, it's not dead, it won't hurt you anyway, it just lets you release yourself. I've paid for the room, if you don't go, do you look down on me, are you betraying our friendship? Oh, the friendship boat can be overturned at any time.

Under pressure from Xingqiu, Chongyun went to take a bath without hesitation. Li Tao was also invited to go with him. At this time, he really didn't know what Chongyun's other side looked like.

"Come on, drink! Hey hey hey, drink!"

"Chongyun, you've already drunk four bottles of wine, you can't drink anymore..."

"Oh, this wine has a low alcohol content! It won't make you drunk! Xingqiu, look at this Taotao, he's just lame!... No, where's Xingqiu?"

"Xingqiu has gone to get some snacks." Li Tao sat on the table beside the hot spring with his upper body naked, watching his brother Chongyun, with a silly smile on his face, going crazy in the hot spring. He finally realized why Xingqiu had revealed that sinister smile when he invited him and Chongyun to take a bath, and why Chongyun was so reluctant to come at first, and tried his best to keep a straight expression and not say a word after coming in - it seemed that they all knew that Chongyun (himself) would have a seizure.

After a hearty laugh, Chongyun fell crookedly into the hot spring. Li Tao sighed and called the waiter outside the private room to pick him up. Then he found Xingqiu looking at the moon in the courtyard outside the bathhouse.

He smiled and asked, "Haha, Brother Li, you have also seen Chongyun like that, right?"

Li Tao said unhappily, "Xingqiu, you are not deliberately embarrassing me and making Chongyun look bad, are you? You clearly know what happens when a pure yang body comes into contact with heat."

“Hey, don’t say that. Chongyun also needs to relax from time to time. If he keeps a tense face, he will become expressionless.” Xingqiu tried to put his arm around Li Tao’s shoulders, but Li Tao was taller than him, so his hand couldn’t reach him. He could only pat Li Tao’s shoulder instead. “Friends in Liyue know that Chongyun has this side... In other words, this is the real side of Chongyun.”

"Whether in battle or in daily life, he always suppresses himself like this. So a few of his friends secretly agreed to stimulate this side of him occasionally to prevent his yin and yang from becoming unbalanced."

Li Tao thought about it and it was true. Whether in battle or on weekdays, Chongyun was always polite to everyone. It was true that "a heart as clear as ice will not be startled even if the sky falls." Li Tao thought it was the credit of the ice elemental power, but now he knew that it was not only that, but Chongyun was deliberately suppressing his nature.

Li Tao didn't know Chongyun's background story - he didn't like to look into the background of a character unless he/she was very prominent in some plots. But now, in his interactions with several people, Li Tao gradually learned about their stories, their interests and hobbies, and their little secrets, and realized that they were also living people on the continent of Teyvat...

Li Tao also felt something about this. He looked up at the bright moon above his head and asked Xingqiu beside him softly, "Am I already your friend?"

"After all, we are all Liyue's [Original God], so we can take care of each other. Brother Li, don't underestimate yourself. Chongyun and I both believe that you are very talented and will become a great person in the future." Xingqiu said seriously.

Li Tao clenched his fists, and the crystal clear water element turned into mist and floated around his hands: "Then I can't let my friends down."

There are people in this world who are worth loving. But if I don't become stronger, there will be clowns who will say "they have their own lives too". In order to respond to the expectations of others and to satisfy his own desires, Li Tao is also trying to become stronger today.