We traveled through time together, but I'm the only dragon? The others are all beautiful girls?

Akalion responded with a deep dragon roar.

In the game's storyline, Ying fainted after facing the remnant power of the demon god Obaro released by the Fatui Enforcer, [Scrap Soldiers]. If Yae no Miko hadn't intervened in time, who knows what fate awaited her.

Although Yingqi's current aptitude has already increased sixfold through the resonance of "me" in many worlds.

However, that place was, after all, the origin of a demon god's fall, and the remnants of his power that dissipated after his death retained their original strength and purity without being diffused.

Even though she has now mastered the use of both grass and water elemental powers, she still hasn't accumulated enough.

P.S.: In the next section, I'd like to write about the plot involving "the Great Sage's Karmic Love and Akalion's Sacrifice of His Body." I hope you're all okay with that? After all, Xiao is already suffering from karmic burdens... So, it's probably acceptable for him to have this reaction in a place rife with demonic remnants, right?

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: Chapter 111. Remnants of a Demon God

Wind, rock, water, and grass are the four elemental powers that Luminous currently possesses, and they are also the elemental powers that she can obtain most easily in a short period of time.

As for ice, lightning, and fire, they are too far away, especially lightning and fire. The state of ice is currently unclear, but the Inazuma where lightning is located is enveloped by a thunderstorm created by the Thunder God. Fire cannot be obtained immediately because the abyss has corrupted the ley lines and the elemental power has not been made into a divine throne by the Heavenly Principle.

Although she can move almost teleporting across the vast continent of Teyvat through the network of ley lines once the anchor point is activated, the primary prerequisite is that the teleportation anchor point is activated.

Akalion can take her to any destination, but if she needs to get there afterward, she'll still have to do it herself, step by step.

In any case, there is no real, significant crisis that could threaten them at the moment.

It's good to take it one step at a time, slowly.

Before Akalion and Xiao actually stepped into the land of Heureia's fall, the unsealing caused the remnants of the demon god to leak out, increasing Xiao's karmic burden and directly leading to some unspeakable and absurd events.

Although Xiao silently clutched her chest without saying anything afterward, Akalion had to admit that he had taken advantage of her vulnerability. Perhaps using his power could have directly removed the karmic burden caused by the demonic corruption and inner demons that had afflicted her.

...Not necessarily, after all, Xiao's situation is different from Kurumi's, as he also has inner demons.

They arrived in silence at the location of the Demon God's remains, and Xiao turned to look at Akalion.

"Can it be done?"

Even after death, the Salt Demon God Heuria, under the dual protection of Zhongli's seal and the fragments of the power of Heavenly Principle, still retained the human form she had at the moment of her fall.

She was slightly taller than Ying, had a larger bust, and her skin was pure white like salt. Her long, snow-white hair was made of crystalline substance.

A rough salt sword, coldly pierced her heart from behind.

Not a drop of blood flowed from the wound, only fine grains of salt, like an endless hourglass, continuously dripped from the fatal opening.

Apart from the remains of the demon god and the garment he wore, everything else in the palace had been salted by his power.

How could a demon god not know that the people he protects are plotting to assassinate him? And they actually succeeded... The followers of the Salt Demon God—Akkarian would never accept this.

Is it that the Rock King Emperor is too magnanimous? Or is it that the ironclad law of demon gods loving their lovers has been anchored in the very bones of every demon god by the laws of nature?

Although some forms of love are unique, Hakimi's love is still love!

Akalion recalled the legends about these salt god followers in the game, and a wave of nausea washed over him. These followers of the salt god had personally assassinated the god who had always gently protected them like a mother, in order to show their loyalty to the more powerful Rock King.

As a result, after the survivors joined the Rock King's forces, they secretly spread rumors that the Salt God was murdered by the Rock King, a rumor that has persisted from the time of the Demon God War to the present day. Unless they are lone wolves like Daines Reeb, there must be a deeply entrenched force behind them.

For example, there's Umijima Island on Inazuma's side—but their behavior is far from as despicable as these faithless and treacherous Shiokami believers.

Akalion gathered his scattered thoughts and focused his gaze on Xiao, who was still walking a little unsteadily beside him.

"...I have no problem, but you—"

Recalling the unexpected incident, Akalion found it hard to continue speaking. In the end, he was the one who took advantage of her.

“I’m fine too.” Xiao subconsciously reached out and gently touched her lower abdomen. Then, she raised her head and looked back at Akalion with a hint of unreadable emotion in her calm golden eyes. “No need to worry. We Yakshas are not human. Thanks to your power, the lingering demonic will that has haunted me for thousands of years can no longer trouble me. My cultivation has even been able to advance.”

"Oh?" Akalion's gaze involuntarily followed Xiao's movements downwards. When he noticed the slightly protruding belly, he immediately recoiled as if burned, quickly shifting his gaze back to the corpse of the Salt God.

"Then in the future, we shall address the immortal Xiao as 'True Lord'." He used a preemptive compliment to cover up his embarrassment.

"..." A faint blush rose on Xiao's cheeks. She quickly turned around, her back to Akalion, "You don't need to feel burdened. The Salt Demon is different from mortals. She can be made into a human-shaped pastry."

“What I just said was true.” Akalion had no qualms about eating people. After all, he was a dragon now, not to mention that the remains in front of him weren’t even human remains.

The moment he finished speaking, his handsome youthful figure transformed back into the colossal dragon that blotted out the sky, instantly occupying half of the palace. He opened his enormous maw, large enough to devour mountains, and swallowed the entire remains of the demon god in one gulp.

The fragments of divine power contained within Heuria are pitifully few compared to those in Dekalapian, like the difference between a stream and a great river.

But it was enough to bring about a completely new change to the elemental crown on his head.

The rock element crystal, which was already quite bright, became even more dazzling at this moment.

Then, guided by the instinct of elemental power, it slowly moved from the edge of the crown towards the center. The wind element crystal also moved along with it, replacing the rock element crystal in the center of the front.

The moment the Geo crystal moved to the center of the crown, its properties became more stable. The Anemo element, like the most delicate thread, linked the crystals of the other five elements together. Relying on the Geo element, the seven elemental forces began to circulate, and something was being conceived from within, slowly being born under Akalion's will.

Like an empty shell breaking free from its constraints, Akalion's spirituality burst forth and sublimated, ultimately condensing into those specks of [spiritual light].

This means that he has officially entered the realm of the Liyue Master.

Although it cannot yet be called a "True Lord", its essence is already at the same level as Xiao at this moment.

The intensity of his [psychic energy] also rose accordingly, steadily reaching the [sixth ring] level. However, it was still a very long way from the [manifestation] realm, which symbolized a [qualitative change].

However, with his sixth-ring psionic power, he was already capable of attempting to cast those powerful spells belonging to the seventh ring, but the specific effects would need to be verified upon returning to Eldra.

After all, with his current raw magical energy, he can only cast some fifth-circle spells.

The joy slowly faded, and then the taste of the Salt Demon quickly took over Akalion's mind.

"So salty—"

Akalion, however, felt like he was turning into a salted dragon that had been thoroughly pickled.

"Give."

Xiao took out a gourd that was entirely ice-blue from his bosom and handed it over.

"..."

"Drink with confidence." Seeing that he hesitated to take it, Xiao added, "This [Ice Heart Jade Gourd] contains a small cave world with a large amount of clear, sweet spring water."

“That’s not what I care about.” Akalion looked at the seemingly eccentric Yaksha sage in front of him and shook his head silently.

Well, since the other party doesn't care, why should I bother with it anymore?

He took the gourd and drank deeply of the sweet spring water.

Finally, they managed to rescue him from that salty hell.

If I had some candy on hand at this moment, that would be even better.

And then some ice cream... never mind, I'll just fly to Longji Snow Mountain and eat some snow later.

This trip really took up a lot of time.

The main problem was that the layers upon layers of seals set up by Zhongli were simply too tight.

Unraveling the layers one by one, though it didn't take much time—all it took was to retrieve Master Zhongli's seal—led to an unexpected encounter with Xiao afterward...

Akalion put down the gourd and was about to put it back into his cave when he saw Xiao reach out her hand, seemingly waiting for something. Somewhat embarrassed, he quickly handed the gourd back to her.

Xiao hadn't expected Akalion to want her gourd.

If she had known earlier, she would have given it to him directly. After all, it was just a gourd, nothing special, just a vessel for drinking water.

Although immortals can abstain from grains, there's no need to torture yourself like that.

"You and the others should go back first."

Xiao silently took the gourd, and once again subconsciously touched his slightly protruding belly, looking at Akalion.

"Look at me now—"

“It’s alright.” Akalion immediately understood her concerns. “I’ll use my psionic powers to help you cover it up.”

He activated the sixth-circle psionic spell, Aura Alteration.

The 'aura' here refers to the outward manifestation of alignment and power level. It is not the same concept as the spiritual aura cultivated by immortals. However, it can only disguise the existence of the evil alignment in the three states of order, neutrality, and chaos. It cannot be changed to the good alignment. At most, it can disguise the amount of the alignment as one level higher. However, it is enough to change the appearance here.

Akalion also possesses magical abilities, but he primarily learns offensive spells and rarely learns support spells. Even when he does learn support spells, he specializes in external magic.

"Okay, that should last about a week."

Even though Akalion reshaped her appearance with psychic powers, Xiao still hesitated. After all, what had happened left her unsure how to face Ying and the others.

“I… need to meditate here for a while.” She turned away, avoiding Akalion’s gaze.

“We came together, but I am the only one who has returned. What do they think of this?” Akalion’s voice was calm, yet it carried an undeniable logic. “Besides, your karmic burdens have been removed. The shackles that separated you from the world are no longer there. There is no need to imprison yourself like this anymore.”

"But......"

"Come on up." Akalion didn't wait for her to finish speaking before transforming back into his original form and throwing Xiao up.

Even though he was an immortal, and his physical strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, he was still no match for a being of Akalion's extraordinary stature, even if he did not transform into his original form!

Therefore, the damage to her body caused by that accident was difficult to heal in a short period of time.

Although immortals have their own elixirs and talismans to heal injuries, the problem is that Xiao never thought he would encounter such an absurd thing one day, and he did not bring many medicines with him on this trip.

On the other hand, although she has specialized in the path of killing for thousands of years, she is not without the immortal arts of healing the body. However, in the powerful immortal energy environment of the Emperor, the effect will be greatly reduced. At least for now, she cannot immediately recover to her original state.

It was utterly impossible for Akalion to resist him; although his celestial power was not as great as that of the Rock King, its nature was far more violent and intense.

When they returned, the Temple of Salt was already bustling with activity.

Paimond alone brought life to this salt capital.

"I've found so much Mora!" she exclaimed excitedly as she flew back and forth among the salt-covered houses. "There must be treasure chests here too! My treasure radar is buzzing!"

Ying is systematically collecting salt that is neither formed by humans nor by the cycle of grains.

These things, born from the power of the demon gods, are more valuable than gold to Baal, a planet in Saintelia where basic necessities are extremely scarce.

Meanwhile, Walnut was holding the salt ruler, carefully studying the ancient murals on the temple walls, trying to figure out how to use the salt god's relic from these traces that had long been blurred by time.

Upon seeing Akalion and Xiao's return, she immediately became excited and called out to the other two.

"Hey—! Ying! Paimon! Stop what you're doing, they're back!"

Upon hearing this, Ying and Paimon immediately stopped what they were doing and rushed over.

Ying's gaze immediately fell on the elemental crown on Akalion's head, which had undergone significant changes, and a faint gleam appeared in her golden eyes.

“Akaglion, your crown seems to have become even more powerful.”

Paimon's attention, however, was focused on Xiao.

She circled the demon once, a big question mark on her face.

"Hey? Xiao! Where did that cool tattoo on your arm go?"

This question caused a faint blush to rise on Xiao's already somewhat unnaturally calm face, which was filled with guilt, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

She instinctively turned to the crowd and said:

"...This journey was somewhat serendipitous! The karmic obstacles that had been weighing on me were thus resolved."

This ambiguous explanation, full of celestial flair, was enough to appease the naive Paimon and the clueless Nutmeg.

It wasn't completely dissolved, but rather transformed into another form under Akalion's fundamental power, and currently, it doesn't appear to pose any harm.

However, Ying turned her gaze to Akalion.

She sensed Akalion's strong aura emanating from Xiao.

Seeing that Akalion remained unmoved, but his eyes were fixed on the salt ruler in Walnut's hand, he looked as if his dragon instincts had kicked in and he wanted to collect the treasure.

P.S.: It seems that no one likes this, but it is necessary for the outline, so the plot of the physical body of the demon being used to resolve karmic obstacles will be omitted.

Volume 1 Snowfield Dragon Lord: Chapter 112. The Remnants (temporarily closed)

As fellow 'Blue Heirs', how could Ying not understand her own reaction?

Even from a dragon's expression, she could sense what it meant.

Master Zhongli asked us to find a way to resolve the karmic problems on Xiao's body, but can this yellow-haired method really solve them?

She had anticipated Akalion's behavior, after all, they were both 'blue offspring', and Akalion was a dragon by nature inherently wicked.

But isn't this time a bit too short?

It hasn't been two hours yet, right?

Could it be that she thought wrong?