Keqing: What do you mean the loser has to wear a cat-ear maid outfit?

The sudden reversal not only threw Ganyu in the video into confusion, but also brought her to the brink of collapse.

Even the viewers watching the video found such a drastic reversal hard to accept, and discussions erupted.

[Was everything Asura Yaksha did a lie? Was his so-called absorption of Karmic Debt to free others from their suffering purely a way for him to gain greater power?]

[How could this be? We were all wrong about him!]

[Impossible! I don't believe Asura Yaksha would do something like that!]

[He clearly worked so hard to save those ordinary people plagued by Karmic Debt! How could all of that have been fake!?]

[I don't believe it either, but there's no point saying anything now. Only the truth at the end can tell us what Asura really thought!]

"So he did it to obtain a god's power... A greedy thought a mortal would have, I suppose."

Ronova looked disdainful.

She didn't know much about humans, so she didn't think too deeply about it and simply took the account in the video as fact.

If that really was the case, then the girl named Ganyu was undoubtedly the most tragic figure.

She had been utterly exploited by Asura Yaksha, becoming a cover he used to avoid attracting attention and conceal his true purpose.

And what Ronova was thinking at that moment was what Ganyu was thinking in the video.

The innocent qilin girl hadn't thought too deeply about it either. She simply believed the information she had received and concluded on her own that Asura Yaksha was a villain who had deceived her.

In a fury, she immediately headed to Liyue Harbor, where, sure enough, she found Asura Yaksha wielding terrifying Karmic Debt to ravage the city, drawing desperate wails from its people.

"Where is Rex Lapis? If only Rex Lapis were here!"

Ganyu instinctively turned to Liyue's god, Rex Lapis.

But she soon learned that Rex Lapis had gone north to Qingce Village to suppress a god suspected of reawakening, and that there was no way he could make it back to Liyue Harbor now.

He had even taken quite a few adepti with him, leaving behind only a handful of Millelith.

That meant Liyue Harbor had now completely lost its protection.

No one could stand against Asura Yaksha, who had absorbed the resentment of a great many gods and become almost like a mighty god himself.

"I'm the only one who can do it... I'm the only one who can stop Lord Asura Yaksha now. No, I'm the only one who can stop this traitor to Liyue!"

Ganyu's expression gradually grew resolute.

She immediately raised her bow and drew upon Cryo energy using the method Asura Yaksha had taught her, ready to fight him to the death.

To protect Liyue Harbor, she would slay the traitor herself.

Even if he was the master who had taught her his skills, she would show no mercy!

[As expected of an adeptus with qilin blood flowing through her veins. She has that same conviction to protect all living beings under heaven.]

[It's thanks to the countless people like Secretary Ganyu that Liyue has the peace and tranquility it enjoys today.]

[So did Asura Yaksha really turn traitor?]

[What exactly is he trying to do!?]

Liyue Harbor, the Jade Chamber.

As Keqing and Ningguang watched the video unfold, both were confused by the turn the story had taken.

At the same time, the two had arrived at completely different views of Asura Yaksha's actions.

"I think there must be more to Lord Asura Yaksha's situation," Ningguang said, sharing her thoughts. "The feelings he showed when he saved the Millelith soldiers didn't seem fake, and he was very earnest when he taught Secretary Ganyu to cultivate afterward. It's hard to believe he could really be a villain. Perhaps he had some deeper consideration that led him to do something so crazy..."

"Well, I think this Asura Yaksha is a bastard!" Keqing shook her head. "He didn't care about the safety of Liyue's people at all. After gaining power, he even wanted to destroy Liyue Harbor. A madman and a brute like that shouldn't exist in this world!"

The two members of the Liyue Qixing had completely different views because of their completely different approaches to dealing with matters and standards for judging them.

Ningguang came from an ordinary family and had seen plenty of struggle and despair among people at the bottom. She therefore knew that when certain people did evil, there were often complex reasons behind it that they could not speak of.

Behind every evil deed, there was often an unseen helplessness. The world was not black and white by nature, but a gray full of helplessness.

That was Ningguang's view.

But Keqing was different. She came from a wealthy and powerful Liyue family and joined the Millelith as soon as she reached adulthood. She had barely had any contact with the people at the bottom.

So the world in her eyes was still black and white. When she looked at others, she usually divided them entirely according to the duality of "justice" and "evil."

Under those circumstances, after watching Asura Yaksha's actions, she naturally labeled him an evil being at once.

Since he was a purely evil person, there could naturally be no unavoidable reason for what he had done. Everything was surely caused by his own greed and wicked thoughts.

"Keqing, how about a bet?" Seeing Keqing looking ready to sentence Asura Yaksha to death, Ningguang couldn't help speaking up.

"A bet? On what? I'm not as rich as you!" Keqing looked wary.

Though she was a member of the Liyue Qixing, she relied mostly on her salary and was nowhere near as wealthy as Ningguang.

As it happened, she had just spent all of last month's earnings on Rex Lapis figurines. She wasn't completely penniless, but she could scrape together two copper coins at most.

"Of course we won't bet money. Gambling is illegal in Liyue." Ningguang smiled as she spoke. "How about this? Whoever loses has to wear cat ears and a maid outfit to conduct the Rite of Descension next month. What do you say?"

"What!?" Keqing's eyes widened in alarm at Ningguang's proposal. "That's far too much to wager!"

"That's what makes it exciting."

Ningguang looked as though she meant to see the pursuit of excitement through to the end. "Besides, as long as you're sure you won't lose, won't you get to see the other person utterly humiliated? Aren't you even a little tempted?"

"Well... I suppose you have a point."

Keqing thought it over and decided her chances of losing were practically zero.

She didn't believe for a moment that someone like Asura Yaksha could be a righteous person with some hidden reason for his actions.

At best, he was a villain who hadn't entirely lost his humanity.

Besides that, she was quite interested in the bet itself. Ningguang was always so composed that she got on Keqing's nerves, and Keqing very much wanted to see her make a fool of herself in public.

Though she wouldn't take the initiative to play a prank, she certainly wouldn't turn down an opportunity Ningguang offered her herself!

So Keqing gritted her teeth and promptly said, "Fine, you're on! The loser wears a maid outfit!!"

"A cat-ear maid outfit."

Ningguang quietly corrected her and formally made the bet with Keqing.