Chapter 150
[Cyno] also crossed his arms and looked at Cyno.
Do you know why Tighnari is also good at telling jokes?
"Tighnari?"
Cyno heard his friend's name and then looked puzzled.
"Why?"
"Because Tighnari is a forest ranger, he sees a lot of memes every day!"
"..."
Alhaitham looked at [Cyno] speechlessly.
"Damn it, we lost again!!"
Cyno knelt on the ground again, slamming his fist into the ground in frustration. After slamming his fist into the ground, he looked up at Alhaitham.
The humor in this joke lies in...
"No need, I know, thank you."
Alhaitham interrupted Cyno's explanation again and started complaining once more.
"So your judging criteria is based on whose joke is lame?"
"I'm going to make one last attempt!"
Cyno stood up again; he was going to make one last stand.
"You don't need to, because you have absolutely no need to prove yourself."
Alhaitham continued to remind Cyno, but Cyno ignored him and continued to look intently at [Cyno].
"You just said that the Tighnari tell jokes, so do you know why all of the Tighnari's jokes are related to Fungi?"
"Why?"
"Because Tighnari is the Fungal Ranger!"
"..."
Alhaitham stopped talking and looked directly at [Cyno], waiting for his next lame joke.
"The mushrooms here with my son..."
"I understand, thank you."
Alhaitham interrupted Cyno's explanation without even looking at Cyno. He just wanted Cyno to finish quickly and end this inexplicable, lame joke competition.
"Since everyone's talking about Tighnari, let me tell you another Tighnari joke."
"Can you let Tighnari go?"
Alhaitham has become a master of witty remarks.
[Cyno] has been preparing for a while.
"The Fatui archer shot an arrow at Tighnari, but he himself fell down. Why?"
"Why?"
"Because Tighnari is Reflex Fox!"
"Puff--"
Cyno couldn't help but laugh, and he looked at Alhaitham.
"No need for explanation, I understand what this means, thank you."
Alhaitham directly rejected his corny science explanation.
After being rejected by Alhaitham, Cyno knelt down on the spot again.
"I lost, I lost completely! I didn't win even once!"
"So, why is it based on lame jokes to determine if you're Cyno? Does the Grand Disciplinary Officer have to be able to tell lame jokes? No, should we say that everyone named Cyno has to be able to tell lame jokes?"
Previously, Alhaitham and Cyno didn't have much contact, since he tried to keep a low profile in his daily life and rarely interacted with the Disciplinary Officer.
Now he has come into contact with the legendary Grand Disciplinary Officer, who is completely different from the Grand Disciplinary Officer he had imagined.
"Alright, the jokes are over."
[Cyno] saw that Cyno looked like he was questioning his life after losing.
She stopped competing with him in lame jokes and instead transformed into Aizen's appearance.
After finishing the joke duel, Li Yue was very satisfied with the look of existential doubt on Cyno. Cyno's two greatest strengths were jokes and the Genius Invokation TCG. Unfortunately, Li Yue had no interest in the Genius Invokation TCG, so he could only choose to defeat Cyno.
"Is this your true form, Lord Aizen?"
When Cyno saw that Li Yue had deactivated her transformation, he immediately stood up. When he came over with the clan leaders, he also learned that there were only two people who could be in this building: one was Alhaitham, who had become the Chief Steward of the place.
The so-called Chief Steward is equivalent to Grand Sage in the Akademiya. Although there is no Akademiya here, the Chief Steward's status is still very high.
From clerk to Chief Steward, Alhaitham's career took off.
However, Alhaitham is not the main point. The main point is the other person who can live here, Lord Aizen who rules the desert!
"Lord Aizen, can you tell me why you disguised yourself as me to kill the Grand Sage?"
Cyno looked at Li Yue, wanting to know why he was targeting him like this.
"Naturally, it's because, currently, the most capable people in Sumeru City are only you and Alhaitham."
Li Yue extended her right hand and opened it towards Cyno.
"The fact that you were able to infiltrate here shows that you, Cyno, truly possess abilities worthy of my recognition."
"Well, Cyno, do you want to come to my side now that you can no longer go back?"
252. The Blondie and White-floating Spirits Arriving at Sumeru
Cyno refused Li Yue's offer of recruitment. Although he felt that Li Yue was very powerful, he was, as the Grand Disciplinary Officer, and would not join such a suddenly appearing tribe, especially since this tribe seemed to be planning to wage war against the rainforest.
Although Cyno refused, Li Yue didn't do anything to Cyno. Instead, he let Cyno stay in the tribe. Since he couldn't go back to Sumeru City anyway, keeping him around would be a good way to have some fun. For example, he could tell a lame joke on the way to liven up the desert and cool it down.
While unification was taking place in the desert, Sumeru City did not actually stop operating; it continued to function.
After taking control of the high-ranking sages of Sumeru, the Doctor began to focus on accelerating the execution of the plan to become a god.
Meanwhile, Sumeru City welcomed two new visitors during this period.
"Traveler, this is Sumeru City, the place where the Dendro Archon resides."
"So, are we going to find that Lesser Kusanali now?"
"Of course I'll go find him. I want to ask the Lesser Kusanali about things from 500 years ago."
As Ying walked, she answered Paimon.
"I never expected that your brother would have connections with the Abyss. I'm really curious about how that happened."
"Hmph, that guy Kong ran away without explaining himself, leaving me completely confused. The only thing I know is that his affairs are related to what happened 500 years ago, but Zhongli won't tell me what's going on with Cainrea, so I have to ask other people."
"But I have to say, Zhongli is really frustrating. He actually hid his identity and let Li Yue become the Rock King."
"However, he never expected that after Li Yue became the King of Rock, he would actually appoint Zhongli as the Grand Governor. Hahaha, he deserves what he got."
During her time with Zhongli, Ying learned Zhongli true identity: he was the real Vago Monarch. To her surprise, the real Vago Monarch faked his death and then gave his power to Li Yue, making Li Yue the Vago Monarch.
What surprised Ying even more was that Li Yue, without her knowledge, appointed Zhongli as the Grand Governor of Liyue, which completely ended Zhongli's plan to rest, leaving him with no way to rest.
When Zhongli said it, Ying and Paimon both found it very funny.
After that, during an adventure, Ying met a man named Dain and went deep into an underground cave, where she saw the Anemo Archon Statue hanging upside down, as well as her brother Sora, whom she was looking for.
This meeting made Ying realize that although Kong was captured by the gods, he was not imprisoned. Instead, he was still free to move around and even joined the Abyss, becoming Prince there. Compared to her, Paimon.
Ying was very unhappy about her brother's behavior of spouting a bunch of riddles and then running away, but there was nothing she could do. Her brother had clearly regained his full power, while she had not.
So what Ying needs to do now is to travel to various countries, find her own power, and at the same time find out the truth about how the Seven Archons destroyed Cainrea 500 years ago.
She asked Venti in Mondstadt and Liyue in Liyue, but unfortunately, neither of them told her Zhongli. Ying originally planned to ask Inazuma in Inazuma, but Thor is now permanently based in Liyue, so there's no need to go to Inazuma.
Ying also asked about the events of 500 years ago in Liyue, but Thor didn't know either. She explained that she was staying in Inazuma at the time, so she didn't know the situation.
Helpless, Ying could only stay in Liyue for a while before continuing her journey to a new country. As for Inazuma, since Thor had already asked, she was too lazy to go.
Kikue and Yae Miko sent their condolences in response.
After leaving Liyue, Ying went straight to Sumeru to ask the Dendro Archon if he knew anything about what happened 500 years ago. Although Zhongli had said that the Dendro Archon was a new god and very mysterious who rarely appeared, the Dendro Archon was still known as the God of Wisdom. Because of this title, Ying decided to come and take a look first.
Then, they arrived at Sumeru.
They originally wanted to ask Nahida what Sumeru was like, since Nahida was a Sumeru person, but they were told that Nahida and Li Yue had gone out together, which meant that they had no one to ask and could only come to Sumeru on their own.
Along the way, they first arrived at Gandharva Ville, where they met Tighnari and Collei, as well as an Inazuma named Momo Hinamori.
Guided by Collei and Momo Hinamori, they arrived at the present-day Sumeru City.
"It's amazing that this city is built on trees."
Standing at the entrance to Sumeru City, looking at the towering Sacred Tree and the enormous city built on Sacred Tree, Paimon couldn't help but sigh in awe.
"Yes, Mondstadt City is built on an island in a lake, Liyue Harbor is built on a mountain, but this Sumeru City is built directly on a tree."
"Perhaps it's because this is a rainforest kingdom."
"How then can we see the god of wisdom?"
Ying's goal upon arriving in Sumeru City was very clear: she wanted to meet the Dendro Archon. In order to meet the Dendro Archon, she even asked Zhongli to write a letter of recommendation.
Although Zhongli cannot reveal his identity Geo God, he can write a letter of recommendation for Ying as the Grand Governor of Liyue.
As a friend of the new Geo Archon, and with the recommendation of the Grand Governor of Liyue, Ying believed that it would be relatively easy for her to enter Sumeru City to meet the Dendro Archon.
However, the situation was not quite what she had imagined.
"Huh? We can't meet?"
At the entrance of the Akademiya, Paimon looked at the refusing students with great surprise.
"Did you submit the letter of recommendation? This is the recommendation letter from the Grand Commander of Grand Governor of Liyue!"
Paimon gestured with his hands, trying to make Zhongli sound incredibly powerful.
"I'm very sorry, although your letter of recommendation was written by the Grand Governor of Liyue, the sages still did not agree because our situation in Sumeru is quite special right now."
Can you tell me about it?
Ying didn't speak, so Paimon, the God's Mouth, asked on her behalf.
The scholar being questioned also let out a helpless sigh.
"This matter stems from the sudden incident a few days ago. Previously, our Akademiya was led by Grand Sage to conduct academic research. However, a few days ago, for some unknown reason, the Akademiya's Grand Disciplinary Officer and Secretary assassinated the Grand Sage. As a result, the Akademiya's leadership has lost the Grand Sage's leadership and is in chaos. The remaining sages are doing their best to maintain the Akademiya's operation. Until a new Grand Sage is selected, we cannot handle your matter."
253. The impending Sumeru War
Ying never expected that after arriving in Sumeru, she would not be able to see the Dendro Archon today.
She even had Zhongli's letter of recommendation, but she still couldn't get a chance to meet the Dendro Archon.
Fortunately, it's not entirely hopeless. As long as the Sumeru Akademiya elects a new Grand Sage, she can have him introduce her to the Dendro Archon.
Since that's the case, she'll stay in Sumeru for a while, just like she did in Mondstadt and Liyue. Now that she's in a new country, she'll embark on a new adventure.
Of course, the main reason is that if she doesn't do quests at the Adventurer's Guild, she won't have enough money to support herself and Paimon, that good-for-nothing.
Determined to support Paimon, Ying found Katarina in Sumeru and prepared to begin her adventure Sumeru.
"I'm sorry, Traveler, there are no requests at the moment."
"Huh? No requests? No way, could it be that all the requests in Sumeru have been taken by others?"
Paimon was very curious.
"No, although there are quite a few adventurers in Sumeru, they don't take on all the quests. The reason there are no quests is that Sumeru is not suitable for adventure activities at the moment, because a war is breaking out in Sumeru."
"What's going on? Is Sumeru going to war?"
Paimon spread his hands, looking utterly bewildered.
"Yes, war is breaking out in Sumeru. Sumeru consists of two parts: the rainforest region centered on Sumeru City, and the desert region, which is much larger than the rainforest. Previously, the desert and the rainforest had been relatively peaceful, with some minor frictions but no major problems. However, the desert is now preparing to launch a full-scale war against the rainforest."
"Huh? What's going on? Why is it so strange?"