Original God, But Chat Group

"Not really—kimonos are in my wheelhouse too, but I just think JK uniforms look prettier."

"You think JK uniforms are pretty? You just like how little they wear and want their bodies. You're despicable!"

The girl wore an expression that said she saw right through him.

"As for why I'm in a kimono, it's tied to my name. You should know what a Zanpakuto's name represents."

"Ah, I get it, I get it."

Li Yue-kun caught on instantly and raised a hand to show he understood.

The girl nodded knowingly, then crouched slightly to look at him.

"Alright, enough talk. Time to start."

Li Yue-kun froze.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Of course I'm serious. Did you think I was joking? You are me, and I am you—don't you know your own personality? If I'm going to screw someone over, it's got to be..."

"One of our own!"

Li Yue-kun's face darkened. Damn, I forgot about that. As a Meme Lord, his favorite thing was watching his own people get messed with. The saying went, Better the friend than the monk—that's why he'd pretended not to know Zhongli in front of him and kept rambling about the Vago Monarch. And now, his Zanpakuto, his other half, was about to screw him over!

"This is the meme, my friend!"

The girl held the sheath in her left hand, crouched slightly, and gripped the hilt with her right. Her aura shifted instantly, blue light flickering across her body.

"Wait, you're going this big right off the bat?!"

Li Yue-kun's eyes went wide as he prepared to bolt.

But before he could take a single step, everything turned black and white.

Then, in his vision, white lines appeared, slicing his view into fragments.

Crack—

Like glass, the world in Li Yue-kun's eyes shattered after being covered in lines. A sharp pain hit him.

"Holy shit!"

When he opened his eyes again, he was back in reality. He sat cross-legged on a chair, Xingqiu beside him reading a novel, while the Asauchi that had been on his knee had turned into a long blade with a white hilt and black sheath.

Li Yue-kun grabbed the blade with his left hand and stood up, rubbing his neck with his right. The feeling of being sliced into pieces was still fresh, and even back in reality, he could swear the spot where his neck had been cut still ached.

"No wonder you're my other half—screwing over your own first thing."

He sighed as he looked at the blade in his hand. Despite being screwed over by his Zanpakuto, he'd gotten an incredible result. Both the blade's appearance and its ability were top-tier. As expected of me!

Gripping the hilt with his right hand, he spoke the release command he'd been told while being cut.

"Sever the world, Yamato!"

13. Enma's Blade, But with Double Jump!

Meme Lord: Woo-hoo~~~ Let's go~~~

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: What now, yelling first thing in the morning? Did you peek at some hot girl?

Meme Lord: How tragic, Shiyu-senpai. We're in the same Chat Group, but you can't share in my joy. Such tragedy.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Speak human!

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Li Yue-kun must have successfully awakened his Zanpakuto.

Meme Lord: My adoptive father gets me! Thumbs up/thumbs up/thumbs up/

Meme Lord: Like you said last night, Dad, I did Blade Meditation twice today. The second time, I entered my inner world and awakened my Zanpakuto.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Oh? Congratulations, Li Yue-kun. It seems you're an unprecedented genius in the talent of Bleach.

Meme Lord: Can't compare to you, Dad. You awakened on your first Blade Meditation, and with something as awesome as Kyōka Suigetsu. It took me two tries.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: So you're here to circle-jerk with Aizen?

Meme Lord: Shiyu-senpai, looks like you've grown. I'm proud.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: ...

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Li Yue-kun, could you share the ability of your awakened Zanpakuto?

Aizen was curious about what kind of ability someone from another world would awaken.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Of course, if it's inconvenient, no need.

Meme Lord: Dad! We're tight. Nothing inconvenient. But explaining it simply won't do it justice—I'll just upload a file.

Meme Lord uploaded a new group file.

Aizen downloaded it immediately and got a memory of a man with a slicked-back pompadour—just like his future self—slashing around with a blade. He understood Li Yue-kun's Zanpakuto ability.

The name of Li Yue-kun's Zanpakuto, in Japanese, was Yamato, which translated to "Great Harmony" in Chinese. That's why his Zanpakuto's form wore a kimono—the image fit the name, didn't it?

Of course, there was another transliteration: Enma's Blade! The demonic sword wielded by a certain character in a famous aerial combat game series. Li Yue-kun's Zanpakuto ability was Vergil's Enma's Blade!

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Spatial ability, and directly severing space from a distance at that—a very powerful Zanpakuto.

From the bottom of his heart, Aizen felt that Li Yue's Zanpakuto ability was formidable. As the main villain among the Bleach characters, Aizen's combat strength was extremely high. With Kyōka Suigetsu in hand, he could easily take on ten opponents at once. But Kyōka Suigetsu had one major weakness: it couldn't counter a large-scale AOE of the same level.

No matter how strong Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu was, it only created false illusions. In battle, if he himself actually got injured, it wouldn't heal. And to deal effective damage to an enemy, he had to be on the battlefield. So if he ran into an enemy with powerful AOE abilities, it would give him a headache.

Of course, ordinary Captain-level opponents couldn't harm him even with strong AOE, because his spiritual pressure was too overwhelming. The essence of a Bleach battle was a clash of spiritual pressure. When his spiritual pressure far surpassed his enemy's, even a massive AOE attack couldn't inflict meaningful damage.

That was why Aizen had specifically restrained the Captain-Commander during the final battle. If the Captain-Commander had unleashed his Bankai and attacked indiscriminately, Aizen might not have been able to withstand it. So Aizen created an Arrancar specifically to counter the Captain-Commander's flames.

Meme Lord: That's right, my Zanpakuto has strong killing power, especially in direct offense, but its control ability isn't as good as Godfather's Kyōka Suigetsu.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Indeed, the ability is strong, but it also has clear weaknesses.

When Aizen saw that Li Yue's Zanpakuto could attack enemies by cutting space on a massive scale, he immediately recognized it as a very powerful ability, but he didn't find it troublesome.

Enma's Blade's ability was strong, but its weakness was obvious: if you wanted to unleash a large-scale Dimension Slash, the startup was a bit long. For someone unaware of Enma's Blade's capabilities, it could easily be a first-strike kill. But against someone who knew about it, that startup would be fatal, and it would be hard to land a hit. The top-tier combatants among Bleach and Hollows were all ultra-high-mobility units who would have already fled.

So Aizen wasn't worried about this Zanpakuto posing any threat to him. Moreover, he didn't see Li Yue as a potential threat.

Even with just a brief exchange, Aizen had quickly analyzed Li Yue's personality. Just like his nickname in the Chat Group, he was a Meme Lord with a bit of a goofy streak. He might have a quirky way of thinking, but he was definitely no righteous hero or world-saving champion.

If he ever went to save the world, it would only mean one thing: that saving the world would bring him some fun.

And from Li Yue's proactive request to trade, Aizen could also tell that Li Yue saw him as a partner, not a rival. Aizen was happy to be a friendly partner with Li Yue, because as the Chat Group's owner, Li Yue gave him access to other worlds and infinite possibilities—something Aizen was very satisfied with. As for Li Yue always calling him Godfather, Aizen saw it as Li Yue just messing with him for fun. That kind of thing didn't matter to Aizen.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: So, after all that talk, what exactly is a Zanpakuto, and how can it do things like that?

Kasumigaoka had also downloaded the file and seen the memory of that man swinging his blade to demonstrate his moves. Even though she knew Li Yue and Aizen came from supernatural worlds, she still didn't quite understand.

Meme Lord: Senpai, didn't you watch the story from Godfather's world?

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Not yet. Yesterday, I was pissed off by Akise Tomoya's situation. When I got back last night, I was just thinking about my novel's plot and didn't watch anything else.

Meme Lord: Go check it out now. It only takes a second.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings downloaded the group file.

Following Li Yue's advice, Kasumigaoka downloaded the Bleach story file. After reading it, she fell silent.

A few minutes later, she sent another message in the group.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: I'm really glad I live in a peaceful, ordinary world.

Kasumigaoka Utaha wasn't too concerned about Aizen, the villain boss. What bothered her were the soul settings—disposable items that could be cleaned up at any time to balance the world. That was too inhumane.

Meme Lord: Oh? After reading it, Shiyu-senpai isn't scared of Godfather?

Shouldn't the usual reaction be fear and caution after finding out Aizen is a super villain boss?

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: I was a bit scared at first, but then I thought, Aizen isn't in my world, so I'm not that scared anymore. Simply put: none of my business.

Meme Lord: ...Alright then...

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Li Yue-kun, while you're in a good mood, let me tell you about the results of my research on Elemental Power.

Meme Lord: Oh? Godfather has results from studying Elemental Power?

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Yes, I've gotten some results.

14. The MiHoYo World That Loves Adding Lore

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Based on my analysis, this Elemental Power is an incomplete force—or rather, an incomplete power. Like the Bleach and Hollows in my world, it's just one part of the world's power structure, not the whole thing. The difference is that in my world, there aren't as many branches of power, while in Li Yue-kun's world, there seem to be quite a few.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: The elemental construct you gave me has a very high concentration of elemental energy, much higher than that tree berry from before. To some extent, it can even serve as a small elemental power source, convenient for me to study other possible uses of this elemental force.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: But this element should be one branch of Elemental Power. I sensed a heaviness in it, possibly the attribute of rock or earth, similar to a Kido-type Zanpakuto among Battle Soul Blades, possessing natural elemental abilities.

As expected of Aizen. When Li Yue stuffed Zhongli's Heavenly Star into the red envelope, he hadn't mentioned what element it was or how many elements existed in this world. But Aizen, through his own research, had already determined that Geo wasn't the only element.

Meme Lord: As expected of Godfather. In this world's broad setting, there are seven elements, but I can't say for sure how many there really are. What I gave you is a Geo construct, created by the Geo Archon himself.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: Geo Archon?

Meme Lord: Let me introduce my world. Since both of your worlds' info has been uploaded, it's time to reveal mine too.

The lore of Original God isn't complete yet. Given MiHoYo's habit of adding new lore whenever they feel like it, who knows how many new settings will pop up later. So Li Yue didn't bother uploading a complete file.

Meme Lord: Originally, there were no humans in this world. The original inhabitants were a group of dragon lizards that controlled elements, ruled by seven elemental dragon sovereigns. Then the Primordial One came to this world, decided to take it over, and created four shades: life and death, time and space. Leading these four shades, they defeated the elemental dragons and became the world's rulers. They reshaped the land to make it suitable for humans, then let humanity thrive on it.

Meme Lord: That era was the most peaceful time in this world. The Primordial One was called the Heavenly Principles, also known as the First Throne. But it didn't last long. Soon, the Second Throne descended on this world and waged war against the First Throne. The war caused many upheavals in the world—how many, I'm not entirely sure.

Meme Lord: After the war between the thrones ended, many gods descended from the sky. Each held different authorities and was scattered across every corner of the world called Teyvat. They each ruled a region, leading the humans who followed them, until one day the Heavenly Principles ordered the gods to fight each other. Obeying this command, the gods engaged in the prolonged Archon War, which lasted a thousand years, until only a few victors remained. These victors were crowned as the Seven Archons, each controlling a different element. They were also called the Seven Sovereigns of the World, ruling over the seven nations of the Teyvat continent.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: What are the seven elements?

Meme Lord: The elements controlled by the Seven Archons are: Anemo, Geo, Electro, Dendro, Hydro, Pyro, and Cryo. The seven nations are: the Land of Wind, Mondstadt; the Nation of Geo, Liyue; the Land of Lightning, Inazuma; the Nation of Grass, Sumeru; the Land of Water, Fontaine; Natlan; and the Land of Ice, Snezhnaya. The seven gods rule the seven nations, which make up the main part of the Teyvat continent. Humans mostly live in these seven countries. The Seven Archons are the supreme rulers of these nations, and I'm in the Nation of Geo, Liyue.

Meme Lord: The Vago Monarch, who ruled Liyue for thousands of years, recently wanted to retire, so he came to the mortal world disguised as an ordinary person, hoping to live a normal life and prepare for his upcoming retirement. I pretend not to know his true identity and live my days around him. After all, the Vago Monarch is the strongest martial god among the Seven Archons. As an ordinary person, living near the martial god is the safest option.

Meme Lord: The stone I gave you earlier was created by the Vago Monarch using Geo. As the god symbolizing Geo, his Geo constructs naturally have the highest concentration of Geo energy. That's why you felt the stone had so much elemental power.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: I see. Li Yue-kun's world is also quite interesting.

Meme Lord: It really is an interesting world. Remember I mentioned that some people can use this elemental power? They all have a special item called a Vision. A Vision helps them absorb elemental energy from the outside world, allowing them to use it for combat, healing, or elemental creation. They're called Original Gods. Originally, I wanted to become an Original God myself, specifically with Geo, so I kept hanging around the Vago Monarch and dropping hints. Since Geo is great for defense, I wanted a Geo Vision to strengthen my defensive abilities.

Meme Lord: But now, I didn't get a Vision. Instead, I got the power of a Bleach first.

Fat Woman in Black Stockings: Pretending not to know a god who wants to retire while constantly dropping hints around him—you really know how to have fun.

Meme Lord: "Exactly—that's part of the fun, isn't it? The Vago Monarch wants to retire, so he can't reveal his identity. That means I get to badmouth him right to his face, and he can't argue back. Sometimes I see that conflicted look on his face, and I just want to burst out laughing."

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "I can already picture that scene. Only you, Li Yue-kun."

Aizen found Li Yue's twisted sense of humor exasperating, but what he cared about more was the seven elements and the Seven Archons Li Yue had mentioned. His research on Geo Element was still ongoing—he'd only figured out that this elemental power was incomplete, but its properties still needed experimentation. Li Yue said Geo was strong on defense, so maybe it could be applied to a Hollow to reinforce its defenses. Unfortunately, the world of Bleach had no elemental power, so such research could only be done so many times. He wanted more elements and other types as well.

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "Li Yue-kun, aside from Geo, what other elements can you get your hands on?"

Meme Lord: "Back when I was just an ordinary person, collecting elemental power might've been a hassle. But now, it's super convenient. How about this—I'll ask around about the Land of Wind these next few days and see if I can make a trip there. The purest elemental power comes straight from the gods. If I'm lucky, I can get some Anemo Elemental Power from the Anemo Archon for you, foster father."

Hair Gel Man in the Sky: "That would be ideal."

15. I've Decided to Bring My Talent to Mondstadt

Xingqiu spent the whole morning finishing The Legend of the Condor Heroes. During that time, Li Yue entered Blade Meditation again, communing with Enma's Blade in his inner world to discuss techniques and abilities. Meanwhile, Hu Tao managed to sell exactly zero Wangsheng Funeral Parlor budget packages, which left her speechless. Why were the limited-edition packages selling so well, but the budget ones just wouldn't move?

After Xingqiu finished, the three of them set off together for the Wanwen Bookhouse. Though the bookhouse usually only sold books, having the owner print some was no problem. After all, Inazuma was in lockdown, and new books from Yae Publishing House couldn't get through. Wanwen Bookhouse wanted new products to sell too, especially since they were basically the only bookshop in Liyue Harbor. A monopoly like that—the owner was more than happy to oblige.

With profuse thanks from the owner, Ji Fang, the three left Wanwen Bookhouse and began looking for a place to eat lunch in Liyue Harbor.

Coming out of Wanwen Bookhouse, they passed two famous restaurants in Liyue Harbor: Xinyue Xuan and Liuli Pavilion.

Places like Xinyue Xuan and Liuli Pavilion required reservations, so they were out of luck. Liuli Pavilion, specializing in Liyue cuisine, and Xinyue Xuan, specializing in Moonlight Cuisine, were not only pricey but also required reservations three months in advance. Tourists from out of town could hardly ever get a seat, and even locals had to wait in line for ages—not even the Liyue Qixing were exceptions.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Li Yue clicked his tongue as he looked at Moonlight Cuisine outside Xinyue Xuan and Liyue Cuisine outside Liuli Pavilion.

"Li Yue, got something on your mind?" Xingqiu asked curiously.

"Nothing much. I'm just thinking how hard it is to get a meal at either of these places. Reservations are booked three months out. I've only been in Liyue Harbor for a month at most. Even if I'd reserved on my very first day here, I'd still have to wait at least two more months to eat."

"It really is tough. Even my family has to wait a long, long time for a meal at Liuli Pavilion."

Xingqiu nodded in agreement.