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

Having inherited the powers of both the True and Shadow Thors, Shen Liang's fighting style is indeed not much different from theirs. To be precise, it's more of a fighting style he learned from the Thunder Gods, since the True Thor wasn't responsible for his martial arts instruction.

Whether it's the art of controlling lightning or the technique of the naginata, Shen Liang is already highly proficient. The naginata, a light and swift long-handled weapon, is extremely suitable for a child like him who is not physically strong. However, the naginata is a weapon of war, unlike the tachi, the ceremonial sword that Raiden Shin excels at. Therefore, Shen Liang rarely draws his weapon; once he does, it means that he will inevitably have to kill someone.

Of course, it's also because of this "only draw your sword as a last resort" attitude that it's super cool.

Although Shen Liang's powers are no match for Lei Yingdian himself, he is still a demon god, and even in his formative years, he is a genius so great that even the powerful Lei Zhi, one of the seven rulers of the mortal world, dotes on him excessively! When he is unrestrained, how could a demon god who has been weakened for 1,500 years, possibly defeat him!

Lightning flashed in a long arc, and Shen Liang twirled the naginata in his hand. In that instant of impact, he severed Oser's sixth head!

Do you hate me, or thank me?

Shen Liang's figure flickered, and no one could see his movements clearly. The more than 500 times divine speed boost was the limit of Shen Liang's usual training, even faster than Lei Dianzhen's usual speed. This is because Zhen did not use the power of the fleeting moment for speed. Zhen's fleeting moment power was mainly used for thinking, or to appreciate the beauty of all things, from blooming to withering, in the endless "moment." This is the eternal insight hidden in the fleeting moment. But Shen Liang's fleeting moment had no understanding of his own. He was merely parroting his mother's creation, simply pushing his physical speed and thinking speed to the extreme in battle.

But merely parroting is enough. Shen Liang raised his hand, the knife fell, thunder roared, and the seventh head was severed.

“You are in so much pain. Luckily, I am still young. I don’t have my own faith, and maybe I never will. I can’t understand your pain, Uncle Osel.”

The eighth one.

"Well, because I won't have any subjects. My mother and sister Ying, who wield almost the power of time, would never die before me. They'll be the Thunder Gods for life, and I'll never be able to inherit Inazuma's throne. So behind my back, those monsters say there's no such thing as an eternal prince. But I think that's fine too." Shen Liang spoke casually as he shattered the tentacles that Oser had risen from the seabed, as if he were having a casual chat with a demon god.

He spoke slowly, and genuinely, he was having a casual conversation, speaking in a measured, deliberate manner. This allowed Oser to hear him, as he was being hacked to pieces while listening to the young demon god's rambling.

"I don't understand what's so good about the sense of responsibility to protect one's side, whether it's the Empress Dowager, the Seventh Regent, or you. You bind yourselves with responsibility, even the torment of death and imprisonment is easier than that responsibility, so why cling to it?" Shen Liang said softly, "Does everyone want to be the boss?"

Shen Liang stood before the last head, listening to the sound of the wind blowing across the sea. Perhaps Osel had exhausted his strength and the tsunami had receded at some point, leaving only the mournful wind.

“To be the leader, you need to have a lot of people in your heart, but each person's heart can only hold a little bit. If you put too much in it, the important people who were there at the beginning will be squeezed out and die,” Shen Liang said. “That is actually being abandoned. I hate being abandoned, I hate being left behind, I hate being one of the ‘majority’. I should be the most important, I should occupy all the places in those people's hearts, because to them… that’s how it is.”

Mistelin looked at Shen Liang, who had a puzzled expression as she spoke. The little wolf dog was stunned for a while before suddenly asking, "Sister Yu Tu, why do I feel so uncomfortable?"

"You're delirious, don't think about it," the white-haired young woman said softly.

"I've had another episode."

"Yes, it's a case of being a pretentious, artsy type."

At this moment, Shen Liang used his expressionless golden pupils to examine the demon god beneath his feet. Looking at the last head on the last part of its body, Oser looked like a pitiful dying worm. The pain of having eight nerve centers cut off was enough to kill an ordinary person ten thousand times, but it still stubbornly raised its long neck, trying to spew out either cold or scorching dragon breath.

I will never bow down to the demon god.

Shen Liang released the hilt of his naginata and took a step forward, each step seemingly landing on nothingness yet producing a resounding, pressing sound. The unhurried yet powerful pressure was perhaps something every strong person possessed—a pressure and composure. As he walked, the thunderclouds dissipated, the torrential rain ceased, the sea calmed, and everyone was astonished to see that it was already broad daylight.

It's so bright, with blue skies and white clouds, and seagulls flying joyfully. It turns out that Guyun Pavilion is such a gentle place, so gentle that it's warm and cozy.

"I'm tired, Uncle Oser. Suffering has come to this, it's better to go home." The holy marks on Shen Liang's back glowed gently again. He drew his second sword, a beautiful katana, unsharpened, a noble and solemn ceremonial weapon.

A naginata cannot be called a sword, but it can be a ritual weapon. And the blood of the former demon king should be ended with a sword.

"My Flow, My Dreams, My Truth".

This is the move that Shen Liang can finally confidently name "My Style." It wasn't taught by Lei Dianying. To be precise, Lei Dianying didn't teach him katana techniques. How could a katana be as useful as a naginata? This is the aesthetics that he has been taught by Shin over the past ten years. Raiden Shin doesn't know martial arts, but Shen Liang, following his mother, didn't want to learn martial arts either. He just liked to stick to Shin and learn to appreciate everything Shin made him appreciate.

For example, the cherry blossoms falling in the empty mountains, the crabapple blossoms that never sleep. Watching a child catch fireflies for his mother and place them in the gauze curtains, the soft light illuminating the exquisitely beautiful twelve-layered kimono. Watching a handsome fourteen-year-old boy with red leaves in his hair, dancing brightly under the moon, while the woman sits gracefully to the side, watching her beloved child, gently patting him, her smile radiating a beauty that even the moon would envy.

The sword flashed and fell.

At this moment, Oser could even sense the beauty contained within this strike, perhaps from the swordsmanship he had gleaned from the ceremonial weapon, devoid of any killing intent. The incredibly fast sword light was the red of cherry blossoms, like a bright and beautiful bolt of lightning.

So dazzling, so radiant, the dance of Prince Ruo Ri was dizzying and brought tears to one's eyes. Long ago, Fox Palace described Shen Liang's swordsmanship, which he had learned from Lei Dian Zhen, in this way, laughing and saying that our prince would be a monster who could bring ruin to a city and a country in the future. Even when he killed you, he would make you so intoxicated that you forgot to resist. Rather than "chasing fire", it would be more like "extreme bliss".

Holding the "Dream Heart" bestowed upon him by lightning, Shen Liang stood in the center of the sky as the thunderstorm gradually dissipated, silently watching the demon god finally come to an end. It stopped writhing, its nine heads falling to every corner of the sea, and the fierce white light in its eyes finally dimmed completely.

"What does it feel like to kill a demon?" Mistelin asked.

"Report progress," Shen Liang said in a low voice.

[The Child of Man system is working normally~ Raiden Shin 100%, Raiden Movie 76%, Fox Temple 64%, Mikoto Chiyo 82%, Shadow Spirit Monk 60%, and you probably don't care about the rest of the miscellaneous ones. It's worth mentioning that Miss Fanan has reached 59%, almost the same as that Great Tengu you're so drooling over.]

【Sister Fa Nan?】

[Oh, don't mind it. It's just the habitual increase in favorability after being rescued by a hero. This kind of favorability comes and goes quickly; it might drop to 20% tomorrow. It's different from the stable progress you've built up over the years in Inazuma. Of course, I don't really think there's anything to it; you're just playing around.]

[Uncle Ausel doesn't have one?]

"I thought you wouldn't want to hear about Oser, huh? Its progress... there's nothing left." Mistelin said calmly. "It's a proud demon god; how could it possibly appreciate another demon god? If it had that kind of tolerance, it wouldn't have been suppressed to the bottom of the sea by the Rock King."

I thought maybe this time I could replicate the power of water or something.

[Haven't you noticed you've been making very little progress with male characters? Even the male demon god Oser wouldn't sympathize with you—although even if you'd slashed him to pieces like that, I wouldn't sympathize with you either.]

This is a common problem among men.

"Yes, you know that too. That's a common flaw in you men." Mistelin gazed at the sea and said softly, "It's not that you're intolerant, it's just that you all stubbornly believe your own path is right, that you're doing the right thing. Power, strength, land, people—that's what flows in your blood. That's why you never understand each other. For the responsibilities you bear, you fight each other because your paths diverge. You're different from women; you only believe in your own might."

"I'm not that kind of person, Yu Tu. I don't care about any of what you're saying. I'm a pure hedonist and egoist. Look at me in Inazuma, I've only attended one morning court session in over ten years."

"Is that so?" Mistelin crossed her arms and chuckled silently.

But oh, my dear little wolfhound. How I wish that such a flame didn't burn in your heart.

With great effort, she clutched her chest. She didn't even have the strength to return to her human form from her demonic form. Her fishtail weakly thrashed against the beach a few times. Then she looked at the severed head of Osel that had fallen to the shore. Suddenly, she noticed that there was still light and shadow flickering in those huge eyes!

Forgetting all the pain in his body, Fa Nanjing suddenly found the strength from who-knows-where and cried out. Shen Liang also noticed the head and frowned slightly.

Although the demon god has a strong vitality, it shouldn't be this strong. It's almost been cut into pieces and it still has the strength to move.

Oser's head was turned to one side, his mouth open, inside which a dozen small heads were preserved in jelly-like stagnant water, and although dead, they looked perfectly fine.

Those...the children who were sacrificed at the beginning.

Then he spat out some of the water bandits who had gouged out their eyes and pulled out their tongues to sacrifice themselves. The fatal heart wounds were stopped bleeding by Oser's stagnant water. Many of the water bandits were even still alive, their chests rising and falling weakly.

Fa Nan was stunned.

They didn't eat the offerings...

Suddenly, Fa Nan understood something.

The records in the Ji Palace are correct. The Demon God loved His people. Even though the Demon God's war ravaged the land, leaving countless lives lost and the sun and moon obscured, the Demon God ultimately loved His people. The war was also for the sake of providing his subjects with a fertile land where they could live with dignity. In that era of rampant demons, no one coveted the throne for personal gain or power. Whether they ascended the throne or died beneath it, they were all great beings who loved their people more than themselves.

There has never been an evil god.

A thousand-year seal, an endless feud, yet no matter what happens, nothing can shake the incomprehensible love of the gods.

“In fact, the so-called sacrificial ritual is completely useless in breaking the seal.” Shen Liang walked to Fa Nan’s side.

"That seal is...the seal is..." Fa Nan's tears welled up, and she lay on the beach, covering her mouth to suppress her grief.

It turned out she was wrong from the start. The self-righteous sacrifices of those water bandits had nothing to do with Oser. What god would need his people to offer such cruel gifts? It was only sorrowful, only heartbroken. It did not want to see its few remaining people suffer such ignorant and painful torment.

It couldn't accept the children being exploited to the point of being reduced to blood and flesh. It was afraid that if this continued, there would be even greater sacrifices. So it was willing to suffer severe damage in order to break the seal. Breaking the seal consumed too much of its power, which was the reason why Shen Liang was able to defeat it so easily.

It fears the suffering of its people more than its own.

Chapter Thirty-Two: I said you're a girl, and you are! You must be!

The enormous serpent head looked longingly at its foolish and lowly subjects, stretching out its tongue to lick the heads of the children and the faces of the corpses.

After a long while, it reluctantly closed its eyes, both its head and body falling silent. The Ba family members, scattered across the mountains and plains, finally emerged, joining all the river bandits, throwing down their weapons and kneeling on the shore. Gradually, more and more people surrendered, kneeling and prostrating themselves in the direction of Oser, their foreheads heavily touching the ground.

They finally understood the conflict. At this point, they had no chance of winning against the people of Liyue. Their only option was to offer one last prayer to the gods before being taken away.

Shen Liang walked towards Fanan, who struggled to sit up and looked at him pleadingly.

Shen Liang seemed to ignore the beautiful girl's plea for help, and instead changed the subject: "All the demons who participated in the Demon God War were lovers, because they didn't really need to fight. Teyvat is big enough to accommodate millions of gods. And fighting is of no benefit to the demons, especially for someone like Oser who went so far as to provoke the Rock God, which was tantamount to courting death. So they didn't fight for themselves."

Fanan weakly flicked its tail on the ground, looking longingly at the ground.

“But the demons must fight. They bear the faith of their people. Those weak and powerless humans are their children, and they are their fathers. They must fight against fate for their children. Every demon believes they will bring the greatest blessings to the people of this land, and they all believe they have a duty to lead this land towards the light. To see the demon war as a game of vying for the throne is to underestimate the will of these great beings. The reason they fight is to practice their own path.” Shen Liang glanced at the wounded little fish. “Even the losers have no regrets, because they know that a stronger opponent will also bring a better future.”

"Hmm...it was magnificent..." Fa Nan said with difficulty. After the battle, the injuries she had sustained returned. Having lost her fighting spirit, she was exhausted and had no more magic to protect herself. She felt as if her whole body was being torn apart by excruciating pain.

She thought to herself, "Your Highness, I really don't want to hear the story of the Demon God War right now. How old are you and how old am I? There's no need for you to ramble on like this in front of me. I'm practically begging you, can't you see I need to be saved?!"

"Are you alright?" Shen Liang finally looked away, his gaze sweeping over Fanan's battered body before settling on her dark blue fishtail. He smiled mischievously. "You seem fine. You didn't complain of any pain, and you don't seem to need my treatment."

These words made Fanan swallow back the plea for help that was on the tip of her tongue. She bit her lip, feeling that this guy seemed a bit mocking, so she simply decided to hold back.

"Looks like I really don't need any help. Don't let my current elegant and immaculate appearance fool you, I'm actually quite badly injured. The price of this lifting of restrictions is probably that I won't fully recover. I need to go and recuperate first. You stay here and heal slowly, I'll be going now," Shen Liang said with a smile.

"Hey!" Fa Nan called out quickly.

"What's wrong? What do you want me to do? Can't you hear me?" Shen Liang turned her head innocently. "I really need to take care of my health."

“I need…I need…” Fa Nan gritted his teeth.

"what do you need?"

“…I need treatment.” Vanan finally gave in. She knew the army doctor would arrive soon, and since she was still alive, she could survive thanks to Yaksha’s strong vitality.

However… her entire body was covered in scars. Even with the strongest self-healing ability, unsightly scars would remain… The scars from the Demon God War were already hidden under her clothes, but this time, with her body tattered and torn, there was nowhere to cover them. Even though the Yaksha clan was skilled in warfare, Vanan still cared about her appearance.

"Beg me," Shen Liang said matter-of-factly.

"Why!" Fa Nan cried out.

"I'm not happy that you chased after me after I kissed you."

"Your Highness, you still remember this! The victim was Vanan, and Vanan endured it all!"

"I don't care, I've never suffered such humiliation in the castle tower." Shen Liang, with the air of a spoiled brat, raised his chin arrogantly and said, "I've finally got my chance."

"Are you a child..."

"Yes."