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

"So what did your sister Ying say?"

“She said, ‘It’s precisely because your mother is more lonely than other mothers that you should stay with her until she’s old.’” Shen Liang leaned against the window as well. “It’s just changing the subject and twisting the logic. But I also know that this question can’t really be answered. Just like how my mother was just a ray of light, I am also a demon god. How I was born, maybe they can’t say either. But I’ve seen many pregnant women, and at least I know that, logically speaking, they are born from the womb.”

"So you don't really know how ordinary families reproduce, right?" Alice became excited. "Your older sisters have all been put on a gag order! Right! They dare not disobey Raiden's order, and they can't take that final step no matter what, right!"

Shen Liang didn't quite understand the logic behind that statement.

Alice suddenly realized, "So that's how it is! All those monsters around you were just sneaking around eating, no wonder you got the 'virginity mark' on you. That's Raiden's bottom line, at least no one can cross that line. But this bottom line can restrain the great monsters, not you. They're worried that if you find out what 'giving birth' really is, you'll find someone to break it! After all, you're too wild, and you have too many partners around you, you definitely can't resist!"

"Me?" Shen Liang pointed at herself, her face full of suspicion. "Wild?"

Alice thought to herself, "You little rascal, you're so wild! You have absolutely no normal values. No wonder everyone kept this a secret from you! Even those powerful demons who lust after you are afraid! If your curiosity gets the better of you and you break your vows with a girl, you'll be fine, but you're Raiden's precious darling. That girl will probably face the wrath of thunder! Even Raiden during the Demon God War probably never had such a moment of fury at having something so important stolen!"

Anyway, Alice finally discovered Shen Liang's little secret. In other words, to some extent, in a certain sense, it is possible that this white-haired little princess has a virginity mark because she really needs to "guard" it.

Alice almost burst out laughing.

“Your mother, Raiden, is remarkably young, looking no more than twenty years old. There’s no doubt she chose to have you during her teenage years. She’s someone we should learn from,” Alice offered a wise suggestion. “I suggest you follow in your mother’s footsteps.”

"My mother was not human, so she probably never had a teenage period."

"It's okay, look at me, I'm not human either, hmm! People's appearances are deceptive, as long as you look a certain age, that's how old you are. For example, your mother, your sister Ying, and me, your teacher, are all pure girls who haven't finished their periods yet." Alice leaned half her body out of the window, grinning. Only then did Shen Liang notice that she was only wearing a white turtleneck sweater, and had a very exotic look with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Rosalyn does have that Western vibe, except she's tall and stunningly beautiful, the kind that makes your mouth water. But many Inari and Liyue people don't really appreciate the allure of this kind of Western beauty.

Shen Liang admired her mainly because Mistelin had always been by his side, which raised his aesthetic standards for Western beauties to a whole new level.

[Am I prettier than your teacher Alice?]

"You." Shen Liang said helplessly.

"That's more like it. Here's your reward: you'll lighten your load by 100 pounds." Mistelin said, jumping off his shoulder and happily squatting down beside him.

Shen Liang couldn't help but laugh.

“I’ll say it again, my mother is not human, Alice. You can’t expect a bolt of lightning to have a period.”

"Hmm... Even if non-carbon-based life forms transform into humans, they indeed lack many human functions. If that's the case, the Rock King Emperor is said to have been formed from a fallen star; could he be like that too? For example..."

“Men don’t have menstrual cycles,” Shen Liang interrupted promptly.

"That's hard to say. You demons who are transformed from a gust of wind, a bolt of lightning, or a meteorite can change gender at will. To put it bluntly, it's all about psychological gender. Your mother and your sister Ying think they should be girls and have believed it for so many years, so they can only be girls. But that Rock King Emperor is not necessarily like that. There's a folk legend that he can be a woman for a considerable period of time, and a beautiful, elegant woman at that."

"Baby, wait, listen to me, you can't use your passive skill on the Rock King." Mistylin panicked upon hearing this and immediately interrupted.

Shen Liang was taken aback, pondered his passive skill for a few seconds, but couldn't figure it out.

The more Mistylin the riddle-maker spoke, the less clear it became!

Alice chuckled, then asked after a while, "But Liang'er, you also became a demon god somehow. Is it possible that you can be any gender? Hmm... Is it possible that your psychological gender is female, which is why you subconsciously look prettier and cuter than girls..."

Shen Liang was used to this kind of teasing, so she nodded, her smile sweet and charming: "I don't know either, what my psychological gender is. Teacher Alice, would you like to try? I happen to want to too..."

“Okay then…” Alice was naturally not afraid of flirting with each other. Anyway, Shen Liang didn’t understand anything about proper male-female relationships, so what could he do? Therefore, she agreed immediately before Shen Liang could finish speaking.

"...I also want Alice to experience what Sister Gan Yu has experienced."

Alice promptly shut up. She fully understood the meaning of those words. When this little wildcat got excited, only Gan Yu could barely handle it. No one could endure the kind of play where you couldn't eat, talk, or feel hungry all day, except for the gentle yet incredibly resilient little Qilin.

A triumphant look appeared on Shen Liang's delicate face.

"Alright, what's there to be so smug about?" Alice was furious at the little guy's smug look on his face. She pulled the curtain shut. "Go to sleep!"

As dawn broke, it was still four hours until we reached the Abyss of Layered Rocks.

—————————————————————

The morning sun was already shining in the makeshift Huishan Hall, where a self-driving "tiller" with its core eyes removed sat in the center of the hall, and several people were examining this two-person-high robot.

"It's not like we only found out now. Since its founding, Kanria has always been a godless nation. They don't believe in the seven gods, or even the elements. Instead, they've designed many such autonomous machines. We've seen similar things many years ago, not just those for fighting and firing cannons, but also those for plowing fields, sowing seeds, flying in the sky to drive away insects and swallows, and delivering goods over long distances—all sorts of autonomous machines. You humans may not know about them, but we immortals have had an impression of them for hundreds of years. Back then, Gui Zhong even stole a few 'true tillers' from Kanria to study, hoping to reduce the manpower in the fields..." Ying Da introduced with great enthusiasm while busily disassembling the autonomous combat machine.

"A nation founded on machinery, is that it?" In Huishan Hall, there were not only yakshas, ​​but also humans. They didn't seem to be generals, which was understandable; currently, the generals of the Thousand Rock Army were mostly guardian yakshas appointed by the Emperor, while these humans appeared to be of the sorcerer lineage, and weren't wearing armor.

“You’re right, it’s a nation built on machinery! The Kingdom of Kanria has always disliked gods, believing that they can surpass the limits of gods through their own power… How should I put it, it shouldn’t be said that this is not a great wish, but their methods have been less than honorable lately, such as launching wars…” Yingda shrugged.

"There are no fixed rules about strength and weakness. Now that Kanria is powerful, it is understandable that it wants to rule over all nations."

"What do you mean by 'unquestionable'? Does becoming powerful give him the right to invade? When he was weak during his development, did the seven great nations under our divine protection invade him? Did they covet his land?" Yingda spat in disgust. "Evil is evil. Boyang, are you confused? What do you mean by 'unquestionable'?"

Fang Shi Boyang smiled slightly and did not argue. "Miss Yingda, where is the Grand Marshal Fushe of the Tengshe?"

Yingda's expression darkened slightly. "My elder brother has too much karma on his shoulders. He is the one among us who has committed the most killings. Now he needs to rest often. I will take care of these matters for him."

"I still longed to catch a glimpse of Marshal Tai's heroic figure, but alas, I am destined to miss my chance," Boyang sighed.

At this moment, the autonomous robot's backup hidden energy source activated, and current flowed through it, seemingly emitting a "crackling" sound. Without hesitation, Yingda swung his fair fist and slammed it down. The blow was powerful and heavy, shattering the robot's head. Perhaps because the control center was destroyed, the robot emitted sparks for a moment before falling completely silent.

"Tsk, it was remotely activated, forcing us to scrap it. Kanria has been very cautious all these years; these robots are very difficult to study. If Gui Zhong had a little more time back then, and hadn't died so young, maybe..." Ying Da sighed deeply, then plopped down on the robot, lazily saying, "Boyang, how's our telegram plan going?"

“Our geomancers are always exceptional at mapping.” Bo Yang saw that the robots were completely pointless, and the possibility of avoiding a struggle with the robots by studying their principles was also slim. The feasibility of the telegraph system suddenly increased a lot, so he handed over the map.

Yingda took the map and looked at it. The map was carved by the Fangshi lineage after enduring miasma and the erosion of the abyss, and after traversing the entire layered rock abyss. Except for the interior of the mining area, that is, the space under the abyss, which had not been investigated, the ground had basically been scouted.

Originally, the surface of the Layered Rock Abyss didn't need a map at all; everyone knew the terrain over the years. However, ever since the Beast Realm liberated the Layered Rock Abyss, those monsters from the Dark Outer Sea have developed an extremely strong destructive will towards everything.

Not to mention attacking anyone they see, they'll even demolish buildings, smash neatly stacked stones, and break up well-dug tunnels... In short, the monsters of the Beast Realm seem to be intolerant of any "civilized creations." Anything related to humans, orderly, or structured, they'll destroy and ruin, turning everything into a chaotic mess after collapse.

Therefore, the original well-organized mining area map of the Layered Rock Abyss is no longer usable, and the new map is a timely help.

“With the new map, there’s a place to put the telegraph machine.” Yingda licked his lips and pointed to several locations on the map. “Here, here, and here, and here. These places will be used as military garrisons in the future. Once Liang’er brings the radio, it will be placed here so that the various military regions can communicate with each other.”

She glanced at the flower goddess's messenger from Sumeru, who was frowning and looking rather displeased.

Yingda knew why he looked so uncomfortable. He had a general understanding of the telegraph system and knew that it might even be more useful than the Void on the battlefield. The Void's advantage was its ease of use; it could move with the soldiers and receive orders from superiors at any time. But the telegraph's advantage was that all stations could communicate with each other, allowing subordinates to communicate with superiors—it was a two-way connection.

In war, two-way communication might be even more perverse than one-way communication like the void.

Even with this, Liyue might not necessarily respond to the Flower Goddess's plea for help. The Flower Goddess's terms were indeed generous, but after all, no one has spare troops. Most importantly, no matter how useful the Void is, it's ultimately not theirs, but the telegraph machine is!

“The telegraph system…is it really that magical? Yingda, don’t blindly believe the Daoqi people,” Boyang said.

"Of course it's that amazing, and that's not all. You know, Jigong has base stations. All our telegrams can be sent directly to Jigong, and then relayed to the base station of Yujingtai! In just a few minutes, the frontline situation can reach Qixing!" Yingda said confidently. "Brother Fushe said that this is what it means to mobilize the national machinery, to integrate all resources, and to modern warfare!"

Bo Yang was completely convinced, thinking to himself that he truly deserved to be called the Grand Marshal Tengshe. The terms he used were all incredibly professional, and it would take a long time to come up with them. A marshal must be both a scholar and a warrior.

Ying Da suppressed a laugh. These words could not possibly be Fu She's words. She had written them down when Shen Liang was promoting the telegraph machine, specifically to fool the illiterate soldiers.

"However, the interior of the Layered Rock Abyss is very difficult to enter. Although we sorcerers are not afraid of miasma, going in would probably be suicide, so maps of the interior are very hard to obtain." Boyang sighed, "The modern warfare that the little princess of Inazuma longs for... alas..."

Chapter Eighty-Nine: He will fall in love with a great goddess and bear her children.

Beneath the towering abyss lie countless fissures torn open by the beast realm, from which a continuous stream of abyssal black mud pours forth. Thus, both the monsters of the beast realm and the abyss's law of rejecting "living people" have created a death zone within the abyss, an impenetrable place for any living being.

The Kanriyans could easily keep the gate to the Beast Realm open indefinitely, continuously unleashing endless waves of Beast Realm monsters to attack the Thousand Rock Army, since the Thousand Rock Army had no chance of breaking into the Abyss to resolve the issue. For most humans, once tainted by the black mud inside the Abyss, it was practically a death sentence; that mud could corrupt the minds of all living beings, leaving them mentally deranged and utterly incapable of fighting.

The black mud doesn't attack anyone on its own initiative, but the problem is that it keeps overflowing, making the Layered Rock Abyss a no-go zone for the living. Even if you kill all the monsters in the Beast Realm, you still can't go in and close the gate to the Beast Realm.

To put it bluntly, it's a dead end. To fundamentally solve the crisis in the Layered Rock Abyss, we must open the gate to the Beast Realm. To open the Beast Realm, we must first clear out the Black Mud. To clear out the Black Mud, we must solve the crisis in the Layered Rock Abyss. The Black Mud and the monsters form a malignant tumor rooted in the Layered Rock Abyss; the Black Mud provides protection, while the monsters keep coming.

It is said that other countries face similar troubles, but the Kingdom of Kanria utilizes these forces that are not governed by natural law to a far greater extent than other countries.

“At least after Liang’er arrives, we can reclaim all the surface mining areas.” Ying Da rubbed his nose wearily. “Underground… we’ll talk about that later. We need to ensure that the civilians within 300 miles of the Layered Rock Abyss are not attacked by the Beast Realm Hounds, and establish a ground defense line surrounding the entire Layered Rock Abyss using telegraph machines. These monsters that can tear through space… we must at least ensure that they never see the light of day.”

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

Juewang Hall, Zhifeng Pond.

A woman leaned against a tall palace pillar, flipping through files.

She was only wrapped in a piece of uncut pure white linen, light yet flamboyant, with her slender legs casually exposed beneath the white cloth, her bare feet adorned with pale gold anklets. Her appearance was extremely beautiful, but what was most captivating was not her ultimate beauty as the "goddess of beauty," but rather her long, radiant, floor-length golden-red hair.

That was a beautiful, long hair that could cover the paving stones beneath her feet, so stunning that she couldn't even appear before the world. It was precisely because of this level of beauty that Ahmar, the Red King, the King of the Four Directions of the Earth, the Son of the Sky, the Lord of the Dunes and Oases, and the Guide of the Living and the Dead, was captivated by her and willing to give her a third of the world.

The Flower Goddess, Nabu Marikata, meaning "Queen of the Holy Spirits," sits enthroned here. As one of the three pillar gods of Sumeru, the Flower Goddess possesses neither the power of the Red King to conquer all things nor the prestige of the Tree King to enlighten all people and liberate them with knowledge, yet she holds the highest authority among the three gods.

Whether it was the Crimson King, who was infatuated with her, or the Tree King, her sworn brother, they all believed in this ancient goddess who had ruled over the spirits for thousands of years, and whose vision was the most profound, having come from the distant wilderness to the present.

The Flower Goddess finished reading the scroll, closed the book, and tossed it into the brazier. The flames rose higher, the rising air carrying the acrid aroma of ashes. A delicate flower sprouted from her fingertip, which she then popped into her mouth, biting off without hesitation, sending sweet juices flying. She chewed on the flowers one by one, her almost crystal-clear eyes gazing at the swirling ashes, lost in thought.

After eating the sixth flower, she finally stopped. She unfolded a sheet of white paper on the desk in front of her, held the flower stem, and wrote in a rather hasty handwriting: "I am old and carefree, while young foals are sharp and ready. Wherever I go, there is no vast emptiness; I am truly worthy to entrust my life to."

She finished writing the poem, put down her pen, and suddenly heard the sound of footsteps outside the door. She couldn't help but smile, stood up, and looked towards the door.

The palace was paved with stone slabs, and the maids who could enter wearing cloth shoes couldn't make such a sound. Only a barefoot girl could make such a lovely pattering sound. She saw a white-haired girl wearing the same white, loose-fitting dress lightly jump in, her hair adorned with new shoots of grass and trees. Like the goddess of flowers, she was barefoot, with tender green grass rings tied around her ankles.

Buyer, the twin queens of Mount Sumeru, the goddess of wisdom, the master of plants and trees, the embodiment of all greenery, and the girl revered as the "Great Compassion Tree King".

The Tree King stopped, his gaze immediately falling on the writing on the table. The rather unrefined handwriting was perhaps one of the few things about the Flower Goddess that lacked "style," yet the Flower Goddess still enjoyed writing it, much to the Tree King's frequent teasing. However, this poem was quite good, even possessing a certain Liyue poetic flair, so the Tree King gently pushed aside the Flower Goddess's seat and plopped down in her lap to examine it.

In terms of physique, the two queens are not that different; both are the figures of human girls in their early twenties. However, the Flower Goddess's stunning charm and beauty make her appear much more mature than the innocent Tree King. When she casually hugged her best friend's waist, it had a feeling of an older sister towards her younger sister.

"I am growing old, while the young colt has just grown up. He will be invincible; one can truly entrust one's life to him." The Tree King read her poem aloud, a translated version, then smiled slightly, turned around, leaned back on the paper, and scrutinized her best friend. "Hiding in the Jue Wang Palace, wallowing in self-pity, you're going to grow old? How will you grow old? You are the goddess of beautiful flowers; no matter how many years pass, you will never grow old. Also, who is the 'little colt' in your poem? It's not Amon, is it?"

Amun, also known as Ahmar, was the name of the Red King.

“Akhmar is still majestic, a fine steed in his twilight years, how could he be a vigorous young colt?” The goddess of flowers looked at the poem, suddenly snatched it, and threw it directly into the brazier.

"Eh?"

“This poem must not be seen by Amon. He is suspicious by nature and admires me. If he sees this poem, he might investigate who that ‘little colt’ is, just as you think. He is a strong and confident king, and he will only feel that he is the one I can entrust with my life.” The goddess of flowers sighed, watching the poem in the flames curl up as it burned.

The Tree King watched, and suddenly she had a feeling that she seemed to see the shadow of that little colt between the blackened words, still innocent and full of youthful spirit, dressed in the same snow-white robes as the two of them. But soon the words were burned to ashes, turning into a pile of crimson ash. The Tree King, Buyer, rubbed her eyes, and this time she could see nothing at all.

"It's just a little poem that doesn't allude to anything, Buyer, you don't need to take it too seriously. You know, I'm someone who likes to write things from time to time to cultivate my mind." The Flower Goddess gently hugged the Tree King, leaned down and kissed her delicate earlobe, and said with a faint smile, "It's just something I felt like writing. Young people these days are so much better than old women like us."

The Tree King felt a slight itch near his ear, but he didn't mind. This intimate behavior was a daily occurrence for the two goddesses of Sumeru. From the day they swore an oath to protect Sumeru together, the two queens had become closer than family, friends, or even lovers—an unbreakable alliance sharing the same ideals. The Flower Goddess was inherently alluring, and the Tree King was accustomed to the astonishing seduction she exuded with every gesture.