Original God, But Chat Group

Li Yue set Nahida down from his shoulder and placed one hand on her head.

"But like I just said, as long as you're by your dad's side, you don't need to be afraid. No matter how strong or terrifying that evil organization is, they can't snatch you back from me. Because with that Portal, your dad can open one anytime. Until I can beat the Seven Archons, they'll never catch us—and once I can beat them, they'll never outrun us either!"

Even though she was being comforted, Nahida's expression was rather complicated.

This young man named Li Yue was dead set on being her father.

19. Godfather, This Is Your Granddaughter!

"Mr. Li Yue, I need to remind you that child trafficking is against the law. Liyue has a complete penal code."

"I'm not trafficking a child. This is my daughter. Come on, Nahida, introduce yourself to the boss."

"Hello, I'm Nahida."

The Wangshu Inn Owner stared at Li Yue in disbelief.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Or that I've never hosted Sumeru guests before? That name doesn't sound Liyuean at all, and she looks nothing like you. How can you have the nerve to call her your daughter?"

"Why can't she be my daughter? Her mother gave her that name. As for why she doesn't look like me—that's because she takes after her mother. Unfortunately, her mother left early. She was gone before Nahida was even born, so Nahida often asks me what her mother looked like. And I tell her, 'You look exactly like your mother did when she was little.'"

The boss remained utterly speechless. Do you even hear yourself? Why not say your grandfather died before your father was born?

"Is that true?"

Nahida looked up at Li Yue with curiosity, making his explanation seem utterly hollow.

"Next time you want to lie, at least polish it a bit. Otherwise, getting caught will just embarrass you."

"Fine, fine. Next time I'll coordinate my story with my daughter before I say anything."

You're really straightforward, aren't you? Just dropping the act entirely.

The boss's expression stiffened. She let out a helpless sigh before speaking again.

"Alright, tell me—where did this child really come from?"

"I found her out on the street last night. She's an orphan. I felt sorry for her, so I adopted her. Now she's my daughter."

Faced with Li Yue's forceful insistence on claiming her as his daughter, Nahida felt quite helpless. She'd tried to explain, but every time she started, Li Yue would cut her off with things like "I understand," "I get it, kid, don't be scared," and then ramble on about family and bonds, completely overwhelming her little mind. After a whole night of Li Yue's relentless bombardment, Nahida had finally chosen to temporarily accept this cheap father.

Having gained Nahida's acknowledgment, Li Yue was overjoyed. Making Nahida his daughter—by extension, didn't that mean Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was his wife? Mm, not bad, not bad!

Then, the next morning, as he was heading out, the boss stopped him. She said that when he checked in yesterday, only Li Yue was registered. Now there was an extra child she'd never seen before, so she suspected he'd kidnapped someone else's kid.

After Li Yue's string of explanations only made the boss more certain of his guilt, he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"You found her last night? I didn't see you go out."

"Because I'm too fast for you to see. Like this."

Right in front of the boss, Li Yue used a Flash Step to appear outside the main door, then another Flash Step to return inside the inn.

"See?"

"I see. So you're a Vision holder."

The boss immediately assumed Li Yue was a Vision holder. Where he kept his Vision hidden, she had no idea.

Mm, I'll make a note of this and report it to Lady Ningguang later.

"Sure, let's go with that."

Li Yue couldn't be bothered to explain further.

"Alright, the bill's settled. I'll be taking my daughter now."

With the misunderstanding cleared, Li Yue led Nahida back out of the inn onto the outdoor terrace, looking down at the scenery of Liyue from above.

"How does freedom feel?"

"Mm. It feels really good to walk on my own two feet outside."

Nahida stood on her tiptoes, leaning on the railing as she gazed at the Liyue landscape below. It was completely different from the Sumeru scenery she usually saw through Katheryne.

"The God of Geo's nation. It's truly beautiful."

"Yeah, Liyue's scenery is pretty nice. I hear the other nations are great too, but I've never been to them. Yesterday's Portal to Sumeru was an accident, but from now on, there shouldn't be any surprises."

"Hm?"

Nahida looked up at Li Yue. He reached down, placed his hand on her head, and gently ruffled her soft hair.

"Next, I'm heading to Mondstadt. You've never been to Liyue, so you definitely haven't been to Mondstadt either. Kids your age love seeing new things, so you can come with me and check out Mondstadt."

"Mondstadt... the God of Wind's nation?"

"That's right. Mondstadt and Liyue are the nations ruled by the two oldest of the Seven Archons. We'll come back and explore the God of Geo's nation slowly later. Today, we're going to the God of Wind's nation!"

"Mm. I'm full of anticipation."

Nahida was in a good mood. Even though she'd been "hypnotized" by Li Yue all night and reluctantly agreed to be his daughter, she could tell he genuinely wanted to help her. Besides, he didn't know her true identity, so she didn't really mind his kindness.

Now that Li Yue was taking her to the God of Wind's nation, she was even happier. It was a perfect chance to see how the legendary free nation's god, Barbatos, managed his country. As a self-proclaimed unqualified deity trapped in the Sanctimonious Palace, she'd had few opportunities to learn or find role models. Meeting Barbatos was the best possible outcome. As a senior archon and one of the oldest, he surely had much to teach her, an unqualified god.

"Let's go. Today, I'm going to practice another one of my abilities."

Li Yue picked Nahida up and set her on his shoulders.

Hmm, as expected of Nahida—fragrant and soft, with a faint sweet scent about her. Especially those little white feet dangling by my chest; I heard that licking one would make a Padisarah bloom on your tongue. Wonder if that's true.

"Sit tight!"

With a word to Nahida, Li Yue leaped onto the railing, then, under the horrified gazes of everyone else on the terrace, jumped straight forward!

"Oh no, someone's jumping—wait, how is he running in the sky?!"

The onlookers, who had thought Li Yue was taking Nahida to jump to their deaths, were stunned to see that instead of falling, he was running across the air as if on solid ground!

"Am I hallucinating?"

"Probably—I think I am too."

"Guess I'm not awake yet. Better go back to sleep."

"Yeah, yeah."

The guests rubbed their eyes and shuffled back into the inn for another nap, lest they start doubting reality. Only the innkeeper, after a moment of shock, whipped out his notebook and added a new line to the entry about Li Yue having a Vision: Can run in the sky!

Meanwhile, Li Yue, sprinting through the air, was practicing another basic skill from Bleach: Spirit Path Creation.

By gathering Reiatsu under his feet to form a foothold, he could walk in the sky. Master this technique well enough and have sufficient Reiatsu, and a Soul Reaper could pull off double jumps, triple jumps, even quadruple or infinite jumps!

As a fellow wielder of Enma's Blade, Li Yue had achieved what that man could never do!

"You can walk in the sky without any Elemental Power. How do you do it, Li Yue?"

Nahida, perched on his shoulders, was deeply puzzled by this unknown knowledge. As the God of Wisdom, her curiosity burned.

"No idea. I just suddenly could."

Li Yue brushed it off lazily, while splitting his attention to send a message in the Chat Group.

Meme Lord: Morning, everyone! Another sunny day today!

Not long after, a reply came.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Good morning, Li Yue-kun.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Good morning. You're full of energy, Li Yue-kun, sending messages this early.

Kasumigaoka hadn't even gotten out of bed yet.

Meme Lord: I need to get to Mondstadt today, so I set out early.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Speaking of which, you said "see you in the group" last night, but you never showed up. What were you up to? Did a door-to-door saleswoman visit your inn?

Li Yue's mouth twitched. She sure has a mouth on her, Senpai.

Meme Lord: I was busy last night. No door-to-door saleswomen, but I did pick up a god.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: ?

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: ?

Aizen was puzzled by Li Yue's message, then noticed he'd opened a livestream. Clicking in, he saw Li Yue advancing through the air with Spirit Path Creation—nothing unusual there—but on his shoulder sat a cute little girl.

Meme Lord: Godfather, let me introduce you. This is my daughter I adopted last night, your granddaughter. She's the Dendro Archon from the Nation of Grass, Sumeru, known as Lesser Lord Kusanali—Nahida!

20. She's Just a 500-Year-Old Child

Meme Lord: The Dendro Archon is a very special one among the Seven Archons. She's not a god of combat. Her position as Dendro Archon was practically appointed from above, because she's the incarnation of the World Tree.

Meme Lord: The world I'm in is fascinating. Though it's an independent world, the Ley Lines govern everything. Whether the dead or the living, all information in the world is recorded in the Ley Lines, and the Ley Lines' endpoint is the core of this world—the World Tree.

Meme Lord: In simpler terms, the world's information is digitized. The World Tree manages the operation and storage of this data—it's like a giant server, and the Dendro Archon is its administrator, responsible for keeping it running. That's why the Dendro Archon's role is so crucial: she controls all the world's information. And because she governs all that knowledge, she's also called the God of Wisdom.

Meme Lord: The previous Dendro Archon was Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, the incarnation of the World Tree. But a Demon God brought knowledge from beyond the world out of the Abyss, corrupting the World Tree and causing many problems—like a virus infecting a server, making the system glitch. Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, the admin, got infected too. To eliminate the virus, she chose to sacrifice herself, taking the virus down with her.

Meme Lord: Before sacrificing herself, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata used the purest branch of the World Tree—the part untouched by the virus—to create Lesser Lord Kusanali, intending her as a successor to manage the World Tree. But because she was made from the purest branch, Lesser Lord Kusanali lacked sufficient knowledge. After her birth, Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's former followers looked down on her, even calling her useless, and locked her away.

Meme Lord: That imprisonment lasted 500 years. While holding Lesser Lord Kusanali captive, those followers tried to use the knowledge Greater Lord Rukkhadevata left behind to create a new God of Wisdom to lead them, replacing her. To that end, they've been steadily erasing Lesser Lord Kusanali's influence in Sumeru. Now she has none at all—some Sumeru citizens don't even know she exists. That's her current situation.

In the sky, Li Yue carried Nahida forward with Spirit Path Creation, while explaining her backstory to Aizen and Kasumigaoka in the Chat Group. After he finished, the two focused on very different things.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: So this little girl is 500 years old?

Meme Lord: Yeah, she's just a 500-year-old child.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: ...

See, Kasumigaoka's focus was on the age, while Aizen's was different.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: The God of Wisdom, controlling the World Tree that holds all the world's information. Your world, Li Yue-kun, grows more intriguing by the moment.

Meme Lord: What are you thinking, Godfather?

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Since all the world's information is in the World Tree, doesn't that mean mastering the World Tree means mastering the entire world?

Meme Lord: As expected of you, Godfather. That's exactly it. Since all information is in the World Tree, controlling it means, in a sense, controlling the world. For example, there was this fool who got tricked into believing his friend was killed by his own mother, so he schemed to take revenge on her and joined an evil organization. But it turned out that very organization killed his friend. In a rage, he chose to delete his own past through the World Tree. After that deletion, he became a blank slate, and everyone else's memories of him went blank too. The World Tree even rewrote perfectly reasonable memories for those whose recollections were cut. Interesting, isn't it?

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: That story is awfully detailed. Sounds like a real case.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: It probably is a real case.

Meme Lord: Yep, that fool really exists.

Right now, that fool is still the Sixth Seat in the Fatui.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: "Wait, something as important as the World Tree—can even an idiot just touch it? Shouldn't something like that be incredibly, incredibly important?"

Meme Lord: "Yeah, something that incredibly important, and that idiot still managed to touch it easily, because even prisoners have the right to an education.jpg."

Li Yue said this while glancing up at Nahida, who was looking around with wide eyes. Back when he played the game, the Sumeru storyline had really left a bad taste in his mouth—Nahida's actions were honestly mind-numbingly stupid. But no worries, there was still hope. Before Nahida lost her mind, Li Yue could start training her from scratch!

"Hmm?"

As if sensing Li Yue's gaze, Nahida looked down and stared at him curiously with her big eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering if you might feel uncomfortable. After all, we're up in the sky, and moving so fast—you might get cold after a while."

"Not at all. The wind here doesn't feel cold; it's actually quite refreshing."

Nahida replied happily. Running freely through the skies over a foreign land was a novel experience, and the scenery was beautiful. She was in a great mood.

"That's good."

Li Yue nodded and continued looking ahead as they traveled.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "It seems that letting that idiot touch the World Tree was likely the doing of this Lesser Kusanali, wasn't it?"

Watching the livestream, Aizen easily guessed why Li Yue had looked up at Nahida just now.

Meme Lord: "You've guessed right, Godfather."

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "Looking at the outcome, this child has really failed as a deity."

Aizen felt utterly speechless. How absurd was this? As the manager of the World Tree, something so important that it affected the entire world, she just let someone waltz in. Calling her a failure as a deity didn't even cover it.

Meme Lord: "That's why, when I tried opening a Portal with my Zanpakuto last night to see where I'd end up, and it landed in the room where she was locked up, I immediately decided to keep her by my side and train her properly. That way, she won't pull such idiotic moves in the future!"

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "Indeed. Such a factor must be kept under one's own control."

In Aizen's view, Li Yue wanted to control Nahida to gain control over the World Tree. If the World Tree was as powerful as Li Yue claimed, then such a thing had to be in his hands. Once he controlled the World Tree, Li Yue would be unbeatable in his world.

Meme Lord: "Exactly. After proper training, it'll be time for her to do her part."