Genshin Impact: Being a Male God in Liyue

"Ding."

The scenery before his eyes suddenly faded like an old photograph, all colors draining away as every sound fell into dead silence.

Then, Xia Zhi felt his consciousness being pulled into a massive vortex.

So this is what transmigration feels like?

Everything in his vision began to twist and distort.

Xia Zhi felt as if he was sitting on a light-speed train, watching countless indescribable shadows flash past the window into the void.

Small ones, massive ones, beautiful ones, twisted ones...

In Xia Zhi's eyes, each strange shadow had a peculiar progress bar that only he could see.

Progress: [0%]

The progress bars came in different colors - most were iron-colored, some were silver, fewer were golden, and a rare few were platinum gray.

These colors indicated the quality of reward chest one would receive when the progress bar reached [100%].

Iron chest, Silver chest, Golden chest, Platinum chest.

Suddenly, Xia Zhi's heart trembled, as if sensing something. He couldn't help but turn his head toward a certain direction.

In some unfathomably distant place, he saw a slender, beautiful shadow.

No, he didn't see It.

It saw him.

Xia Zhi had merely turned his head when his gaze accidentally collided with Its casual glance. He was dragged across countless voids in an inexplicable way, making eye contact with It.

He had no way to describe in words just how beautiful and brilliant yet how cold and terrifying those eyes were.

Brighter than the sun, purer than the moon, deeper than the stars, as if It had watched countless ages pass from the heavens...

In just an instant, Xia Zhi's consciousness was forcibly thrown into a daze.

"Warning! Do not gaze directly at gods!"

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, host consciousness is collapsing!"

"Newbie gift package automatically converted to anti-divine properties package."

"Package drawing in progress."

"Host has obtained Virtue Template! Template loaded, rationality quantified, maximum pressure value is 200."

"Pressure has reached 100, host's beliefs are being tested."

"Obtained Virtue: [Firmness]!"

"Gained attribute boost: [+15% Defense, +8% Death Resistance]"

"Pressure adjusted to 45."

A cool sensation spread throughout his body as Xia Zhi's consciousness suddenly snapped back to clarity.

The warning messages had already flooded his system interface.

So that was a god?

Just one glance could annihilate him from an unimaginable distance?

A flash of awe appeared in Xia Zhi's eyes, but he didn't look away.

It wasn't that he didn't want to look away - he simply couldn't break free from Its gaze. He couldn't even blink.

He was completely powerless, the passive party in this encounter.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 95."

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 105."

"Virtue effect: When pressure exceeds 100, no negative effects will occur. At pressure 200, death will be prevented, but virtue will be removed and pressure reset to zero."

...

The system interface continued flooding with warnings, alerts constantly ringing in his mind.

Xia Zhi could only silently maintain eye contact with that being through the translucent system interface.

Like other indescribable entities, It too had a progress bar that only he could see.

But Its progress bar was a rare, sparkling diamond color.

Progress: [15%]

Xia Zhi's eyes quickly swept over that progress bar, his thoughts flashing like lightning with a guess.

Could it be that the higher an entity's rank, the higher quality their progress bar's color?

And could this eye contact with It count as a form of interaction? One that could increase the progress?

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 195."

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 200."

"Virtue [Firmness] removed, pressure reset to 0."

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 10."

As [Firmness] was removed, that cool sensation in his body disappeared. Xia Zhi felt his rationality suddenly lose some kind of support, making it impossible to maintain calm eye contact with It.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 20."

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 30."

The pressure continued climbing as an indescribable fear, like a slithering snake, crawled from his feet to his heart.

Do not gaze directly at gods!

How dare you gaze directly at gods!

Countless voices seemed to ring in his mind with accusations and curses, including familiar voices of his family and friends.

Xia Zhi silently watched It while thinking to himself: "System, block all senses except vision."

In the next moment, the whole world became quiet.

In his vision, the progress bar on Its body had passed halfway.

Progress: [75%]

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 100."

"Pressure has reached 100, host's beliefs are being tested."

"Obtained Torment [Obsession]!"

"Gained attribute penalty: [-25% Damage, -5 Precision, +2 Speed, +10 Evasion]"

"World coordinates locked, transfer immediately?"

A different prompt suddenly appeared among the flooding warning messages on the translucent system interface.

A burning sensation spread throughout his body, but Xia Zhi unhesitatingly chose "No" and continued to stare intently at It.

It's possible!

At this rate, he could fill the progress bar before his pressure maxed out and his sanity collapsed!

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 110."

With pressure exceeding 100 and no virtue effect, negative effects began affecting his body.

Blood vessels appeared in his eyes.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 130."

More and more blood vessels appeared.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 150."

His eyes had turned completely blood-red.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 170."

Blood began continuously dripping from his eye corners.

"Warning! Under divine corrosion, pressure +10, currently 190."

"Progress bar has reached 100%, obtained Diamond Chest reward."

By now Xia Zhi's vision had turned completely dark. He smiled silently and thought to himself.

"System, transfer."

His entire being immediately vanished without a trace.

In that distant place, that beautiful figure tilted Its head slightly, seeming somewhat puzzled by the sudden disappearance of someone who dared to maintain eye contact with It.

It quietly gazed at that spot for a moment, then, as if losing interest, gently moved Its gaze away.