The unique physics of flowing water in the MC World still hindered Zhongli's movements. However, this sensation of sinking into a swamp did not stop his onslaught.
He wielded his Trident as if it were a spear. The microscopic finesse behind this thrust was something only Ei and the Shogun could truly appreciate. Yet, even as they recognized it, they could only watch the screen in silent shock.
Jean, Eula, and Venti could clearly see the trajectory of Zhongli's weapon. But they were utterly powerless to intervene; they could only watch helplessly as the strike closed in on Diluc.
"The Momentum!" Ei said, her voice dropping an octave.
"What?" Kujou Sara blinked in confusion.
But in the next instant, she was left dumbfounded by what unfolded on the screen.
Diluc stared as the deceptively slow spear thrust towards him. He commanded his limbs to move with everything he had, but his body refused to respond. At the very last second, he gritted his teeth, forcing his iron sword up to block his front.
The clash of metal rang out, and Diluc was flung back by a single sweep of the spear.
A glimmer of appreciation flashed in Zhongli's eyes. His momentum never wavered; with a subtle flick of his wrists, the spear whipped sideways toward Jean. Jean finally understood exactly what Diluc had just faced. But just like him, she could do nothing but grit her teeth and tank the heavy impact at the absolute last microsecond.
Without losing a shred of velocity, Zhongli spun the Trident. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, the spiked butt of the weapon drove straight toward Eula. This thrust targeted her blind spot, leaving her no room to escape.
Eula, too, went flying.
The entire sequence flowed like water, achieving the absolute pinnacle of visual spectacle and combat utility. Anyone else attempting this sequence would have cross-wired their own brain. But in Zhongli's hands, it was completely second nature.
Their skirmish had lasted less than three seconds. Yet, the situation had shifted entirely from four people pincer-attacking Zhongli, to Zhongli single-handedly suppressing and thrashing all four of them.
His exquisite techniques flashed continuously. The four powerhouses pooled their efforts just to desperately check Zhongli's advance, but the results were negligible. Zhongli calmly and unhurriedly pressed them back toward their main island while maintaining his assault. It looked like a leisurely stroll in a park, supremely detached. He even found the time to casually swat away random Knights who crossed his path.
This wasn't being surrounded; this was a raid boss tormenting the entire population of Mondstadt.
He alone had surrounded Mondstadt.
"Dammit, what is this! Why can't I dodge it! Why can't I control my own body!" Diluc gritted his teeth, swapping defensive rotations with Eula as he stumbled back a few paces. "Is this the God of Martial Arts? Not only is his divine power supreme, but even his martial path is something humanity cannot hope to look up to..."
Diluc clenched his jaw, his body trembling instinctively. His very soul seemed to quail before Zhongli's martial prowess.
"Do you still not understand?" Zhongli leisurely parried their incoming strikes. To this moment, not a single attack had successfully landed on his skin. His Jade Shield felt entirely redundant.
Faced with a four-man pincer and intermittent ambushes from the Knights, Zhongli moved as if taking a stroll, even finding the leisure to lecture them.
"If you still do not understand, then there is no longer any purpose to this war. I alone can sweep Mondstadt clean."
"Curse you!" Eula felt a surge of indignation, but she couldn't voice a single word of rebuttal. Zhongli wasn't wrong at all. If this continued, it wouldn't matter how many Millelith there were, or what Xiao was planning. Within minutes, Zhongli would cut his way straight to the bed. If he wished, he could easily wipe out everyone from Mondstadt single-handedly given enough time.
"That is... that is..." Jean racked her brain, searching for the answer. A moment later, her eyes lit up brilliantly. "The Momentum! That is the Momentum! An unyielding momentum that suppresses everything beneath heaven!"
The moment she achieved enlightenment, Jean's spirits rallied. Visibly, her combat style shed all rigid technique. Her movements entered a state of perfect harmony. She no longer needed to consciously calculate how to dodge; everything flowed with the absolute freedom of divine inspiration.
With Jean breaking the ice, Diluc and Eula quickly caught on, stepping into this domain one after the other.
"Truly perceptive," Zhongli nodded with satisfaction.
In his eyes, this battle was little more than children playing house. Compared to a genuine, blood-soaked martial duel, this was closer to a training session where he instructed Jean and her companions on the secrets of the martial path. Zhongli did not hold back his teachings; after all, Jean and the others were exceptionally gifted. With a bit of guidance, they could easily become masters who communed with the divine through martial skill.
This also fulfilled a minor wish of his. He had originally wanted to teach Ryen the martial arts, given that Ryen's absurd physical strength bolstered by martial arts would be truly reality-breaking. Unfortunately, Ryen had zero desire to learn, nor did he care for it. Zhongli understood; Ryen's raw power was too vast, and he possessed ridiculous items like the Sword of Universal Dominion. To Ryen, martial finesse was far less practical than simply using brute force to crush everything.
Now, by passing his martial understanding to Jean and the others, he could foster a few powerhouses capable of standing against the Heavenly Principles. Cultivating and guiding the younger generation was, after all, another hobby of the Lord of Geo.
"In the martial path, my intent aligns with the heavenly heart, and my mind moves with absolute freedom. Rigid techniques and pre-set forms are minor, trivial paths."
"Whatever flows naturally is the perfect technique; what heaven grants you is the most flawless form. This is the Momentum."
Zhongli explained in a calm voice while continuously suppressing and battering the four powerhouses. However, compared to before, their situation had improved drastically; at the very least, they could now manage to dodge.
"Suppressing the enemy with sheer momentum leaves them with no room to escape and no path to dodge. Faced with an enemy, one can still strike back; but faced with heaven and earth, how can one resist?"
"Once you comprehend the Momentum, your martial path has crossed the threshold. You will no longer be shackled by a single form; all methods become yours to command. Forcefully crush your enemy with your martial momentum. When heaven and earth stand by your side, how can you lose?"
Though being thrashed while receiving a martial arts lecture felt incredibly bizarre, to Jean and her companions, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Catching his breath, Diluc said solemnly, "Thank you for the guidance, Lord of Geo!"
Zhongli's eyes filled with relief. His spear stance shifted once more, taking on an incredibly profound and unpredictable aura.
"Above the Momentum, what lies beyond?"
It came again! That absolute certainty that they couldn't dodge returned!
This time, it was even more absurd. They had supposedly mastered the Momentum of the martial path and should be charging forward without fear. Yet this time, even the vast momentum of heaven and earth was being forcefully suppressed. Even drawing breath became a grueling chore.
Zhongli was in no hurry to finish the match. Anyone with eyes could see that Liyue's victory was guaranteed. This guy was an absolute bug on the field; unless Ryen stepped in, no one could hold the line against him. Consequently, Zhongli wasn't eager to crush Mondstadt immediately; he wanted to teach these promising talents first.
As for Mondstadt's final curtain... let it be magnificent. This was the opening exhibition match, after all.
Thinking of this, Zhongli cast a sideways glance at Venti, who had returned to slacking off. Knowing there was no hope for a turnaround, Venti had begun casually firing arrows into the air, completely ignoring accuracy. It irritated Zhongli slightly. If Venti weren't here, this teaching session would probably be a lot more satisfying.
"Above the Momentum... Above the Momentum!" Jean gritted her teeth, tanking Zhongli's strikes. By now, Zhongli's attacks dealt no damage; he simply flicked them away with minimal effort. But even after pondering for a long while, she couldn't find the answer.
Zhongli let out a quiet sigh. He shouldn't push them too hard. They had only just grasped the Momentum; trying to comprehend the next layer was still too distant a leap.
"Above the Momentum lies the Intent."
"The True Intent of Martial Arts: using my intent to supplant the heavenly intent. My intent rises higher than heaven's purpose; my mind transcends the cosmic heart. The True Intent of Martial Arts fortifies the depth of the soul and accommodates infinite possibilities. When heaven and earth are but a speck, how can they cage a true dragon?"
As his words fell, Jean and her companions seemed to catch a fleeting glimpse of something profound, yet it slipped through their fingers. They could do nothing but memorize the words by force.
"Thank you for the instruction, Morax," Jean replied in a steady voice.
Zhongli nodded slightly. His stance shifted as he pulled back his Trident and stood in place. A dense, absolutely inviolable aura suddenly erupted from his silhouette. He didn't attack, but merely standing there stripped Jean and her team of all desire to resist. It felt as though they were facing the crushing pressure of the entire world; before them stood an infinitely high mountain...
The dozen or so Knights who had been planning a sneak attack from the flanks instinctively scrambled backward, their faces pale with terror as they gasped for air.
"Above the Intent, what lies beyond?" Zhongli asked in a soft, airy tone.
This time, Jean and her companions fell into total silence.
"This move again..." Ei suddenly stood up on the observation deck, her eyes burning as she stared at Zhongli.
"Lady Ei, you recognize it?" Kujou Sara asked hurriedly.
Ei shook her head, her voice low and solemn. "I don't know it... but I recognize it."
"Back when the original Seven first gathered, the Pyro Archon and I challenged Morax. At that time, I had just entered the stage of Martial Intent, believing my martial skills to be without equal under heaven. However, Morax's Martial Intent was purer than mine, and his horizon was broader than my own."
"The Pyro Archon and I managed to trade several hundred blows with him. Because of that, the world often claims that the Pyro Archon and I were only narrowly defeated after a grueling battle. But I understood, and the Pyro Archon understood as well: we were defeated from the very first blow."
Ei's gaze grew complex as she reminisced. "After several hundred blows, Morax saw the purity of our martial paths, and so he unleashed this very move. It is an existence that reigns supreme above the True Intent of Martial Arts. The moment I witnessed it, I understood that through pure martial arts alone, I could not withstand a single strike from it."
"Later, I studied with single-minded devotion, bringing my Martial Intent to absolute mastery, yet I could never decipher the true essence of that realm. Ultimately, I could only mimic him, which led to the creation of the Musou no Hitotachi. Even so, the Musou no Hitotachi reached a state of near-perfection. The moment the blade is swung, heaven and earth are suppressed, and nothing can stand before it. I believed that with this, I could finally match his martial path..."
Ei sighed with deep emotion. "Later, I challenged him again. But under the weight of erosion, his martial path had dropped back down to the mastery of Martial Intent. I felt an immense sense of regret. Morax's martial path in his prime was a realm without precedent, and to this day, has seen no successor. But erosion ground that martial path away..."
"When I learned recently that Zhongli had cleansed his erosion, I suspected he had returned to this realm. Looking at him now, my suspicions were correct. The path ahead in martial arts has opened once more; I must challenge him!"
Ei's eyes burned with passion. She had been stuck at the peak of Martial Intent for far too long; she desperately needed a sufficiently grueling battle to break through. Apart from Zhongli, no one else could help her bridge that gap.
"This is Mondstadt's battle right now. If you want to challenge him, wait until afterward," Makoto comforted her softly. Ei took a deep breath, suppressing her impulse.
Aether also felt a wave of relief. Thank goodness Zhongli had been eroded back in the day: otherwise, with this level of martial skill paired with his raw divine power, Aether would have been turned into fertilizer long ago.
"Dammit! Why!" Childe knelt on the ground, slamming his fists into the floor in pure frustration. "I want to fight Zhongli too! This is too unfair! I fought to the death for so long just to barely scratch the surface of Momentum, so why did they get to understand it in just a few minutes! And they even get to hear about Martial Intent and the realms beyond! I want to join too!"
"It's all your fault, Scaramouche! If you hadn't died so quickly, we could be fighting Zhongli right now!"
Hearing this, Scaramouche's face turned black. He huffed but offered no response, though internally, he felt a trace of regret as well. Zhongli's martial path was something that literally everyone, except Ryen, coveted.
Thinking of this, the crowd glanced at Ryen. Faced with this display of supreme martial prowess, Ryen remained completely unbothered, cheerfully chatting with Ningguang and the others. Since the outcome was decided, they could already begin brainstorming the arrangements for later.
It wasn't surprising... Ryen's raw strength, paired with the Sword of Universal Dominion and Imaginary energy, was the definition of brute force overriding everything. No amount of martial finesse mattered to him. He didn't care about what was fair or logical.
"Above the True Intent of Martial Arts... what lies beyond?" Diluc stared intently at Zhongli.
The latter remained silent for a long time before tilting his head back to gaze at the sky.
"I do not know either."
"..."