Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

mission completed

Before Li Tao passed out from overexertion, the last thing he saw was Xiao stepping forward once again and forcing out the [Jing Yao Nuo Dance] with the elemental power of rock.

Although the wind and rock elements on the field would not react to each other, the power from the Emperor was like the Jade Shield he had given to the Haiyuan Team, making it difficult for Xiao to be harmed in the slightest. Although the Alchemy Demon God was already struggling like crazy, and the thunder elemental force storm that broke out shattered a quarter of the island, with the massive injection of rock elemental force and every shot of Xiao's [Jing Yao Nuo Dance], its power was still visibly weakened to the extreme. Then, Xiao inserted his spear straight into the body of the Demon God, and many [Memory] fragments burst out of the Demon God's body like exploding gold coins...

Li Tao didn't know anything about what happened next. But even if he fainted, he wanted to sigh: The Great Sage Conquering the Demons and the Rock King Emperor were the saviors of their Haiyuan Team. Without the Immortal and the Rock King Mechanical Deity, they would have lost long ago and couldn't force the other party to merge. Even if the other party really merged, they would definitely not be able to deal with the demon god that was created. But this mission shouldn't have been so difficult. All the extra difficulties that Li Tao and his team encountered came from insufficient intelligence, which was of course the fault of the Liyue government for not reporting it.

However, after experiencing all this personally, Li Tao no longer had the desire to blame Liyue: the other party only knew that the pirates attacked and plundered some fishermen on the coast, and they did not expect more news. No, maybe they guessed it, but Liyue’s naval power was not enough to support them in going to war against the pirates. Even if Liyue had a civilian armed force like the [Southern Cross] fleet, it could not be temporarily recruited without reason - in the end, didn’t they send Manye, who is still the boatswain, over?

The reason why things have evolved to this point is that, except for the Rock King who knows everything, no one took the pirates seriously at the beginning. But no matter what, the mission of the Marine Aid Team was accomplished. After losing dozens of members (including fifteen awakened God's Eyes) and almost everyone was injured, the Marine Aid Team cooperated with the Great Saint Xiao to "excellently" complete the mission of suppressing the bandits.

Li Tao fainted gloriously again. When he woke up, he was already lying on the boat back to Liyue.

He quickly found a sailor to inquire about the current situation - it turned out that he had been unconscious for a whole day. The aid from the Liyue government arrived on the day he fainted, but they could only clean up the battlefield and ask the alchemist master on board to come and investigate the so-called "Alchemy Demon God". As for the rest of the marine aid team, they were all like Li Tao, being slowly transported back to Liyue by ship. Li Tao was just exhausted and fainted, but he was still treated as a wounded person and thrown into a ship with slightly better living conditions to be taken care of.

"This time, it's all over." Li Tao got out of the second-floor cabin, climbed onto the deck, and leaned against the side of the ship to look at the scenery. The ship was no longer the same ship as when they came, and there were not many of the companions in the Marine Aid Team's combat group. He suddenly felt a little bored and just wanted to have a good sleep - even though he had slept for a whole day and night, it did not prevent him from being very tired.

At this moment, a voice that was equally tired but full of surprise called him:

"Ah, Li Tao! Are you up?"

Li Tao turned his head to look, and it turned out to be Jiang Miao, who was also an adventurer. This guy was self-aware and tried not to participate in every action. In the end, he didn't lose an arm to the pirate trap like Shanhai. Li Tao didn't have any special feelings for him, nor did he have any bad feelings. He just smiled at him faintly.

But Jiang Miao took the initiative to talk to him: "Li Tao, after this adventure, I have also figured it out... Maybe I am not suitable to be an adventurer. My adventurous spirit died many years ago. I decided to resign as the branch president when I return to Liyue, and return to my hometown to use the money I saved to start a small business to make a living."

Li Tao did not interrupt him, but nodded and motioned him to continue with a curious look.

Jiang Miao closed his eyes slightly and sighed slightly, with endless melancholy and sadness in his heart: "I used to be an adventurer who was brave and fearless of any difficulties. Like you, I was favored by the God of Water. At that time, everyone around me thought I had a bright future. However, during one of my adventures, I was targeted by some terrible enemies. Their elemental power attainments far exceeded mine, and my Eye of God was almost shattered by them. Those terrible enemies who seemed to be monsters, but also seemed to be humans, and could use elemental power... claimed to be members of the Abyss Cult."

Li Tao's eyes suddenly widened: Damn, it turns out that Jiang Miao accidentally ran into a high-level wild monster, and was beaten directly to the point of shattering his morale. No wonder he didn't dare to fight later.

Immersed in his own emotions, Jiang Miao continued to narrate his experience sadly: "It's all because of those bastards! I was just looking for props according to the mission requirements, but I was ruthlessly attacked by them... If I wasn't lucky, I would have died there more than ten years ago! I can't tell whether I am lucky or unlucky, alas!"

"After that, I no longer dared to fight, and my martial arts skills were abandoned. I could only make a living by relying on my understanding of the water elemental force to do some hydrological surveying work. Li Tao, you are still young and your future is bright. I think it will be easy for you to become stronger than me. But I hope you won't be teased by fate like me and end up with the fate of "I was once an adventurer". Here are some of my experiences on the understanding of the water elemental force. You can take a look. Whether it is useful to you or not, it is the last little thought of me as a senior before leaving the Adventurer's Association..."

Li Tao firmly pushed the gift back and said, "Senior Jiang Miao, if you want this thing to play a greater role, you should give it to Sister Lan instead of giving it to me. I don't think you need to be so pessimistic, because each of us has our own path to take, and we cannot completely escape our own destiny."

"B-but-"

"You mean, even so, what's the point of persisting?" Seeing Jiang Miao nodded hesitantly, Li Tao answered seriously, "Because the path of destiny is not fixed. At the end of this bandit suppression mission, I also realized one thing: people's destiny cannot be changed because people can decide their own destiny. In other words, the path is chosen by oneself - even if unexpected factors are encountered, the direction of life will never change. The only thing that can change it is our own courageous or cowardly choice!"

Jiang Miao seemed to suddenly remember something, a light flashed in his eyes, and then quickly went out: "But, I have no other way..."

Li Tao responded seriously: "That's your choice too. Senior Jiang Miao, don't regret your choice - so what if you regret it in your life? All the regrets and pains are just a part of our adventure. Of course, I can't blame you from any standpoint, but just like you hope that I won't follow in your footsteps, I also hope that you won't be trapped by the past. In fact, each of us has already walked on a completely different path."

After saying this, Li Tao raised his head and looked at the blue sky above Yunlai Sea. The sky was just as peaceful and gentle as when he came, as if it could accommodate everything, just like the sea under the boat.

He condensed a ball of water, held it up to Jiang Miao, and said, "It's just like this blue sea. There is no definite path on it, but everywhere are places where ships can pass."

"This can be considered as... the truth I learned from this mission."