I, from the Celestial Empire, have parachuted into Teyvat.

As Xu Donghai finished speaking, Ivan suddenly felt the ground beneath his feet begin to tremble slightly.

Ivan immediately turned to Ningguang and said, "They're here. Lay out the bait."

Ningguang nodded and turned to the Thousand Rock Army soldier beside her, saying, "Lay down the bait."

A Qianyan Army soldier stood on a high place and waved the command chess piece in his hand. Two teams of Qianyan Army soldiers in special protective suits immediately took action in the distance.

"Hurry up!"

Before the boxes of Destruction Stones were moved to the dock, the warriors opened the storage boxes and immediately evacuated the scene.

Ivan sensed a massive aura of destruction emanating from the dock.

Ivan squinted and said, "The Vortex Demon God should have sensed it."

Sure enough, a roar suddenly came from the distant horizon, followed by increasingly violent tremors in the earth, clearly indicating that the Vortex Demon was rapidly approaching Liyue Harbor.

Ivan shouted, "All hands on deck! Prepare for battle!"

A few minutes later, at the corner of the cliff where the northern mountain range of Tianheng Mountain meets the sea, three helicopters turned the corner and sped toward Liyue Harbor. At the same time the helicopters turned, a loud bang was heard, and the cliff on the north side of Tianheng Mountain collapsed. Then, the enormous body of the Vortex Demon God, which blotted out the sky, appeared in front of everyone, flowing with seawater.

Looking at the people of Liyue Harbor, the Vortex Demon God roared forward with several of its huge heads.

Ivan took a deep breath. Back then, the Vortex Demon God was suppressed under the Lonely Cloud Pavilion. Even though it broke through the seal from the Lonely Cloud Pavilion, half of its body was still suppressed there. This was the first time Ivan had seen the Vortex Demon God in its entirety. It resembled a chimera dragon without wings, and it was incredibly astonishing.

Just then, the outermost Chinese fleet opened fire.

Several destroyers positioned on the flanks of the Vortex Demon were the first to fire, unleashing a deluge of shells from their main guns upon it. The missile destroyers in the rear also began their own display of firepower.

Round after round of ammunition bombarded the Vortex Demon God's side, but it withstood all of it with its body, which was emanating wisps of black energy.

However, that was enough. After the Vortex Demon God's body was strengthened, although conventional firepower could no longer harm the Vortex Demon God, it could still interfere with it.

The ultimate goal of this round of artillery fire was not to kill the Vortex Demon, but to force it to move closer to the decoy and into the encirclement of the fortifications.

As expected, under the intense firepower of the Chinese fleet and the lure of the decoys, the Vortex Demon began to approach the fortifications in the Liyue Harbor mountain pass.

Seeing the Vortex Demon gradually enter the encirclement, Ivan decisively ordered, "Begin the operation!"

With Ivan's order, dozens of warships from the Chinese fleet sailed toward the Liyue Harbor docks, blocking the entrance to the sea through the mountain pass.

The Vortex Demon God, who had long since lost his mind, was still being lured by the bait, completely unaware that his escape route had been cut off.

At this moment, crowds thronged the newly built cement dams on both sides of the pier. Hundreds of giant crossbows, each four or five meters long, had been set up. After the Vortex Demon God entered its designated position, the various units of the Thousand Rock Army immediately issued an attack order.

Hundreds of crossbows instantly fired steel arrows as thick as doorposts, each arrow with a chain as wide as a bowl. However, these arrows were not aimed at the Vortex Demon God's body, but at the concrete dam opposite.

In an instant, hundreds of steel arrows were firmly embedded in the dam facing each other, and hundreds of rope barriers were instantly pulled up, fixing the advancing vortex demon in place like a person falling into a pile of tangled threads.

The vortex demon immediately roared and began to shake its massive body in an attempt to break free of the chains.

The Vortex Demon God was still a demon god after all. As its body swayed, several chains broke immediately. At that moment, several large helicopters suddenly took off from the deck of the Divine Palace ship, with strange devices hanging from their fuselages, heading straight for the Vortex Demon God.

Upon reaching directly above the Vortex Demon, the aircraft's under-suspension system suddenly opened, and several thick plumes of white smoke instantly and continuously spewed out from it.

Upon seeing the white mist, the Thousand Rock Army on the dam began to retreat rapidly. After the white mist dissipated and reached the body of the Vortex Demon God, white frost appeared on the surface of the Vortex Demon God's body, and there were signs that the ice was gradually melting.

This white mist is dry ice.

The Vortex Demon God's body contains a large amount of water element. Previously, the Chinese fleet damaged the Vortex Demon God's body by using the high temperature generated by the explosion to evaporate it, thereby continuously weakening the Vortex Demon God until it died. However, after being strengthened, the Vortex Demon God can automatically absorb water element energy from the sea and even the air to replenish the parts of its body that are missing, so it is completely immune to the fleet's firepower. However, this is also an opportunity for Ivan and others.

Ivan had a large quantity of dry ice prepared; even if it couldn't completely freeze the Vortex Demon, it would be enough to slow its movements.

As the dry ice mist was sprayed, a thick layer of ice gradually condensed on the surface of the Vortex Demon God's body. The Vortex Demon God struggled more and more fiercely, but it was all in vain. Before the first wave of dry ice was completely sprayed, the second batch of helicopters took off from the Divine Palace Ship.

Time passed second by second. With the continuous spraying of dry ice and the restraint of the chains, the Vortex Demon God's movements became increasingly sluggish, and the area covered by ice on its body grew larger and larger.

Ivan narrowed his eyes slightly; it was time.

"Liu Yun! Xiao!"

The Cloud-Borrowing Wind True Lord, who had been waiting for orders, immediately transformed into his original form as a crane and carried Ivan straight towards the Vortex Demon God. When they arrived directly in front of the Vortex Demon God, Ivan jumped off the back of the Cloud-Borrowing Wind True Lord. At that moment, Xiao on the shore opened and closed his hands, instantly mobilizing countless wind elemental forces around Ivan to form a wind elemental ball, which lifted Ivan up and prevented Ivan from being frozen by the dry ice.

Whether attracted by this human who dared to rush in front of it, or feeling threatened by Ivan, the Vortex Demon God awkwardly turned its several heads under the influence of dry ice to look at Ivan in front of it.

Meeting the swirling demon god's ferocious eyes, Ivan solemnly pulled out the Heart of the Wind God from his pocket.

"It all hinges on this!"

Ivan shouted, fully connecting his senses with the Heart of the Wind God, and the Heart of the Wind God instantly shone brightly.

Chapter 144 Living Towards Death

A bright white light shone brightly in front of the Liyue Harbor docks.

Ivan, standing before the Vortex Demon God, shone like a small sun.

Ningguang, Qin, and the others stood on the shore watching, their faces showing worry.

At this moment, Ivan, who was fully connected to and activating the Heart of the Wind God, finally truly felt how intense the destructive aura on the Vortex Demon God was, as deep and unfathomable as the ocean.

Ivan gritted his teeth, and the connection strengthened even more.

As the purifying power within Ivan intensified once more, the destructive energy within the Vortex Demon God began to melt away like ice and snow meeting fire, and wisps of black energy began to evaporate from the Vortex Demon God's body into the air.

The Vortex Demon roared to the sky, sensing the immense threat emanating from Ivan. It struggled even harder, its ice layer crumbling and new chains breaking one after another. At the same time, the Vortex Demon began to gather a large amount of water elemental energy from the sea and air, concentrating it on its several heads. Then, all the heads were aimed at Ivan in front of them, and suddenly unleashed a breath of elemental energy filled with killing intent.

With a roar, Xiao on the shore instantly changed his hand seals, and the God's Eye on his body shone brightly. The emerald green wind elemental energy surrounding Ivan instantly turned cyan-black, and the elemental energy became violent. At the same time, the breath of the Vortex Demon God arrived.

The icy blue breath, emanating wisps of black energy, struck the dark blue wind elemental energy ball and was instantly deflected by the rapidly spinning wind energy, hurtling uncontrollably towards the southeast corner of Liyue Harbor. Then, with a deafening roar, several city blocks were instantly blasted into the sky by the infinitely expanding water elemental energy. Buildings were crushed to pieces by the water elemental energy, the ground collapsed, and the entire area was reduced to nothingness. This scene stunned everyone.

At this moment, the Vortex Demon God was still intensifying the energy of his breath. Faced with the increasingly powerful breath energy, Xiao's forehead began to sweat.

Another energy breath was deflected and landed on the Tianheng Mountain Range, stirring up countless birds and beasts. A towering mountain peak collapsed instantly from the impact of the energy breath, and a huge gap appeared in the continuous Tianheng Mountain Range. Rocks rushed down the slope and gathered into a mudslide with a wide impact.

But that wasn't all. One after another, energy breaths fell and were deflected. Each attack possessed the destructive power to alter the terrain, landing on the Tianheng Mountains, the sea, or Liyue Harbor. But Xiao couldn't care less now. The power of the Vortex Demon God had reached a terrifying level. With his strength, he could only barely maintain the stability of the energy ball to prevent Ivan from being disturbed, while trying to prevent the deflected energy breaths from attacking nearby allies. Later, even Xiao himself couldn't hold on, forcing Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun to join in.

However, the arrival of Lord Liuyun Jiefeng did not alleviate the situation for long. With the continued output of the Vortex Demon God, the combined power of the two immortals was also becoming insufficient. However, Lord Xiaoyue Zhuyang, along with Lord Lishui Dieshan, Keqing and other wounded, as well as the people of Liyue, returned to Jueyun Karst and could not come back to provide support for the time being. Seeing that the situation was not good, Ningguang, Jean and others also made a decisive move to mobilize elemental energy to assist the two immortals in maintaining the protection of Ivan.

On the shore, to prevent the Vortex Demon from releasing the same black ripples as before, which would cause the energy of the Destruction Stone used as bait to be absorbed by it, the Thousand Rock Army quickly moved the Destruction Stone away and set up the Divine Machine Cannon on the shore to fire at the Vortex Demon.

On the Jingu ship, several more helicopters carrying dry ice were added, and at the same time, fighter jets also took off to begin a joint network with surface ships to carry out fire strikes and interference against the Vortex Demon.

With the intervention of firepower from Huaxia and Qianyan Army, one or two heads of the Vortex Demon God were broken, which greatly reduced the pressure on Xiao and others, and the situation eased again.

Ivan, who was at the center of the storm, could also sense the surrounding environment. For a moment, the breath of the vortex demon almost pierced through the energy ball and attacked him. The cold killing intent made him feel extremely uneasy.

Hurry! Hurry!

Ivan gritted his teeth. In his perception, the destructive aura on the Vortex Demon God was rapidly melting away under his purifying power, but this was far from enough. Facing the sea of ​​destructive aura within the Vortex Demon God, this was destined to be a protracted war of attrition.

Time passed second by second, and everyone persevered. As Ivan continued to purify, the black aura on the surface of the Vortex Demon God's body receded at a visible speed, while its own power was also constantly weakening.

As the suppression and purification continued, a turning point was finally reached. The Vortex Demon began to falter under the onslaught of artillery fire. It instinctively sensed a threat to its life level and decisively abandoned its attack. It used all the water elemental energy it had absorbed to strengthen itself and began to struggle more violently. It tried to crash into the dams on both sides to break the chains, but was interrupted by the fierce artillery fire. It then prepared to dive into the sea to escape, but the Dragon King strategic nuclear submarine, which had been lurking near the Vortex Demon, had already deployed a large number of intelligent electronic mines in the area, completely blocking all of the Vortex Demon's diving routes. Two heavy torpedoes blasted the Vortex Demon's body back to the surface as it was diving.

At this point, humanity gained a comprehensive advantage.

At this moment, Ivan looked as if he had just been pulled out of the water; the lining of his trench coat was soaked with sweat.

"Just a little bit more, just a little bit more..."

Suddenly, Ivan roared and raised his right hand, which was gripping the Heart of the Wind God, high into the air. At the same time, the Vortex Demon God also roared and the last trace of black energy on his body dissipated.

Ningguang's face lit up with surprise: "Ivan succeeded!"

However, just as Ningguang was about to order the Thousand Rock Army to attack with all their might, the Vortex Demon God's huge body suddenly lit up with a deep blue light amidst its roar, and an incomparably terrifying energy aura instantly emanated from the Vortex Demon God's body.

Xiao's expression changed drastically in an instant.

"Oh no, it's going to explode..."

However, before Xiao could finish speaking, the Vortex Demon God's mountain-like body expanded instantly, and Ivan, being the person closest to the Vortex Demon God, was the first to be affected.

"Ivan!"

The immense, expanding energy shone on Ivan's face, illuminating the faces of everyone in Liyue Harbor. Jean and Liuyun's shouts rang in his ears, and time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Ivan instantly recalled Paimon's voice on the street that day.

"Ivan...you'll die...it's dangerous...don't go..."

Ivan had always thought that Paimon's "don't go" meant "don't go to face the Vortex Demon God," but at this moment he realized the true meaning of "don't go."

However, once Ivan understood, he had already made his decision.

Ivan opened his left hand, and the Heart of the Rock God suddenly appeared, followed by a golden light that instantly illuminated the sky.

A barrier inscribed with Geo runes instantly rose up around the Vortex Demon, enveloping both the Vortex Demon and Ivan. Then, the Vortex Demon's self-destruct energy erupted, countless violent energies colliding, exploding, and rising within the barrier, but were firmly contained and prevented from spreading outwards. The next second, this terrifying energy shot straight into the sky from above the barrier, shattering the clouds and exploding with a deafening roar high in the sky, forming a massive energy ball thousands of meters in diameter that shattered the thick clouds. A shockwave from the explosion then created a hurricane that violently lashed the ground, uprooting trees from the surrounding cliffs and creating huge waves on the sea. Those in Liyue Harbor escaped the calamity by taking cover in the surrounding area.

After the hurricane of energy impact subsided, everything returned to calm.

But on the sea surface, the barrier, the vortex demon, and Ivan all vanished...

Chapter 145 The Legacy of Inheritance

Five or six days have passed since the final battle with the Vortex Demon God ended.

Liyue has finally returned to peace.

On the pier, Qin sat by the sea with her legs drawn up, staring blankly at the water. Footsteps approached from behind, and a figure sat down beside her. It was Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhen Jun.

Are you still thinking about him?

Qin didn't turn around, still staring blankly at the sea, and only gave a soft "hmm".

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun sighed and said, "Do you believe he's dead?"

Qin said, "I don't believe it."

Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun looked towards the sea, his gaze also somewhat somber: "I don't believe it either, but you and I both know..."

At this point, both Qin and Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun fell silent, because they both understood that Liuyun Jiefeng Zhenjun had left out half a sentence—it was nothing but self-deception.

Everyone saw the golden light flashing on Ivan's left hand, which transformed into a barrier to block the final self-destruction of the Vortex Demon God. Xu Donghai later described that, according to energy testing, the energy of that explosion was so intense that it could level most of Liyue, equivalent to the power of a nuclear bomb. If Ivan hadn't stopped it, everyone present would have perished along with the Vortex Demon God.

However, due to the close proximity, Ivan could only use a barrier to trap himself and the Vortex Demon within it simultaneously. Under such a powerful explosion, it was virtually impossible for Ivan to survive.

Everyone spent three whole days searching for Ivan, but to no avail.

Only then did people begin to accept reality.

He sacrificed himself for the future of everyone.

As the sea breeze blew, Qin He and Liu Yun Jie Feng Zhenjun sat on the embankment, lost in thought.