If You Break Free of Fate's Shackles, the Wind Will Carry You to the Heavens

"How are things at the Finance Department?"

Su Yun asked.

Jean thought for a moment. "Ningguang is in charge. If I remember correctly... the funds are nearly gone. She's preparing to establish a new Merchants' Guild."

Su Yun slapped his forehead. He had nearly forgotten that Ningguang was one of Teyvat's shrewdest merchants.

Besides, didn't he have a god of wealth sitting right there?

He glanced instinctively at Zhongli. Zhongli understood at once and strolled toward the exit, saying calmly, "Dean, this young friend seems to have something to tell you."

Su Yun had no choice but to turn back to Zhu Zhuqing. "You're Venti's new student?"

"Venti?" Zhu Zhuqing looked bewildered. "No... A woman named Rosaria told me to come."

"Rosaria..."

Su Yun's mouth twitched. If he remembered correctly, Rosaria hadn't left the academy at all lately.

"What else did she tell you?"

Zhu Zhuqing shook her head in confusion. "I was being hunted. Then a gust of wind swept me into a restaurant in a nearby city, and Rosaria appeared."

A gust of wind, and then Rosaria appeared.

Who there would believe that?

Rosaria had a Cryo Vision!

Su Yun knew perfectly well this was Barbatos's doing.

It seemed Venti wanted Rosaria to teach Zhu Zhuqing.

His gaze had barely landed on Zhu Zhuqing's figure when he spotted the Vision in her hand.

"An Anemo Vision?"

Chu Sheng suddenly recalled a rumor: if someone close to you died, you might receive an Anemo Vision.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhuqing was a woman, and no one close to her had died.

"Jean, she'll be the Anemo Academy's first student. Venti wants Rosaria to take her as an apprentice."

Rosaria might usually be careless, but she was among Mondstadt's finest fighters. She was well suited to teaching Zhu Zhuqing.

Only then did Zhu Zhuqing realize that Rosaria hadn't saved her. It had been someone else.

"Seniors, may I ask who saved me?" She still wanted to repay that life-saving kindness, yet she didn't even know what her benefactor looked like.

Jean looked hesitantly at Su Yun. He waved a hand, leaving the explanation to her.

"You were saved by the dean of the Anemo Academy: the Anemo Archon."

"The Anemo Archon..."

Zhu Zhuqing stood frozen. A god had saved her.

"Yes. May the Anemo Archon watch over you."

Zhu Zhuqing barely knew how she had arrived at the Anemo Academy.

The academy's buildings had a central European style much like Mondstadt's, with an iconic windmill and a statue of the Anemo Archon standing among them.

When she reached the foot of the statue, her Vision suddenly lit up. A wisp of wind flowed from the statue and entered it.

At once, she sensed a power utterly different from Soul Power.

"You can feel Elemental Power? Looks like you have potential. Teaching an apprentice is a bit of a bother, but for Bartobas..."

Jean couldn't help interrupting. "Rosaria, it's Barbatos! The Anemo Archon's name is Barbatos!"

Rosaria slapped her forehead. "Right. Acting Grand Master Jean, is this... girl also under the protection of the Anemo Archon, Bastobato?"

Jean rubbed her aching forehead and corrected her again. "It's the protection of Barbatos, the Anemo Archon! Anyway, her name is Zhu Zhuqing. The Anemo Archon chose her as your apprentice."

With that, Jean said goodbye to Zhu Zhuqing and hurried to City Hall. She still had several files to handle today.

Zhu Zhuqing felt as though she had joined a grand operation held together with string.

Why does my master seem so unreliable? I might as well go find Dai Mubai...

But remembering the debt she owed for her life, she bowed. "Master Rosaria, I look forward to learning from you."

Rosaria remained expressionless, as though none of this concerned her. "Since the Anemo Archon, Bartobas, gave me this task, I suppose I'll take you in."

Zhu Zhuqing silently corrected her: The Anemo Archon is Barbatos, not Bartobas.

"Master, what will we learn in our first lesson?" She couldn't wait to grow stronger and gain true freedom.

"You want to grow stronger that badly?" Rosaria asked.

Zhu Zhuqing thought for a moment, then found herself reciting those words: "If you break free of fate's shackles, the wind will carry you to the heavens."

"If you break free of fate's shackles, the wind will carry you to the heavens..."

Rosaria repeated the words and, to Zhu Zhuqing's surprise, smiled faintly.

Perhaps those words hadn't been meant for Zhu Zhuqing alone.

"Come. I'll take you to your first lesson."

They had taken only a few steps when the Heavenly Rankings in the sky changed again.

[TOP 9: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.]

Few people were surprised. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had just placed tenth.

Ning Fengzhi, however, grew even more curious. What factions would occupy the top five?

If the Heavenly Dao truly ranked five factions above them, then what did that make the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Spirit Hall?

What was more, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's entry had shown a vision of the future. What future awaited the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?

[TOP 9: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect]

[Sect Martial Soul: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda]

[Sect secret technique: Heart Separation Control]

[Representative combatant: Sect Master Ning Fengzhi.]

[Martial Soul: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda]

[Soul Power: Level 79 Soul Saint]

[Soul Rings: Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black.]

[Grand Elder: Chen Xin]

[Martial Soul: Seven Kill Sword]

[Soul Power: Level 96 Super Douluo]

[Soul Rings: Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black]

[Grand Elder: Gu Rong.]

[Martial Soul: Bone Dragon.]

[Soul Power: Level 95 Super Douluo.]

[Soul Rings: Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.]

Their strength left everyone speechless.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been formidable enough with just one Level 95 Titled Douluo. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had two.

The sky once again played out a vision of the future, but this time everyone froze.

High above a battlefield in the vision, two gods faced each other.

Tang San stared at one of their faces. The familiarity was impossible to deny, though the man was far more handsome than he was.

Xiao Wu recognized him too. "Is that... Brother San?"

Bibi Dong looked at Qian Renxue in the vision and frowned slightly. "Xiao Xue... became a god?"

Her feelings were complicated, though joy outweighed worry.

"Good! Wonderful! That's my granddaughter!"

Qian Daoliu's laughter rang through the Worship Hall and across all of Spirit City.

Only then did many elders remember that, besides Hu Liena, the saintess known to the public, Spirit Hall had another saintess: Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue gazed at herself in the vision, her thoughts tangled. I became a god? Did I achieve my dream?

Had she won her mother's approval?

But when the vision shifted to the scene of her ascension, she froze.

The Angel God had suspended Qian Daoliu before the statue with chains. An ethereal voice sounded.

"In your eyes, is your grandfather guilty?"

Everyone went still.

Was this a Divine Trial?

Were the Qian Family's Divine Trials all this twisted?

In the Worship Hall, Golden Crocodile stared at Qian Daoliu in shock. "Big Brother, aren't you the Angel God's priest? Why did she tie you up?"

Qian Daoliu sat in his seat, silent.