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

Shen Liang was somewhat annoyed.

He hadn't really tasted anything from the kiss yet; his lips were just sore from being bitten. He wanted to drag the little witch along for another round.

After gathering his thoughts, Shen Liang finally remembered his system. He had already completed 100% of the Coral Palace Song progress, and the system had given him many prompts, but he hadn't read them. Now he finally had time to see what kind of cheat codes the system had given him.

[The first suitable user for the Stigmata system has been chosen, unlocking subsequent mechanics of the Stigmata system.]

[A candidate whose Stigmata is fully upgraded will awaken your Stigmata, enabling telepathic communication with you regardless of space or distance. You will also randomly gain one of that candidate's abilities.]

[For each Stigmata candidate you nurture, you can extract the pheromones of a past Heroic Spirit from the Teyvat ley lines and transform them into your Stigmata. The stronger the Heroic Spirit, the more difficult it is to materialize. Unmaterialized Heroic Spirits will reside within your Stigmata space; while they cannot become your direct allies, they can provide you with buffs.]

The existence of heroic spirits is bound to you, sharing life and death. Please treat those who are willing to follow you with kindness.

[Currently fully upgraded Stigmata candidate: Coral Palace Ryuuka. You have randomly acquired one of Coral Palace Ryuuka's abilities, "Arcane Technique: Transformation into the Sea Moon." Because you cannot manipulate water elements, this ability can only be used for single-target pain relief and healing, and cannot be used for group healing.]

Shen Liang was stunned. He felt a warm, gentle water-based energy coursing through his body, instantly washing away the fatigue of the past few days. This energy was even healing the wound on his bitten lip, with remarkably fast results.

But he didn't have time to pay attention to Hua Haiyue's passive healing right now; he stared at the text in the third row and read it over and over again.

—Extract the pheromone of a past Heroic Spirit from the Teyvat ley lines and transform it into your Stigmata. The stronger the Heroic Spirit, the more difficult it is to materialize!

Is Ruka Sango's strength... strong or weak?

P.S.: I've finally finished writing about the "golden finger" plot after so long. Many people asked why I didn't include it at the beginning, saying that no one would read a story with a protagonist who has no abilities. But I actually thought about it, and if I had included the golden finger at the beginning, many plot points would have become meaningless extravagance, such as Aunt Liuge's 100,000-word sacrifice.

Now, opening the Sacred Mark System makes sense. I didn't want to write a feature that takes up too much screen time, as that would feel like it's overshadowing the main story. This is a traditional system, the kind that doesn't spout nonsense or cause trouble for its host. This system isn't the core of my novel.

The core is to use the system to get beautiful girls... right?

Chapter 85 Valhalla

"How do I find heroic spirits?" Shen Liang asked the system in his mind.

The pheromones of a Heroic Spirit are usually found in areas where the spirit was frequently active during their lifetime, as well as on people or objects they came into contact with. Utilizing or collecting these factors is crucial for locating the Heroic Spirit.

If these are all you need...

Shen Liang gave the order in his mind, "Enter the earth's veins."

He didn't need to look for these factors at all. This was Coral Palace Ryuka's bedroom, and this was the place where Coral Palace Ryuka's pheromones were most concentrated!

He himself was someone who had contact with and even loved by Ruka Sango during her lifetime, so no one could be more convenient than himself to locate a Heroic Spirit!

If you can't find the right location, then bring your heart and mind over here too!

Immediately afterwards, he had a strange feeling. Although he was still lying on the soft bed of Coral Palace Liuge, he could no longer feel the bed. It was as if his consciousness had left his body.

—Is this how you enter the earth's veins?

The surrounding environment gradually became monotonous, turning into a blank white wilderness, in the middle of which stood a colossal tree that reached the sky. He took off running and found that he had no effort at all, but as he ran and ran, he looked up and the tree was still there.

It felt like the tree was moving backward as you ran, and after trying for a long time, you realized that the position of the tree roots and you hadn't changed at all.

That is the Tree of Imaginary Numbers; the current executor has no point in touching it. Stabilizing the executor in a quantum state has a time limit; please complete your objective as soon as possible.

The system spoke up, which was unusual for it.

Shen Liang gleaned something from its cold language.

Am I currently in a quantum state? Only quantum states can enter this space? And what is the tree of imaginary numbers?

He put aside his doubts, looked around, and then finally noticed something.

He was actually standing on a gigantic leaf of the Imaginary Tree, a white leaf stretching endlessly in all directions. He was certain it was a leaf because the Imaginary Tree had many other leaves! No wonder the system said it was impossible to catch up with the Imaginary Tree; even a single leaf was comparable in size to a world… This distance might seem only a few tens of kilometers, but it could actually be as large as a galaxy?!

The leaves beneath his feet had countless veins, which emitted a faint golden light... This was the embodiment of the earth's veins.

He suddenly had a realization; he knew the direction of these ley lines. Although no one had told him, the ley lines seemed to have directly implanted this concept into his mind.

Shen Liang ran along a ley line that led to Haiqi Island. He ran for an unknown amount of time before finally encountering the first figure ahead.

That was a huge whale!

The whale blocked his path through the earth's veins! And it even threatened him in a girl's voice!

"This land is mine, the earth's veins are mine, if you want to pass, leave your toll!"

Am I being blackmailed by a whale?

Shen Liang looked up. The whale looked enormous, much larger than a blue whale. Shen Liang roughly estimated that it was at least 500 meters long. Logically, such a huge creature would cause megalophobia, but Shen Liang wasn't afraid at all, because the whale seemed unable to roll over on the ground and was struggling.

"Please give way."

"Roar, not some lost, wandering ghost, but a human?" The whale's voice was full of curiosity. "Humans can actually enter the ley lines... You're here to find someone, aren't you? Who are you looking for?"

“A priestess, a priestess from the island of Haigi.”

"A witch?" The whale's voice turned strange. "You've come to find me? Uh... Although you're very cute, I don't remember having children. I'm still a virgin."

Who cares if a whale is a virgin or not!

Just then, he heard a "whoosh," and a girl dressed in an ancient-style shrine maiden's outfit landed lightly in front of him, tilting her head to look him over. "It's not a whale, it's me. Are you looking for me?"

Shen Liang frowned as he looked at the unfamiliar, beautiful girl. "Who are you?"

"Sigh, so they really didn't come looking for me. I thought I could go back to the human world and have a look around." The girl pouted. "Am I not as young and beautiful as your Aunt Liuge?"

"You know Liu..."

"I don't know you, I don't know you, don't ask me how I know." The girl hurriedly waved her hand, then smiled, "I am Mengyun, the ancient Sea God Priestess of Sea God Island. This fish is the Grand Inspector. You should have heard of my deeds, right? If you haven't, it doesn't matter. Anyway, you're not here to take me away, so never mind."

"Can you tell me where the current human goddess priestess, Miss Liuge, is?" Shen Liang asked hurriedly when she saw that she seemed to be chasing the whale away.

Mengyun gave him a half-smile, then, without answering, hummed a song and rode the whale away, its body arching as it went.

Shen Liang continued walking forward.

Not long after, he encountered another uninvited guest: a girl named Changpu, who looked very similar to Mengyun but was much more enthusiastic and cheerful. She was Mengyun's younger sister. Shen Liang then learned that she was the first "Sea Queen." She was very interested in going out with Shen Liang and even offered to teach him how to exercise and become an adult. After Shen Liang politely declined, she ran away crying.

There was also a man in armor, known as the "King of Dongshan". Upon seeing him, he wanted to have a drink with him. After the drink, he asked him where the Coral Palace Ryuka was. He just smiled and indicated that he knew, but did not say.

And there was an old scholar with a strange name, Abe Yoshihisa. As soon as he asked a question, the old scholar stared at him angrily and said, "I've lived my whole life and even died without getting married or starting a family. How dare you, a damn winner in life, talk to me!"

Shen Liang was so anxious he wanted to curse.

He encountered many more people afterward, including several modern and contemporary priestesses, as well as numerous famous generals from various eras. However, the wicked priestess he longed to meet remained elusive.

Traveling through mountains and rivers.

Walking and walking.

Until he finally saw a coral sea, and on a high platform made of coral branches, pearls, and giant clams, a huge serpent, a thousand meters long, lay coiled.

The giant serpent looked at him with gentle eyes, and Shen Liang guessed its identity without having to think.

“Umi-Gi-Omikami,” Shen Liang looked up at Him, a helpless expression on his face, “I can’t find my Aunt Liu Ge. Can you help me?”

He's like a child who fits his appearance now, fragile and vulnerable. He's too lazy to maintain any persona or pretense anymore; he can only pin his hopes on the Snake God.

The giant serpent straightened up and spoke in a booming voice, "Why are you looking for her? If it's for the Stigmata, a weak human like her is not qualified to become your Stigmata. You already have her Transformation of the Sea Moon, there's no need to waste the opportunity of a Stigmata."

“But she’s my aunt,” Shen Liang said. “I just want to find my aunt.”

"Humans, even after thousands of years, will never change. They will always do unwise things for worthless emotions," the serpent said, then it twisted and turned, seemingly laughing, but perhaps not. "But I like humans like this."

"You've been searching for your aunt for so long, haven't you even looked back once?"

Shen Liang was stunned for a moment. He stood there for a while before speaking, whether with a smile or a hint of helplessness, "She's right behind me right now, isn't she?"

"The pheromones that make up a Heroic Spirit always revolve around the things they loved most in life. She was behind you the moment you stepped into the ley lines." The serpent wriggled again, as if it were very happy. "But she told us not to tell you."

Shen Liang finally understood the strange looks those heroic spirits had given her earlier… It turned out they had all seen Coral Palace Liuge, but they had all tacitly remained silent…

"She's only been dead for less than three days, yet she's already built such a good relationship with the spirits of past heroes. Miss Liuge is quite the social butterfly," Shen Liang said in a low voice.

"I'm the junior, so everyone should care for the junior." A familiar voice came from behind, followed by a warm hug. Shan Guo Liu Ka hugged him from behind, lowered her head and whispered in his ear, her tone playful and gentle, "You're not angry anymore, are you? Auntie just likes to see Ryo-chan worrying about Auntie. You don't usually have this opportunity."

"I'm angry," Shen Liang said, trying hard not to let his tears fall.

"Eh--"

Shen Liang turned around and hugged the High Priestess, "But... welcome back."

Coral Palace Ryuka smiled and hugged him even tighter. "I'm back."

Chapter Eighty-Six: The Fox Spirit Causes Chaos in the Imperial Court of Haiqi Island!

One year later, on Haiji Island, at the Coral Palace, now the sleeping quarters of the human, god, and priestess.

Coral Palace Xin Hai pushed the small food cart through the narrow corridor and arrived at the door of what was theoretically Shen Liang's bedroom. She knocked on the door but received no response. Not surprised, she simply pushed the door open and went in.

First, go to the window and open the curtains to let the bright morning sunlight shine on the bed, then open the window to ventilate the room.

Finally, she turned around, looked at Shen Liang who was still sleeping soundly, sighed helplessly, and pulled back the covers.

"Auntie, how many times have I told you? Don't sneak over and hug Ryoko while she's asleep!" Sangoko Kokoro glared at the shameless, delinquent shrine maiden. "Ryoko is very troubled by this!"

Shen Liang curled up from the cold, and was embraced from behind by Coral Palace Liu Ge. He woke up groggily, and the sunlight was so bright that he couldn't open his eyes, so he subconsciously snuggled closer to the High Priestess. Coral Palace Liu Ge was wearing a black silk gauze nightgown, the smooth texture of which made him not want to get out of bed at all.

"What does it matter? Liangjiang's bed is quite big, it's not cramped." Coral Palace Liuge didn't care at all. She squinted at the little shrine maiden for a while and then laughed, "Hehe, Xinhai, are you jealous?"

She deliberately pulled the covers up and said in a wicked woman's tone, "Alright, breakfast is fine, just leave it there. Ryo-chan and I are going back to sleep. That's all for you, bye~"

"If you don't get up now, neither of you will get breakfast today."