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

“That’s enough for now, you’re happy.” Ishtar looked at him intently and said softly, “Your Highness, huh… Heh, a child is a child. Once he’s vented his feelings, he’ll feel better and become easier to talk to. He’s such a simple and easy-to-understand creature.”

"What?" Shen Liang was taken aback.

“Only when the hostility subsides can we proceed with the next step of the inquiry,” Istar explained simply. “Otherwise, a war between gods would have far more consequences than this.”

These words made Shen Liang stiffen slightly, looking at Ishtar uncertainly. He thought she had come to support the Witch Society, but it was obvious that she didn't care about the Witch Society's life or death... She was simply using a few witches as toys to amuse him, and would only start contacting them after he was done and less crazy.

She may have made a deal with the Witches, but that deal may not have included protecting these people.

Shen Liang suddenly realized that this Time Ruler was not a deity within the Heavenly Principles system at all. She came from the First Throne, belonging to the same faction as the Crimson King and the Flower Goddess. They did not obey the Heavenly Principles order, but merely wandered or remained silent, and did not lead any human forces.

In a sense, they were not loving deities; they held no pity for any human being. At the height of the First Throne's power, lowly and vulnerable humans didn't even have the concept of a nation.

"What do you want to say?"

"Before that, I'd like to show you something." Ishtar smiled, and then the world suddenly stopped, all colors began to turn dark, as if it had turned from afternoon to dusk in an instant.

The sea ceased its surging, the wind stopped, and everyone stopped moving. The whole world seemed to turn into a dim, yellowish oil painting, with only Shen Liang and Ishtar remaining able to move.

The power of time, the genuine power of time.

Unlike Shen Liang, Shen Liang possesses powers called "Moment" and "Eternity," which seem to be time-space abilities, but in reality, their scope of application is extremely narrow, and they are not even considered time abilities in the general sense.

The effect of the power of a moment is actually to accelerate an individual's perception of time. This individual can be a person, a tree, a part of an organ, or even a space. When an individual is accelerated and becomes faster, it is equivalent to their time slowing down. A moment is equivalent to millions of years for that individual.

This can be a benefit or a debuff. For example, accelerating oneself in battle allows one to find countless weaknesses in an enemy in an instant. Accelerating a space, on the other hand, would trap someone in that space for millions of years, but in reality, it would only be a moment.

Similarly, eternal power is the opposite of fleeting. Slowing down an individual's perception of time, millions of years pass in the outside world, while only a fleeting moment passes for that individual. Unchanging through eternity, what do the vicissitudes of life matter to me?

But whether it's a fleeting moment or eternity, to put it bluntly, it's just manipulating the flow of time for an individual. Time is like a great river; even if Shen Liang exhausts everything, he can only make some tributaries flow faster or slower.

But the true power over time rests in Ishtar's hands; with a single thought, the world can stand still.

This is the pinnacle of time manipulation, directly blocking this long river! Stopping its flow!

Even...maybe...

"Backwards?" Shen Liang stared at Istaru, a look of fear appearing in his eyes for the first time.

If such temporal power existed, and if the authority over time could alter the world to this extent, then...

However, the white-clad, barefoot demon woman shook her head and said helplessly, "I understand what you're thinking, Little Emperor, but no one can truly control time, not even me. Time is cause and effect; what is predetermined cannot be changed, and what has happened cannot be erased. Just like lightning truly dies, and history has already recorded it."

"The World Tree can be modified! Fate? I don't believe in any predetermined fate!" Shen Liang said coldly. "What do you know about fate? You think you can say that time is predetermined just because you know a little about Laplace's demon?"

“Lap…what?” Ishtar was stunned.

Shen Liang took a deep breath and didn't explain the Teyvats' incomprehensible conjectures. He simply said in a low voice, "As long as we reverse all the physical processes that have occurred in the entire universe, as long as we can do that, not only can we reverse the past, but we can also predict the future!"

"You see, everything is predetermined; this is destiny."

"But no one can create Laplace's demon. To invert the universe, you need information beyond the entire universe; otherwise, you can't make up for the information entropy lost when calculating all the events in the universe. This is a paradox. In fact, whatever goal you want to achieve, you will always need to use a larger amount of information than that goal. Therefore, on a micro level, there is no such thing as fate."

Istaru fell silent, taking a long time to process Shen Liang's meaning.

At first, she thought Shen Liang was just saying things out of spite, but Shen Liang's disagreement with fate actually seemed to have some logic to it.

What is fate? It's like adding the same amount of ink to a hundred bottles of water; eventually, each bottle will become a uniformly mixed, diluted ink. That's fate, and it's inescapable.

but……

However, the mixing process of these one hundred bottles of ink must be completely different. And no one can possibly deduce these different mixing processes from the same final result, because the information entropy of the entire system decreases during the mixing of ink and water.

No one knows how fate is determined... all we know is how fate ends.

But is this really "all set in stone"? Is there... any way to change it?

A strange feeling rose in Ishtar's heart. If she could go back in time, pour out the clear water, replace it with another batch of water, and then pour in ink, wouldn't she end up with just a bottle of diluted ink?

I could not change the outcome, but could I deceive it?

But Ishtar laughed at her own wishful thinking; after all, she didn't have that ability.

"Going back in time is impossible, and even if we could, nothing could be changed. Just like you, you've already arrived in the present, and everything you've done... I'm not stopping you because it's all within the course of history."

"History says I will destroy the entire Witch's Guild today? Even the World Tree can't record me, can't predict me, so how can you be sure?"

"In fact, the World Tree should have been able to foresee that the Witches would suffer such a calamity. But it is precisely because you, Little Emperor, are a Descendant that the World Tree could not record it. However, this precisely shows that the World Tree is also subject to time, and compared to the World Tree, time is the true destiny."

"Ha, no matter how you try to explain, you're always right."

“It’s like Raiden knew that Kanria would be destroyed in the future, so Kanria was ultimately wiped out by your hand. Raiden told me that in the end, apart from those who had fled from the beginning, only some royal descendants who did not turn into monsters would remain in Kanria.” Ishtar paused for a moment.

"Then I will defy this fate! I will kill all the Kanriyans, whether they are royalty or not!" Shen Liang laughed. "Not a single Kanriyan will be spared! I said it!"

"The royal family name of Kanria is Albury."

"What did you say? So what?" Shen Liang was taken aback.

Istaru looked at him with a strange gaze, then glanced at the weak-willed married writer who was still wrapped in a black cloth around her delicate body and was in a sobbing position because of the time stop.

"She left the country two hundred years ago and grew up in Mond, but she never changed her surname. To this day, she is still called Andersdott Alberridge."

Shen Liang's disdainful expression lasted for less than a second before he was dumbfounded.

“In fact, the royal bloodline in her body is already very thin, and the fact that a considerable number of Kanria descendants still survive in later generations may largely depend on the profound power of your bloodline.” Istar said calmly, “After all, it’s only five hundred years, which is no more than thirty generations at most. It’s not unimaginable that your demon god bloodline can be passed down to fight against the curse of the abyss.”

This statement stunned Mistelin, who was also on the same page as Shen Liang and therefore hadn't been affected by the time stop. She looked at Shen Liang with disbelief in her eyes.

Shen Liang's expression changed rapidly, shifting between light and dark.

Mistelin couldn't hold back any longer and looked at Ishtar, exclaiming in surprise, "The genetic problem that Mebius couldn't solve for over ten years, darling, can be solved by just any girl in this world?"

Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Pure Land of Mind Sees the Empress Dowager

Istaru smiled without saying a word.

Shen Liang remained skeptical. Although he had lost all pity, as Istaru had said, he would probably spare these witches from the Witch Guild who were not essentially Kanria people. After all, these witches hadn't participated in the Kanria War, so giving them a way out wouldn't be difficult.

Even if Anders Dort survived, would this married writer really be able to pass on... his lineage so coincidentally?

Shen Liang had sensed it; Andersdott was merely a mortal woman. At the Fire Chaser Base, May and Möbius, in their quest to prove the possibility of his genetic continuation, searched for methods ranging from artificial embryos to natural conception, experimenting with different subjects thousands of times… yet they couldn't verify the continuation of his genes and ultimately had to give up. Surely an exception couldn't appear in Teyvat, and besides, why didn't exceptions appear in other people first?

Damn!

The reason Shen Liang never liked using protection was partly due to his willful nature, but also largely because his genes couldn't be passed on, and he had even hoped for that possibility. But what if it actually happened? Was there really any chance of that happening?

and many more……

They are not necessarily ordinary people.

Shen Liang was taken aback. He looked down at the deep red holy mark on Anders Dort’s forehead. Although it was a enslavement holy mark, the healing power it brought was real, and her lifespan would be greatly extended. So she had enough vitality to conceive offspring.

Thinking about it that way... it's not impossible. An ordinary person's body's self-protective mechanisms are unlikely to allow them to conceive a child, but if a Holy Mark provides a continuous source of life force, perhaps it's possible?

As Shen Liang pondered this, he suddenly looked up and stared at Ishtar: "You schemed against me!"

"How could I possibly have schemed against His Highness the Young Emperor?"

"You know, you told me this possibility, so I can't possibly kill her!" Shen Liang's tone was cold and questioning. "Even if there's only the slightest possibility, I won't kill her. You told me this on purpose!"

“How could that be? You can do it now, Your Highness. You’re not the kind of person who cares so much about your descendants, are you? Besides, Andersdot isn’t someone you love. She even has a family. She was just enslaved by you.” Istar said calmly. “You can kill her, and I still won’t stop you.”

A sharp sword light slashed down towards Andersdort. The married writer within the time-stopped field couldn't see it and had no way to resist; she could only stare blankly as the sword light came hurtling towards her. Shen Liang stared at Ishtar, but in the end, Ishtar didn't make a move.

Shen Liang flicked his wrist, and the katana changed direction and plunged into the ground.

Even if there's only a slight possibility, or even if Istaru might be deceiving him, he can't take action.

"As expected, Liang'er, this is your greatest weakness."

Shen Liang suddenly turned his head and discovered that there was actually a fourth person in this world where time had stopped!

Alice sighed softly, watching Shen Liang's suspicious expression. She knew he didn't trust her and was very sad, but she could only suppress her sadness and whispered, "You are too harsh and ungrateful, yet too sentimental, especially towards your women."

Mistelin and Istaru both nodded in agreement.

Shen Liang's eyes flashed with murderous intent. "Alice, don't get involved. Don't think I'll show you any mercy."

“You will,” Alice said directly.

"I told you I..."

“You will.” Alice tossed aside her long golden hair, took a few steps closer, and stared calmly at Shen Liang with her beautiful eyes. “Ruo Riming God, ha, although you are called a god, you are at most a brat with an extremely strong possessive desire. You will not let go of anything that is yours. Even if you have developed a dislike for me, you will never be able to bear to kill me or harm me, because in your eyes we are yours, things that you have possessed and will definitely belong to you.”

Shen Liang calmed down and said coldly, "You have no right to say that, Alice. I haven't attacked you because I know you're not on this battlefield, and your crime doesn't warrant death. But you leaked my information, and I will settle accounts with you sooner or later."

"Settle accounts? Let me think, what ways would the mighty and ruthless Ruori Mingshen have to torture others? Too many, far too many, but how many would you use on your woman? You subconsciously don't want to kill me, don't want to hurt me, don't even want to imprison me... As long as I only hurt you and not your mother or your woman, then you can forgive me. In your heart, how you are doesn't matter, how we are matters, right?"

"How narcissistic." Shen Liang said, subconsciously taking a step back. Alice smiled slightly and approached.

“Because you’re empty inside, Liang’er. You’re always empty inside.” Alice poked his chest lightly with her finger. “You always need a lot of people around you, whether you’re sleeping, getting up, cooking, or even just reading and chatting. You need company all the time, so you’re greedy and possessive. That’s why the girls around you keep falling for you, one after another. Because we see you as an unwanted puppy, we can’t help but want to give you some care… But we don’t blame you, because everyone can see that you’re like this because you feel empty inside and are constantly seeking warmth.”

"Speaking is better than singing."

“Those voids need us to keep loving you to fill them… This void is called loneliness,” Alice whispered. “You need us so much, that’s why you can never be cruel to your woman.”

Shen Liang remained silent for a long time before finally asking, "What exactly do you want to do?"

“Preserve the Witches’ Guild,” Istar said calmly. “They can be humiliated, tortured, and enslaved, but they cannot die.”

"And then? What price are you willing to pay for what I'm doing?"

Ishtar suddenly waved her hand and handed him a small box.

Shen Liang took the box and opened it. Inside was a neatly arranged, deep purple sword tassel. Shen Liang was slightly surprised. He took the tassel out, and the long, woven strands felt silky smooth to the touch. Shen Liang felt a strange sense of familiarity.