Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

"The shorter mountain over there is Mount Chibi. It's in that direction, and it's very, very tall, but it's also hollow. It doesn't have a summit, and there's a perch inside."

"There's another mountain that doesn't have a name. It's much shorter than the other two, and it's also hollow. You'll see it when you go to the sacrificial site..."

"The place we're going to now is called Qianlai Shrine. There are some ancient architectural ruins there, and people say there's a large space underneath, as well as some murals, which everyone says are ancient murals..."

"Ancient architectural remains and murals?"

Jiang Bai became interested.

For Aru, how long ago would this be?

The last time I saw a mural was in the snow-capped mountains. I wonder what this new mural records.

It seems that only rocks can withstand the test of time and convey messages from the distant past to the future.

I don't know if these murals are still intact.

I arrived at the Shrine of a Thousand Things with great anticipation. Just as Aru had said, there were indeed many ruins of ancient buildings here, but in addition to the ruins, there were also many monsters.

There are three more of the Beast Hounds we dealt with before.

Watching Hu Tao instruct Yi Dou on how to deal with the demons, Jiang Bai chatted with Aru.

"Speaking of which, we've seen quite a few small stone statues of Thunderbirds along the way. Did you build those statues?"

Aryu shook her head. "No, those small stone statues have always been there. The simple ones made of piled-up stones that can glow are the ones we built."

Jiang Bai looked at the exquisite Thunderbird statue, then at the simple sculpture made of a few stones next to it, and felt that there was no harm without comparison.

If the Thunderbird Stone was built by a civilization with exquisite carving skills, then the stone statue was built by primitive people.

The former is clearly older, but its civilization is more advanced.

This reminded Jiang Bai of Fendnir. Under the guidance of Sky Island, Fendnir acquired the technology to manufacture machines in a very short time.

This uncharted, unknown settlement was so primitive.

Jiang Bai became increasingly curious.

Before the War of the Demon Gods, how many generations of civilizations existed in Teyvat?

Why did these civilizations perish at their peak?

Seeing that Ichidou had defeated these monsters, Aryu cheered and praised him.

"Brother Yidou is amazing!"

After being praised like that, Yi Dou suddenly felt no more backache or leg pain. He proudly puffed out his chest, took out a comb, and smugly combed his hair.

Hu Tao slapped him on the forehead. "What are you so proud of? If I hadn't intervened in time, you would have been scratched by that monster just now."

Ichidou covered his head and muttered, "Taking off three at once, I feel like I'm already pretty amazing..."

Seeing his expression, Jiang Bai decided to add a bit of a sense of crisis to him.

"Yi Dou, do you know what the Dark Calamity that swept through Teyvat five hundred years ago refers to?"

"What is it?"

Ichidou couldn't quite figure out what the calamity five hundred years ago looked like; five hundred years ago was still too far away for him.

"Most of the monsters ravaging Teyvat are these dark and dangerous creatures."

Ichidou's eyes widened: "!!"

He suddenly understood just how dangerous the calamity of five hundred years ago was, and why so many people, even the Fox Palace mentioned by the Five Hundred Treasures, had perished in that dark calamity.

The thought of these monsters appearing like a tidal wave sent shivers down my spine.

If he were to face such a calamity, he would likely be overwhelmed by the beast tide in an instant, unable even to struggle.

Jiang Bai sighed, "And based on my understanding and investigation, the next calamity is probably not far off."

Hu Tao glanced at him sideways, wondering how he had come to such a conclusion.

Even if it was meant to motivate Yi Dou, it's still a bit too sensational.

Ichidou's eyes widened even more: "You're kidding, right!"

Such a calamity will happen again?!

Jiang Bai didn't answer him, but instead said in a pretentious tone, "This world is far more dangerous than you think."

"How so?" Ichidou still didn't believe it.

Although I've traveled around Inazuma with them and seen a lot, this claim is far too exaggerated.

"The Ice God has taken the Hearts of the Wind God, the Rock God, and the Thunder God. I don't need to explain what that means, do I?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Tao's pupils suddenly contracted.

She knew that the Wind God's Heart had been taken away; Jiang Bai had told her. But when did the Emperor get his Heart?

And Thor? When is that?

"What is the Heart of God?" Ito had never heard of such a thing.

"The thing that allows you to control elemental power is called the Eye of God, and the thing that gods possess is called the Heart of God. However, for gods, they are still very strong even without the Heart of God."

"I see..."

Ichidou frowned and pondered for a while. He seemed to have sensed something, but not much.

Seeing that he didn't understand, Jiang Bai could only explain the potential crises to him in detail.

Why do you think the Ice God collected the hearts of the seven gods?

He scratched his head.

He didn't even know that the Ice God was collecting the Heart of God.

This is not something a thug like him could possibly know, okay?

"why?"

Jiang Bai slapped him on the head. "If you don't need your brain, just cut it off, okay?"

Yidou had to start thinking deeply. He was actually very smart, but he was always surrounded by smart people, so his brain was left idle.

"Does He want to rule the seven kingdoms? Or is He collecting the hearts of other gods to deal with an insurmountable crisis?"

"How likely do you think the former is?" Jiang Bai asked in return.

Chapter 556 The Heart of God, Given by the Old Man

"Although I don't know how strong the Ice God is, I think it's unrealistic for Him to be able to rule the seven countries. Inazuma is far away at sea, and there's a general guarding it. I can't imagine how the Ice God could possibly rule Inazuma..."

Yi Dou's expression turned serious.

He had witnessed the General's actions firsthand; the Fatui's executor, the Lady, had all died at the General's hands. If the Thunder General hadn't been willing, the Fatui wouldn't have been able to obtain her Heart of God.

In other words, the general most likely gave it away voluntarily.

Does that mean that there will be a crisis in the future that even the gods will find difficult to deal with, which would be the only way to collect the hearts of all the gods?

Jiang Bai patted his shoulder earnestly, "So, the answer can only be the latter, you understand?"

"If even the gods struggle to cope with this calamity, how will we humans possibly survive? Only by becoming stronger can we have a glimmer of hope for the future."

Ichidou's expression turned serious as he realized the importance of the matter.

It was merely dealing with three bleeding dogs without taking any damage, and that was under Hu Tao's guidance. Such an achievement is certainly not something to be complacent about.

Seeing that Yi Dou had figured things out, Jiang Bai was in a good mood.

Now, without anyone urging him, Yi Dou will work hard on his own.

Aryu couldn't quite understand their conversation; the talk of gods and the heart of gods was beyond his comprehension.

He only understood one sentence: "It's dangerous outside."

Jiang Bai didn't continue the topic. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's help Aru purify the perch."

"The perch is over there, let's go quickly." Aru pointed in the direction of the perch and ran over first.

This perch grows by the sea, and as before, its feathers fluttered up and drifted away when touched by several people.

"Hmm? It seems they all drifted into that ruin."

“I heard that the murals are under the ruins, but Aryu has never been there.”

"Aru, would you like to come with us?"

"No, Aryu will wait for you here."

Seeing that A-Lu wasn't going with them, Jiang Bai took out Gu Dong and had Gu Dong, Xiao Youhun, and A-Chou watch over him together.

Aryu is the key to unlocking the island's secrets, so we can't afford any accidents.

Following the direction the feather flew, the three entered the underground ruins.

Looking at these ancient buildings that had been buried underground and suddenly exposed to the public eye, Hu Tao sighed with emotion.

"What a huge ruin."

The style of the patterns on this site was unlike any she had ever seen. If a scholar specializing in archaeology were here, they might be able to study the carvings and gain some information. However, none of the three people present had any expertise in this area.

Looking at the dormant machines, Jiang Bai rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought. "These Canria machines are truly ubiquitous, even here..."

These machines must have been sent here before Kanria was destroyed. After all, Crane View is located in the middle of the sea, surrounded by an endless ocean. Even they took quite a while to get here. It's impossible for these Kanria machines to have wandered from the distant land to the island without anyone controlling them after Kanria's destruction, and there are so many of them.

In other words, there must be something here that the Kanria people care about, which is why they sent machines here.

Could it be those murals?

“There’s no fog here.” Hu Tao looked around; the surroundings were clearly visible under the flames.

"Strange, why isn't it there? Is it because it's underground?" Jiang Bai frowned slightly.

"Possibly." Hu Tao looked around at the junction of the mountains and buildings, and said with some surprise:

"This ruin seems to have been built against the mountain, or it was originally built underground."

"Built underground? Why build it underground? Is it some kind of tomb?" Jiang Bai felt his doubts growing.

Currently, aside from tombs and groups that live underground, there are very few special cases of people building structures underground.

Judging from the thunderbird stone statues that can be seen everywhere in Heguan, this civilization was clearly active on the ground.

"I don't know, let's keep going in."

This site connects to an underground space, and as you walk further into the underground space, the space becomes larger and larger.

Based on his observations of the surrounding environment upon landing and comparing them with the events they had witnessed, Jiang Bai was certain that they were currently at the bottom of the sea.

As they explored, Hu Tao inquired about the Heart of God, "When was the Emperor's Heart of God taken away? You didn't tell me."

Jiang Bai scratched his head. "Huh? Didn't I say that? I thought I had."

Hu Tao was speechless. How could someone forget something so important?

"The Heart of God is in the old man's hands; it was given to him by the old man."

Jiang Bai spoke the truth.

"I see..." Hu Tao nodded.

In her mind, Zhongli was an immortal who wandered the mortal world like Granny Ping, so it was no mistake for the Emperor to entrust the Heart of God to Zhongli.

As for whether Zhongli might be the Emperor, it's best not to think in that direction.

"But how did the Fatui take Thor's Heart of God?"

"It was also given away."

Jiang Bai omitted the crucial detail of who had given the information.

It's best not to let others know that you've given the Heart of God to the Fools...

"Doesn't that mean the Fools' next target is Mount Sumeru?"

"Probably. I'll go check out Sumeru when I have time."

While chatting, we happened to find three feathers.

However, the three did not rush back and continued to explore the underground ruins.