Chapter 376

「Isn't that the Flower God? 」

Unlike the tribals who went crazy over the Flower God's reappearance, the people of Zubair Theater, who had never linked the Great Merciful Tree King's alias with the name Nabu Marikat, all stared wide-eyed at the Great Merciful Tree King dancing alone on stage.

Even so, deep down they still felt this was unlikely.

But the purple Patisa orchid before their eyes proved that the smiling dancer they had been living with these days was none other than the Flower God now dancing for the Dendro Archon.

「No wonder. 」

「No wonder she knows so much. 」

Among the theater troupe, Nilou was the most excited.

As a devoted follower of the Little Auspicious Grass King.

Nilou's deepest wish has always been to make her Flower God dance closer to the true Flower God dance of history, so that the Dendro Archon may truly recall the blessings and joy that belong to her.

To that end.

She studied and trained diligently for years, honing her dance skills whenever she had time, finally achieving the level praised by everyone today.

But the bottleneck that troubles every dancer eventually arrived.

Nilou had never told anyone about this.

It wasn't just because she didn't want everyone to worry about her.

Moreover, for any dancer, the appearance of a bottleneck is not considered an unexpected situation.

Especially since Nilou has always approached dance with a mindset of constant improvement.

After so many years, encountering a bottleneck can already be called a miracle.

But she doesn't tell anyone.

Just relying on herself, it's still somewhat painful.

In order to advance her dance skills further, Nilou has gone to the wilderness, ventured into deep mountains, and entered ruins, all to gain more inspiration and thereby break through this bottleneck that limits her further progress.

But doing this has always yielded little effect; her progress has been so slight as to be unsatisfying.

All of this.

All of this changed after the 'Flower God' appeared at Zubair Theater.

The 'Flower God' is a dancer highly skilled in dance.

Especially the Flower God's dance.

As the person involved, she knows every detail clearly.

But even so.

She was not stingy with her guidance to Nilou, pointing out some dance errors, affirming Nilou's innovations and improvements to the Flower God's dance, and even proactively learning Nilou's version of the Flower of the Flower God's dance herself.

Besides that.

She also never refused Nilou's requests for advice, teaching her all her dance experience and viewpoints, helping Nilou smoothly break through the bottleneck that had tormented her for a long time, and her dance technique underwent a tremendous transformation.

「Flower God. 」

「Thank you for your guidance. 」

Nilou, who had quietly stepped down to the lower level of the stage, watched the Great Merciful Tree King's dance intently while silently sending her gratitude in her heart.

「Flower God! 」

「The Flower God of Sumeru is still alive! 」

The Flower God's appearance did not only stir the emotions of the Sumeru people; among the foreign dignitaries who came to observe, only Yae Miko could remain calm, while everyone else, including the other Inazuma people, was greatly shocked.

Not for any other reason.

Simply because Sumeru has become the only nation in Teyvat with two gods active at the same time.

This is enough to make all nations increase their attention to Sumeru.

Although they originally already valued Sumeru highly.

But the situation is now different.

When the two gods are active, they often constitute an intangible threat to other nations.

Regardless of how strong Sumeru's gods actually are.

On this Teyvat continent, handling mundane affairs is finally the domain of people, not gods.

Even if the Dendro Archon and the Flower God are weak,

Sumeru, which simultaneously possesses two gods, compared to other nations, would no longer be in a weak state; even when facing Liyue and Snezhnaya, which have strong gods, their speaking rights would greatly increase.

"Is this the big surprise Luo De previously said would happen?"

"In the Academy, at the Mondstadt stand, Qin glanced over at Venti, who was mingling with the Liyue people not far away, and couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh."

"Their god is still this unreliable."

"Hmph—"

"That bastard, obviously knows everything, yet keeps hiding it from us."

Youla, standing beside Qin, crossed her arms and let out a dissatisfied cold snort.

She shouldn't have been standing here.

But under Luo De's direction, she is now on leave; Sumeru's regulations have no provision restricting the conduct of officials on vacation, so she simply came to Mondstadt to catch up with old friends.

"Really is a big surprise."

Diluc, standing beside them, shook his head.

"What are you all doing with those sour faces?"

"Have you forgotten?"

"We have indeed achieved a deeper cooperative relationship with Sumeru; Sumeru has become stronger, so we should be happier, right?"

Compared to Qin and the others, Kaeya wore a happy look.

A few days ago.

He and Diluc went to inspect the new winery.

Generally speaking.

The Sumeru branch of Morninglight Winery is quite impressive, whether in terms of revenue or the factory's setup.

Diluc also checked the financial situation.

It was also very good.

Of course.

There are still some corruption issues.

But this is unavoidable, and they are all old-timers of Morninglight Winery, plus the amounts involved aren't large.

After some thought, Diluc did not adopt Kaeya's advice, choosing to turn a blind eye, merely giving those corrupt old-timers a light reprimand, and then said nothing more.

Aside from this minor flaw,

The rest of the Sumeru Morninglight Winery branch operates extremely smoothly.

Cheaper labor, lower-cost raw materials, and officially supported transportation and sales channels.

These conditions added up.

The profit of this branch, in just a few short years, has reached a level comparable to that of the long-famous Mondstadt Morninglight Winery.

The only shortcoming is.

After detailed market research.

The Sumeru branch can no longer be called a winery; the Morninglight Beverage Factory is clearly more appropriate.

The upright Morninglight Winery branch.

Only a single production line remains for brewing alcohol, while all other lines are used for sparkling water.

This also caused the old-timers of Morninglight Winery to have quite a few complaints.

Of course.

It's merely a few complaints.

With Diluc present, these dissenting voices were quickly suppressed.

Outside of Morninglight Winery.

Mondstadt also achieved many deep cooperations with Sumeru this time.

One of the most important among them.

That is, the Academy will send people to help Mondstadt build roads.

At first glance.

This seems like nothing.

After all, Mondstadt's national strength is sufficient; even building a north-south road would be easy.

However, the agreement between the Academy and Jean is to help construct a road crossing Dragonspine Snow Mountain. Put more simply,

That is, the Academy will assist Mondstadt in constructing a brand-new trade route from Mondstadt to Liyue.

This matter is not just agreed upon by the Mondstadt side.

After Yelan and Beidou were given a dressing-down by Jean over identity issues, the Liyue side urgently had Ningguang set aside all her affairs and personally rush to Sumeru, where she sat together with Jean and Nadixa to discuss a super-long trade route running from Liyue Harbor to the City of Mondstadt.

After this matter was accomplished,

Whether it's Sumeru or Liyue and Mondstadt, everyone was delighted.

Sumeru, which was already short of funds, can earn at least over ten billion Mora from undertaking this major project.

Moreover, the originally incomplete land trade routes of Liyue and Mondstadt will, thanks to the opening of this new trade route, completely solve the long-standing problem of insufficient trade volume for both sides.

However,

This also made Ningguang quite regret not having paid enough attention to the Flower God Festival earlier, which delayed matters.

In this trade route opening plan,

Nadixa used her dream-related power to let Ningguang and Jean personally experience the scientific technology that Sumeru currently controls.

This is almost on a completely different technological level compared to that of Liyue and Mondstadt.

Seeing this made Ningguang both envious and furious, her teeth itching with anger.

Nothing else.

Because Jean had already negotiated with Sumeru first, obtaining the technology agency rights for the northern continent; thereafter, if Liyue wants to adopt Sumeru's new technology, it will likely have to go through Mondstadt and must pay them a sum.

Just thinking of Ningguang's expression back then,

Jean couldn't help but laugh out loud.

She usually has a very good temper and treats people and things with tolerance.

But who let the Liyue people go overboard during the previous dragon disaster?

They suppressed Mondstadt's tax revenue through commercial means, leaving Jean, acting as captain of the Knights of Favonius, unable to sleep well due to the various financial expenditures before her.

Now there is an opportunity to trip them up.

If she doesn't strike back hard, the Liyue people will think Mondstadt is easy to bully.

Hmm.

This is what Grand Master Faerge taught Jean.

No matter when or what, if one suffers a loss, one must retaliate; otherwise, others will only bully Mondstadt more and more—today you bully, tomorrow she bullies—how can Mondstadt ever stand firm in Teyvat thereafter?

Having lain low for so long,

Jean finally obtained this opportunity to raise her brows and breathe freely; how could her mood not be good?

Similar to the attitude of the Mondstadt people.

Also Inazuma.

Having Yae Miko present, almost everyone who came from Inazuma knew about the recent good relations between Xu Mi and Inazuma, so upon seeing the Flower God reappear after a thousand years, their first reaction was worry; but upon seeing Yae Miko's calm and composed smile, they all simultaneously relaxed and attentively watched the rare true Flower God dance.

Unlike Mondstadt and Liyue, which directly negotiated face-to-face with Nadixa.

The cooperation between Inazuma and Xu Mi.

All were conducted with Duo Li·Sangge Mahabadi.

Duo Li, who was once relied upon by the Academy yet looked down upon by it.

Now, under Nadixa's direction.

She underwent a complete transformation.

She became the official commercial spokesperson for Xu Mi, controlling vast resources and patent rights.

Although due to policy reasons.

She could not join the Academy to become a true commercial official.

But the position she has attained in Xu Mi's business world is in no way inferior to that of commercial officials from other countries.

Furthermore, Nadixa serves as her backing.

Her cooperation with Inazuma is extremely pleasant.

When negotiating cooperation with her.

The officials of the new term of Inazuma's Treasury Commissioner were also shocked by the preparedness of information in the hands of this Xu Mi merchant from far away.

The cooperation projects Duo Li proposed were all various goods that Inazuma urgently needed after the isolation edict, leaving people unable to refuse or choose a partner.

To show sincerity.

Duo Li also accepted all the cooperation projects proposed by Inazuma in full.

Even if some of these projects overlapped with her own business, she still reached agreements with them offering the most generous compensation.

In Duo Li's words.

These businesses seem unprofitable, yet they allow Inazuma to place her as the most favorable and fair choice of partner.

That is, meaning outweighs profit.

Having such a partner, the Inazuma people who originally held various unexpected expectations were all very satisfied; moreover, Yae Miko found Duo Li increasingly pleasing, even proactively giving her a sachet to express her goodwill.

Aside from these three countries closely cooperating with Xu Mi.

Na Ta and Snezhnaya, these two countries far removed from Xu Mi, have not achieved any cooperation with Xu Mi.

Feng Dan, on the other hand, reached an agreement concerning newly built ports and routes.

However, this was only out of face for Luo De helping Feng Dan.

Besides that.

They have not reached any further agreements.

There's nothing that can be done.

Indeed, Feng Dan and Xu Mi do not share many borders, and moreover, the Academy at the time abandoned the desert, leaving the places that could have cooperated with Feng Dan barren for thousands of miles.

This also resulted in any such facilities being unable to be built.

If it weren't for Luo De's promise that Xu Mi would subsequently use the power of flower spirits and tranquil spirits to repair desert trade routes, even with Luo De's favor, Na We Lai Te would not be willing to sail Feng Dan's ships into Xu Mi's desert.

"Are those the tranquil spirits and flower spirits?"

Fu Ning Na showed somewhat more interest in the tranquil spirits and flower spirits mentioned in the agreement.

As for the "Flower God" in the livestream,

She does not know it, nor does she wish to know it.

She now just wants to quickly end this Flower God birth festival that makes her feel uncomfortable all over, so she can hurry back to Feng Dan.

No way.

Her false god identity.

Being together with these genuine deities really gives her no sense of security.

Even if Na We Lai Te is right by her side.

She still cannot help but feel panicked inside.

Just as she closed the livestream, attempting to close her eyes again and pretend to sleep, a voice somewhat familiar sounded before her.

"Hello."

Fu Ning Na panickedly lifted her head and looked ahead.

It was a blue flower spirit resembling the flower spirit in the light curtain, with big blinking eyes; for some reason, Fu Ning Na felt she had seen it somewhere before, familiar yet unfamiliar.

"You, hello, what do you want with me?"

Fu Ning Na panickedly sat up.

"I am here under Luo De's orders to accompany you."

E Ge Li Ya casually fabricated a lie, saying: "He said you were drunk, so he sent me here to take care of you."

"Oh, oh, okay, okay."

Fu Ning Na was stunned for a moment, then immediately turned her head to look at Na We Lai Te; seeing no one else beside him, she wondered aloud: "Where is he? I recall he was not supposed to be with Na We Lai Te just now."

"Luo De said something big will happen soon; afraid you'd sleep through it and miss it, he had me look after you and also wake you up."

"Something big?"

Fu Ning Na was stunned for a moment.

Before she could ask further, a sonorous dragon roar descended from the heavens.

Immediately after.

A huge dragon claw tore through the illusionary palace created by Nadixa using her authority; the rift kept widening, and a colossal earth-yellow dragon, larger than Xu Mi Cheng, was forcibly squeezed in from outside.

(End of chapter)