Novel & Cerita Zhongli X Guizhong

I spent way too long searching for something decent with these two. You'd think a pairing that builds off such strong lore would be everywhere, but it's surprisingly niche compared to the more popular Liyue ships. Archive of Our Own is still your central hub—tag filtering is a lifesaver there. Sort by 'Kudos' and you'll hit the highlights pretty fast. The 'Xianyun & Zhongli' tag has some fantastic world-building pieces that imagine post-canon Liyade politics or ancient Adepti history. I found this one, 'Of Birds and Contracts,' that's mostly introspective, focusing on their shared burden of longevity. It's not your typical romance, which is why I liked it.

Don't sleep on the 'Genshin Impact' community on SpaceBattles or QuestionableQuesting either, if you're into more plot-heavy or crossover stuff. The prose can be a bit drier, but some authors there treat the world with a serious, almost academic reverence that fits these characters. Just be prepared to wade through a lot of discussion threads to find the actual story posts.

The search for good stories about those two always leads me back to Archive of Our Own. Their tag system is really thorough, so you can filter for the pairing and then sort by kudos or bookmarks. That usually surfaces the most popular works. I sometimes cross-check on fanfiction.net out of habit, but the tagging there is a mess for something this specific, and the quality is way more hit-or-miss. The good stuff tends to migrate to AO3 anyway.

What's tricky is that 'top-ranked' can mean different things. A story with thousands of kudos might be a fun, tropey one-shot that lots of people enjoyed, while a slower, more introspective character study might have a smaller but more dedicated following. I usually look at the comments, too. If readers are analyzing the themes and writing thoughtful essays in the comments, that's often a better sign of a deeply rewarding story than just the kudos count alone. My favorite one for this pairing is probably 'Rex Lapis Takes a Vacation,' which is just a wonderfully quiet slice-of-life thing about responsibilities.

I keep seeing the same few tropes when I browse for Xianyun/Cloud Retainer and Zhongli fics, and honestly? They've gotten a little predictable. A huge chunk is post-Lantern Rite 'what if' scenarios—like, Zhongli decides to visit the adeptus for tea after the festivities, and one thing leads to another amid all that quiet, misty mountain atmosphere. It's cozy, sure, but after the tenth version it blurs together.

There's also a weird amount of 'modern AU with a twist' where he's a university archaeology professor and she's a brilliant but reclusive tech CEO or something. They meet at a conference. I think writers lean into that because it mirrors their canon dynamic of ancient wisdom meeting inventive, forward-thinking genius, but in a setting where the baggage of godhood is removed. It can work, but it often ends up feeling less like them and more like generic smart-people romance.

What I wish I saw more of is fics that really dig into the pre-Archon War era. We get hints of their shared history, but not much. Exploring their first meeting, or a conflict during the war where their philosophies clashed before settling into mutual respect, could be so much more interesting than another domestic fluff piece. The tension there is way more compelling than just 'will they hold hands over osmanthus wine?'

I did stumble across one once where Cloud Retainer builds a mechanical prototype that accidentally taps into the latent energy of Rex Lapis's old stone spears, and he has to help her contain it. That kind of thing—where their specific powers and domains interact in a plot-driven way—is a gem in the rough.