In Teyvat, it all begins with rescuing the grass god.

As for what lies beyond the crack.

Rhodes didn't want to investigate, nor did he dare to.

All he knows now is that "staying here is truly endless torture."

"Ugh--"

Luo De sighed again, his gaze lingering on Bo Yang's notes.

Some of the wounded soldiers died in battle, while others, in a daze, became separated from the main force and never returned. Only Yasha and I survived in Liyue.

Start here.

Boyang's condition was not right.

In addition to recording the battle situation, he also wrote more than once in his notes that he regretted why he had voluntarily stayed there instead of letting his younger brother Rong Zhao stay.

One entire page was filled with venting and various forms of abuse.

He cursed the Kel'ya monsters for invading Liyue, cursed himself for being incompetent in protecting his homeland, cursed Fushe for being insane and having no one to talk to normally, cursed why his younger brother was able to return alive while he had to endure such torture, and also cursed the Geo Archon for being incompetent, unable to protect his own people, and unworthy of being a god.

After this page, he returned to a calm state, but his handwriting became increasingly crooked and distorted, even more difficult to decipher than the tracks left by scarab beetles, clearly indicating that he was nearing the end of his life.

Then Fushe passed away.

Boyang, who was the only one left in the underground palace, went completely insane.

As a mortal, he would inevitably be corrupted by karma if he got close to a yaksha like Fushe, especially since this place is extremely adept at attacking the mind.

And so it goes.

Boyang's madness also became increasingly severe.

After Fushe passed away.

His notes contained far fewer entries, and a significant portion of them consisted of bizarre drawings that were even more chaotic than children's doodles.

The text is mostly illegible due to the distorted handwriting. The few words that can be read are mostly resentful curses and fear of the unknown, while the rest are longings for their hometown and relatives.

At the last moment of life.

Having searched in vain for a way out, Boyang chose to return to his friend's side and used a broken blade to free himself from boundless suffering.

Put away Boyang's notes.

With mixed feelings, Rhodes bowed three times to the two skeletons before him and said, "Excuse me."

Say it.

He then carried out the remains of Fushe and Boyang one by one, along with their notes and letters, and handed them over to Xiao and Yelan.

"There are too many corpses here."

"We can't take everything with us, so we can only pick out the essentials and take as much as we can."

After explaining the situation regarding Fushe and Boyang, Luo De said helplessly.

The number of Qianyan soldiers who died here is countless. It is no exaggeration to say that this place is littered with corpses. There is absolutely no way that the three of them could bring all these corpses back.

Moreover, this underground space is too dangerous, and Liyue would never send people here to risk their lives just to collect the remains.

Therefore, even though Rhodes really wanted to help send these remains back to Liyue, so that these poor people who were forced to leave their homes to protect their homeland could return to their hometown.

But we were truly powerless to do so.

Xiao and Yelan expressed their understanding and then went to collect the remains of their elder brother and ancestors.

Take advantage of this time.

Rhodes was thinking of continuing his search to see if he could find similar notes or letters to take back with him.

However, he had only taken two steps.

Seeing Apep standing impatiently to the side, he didn't know what he was thinking, but he stepped forward and said, "Could you help me collect the remains here?"

"Okay."

"Bring those two men with me, and I can help you with this."

Appepp's answer made Rod's lips twitch.

So you haven't forgotten about this, sir?

However, after saying that...

Rod also found out that his impulsive question was indeed correct; Apep did indeed have a way to take away all the remains here.

It's absolutely impossible for Xiao and Datalia to go to Sumeru with her.

Now we need to figure out how to get her to do this hard labor willingly.

Is there anything else that could move her?

With this question lingering in his mind, Rhodes lost interest in collecting the letters here and simply plopped down next to D'Artagnan, frowning and deep in thought.

"Are you thinking about how to get the remains of those predecessors out of here?"

Tartaglia seemed somewhat listless, and her speech was not as energetic as it had been at the beginning; she was even more weak and listless than when she was about to help Rhodes in the battle.

This sealed space is different from the outside world.

Due to the chaotic time rules, staying here only consumes energy, not replenishes it. Moreover, even without eating, one will not feel hungry, nor will one feel tired without sleeping. Without putting a heavy burden on the body, the longer one stays here, the more intense the mental consumption will be, until finally the spirit is almost worn down, and one will be swallowed by this space and become its illusion.

When Boyang was all alone here back then.

It was precisely because of its ability to survive without needing to eat, drink, or rest that it managed to live for so long. In the end, it was driven mad by mental exhaustion and lost its mind. When it did, it even cursed the Geo Archon, who was regarded as the spiritual anchor by the people of Liyue.

In such an environment.

Due to the backlash from overusing the Demon God Armor, D'Artagnan had not recovered any of his physical strength. Coupled with the mental pressure here, he was still pale and trembling.

"Ah."

D'Artagnan had overheard what Rod and Appepp had just said. Without much explanation, a simple gesture was all it took for D'Artagnan to understand what was troubling him.

He glanced furtively at Apep in the distance, then moved closer and whispered to Rhodes, "I think that Grass Dragon Lady actually admires you quite a bit. Why don't you go and apologize to her? She should be easy to talk to."

"Uh"

Rod raised an eyebrow: "Do you have any other ideas?"

"I am serious."

Seeing that Rhodes didn't believe her, Tartaglia continued, "This Grass Dragon is quite similar to my master in personality. I used to argue with my master like you did, and all I got was a beating. Later I realized that my master is more responsive to gentle persuasion than force. As long as I complete the homework she assigns, she will usually agree to my requests unless they are unreasonable, as long as I flatter her a little."

He just finished speaking.

Apep's voice drifted over from afar: "That makes sense, human boy. How are you going to try to please me? If you can make me feel better, I might actually grant you your little request."

"."

Rhodes glanced at the embarrassed D'Artagnan.

Just know.

With Appepp's strength, no matter how hard Dadalia tried to lower his voice, he would never be able to hide it from her ears.

Compared to D'Artagnan, who was so embarrassed he wanted to dig his nose in the ground.

Appepp's words actually made Rod's expression relax.

Rod isn't afraid that Appepp will hear that someone is plotting against her behind her back; what she's afraid of is that Appepp won't listen to reason, then there'll really be no way to deal with him.

So how can we win over Appepp, as D'Addarja suggested?

After a moment's thought, Rhodes licked his lips, then adopted a reckless attitude and approached Apep. Grabbing Zhongli's Divine Heart, he grinned and said, "Lord Grass Dragon, you don't want the news of your full recovery to reach the heavens, do you?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 239 The Historic Meeting Between the Rock King and the Grass Dragon King

If this threat to Apep came from someone else's mouth...

Even if the person standing in front of Appepp was a god.

She would definitely strangle that person to death.

But when Rod said that, it successfully made Appep laugh.

"Hahaha--"

"Interesting, interesting."

"You're a joke teller, much better than any other human I've ever met."

Apep laughed so hard he almost fell over, as if Rod had just told some huge joke.

This commotion also attracted the attention of Yelan and Xiao.

They were originally immersed in the letters left by their ancestors and elder brothers.

Suddenly, such a maniacal laugh erupted from the empty, deathly silent cave, leaving everyone bewildered as they looked over.

Then they saw the Heart of the Rock God that Rhodes was holding in his hand.

"——!?"

Yelan does not know the heart of God, but Xiao does.

As someone who participated in the war between demons and gods and was one of the immortals most closely related to Zhongli, he not only saw the Heart of God, but also knew what the Heart of God meant to Zhongli.

"How did that thing end up in his hands?"

Xiao's expression changed repeatedly.

When he first arrived at the Abyss of Layered Rocks with Zhongli's Piercing Rainbow Spear, even with Zhongli's instructions to him, he still regarded Luo De as just a mortal valued by Zhongli.

Luo De, a mortal, was not the first to gain the emperor's favor in this way.

Xiao, who was used to it, never gave Rhodes any special treatment. He always thought that Zhongli's care for Rhodes was because of the Grass God, and that he only needed to complete the tasks assigned by Zhongli.

However, after seeing the appearance of this Heart of God, he had to adjust his opinion of Rhodes.

What is the heart of God?

Zhongli is the symbol of the Geo Archon of Liyue, representing the dignity and authority of the Geo Archon.