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

"Secondly, the Queen Mother's death must be a matter of public knowledge. I will have Alice gather the entire Witch Council to witness it. The Witch Council will witness that the Queen Mother's death transcends the records of the World Tree, which is her true destiny. No matter how the World Tree corrects it, this understanding cannot be changed."

"Ok?"

"Third, even if the Empress is still alive, she cannot reveal any observable concept of 'being alive.' Therefore, the Empress can only live in my Pure Land of the Heart. For this reason, I need to take away all of the Empress's power."

"Liang'er wants to seize power, doesn't she?" Lei Dianzhen stroked the boy's back, a half-smile on his face.

"Mother, you must obey Liang'er today and are not allowed to argue," Shen Liang said softly. "Just for one day, Mother, just for one day, let me be willful this once."

“That’s what you’re saying.” Raiden Shin hugged him, stood up from the water, stepped onto the land, and the two sat facing each other again.

Lei Dian's beautiful eyes smiled, while Shen Liang restrained the raging fire that seemed to burn everywhere.

“I guessed your plan, Liang’er. Since the Empress Dowager is so important to you, how could the Empress Dowager refuse you?” Lei Dianzhen skillfully tied up her long hair. “But Liang’er, I can willingly give you all my power, but if you want to take it away, do you know what you have to do?”

There is no possibility of demon gods usurping each other's power, and Lei Dianzhen knew this. But she also knew that Shen Liang was not a demon god. The reason he was given the title of demon god was precisely because he was born with the power to conquer others.

Shen Liang remained silent.

"Just as I thought, a child. Lacking courage?" Raiden chuckled. "I once told Aying, 'If you have no taboos in your heart, it's okay to cross that line. To be filled with anticipation yet trembling with fear... can that truly be called fearless, a monstrous genius? My little Liang'er?"

She walked barefoot to Shen Liang, gently pulled down the white silk sash on her bathrobe, then used it to cover Shen Liang's eyes before kneeling down.

Shen Liang couldn't see anything, only smelled the fragrance entering his arms, and heard Lei Dian's laughter filled with aggression.

"Heh, as the Supreme Inari, Ryo'er, you lack a bit of madness. Well, so be it. Ryo'er, you are still pure and innocent. Let's pretend... nothing ever happened."

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Witch Will Serve Me in Bed

The clouds disperse and the rain stops; a complete transformation occurs.

Shen Liang jumped back to the moment when he met Raiden Zhen in Raiden Zhen's Pure Land of Pure Heart. Raiden Zhen, dressed in white, was sitting obediently, as if he had expected him to return.

That's true. For Lei Dian Zhen in the Pure Land of One Heart, Shen Liang probably only opened the World Tree and went in for a moment, maybe a few seconds, and then came back. There was no psychological preparation at all.

The mature beauty, dressed in a plain white kimono that only a young girl would wear, looked at Shen Liang with a smile.

Seeing Shen Liang change into a bath towel meant for hot spring baths, his long hair soaked and clinging to his back, Lei Dian looked on with helplessness. His almost completely out-of-control post-heatstroke symptoms had largely subsided, and the heat emanating from his body was gone. Lei Dian, fully aware of the situation, leaned back casually against the cherry tree, waiting for Shen Liang's question.

She knew that Shen Liang must have many problems.

Shen Liang stared at the smiling, purple-haired woman, and indeed had many questions he wanted to ask, but he hesitated for a long time, so long that even Lei Dianzhen couldn't help but glance at him several times, before he finally gritted his teeth and said, "Zhen, you..."

"Liang'er has grown up so much," Lei Dianzhen said softly.

Shen Liang was abruptly interrupted, and he felt somewhat bewildered. He then looked at Lei Dianzhen.

"Whatever happens between us is the Empress Dowager's business, and has nothing to do with you, Liang'er." Lei Dianzhen hugged his knees, his smile gentle yet quite forceful. "So, Liang'er, you understand."

"Mother Empress," Shen Liang replied, bowing her head.

Raiden tilted his head. "That's more like it."

"So Mother was actually lying to me at first; you didn't die." Shen Liang looked at her.

“How can you call it a lie? Judging from Mother’s timeline, this was clearly all part of Liang’er’s plan.” Lei Dianzhen smiled and patted the floor next to her, gesturing for Shen Liang to sit down. Seeing that Shen Liang didn’t move, she smiled even more.

Shen Liang quickly sat down next to her, and Lei Dianzhen hugged his arm with a smile, only then was he satisfied.

"It was Liang'er who forcefully rushed into the hot spring, saying she wanted to save Mother and change the future, while simultaneously proposing such a despicable plan to steal Mother's power and seal her away. I was just doing what Liang'er wished, obediently letting you take away my power, obediently letting you seal me away in the Pure Land of One Heart, obediently meeting you who knew nothing." Raiden chuckled, "After learning about Liang'er's plan, Mother was very happy."

Shen Liang's expression turned unnatural.

"Don't overthink it. It's not about...that I'm happy for. I'm just happy that Ryo can become someone who can stand on his own and even save Mother." Raiden Shin stroked his head. "Create a record of 'Raiden Shin's' death, and the real me will be sealed away by you, which is no different from death...to deceive history. Ryo is really daring, so of course I have no choice but to cooperate with Ryo's plan."

"Mother! When I first saw you, you looked like you were about to die, which terrified me! You said you'd be reincarnated as any living being... You were just toying with me then!" Shen Liang pressed her shoulder, somewhat annoyed. "You did it on purpose!"

"I'm a woman too, so it's normal for me to want to see you cry your eyes out because you're afraid of losing me. Liang'er, you rarely cry, you're so unlike a child. I've wanted to see you like this for a long time."

"I'm not a child anymore, Mother!"

“Yes, I know.” Raiden smiled, leaned down to his ear, and said in a soft and charming tone, “Of course I know, my lovely Ryo’er is no longer a child.”

Shen Liang blushed instantly and tried to dodge, but Lei Dianzhen's mournful gaze fixed on him, and he lost the strength to resist.

He tried to organize his thoughts and figure out the logic behind the series of events.

He needs to create the illusion of a real lightning death, and for this to happen, all the related developments of a real lightning death must occur.

Returning to the hot spring era, he seized Raiden's power, leaving Raiden, who was only human, with his consciousness within the sword tassel. Then, Raiden's body was attacked and killed by Kanria. In order to potentially make a deal with Shen Liang, Kanria would naturally preserve Raiden's body.

Unaware of the truth, Shen Liang mistakenly believed that Lei Dianzhen was dead and launched a war of annihilation against Kanria in revenge, sinking the kingdom. Thus, the historical event of "the demon god's lingering hatred and destruction of Kanria because of Lei Dianzhen's death" still occurred, and Kanria was still destroyed. From a historical perspective, the destruction of Kanria is an absolute event, but the manner in which it occurred is irrelevant.

Because of the transaction, the true body of the lightning will still end up in Shen Liang's hands, and Alice will be entrusted to deliver the sword tassel to the current Shen Liang beforehand.

Within the sword tassel, the lightning's consciousness truly interacts with each other. As long as the physical body and consciousness remain, to be precise, the lightning is not truly dead.

Throughout this series of actions, no one can be allowed to observe that Raiden is truly alive, not even Shen Liang. Because if Shen Liang knew that Raiden wasn't dead, he might reveal a flaw that would be discovered by the Witch, thus creating the illusion of Raiden's death. Therefore, he must deceive even himself.

But he succeeded; Shen Liang managed to avoid this paradox. Therefore, from the Witch's perspective, Lei Dian was truly a dead man through and through, while the Witch's perspective, as third-party observers, represented the "truth of the world."

At this point, all observers on Teyvat believed that Raiden was truly dead.

The deception was successfully carried out.

In the records of the World Tree of Teyvat, that is, in the so-called "history," lightning truly and completely died.

This is about finding the possibility of turning the tide in the cracks of history.

Shen Liang was focused on his mother, who was dressed in a plain white kimono. Looking at her long purple hair, he reached out and gently took her jade-like hand in his.

Zhen looked down at the boy, clasped her hands together, and intertwined her fingers with his.

"You idiot, Liang'er."

Looking at her thin, close-fitting kimono sleeves, Shen Liang suddenly realized that he was indeed a fool. Raiden Shin was always dignified and noble, and rarely wore plain white. In fact, there were rules about the color of kimonos. Only young girls could wear pure white or pure blue, while someone of her status as the emperor usually wore deep purple or jet black, adorned with majestic patterns.

But today, Raiden was dressed like a young girl, which he didn't notice. It was pure white, and such a beautiful kimono as Inazuma has a special name to describe it.

Shiromuku.

Many people assume that the white kimono is a bridal gown, but that's not entirely true. Shen Liang didn't notice it at first because the white kimono is also the color of clothing worn by the deceased at funerals. He subconsciously didn't think there was anything wrong with Lei Dian's statement; he only felt grief.

But then he suddenly realized that the reason Lei Dian had dressed up like this was because she knew she would be sealed in the Pure Land of One Heart for many years, and she wanted to leave Shen Liang with the last and best impression.

Even as the noble Mitake Narukami, he still longed for the day when he could wear the pure and innocent attire of a young girl.

"Finally figured it out." Raiden pouted, seemingly dissatisfied with his slowness. "Did I make you too stupid? How can you be so slow?"

Shen Liang chuckled, pressing her forehead against hers. "Compared to Mother, of course I am. Everyone says that Liang'er is willful and reckless, but now it seems that it is all thanks to Mother's good upbringing."

Raiden hugged him tightly, his smile fading. "You've chosen this path, it's not easy. You have to prove it to me."

Shen Liang understood that deceiving the World Tree couldn't be done overnight. Many related events awaited, and Shen Liang had to resolve them one by one.

In order to achieve the historical conclusion that "Raiden Shin is dead," Raiden Shin can only be sealed away for five hundred years. During these five hundred years, Shen Liang will never be able to see her again, nor can he tell anyone about this, not even the Raiden movie.

Deceiving history comes at a price. How will Raiden truly be resurrected 500 years from now? That's another question. Raiden's resurgence 500 years from now will still greatly affect the course of history. It's conceivable that the World Tree's correction will intervene. So, 500 years from now... how will Raiden truly force its way into the world that has become accustomed to Raiden's absence?

There is only one way.

It means erasing a person's deeds and replacing them with Raiden Shin. But Raiden Shin, as a powerful and influential demon god, is a significant information core in Teyvat. If all of a person's information is erased and replaced with Raiden Shin, then that person must be just as powerful and influential as Raiden Shin.

Finding such a person is difficult, and this path is equally difficult.

Or rather, such a person is simply impossible to find; there is no one in the world whose influence can rival that of Raiden Shin... except for another demon god.

"I will prove it to Mother." Shen Liang brushed the hair from her forehead and gently kissed her.

"Then I'm going to sleep, and I'll wait for Liang'er to come pick me up." Raiden smiled gently.

"Sleep now. When you wake up, it will all be over. I'll be here for you."

Raiden leaned against the cherry tree and slowly closed his eyes.

"Then... Liang'er, when you meet me again, it's best if you don't grow up, because your mother... won't grow up either."

"of course."

------------

After Shen Liang left the Pure Land of Dreams, the first person to approach him was, as expected, Alice.

"You already know, right?" Shen Liang turned to look at her.

"hey-hey."

Alice had been entrusted by Shen Liang to take the sword tassel, intending to give it to him now. In other words, she knew beforehand that Shen Liang's outburst of anger was due to his leaping over the World Tree.

The corrections made to the World Tree were something that witches like Alice could vaguely sense.

"You're yelling at me!" Alice shouted angrily. "You even said I betrayed you! You said you wanted to kill me! I risked being killed by you to give you the sword tassel!"

"You said it yourself, I definitely won't kill you," Shen Liang shrugged.

"What if you actually do it?" Alice asked, leaning closer. "So... what exactly did you change?"

Shen Liang rolled her eyes at her.

"Alright, alright, I won't say anything then. I know I can't just blurt out about changing the World Tree." Alice looked at the sunken land of Kanria and the wounded members of the Witch Guild, and couldn't help but whisper, "So... what are you going to do now? What are you going to do with us?"

To be precise, it's the witches' association excluding her.

After all, Alice knew that regardless of whether they plotted against the Witches' Guild, the Witches' Guild's motives were indeed impure.

As for Shen Liang, the witches didn't know if Lei Dianzhen would die, but they didn't intervene when Lei Dianzhen was attacked and killed by Kanriya, yet they did intervene when Shen Liang retaliated against Kanriya. This double standard was enough to infiltrate the enemy's camp.