Caelus walked down the street with his hands clasped behind his back, strolling leisurely like a retired old man. His current appearance and pace of life were completely imitating a retired old man from the continent of Teyvat.
It was mainly because the civilization style of Liyue and the civilization style of the Xianzhou had a high degree of similarity, so he simply borrowed that old man's pace of life. As expected, he integrated into the Xianzhou better, although it did give people the feeling that he was a bit too old.
This caused many locals and incoming Outsiders to think he was a local Xianzhou person.
"Everyone, take a look, come and see! Stone breaking on the chest!"
Lively sounds rang out, and the crowd gathered in that direction. Caelus also followed the crowd and went over, seeing an Outsider woman dressed in Xianzhou attire.
On the Xianzhou, sometimes you can tell whether a person is a local just by their appearance.
After all, there are explicit regulations in the local laws that Xianzhou people cannot marry Outsiders.
Besides being for family planning, more importantly, Xianzhou people are a long-lived species, and the issue of lifespan is a very common thing in this universe.
Some races can live for thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, but some races can only live for a hurried hundred years.
If Xianzhou citizens were allowed to intermarry with short-lived species from the outside world, not to mention that the offspring born would all be long-lived species due to the Abundance's blessing, which would cause problems for the entire universe in the long run, just considering the issue of lifespan, due to the existence of love, there will always be some long-lived species who cannot accept the passing of their Partners and end up doing some very extreme things.
The mildest of these is trying to find a way to obtain the Abundance's blessing.
So this also leads to the fact that as long as one's appearance is not that of a local Xianzhou person, then no matter how authentic their clothing is or how similar their way of speaking is, they are definitely an Outsider.
The girl currently beating the gong and drum had orange hair, and her features bore a striking resemblance to the Europeans Caelus had seen before, looking entirely different from the Shenzhou appearance of the Xianzhou natives.
Naturally, one could tell her identity at a glance.
As for Caelus, it was hard to say whether his appearance leaned more Western or Eastern. He gave one the feeling of possessing both, yet also neither. That fantastical sensation, as if he were truly standing right in front of you, yet simultaneously existing in another dimension, made it truly difficult to discern.
"Come take a look, come see! Breaking a boulder on my chest!"
Caelus watched the girl beating the gong and drum. During his time living on the Xianzhou Luofu, he had naturally gotten to know quite a few people, so he recognized her as Guinaifen, who often performed daring stunts on her live streams and was quite popular locally. She was also known as Little Gui.
As for the girl lying on the bench with a large stone slab stacked on her chest, she was likely a Xianzhou native.
"Little Gui, is it really okay?"
Sushang looked at the large stone slab on her chest. Although, thanks to the physical constitution of the Xianzhou celestial race, even if she were struck head-on with an iron hammer, she would at most feel pain and get dizzy for a moment, it would still hurt a lot.
"Don't worry, Shang-shang, I'm a professional!"
Seeing that enough people had gathered to watch and the family members in the live stream were already sending gifts, Guinaifen grinned and pulled out the large iron hammer.
Looking at the large iron hammer, Sushang swallowed hard, then closed her eyes as if resigning herself to her fate.
As the hammer fell, the large stone cracked and shattered. Sushang opened her eyes and touched her body. Huh! Although she could feel a jolt of impact, it really didn't hurt much.
The onlookers applauded one after another. It was rare these days to see someone performing and pulling stunts in such a classical way.
"Shang-shang! Thank you for being willing to assist with my performance, I'm so grateful! Let me treat you to a meal at Aurum Alley!"
"Oh, we're friends! Helping each other out is only natural! But I won't stand on ceremony for this meal, let's go, let's go!"
After the stunt ended, Caelus watched the two energetic girls leave, laughing and playing. He could tell that the girl named Sushang was still very young, hadn't experienced enough of life yet, and didn't have that many worries or sorrows in her heart.
But decades later, this girl would likely undergo the first lesson of her life, the moment that would make her grow up.
That lesson is called parting.
Perhaps the Mara-Struck of the Xianzhou people is because, having seen too many partings in their lifetime, suffered too much bitterness, and experienced too many irreversible tragedies, the pressure in their hearts has reached a critical point, causing their minds to collapse and their bodies to lose control.
Or perhaps even though their bodies have attained longevity, their souls do not possess the corresponding strength. Under the erosion known as time, the soul can no longer control its own body and ultimately collapses completely.
However...
Caelus suddenly thought of his Holy Grail. After it had all the world's evils removed and only its most basic functions preserved, it seemed to have unlocked something called the Third Magic, though it wasn't quite complete. The System marked it as fragmented.
Although he hadn't fully studied that thing over these past few days, it seemed to be related to the soul. Plus, the mask that allowed him to devour emotions, though it had changed somewhat, was not broken.
In other words, could he solve the Mara-Struck that had plagued the Xianzhou people for so long?
Thinking of this, Caelus decided that after he returned, he would first figure out that fragmented Third Magic. Although he didn't intend to become a doctor who saves the world and helps the Xianzhou people completely solve the issue of the Mara-Struck, if he encountered friends in the future who needed help with this, he would naturally be willing to lend a hand.
Caelus had intended to continue wandering, but suddenly saw a dragon girl with horns running toward him from ahead. When that dragon girl saw Caelus, her eyes lit up immediately, and she rushed over to grab the corner of Caelus's clothes, saying with a pitiful look, "Big Brother Caelus! Please, I beg you!"
This person was named Bailu, and her background was rather special. She was a member of the Vidyadhara who looked like a child. When she had been running away previously, she had bumped into Caelus, and with Caelus's help, she had evaded her pursuers and subsequently happily made friends with Caelus.
Perhaps because she was at the age where she loved to play the most, Bailu could never stand being constrained and would run out to play every few days. Caelus naturally understood what was going on.
"The public security on the Xianzhou Luofu is actually quite good. Your family's concern for you is truly strict."
Caelus said this, then picked up Bailu and shook off the pursuers from the Alchemy Commission behind them, before speaking to Bailu.
"Hmph! I really don't know what those guys are making such a fuss about! It's not like I'm a child who can't take care of herself! Never mind that, Caelus! I'm going to Aurum Alley to find something delicious! Want to come along?"
"No thanks, I didn't finish lunch long ago, and I'm just digesting now."
"Fair enough. Your daily routine and planning are the healthiest I've ever seen. No wonder Qingque always says you're like an old grandfather. Xianzhou people only have a life attitude like yours in the century when they are on the verge of becoming Mara-Struck. Most of the time, they just squander their lives, relying on their status as a celestial race."
"Sometimes people don't pay much attention to things they have in abundance and cannot see. Even short-lived species with only a hundred-year lifespan often don't feel their lives are short and will squander them, wasting their days."
"Yeah, I'm not going to listen to you preach here, I'm off!"
Watching Bailu's back as she ran away on her two short legs, Caelus didn't say anything more, but continued with his hands behind his back, looking just like an old man who had no money but loved to wander, walking on the bustling street.
(To be continued.)
Check out my new books under Junkdog_787; you can also access them under my reading list in my profile.
■ Naruto: Multiverse Character Templates
■ I Make Games Inside a Mobile Game?! (Trust me, this is a gem, just try out the first few chapters to see)