I, the Rock King Emperor with 21 billion in power, have joined the chat group.

Countless people strolled along the streets of Liyue, some singing, some hawking their wares, some laughing and playing.

On this day, many people in Liyue put down their worries and troubles.

Whether poor or rich, whether a peddler or a high-ranking official.

At this moment, we all celebrate the beauty of the Lantern Festival.

The young demon goddess had never seen such a prosperous scene born from years of peace. She was like a dazed magpie, sometimes pulling on Zhongli's sleeve and leading him here, sometimes holding his hand and leading him there.

"【Red Maiden, ascending the high tower, her heart aches, tears flow】, what is this riddle?" She looked up at one of the hundred-meter-long riddles and asked Zhongli curiously.

“It’s a red candle,” Zhongli replied. “Four thousand years ago, such a thing didn’t exist, so you ultimately didn’t know.”

“Oh, Red Candle. But this riddle is truly heartbreaking.” The young demon stared at Zhongli’s pale golden pupils, a smile playing on her lips: “A lonely woman in a wedding dress went up to the third floor of the dance hall to see her beloved, but the more she looked, the more heartbroken she became. Her father and brothers disagreed, and her mother firmly opposed it. In the end, she could only weep alone in anguish.”

"I don't like this riddle." Gui Zhong pouted slightly, like a little girl. "Let's move on to the next one."

She naturally took Zhongli's hand in her own smooth, cool palm.

I pulled him forward a couple of steps and looked at the next riddle.

Spring rain patters on the small bridge.

"Hmm~~~~!" She frowned again.

"What is this thing?"

The young demon goddess's words carried a hint of displeasure. She thought to herself, how could she, a dignified dust demon goddess renowned for her wisdom, not even be able to guess the simplest, outermost riddle? How ridiculous!

She released Zhongli's hand, crossed one arm over her chest, and placed the other under her chin, lost in thought.

After a few breaths, she still couldn't grasp the point, so she had to turn her gaze to Zhongli, who was standing silently to the side.

"Hmm..." Hao Ran smiled under her gaze, but then shook his head: "The answer to this riddle is [date]. The [date] and its characters are things that appeared 3,400 years ago. You, who have been asleep for 4000 years, of course do not know it."

"Ahhh! Ahhh!" Gui Zhong stomped his foot angrily: "I know, I know, this is deliberately going against me, isn't it?"

"Hehe~~!"

Hahaha~~!

Zhongli finally couldn't hold back any longer: "Hahahaha~~!"

He pretended to be laughing out loud with one hand, while wiping away the tears of laughter from the corner of his eyes with the other. Then he couldn't help but pat Gui Zhong's little head, just like he often did four thousand years ago: "Who told you to sleep for 4000 years? That's four thousand years of time, that's the life of hundreds of generations of mortals in Liyue. There's still a lot you don't know."

"Learn from me more in the future, and you'll probably make far fewer embarrassing and angry jokes like today."

"Ugh~~~!" The young demon puffed out her cheeks, looking as sulky as a wind slime flying in the sky: "Although I am four thousand years younger than you, don't treat me like a child. I am Gui Zhong, the demon god known for my wisdom. You are just a mere [True Lord of Farming and Tilling the Land]. While I was protecting the people with my wisdom, you were still farming at home."

"Alright, alright." Zhongli simply patted her head again, took down the [Mingxiao Lantern] that had solved the riddle, and said to her, "This riddle is enough. The sugar-roasted chestnuts at Liuli Pavilion are alright. Let's go get another one."

"Ok!"

The young demon girl nodded obediently.

She tugged at Zhongli's sleeve and followed behind him. Soon, she exchanged a riddle for a serving of roasted chestnuts with the owner of the Liuli Pavilion.

These roasted chestnuts look surprisingly good. The outer shells have already been peeled, and the golden, warm chestnut kernels are inside the paper bag, emitting a fragrant aroma.

Zhongli took one out and was about to hand it to the young demon girl in front of him.

"Awoo~~!"

The girl's cheek suddenly drew close, and the warm sensation lasted only a moment before the chestnut on Zhongli's finger disappeared into the girl's mouth.

"Awoo~! Hmm~~! Hmm!"

The girl savored and chewed the chestnut carefully for a couple of moments, then gulped it down and swallowed it.

"It's so delicious!" she said with a bright, innocent smile. "This thing called chestnut seems to have never existed four thousand years ago. It's really delicious."

"Zhongli, you, your ancestors, and Qingli together have truly created an incredibly beautiful Liyue. I love it."

After saying this, she naturally took out a chestnut and held it in front of Zhongli: "Ah~~! Open your mouth and have a taste, it's super delicious."

Zhongli looked at the girl's bright smile, then at the chestnut kernel in her slender palm.

Silence fell.

After a few breaths, he turned his head slightly, reached out and took the chestnut, then put it in his mouth: "Mmm...it's delicious."

"However, I still recommend Xiangling from Wanmintang. Her sugar-roasted chestnuts use some rather unusual ingredients, which will make you want to come back for more."

"Oh, I see." The girl turned her head away expressionlessly, showing her back to Zhongli: "I'm a little tired."

Her voice was soft, as if she were hiding something: "Let's go back."

Zhongli remained silent and did not speak, following her back as she walked towards the courtyard.

As we passed over the bridge, the twinkling lights of the distant ocean gradually rose, and under the silver moonlight, the entire Liyue Harbor seemed like a dream, ethereal and boundless.

"Return to the end."

Zhongli gently called out the name of the girl in front of him.

"Hmm?" The girl turned her face, and in the moonlight, the cold tear tracks on her cheeks were clearly visible.

"I have a gift for you. I should have given it to you while we were eating dumplings." Zhongli's voice remained calm.

"What?" Gui Zhong was stunned for a moment.

"this."

Zhongli slowly extended her palm.

A bright pearl radiating white light slowly appeared in his palm.

“This is an invitation to the Multiverse Chat Group,” Zhongli paused for a moment, “Well… I’m giving it to you as a gift during this Lantern Festival.”

"I have been asleep for four thousand years..."

"...best friend..."

"Hmm..." A smile appeared on the girl's face.

She nodded slightly: "Yes, thank you."

Chapter Twenty-Three: A Real Man (Please Subscribe)

Spellworld

Satoru Gojo stood at the Tokyo-Kyoto sister school exchange meeting and held a long-awaited discussion with the big names in the world of jutsu.

"The principal of Leyan Temple."

Gojo Satoru, hands in his pockets, leaned forward and grinned at the old man from Kyoto Jujutsu High School who was leaning on a cane.

"That's exactly what happened!"

"As the strongest sorcerer in Japan, no, you could say the world, I naturally want to solve the problem of curses and sorcerers in this world from the root."

"That makes sense, right?"

"Hmph!" The seemingly decaying old man glared at him fiercely, a cold smile playing on his lips. "That makes perfect sense. So, the sounds we all heard afterward were the result of what you did?"

"Hmm~~~!" Gojo Satoru turned around and gently waved his fingers.

"Yes and no."

"I didn't do that."

"All I did was pray to the strongest demon god from a distant other world."

"I pray that He can help me to completely change this world."

"I never expected it to actually succeed."

"A demon god from another world??" Principal Rakuganji of Kyoto Jujutsu High School blinked slightly. "Are you kidding me?"

"Of course not." Gojo Satoru turned around, his gaze meeting the cloudy eyes of Principal Rakuganji, and the smile that had been playing on his lips vanished.

He squinted and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"No, I didn't say a word that was a joke."

His unusually serious expression stunned even the principal of Leyan Temple.

The old man had seen Gojo Satoru with this expression before, and he knew that Gojo Satoru was definitely not lying.

Gojo Satoru, with his back to him, extended one finger.

"Whether it's summoning the Demon God or praying to the Demon God to solve all the curses and sorcerers in this world, I'm not joking at all."

"Headmaster Leyan Temple, you should also know. What caused the curse?"

"Everyone is born with magical power, but ordinary people, unlike sorcerers, cannot control their magical power. Therefore, when their intense thoughts merge with the magical power they inadvertently release, a curse is formed."

“In the past, the strongest among those sorcerers must have thought about how to completely solve the problem of curses. So, they have also studied these things.”

"After researching the information, I finally found two ways to completely break the curse."

"Hmph! That kind of evil method." Principal Rakuganji narrowed his eyes, snorted coldly, and leaned back on the tatami, his old body still looking strong.

"Haha! It seems that even Grandpa Rakuganji knows about this." Gojo Satoru smiled. "First, naturally, it's about promoting the evolution of all humanity, so that everyone can feel the existence of curse power. Being able to feel it means being able to control it. So when everyone can control their own curse power, people's thoughts will never be filled with curse power, and then the curse will naturally disappear completely."

"The second path is the one my good friend Xia Youjie once chose. He wanted to kill all ordinary humans and turn this world into a world only for sorcerers, so that the curse that does not have ordinary people to supply its power would naturally disappear."

"but...."

Gojo Satoru suddenly turned around, looking at the principal of Rakuganji Temple's gradually serious expression, but the smile on his lips became more and more obvious.

"But... I, Gojo Satoru, have found a third way. That is to pray to the gods of another world, to pray that the omnipotent gods have a way to completely solve the problems of this world."

"So I prayed, and it worked."

“The demon god from another world granted my prayer, and then He made those declarations in our minds.”

"The Demon God is willing to give us five decades to completely transform this planet."

Gojo Satoru laughed, reaching out to stop his disciple from extending a hand that seemed to want to pat his head and see if he was crazy.

"And what about the [price]?" Principal Raiyan Temple raised his head, his sharp eyes showing no sign of slackening: "Even if everything you said is true, all spells need to be bound. The greater the binding, the greater the precision and scope of what can be done."

“It’s already been paid.” Gojo Satoru waved his finger lightly.

"As for the specifics of the price, don't ask. Old man, you have to keep some privacy for me."