Chapter 250: Glow

The Dragon King's crown is not something just anyone can use.

Its effect is indeed powerful.

At least in Zhongli's hands, one can use this innate crown of the Dragon King Ruotuo to communicate with the ley lines.

But if a mortal wants to use it.

Not to mention the Dragon King's authority that comes with the crown, just the elemental energy baptism from the Dragon King when using it is enough to burst an ordinary person to death.

That is, Luo De's special physique and soul.

Otherwise, no matter how Zhongli and Apep operate, he wouldn't even dare to touch this crown.

To be honest.

Luo De is very curious.

How did Zhongli and the others get this crown off Ruotuo Dragon King's head?

To be precise.

It's a half crown.

Because Ruotuo Dragon King has two horns, a complete Dragon King's crown should consist of two dragon horns.

The crown now placed before Luo De.

Is merely half of it.

Moreover, given Ruotuo Dragon King's hostility toward Zhongli, they should have started fighting as soon as they met.

Could it be during this fight?

Did Zhongli and Apep forcibly twist this crown off his head?

Speaking of this.

There's also another matter.

What did Apep go to find Ruotuo Dragon King for?

To discuss rebelling together?

That shouldn't be the case.

Ruotuo Dragon King is exactly the kind of dragon that Apep dislikes most—one that has pledged allegiance to the gods.

Although Ruotuo Dragon King did so to repay Zhongli's kindness of giving him sight, he willingly charged into battle for Liyue.

His cooperation with the gods and humanity is an indisputable fact.

In Apep's old-fashioned, stubborn mindset, this is clearly a betrayal of the dragon race.

There are too many questions.

Apep couldn't be asked at that time.

Luo De held it in until she left Qingyun Peak, then finally had the chance to voice his doubts.

"The Grass Dragon helped me subdue Ruotuo again."

"It also helped me retrieve the power used to seal Ruotuo."

On this matter, Zhongli, unusually, did not beat around the bush and directly gave Luo De a rough account of what happened then.

And everything he said was something Luo De had never imagined.

According to Zhongli's description.

Ruotuo indeed went berserk the moment he saw him, his mind filled with the hatred from being sealed for a thousand years.

The Ruotuo Dragon King, his mind clouded by hatred, possesses terrifying destructive power.

In single combat.

Zhongli would already find it hard to take him down by his own strength.

Moreover, after suffering wear and tear over many years, his strength has diminished considerably, making it even harder to deal with a Ruotuo Dragon King completely in a frenzied state.

Fortunately, the Ruotuo Dragon King, likewise undergoing wear and tear, has also seen its strength greatly reduced.

Otherwise.

Their battle would turn into a one-sided rout.

Apep's participation is an important factor that lets the Ruotuo Dragon King calm down.

As for what exactly they said to each other.

Zhongli doesn't know.

He only knows.

After Ruotuo Dragon King and Apep had a private talk, he returned to the sealing space and willingly allowed Zhongli to seal him again.

At the same time.

Apep also took away Ruotuo Dragon King's full crown.

She gave half to Luo De and kept the other half for herself.

"What does she want this thing for?"

Luo De weighed the palm-sized crown left in his hand, his expression somewhat perplexed.

Apep is the Primordial Grass Dragon King.

She wields Teyvat's most primal grass elemental energy; why would she want to control the authority of the ley lines' Ruotuo Dragon King?

Could she also be trying to play the Seven Dragon Balls game?

Gather the seven elemental energies to summon the Nibelung Dragon King and then go challenge the heavenly principles?

"I don't know that."

"You needn't worry."

"Based on my understanding of her, she probably won't misuse Ruotuo's crown."

Moreover, she only took half of the crown, the other half is in your hands.

Zhongli seemed completely unconcerned that Apep would take the Ruotuo Dragon King's crown and cause trouble, and he was in the mood to joke: "Little friend, instead of worrying about this, you should worry about the Thunderstone in your hand—hurry up and blow it up."

—!

Luo De came to his senses, and immediately his face changed drastically.

But it was already too late.

Just as Zhongli's words fell, the material Luo De was using to construct the body's core instantly exploded, blowing up Luo De and catching him off guard; his whole body was as if shocked by high voltage, his hair and beard standing on end.

Again, it failed.

This is the seventeenth failure since Luo De and Zhongli signed a contract to construct a body for Fush.

Although Zhongli's demands are not high.

He only wants a mortal body for Fush.

But the process of making this body is still very complex, much slower than when Apep shaped and matured a body for the Great Merciful Tree King.

So that Luo De can rest easy.

Zhongli also specially borrowed an immortal abode from True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng, bringing Luo De to a place named Jade Void, a place of the immortals that mortals can hardly reach by human effort.

The foundation of the Jade Void immortal abode is made of floating life stone, the same material used in the Gathering Jade Pavilion.

Relying on the marvelous use of the floating life stone.

Jade Void clearly built on the lofty Auspicious Cloud Peak, yet it still overwhelms the peak, becoming in one fell swoop the highest structure in Liyue and the highest point reachable.

However, nowadays very few people can attain the Dao of immortals.

Naturally, they also have no chance to behold the true appearance of the immortal's Jade Void.

In other words,

This place is quiet and remote, the scenery pleasant; no one would come to disturb Luo De's progress. If tired, one can also look at the scenery, rest one's eyes, and relax the mood.

Even to relieve Luo De's worries and boredom.

Zhongli also specially brought many snacks and books from Liyue Harbor, accompanying him day and night, ignoring affairs of Liyue Harbor, all for the sake of Luo De's current arduous task.

However, Fush is a naturally born lightning-element being.

Wanting to reshape a suitable body for him.

Its core must necessarily be mainly made of lightning-element creations.

Although Zhongli says he doesn't demand too much, he clearly knows that with the premise of an elemental being, it is destined that reshaping Fush's body is no easy task.

Moreover, Luo De must also divert energy to use the power of the ley lines to nourish Fush's remnant soul.

Such distraction.

This will also make his work increasingly difficult.

Fortunately, Zhongli prepared plenty of materials, enough for Luo De to waste on trial and error.

Really difficult.

Skillfully taking out a mirror, Luo De, while tidying his blown-up hair, muttered: "Your Majesty, you really found me a troublesome task."

Little friend, you've worked hard.

It cannot be denied.

Zhongli's words always put people at ease.

A simple 'you've worked hard' eased Luo De's originally somewhat irritable mood from constant failure considerably.

Recalling his just-completed steps.

Luo De noted down the reasons he thought might cause failure in a notebook, and then began chatting casually with Zhongli: "The divine succession is imminent; do you not need to go to Liyue Harbor to oversee the situation?"

No problem.

Ningguang handled it well.

Ganyu is also acting in my stead to maintain stability, the adepts now all stationed at Liyue Harbor to prevent unrest, and I have already expelled the intelligence personnel of Snezhnaya, Mondstadt, Inazuma, Fontaine, and Natta.

All that is needed now is to stabilize the people's hearts.

This is not something I should be doing; it tests the ability of the Liyue people.

I only need to watch and wait; on the day of the handover, I will simply transfer the divine position into Xiao's hands.

Zhongli stood with hands behind his back, gazing at the faint crimson light flickering in the vast sea of clouds, and nodded satisfied: "So far, the Liyue people have done quite well; occasional minor flaws are no big deal."

Are the Snezhnayan intelligence personnel the ones you expelled?

Luo De, upon hearing Zhongli's words, suddenly realized: "No wonder, when I returned to Liyue Harbor a couple days ago, Ningguang pulled me aside and said a bunch of nonsense."

Luo De said this.

Starting from when he and Zhongli signed a new contract, returning to Liyue Harbor to pack up and, by the way, inform Nadixa and Cyno that they themselves cannot return to Sumeru for a short time.

At that time, Yelan invited Luo De to a banquet in place of Ningguang.

Supposedly a banquet.

Actually just a small drinking party of three.

Ningguang chattered on with a bunch of probing and thankful words, leaving Luo De utterly confused.

He remembered it most clearly.

It was Ningguang indirectly asking several times about his relationship with Zhongli.

Luo De's replies were all the truth.

As for whether Ningguang and Yelan believed it or not, that's up to them.

Now the truth has finally come to light.

No wonder, when Luo De arrived at that time, Ningguang thanked him for the lady's matter for no apparent reason.

The reason was figured out after a long while.

To ensure Liyue's stability.

Zhongli personally took action and eliminated all destabilizing factors.

Ningguang credited this deed to Luo De's head, which caused such a big mix-up.

"I thought you, Sovereign, would continue to let them cause trouble in Liyue Harbor."

Luo De laughed and shook his head.

In his impression, Zhongli was a deity who could watch Tartaglia unleash an Archon attack on Liyue Harbor without changing expression, in order to test whether the people of Liyue were capable of governance.

Now, looking at it.

In situations where such extreme governance is not needed, Zhongli remains the meticulous Geo Archon.

Huh?

Saying this, Luo De recalled that Zhongli seemed to have omitted something earlier: "Sovereign, did you forget that Sumeru also has intelligence operatives planted here? You don't have to spare my feelings—if they should be expelled, expel them."

Your Sumeru intelligence operatives

Zhongli's expression immediately turned strange: "You probably haven't seen them, have you?"

No.

That's the truth.

The Sumeru intelligence operatives currently in Liyue were all planted there when Azar was still in power.

Their backers are all Azar.

They don't get along well with Luo De.

After Nadixa returned to the throne, she focused her energy on rebuilding the desert and Sumeru Academy; for them she simply issued an order to stay stationed in Liyue and then stopped overseeing them.

Later, Cyno came.

These people are the ones Cyno was responsible for contacting.

Luo De has still never seen these Sumeru intelligence operatives to this day.

"Sovereign, did this bunch commit some offense?"

From Zhongli's tone, Luo De had reason to believe that this officially dispatched Sumeru intelligence organization had most likely done something shady, only to be caught in the act.

If that is indeed the case.

It wouldn't be impossible to plead for them.

However, Zhongli's answer was somewhat different from what Luo De had imagined.

They haven't committed any offense.

But they also haven't done any work.

Upon hearing that,

Luo De paused, tilted his head, and a question mark slowly appeared above his head: "Ah——?"

Seeing his doubt,

Zhongli simply stood from a god's-eye view and began critiquing the intelligence organizations of various nations.

"Placing spies and covert agents among mortals is nothing unusual."

"Especially since Liyue holds the minting rights, making it the wealthiest nation in Teyvat; the many secrets involved are coveted by all countries, so virtually every industry sees outsiders trying to infiltrate, hoping to seize market advantage before Liyue acts."

"Among them, without a doubt the best at this are the Snezhnayans."

"In concealment, disguise, and gathering intelligence, they can be flawless; even though Liyue's intelligence system is equally powerful, it is still difficult to discern Snezhnayan spies from their daily work."

"Next are Fontaine's secret agents."

"Fontaine's secret agents are mostly made of pure water, making their movements hard to trace; wherever there is water, they can hide their forms, leaving people defenseless."

"Inazuma, Mondstadt, and Natlan are roughly on par."

"Moreover, they maintain a normal work schedule, never voluntarily working overtime nor arriving excessively early."

"Thus their identities have long been exposed by Liyue; the the Liyue the Liyue Qixing have used their cover to eliminate many political rivals for themselves."

"And your Sumeru intelligence operatives"

"they are the worst among them."

Zhongli paused for a moment and glanced at Luo De.

"Please go on, I'm listening."

Luo De knew Zhongli had stopped deliberately, fearing Luo De would be unhappy hearing these things, and wanted to see his reaction.

"Your Sumeru intelligence operatives are all composed of scholars from the Academy and the Thirty-Person Squad."

"But these two groups are mutually hostile."

"They can't even manage the most basic information exchange day-to-day, so they were exposed completely and utterly early on."

Zhongli's expression grew ever stranger: "But after being exposed, they outright stopped doing proper work, daily spending Sumeru's funds on eating, drinking, and entertainment; their situation completely eliminates any need to expel them."

Um

Hehe——

Luo De gave an awkward laugh, unsure how to evaluate this.

Previously, it was Cyno who had been in contact with this lot.

He truly didn't realize that the intelligence operatives sent by Sumeru had already reached this point, directly treating work as a publicly funded vacation.

The idle chat ended.

Just as Luo De began another round of body forging,

Liyue Harbor also welcomed two new guests.

"Ying, this is Liyue, the land of the God of Contracts."

"If you're looking for the Geo Archon."

"There's only this one chance each year for the Rite of Descension—we've got to hurry~~"

Paimon, floating beside Ying, fully exerted her role as a guide, carefully explaining to Ying, who was looking around at Liyue's scenery.

However, although they knew about the Rite of Descension, they didn't know the exact day.

So they went around the city asking people.

If you don't ask, you don't know; but once you ask, it's a huge shock.

Liyue's Rite of Descension this year has been cancelled!!!

They didn't know how the Geo Archon would meet the people of Liyue this year!!!

Paimon and Ying, utterly unprepared, were utterly astonished.

They had no choice.

They had no choice but to rest in the city first, waiting for any news of the Geo Archon's appearance.

But just as they were about to go find a place to have a big meal, they suddenly heard strains of familiar singing.

They listened carefully to distinguish it.

Paimon then realized where that familiar feeling came from.

"It's a street performer!!"

"How is he here!!!"

(End of chapter)