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

These words weren't kept from Li Sushang. The young heroine crossed her arms, her expression slightly grave. She suddenly wondered if she should abandon her plan to hold back, or perhaps simply cripple them both and send them to the headquarters hospital? Although spatial abilities were troublesome, if she were serious...

Just then, she suddenly heard the boy opposite her look straight at her, his voice calm: "Miss Li Sushang, please unleash a sword aura at me, the greater the power the better, but of course, the slower the speed the better, so that I can catch it."

Li Sushang was taken aback. "You... are you asking me a question?"

"What, a dignified S-rank Valkyrie doesn't even have the courage to slash me? Or are you worried that I'll use your intervention to play some tricks?" Shen Liang's clear red eyes revealed obvious contempt, and coupled with his already exquisite face, his expression was enough to make one's heart itch with frustration. "What tricks could I possibly have that you can't handle?"

"Are you trying to provoke me?" Li Sushang blinked her big eyes warily.

"I'm just trying to provoke you. I've heard that the Supreme Freedom Sect pursues the enlightenment of a single thought. Do you even deserve to talk about the enlightenment of a single thought?" Shen Liang suddenly reached out and slammed his hand into his chest, without holding back at all, and a mouthful of blood gushed out.

Xilin and Li Sushang were both stunned. Shen Liang's aura weakened instantly, but he still wiped his mouth and smiled disdainfully, "Facing an opponent like me, you still hesitate? You dare to call Cheng Ling Shuang 'Master'! Little Immortal taught such a coward as you! So what if I provoke you? Beat me up!"

"You're asking for it!" Li Sushang gritted her teeth in anger, reached out, and the cloth bag on her back instantly scattered in the wind, revealing an ancient longsword in her hand. "Say it again!"

"Once I'm a member, I'll have Cheng Ling Shuang kick you out! The Free and Easy Sect doesn't have people like you. You have designs on Bishop Otto but don't dare to say it outright. You want to beat me up but are afraid I have a backup plan. Tsk tsk tsk, the Free and Easy Sect? You might as well join the Turtle Sect. Turtles are cowardly but live a long time, which is perfect for an old hag like you who's over five hundred years old!"

Actually, Shen Liang was just saying it casually. He heard Li Sushang's words implying that she really admired Otto, so he deliberately mentioned it to annoy her.

But she hadn't expected the young heroine to react so strongly. She was practically driven mad by the insults, her ample bosom heaving with rage beneath her blue-and-white cheongsam. Although she was five hundred years old, she was different from Otto. She had always followed Cheng Ling Shuang, the master and disciple, guarding the border, and had hardly ever been exposed to society. Her mind was still that of a young girl, and she was powerless to retaliate against such attacks that specifically targeted her weaknesses!

She can't even out-argue Cheng Ling Shuang normally!

"Junior...junior brother, ptooey! What junior brother! Pandora!" Li Sushang's eyes burned with raging fire. Her hands trembled with anger as she drew her sword and pointed it directly at Shen Liang. She spoke through gritted teeth, "Today, today I will teach you a lesson on behalf of Master! I'll show you what it means to respect your teacher! I'll let you taste...let you experience what Ruoshui, which my mother passed down to me, really tastes like!"

One sword strike! Take this! A sword aura reaching a height of twenty meters!

Li Sushang was indeed furious, but even in her rage, she didn't forget to stop. Following Shen Liang's advice to "slow down," she reduced the speed of the sword energy's slash, but increased its power.

She even deliberately brushed past Shen Liang's edge, hoping that the gale would injure him and render him unable to fight, but not cause him any major problems.

Then she saw Shen Liang summon a huge light screen almost instantly.

Li Sushang was taken aback. She had been on guard against Shen Liang's movements, but she hadn't even sensed the flow of Honkai energy when the light screen appeared.

Then, the sword aura, which was tens of meters high, disappeared along with Shen Liang.

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Lord of the Qilin

The 1.4-meter-tall female warrior would never have imagined that the junior brother she had unilaterally recognized was already appearing above the Jade Capital Platform in Liyue Harbor with her sword aura!

Today's weather is like a blade falling from the sky!

Based on Shen Liang's calculations of combat strength, the S-rank strength in the normal sense is roughly equivalent to a demon god's familiar on the Teyvat continent, or a slightly weaker demon god.

However, in any case, Li Sushang's combat performance is definitely not as good as that of General Thunder back then, which means she is at least weaker than the top combat force of Teyvat, such as the Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm.

The strongest of the seven ruling powers in the world is the Geo Archon, who governs Liyue!

Shen Liang's figure plummeted from the sky, accompanied by his fierce shout that shook the clear energy in his chest!

"Shen Liang, an alien from another world, requests an audience with the Emperor!"

The sharp Taixu sword energy slashed straight towards Yujingtai! It was Li Sushang's angry strike, and even though it wasn't aimed directly at him, its power was real! Li Sushang herself wanted to use this move to intimidate him! And now, once this move landed, the huge Liyue capital, the white jade square built of marble, and Yujingtai, where the annual Immortal Invitation Ceremony was held, would be cut in two!

Shen Liang couldn't stop the sword energy at all, but he didn't intend to either. He didn't even look at the direction of the sword energy, but just stared intently at the Golden House. Legend has it that Morax forged coins from his flesh and blood, and the Golden House was the residence of the Rock God. Every year during the Immortal Invocation Ceremony, the true dragon body of the Rock King Emperor would soar out of the Golden House, filling the sky with radiant light.

He waited as he fell.

Just as the sword energy was about to touch the ground, Shen Liang finally heard a soft sigh in his ear. Then, he suddenly realized that the fierce gale had stopped and the sword energy had shattered like glass.

“Young friend Shen, you still act according to your own rules as always, never considering whether you will offend anyone.” The man’s voice was steady but tinged with a hint of helplessness. “You dared to threaten the gods with Baal, and now you’re doing the same thing to me. If I don’t intervene, do you really intend to destroy the Jade Capital Terrace?”

"You must be here," Shen Liang whispered.

"How can I see it?"

“If you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have come.” Shen Liang’s voice was very soft. “It seems that it was all destined. No, it’s not. You were prepared all along. From the day I set foot in Liyue Harbor, you were already waiting for this day.”

"So, my young friend guessed it after all." The voice in the wind, no, it should be said that it was the Rock King Morax, carried a slight smile, "As expected of the intelligent Eve, oh, you may not like this name at this time."

"There are some things I haven't figured out yet, but that's not the important thing right now." Shen Liang looked at the empty Jade Capital Terrace and the panicked tourists. "Your Majesty, I've run into some trouble. Now that you're here, you should be able to lend a hand, right?"

“But I have never drawn up any contract with you for mutual help. Interfering in the affairs of another world will only increase the variables between the two worlds.” Morax’s voice remained calm. “I am not a suitable person for you either. Oh, or rather, according to general rationality, no man would include another man in his private sphere.”

Shen Liang was quite surprised, "I even told you all this?"

"We are old friends despite our age difference." Morax's voice seemed to be smiling. "I still owe you 7,340,556 Mora for wine. With the average annual interest rate of Liyue Bank, it has now grown to 328 million Mora."

"You owe me so much money and you won't even help me with this little thing?"

"Because the person you asked for help, young friend, was not me." The voice gradually faded away. "A beauty has come, why so late? The sun is setting, her beauty has faded. I dare to entrust myself to her, and I will think of her forever."

Shen Liang knew the meaning of this poem. Years ago, when Sima Xiangru answered King Liang's question, "Xiangru, do you like beautiful women?", Sima Xiangru shamelessly replied, "I live in the upper palace of Wei, and every night a stunningly beautiful woman comes to warm my bed. She even asks which country I'm from. I sternly rejected her, and even played the zither and sang, saying, 'My beauty, you've come too late. Time has passed, and beauty has faded. Don't waste your time on me; go and yearn for me forever.' After hearing this, King Liang believed Sima Xiangru was a true gentleman, and treated him to fine wine and meat, even giving him an official position. Later, Shen Liang learned that Sima Xiangru was a notorious scoundrel in history, and this story became a widely circulated joke for thousands of years."

But what did Morax mean by reciting these lines of poetry?

Shen Liang had no time to decipher his riddles; he was frantic with worry. Morax had appeared but refused to make a move, so the only people he could turn to were...

"Alone in my room, I feel utterly alone; longing for my beloved, my heart is filled with sorrow. The Emperor has not memorized the first two lines." A clear and soft, familiar female voice came from behind him. Shen Liang immediately turned around and saw a blue-haired girl in a moon-white cheongsam standing there, holding a sunshade paper umbrella, with a serene smile on her face. "Liang Jun, you may have misunderstood. You are the one in the story who arrived late, leaving one helpless and waiting in vain."

Shen Liang didn't know how to look at this girl who was clearly a stranger yet gave off a sense of familiarity.

He knew he couldn't possibly remember; no one can defy the laws of time.

But he still whispered, "I'm sorry."

I'm sorry, I don't know you.

I'm sorry, I can't remember you.

I'm sorry, but even so, I'm still shameless enough to need your help to save another girl.

“There’s no need to apologize, Liang-jun.” Gan Yu walked over gently and looked up at him. Although Shen Liang wasn’t very tall, Gan Yu wasn’t a tall girl either, yet their eyes were level.

Gan Yu tiptoed, and Shen Liang subconsciously wanted to take a step back, but then he saw a trace of melancholy in the girl's beautiful eyes and stopped. Gan Yu then smiled gently.

"A unicorn chooses its master only once in its lifetime. Welcome back, my young lord."

Standing amidst the bustling crowd at Yujing Terrace, Gan Yu folded her umbrella, the oil-paper umbrella now sheltering the young couple. Everyone stopped to watch the adorable couple embracing. Some guessed they were kissing under the umbrella, others speculated they were just whispering secrets, not wanting to be discovered, and still others were astonished, exclaiming, "Isn't that our Lord Gan Yu from the General Affairs Department? He actually likes girls with long, straight black hair? So disappointing!" The old woman selling umbrellas nearby chuckled, saying, "Gan Yu, this little girl, has finally returned to her rightful place after all these years! The Lord of the Qilin has regained the Qilin; the other world is about to be transformed!"

Immediately afterwards, under the curious or gratified gazes of countless Liyue people, the dazzling white light of the teleportation screen engulfed the oil-paper umbrella.

About thirty seconds after Shen Liang and Gan Yu left, Ke Qing and Ayaka Kamisato finally arrived. After asking passersby, they both showed signs of annoyance.

"You're really efficient. You only lasted two minutes from start to finish," Ke Qing frowned. "If it were an emergency, you should have asked me first. Mr. Shen doesn't consider me a friend."

"That Miss Gan Yu, she actually left with Ryoko?" Although Ayaka Kamisato was slightly annoyed, after a moment of contemplation, she sincerely envied her. "In battle, neither you nor I can help, so let's leave it to Miss Gan Yu."

"How interesting, Miss Kamisato isn't jealous at all in this situation?" Ke Qing said bluntly.

“Women from Inazuma are taught by their mothers from a young age that jealousy is not an emotion that a Yamato Nadeshiko should have.” Ayaka Kamisato unfolded her fan, stood up and left. “Besides, if you’re jealous of everyone, you won’t have time to improve yourself. And women who can’t keep up with Ryoko’s pace are the ones who are truly likely to be marginalized, Ms. Keqing.”

Her words were full of hidden meaning, which left Ke Qing completely baffled.

"What does this have to do with me? I'm not jealous. I'm happy that Gan Yu has finally found someone she likes. Gan Yu and I have been friends for many years!"

"Yes, that's right, hehe."

Ke Qing suddenly wanted to punch the little egret who was covering her face and laughing. For some reason, she also felt a sense of sullenness in her heart.

She clearly said that we could come to her if we encountered any problems, but she didn't even think about it. She was Shen Liang's first friend in Liyue... She just talks the talk but doesn't treat people as friends at all!

Next time I see him, I'm going to give him a good talking to!

----------

Back on the other side, Li Sushang panicked when faced with Shen Liang's sudden disappearance.

She finally abandoned her playful, cat-and-mouse mentality and decided to deal with Xilin first! At this moment, Xilin's pressure increased exponentially. An A-rank was already basically powerless against an S-rank, and if Li Sushang got serious, it would only take a few minutes for her to be caught.

Fortunately, Li Sushang's actual attack couldn't be interrupted at any moment, allowing her to finally open a wormhole for a short-distance spatial jump. That's why spatial abilities are considered the most suitable for survival; Xilin's continuous spatial jumps managed to slow down Li Sushang. After all, even the fastest S-rank speedster needs observation time, and as long as she continuously used teleportation, she could maintain distance.

But retaliating is impossible.

Suppressing her anger, Xilin would hastily open a second wormhole to swallow herself up before she even reached her destination. Each time, the distance of the wormhole was compressed to only a few hundred meters, and each time the reaction time was less than a second before Li Sushang caught up.

As the eldest daughter of the Shaniat family, she had never suffered such humiliation!

The current genius of the Shaniat family, the pampered Queen of the Sky, has never been beaten like a duck in her entire life! She is practically invincible at A-rank, possessing such profound spatial powers, and is pampered and arrogant. Yet today, even a Valkyrie she doesn't recognize can make her run around like this!

Xilin nearly bit her teeth to pieces!

Her resentment was now unbearable. Pandora, Pandora, the most humiliating moment of my life was when you dumped this queen on me! You'll remember this for the rest of your life! I sacrificed so much for you!

She had a feeling she wouldn't last another ten minutes. Using her powers continuously like this was draining her Honkai energy and stamina, while Li Sushang's pursuit was expending almost no energy. If this continued, she would eventually be exhausted. An A-rank could never escape from an S-rank; the difference in combat power between these two ranks was far greater than any other rank!

After all, even reaching A-rank is achievable with "hard work," while S-rank requires both genius and effort. Each S-rank is like a nuclear bomb, while A-rank is at best a mortar. The fact that she could hide from a humanoid nuclear bomb for so long already surpasses most Valkyries. If she wants to continue hiding, then only…

“A mere S-rank…” Xilin muttered.

She never took S-rank classes seriously. She wasn't afraid of Maria beating her up, and she remained defiant even when Durandal intervened. She still dared to boss Rita around like a maid. This wasn't just because of Sirin's personality; she genuinely, from the very beginning, never took S-rank classes seriously.

The only S-rank person who held any weight in her heart was that old woman.

She wasn't arrogant enough to think that if she could unleash her full potential without any constraints, most of the S-class beings in the world wouldn't even be enough for her.

—I've had enough!

Do you want it now? Do you want to start it?

—How dare this usurper attack the noble Queen of the Sky? Would it be alright to kill him?

—Do it! Kill her!

Sirin's anger grew stronger, and the voice that had been suppressed in her heart for more than a decade grew louder and louder. This was the reason why she rarely participated in battles. The Shaniat family did not allow her to enter any situation where there was a possibility of life-or-death combat, as that would make Sirin feel threatened. And once the little queen felt threatened, she might not be able to suppress the dark side of her heart.