This cryptic remark did nothing but confuse everyone.
Zhongli chose to explain it himself.
"As you know, I have lived in this world for over six thousand years. It was also three thousand seven hundred years ago that I founded Liyue alongside the adepti."
Vortices could not shatter unyielding rock.
But even unyielding rock would wear away beneath the passage of time.
Zhongli had always convinced himself that the day those worn cracks appeared had not yet come.
His thoughts returned to an earlier time.
"On a drizzly day, I was strolling through the harbor when I heard a merchant praise one of his subordinates:"
"'You have fulfilled your duty. Now, go and rest.'"
"At that moment, I stood amid the passing crowd for a long while, repeatedly asking myself: 'Has my duty... also been fulfilled?'"
In plain terms: he suddenly wanted to retire.
They found the one who murdered the Geo Archon—it was that merchant. How amusing.
You know what? It really was him.
He should have taken it easy long ago. Look at neighboring Mondstadt.
A suspected case of divine transmission had appeared.
Mu Yang understood Zhongli's thoughts.
But putting a retirement plan into action was hardly so simple.
This was not a job where he could just say, "The world is so vast, I want to see it," and quit on the spot.
Liyue could be said to be the work of his entire life.
There were simply too many things he needed to consider.
Foremost among them was—
Was this land, which had walked alongside its god for thousands of years, truly ready to enter its next era?
Could it withstand the covetous gazes of other powers after its god fell?
"I had to create an opportunity to observe it seriously before making my decision."
That