While Ji'an was still searching the streets of Liyue Harbor for his friend Zhongli, a visitor from afar arrived at the valley in Nantianmen where the giant ancient tree stood.
Zhongli walked alone through the mountains. The valley was thick with monsters, but they paid him no mind, acting as if he weren't there at all.
He stopped before a stone tablet near the massive tree. Words were carved into its surface:
"The universe treasures life, and the adeptus is merciful. The wicked dragon is held here. Let no one disturb."
Zhongli's gaze grew distant, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. He stood there quietly for a long time before finally moving on, making his way toward the roots of the great Dragon-Quelling Tree.
After circling halfway around the trunk, he found a broken stone passage at the tree's left rear, leading deep underground. Whatever had dug this tunnel didn't seem human—the marks looked like they were made by something with enormous claws.
Zhongli frowned slightly, then stepped inside.
He walked down until he reached a stone wall marked with a seal. After a brief pause, he continued forward.
A flash of white light, and the next moment, he was standing in a cavern so vast it felt like the heart of the world itself—immense, hollow, and silent.
But the center of the space commanded all attention. Bound by eight gigantic stone pillars and surrounded by countless glowing, inscribed seals was…
A little girl with short blue hair. She looked like any ordinary child from Liyue Harbor.
But something was wrong. A thick, unsettling aura clung to her. Her form wavered—one moment a small girl, the next a staggering, mountainous dragon of stone.
Zhongli took a few steps closer. The girl—or the dragon—stirred.
"Mo…ra…x!"
"MORAX!"
The moment it saw him, it roared with a fury that was half madness, half hatred. The cavern trembled violently; great stone pillars cracked and fell as if the entire space were about to collapse.
Through it all, Zhongli stood perfectly calm.
"So it is you… Hehehe…"
"You were the one who sealed me underground in the past… and now, a thousand years later, it's you again!"
Zhongli let out a soft sigh. "You might call it fate, Azhdaha."
"Fate? Fate?!"
The word seemed to incense it further. "FATE?! HAHAHAHA!!"
"Is this how a god thinks?! Destroy what you don't need, send butchers to trample the wilds!"
The stone dragon's voice shook the chamber. "And now… you steal my authority, strip me of my crown as the Geo Dragon King… humiliate me like this… Morax, is this what you want?!"
"What you speak of…" Zhongli was silent for a moment, then shook his head gently. "Was not my doing."
"Hah! Morax, you won't even admit to your own deeds?!" The dragon shifted back into the form of the blue-haired girl, dark energy churning around her as she screamed.
Zhongli sighed, sidestepping the accusation. Instead, he asked, "Azhdaha… that old friend of ours… he has already been here, hasn't he?"
Azhdaha laughed wildly. "Old friend?! Hahaha! I am Azhdaha, the Dragon King! Born of elemental crystal, bearing the earth's power and memory, as old as the mountains and seas! What insignificant insect could I call an old friend?!"
"You…" Zhongli's brow furrowed deeply. "Azhdaha, what's happened to you? Even the erosion…shouldn't have made you forget him."
He took a couple of steps forward, as though trying to sense Azhdaha's condition more clearly. After a moment, he drew back.
"I see… so that's it."
"No wonder you said your authority was stolen…'Taken' would be more accurate." Sensing the dragon king's fragmented consciousness, Zhongli seemed to understand.
"But I didn't expect it would take your 'wish' along with it."
"'Wish'? What 'wish'? Morax, what are you talking about?!"
"I… I…"
Azhdaha's eyes blazed crimson. At Zhongli's words, it began to pound the ground frantically, falling into a state of raw agitation.
"Have I… forgotten something?!"
"You haven't forgotten," Zhongli said, his voice low. "It's just that the 'wish' connected to him… was carried away by your own consciousness."
Azhdaha shifted back into the girl, clenching her small fists. "Lies! Why can't I remember?! Morax, don't lie to me!"
"Azhdaha, I say this because I know that even if erosion made you forget me… you would never forget him." Zhongli shook his head. "And he is no insect. You know that better than anyone."
"Him…?"
"Who is he?!"
"Morax, answer me… Tell me! Don't go!"
As Zhongli turned to leave, a faint glimmer—a residue of that 'wish'—flickered within Azhdaha. Memories buried for millennia stirred, but the spark was too weak, too eroded to fully catch.
Azhdaha thrashed—now a dragon slamming against the seals, now a child hammering the glowing barrier.
"Mo…ra…x!"
The ancient, proud dragon of stone—who had lived through ages—now sounded lost, desperate, turning to its oldest enemy for answers. Because those residual whispers insisted that the friend Zhongli spoke of… mattered.
"..."
Hearing the furious roars behind him, Zhongli stopped. He stood there for a long, still moment.
Finally, he sighed once more, did not look back, and walked out of the cavern.
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