Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

For Shen Liang, Haiqi Island and the Shogunate were essentially the same; he didn't care who was on the side of justice, nor did he have his own stance. He didn't want to get involved in this mess, and he certainly didn't want to be held responsible for the deaths of soldiers from either country.

The atmosphere became tense.

Just moments ago, Coral Palace Liuka had been acting like a doting older sister, but now her smile had turned cold.

Shen Liang couldn't help but feel regretful. He initially had a good impression of Coral Palace because of Miss Xin Hai—compassionate, resolute, and surrounded by beautiful women, both elegant and demure. However, due to the matter of weapons, Coral Palace revealed their "government" side.

No matter how gentle and kind these witches may appear, they are essentially just taking advantage of his loneliness and isolation, which is why they dare to threaten him so blatantly.

He was clearly a distinguished guest who brought hope to the Coral Palace, yet he was treated this way.

Shen Liang was somewhat disheartened.

Looking back, Coral Palace was quite anxious. This little witch was indeed quite good; from the beginning until now, she had been extremely caring towards him. Unfortunately, the leader of Coral Palace was a fool who didn't know how to cherish talent; apart from her beauty, she was utterly useless.

pity.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" Ruka Sango sighed.

"There's nothing to talk about." Shen Liang was ready to deploy the teleportation screen at any time, and this time he would activate it on him, teleporting him away without giving him any time to react.

“That’s really…” Coral Palace Liuge rubbed her temples in distress. Just when Shen Liang thought she was going to wave her hand and have a group of executioners come in to tie him up and throw him into the prison for severe torture to get him released on bail, she smiled helplessly, “Stubborn little guy.”

Suddenly, the atmosphere fell silent for a moment.

After about five seconds, Shen Liang hesitated and asked, "Aren't you... going to make a move?"

Coral Palace Ryuka looked at him curiously, "Why did you take action? Since you say we can't learn it, then we'll believe you. We can't figure out your seawater rice either, can we? Are we going to break ties with you over this?"

"I thought you would..."

"What did you think? Did Ryou-chan think I was going to tie you up and drag you into my palace with beautiful women and coerce you? Forget it, if word got out about this, how would Haiji Island ever have any face left?" Coral Palace Ryuka waved her hand. "If we neglect or threaten Ryou-chan today, Haiji Island will be despised by the scholars of the Seven Kingdoms tomorrow. Sigh, the priestesses on the island are all incredibly intolerant of any wrongdoing. There are no secrets on Haiji Island."

Shen Liang turned around and saw Coral Palace Xin Hai, who was breathing a sigh of relief, and couldn't help but smile.

Indeed, given Coral Palace's temperament, if her aunt dared to threaten a guest she considered important, she might very well mutiny on the spot. The priestesses of Coral Palace are all kind-hearted, and even if Miss Liuge, as their leader, were to do something like coercion or enticement, they would still be disgusted.

To be honest, all the shrine maidens are so kind and beautiful, how come the modern-day shrine maidens are like female hooligans...

However, Shen Liang found that she couldn't really hate this modern-day goddess witch. She was calculating, but also quite open-minded. Besides, even if she was a female hooligan, most men were quite tolerant of a busty, long-legged one.

The inherent flaws of men...

"I didn't force you to hand over that firearm, so forget it, what a failure." Coral Palace Ryuka lay down on the tatami mat listlessly, continuing to play with the evil eye. "Hey, get lost."

"I will retire at the end."

"Auntie, Xinhai is leaving now."

Coral Palace Xin Hai pulled Shen Liang, signaling him to leave quickly, but after pulling twice, she couldn't budge him. She looked up and saw that Shen Liang was also staring at that fiery red evil eye.

"Why are you still staring at your sister?" Coral Palace Liuge glanced at Shen Liang towards the door and smiled. "Do you still miss your sister's embrace? Why don't you stay today and relax with your sister?"

"I just don't understand why you keep calling it an evil thing," Shen Liang said. "Isn't this thing superior to my firearms? How is something so good 'evil'?"

-

P.S.: I've noticed that every book I write eventually falls into a strange cycle: I have a lot of female characters in my relationships, and most of them are young girls of a good age. This is perfectly fine and healthy; there's nothing wrong with writing it like this in male-oriented novels. But... in reality... they're all older women...

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Lady

Shen Liang didn't expect that his question would make everyone look at him with strange eyes.

"Mr. Shen?" Goro's eyes flashed with anger. "Do you know what you're saying?!"

"Why are you so angry? Can you explain it to me?"

"This is the Evil Eye, something that requires risking one's life to activate! The Eye of God is different; it does no harm. But the Evil Eye is tantamount to suicide!" Goro stopped walking. He felt it necessary to teach this ignorant boy a lesson. "The most crucial point is that this thing is attractive to many people. Many people blindly sacrifice their lives in pursuit of short-term goals, which is why this thing is so difficult to eradicate!"

Shen Liang was even more confused, "Why is it forbidden?"

"Isn't that natural?"

Shen Liang didn't notice, and neither did anyone else, that Coral Palace Liu Ge was propping her chin up and staring at him with a strange look.

"So of course what? Why is it forbidden?" Shen Liang still couldn't understand.

"My lady... what are you saying, Ryoko?" Coral Palace Xin Hai knew that if she continued, she would anger Goro's faction of military personnel. She was a little anxious, and she didn't know why Shen Liang kept asking.

What's there to ask? Using the Evil Eye will kill you. The Evil Eye is sold by the Fools to those with weak wills to hasten their death. It's obviously evil!

But Shen Liang didn't think so.

He stared at that evil eye, and he even seemed to understand something.

He is an Earthling, so there is virtually no chance that he could obtain the Eye of God. He has no idea what "earth veins" are, let alone how to contact them, and he cannot sense any so-called "elemental power."

He's an ordinary person, and if the Evil Eye could give him "superpowers," he'd love to try it out.

The reason he doesn't try is simply because it's unnecessary. He can live well without superpowers; there's no need to overdraw his life force.

But what about other people?

There are always people in this world who would risk their lives to do something, exchanging their lives for abilities—isn't that fair? It's an exchange of one thing for another, and there are plenty of people willing to do it.

“I think, I just think, for ordinary people, ordinary soldiers, or even bandits, who can never come into contact with elemental power in their entire lives, exchanging some of their lifespan for power is not a wrong thing.” Shen Liang slowly explained, “In this room, apart from me, everyone has the Eye of God, so I think you may not think so, but the Evil Eye is just a kind of power. Does power have a right or wrong distinction?”

"Mr. Shen! Do you know how many brothers I've lost because of the rampant spread of the Evil Eyes!" Goro couldn't contain his emotions any longer and stepped directly onto the straw mat in the reception room. "Those bandits and robbers with the Evil Eyes can kill an entire patrol team by themselves. And if one of my brothers has the Evil Eye, am I just going to watch him grow old and die in front of me in a single day?"

"Wasn't that something he brought on himself?"

"Shen Liang!"

"Ryoko!" Coral Palace Heart Sea pulled him forcefully, her delicate brows furrowed. "What's wrong with you today?"

"Goro, you've overstepped your bounds." Sangomiya Rika sat steadily on the tatami mat, causing Goro, who was approaching the reception room, to grit his teeth and retreat to the door.

"You're all very strange. You want my firearms on one hand, but you turn a blind eye to such powerful strength on the other," Shen Liang said in a low voice. "What's the difference between the Evil Eye and the Eye of God? For those who need power, the Evil Eye is clearly better than the Eye of God. The Eye of God can only be obtained by those favored by the gods, but according to you, the Evil Eye doesn't consider any conditions. As long as you're willing to pay, you'll get something."

"Isn't this the fairest thing in the world? Compared to those who are already very successful and don't need power much anymore, ordinary people need power more, but the Eye of God often doesn't give it to those who really need it."

“I’ve never fought a war, but I’ve heard of them. If I were in a war, and the invaders were going to kill my parents, rape my sisters, and rip out their intestines with knives, and I could only hide in a safe place and eke out a living—actually, I don’t want to eke out a living, I just don’t have the power to resist. If I had the Evil Eye at that time, what difference would it make if I gave up my whole life, let alone my life force? What I want to do is far more important than my life, right?”

"Nonsense... utter nonsense!" Goro clenched his fists. "The Evil Eye killed my brothers, and it wasn't a power bestowed by the gods. It overdraws human lives; it's never been reasonable!"

"But have you asked those who used the Evil Eye? Do they regret it?" Shen Liang asked.

Shen Liang found it utterly baffling, even laughable.

Having been raised with dialectical thinking for many years, he always believed that power itself is neither good nor evil, but rather depends on the user. The Evil Eye is pure power, and compared to the randomness of the Divine Eye, isn't this controllable power something far more valuable?

Isn't this more powerful than his gun?

"A novel perspective."

After a long argument, the mortal goddess who had been observing from the sidelines finally spoke up, "Controllable power, your perspective is quite interesting."

Goro was so angry that his tail bristled, but now that Sangomiya Ruka had spoken, he could only suppress his dissatisfaction and scratch at the door in frustration.

“We in Liyue often say, ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,’ and we also say, ‘Unite all forces that can be united.’” Shen Liang smiled. “Your Haiqi Island doesn’t seem to have this principle, but if you want independence, you have to do it; if you want independence, you have to pay with blood. The blood of the enemy, your own blood, and naturally, the blood of the Eye of God and the blood of the Evil Eye.”

------------

After everyone had left, Coral Palace Ryuka sat alone in the center of the empty bedroom.

Perhaps because there were no outsiders around, she appeared much more dignified at this moment. The charming and roguish woman in front of Shen Liang was gone, and the holy side of a witch emerged.

"Liyue truly lives up to its reputation as a nation that even the Queen is unwilling to confront directly. A fifteen-year-old child can utter words like 'unite all forces that can be united.' Such a style of education... Ha, what exactly is the Geo Archon thinking?"

A woman gracefully emerged from behind the screen.

She was a mature woman similar to Ruka Sangokami, tall and slender, wearing a black and white trailing dress, a red velvet cape, and a mourning mask adorned with black veils. Her excessively fair skin and cascading blonde hair testified to her foreign identity, while her undisguised arrogance, even in front of Ruka Sangokami, further emphasized her nobility.

"You've taken a liking to him too?" Ruka Sangoku glanced at her sideways. "I'm warning you, don't try to steal Ryoko from me, don't try to steal Ryoko from my Sangoku family."

"I am interested in that white musket, but that's all."

"Really? Then remember this: don't try anything funny with that filthy body of yours. I know you Fools have a habit of seducing people, but he's still a child. He has a happy life, a sister, and a house. You can't seduce him." Miss Liuge pouted. "Miss."

Chapter Thirty-Four: I didn't want a title, so I just left it as is.

The eighth seat of the Fools, codenamed "Lady".

Anyone else here would be astonished to see a dignified, living goddess priestess hanging out with the infamous Fools of Winter's End. Such a group of spies, infiltrating various countries, is theoretically unwelcome by any organization.

But the two equally mature and beautiful women didn't care at all, and even chatted happily.

“A rare theory. Someone actually considers the Evil Eye a controllable power, while regarding the God Eye as uncontrollable. Even the madmen of our Winter Kingdom wouldn’t think that way.” The lady, Rosalind Cruzsika Loehafat, sat down in front of Liuge in the Coral Palace, removed the cloak from her back to reveal her smooth, white back. “You’ve struck gold, haven’t you, Liuge?”

“He’s a child who grew up in Liyue. I can see from his eyes that he hasn’t experienced the cruelty of war. He’s very kind. But what’s interesting is that he’s not kind by nature. The fact that he can say such things shows that he’s the kind of person who will stop at nothing.” The Coral Palace Singer’s heart flowed with cold ripples. He pressed his hand against the lady’s back, and the ripples made the lady let out a pleasant moan.

This is the Coral Palace's secret technique, "Transformation into the Moon over the Sea," a natural ability of Coral Palace Ryuka as the Sea Goddess. This water-based secret technique can be used by all living and mortal priestesses throughout history.

This secret technique has a powerful healing effect, capable of bringing the dead back to life and healing bones for most injuries, without the need for any medicine or hormones. It is a "miracle" that can only be created by the Eye of God.

Of course, there are also drawbacks. This secret technique is not omnipotent and consumes a great deal of physical strength. Even modern-day goddesses and priestesses often cannot use it frequently. Moreover, this secret technique is only effective against a single person. Once it is used on a group, the effect will be diluted. Therefore, in military operations, this skill is basically of little use.

Even for a single person, this skill only makes the woman feel slightly more comfortable.

But this little bit of comfort was already enough to satisfy the lady. Her body had been scorched all over by five hundred years of flowing fire and suppressed by five hundred years of extreme cold to prolong her life. The two kinds of great pain alternated, and only in the Coral Palace Liuge could she find some peace for her body.

"You mean he's a lot like you?" the woman asked in a low voice, then smiled, "Because you're also the kind of person who'll stop at nothing."

"Nonsense, I'm clearly a delicate and easily bullied beautiful girl." Sangomiya Rika laughed and slapped her.