Genshin Impact: I, Heavenly Principle, Will Make Teyvat Supreme

Rex Lapis' Temple.

A tea table was set at the center of the temple, with the six newly ascended gods seated around it. Fairy Inukimi stood by the side like an attendant, watching intently as she bore witness to a gathering of gods—something only found in myth and legend.

Moon Carver—no, now Divine Lord Moon Carver—respectfully poured tea for Zhongli.

Though he was no longer Rex Lapis' follower, three thousand years of companionship could not be erased. To him, Zhongli was both a father and an elder brother.

The other divine lords also poured themselves a cup of tea, holding their cups in both hands as they gazed at Zhongli. Their eyes were filled with reluctance at the end of their contracts, yet held anticipation for the new bond they would form as equals.

Zhongli slowly raised his cup and spoke in his steady voice:

"Today, this cup of tea is to celebrate your ascension to godhood. I am truly pleased. I hope that in the future, we will move forward together, hand in hand."

The six new gods spoke in unison:

"Yes, Sovereign."

Zhongli nodded. "My mortal name is Zhongli. If you wish to address me formally, 'Mr. Zhongli' will suffice."

Though their relationship as subordinates had ended, the weight of their past camaraderie was too great for them to simply address Zhongli as an equal.

Cloud Retainer quickly responded, "Since the Archon's mortal name is Zhongli, then I too shall take a mortal name—Xianyun. From now on, Zhongli may call me Xianyun."

Moon Carver immediately understood and followed suit, saying, "Then I shall take the name Houzhang."

Mountain Shaper said, "I suppose I shall be called Jiehu then."

Madame Ping laughed, "I had already lived among mortals before. I used the name Madame Ping, but I never had a proper name. I'll simply take 'Ping' as my name."

Xiao bowed respectfully. "I already have a name. Sovereign—ah, I mean, Mr. Zhongli—may address me by it as always."

Ganyu, nervous, hid behind her master, Xianyun.

Though she had unknowingly become a god, she still saw herself as her master's disciple. In a soft voice, she said, "I—I am the same. Sovereign may call me Ganyu as always."

Zhongli smiled and raised his cup. "Then, let us drink together."

The gods lifted their cups and drank in unison.

Just as they finished their tea, a familiar voice echoed through the temple, accompanied by the sound of footsteps.

"Zhongli, I see you're doing quite well—already having tea with the gods. Since the pantheon has welcomed a few new gods, I thought I'd take a look. I hope I'm not intruding on your elegant gathering."

Upon hearing this voice, Zhongli nearly dropped his teacup and turned hurriedly toward the source.

A familiar figure had already stepped into the temple, accompanied by none other than the God of Time.

The six newly ascended gods also turned their heads immediately. This voice—they knew it well. Wasn't it the god from Celestia who had been overseeing the World Assimilation Plan, Lord Noah?

After entering the Divine Pantheon Blueprint, they had learned about the hierarchy of the Teyvat pantheon.

The Seven Archons and other gods were merely at the Primary God rank. Above them were the Supreme Gods.

Though they had known that there were higher gods above the Seven Archons, they had never known their exact rank.

Now that they had ascended to Subordinate Gods, they could clearly sense the vast gap between themselves and the Sovereign.

It would likely take only two or three moves from Zhongli to utterly defeat them.

By that logic, the gap between a Supreme God and a Primary God must be just as overwhelming.

They had assumed that Lord Noah was a Supreme God.

Yet, the faith core's transmission carried an indescribable and immeasurable sense of supremacy—a presence beyond even the Supreme Gods.

At that moment, the Divine Pantheon Blueprint responded instantly.

The realization shocked the six new gods to their very core.

If they had been transmigrators from Earth, their reaction at this moment would have been nothing short of:

"Holy sh*t! The Heavenly Principle?!"

The six newly ascended gods were so shocked that their very souls seemed to leave their bodies as they watched the young man with a smile step into the temple. Their composure, honed over three thousand years as Adepti, completely crumbled.

Before joining the Pantheon System, they had merely been Adepti. Though they had experienced the Archon War, they had never even come close to encountering beings of a higher order.

If the six gods were in such a state, then Fairy Inukimi was utterly paralyzed with fear.

The Creator God had only just revealed his divine miracle, and now He had descended in mortal form.

For her—a former daiyōkai who had only been an Adeptus for a few days—this was far too overwhelming. Her heart simply couldn't take it.

Was a mere yokai-turned-Adeptus even qualified to lay eyes upon such a being?

Zhongli hurriedly stood up. Though he had shared tea and meals with the Heavenly Principle before, he still maintained a certain reverence, though not outright fear.

"Lord Heavenly Principle, I did not expect that You would take such interest in this mortal world. I beg Your forgiveness for not greeting You immediately."

Upon hearing this, Istaroth quickly crossed her arms and raised her chin proudly.

Zhongli continued, "And I also greet the Ruler of Time, Supreme God Istaroth."

Istaroth raised a small finger and smirked. "At least you know proper manners."

Noah waved a hand dismissively. "No need to be so tense, Zhongli. Just complete the tasks I assigned you. I came to this mortal realm simply to enjoy myself."

Of course, that wasn't the real reason.

His primary goal was to collect the scattered authorities that had fallen into the mortal realm.

For example, after Tsukuyomi's death, the Authority of Time had shattered, with the two largest fragments falling into the Goshinboku, the Tree of Ages, and the Bone-Eater's Well. This was what allowed Kagome to travel between two eras.

If left alone, the Tree of Ages, nourished by the Authority, could give birth to a new God of Time—something Noah absolutely would not allow.

Another fragment of the Authority of Time had been obtained by a celestial maiden named Kaguya, but she was later devoured by a yokai. The yokai had inherited her authority, name, appearance, and everything else.

That celestial maiden had not yet been consumed. She still resided in a shrine beneath Mount Fuji's lake, admiring herself in solitude.

She was none other than Kaguya-hime, the protagonist of the The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter in this world's mythology.

Additionally, there were fragments of the Authority of the Underworld that needed to be reclaimed.

These fragments resided in the Tensaiga, and the Meidō Stone.

Furthermore, he needed to restore the two Supreme Thrones—those of the Lord of Takamagahara and the Lord of Yomi—as well as the three Primary God seats belonging to the Three Noble Children.

The candidates for these positions would need to be chosen from this world.

Noah intended to carefully assess whether his potential candidates were truly worthy.

Zhongli respectfully poured Noah a cup of celestial tea, which he accepted.

"In addition, I wished to personally observe our six new gods of the Teyvat Pantheon. After all, to gain six gods at once is a significant influx of fresh blood into our system."

Saying this, Noah turned his gaze toward them.

Divine Lady Ping—no longer in her form as Madame Ping, she had returned to the appearance of an unparalleled beauty.

Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper both maintained the refined and scholarly demeanor of learned gentlemen.

Xianyun had not changed much from her Adeptus form, except for gaining an aura of divinity that made her seem even more sacred.

Ganyu… Well, she still had the gentle, quiet demeanor of a coconut goat.

When Ganyu felt the almost tangible gaze of the Heavenly Principle upon her, she snapped back to attention, utterly flustered.

The other gods also recovered from their shock, hurriedly bowing. Their voices, trembling from nervousness, nearly cracked as they spoke:

"We pay our respects to Lord Heavenly Principle!"

Noah's golden eyes swept over the six newly ascended gods, who stood trembling before him. He took a slow sip of tea.

"Not bad..."

It was unclear whether he was referring to Zhongli's tea or the six newly ascended gods.

While the number of gods in Teyvat was not exactly small, it was far from abundant.

With the birth of six faith-based gods, the Primordial Law Ring had received six new strands of derivative rules. Though they were only secondary laws, they nonetheless strengthened the Primordial Law Ring ever so slightly.

Rules themselves were divided into primordial rules and derivative rules.

If primordial rules were like a river, then derivative rules were its tributaries.

Together, the two formed the flourishing natural order of a world. Without tributaries, even the grandest river could not sustain forests.

Concepts such as Time, Space, Life, Death, Contract, and Hope were all primordial rules.

Meanwhile, abilities like Yae Miko's demon-slaying, Xianyun's mechanisms, Ping's realm-crafting, and Ganyu's auspicious blessings were all derivative rules—mere offshoots of the primordial laws.

For a world, primordial rules were the branches, while derivative rules were the leaves.

Noah's voice was calm as he spoke:

"The future prosperity of the Teyvat Pantheon will depend on what you create."

"The divine seats are fixed for now, but the future is bright. The stronger the world becomes, the stronger you will become."

Moon Carver hurriedly lowered his head and said respectfully, "Now that we have become gods, we must dedicate ourselves fully to this world and the divine pantheon—even to the very end of our lives."

Xianyun looking at the youth before her—who was nothing like the cold, merciless Heavenly Principle of legend—felt her initial tension ease somewhat and quickly echoed:

"Indeed. We shall spare no effort in service to this world."

Xiao bowed his head. "I will do the same."

Ganyu, still nervous, nodded her little qilin head.

They all understood that as gods, they now bore the duties of divinity.

Zhongli's eyes reflected deep anticipation.

Although the divine seats were currently fixed, the future of the gods was bound to be glorious.

Every time they annexed another world, Teyvat would grow stronger. And as Teyvat strengthened, so too would its Geo and Contract Laws, making himself even mightier.

He was already three times stronger than he had been at the peak of the Archon War.

Zhongli snapped out of his thoughts and quickly asked respectfully, "May I ask if Lord Heavenly Principle requires any preparations for Your time in the mortal realm?"

Noah waved a hand dismissively. "You don't need to concern yourself with me. Just carry out the mission according to the original plan."

Istaroth, arms crossed, glanced at Zhongli before shifting her gaze to her master.

She knew her master all too well.

Wherever there was entertainment, there was her master.

And even when there was no entertainment, her master could create it himself.

Sure enough, her master had already found his fun.

Zhongli bowed slightly. "At most, we will have unified the mortal realm in half a month."

Xianyun nodded. "That is correct."

Including the Sovereign, they had seven gods.

If things still went wrong, they might as well offer their own heads before the Heavenly Principle.

Noah waved them off lazily. "Go on, then."

"Yes."

Zhongli and the six Divine Lords bowed slightly before vanishing from the temple.

Noah stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Through this deification festival, the influence of Teyvat had already spread through most of this world's mortal realm.

Once Liyue's order had fully enveloped the entire mortal world, the annexation could begin.

...

Under Toga's relentless assault, most of the daiyōkai had surrendered in just a few short days.

Now, only the Hyakki Yakō of the Nura Clan, the daiyōkai Inugamigyobu Danuki from the Shikoku region, and the Far East Yokai remained.

Under the divine radiance of the seven gods, Toga didn't even need to act. The moment he appeared, the daiyōkai immediately prostrated themselves in submission.

The only ones still resisting were the forces of Kyoto.

...

"Tsk tsk… The greed of humans truly knows no bounds. They would rather destroy the world than let go of their desires."

Under Noah's gaze, Abe no Seimei continued channeling the power of Yomi into the surface world.

The daiyōkai absorbed the power of Yomi without hesitation.

But was the power of Yomi truly so easy to absorb?

This was the supreme power of the underworld, and for yokai, their limit was reaching the power of the Adepti at best.

Yet these yokai, indiscriminately devouring it, had already transformed into hellish underworld fiends.

The moment their power touched the essence of divinity, their consciousness was completely erased by the power of Yomi.

Simply put—

By absorbing the power of Yomi, the yokai of Kyoto had become nothing more than Abe no Seimei's puppets…

...

Meanwhile, deep in Yomi, Abe no Seimei was manically absorbing the overflowing power of the Supreme Throne of Yomi.

His once god-like appearance had grotesquely mutated into a bloated mass of rotting flesh.

Yet, he had indeed attained the aura of a god.

As for the power of Yomi spilling from the Supreme Throne?

Heh… Of course, this was all deliberate on the part of the Creator God himself.

Abe no Seimei—this selfish creature who even treated his own mother as a tool—was only fit to serve as the final villain in a divine play of order and chaos.

Noah stroked his chin and chuckled.

"To destroy a man, first drive him to madness."

...

With the Sovereign and the six Divine Lords gone, only Fairy Inukimi remained in the temple.

In that instant, she panicked.

"Sovereign! Divine Lords! What about me?! You left me behind?!"

"I'm just a mere Adeptus—a god-in-training! And now I'm alone in the temple with the Creator God?! I'm terrified!"

Thump… Thump…

The heartbeat of a daiyōkai was so loud that it echoed through the temple.

Noah's golden eyes turned toward her, his lips curving with amusement.

Even Zhongli and the Divine Lords had moments of nervous carelessness when standing before him.

But they knew better than to come back and apologize afterward—because that would be even more foolish.

Fairy Inukimi instinctively clutched her chest, her face turning pale with fear.

"The Creator God is looking at me… What do I do?!"

Her body, frozen in panic, collapsed to the ground as she knelt uncontrollably, unable to utter a single word.

Noah slowly approached.

Istaroth, watching from the side, smirked.

She knew her master all too well.

He loved toying with these little yokai pets—just like he had done with that fox spirit from Inazuma.

To Istaroth, this entire world belonged to the Heavenly Principle.

Whatever her master wanted, it was only natural.

Besides, the Heavenly Principle had human emotions—which, to his followers, was a good thing.

If he were as cold and unfeeling as Phanes, now that would be terrifying.

Noah stopped in front of Fairy Inukimi, looking down at her trembling form.

A teasing smirk played at his lips.

"Fairy Inukimi, hmm?"

"A beautiful little pet indeed."

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