What bad intentions could the original dragon have?

Now, all her "attack power" comes from the [Sky Blade]. Without it, Ying might not be able to defeat even a Hilliard thug.

This is no longer a question of skill or not. The problem is that her current strength is very weak. Without good weapons, her attacks may not even be able to break through her defense.

Well, this is just an exaggeration. With Ying's martial arts, it is easy for him to attack the weaknesses of the Hilliard thugs, who have brute force but no intelligence.

"I've thought of it. On the way to 'Wangshu Inn', we will pass by Dihuazhou. There is a 'Seven Heavenly Statue' of the 'Emperor Rock King'." Zhong Ling was a little uncomfortable with being called Linglong. After all, no one had ever called her that before.

Zhong Ling was very happy to be called that by Ying.

"Oh, that's great. Linglong has planned everything very well." I didn't expect Zhong Ling to have planned all of this so clearly that she even remembered that she wanted to touch the 'Seven Days Statue'.

In fact, Ying herself hadn't even thought of touching the 'Seven Days Statue' these past few days, and she only just thought of it.

It turned out that Zhong Ling had already considered all of this.

He even thought of this little detail and cared so much about me. It's impossible not to be moved.

Soon, they finished the tea in their bowls and prepared to continue on their journey.

However, just as she was about to get up, Zhong Ling looked at the man and woman who had been sitting not far from them with some concern.

Although Zhong Ling didn't like eavesdropping, her hearing was pretty good and she heard a few words.

The man addressed the woman as 'Miss', but the man's clothes did not make him look like a servant or a guard. But that didn't matter, after all, Ying had been calling her 'Miss Zhong Ling' for a long time.

But what really concerned Zhong Ling was what the woman said, "But I will be a burden to you."

The man's answer was "Once we leave Liyue..."

Such remarks gave Zhong Ling a feeling that "they must have provoked something and were on the run."

But they didn't look like that. After all, there would definitely be panic on the faces of fugitives. How could they sit here and drink tea?

Although they looked melancholy, they were not panicked.

"Forget it, it has nothing to do with me." Zhong Ling shook her head slightly, put Mora on the table, and stood up and left with Ying and Paimeng.

B.3 Idols

“Although the scenery is beautiful, the road is a bit difficult to walk on.”

The area of ​​'Ogishu' is called 'Bishuiyuan'. As the name suggests, there is a lot of water around it.

The land along the way also felt wet and sticky.

"It can't be helped." Zhong Ling spread his hands. "Liyue has a vast territory and beautiful scenery, but since there aren't that many people in Liyue, it can be said that the land is vast and the population is sparse."

Most of the people in Liyue live in 'Liyue Harbor' and 'Qingce Manor', and 'Qingce Manor' is mostly populated by the elderly and children. 'Qingce Manor', which is surrounded by mountains and rivers, is the most suitable place for retirement.

Of course, it’s not to say that there are no people living in other places, but generally speaking, there are relatively few.

For example, in Dihuazhou, there are people who settle there, but just in a relatively small number.

As for the reason, it is actually very simple.

The former "Dihuazhou" suffered a devastating flood, and the people at that time were forced to move south.

Eventually, Liyue took on its current form.

"It can be seen already, the 'Seven Days Statue'." Standing on the stone bridge, Zhong Ling pointed at the statue standing not far away.

"Come to think of it, I always seem to see some stone statues along the way." Paimon often sees some animal-shaped stone sculptures on the roadside.

It would be fine if there were only one or two.

But up to now, she has seen more than a dozen of them, and she always feels that these animal-shaped stone sculptures are not that simple.

"Nothing special. Most of them were made by the people of Liyue to pray for good weather and stable rocks..." Zhong Ling said in a low voice, looking at a stone sculpture beside the national highway. "No special meaning."

"Oh, is that so?" Paimon nodded. "Even though we've only walked a short distance, I can clearly feel that the cultures of Liyue and Mondstadt are completely different."

"Of course." Zhong Ling glanced around. "Liyue has a history of 3,700 years from ancient times to the present. During the 3,700 years of walking with the gods, Liyue has also experienced a lot."

Zhong Ling stepped lightly on the ground.

"Unlike Mondstadt, countless demons are buried under this land, and most of these demons have their own people."

"Ying, although we are all in the same area, the people favored by each demon god have their own culture." Zhong Ling looked at Ying and said, "Can you imagine what it would be like when two, three, four or even more cultures merge with each other?"

"...I don't know." Ying thought for a moment and shook her head.

When so many cultures come together, there will definitely be clashes, right? No matter how you think about it, it's a mess.

"In this land, there used to be the 'Tianheng people' who lived on the mountains, the 'Li people' who made a living by farming and weaving, and the 'Dunyu people' who lived on falling stars..."

"When the war with the Demon God ended, countless people of the Demon God who were defeated and killed lost their homes."

"These helpless people have gathered under the protection of [Emperor Rock King]."

“Although these people have lost their homes, the people are still there, and their culture will not be cut off.”

“Many cultures merge through exchanges among people.”

“Perhaps in other countries, the introduction of culture would seem abrupt, but not in Liyue.”

“This land will take what is good and discard what is bad.”

"The sea is tolerant to all rivers, and it is great if it is tolerant; if you stand on a wall, you can be strong without desire."

"It's Liyue's culture."

More than two thousand years have passed since the end of the Demon War.

In today's Liyue, there are no 'people of Tianheng' or 'people of Li'.

There are only 'Liyue people' in Liyue today.

----

"Eh? Will you Liyue people maintain the 'Seven Days Statue'?" Ying asked after taking a quick look at the towering 'Seven Days Statue Rock' while standing in front of it.

Compared to the 'weathered' 'Seven-Day Statues of the Wind' in Mondstadt, some of which were even covered with moss, the statue in front of him looked like it was newly cast.

Although like the Seven Heavenly Statue of Wind, the face of the Rock God sitting on the statue has not been sculpted.

But even so, the [Rock God] who was leaning on the throne with a block in his hand also vaguely revealed some divine power.

The Seven-Day Statue of the Wind looks like it's androgynous. When Ying first saw the statue, she thought the Wind God was a goddess.

And the Seven-Day Statue of Rock clearly shows at a glance that the Rock God Morax is a male.

"Well, that's natural." Zhong Ling nodded slightly. "But it seems... it's not maintained by mortals?"

She could feel a very faint elemental force from the statue, the attribute of which was wind.

Different from the gentle breeze that Wendy felt on your face.

The wind elemental force remaining on the statue is a swift gale.

In an instant, Zhong Ling understood who the maintainer of the Seven-Day Statue Rock was.

"It shouldn't be a problem if I just touch the Seven Days Statue directly, right?" Ying asked uneasily.

Along the way, she also saw quite a few soldiers.

"It's okay." Zhong Ling waved her hand and casually placed it on the cornerstone of the 'Seven Days Statue Rock'.

About two seconds later, Zhong Ling withdrew her hand.

"Linglong, what did you feel after touching the 'Seven Days Statue'?" Ying asked curiously.

"Although I can feel the elemental power in the statue, I don't feel anything else." Zhong Ling spread his hands. "Ying, go and try."

She came into contact with the 'Seven-Day Statue·Rock' just to say hello to a 'parent'.

In fact, the moment she stepped into Liyue, Morax already knew she was back.

But this was different. When he stepped into Liyue, it was like Morax heard the sound of a key opening the door. Although he knew that Zhong Ling had returned, he didn't know her situation.

And now it is just like Zhong Ling saying "I'm back" in front of Morax.

"Let me try." Ying reached out and touched the statue.

In an instant, the stone in the hand of the [Rock God] glowed with golden light, and the emblem representing the rock element bloomed in the palm of the statue. A ball of light flew out from the emblem and then sank into the pattern on Ying's chest.

Afterwards, all the patterns on Ying's body glowed golden, representing the rock element. The color lasted only for a moment before returning to pure white.

"How do you feel?" Zhong Ling asked as she looked at Ying's changes.

"Hmm..." Ying clenched her fists and punched the air a few times. "My strength has increased a lot."

"And..." A golden glow appeared in Ying's hands.

Afterwards, a dark green glow also dissipated.

The immovable rocks and the floating breeze seem to be two extremes yet strangely harmonious.

B.4 Morax

"This tree actually grows on a rock?!" When the three of them approached the Wangshu Inn, Paimon looked at the Wangshu Inn with wide eyes.

I thought it was just an absurdly large tree, but now I realize that the lower level of "Wangshu Inn" is made of rocks, and the upper level is still a giant tree.

But what is strange is that this giant tree is actually rooted in the rocky mountain.

"How is this inn?" Zhong Ling asked Ying. "Do you think it's worth the journey?"

"That's amazing." Ying nodded. "But this tree...it seems that its roots are not rooted in the soil, but just spread along the rocks. How did it survive?"

This inn is not an ordinary inn built on the mountain. Instead, the rock mountain is used as the foundation. A giant inn is built that is larger than the entire rock mountain, uses the rock mountain as a part of itself, and wraps around the entire rock mountain.

From this perspective, it is only natural that it can become a landmark building in the entire Liyue.

On the lower floor of the inn is the restaurant. It is dinner time now, and many guests are sitting at square tables, waiting for their dinner to arrive.

"Um...dear guests, would you like to have dinner or stay overnight?" Upon seeing them arrive, the innkeeper came over to greet them.

When the innkeeper saw Paimon, the "two" he had originally blurted out was temporarily changed to "several". After all, he really didn't know how to count this floating little fairy.

As an international inn, the quality of the staff is also required.

What's more, Zhong Ling's dress and appearance don't look like those of an ordinary person, she must be rich or noble.

"Would you like to stay overnight? Is there a room upstairs?" Zhong Ling asked briefly.

“There are still several rooms, but the upper room... Miss, you are dressed like a Liyue person. In eight days’ time, we will have the ‘Seven Stars Summoning the Immortals Ceremony’, and merchants from all over the world will flock to it... So the upper room is no longer available.” The innkeeper said helplessly.

Although the price of a room in Wangshu Inn is extremely high, Mora is naturally not in short supply for businessmen from all over the world.

In order to demonstrate their status, most businessmen would choose to live in a higher-class house, so the upper-class house has always been in short supply.

"In that case...it's fine. Just get the best available room." Zhong Ling certainly wouldn't care too much. She had been sharing a bed with Ying these days anyway. The reason why she asked for a separate room was so that she could continue sleeping with Ying today.

The 'Abyss Poison' in her body was almost completely eliminated, but there was still some residue.

The 'poison of the abyss' that had invaded her essence was too stubborn, and even after such a long period of purification it was difficult to completely eliminate it.

Although the remaining amount is unlikely to make Zhong Ling go berserk, it will still make her uncomfortable, so...

Well, to put it bluntly, she just wanted to be with Ying.

"Okay, girl, please follow me."

----

"Haha~ The room is so big!" Paimon floated around the room and looked around.

Although this room is not the best room in Wangshu Inn, it is also very nice.

By opening the window here, you can directly see the beautiful mountains and rivers of Liyue.

"Hmm?" Suddenly, Ying looked into the distance and narrowed her eyes. "Why does it look like... a ruin over there?"

"...That's the ruins over there." Looking in the direction Ying was looking, Zhong Ling sighed and said, "Two hundred miles from here, it's where 'Gui Li Ji' is."

"I mentioned this before in Dihua Province. In the beginning, there was a group of people in Liyue who lived by farming and weaving. They were called the Limin."

"The so-called 'Limin' are the people who returned to the [Demon of Dust]. Later, the [Demon of Dust] found the [Demon of Rock] Morax, who had not yet ascended to the throne of God, and the two became friends and formed an alliance..."

"..." Listening to Zhong Ling's narration, Ying stared at her profile, while Zhong Ling's eyes were fixed on the ruins called 'Gui Li Ji' in the distance. "Linglong..."

"Huh?" Zhong Ling, who had not yet finished telling the history, stopped when she heard Ying calling her.

"No, nothing." Ying shook her head. "You look like you're about to cry."