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Like Father, Like Son

Summary:

AU where everything is the same except Zhongli is Rex Lapis…'s son.

"Wait, what?!" Paimon shrieks. "Your father- wh- we thought YOU were Rex Lapis! It's you on the Statues of the Seven!"
"Ah," Realization dawns on Zhongli. He understands where they’re coming from now. "A simple misunderstanding. That is my father's form depicted on the Statues of the Seven in Liyue, but I happen to hear that we look remarkably alike, because I am related to him."

Notes:

Hello everyone! It's Gwen. This idea popped into my head and it was so fucking funny to me I had to write it. Thanks to Opal for enabling me!

Note: this story contains spoilers for the Mondstadt Archon quest storyline, the Liyuen Archon quest storyline, Venti's backstory, and Zhongli's backstory. This takes place at the start of the Liyue Archon questline.
Everything else is just pure speculation, either from popular genshin theories or stuff that I just made up.
Another note is that this story was first conceptualized and drafted before the 2.5 update, so pardon me for any lore inconsistencies especially after that.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Lumine takes the sigil of permission and runs

The path from Liyue Harbour to the heart of Jueyun is a long and perilous one. She leaps over any slimes that burst out of the ground, hoping that it will slow down the Millelith (optimistically, but doubtful), and she steers clear of any hilichurl camps she spots in the distance because she's sure they'll trip her up even if she tries to dash through them.

She runs into a geovishap who spots her before she can make an escape, and this one she strikes down - it sets her back by a good few minutes. The bone shards she extricates from the creature's corpse makes it worth it, though, and she doesn't actually want the Millelith dead, despite them pursuing her. (Not that Lumine doesn't think they couldn't handle a geovishap, except that she thinks just that. If her travels have taught her anything, it was not to underestimate any one individual but not to overestimate a group of them. She didn't spot any vision holders in the squad chasing her.) 

She barely makes it all the way to Jueyun Karst - just managing to keep a few steps ahead of the party of Millelith pursuing her. 

The ground rumbles underneath her feet, noticeable enough such that even Paimon who's hovering over her shoulder makes distressed yelps.

A… stag? Looms above them. It's larger than any animal she's ever seen yet, fur patterned in a myriad of colours, eyes glowing amber.

"And who might you be?" Says the stag. Normal animals, Lumine also knows, can't talk. Unless they float. "Those that dare enter Jueyun Karst?"

Paimon whispers loudly to her, "that must be one of the adepti!"

Lumine shows the sigil of permission, prepared to run back to Liyue Harbour to kick Childe’s ass if it turned out to be fake.

"A Sigil of Permission... Many a season has passed since one was last in the presence of such an item.” Ah. The fatuus lives another day. 

“He before you is the mighty and illuminated adeptus, Moon Carver. Speak, traveler. What business have you here?"

Paimon starts, “actually-”

The Millelith thunder into view. ”It's the assassin! They dared to flee here to Jueyun Karst!”

Dammit. Maybe Lumine should have left the geovishap for them after all.

Then Moon Carver says, “See them gone. One will not have interruption.” 

Which is just as well for Lumine. Now that she has gotten express permission from the mighty and illuminated adepti to kick the Millelith out…

 

 

 

The Millelith lie unconscious in a heap. Moon Carver seems unconcerned about the bodies on his land, instead turning back to Lumine. Paimon immediately launches into an explanation of the events - the Rite of Descension, Lumine and Paimon visiting as ordinary tourists from Mondstadt, Rex Lapis falling to his death from the sky-

“PREPOSTEROUS!”

Paimon squeaks, and darts behind Lumine.

“Traveler, of the unjust accusations placed upon you, one has become aware.” Moon Carver inclines his head. 

The whole situation is a little funny, if Lumine considers it. The only thing different about herself and the Millelith is the sigil of permission she holds - is this little trinket that powerful, that her word is immediately taken over the large group of native Liyuens that have come to apprehend her? How did the Fatui come to have this in his possession, anyways?

Moon Carver continues, “go. Take your Sigil of Permission, carry with you a message.”

Lumine nods. “Who should I look for?”

Moon Carver pauses, almost considering. “You have arrived here from Liyue Harbour, correct? Perhaps you have seen… ah, never mind.”

“Is there someone we have to look for in Liyue Harbour?” Paimon asks.

Moon Carver shakes his head. “No, you should not concern yourself with such matters. That will be something for one's fellows to handle.”

“Alright then, if you’re sure,” Paimon says.

Moon Carver directs them to the other adepti - two more, deeper into Jueyun, and one other who resides on top of Wangshu.

 

 

 

They look for the adepti in the mountains, first. Paimon yet again refuses to explain how she flies, so Lumine has to scale towering heights with her hands and knees. Moon Carver had pointed her towards a trail of amber on Mount Hulao, and said he would see to the unconscious Millelith - hopefully he puts in a good word for her as well so she doesn't get arrested on the way to Wangshu later on.

They stumble upon two unlucky adventurers who call them adepti messengers, which Lumine figures is sort of true, since they are sending a message to the adepti. They quickly make themselves scarce.

Then a crane descends upon the heavens and accuses them of setting some thieves free, which… oops.

“Moon Carver sent us,” Lumine says, presenting her sigil of permission. 

The crane, whom she learns is Mountain Shaper, hums and haws over the sigil for a moment, then Paimon quickly jumps into her explanation.

Mountain Shaper reacts similarly to Moon Carver - disbelief that his god can be assassinated, then anger that his god had been assassinated, and then saying that he needed to confer with his other adepti.

A little inconvenient, then, that Lumine has to be the one scaling mountains and inns to find the other two. Surely Mountain Shaper, who 1. Can fly, 2. Knows the location of the other adepti, and 3. Has to speak to them anyways, pass the message himself?

“Traveler,” Mountain Shaper says, “you said… you have come from Liyue Harbour, correct?”

“I came straight from the Rite of Descension.”

“Then, one must ask…” Mountain Shaper ruffles a wing, looking as disgruntled as a crane can be. “Did you perchance encounter any… notable individuals?”

“Moon Carver asked us something like that, too!” Paimon says. 

Notable individuals? He didn’t mean the Fatui, did he?

Lumine shakes her head. “What do they look like?”

Mountain Shaper pauses, then looks away. “...One need not burden you with adepti affairs.”

“Is there another adeptus in Liyue Harbour?” Paimon asks. “Do we have to find them too?”

Mountain Shaper says, “One will depart as soon as one has attended to this matter. One trusts that the manner of your departure will be swifter in nature.”

Okay then.

 

 

 

“Surely if there is an adeptus in Liyue Harbour, they would have been at the Rite of Descension!” Paimon is saying to her. “I hear the adepti prefer living away from humans in places like this, you know! Do you think there’s an adeptus in the Harbour?”

“Even if there was, we probably didn’t meet them,” Lumine says to her. They had gone to the Rite the very moment they stepped foot in the Harbour. Although apparently one of the adepti lives at Wangshu Inn, so surely they must not be as isolated from humans as previously thought?

The top of Mount Aozang is deserted. Rather scenic, with a nice wading pool and a table set up for lunch, but no adepti whatsoever. Paimon suggests… cooking. 

Miraculously? It works. The adeptus who must be Cloud Retainer beckons them into a domain, and if her Teyvatian travels have taught Lumine anything, it was how to quickly make her way through one. 

Puzzles, puzzles, more puzzles… there’s a surprising number of mechanisms that can activate if you hit it hard enough… or randomly enough. 

Although in place of a treasure chest at the end of this domain, there is instead another crane. “One is most impressed. The path that leads through this abode defies those of ordinary abilities.”

“It’s all thanks to Lumine over here!” Paimon cheers.

Cloud Retainer says, “get to the point.” Well she actually says many more words, but they can be surmised as so.

Paimon clears her throat and begins her lengthy explanation for the third time. Lumine’s glad she’s here to do all the speaking.

Cloud Retainer reacts like this: disbelief, then anger, then- well, it stops at anger. She says, “perhaps one shall squash Liyue first, then convene with the other adepti–”

“Wait what?!” Paimon squeaks. “Did you just say squash Liyue Harbor? Are you seriously gonna wipe out the whole city?”

Cloud Retainer gives Paimon a disdainful look. 

Lumine crosses her arms as Paimon flails, trying to defend the very Harbour which killed Rex Lapis. She understands Cloud Retainer’s frustration, honestly - she’s partway through her quest of turning Teyvat inside out to find Aether, and if she has to look under every single wooden floorboard... 

She doesn’t voice any of that, though, because Cloud Retainer sounds like she’s one validation away from fulfilling her dreams. She says, “isn’t there an adeptus in Liyue Harbour?”

Cloud Retainer sniffs. “There is more than one adeptus in Liyue Harbour.”

Huh. Cool. 

“Oh, yeah!” Paimon says. “Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper were talking about one of them, I think."

“This is a matter one should see to personally,” Cloud Retainer says. And then she tactfully tells them to leave.

“I don’t get it,” Paimon says, when they’re safely outside of the adeptus’ abode. “Is the adeptus at Liyue Harbour someone super important? Why is everyone talking about them?”

 

 

 

The adeptus at Wangshu Inn, according to the Innkeeper, can be coaxed out with food offerings. Almond tofu, specifically.

Lumine doesn't know what she was expecting - another crane? A stag to balance the scales? - but it certainly wasn't an ordinary looking man, who for all intents and purposes could pass off as a regular (slightly eccentric) Inn-goer in Liyue. 

Which, she supposes, is the point of a disguise.

The conqueror of demons, who tells her to call him Xiao, reacts first with the expected disbelief then breaks the mold to express… distress. More so than his adeptal counterparts.

“Rex Lapis... How could this be?” Xiao says, gripping his plate, eyes large. “I... can't imagine it. Though times have changed, I've never imagined a Liyue without him.”

“Um,” Paimon says. “You okay?”

“This is terrible,” Xiao says. “What will he say?”

“He?” Paimon says. “Are you talking about that one important adeptus at Liyue Harbour?”

Xiao’s gaze snaps up. Paimon squeaks and darts behind Lumine.

“How did you hear of him?” Xiao demands. “Have you met him?”

“We heard about him from the other adepti,” Lumine tells him.  

“I see…” Xiao frowns down at his plate. “It’s not something you should concern yourself with. I will handle it.”

“If you’re sure,” Paimon says.

“We’re headed back to Liyue Harbour, if you’re coming,” Lumine says. 

“No need,” Xiao answers. 

“Wait!” Paimon says. “But who is-”

Xiao disappears in a cloud of smoke.

 

 

 

Paimon stomps her foot in the air. "Why do the adepti keep ignoring my questions!"