The Weapon Master Shall Never Die Bare-Handed in Genshin Impact [431]

“Departure itself is not erosion!!!”

Jia Changjiang roared.

“The erosion we’ve experienced—belongs to us alone!”

“What matters most within you and me… has never eroded!!!”

Swinging his greatsword with tremendous force, Jia blasted Lumine and Zhongli back.

“Erosion is something imposed upon all things in this world… No one—no object—can escape it.”

“Zhongli, your departure from your role… for the people of Liyue, it was a loss like none they’d ever known.”

“You chose to become just another ordinary citizen of Liyue… to bear witness to a nation made by mortals. Was that wrong?”

Jia turned to Zhongli and said, “Liyue still stands. The name of the Geo Archon still endures.”

“Erosion…”

He pointed his greatsword toward Zhongli. “Zhongli! If one day my life comes to its end… would you say that is erosion laid upon you by the Heavenly Principles?!”

“……”

Zhongli remained silent before the pointed question.

“Answer me!!!”

Jia roared again.

It wasn’t anger toward Zhongli—Jia Changjiang was furious at the unfairness of it all, the bitter taste of this inevitable end.

“Morax… answer me…”

He looked up, meeting Zhongli’s gaze. “Back in The Chasm… did you ever hesitate?”

The fierce battle had quieted, just for a moment.

Even Lumine turned to look at Zhongli.

Within her, Azhdaha’s benevolent will stirred—he too wanted to hear the answer.

“Even stone has heart… so of course I did,” Zhongli finally said. “But what has come to pass… was not the wish of either of us.”

“Then tell me, Zhongli…”

Jia Changjiang asked, “If one day, my life reaches its end… do you truly think my passing would be erosion, to you?”

He took a few steps back and opened his arms wide.

“Among everyone here right now… I alone am a mortal of a single lifetime.”

“Zhongli. Lumine. Azhdaha…”

He looked at them each in turn. “Your lives extend far beyond any human span. You brush eternity. You are eternity.”

Lumine blinked, caught off guard—she hadn’t expected Jia to suddenly turn toward her as well.

“For you, time has always been abundant.”

Jia’s gaze moved between Zhongli and Lumine again.

“But I… I am a mortal.”

His voice gradually calmed.

“My entire life is but a few decades. I get sick. I bleed. I grow old… Compared to you, I’m like a mayfly, born in the blink of a moment.”

“But our meeting—was never meant to end in farewell.”

He reached out his hand to Zhongli and Lumine. “What we’ve shared—this time together—shouldn’t be remembered as erosion.”

“My time is too short to waste.”

He smiled faintly. “There’s a poem from my homeland…”

“‘I cast the mayfly into heaven and earth, a mere speck in the boundless sea.’”

He quoted it softly. “‘I mourn the brevity of life—and envy the river’s endless flow.’”

“How fitting… Longjiang—Changjiang. My name means just that.”

He laughed. “An endless river. Flowing for millennia, never stopping for a single day.”

“Erosion? Eternity?”

The corners of his mouth curled upward. “To me… everything else in this world is eternity.”

“I am the mayfly of the moment. The mayfly that dares shake the tree.”

Jia clenched his fist.

“Even if the day comes when I die…”

He opened his hand again.

“I’ll have already left behind my own eternity.”

Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath. Then looked to Zhongli once more.

“Morax died under the eyes of all Liyue… and yet, Liyue endures.”

“You, Zhongli, caused the greatest erosion Liyue has ever known… and yet, that erosion was not a bad thing.”

“Morax is still remembered. And Liyue will continue on.”

“That is eternity.”

Jia looked directly at him. “Your lifespan is long… but it will end, someday.”

“But life—and the will passed on through it—won’t.”

“Those who died centuries ago… their thoughts, their ideals, their life’s meaning… live on in the hearts of their descendants.”

“That… is eternity.”

“And if someday, even memory itself is eroded…”

He gripped his greatsword again and charged toward Zhongli.

“Then move forward anyway!”

“Right now—!”

“Let us settle the past, and forge a new contract!!!!”

---

At that moment, Old Dai and the others, rushing toward the area around Nantianmen, felt a powerful quake ripple from the south.

Wave after wave, like something tremendous was colliding again and again.

And within Nantianmen, beneath the Dragon-Queller’s seal—

Jia Changjiang, now half-human, half-dragon, was locked in full combat with Zhongli and Lumine.

This time, Zhongli was not simply wielding his spear in passive defense. Once the War God of old, he now gripped it with all his strength—and hurled it at Jia Changjiang.

They were doing everything they could to contain the destruction within this area.

But despite fending off wave after wave, in the end, the rain of Geo spears broke through Jia’s defense, pinning him against the stone wall—immobilized.

The battle… had come to its end.

Jia let go of his sword. The Geo constructs that once enveloped it faded away, leaving behind only a nearly shattered, cold-forged blade.

“Looks like you’re still stronger after all…”

Zhongli stepped forward toward where he was pinned. Jia lowered his head slightly and said, “As expected… of the War God…”

“Now… are you Azhdaha, or Jia Changjiang?” Zhongli hesitated, then asked.

“Does it matter?”

Jia smiled at him. “Even if it was short… how does it feel, having two friends become one person?”

“Isn’t it like… double the happiness?”

He coughed a few times and then saw Lumine walk up as well.

“Ah… wait, that’s right. Lumine and the other Azhdaha too…”

“Make that four times the happiness.”

Zhongli shook his head, a wry smile on his face.

“It wasn’t strength… just a matter of timing and advantage.”

“Ha… strong is strong. If you downplay it like that, then what was the point of all my effort?” Jia chuckled.

Then, his tone softened.

“Azhdaha doesn’t truly hate you.”

“He just… forgot too much. Even what you once looked like.”

Jia lowered his head, gazing at the man before him.

“If he hadn’t wanted to remember… he wouldn’t have felt the hatred in the first place.”

---

This is a fan translation of 武器大师在原神绝不死于徒手 by 徐人双 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!