Chapter 249: New Contract

In Liyue's records.

The Ruotu Dragon King's size is comparable to a mountain; when the earth dragon turns over, it can shake heaven and earth.

Such a massive stature is in no way inferior to that of Du Lin, who perished in the Dragon's Spine Snow Mountain.

Back when Zhongli subdued him,

Wherever the god and the dragon passed, mountains and rivers were ground into valleys, and the traces of their battle remain clearly visible even after a thousand years.

Logically speaking.

The crystal horn on the Ruotu Dragon King's head is at least several stories tall.

But the dragon horn now before Luo De, after he measured it, is only slightly longer than his arm.

If it weren't for the Grass Dragon King Apep giving him this thing,

Luo De really wouldn't believe that this was something they snapped off the Ruotu Dragon King's head.

This horn resembles a natural gold crystal; it feels heavy in hand, and with Luo De's strength, he must exert all his might just to hold it.

Just as Apep and Zhongli said.

Strictly speaking, the Ruotu Dragon King's horn cannot be called a horn; it is more fitting to call it a crown.

Although he is a Geo-element dragon king,

yet within this crown flows, besides the mighty and heavy Geo element, also the authority of water, fire, ice, and lightning.

All told,

Just this one dragon king crown alone can grant the ability to command five kinds of elemental energy.

To be called a fine gift by Apep, the Grass Dragon King who has lived ten thousand years, it is certainly no ordinary trinket.

"It's a bit, too precious."

"As the saying goes, no reward without merit."

Although Luo De was indeed involved in Apep and Zhongli's transaction, helping Apep complete the deal, this gift is simply too valuable.

It's valuable to the point that Luo De feels guilty just accepting it.

He feels that what he has done is still far from deserving this dragon king crown.

If he were to casually accept this, who knows how Apep might later drive him!

Luo De's worry.

In Apep's eyes, it amounted to only a few domineering words: "You take it because I tell you to; is there any reason to take back what I give?"

Helpless.

Luo De could only turn his pleading gaze toward Zhongli.

Yet Zhongli also nodded, smiling and saying, "Little friend, you ought to accept this gift."

Even he said that.

No matter how doubtful Luo De felt, he had no choice but to steel himself and accept this generous gift.

"Thank you, Grass Dragon Lord, thank you, Sovereign."

There was nothing else to say; he could only offer thanks.

"Hmph—"

"Hypocrisy."

Apep always says what she means; she knows Luo De isn't willing to accept such a gift, so her words are naturally unpleasant.

On the other hand, Zhongli calmly accepted Luo De's thanks and, by the way, cleared up his doubts: "Without this, your nurturing of Fushe's remnant soul would be much more difficult."

"Huh?"

"What does the Sovereign mean?"

Luo De blinked, then took out the crystal that Apep had stored with him.

Since neither Apep nor Zhongli had ever taught him how to nurture a remnant soul, he had ignored this crystal all this time, simply carrying it close to his person.

Thus the Fushe remnant soul within the crystal showed no miraculous change; it remained as weak as a candle in the wind.

"Do you know how you previously nurtured that guy?"

Apep was referring to the Great Merciful Tree King.

Luo De naturally replied, "Because I share the same origin as her, her residual consciousness can reside in my Vision."

"Not only that."

Apep continued to supplement for Luo De: "Your compatibility with the world's elemental energy is unparalleled; any elemental energy passing through your hands can be enhanced to a certain degree. Oh, by the way, you should know what the Gnosis is made of, right?"

"."

"."

Luo De roughly understood what Apep wanted to say.

He is essentially a human-shaped, oversized Gnosis.

Except he lacks the vast elemental energy stored within a Gnosis.

After explaining these,

Apep fiddled with the green crystal in her hand: "Your Electro Vision is of little use to him; it's not of the same origin, and even if you could nurture it, the effect would be minimal, so you still need to use this."

Saying that,

Apep tapped the Ruotu Dragon King's dragon king crown with her finger.

Luo De listened to all this thoughtfully.

Fushe and Xiao alike are yakshas born before the deity's rules were established and before the Archon war.

According to the definition of elemental beings,

They are all life born from the elements of Teyvat; elemental deposition turns into slime, elemental ascent forms crystal butterflies, and only a rare few fortunate ones become more dangerous elemental monsters.

Dragons, yakshas, and adepti are all born in this way in Teyvat.

Apep is an elemental life that existed before the Heavenly Principles established new rules, so the elemental energy she uses differs greatly from the elemental energy currently used across the Teyvat continent; in other words, the elemental energy she uses should actually be called light boundary energy.

This is also why she regards the Great Merciful Tree King as her daughter.

Because on this continent.

Except the Primordial Dragon King.

No one else shares the same origin and source as her.

After the Heavenly Principles defeated the Dragon King and re-established the elemental rules.

The elemental life born during this period is essentially a new type of elemental energy under the new rules.

It is also the elemental energy known as human world energy.

Xiao, the Liyue adepti, Lan Naluo, the pure water spirit, and the second-generation Dragon King—they use human world energy.

And the event ended with the third Heavenly Principles war.

The Heavenly Principles, gravely wounded by the Dragon King of Kings Nibelung, were unable to maintain Teyvat's elemental order, thus they established the Seven Divine Thrones and created the Vision system, after which Teyvat's elemental energy system changed again.

This elemental energy system can be said to be specially tailored by the Heavenly Principles for mortals.

The specific manifestation.

It is that the current elemental energy contains a component of wish power.

This is a power exclusive to humans.

Mortals' wishes ascend to the highest heavens; if they gain the approval of the Sky Island, they can receive the gods' gift, possessing a fragment of divine authority—that is, a Vision.

Apep's idea is now clear.

Luo De uses himself as a medium, amplifying the lightning elemental energy drawn from the ley lines to nurture the lightning elemental being Fushi, whose nature is to use human world energy.

After such a Fushi is reborn.

This is the former yaksha Fushi, untainted by human world wish power, rather than the later Tengshe Grand Commander Fushi who fights for humanity.

Zhongli appears to have acquiesced to her approach.

"Don't you want Fushi to stop bearing the contract, so he can happily undergo a rebirth?"

Luo De silently thought to himself, then immediately raised a new question: "What about the body? How do you plan to solve Fushi's bodily issue?"

The Great Merciful Tree King's revival relied on a brand-new body forged by Apep's Oasis Source; her consciousness could perfectly merge with it, and upon manifestation she possessed the power of a deity.

But Fushi's situation is different from that of the Great Merciful Tree King.

After all, the Great Merciful Tree King is a deity who wields dream authority; her own consciousness is immensely strong, so even if she fails to form a body, she can freely use other objects as a temporary abode for her consciousness, or even place her consciousness in the void, wandering freely in the void's network, with no risk of incompatibility between consciousness and body.

In the end, Fushi is merely a yaksha.

Despite years of fighting karmic debt, his will is extremely steadfast.

But compared to a deity like the Great Merciful Tree King, he is still far too weak; if not for Apep's intervention to protect him, he wouldn't have left even a fragment of his soul after his farewell.

Relatively speaking, a weaker consciousness.

This means Fushi must have a body that matches his consciousness; otherwise, a rejection reaction between body and soul is likely to occur.

Luo De had seen this in the Wangsheng Hall's books when he previously consulted Zhongli out of boredom.

Body and soul mismatched.

In the short term, the condition manifests as an inability to control one's body; if prolonged, the flesh increasingly rejects the soul, eventually degenerating into a consciousness‑confused demon or similar monster.

Under normal circumstances.

In Liyue's Wuwang Slope, which borders life and death and is filled year‑round with wandering souls, such incidents occasionally occur.

Basically, passersby mistakenly enter Wuwang Slope, become possessed by the wandering souls inside, and develop a condition of spirit possession—body and soul mismatched.

Wangsheng Hall has handled many such cases, and their records are highly reliable.

As the forefather of all Liyue adepti.

Zhongli is quite the expert in this matter.

Luo De believes.

He certainly understands the dangers of a body‑soul mismatch better than this layperson Luo De does.

"A body made of pure lightning elemental energy."

"That is very difficult."

"On this Teyvat continent, only a few can create such a body."

Zhongli's words gave Luo De an ominous premonition.

"This old guy."

"Could it be that he's saying he lacks the ability to reshape Fushi's body?"

Luo De's premonition was soon fulfilled.

"As you thought, little friend, although I have studied creation extensively, due to my own limitations I cannot fashion a lightning‑elemental body compatible with Fushi."

Zhongli frankly admitted his own shortcomings, then looked at Luo De and said, "There is one person who is most suited for this."

"You wouldn't be suggesting the Electro Archon, would you?"

Luo De frowned slightly.

Inazuma.

It appears to have closed its borders.

If one wanted to seek the Electro Archon's help, they'd probably have to get Zhongli to go ask in person.

"The person I mean is precisely the Electro Archon Baal."

"But Inazuma has now enacted the Vision Hunt Decree and is completely sealed off."

"Wanting to enlist her help is no easy task."

Zhongli went along with Luo De's words, his expression subtle, saying: "Besides Baal, there is actually another candidate that is also very suitable."

Luo De had wanted to ask something, but seeing Zhongli stare at him incessantly, his mouth twitched; he tentatively pointed at himself and said, "You wouldn't be suggesting it's me, would you?"

"Exactly."

Zhongli showed an expression that he was teachable, nodding in relief.

"No."

Luo De immediately burst into laughter mixed with tears: "Emperor, even jokes have limits; I know my own abilities—asking me to craft a humanoid body with power equal to an Archon's is hardly fair, right?"

"Tsk."

"What he said is correct; you are actually far more suitable than the Electro Archon."

"At least you won't make exorbitant demands."

Apep also chimed in from the side: "Besides, who asked you to make a body with Archon-level power? This kid never said that, did he?"

"Huh?"

Luo De was taken aback.

"Yeah."

Zhongli indeed never said that what was needed for Fushe's revival was that original strong body.

"Back during the war."

"Fushe and the Yakshas once made a vow."

"When the world is at peace, they also want to live ordinary mortal lives."

Speaking of the Yakshas' wish, Zhongli's face darkened as he said: "Yingda, Fanan, and Minu are no longer able to see this scene; now only Xiao and Fushe can."

"Enjoy mortal life."

Recalling the places he had taken Xiao along Zhongli's route these past few days, Luo De seemed to sense something and said: "Your meaning, Emperor, is that we only need to craft an ordinary body for Fushe, right?"

"Exactly."

Zhongli nodded and said: "Young friend, you only need to use the Nirvana Crown to borrow the earth's elemental energy, reshape Fushe's body; all required materials will be provided by Liyue, and you just need to focus on crafting Fushe's body."

"That does sound simple."

But Luo De still had his own concerns.

He then gave a wry smile and said: "Emperor, I've never studied how to craft a human body; now being thrust into this all of a sudden, aren't you worried about any mishaps?"

"No problem."

"With the help of the two Dendro Archons, I believe you won't be delayed much in this regard."

Zhongli has great confidence in Luo De.

Such puzzling information made Luo De's face involuntarily flush.

He didn't hesitate much and still refused: "Emperor, I lack the ability; this might really not be doable."

"Young friend, you need not worry so much."

"If you can't do it here, I will seek Baal's help instead."

Zhongli waved his hand, still insisting that Luo De try first, and if that really doesn't work, go ask the Electro Archon for help.

Luo De didn't know whether it was because of what Apep said that made Zhongli so insistent on him coming.

But since Zhongli has already said this much.

He has to come even if he doesn't want to.

He has to grit his teeth and go through with it.

"Sigh—"

"Well, Emperor, do you have a method for shaping a body here?"

"I can't just mess around there myself, can I?"

Luo De sighed: "Also, how am I supposed to use the Dragon King Crown? Can you teach me? I can't exactly lug around such a huge thing, can I?"

"In Teyvat."

"Methods for creating bodies aren't many, but they do exist."

For example, Albedo's teacher created this human with independent consciousness, as well as many flawed products including Albedo's brother; furthermore, the Electro Archon masters the puppet technique unmatched in Teyvat.

Liyue is rich in resources, so there should also be a method better suited to Fushe's needs.

"Indeed."

Luo De finished asking that.

Zhongli immediately handed over two vials of Strange Dream Solvent.

This is the fastest way to gain knowledge without side effects; compared to canned knowledge, it's a bit troublesome, but it wins in safety.

Luo De accepted the Strange Dream Solvent, which also means he and Zhongli have established another new contract.

At the same time he muttered to himself: "They keep saying this is the final contract, but how many 'final' contracts have there been now?!"

Zhongli evidently couldn't hear his inner thoughts, still laughing as he said.

"First, the great thanks promised to young friend."

"After this, we'll settle everything together; I don't know what you think, young friend?"

(End of chapter)