Just as Li Mo was about to begin his third story—the one about ancient Mondstadt and Barbatos—a system notification chimed in his mind.
[Ding! System notification: The story of Qiqi you just told has resonated deeply with the audience. 100% of listeners expressed sorrow, 50% shed tears, and 30% wept bitterly!]
[System reward: 1000 Storytelling Points!]
[Ding! System notification: Your story has successfully moved the zombie Qiqi to tears!]
[System reward: 1 Gacha Ticket!]
Hearing the voice in his mind, Li Mo felt a surge of joy.
A gacha ticket.
If he wanted to exchange one using Storytelling Points, it would cost a full 100,000 points.
It was extremely precious.
Before he could react, another system notification sounded in his mind.
[Draw now?]
"System, can I see the prize pool first?"
[Prize pool available for viewing—]
At the same time, a massive roulette wheel appeared in Li Mo's mind.
On the wheel were items that could grant anything—[Wishes], rare [Wish Fragments], powerful cultivation techniques, powerful pills, and even legendary weapons.
If anyone else in Teyvat saw these rewards, they would go mad.
To be honest, even Li Mo himself gasped at the sight.
If he drew a [Wish], he could immediately resurrect Raiden Makoto—the former Electro Archon, Baal.
And then, perhaps Raiden Ei would finally find peace.
[Draw now?]
Li Mo took a deep breath and said, "Draw now!"
The moment he spoke, the roulette wheel began to spin.
Slower and slower—
Slower and slower—
When it finally stopped, it landed on a prize.
[Ding! Congratulations, host. You have obtained a rare item—Wish Fragment!]
[Wish Fragment]: A fragment produced when a Wish is born. Three Wish Fragments can be combined to form one true Wish. Current Wish Fragments owned: 1/3
Though he had not drawn a true [Wish], obtaining a Wish Fragment was already satisfying.
Given the current trend, as long as he continued telling stories at Wangshu Inn, sharing the experiences of his ninety-nine lifetimes, he would eventually gather enough Wish Fragments to form a true Wish.
The next moment, another system notification sounded in Li Mo's mind.
[Ding! System analysis complete. You have finished telling the story of your second life. New effect triggered—Fusion! You will now merge with your second incarnation's body!]
[Merge now?]
When he had told the story of his first life, he had merged with his first incarnation's Thunder Demon body.
Now that he had finished the story of his second life, he could merge with that body as well.
Though his second life had been an old man, he had mastered forbidden commands and powerful adeptus arts.
The potential for fusion was immense.
Without hesitation, Li Mo chose to merge.
"Merge now!"
The moment he spoke, a hazy, gentle aura of adeptal energy enveloped Li Mo.
Soon, the body of Qiqi's master from his second life began to merge with his current form.
Below, the audience was startled by the ethereal adeptal energy surrounding the stage.
Was that truly adeptal energy?
Could this storyteller be an adeptus of Liyue?
It wasn't just the ordinary listeners.
Even the Raiden Shogun, seated in the corner, frowned. "Morax, this storyteller appears to be an adeptus. Is he one of your subordinates?"
"Explain yourself. What is your purpose?"
The Raiden Shogun was annoyed.
She had been deeply moved by the story of his first life.
She had never expected that this storyteller would be an adeptus of Liyue, a subordinate of Morax.
It made sense—aside from Morax, who else would know such ancient, forgotten tales?
Could this truly be Morax's scheme?
A plot to lure the Raiden Shogun to Liyue Harbor?
Zhongli looked utterly innocent.
"Morax is already dead. Please don't wrong him."
"My name is Zhongli now. I don't know this storyteller, and he is certainly not my subordinate."
"Think about it—if he were my subordinate, would he dare not tell stories about me?"
Zhongli was equally puzzled.
When had another adeptus appeared in Liyue?
He had no idea.
The Raiden Shogun considered his words and found them somewhat reasonable.
With a cold snort, she turned her gaze back to the storyteller on stage.
By now, Li Mo had merged with his second incarnation's body.
The moment the fusion was complete, though he was not an adeptus, a vast amount of adeptal energy now flowed within him. He was even confident he could use adeptus arts.
These were the arts Qiqi's master had studied.
With the body fusion, his strength had increased once again.
Many of the powerful individuals in the audience sensed the change in Li Mo's aura.
They were astonished.
How did an ordinary storyteller possess such formidable power?
Who was he?
What was his purpose?
...
Below, most of the ordinary Liyue citizens could not sense the change in Li Mo's power.
To them, whether the storyteller was an adeptus or not, what his identity was, did not matter.
As long as the stories were interesting!
What they were discussing now was the third story Li Mo was about to tell—the one set in Mondstadt.
Everyone was surprised that Qiqi's master had been reincarnated in Mondstadt.
In Liyue, the most widely told tales were those of the heroic deeds of Lord Rex Lapis.
In Liyue Harbor, there were inns dedicated to storytelling and renowned opera troupes that performed the legends of Rex Lapis for all to enjoy.
Just a few days ago, that new consultant from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Zhongli, had tipped a hefty sum of Mora to an opera troupe performing the story of Rex Lapis.
Apart from stories of Rex Lapis, the people of Liyue also enjoyed tales from Inazuma.
The Archon War, the Shogun slaying the great serpent with a single strike, the Shogun battling the Thunderbird at sea—all were fascinating.
But they had never seen anyone tell stories about Mondstadt here in Liyue Harbor.
In the eyes of Liyue's people, Mondstadt lacked Liyue's advantageous geography and its abundant mineral resources—it was a land of little value.
Moreover, there were not many stories about ancient Mondstadt.
There was no earth-shattering war between countless gods.
No powerful deity had risen to shake the ages.
And Barbatos, the Anemo Archon, seemed utterly indifferent to Mondstadt, perpetually missing, almost never appearing.
Utterly irresponsible.
So the people of Liyue did not have a deep impression of Mondstadt.
If anything, the thing Liyue's people remembered most about Mondstadt was probably the dragon Durin.
It had required the Anemo Archon himself to expend great effort to slay an ordinary dragon.
Surely, in all of Mondstadt, there was no one besides Barbatos who could handle a dragon?
Didn't travelers from Mondstadt always boast about the strength of the Knights of Favonius?
How could they not even defeat a mere dragon?
These tales of Mondstadt were often treated as jokes by Liyue's people.
For this reason, in their eyes, Mondstadt was a poor, backward land that could not compare to the prosperous Liyue Harbor.
So when they heard that Qiqi's master had been reincarnated in Mondstadt, the audience was truly surprised.
Some, however, seemed relieved.
"That's good. Ancient Mondstadt only had a couple of weak gods. The battles probably weren't intense. He should be able to survive."
"Exactly. In ancient times, any god from Liyue could have gone to Mondstadt and swept through it to become the Anemo Archon."
"Barbatos, the king of luck."
"Hey, hey, hey—don't underestimate Barbatos, and don't underestimate Mondstadt!"
"It wasn't easy, you know. Ancient Mondstadt had a very harsh environment…"
"I bet the storyteller figured he'd done enough tragedy and is ready to give us something sweet."
"Who knows? Storyteller, it's already dark. Hurry up and tell the story. We'll listen to one more and then sleep, and come back tomorrow."
The audience buzzed with discussion.
In fact, before Li Mo announced his third life, some listeners had already guessed.
The first life took place in ancient Inazuma.
The second life took place in ancient Liyue.
It only made sense that the third would be Mondstadt, connecting the history of Teyvat.
Just as the audience was waiting for Li Mo to begin his third story, he did not continue.
Instead, he turned to look at Qiqi below.
Seeing her frail, as if she had just recovered from an illness, slumped weakly in Keqing's arms, his heart ached.
He needed to help Qiqi further.
Li Mo immediately reached out to the system in his mind.
"System—come out."
"Are there any pills that can help Qiqi?"
Since taking the Immortal Spirit Pill, though the yellow talisman still remained on Qiqi's forehead, her body had been transformed from that of a zombie into that of an adeptus.
Correspondingly, Qiqi's soul needed strengthening.
[Ding! System analysis complete. Qiqi's soul is too weak. The following two pills may strengthen her soul power.]
[Soul Strengthening Pill]: Strengthens the user's soul power upon consumption.
[Exchange price]: 100 Storytelling Points
[Elemental Affinity Pill]: Enhances the user's affinity with surrounding elements and protects the soul from erosion.
[Exchange price]: 100 Storytelling Points
Though the effects of the two pills differed, both protected the soul.
Without hesitation, Li Mo exchanged for two of each.
He then walked down from the stage to a corner of the inn.
He saw little Qiqi slumped in Keqing's arms, fast asleep.
"Your friend has been transformed into an adeptus, but her zombie soul is still too weak."
"Here are a Soul Strengthening Pill and an Elemental Affinity Pill. They will benefit her soul."
With that, before Keqing could respond, Li Mo placed the two pills on the table and turned to leave.
But just as he was about to go, a slightly trembling voice came from behind him.
"Storyteller…"
"In past lives… have we met?"
It was Shenhe's voice.
She had hesitated for a long time before finally asking.
From the first moment she saw the storyteller, she had felt a sense of familiarity.
Even her heart ached.
She had a vague feeling that this storyteller was very important to her.
But no matter how hard she tried, she could not remember where she had seen him before.
Li Mo heard Shenhe's question.
He stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.
Oh no.
Before he even told the story involving Shenhe, was she about to recognize him?
No—he could not reveal his identity yet.
He could not admit who he was.
"Miss…"
"I'm sorry. You have mistaken me for someone else."
With that, Li Mo let out a deep breath and walked away with heavy steps.
He did not return to the stage.
Instead, carrying the other two pills, he walked to another corner of the inn.
He placed the Soul Strengthening Pill and the Elemental Affinity Pill before the Raiden Shogun.
"If I'm not mistaken…"
"There is a powerful soul within this blade."
"These two pills will benefit her."
Li Mo placed the pills directly in front of the Raiden Shogun.
But the moment she heard his words, the Raiden Shogun quickly grabbed Musou Isshin and nearly drew her blade against Li Mo.
She was shocked. How did this storyteller know that Beelzebul was within her blade?
This was her secret.
As the atmosphere grew tense, Zhongli, sitting nearby, continued playing with his birdcage as he spoke.