Chapter 7: Gold Medal Worker Zhongli
"Aiden, how much Mora do you think this could sell for?"
Inside the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor, Aiden was slightly disappointed to find that Hu Tao, the director he had been looking forward to meeting, was not there. It seemed she had gone to Wuwang Hill—a shame, as he had wanted to witness her eccentric personality firsthand.
However, Zhongli, the consultant of the Funeral Parlor, appeared to hold a high status within it. Without much difficulty, he arranged a nice guest room for Aiden.
Just as Zhongli was about to leave, Aiden stopped him.
"This is… an unawakened Vision," Zhongli said, his golden eyes narrowing slightly as he examined the object in Aiden's hand.
Seeing the unawakened Vision, Zhongli felt an overwhelming urge to sigh.
Many people believed that Visions were bestowed directly by the Seven Archons, but Zhongli knew the truth—they had nothing to do with the Archons at all.
If there existed unawakened Visions, it was theoretically possible to awaken them. However, the distribution of Visions was governed by the Heavenly Principles, something even the Archons could not directly control.
Yet here Aiden was, casually considering selling an unawakened Vision as if it were a common commodity.
If the Fatui Harbingers—especially those greedy for power—caught wind of this, they would be in an uproar.
"Well, I don't have any Mora on me," Aiden said, twirling the Vision in his fingers. "And I doubt you'd let me break the rules here. So, I figured I might as well sell this Vision instead.
It might not even awaken, so it's not like it'll have much of an impact.
The real question is, how much can I get for it?"
Zhongli pondered for a moment before replying, "Ningguang once acquired an unawakened Vision in the past. I assisted in unlocking its power. However, without elemental resonance, it remains a mere object.
She was rather disappointed when she realized she couldn't sell it for as much as she had hoped.
That said, if you sell it to Ningguang, you'll likely get a fair price. One hundred million Mora should be reasonable."
Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Sounds like a good deal. Selling this kind of thing to Ningguang does seem like a safe bet."
One hundred million Mora was quite a fortune in Liyue.
Aiden sighed. Even as someone with power comparable to the Heavenly Principles, he still had to work for a living.
Without hesitation, he opened the chat group and sent a picture of the Vision to Ningguang.
Aiden: Hey, rich lady. Interested in this?
Ningguang, who was in the middle of discussing Basic Internal Strength with Keqing, nearly choked on her tea at Aiden's message.
She knew she was wealthy—the richest woman in all of Teyvat, in fact—but this was the first time someone had outright called her a rich lady.
But when she saw the picture Aiden had sent, her amber eyes sparkled with intrigue.
Ningguang: I'll take it. But where did this Vision come from?
Aiden: Picked it up in the wild. Feel free to inspect it. If I hadn't just arrived in Liyue and found myself broke, I wouldn't have considered selling it. Who knows? Maybe I could awaken it myself.
Ningguang exchanged glances with Keqing.
This was the perfect opportunity to meet Aiden in person and perhaps uncover more about his thoughts on the chat group.
Without hesitation, Ningguang responded.
Ningguang: Five years ago, I purchased an unawakened Vision for 80 million Mora. The market price has increased since then, but Visions remain rare and difficult to obtain. 100 million Mora should be fair.
Aiden was momentarily stunned.
So Morax really is Morax…
Even though Zhongli tended to spend money freely, he still had an expert grasp of the market value of rare items.
Aiden: Alright. How do we make the trade?
Ningguang: Tomorrow at noon, Keqing and I will host a banquet for you and Mr. Zhongli at Liuli Pavilion. We also have several questions about this chat group.
Before Aiden could reply, Zhongli responded in the chat.
Zhongli: Agreed.
Aiden chuckled. It seemed Zhongli was still concerned about Liyue's future stability.
He was confident in Ningguang and Keqing—but as for the rest of the Liyue Qixing, that remained uncertain.
Aiden: It's an honor to be invited by Lady Ningguang.
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The Next Morning
The night passed in the blink of an eye.
Aiden, with his current strength, didn't actually need to sleep. However, he chose to maintain normal human habits—eating, sleeping, and resting.
But the others in the chat group were busy all night.
Aiden had assumed Zhongli wouldn't make any big moves right away.
He was wrong.
Zhongli had traveled to the Chasm and purified Abyssal corruption for the entire night.
Of course, the main issue was that Aiden's strength wasn't high enough yet—which meant the purification process was slow.
In just one night, Zhongli had purified tens of thousands of units of Abyssal filth.
And yet, it was only a small fraction of what plagued the Chasm.
Like Zhongli, Xiao had also spent the night intermittently purifying demonic energy from himself.
Thanks to their efforts, Aiden's strength had increased significantly—by about one-fifth compared to the previous day.
His plan was working.
At this rate, he might not even need to obtain another Gnosis.
With Zhongli and Xiao assisting him, he could reach the level of the Archons through pure refinement alone.
When Aiden stepped out of his room, he found Zhongli sitting in the courtyard, calmly drinking his morning tea.
Aiden smirked. "Morning. Looks like you had quite the productive night."
Zhongli poured him a cup of tea and replied, "Indeed. The Chasm's corruption is still severe. Purifying it entirely will take a long time.
However, I am not the only one who can cleanse it. In the future, more people will gain the ability to purify the Abyss.
At the very least, the spread of corruption has been curtailed, and over time, we may be able to fully cleanse it.
Once that happens, the Chasm may finally reopen."
Zhongli's voice carried a sense of relief—this had been a longstanding concern for him.
Aiden chuckled. "Well, your efforts are beneficial to me as well.
My strength has increased greatly. If you keep this up, by the time we solve Liyue's erosion issue, I might already be halfway to an Archon's level."
After thinking for a moment, Aiden added, "By the way, could you provide me with some of Liyue's martial arts techniques?
I plan to enhance them further."
Zhongli's golden eyes flickered slightly.
"You are free to take what you need."