Genshin Impact: A Mortal's Ascension to Godhood

Xiao was still as taciturn as usual: "It was the Emperor. The Emperor asked me to come to you. These Fatui were just wiped out by chance."

Without caring about "wiping them out at the same time" or something like that, Li Tao was a little surprised: "Emperor Yan Wang...why did he want to find me?"

The Demon-Subduing Great Sage pondered for a moment and then told the story of Xingqiu and Chongyun’s disappearance.

"...Now, the two are confirmed missing. The Emperor thought there was a conspiracy behind this, so he sent me to investigate. However, before the investigation, he specifically asked me to tell you in the wild about this. After all, this place——"

Xiao looked around at the mountains and said calmly, "There is no village in front of us, and no shop behind us. If you return to Liyue and learn of this news, it will probably be too late."

That's right. When Li Tao heard the news that Xingqiu and Chongyun disappeared, he was indeed very surprised. But in fact, he had already prepared himself mentally - after all, he had been trapped in an illusion and stabbed by Xingqiu before, so it was not so strange that the two of them disappeared accidentally.

However, if there is someone behind this who is playing dirty tricks, that is another matter.

Li Tao tried his best to keep his tone calm: "Yes, Fatui?"

“Well, who else could it be but them to appear in Liyue again out of nowhere?” Xiao said sarcastically, “The Emperor said that this might be the consequence of the last time you strangled their fire debt handler in the wild.”

"Shouldn't those guys be killed, Immortal?!"

Li Tao shouted angrily, but Xiao just looked at him quietly.

He clenched his fists - his nails dug deep into the flesh of his palms, but the pain was not as intense as the rage in his heart.

Fatui, the black glove of the Kingdom of Winter, a completely unstable factor. When Li Tao actually met them in reality, he found that this group of people was much more annoying than the monsters in the game.

Because monsters only attack humans based on instinct, but humans...will use all kinds of tricks to scheme against others.

Xingqiu...Chongyun...

Li Tao blinked repeatedly, trying to struggle out of this emotional upsurge, but every attempt ended in failure. His throat was dry, as if it was tightly choked by something, and he couldn't make any sound.

Xiao looked at him and closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight.

Because he had also experienced a time when his closest friend left him. But that was a long time ago.

......

In the end, Li Tao forced himself to calm down.

He knew that he had to face this cruel reality, no matter how painful and unacceptable it was. He also knew that only by staying calm could he find a solution to the problem and get his friends back.

"I'm sorry to make you laugh, Immortal Xiao."

Xiao waved his hand: "Nothing. I came here just to inform you that the place where your two friends finally appeared was Guiliyuan."

Guiliyuan? Li Tao was stunned for a moment. Thinking of the area covered by Guiliyuan, he suddenly felt a little puzzled: "Can the Immortal tell me a more specific location?"

"I don't know." Xiao shook his head. "Even immortals are not omniscient and omnipotent... Even the Emperor needs us to pass on his messages and be his eyes and ears. Otherwise, why would the Emperor, who is now wandering around the world, ask me to come and find you?"

Li Tao smiled bitterly and bowed deeply to Xiao: "Yes. In any case, thank you for telling me, Immortal."

Xiao hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "In the future, if no one else is present, you can just call me 'Xiao'."

Huh? Li Tao was stunned for a moment.

"You are a man who values ​​friendship and loyalty, and you do not care about relatives. Even immortals will respect people like you." Xiao smiled for the first time. "Please continue to follow your path. The immortals of Liyue will watch over you and protect you."

//////

"Although we know that they disappeared in Guiliyuan, Guiliyuan is so big, where should we start looking for them?"

After running around for half a day, Li Tao arrived at Cuijuepo and could finally vaguely see the slightly undulating Guiliyuan in the distance.

Facing Guiliyuan, he was in a dilemma - because Xiao didn't know the exact location where Xingqiu and Chongyun disappeared! Did he really have to search Guiliyuan thoroughly? Even if he continued for a month, he wouldn't be able to finish this task!

"Calm down. Now is the time to recall what they said before I left..."

Li Tao thought of this - if Xingqiu and Chongyun had met their misfortune on their daily outing, they should have told him the route of their outing.

He sank his mind into his thoughts, and the faintly glowing fragments of memory reappeared.

If it were them, they would definitely explain to me——

Ah, found it.

Li Tao soon saw that it was before Li Tao left Liyue and prepared to go to Luhuachi to attack the secret realm of [Huaqing Guizang].

He first explained the mission of exploring the secret realm to Xingqiu and Chongyun, and then the three of them began to discuss the topic of the secret realm.

Xingqiu: "Come to think of it, there are quite a few secret realms in Liyue. Most of them are left over from the past, right? Are there really treasures in them?"

Li Tao: "I don't know about treasures, but I might find some special alchemical materials and wild Mora."

Chongyun: "Ah? What do you mean by wild Mora?"

Xingqiu: "Haha, it's the raw Mora ore. These ores cannot be used to make Mora. They must be sent to the Golden House to be smelted into Mora."

Li Tao: "There may indeed be good things in the secret realm, but there may also be nothing. In short, it depends a lot on luck."

Xingqiu: "Is this mission also related to the treasures produced in the secret realm?"

Li Tao: "Yeah... I have to look everywhere. Maybe in the future, I will travel around the world to explore the secrets of other countries."

Chongyun: "Is it that troublesome?"

Li Tao: "After all, this is a long-term mission. Five years, I can't stay in Liyue for five years, right?"

Xingqiu: "Well...if only we could help."

Li Tao: "Haha, I don't need your help. This is my own task, just let me work hard on my own."

The memory suddenly disconnected here.

However, Li Tao has already guessed why Xingqiu and Chongyun came to Guiliyuan and the reason why they came to Guiliyuan.

In order to help himself complete the task, he chose a place with abnormal ground veins to explore.

"Two idiots..." Li Tao felt his eyes moisten a little. But he couldn't cry yet.

We must find Xingqiu and Chongyun. There is a high probability that they are in the [Secret Realm] of Guiliyuan.

"There are two possibilities now - one is that Xingqiu and Chongyun are simply trapped in the secret realm, and the other is that the Fatui have also followed them into the secret realm. The second possibility is more likely, because with Xingqiu and Chongyun's strength, it is not impossible for them to conquer the secret realm."

In other words, the current situation is probably that Xingqiu and Chongyun are still staying in the [Secret Realm], fighting wits and courage with the Fatui.

Li Tao had seen the strength of the Fatui. If Xiao hadn't suddenly appeared some time ago, he would have been completely unable to defeat the Fatui advance team alone. Even if Xingqiu and Chongyun were both very powerful, they couldn't fight against many enemies like the Great Sage.

"So, now I must quickly go to the secret realm on Guili Plain - [Where the Lost People Left] to check. I hope they are in the secret realm."

Li Tao made up his mind.