flstandardbreds Chapter 178 The Lantern After a Year (1)
Chapter 178 The Lantern After a Year (1)
"Ugh...uh!"
In this boundless darkness, a person bound by countless chains clutched his head and groaned in pain. Black energy surged around his body in waves, and cold sweat dripped from his forehead.
After a while, the pain gradually subsided. My clothes were soaked with sweat, but I was too exhausted to do anything about it...
Xuan Qing lay in this space, her face pale, her pupils somewhat unfocused: (A-Yue…)
Then he closed his eyes again…
"Xuanqing, Xuanqing." Zhongli's voice carried the message through the rock strata: "The time has come..."
Xuanqing opened her eyes again.
One hour ago —
"Zhongli, you said it was fun... just to come and watch the show with you?!" Xuanqing's lips twitched as he watched Zhongli trick Ruotuo into coming to this teahouse.
He knew perfectly well that Zhongli, that old-fashioned guy, could never understand what "fun" meant.
"Opera? Isn't this just storytelling?" Ruo Tuo was a little puzzled. He used to listen to stories with Zhong Li, or they would talk about strategy all night long. He had never really been exposed to opera.
“Unlike storytelling, traditional opera uses singing, recitation, acting, and martial arts to perform a story. It has become a major feature of Liyue.” As Zhongli spoke, he walked over to an empty seat and sat down.
“How strange…” Ruotuo murmured as she sat down beside Zhongli. “A ‘music’ can tell a story? I really want to hear it.”
"Oh dear, Mr. Zhongli is here again." As the two were chatting, the owner of the teahouse, Master Fan, walked towards them. "You've come at just the right time. To be honest, Master Yun just finished rehearsing a new play today and is preparing to audition it to hear the feedback. Your advice would be wonderful."
"Oh? A new play? That's quite a coincidence." Xuan Yue said, sitting down as well.
Fan Erye: "Hey, these two gentlemen look unfamiliar..."
(Wait a minute, I come here often too, why are you saying this about me... Sigh... Sigh!) Xuan Yue then realized that he was currently impersonating Xuan Qing.
(Oh no! I forgot to change back.) Xuan Yue wanted to crawl into a hole right now, but she maintained Xuan Qing's aloof demeanor on the surface.
"These two are my old friends. They came back to Liyue today specifically for the Lantern Festival and just stopped by to see me." Zhongli spoke as calmly as ever, though he didn't miss someone's little gesture.
"Oh, no wonder, no wonder. Then I won't disturb the three of you any longer." Fan'erye smiled and said goodbye to Zhongli, ending the conversation.
"Phew~ That scared me to death." Xuan Yue couldn't help but pat her chest: "No, I should find a place to switch back, otherwise I'll definitely be exposed."
Seeing that Xuan Yue was about to get up and run away, Ruo Tuo quickly grabbed him: "What are you changing for? The play will start soon."
"No, it's just that I'm..." Xuan Yue glanced around at the people; it wasn't convenient to talk about Xuan Qing right now. But he was also somewhat anxious...
“Today is the Lantern Festival, so feel free to do whatever you want. No one will say anything.” As he spoke, Zhongli gestured for him to look down at the street below: “There are especially many foreign merchants coming and going in this area. There are countless unfamiliar faces, so it’s reasonable to find a few that look similar.”
Xuan Yue sat down with some skepticism, looking at Zhong Li, then at Ruo Tuo, then at her surroundings, then at the street. Although she felt uneasy, she no longer thought about changing her appearance...
Seeing Xuan Yue's listless appearance, Ruo Tuo had a premonition and transmitted her voice to Zhong Li: (Hey, Morax. Xuan Yue's appearance... could it be that something happened to Xuan Qing?)
Zhongli: (Where did you get this conclusion, old friend?)
Ruotuo glanced at Xuan Yue, who was completely distracted, swirling the tea in her white porcelain cup in her mind.
Ruotuo: (Look at him now, it's like all the energy he used to have when we argued has been drained.)
(Don't tell me you don't know. Back then, the way he looked meant either Xuan Qing had an accident or something had happened to Xuan Qing. There was no other possibility.)
Zhongli: (Why didn't you guess that something happened to Liu Yun and the others?)
Ruotuo crossed her arms and looked at Zhongli: (Do you think we're more important to him? Or is Xuanqing more important?)
Zhongli: (...)
That makes perfect sense; he was speechless.
Seeing Zhongli's silent demeanor, Ruotuo knew he had guessed correctly: (There must be a reason why you specifically chose the Lantern Festival to bring me out. Tell me, so I have a better understanding and can cooperate with your next move.)
(【Taboo】) He transmitted two words and then took a sip of tea, but those two words startled Ruo Tuo quite a bit, but fortunately Xuan Yue didn't notice this.
The voice transmission continued: (The corruption of the [Forbidden] has begun to affect Xuan Qing's mind. For the sake of the entire Teyvat, Xuan Qing orchestrated a scheme to have Xuan Yue personally seal him away.)
Ruotuo: (I see... So what should we do next?)
Zhongli looked up at the sky; the sun was still high overhead, it was still early: (Let nature take its course.)
(...) Ruo Tuo was still waiting for the follow-up, but the person next to her had already turned her attention back to the stage.
And then? That's it?! Please, someone, stop only saying half of what you mean! It's so hard to guess! (▼皿▼)
Just as the two finished exchanging messages, Yun Jin, dressed in the costume of a female warrior, came onto the stage. Judging from her attire, the opera she would be performing today seemed to be about a story of struggle.
After taking the stage, Yun Jin first performed a short spear dance, then began to sing, which was met with cheers from the entire audience. Only then did the audience become truly captivated by the story told in the opera.
Even Xuan Yue, who was lost in thought, was pulled back to her senses…
All you could hear on stage was the sound of people laughing heartily, their voices melodious and ethereal, accompanied by joyful dance steps and rhythmic movements with a spear, a sight that brought joy to the audience.
But after a short while, the actor's expression first furrowed, then relaxed, but the previous cheerful smile was gone, and his voice became ruthless and suppressed. The frequency of his spear movements slowed down, but the power was more ruthless and steady than before, and it also carried a faint sense of killing intent.
“This…” Xuan Yue didn’t understand what the play was about, but watching the performers on stage with their constantly shifting expressions and tone of voice…
“This play tells the story of how, thousands of years ago, the Heavenly Emperor led a small force of the Thousand Rocks Army to plot and kill the Demon God.” Zhongli directly revealed the story behind the play: “Legend has it that the Heavenly Emperor once disguised himself as a mortal to experience the lives of ordinary people. When he arrived at a village, the people there took him in easily because they thought he was a person in distress.”
“He was very happy and joyful during his time there. One day, a crisis broke out in the Liyue interior, and he had to leave the village to deal with it. But when he returned, it was all scorched earth.”
"The Heavenly Emperor was furious and ruthlessly executed the culprit, but the past could never be returned, and he never smiled again..."
Ruotuo (=_=): (Really? Don't think I'm easy to fool...)
Xuan Yue Σ( ° △ °|||)？ ？ ？ ：（How come I, the person involved, didn't know? Do I have sleepwalking disorder?）
Despite being stared at by the two of them, Zhong Li remained completely calm: "The story is bound to differ slightly from the actual events, but this version is certainly quite interesting, isn't it?"
"Hmm...it's not so bad to think about it from another angle. Let's get Wendy here to listen when we have some free time." Xuan Yue smiled, but it was clear that nothing good was going on.
"Why is that?" This time it was Zhongli's turn to be puzzled.
"Because... cough cough, when the Celestial Lord transformed into a mortal, wasn't he going to find the Wind God? That village was probably Mondstadt, so doesn't that mean... Mondstadt was destroyed? And I'm still a great hero of Mondstadt? Shouldn't Mondstadt give me an award? Or just merge me into Liyue's territory?!" (☆_☆) Xuan Yue's eyes grew brighter the more he thought about it. He felt like a genius at that moment.
"Hmm... Uh?! Sigh!!" Ruotuo initially felt strange, but after hearing what Xuan Yue said, she realized what was going on.
And this proposal… he wholeheartedly agrees. (*^O^*)
"..." Zhongli also sipped his tea, but his thoughts were also wandering. He was thinking about how to get this opera to Mondstadt.
Then the word spreads from one person to ten, from ten to a hundred, until the day the secret is revealed... Will Barbatos go crazy?
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!" Venti, who was flying towards Liyue, suddenly felt a chill and couldn't help sneezing. "Could it be that Little Xuanyue misses me? But she doesn't have to miss me like that... Achoo!"
"Let's speed things up."