Genshin Impact: I, the Winter Prince, reign supreme.

Su Yu suggested that the victim's family go to the prison, but he actually had ulterior motives.

Anyone imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison will be subjected to severe torture, as well as various forms of humiliation and torment. The elderly woman has incurred the wrath of the crowd and is therefore a prime target for the prison guards. Thus, Su Yu anticipates that the elderly woman will rise up in resistance.

With an evil god backing her up, if she goes berserk and out of control, she will cause large-scale casualties in Liyue City. After careful consideration, Su Yu came up with the brilliant plan of sending the victims' families to the Heavenly Prison.

Why is it a brilliant plan?

The elderly woman and the detective general, a brother and sister duo, have been bewitching and kidnapping women from Liyue for sacrifices for hundreds of years. They are the loyal henchmen of the Sea God.

These two not only worked hard, but also made contributions. As their master, the sea god would certainly not stand idly by and watch his believers be captured alive and imprisoned in the heavenly dungeon to suffer.

With Su Yu's current strength and realm, if the Sea Demon God releases even a trace of its aura, his divine sense can immediately pinpoint its exact location. However, last night in the auction hall of Wanwen Collection House, when he used his divine power to torture the old woman and interrogate her, the Sea Demon God did not come to her rescue, nor did it reveal the slightest bit of its power.

Therefore, Su Yu made a judgment in his mind:

The divine consciousness of the sea demon may be hidden within the body of the old woman.

This is not a simple case of possession, which would cause the host's consciousness to die; rather, it is a symbiotic relationship.

This is a power that only demons possess.

During the war between gods and demons, many demons abandoned their physical bodies and entrusted their souls and consciousness to ordinary human bodies in order to escape their enemies.

While doing so would limit the power of the demon god, the advantage is that it can perfectly conceal and hide its aura by using the body of a human host.

Su Yu had read about the relevant records in an ancient book during the winter, which allowed him to accurately grasp the methods of the Sea Demon God.

Furthermore, Su Yu learned from that book that, because they share the same body, the demon god's consciousness can influence the host's behavior, while the host's own will can suppress the demon god's consciousness.

According to the elderly woman's confession, she believed that the girls she was sacrificing were people who had been redeemed, and that her actions were to help them escape the suffering of the mortal world.

Clearly, her mind had been warped by the sea demon residing within her body, but she still retained basic human conscience and felt remorse towards the relatives of the victims, and would never harm them.

The Sea Demon is not afraid of the victims' families; all humans are ants in his eyes. But the old woman has the complete opposite view of him and will stop him from killing innocent people.

Su Yu suggested that the victims' families go to the prison, taking advantage of the old woman's psychology.

Su Yu guessed that the Sea Demon God couldn't understand how the old woman, as the host, needed his power to fight against the jailers, yet at the last moment it was the host herself who stopped him from unleashing his power.

At that moment, the surging waves in Liyue Harbor soon subsided.

The Lady of Hidden Mirror was perfectly clear about one fact: what happened in the Heavenly Prison had been exactly as His Highness had predicted.

As expected, the secret agent soon came to report, giving a detailed account of what had happened in the prison.

The elderly woman was communicating with the power of an evil god in prison when, for some unknown reason, she was forcibly interrupted by the victims' families who arrived, resulting in a severe backlash against her.

The spy had expected this intelligence to attract the prince's attention, but to his surprise, the prince did not seem surprised at all, as if this outcome was already within his expectations.

He was the only secret agent in the prison, and it was impossible for anyone to report the situation there earlier than him. So there was only one possibility left: His Highness the Prince had foreseen the future!

Such speculation would be laughable to anyone, since even gods cannot accurately predict the future, let alone humans who are not gods.

But if this person is a prince, then it makes perfect sense.

The prince is a man who can create miracles; he is omniscient and omnipotent.

The woman in the hidden mirror dismissed the spies and said respectfully, "Your Highness is wise. A crisis was successfully averted at the Heavenly Prison, and many lives were saved. There is still one thing I don't understand. Since you deduced in advance that the Sea Demon God was hidden within the old woman's body, why not reveal this secret on the spot and annihilate the Sea Demon God's consciousness?"

What is the deeper meaning behind His Highness's choice to deal with a matter that could have been resolved directly by force?

Looking out at the distant sea, Su Yu told her a startling truth: "The Sea Demon God has been hiding under Morax's nose for so long, the old woman may not be the only vessel for his divine consciousness. Even if this wisp of consciousness is destroyed, many more consciousnesses are scattered and hidden among the people."

The woman in the mirror was utterly horrified, gaining a deeper understanding of the Sea Demon God's methods.

Demons can disperse their consciousness and reside in the bodies of many ordinary people, making them virtually impossible to guard against.

“In theory, every person we encounter on the streets may harbor a wisp of the Sea Demon God’s consciousness. If I act rashly, I will only alert him and make him more vigilant.”

"Understood, Your Highness."

There was another reason, which Su Yu did not explain.

Although abandoning the physical body and entrusting one's divine consciousness to a human to live is a unique right of demon gods, the power of most demon gods will greatly decline after using this ability.

The fact that the Sea Demon God's scattered consciousness was never discovered by Zhongli undoubtedly proves that his strength not only did not decline, but may have even increased over the past few hundred years by consuming the souls of the sacrificed girls.

This great demon god is one of the best among demon gods, and its strength should not be underestimated. It is very likely that it is comparable to the Dragon King Ruotu at his peak.

At its peak, even Zhongli was helpless against the Dragon King Ruotu.

Although Su Yu was confident of victory against the Sea Demon God, they were, after all, in Liyue City. If a major battle broke out, innocent people could easily be injured. Therefore, forcibly taking action was not a good strategy.

"Your Highness, is there a way to identify those whose divine consciousness has been possessed by the Sea Demon God? I have an idea: find all of them and imprison them together. In this way, the Sea Demon God will be unable to continue committing crimes."

Su Yu replied, "There are methods, of course, but they are too inefficient. There are tens of millions of people in Liyue Harbor, and it would take several years to screen them all."

The lady with the hidden mirror sighed, "Alas, I'll never be able to catch him."

"That's not necessarily true." Su Yu smiled calmly. "The Sea Demon God suddenly ordered the old woman to act this time, and required two female priests at a time. The timing he chose was very subtle, as it happened to be during Morax's seclusion."

The lady of the Hidden Mirror perked up: "Your Highness, you once said that the Rock King Emperor was in very poor condition and even sent Lord Sandone, the Puppet, to monitor him. The Sea Demon God must have also noticed the Emperor's abnormality, which is why he dared to come out and stir up trouble at this time. In other words, he will defy the wind and commit crimes again?"

Su Yu said with a slightly playful tone, "As Morax weakens, those hidden enemies begin to stir. The sudden increase in demonic spirits at night, and the sea demon Orias who harms young girls, may just be the prelude to the darkness of Liyue. As Morax's situation worsens, the sea demon will inevitably make a big move. Be patient."

Ps:

Wishing everyone a peaceful and healthy Qingming Festival!

Chapter 147 Destiny

"Your Highness, there is the cry of a crane in the distance. Could it be a visit from an immortal?"

The lady with the hidden mirror had amazing hearing and was the first to hear the sound coming from the distant horizon.

Cranes are considered auspicious creatures in Liyue, and the crane clan is among the "Three-Eyed Five-Manifestation Immortals".

"Hmph, these Liyue immortals have finally learned to take the initiative to visit the Prince. You have taught them the True Immortal Auxiliary Techniques, and they should learn to be grateful."

The lady with the hidden mirror accompanied Su Yu to Grandma Ping's Luofu Cave. Her impression of those immortals was that they were conservative in their thinking, outdated in their ideas, and lacked human touch.

As a fellow member of the divine family, the Yae no Kami of Inatsume Narukami Shrine is more worldly-wise than the other immortals of Liyue. It's no wonder that not only are there repeated rumors of discord between Keqing of Yuheng Star and the immortals, but even among the common people of Liyue, there are many complaints about the immortals' indifference.

"An immortal wouldn't come to visit me this late. Go to the door and greet him. Oh, and bring me a Go set."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The woman with the hidden mirror, unaware of who the visitor was, curiously approached the entrance of the residence.

In the pitch-black night, two figures on the street drew closer and closer.

One tall and one short, one male and one female.

The boy had a pair of beautiful, vertical blue pupils and ice-blue hair. He was handsome and angrily said to the graceful woman beside him, "Auntie, after I have slain all the demons and evil spirits in the world, I will... break my vow and go soak in the hot springs!"

Chongyun is born with a pure yang body, which makes him afraid of the scorching sun and hot springs. He does not drink hot water or eat spicy food. When exorcising demons, he only needs to get close to evil spirits, and the blazing pure yang power in his body will drive away the evil spirits. Therefore, he is determined to become the most famous exorcist in Liyue.

But just now, his closest aunt poured cold water on his hopes.

Shen He warned him that he was still far from being a true alchemist and advised him to read more books, study more, and focus his attention on his studies.

Unable to resist his aunt's insistence, he uttered those "bold words" from earlier—

In fact, he had long lost credibility because he had repeated the same words to many people on many occasions, to the point that it had become his catchphrase.

Letting him soak in a hot spring is worse than killing him.

"Auntie, even if others don't believe me, you have to believe me."

Chongyun held Shenhe's hand as if she were being affectionate; it was a habit she had developed since childhood, and it was hard to change once she grew up.

Shen He glanced at him, and the latter wisely shut his mouth.

Zang Jing Shi Nu always felt that the Chongyun family members were all quite good-looking. He himself was a handsome man, and his aunt was an even more stunning beauty.

Shen He bowed to the lady in the hidden mirror, and said with some surprise, "You were waiting for me?"

The implication was that they were asking why they knew in advance that they were coming.

"His Highness and I heard the cry of the crane and knew that a guest had come. His Highness sent me out to greet him. But I was wrong. His Highness was right. He knew it was you who were coming, which is why he had me prepare a Go game."

Shen He coldly replied, "Thank you for your trouble, Lady."

Being addressed as "Your Excellency" by outsiders gave Cangjing Shinu a small sense of vanity, proving that following His Highness meant she could benefit from his presence wherever she went.

The lady with the hidden mirror led the two inside.

After the campfire in the courtyard went out, leaving behind a lot of charcoal, several members of the delegation set up an iron rack and roasted meat while drinking strong liquor.

This scene would be heartwarming for a normal person, but it was far from friendly to Chongyun.

Such an environment and scorching hot food were his biggest taboos. The residual heat of the charcoal fire felt like a furnace roasting him, so he turned around and ran away.

If he stayed any longer, he would inevitably face the predicament of being overwhelmed by passion and having his yang energy run wild. This was the residence of the delegation from the Kingdom of Winter, and he didn't want to embarrass his aunt.

Shen He glanced at it but didn't say anything; he was already used to such things.

Most importantly, her mission tonight has little to do with Chongyun; it doesn't matter whether he's present or not.

The Liyue mystery has been solved, and Yanfei has been successfully rescued. Prince Zhidong deserves much credit for this. She came to express her gratitude on the orders of the Celestials, and she would have come even if the Celestials hadn't given the order.

She and Yan Fei were like sisters. If it weren't for Prince Zhidong solving the case and informing the Detective General that Yan Fei was hidden in the imperial prison, the two would probably be separated by death.

In the afternoon, she and Qianyanjun turned the prison upside down and finally found Yanfei, who was on the verge of death, in a secret room.

At that time, Yan Fei was in very poor condition, almost on her last breath. If she had arrived any later, Yan Fei's life would have been in danger.

"Did the immortals send you?"

Upon meeting, Su Yu asked her about her motive for visiting. After thinking for a moment, she replied softly, "I came to thank Your Highness myself. Thank you, Your Highness."

Su Yu gestured for the maidservant in the Hidden Mirror to step back, and slowly said, "Miss Shen He really doesn't lie. Apart from those immortals who don't understand the rules of human life, I don't believe you would stay up in the middle of the night and come to my room just to say thank you."

Shen He was speechless for a moment.

She had lied to show more sincerity, but it backfired. She pursed her lips, unsure how to respond.

Su Yu smiled and said, "Miss Shen He, since you're here, how about playing a game of chess with me?"

Shen He pointed helplessly to the red rope binding him: "Your Highness, I'm so sorry, I..."

"So you're destined for a life of loneliness and misfortune? It doesn't matter. My greatest strength is my resilience; even the laws of heaven can't take it away from me, so don't worry, you can't kill me."

Liyue has a long and rich cultural history, with a divination system dating back thousands of years that includes the concept of "fate".

Some people are born with a destiny of wealth and prosperity, enjoying good fortune as they grow up. Others are born with a destiny of bad luck, experiencing misfortune and constant troubles throughout their lives. Still others are born with a destiny of good fortune, often rising rapidly through the ranks after entering officialdom.