Genshin Impact: A Guide to the Unofficial History of Teyvat — Chapter 71

Chapter 71: National Day Extra – The Millelith’s Steadfastness (Part 2)

The esteemed consultant of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor had recently acquired a new book. The paper was crisp to the touch, and the sharp scent of fresh ink still clung to the pages. It had been enthusiastically shoved into his hands by the Hall Master, Hu Tao, who had procured it from who-knows-where.

She had leaned in mysteriously, her plum-blossom eyes wide. “Consultant, you have to read this quickly. The story is incredibly well-written. Who knows, maybe it will give you some fresh inspiration for our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor business expansion plans!”

Zhongli could only offer a helpless, quiet smile. Now, seated alone in the tranquil resting room of the parlor, he slowly unfurled the bound pages over a steaming cup of clear tea.

“The writing on the stone tablet has grown mottled…”

The very first sentence of the opening passage felt like a sudden gust of wind carrying the coarse dust and sand of The Chasm, blowing open the heavy curtain of time itself. His calm, golden eyes rippled slightly at the imagery.

He read word by word, his handsome features as steady and unmoving as ancient bedrock. When he reached the passage about the young soldier taking a solemn oath before the towering statue of Lord Rex Lapis, his gloved finger lightly brushed over his own divine title. When the narrative shifted to Bosacius arriving on a sea of clouds, accompanied by thunder that shook the heavens, a flicker of deep, complex reminiscence flashed in his amber gaze. It was a quiet memory of an old friend, and a silent tribute to those tragic, blood-soaked years.

He continued reading until he reached the fourth section, where a quiet conversation by a bedside was detailed with striking clarity.

“Nonsense!”

“Lord Rex Lapis… I… I am already a useless person…”

“The sacrifice of the Millelith is to allow the living to live better…”

“…Your battle is not yet over.”

The scenes from that distant era vividly surfaced before his eyes, perfectly aligning with the printed words. He remembered the desperate, tear-streaked face of that young man. He remembered the crushing weight of guilt and powerlessness that had almost broken the youth’s spirit, and the heavy complexity churning within his own heart at that exact moment. There had been both fury at his people’s reckless disregard for their own lives, and an endless, hollow sorrow.

Zhongli closed his eyes. Only after a long, heavy silence did he let out a soft breath. That sigh was incredibly light, yet it seemed to carry the crushing weight of a thousand years.

It turned out that in that child’s heart, those few simple words and that battered set of armor had actually become the bedrock supporting the rest of his mortal life. He had lived on, transforming into a glimmer of light that illuminated the paths of others.

Zhongli’s gaze finally landed on the concluding lines.

“He, and countless Nameless like him, are the eternal witnesses of this spirit.”

“Indeed…” Zhongli murmured in a low, resonant voice, audible only to the empty room. “Liyue’s foundation has never been built solely upon the protection of the gods, but on the Millelith, forged by the flesh, blood, and unyielding will of these countless nameless mortals.”

He carefully rolled the pages back together and placed the book into a wooden box. Standing up from his chair, he pushed open the wooden lattice window and looked out at the warm, glowing lights of ten thousand homes stretching across Liyue Harbor. That vibrant slice of human life reflected in his ancient eyes, turning into a light far warmer and more solid than the distant stars.

Meanwhile, in the dusty resting area of a military camp on the outskirts of the city, a young Millelith soldier who had just finished his grueling daily drills was clutching a new book he had purchased from the Wanwen Bookhouse. He read it with absolute, rapt attention. The surrounding noise of clashing weapons and shouting comrades seemed to drift entirely away from him.

“Black Tide… Lord Bosacius… Leading demons into the Abyss…” he murmured under his breath.

These terrifying terms, which had only ever appeared in the fragmented, whispered stories passed down by grizzled veterans, now painted a clear, heroic, and devastating picture in his mind.

When he read about the young soldier being held down by Bosacius, hearing the words “Someone has to remember today,” the young reader’s eyes turned red. When he reached the part where a dying veteran smiled and said, “Moppet, live on, and see the peaceful years for us,” he suddenly clenched his fists. His fingernails sank deep into his calloused palms.

He could almost hear the ancient battle cry echoing across the bloodied battlefield, and he could feel the unhealed pain carried in the howling winds of The Chasm. He thought of the proud oath he had taken when he first enlisted, and the arduous but mundane daily training he complained about. Compared to the sheer tragedy and sacrifice in the story, he realized just how incredibly fortunate he was.

Closing the book, his heart surged with a turbulent emotion that refused to settle. He walked straight back to the training ground, picked up his heavy wooden spear, and began practicing his forms. He thrust, picked, parried, and blocked against the empty air over and over again. Every single movement was sharper, more forceful, and infinitely more determined than before.

‘Seniors,’he whispered in his heart, sweat dripping from his brow.’The peaceful years you protected with your lives, we have finally seen them. Please watch over us, the current generation of the Millelith. We will never let your steadfast spirit be tarnished!’

Down in the bustling city, the atmosphere was shifting.

“Hey, have you heard? There’s a new story circulating in the market about the great battle at The Chasm in the old days…”

“Are you talking about The Millelith’s Steadfastness? I read it last night. Sigh, it really makes your heart ache just thinking about it.”

In the fragrant tea houses, along the busy wooden docks, and tucked away in ordinary residential alleys, the people of Liyue began to discuss this story in hushed, reverent tones.

A mother sat on a stone bench, telling snippets of the tale to her young child. The child blinked, asking ignorantly, “Mom, why is that grandpa sitting in a chair? Why can’t he move?”

The mother pulled her child into a warm embrace and explained softly, “Because that grandpa is a hero. He suffered very, very serious injuries so he could protect our home.”

“Hero…” the child repeated, half-understanding but wide-eyed.

Elsewhere, a gruff shop owner operating a stall near the docks remained entirely silent for a long time after reading the final page. The very next morning, a fresh notice was pasted outside his shop front: All Millelith soldiers and their families receive a twenty percent discount on all purchases upon presenting their credentials.

When a neighboring merchant asked him why he was cutting his own profits, the shop owner just waved his hand dismissively. “It is nothing. I just realized that we can only do business in peace today because we are standing on the shoulders of those who carried the heaviest burdens.”

This book bore no signature and claimed no known author. Yet, with its simple, sincere, and unflinching prose, it managed to strike something buried deep within the souls of the Liyue people. It was not just an entertaining story. It acted as a mirror, reflecting the forgotten silhouettes buried beneath the dust and sand of Liyue’s long, bloody history. It transformed distant historical records into raw, felt emotion, ensuring that the title of Millelith was no longer just a uniform, but a collection of specific, flesh-and-blood heroes who felt fear, pain, and ultimate sacrifice.

Inside the Yuehai Pavilion, the atmosphere in Ningguang’s opulent office was heavy.

The Tianquan, Ningguang, held the printed story in her elegant hands. She stood before a massive, detailed map of Liyue, her deep crimson eyes fixed firmly on the dark patch representing The Chasm. As the actual manager of the nation, she knew that specific period of history intimately. There were far more precise, cold, and calculated records locked away in her secret archives.

But this story, brimming with raw literary color, struck her heart from a completely unique perspective.

“To survive and protect Liyue in another way…” she murmured softly, her voice devoid of its usual businesslike edge.

The wealthy merchant in the wheelchair depicted in the story, his agonizing choices, and his lifelong persistence were precisely the most precious inheritance Liyue possessed. It perfectly mirrored the nation’s ongoing transition from the rule of gods to the rule of humans.

“Keqing,” she turned to the Yuheng standing beside her desk. “I believe we need to accelerate the promotion of your proposal. We must increase the pension benefits for disabled veterans immediately, and we should strongly encourage the major commerce guilds to provide them with more accessible employment opportunities.”

Keqing, a young woman who had always advocated for practical, decisive action and who had once openly questioned Lord Rex Lapis himself, now stood with eyes full of complex, swirling emotions.

She nodded vigorously, her twin-tails swaying. “I completely agree. The sacrifices of our predecessors must never be forgotten, and ensuring the well-being of the living is the entire reason we hold these positions. The steadfast spirit of the Millelith should not only exist on the battlefield. It must be reflected in how we treat every single person who has bled for Liyue.”

The story served as a stark reminder to those in power. While they pursued commercial prosperity and national strength, they could never afford to forget the foundation upon which their gold was stacked.

[Hu Tao]

Although her usual tone was lively and mischievous, her plum-blossom eyes carried a rare, deep respect. “Oh my, this story is really something. It makes you want to cry and laugh at the exact same time. That grandpa later became a wealthy merchant, right? Wouldn’t he be a potential high-quality client for our Wangsheng Funeral Parlor? Cough, cough, sorry, just a professional joke! Truly, this spirit of contract and the heavy weight of human life deserve the most grand and beautiful ritual to commemorate their passing!”

[Xingqiu]

The young master was already pacing, conceiving a grand plan to spread the story further. “The writing is absolutely brilliant, and the underlying emotions are so incredibly sincere. Such a heroic epic deserves to be widely circulated across all seven nations. My Feiyun Commerce Guild will provide the necessary funding to subsidize the Wanwen Bookhouse. We will print it in massive quantities and distribute it everywhere to inspire future generations.”

[Xiangling]

Beneath her tearful emotional state was a pure kindness ready to be put into immediate action. “Wuwu… it is just so touching! That poor grandpa must have suffered so much later in life! Guoba, Guoba, don’t you agree? I am going to head into the kitchen right now and research a few new dishes. They need to be delicious, highly nutritious, and very easy to chew, perfectly suited for elderly veterans with bad teeth and mobility issues!”

[Xiao]

Perhaps he heard it from Zhongli, or perhaps on a silent, wind-swept night, he simply overheard a mortal reading it aloud by chance.

He stood alone at the very top balcony of the Wangshu Inn, his golden eyes looking out toward the distant, dark jagged edges of The Chasm in absolute silence.

Bosacius… and those small, fragile, yet impossibly resilient mortals.

He tightened his grip on the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear resting in his hand.

Protection, he realized, truly took on so many different forms.

[Yanfei]

Her sharp professional instinct immediately made her analyze the situation from a completely different angle. “From a strict legal perspective, this grandpa’s act of collecting his fallen comrades’ relics involves complex property rights and cultural heritage protection laws. It is highly meaningful! Perhaps I can draft and promote relevant legislation to better protect the relics of these national heroes, ensuring they are never improperly profited from by greedy scavengers!”

The story continued to spread, and its echoes connected endlessly through the streets.

The true story of the Millelith had never actually ended. It had merely transformed into the gentle winds of Liyue, the sturdy rocks of the mountains, and the very blood of the people, gaining true eternity in every single mortal who inherited that steadfast, unyielding will.

[Gift Bonus Progress Bar: 80%]