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

At first, no one could see anything. Then, Oser let out a piercing howl, and everyone could hear the pain in that angry scream. Oser writhed violently in the sea, and then a girl in a dark blue, tight-fitting fish skin dress emerged from the water near the shore. Vanan fell onto the sand like a fish escaping from the water.

The cheongsam she wore on the outside had been damaged in the battle, but fortunately she was wearing a bodysuit underneath, similar to a close-fitting swimsuit.

But preliminary signs of frostbite were already visible on Fanan's body, large patches of her fair skin turning bluish-purple. She took the hot wine from the soldier next to her, frowned, and took a big gulp.

Then she immediately looked at Osel's other head, wondering if the sailor had escaped.

But all she saw was her own patch of white mist, within which lay Oser's head, frozen solid several meters thick, its slender head slumped on the water's surface—a testament to its effectiveness. But what about the white mist that the other sailor was supposed to have created…?

Chapter Twenty-Eight: These Siblings Are Not to Be Messed With

Shao Zheng is swimming with all his might toward another slender neck.

The shameful thing was that the hook on his box was originally stuck to Osel's body, but Osel twisted and the hook came loose, and the box fell into the sea. He could only jump down and grab the box, but when he turned around, the neck that had been there before had already been raised, and he couldn't climb back up.

That's how battles are; there are too many variables, especially when fighting such a giant monster. No one has any experience with it except for Fa Nan, who has lived for two thousand years.

Normally, ordinary people wouldn't be able to fight against demons, but then again, during the demon war a thousand years ago, the people who followed the Rock Lord seemed to have raised their swords against other demons without hesitation... The people of Liyue at that time were excessively martial, and the Thousand Rock Spear, which is now only used by elites, was a standard weapon that everyone had back then.

but……

I am the elite.

Shao Zheng suddenly felt an urge to laugh out loud. Yes, he was indeed an elite. He was no different from the Liyue people during the Demon God War a thousand years ago. A thousand years had passed, and he was still walking alongside the immortals and yakshas, ​​fighting against the demon gods, charging on the most dangerous front lines, with his peaceful homeland behind him.

It seems that the people of Liyue have always been so powerful and mighty, haven't they?

He turned around and saw that Fanan had detonated the dry ice storage tank, with an effect far exceeding expectations. Fanan's ecstatic voice echoed across the battlefield through the roar of the waves: "Soldiers! Do you see? Even gods can be wounded and fearful. Our battle is worthwhile! At this moment! Right now! I, General Fanan of the Spiral Rolling, am here. I will not retreat. I am by your side! My life is with you! Kill it here! If we fail, I will accept my fate. The Thousand Rock Army never shirks its duty, and I hope you will too! Tonight..."

The clear, girlish voice of Fa Nan was as sharp as the spears in their hands: "No one dies alone!"

Seeing his comrades raise their weapons and shout in a deafening voice, Shao Zheng exclaimed, "The cliffs are firm! The mountains are immovable!"

He wanted to shout, but he was still floating in the water and couldn't respond to the menacing battle cry.

Unlike many officers, Shao Zheng didn't have a life-or-death bond with Fanan. He was just an ordinary sailor. Because he grew up in a fishing village and was an excellent swimmer, the General Affairs Department asked him if he was interested in participating in frogman training. Elite frogmen received significantly higher pay than ordinary sailors. He trained in the barracks for half a year, winning first place in several battalions, and thus became a soldier in Fanan's unit.

He simply thought that Fa Nan was a good leader. She was beautiful, took good care of her subordinates, and always won difficult battles with ease. Everyone liked her. Every night, when everyone was waiting for the lights to go out on the dormitory, they would talk about their leader. Many people made a grand vow that it would be worth it if Fa Nan could show them a gentle and kind girlish smile in this lifetime.

They didn't even dare to dream of anything else, because everyone knew that Fanan was actually an immortal who could be their ancestor for several generations. All their fantasies seemed unrealistic in the face of the comparison between a human and an immortal.

But now, as an immortal and the highest-ranking general, Fa Nan is still fighting alongside the soldiers. In Shao Zheng's eyes, he is an exceptionally good leader.

When you're in the army, you have to follow a leader like that.

Even if you accidentally die, you'll have so many good brothers with you, and even such a beautiful boss will cry for you... You might even die together, so you won't be lonely in hell.

Shao Zheng curled the corners of his mouth into a smile.

He finally climbed onto one of Osel's necks, carrying a huge dry ice storage box on his back, which was already leaking a bit. His entire back and thighs were red and purple from the cold. Theoretically, he should have difficulty moving with this kind of frostbite, but he still kept climbing.

His crawling was blocked by Oser's body at this position, and the people on the shore could not see him. Perhaps Vanan is still observing the sea for information about him, or perhaps he thinks that he was swept away by the waves.

But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if no one sees it. Chiiwa Army doesn't have to be a personal hero. There are plenty of heroes in history who go unseen.

He crept up Osel's neck, hiding there, until he reached the junction of her long neck and body. Then, he placed the storage box behind her, but Osel's slippery body wouldn't hold it. He didn't have a weapon, so he couldn't break the storage box remotely like Vanan... but he didn't seem to need one anyway.

Shao Zheng laughed silently, then looked up at the other heads of Ausel flying wildly in the air.

The nine-headed demon actually sensed the tiny, fragile enemy on its body. Three of its eight movable heads turned around, their white-glowing eyes staring at the human on its body. At this moment, the human and the god looked at each other amidst the endless, sky-reaching tidal wave.

At this moment, its flesh and skin are indestructible, and its power is earth-shattering. Only the resurrected heroes of mythology can defeat it.

“But the Rock King Emperor in mythology also led us to defeat you.” Shao Zheng stepped on its back, then hugged the storage box, burying his feet deep into the flesh of Oser that he had previously dug open with a knife, to stabilize himself.

At that moment, the people on the shore finally saw him, and someone immediately shouted.

"It's Shaozheng!"

"Shao Zheng isn't dead! He's still on Ausel's neck!"

"What does he want to do?"

Fa Nan was taken aback. "He wants to continue the mission?"

Then she realized what was happening, her face turning pale instantly. Instinctively, she wanted to rush forward. In her mind, this kind of thing was for immortals; immortals wouldn't necessarily die doing it, and immortals were the most suitable...

But she was stopped by the sailors around her.

“General, on the battlefield, it’s not about who’s suitable, it’s about who can seize the opportunity. That’s the rule of the Thousand Rock Army.” The sailor looked at his comrade-in-arms. Fanan knew that he seemed to be a fellow villager named Shaozheng, a childhood playmate. But at this moment, his fellow villager only showed a sad but respectful smile. “Shaozheng has always been very good at seizing opportunities. You can’t stop him at times like this.”

Fanan was taken aback. She suddenly saw the shadows of soldiers from the war between demons and gods a thousand years ago in these comrades she had been with day and night.

The people of Liyue have always been like this. In an era without dry ice, alchemy, warships, or giant cannons, what did the weak people of Liyue rely on to drive away all the demons, evil spirits, and even gods on the land? It was a power built up through countless sacrifices.

There is no need to stand in the way, just witness it.

Shao Zheng used a dagger to tear open the dry ice storage box in his arms!

Everyone realized that some kind of power was expanding, even more terrifying than what Fanan had temporarily thrown out. This time, the cold current that erupted from Ausel's body froze the entire sea area in an instant! The dry ice, compressed into liquid, absorbed heat thousands of times more when it came into contact with the outside world. In at most a second, all three of Ausel's heads shot out streams of scorching light!

When the dry ice exploded, Oser gathered the power of its three heads to kill the human. It would rather attack its own body than let the dry ice explode. But it was too late. The speed of the nerve reflexes of such an enormous beast was too slow. It could not beat the determination of a human who was grinning and ready to die with it.

The solid ice, over a hundred meters in diameter, was located at the heart of Oser. The unparalleled cold froze the junction of Oser's nine necks and body, effectively freezing all nine of Oser's heads and causing nine times the damage of Vanan's previous attacks.

Oser's own struggling attack also struck the part of its body that had just been frozen, alternating between extreme cold and extreme heat in an instant. Essentially, it was still a living being; first reduced to a low temperature and then exposed to a stream of high-temperature light, its body was torn open with a massive wound, and its bones were blasted apart one by one!

The outcome was decided the moment the dry ice exploded. All nine of Oser's heads fell onto the sea, and giant waves rose several stories high. Seawater and Oser's white blood mixed together and rushed toward the people on the shore, while the strong fishy smell was blocked by the general's small parasol.

The giant beast collapsed on its way to land, half of its body lying on the sea surface, howling in pain.

------

As the treasure ship approached the main island, the cannons began to adjust their coordinates, aiming at the massive wound exposed by Osel.

The massive amount of cold air created a white fog that obscured everyone's vision, but everyone proceeded with their tasks methodically, preparing for the bombardment. Even with the dry ice released close to the skin, no one knew how long it would torment Osel; perhaps in a few minutes, Osel's frostbitten tissue would thaw.

No one expected Shao Zheng to still be alive. He was in close proximity to the dry ice explosion and was directly spewed with Osael's dragon breath. Everyone knew that it was unlikely that he would even leave behind a corpse.

However, a treasure ship gunner who was waiting for the white fog to dissipate so he could fire directly saw something faintly visible through his binoculars.

He suddenly shouted, "Wait a minute!"

Then more than one gunner shouted, and a chorus of exclamations rose and fell. The first mate also quickly grabbed a cannon and stared at a certain spot on the sea surface.

"It's Shaozheng! Shaozheng escaped! He wasn't affected!"

On the ice surface where dry ice and white mist rose, a slender young man in white clothes and white hair stood in mid-air amidst the sea breeze and the sound of the tide, carrying the weak and dying Qianyan Army, casually looking down at Shaozheng.

Shao Zheng coughed up blood and shivered from the cold. Every inch of his body was frozen dark purple. This was only because Shen Liang had pulled him away and moved him away from the cold front before the dry ice erupted.

He knew who was carrying him without even looking up. He was grateful to this little demon from Inazuma for saving him, but he also knew very well that even so, he probably wouldn't survive now. How could a human withstand the chilling aura that even Oser could freeze? And to drag the precious young princess into such danger...

But he was still somewhat delighted, never expecting that in his final moments, although he wouldn't die in General Fanan's arms, he would be witnessed by another legendary and distinguished figure...

He opened his eyes with a bitter smile, wanting to see the expression on the face of the princess from Inazuma one last time, but instead saw a pair of golden pupils. That gaze was stern, holy, and compassionate, and for a moment, Shaozheng felt as if a saint had descended from the darkness.

"The Blood of the Saintess," the source of power flowing within Pandora Shaniat!

"I don't want to hear men thank me, so don't say anything. Just staying alive is your way of repaying me." Shen Liang shrugged. "So this is what the people of Liyue are like. I've seen it for myself."

Shao Zheng felt a warm current flowing into his body from the hand that was holding him. The extreme cold was expelled, and the warm energy repaired his body. He could even feel his broken bones regenerating and his necrotic muscles regaining their vitality.

At this moment, the young general standing on the shore looked slightly dazed.

—Yes, that's the special power.

Only Raiden Shin, Raiden Movie, and the current General understand Shen Liang's special abilities as the "Pandora, the Demon God of Fire".

--copy.

—Although every use of any extraordinary power comes at a price, Shen Liang possesses a talent that allows him to learn the power of others without regard to bloodline, origin, or any objective conditions, as long as he is willing to learn. He is not the true son of lightning, yet he can easily obtain the inheritance of Truth and Shadow as if he were a blood relative, and exercise the powers of Truth and Shadow.

—And Shen Liang didn't just learn from his mother and master; he seemed to have learned a great deal more. For example, he didn't know where he learned the healing ability to bring the dead back to life. It was precisely because of this terrifying healing ability that his physical body could remain relatively undefended at a level not much stronger than that of an ordinary person.

Shen Liang casually tossed the nearly repaired Shao Zheng to the sailors who had come to rescue him, then took out a hair tie from his pocket, tied his long hair into a single ponytail behind his back, and performed the series of actions slowly and methodically.

“Your Highness?” Fanan quickly moved to his side, looking at him gratefully, yet hesitantly, “Thank you for saving us, Your Highness. The rest is up to us. We will definitely reseal Ausel today! But Your Highness, let’s go to a safe place first…”

Although she didn't quite understand how Shen Liang had saved Shao Zheng, now was not the time to talk about it.

But to her surprise, Shen Liang plopped down on his own large coffin, crossed his legs in mid-air, and shook his head with a smile: "I'll just watch from here, that's all."

"You..." Fa Nan wanted to say a few more words of advice, but Shen Liang waved his hand, "It's okay, just call my sister up to protect me."

The general, holding a small parasol, arrived gracefully. Shen Liang reached out and pulled her onto the coffin lid. Shen Liang moved back a little to make room. The doll-like girl put away the parasol and sat in her brother's lap. She then tilted her head back and leaned affectionately on her brother's shoulder, staring at Fanan expressionlessly.

From her lifeless eyes, Fanan seemed to see a hint of disdain, as if saying, "Why aren't you leaving yet?" She hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the brother and sister. Considering that Osel was basically incapacitated, she gave them a few more instructions and left.

Shen Liang held his soft, petite sister like a doll, resting his chin comfortably on the little general's shoulder. The two siblings' pretty little faces were pressed together, staring at the great demon below.

The treasure ship roared to life, dozens of caltrops slamming into Oser's wounds, causing it to scream in agony. The colossal creature trembled violently; during the Demon God War, it had neither cannons nor dry ice. But what puzzled the sailors was that even in such agony, Oser did not turn to face the treasure ship with its uninjured side facing the ship.

It should be noted that the direction of the treasure ship's attack was fixed. After the cannons were fired, Osel could have easily withstood a round of attacks before turning around. If it weren't for the huge wounds caused by the dry ice, the cannon fire would have only been superficial injuries to Osel.

Oser did not turn around. Its nine heads, lying on the water, had their white eyes open, but their gazes were all focused on the brother and sister sitting on the coffin in the air, as if watching a theatrical performance.

Pain did not erase Ausel's rationality. In its eyes, the figures of the young but bright and lovely brother and sister were magnified countless times, and the instinctive sense of oppression and severity almost enveloped it.

This colossal beast, as large as an island, possessed intelligence indistinguishable from that of humans. It realized that it was the prey in the eyes of the brother and sister.

It would never show its wounded side to Shen Liang and the general. No matter how many times it was bombarded, it would stare intently at Shen Liang with its open eyes.

“How clever you are, Oser.” Shen Liang finally spoke. “Is it because I have the aura of the Queen Mother on me? You’ve been wary of me from the very beginning…”