Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

Kong tore off a chicken wing for him.

"Haven't you eaten?"

"You can't tell time underground. When things get busy, you don't even have time to eat."

He felt like he slept very little, let alone ate.

Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it; Xiao doesn't need to eat or sleep.

Traveling with such an immortal, it's impossible to eat on time; you just grab a quick bite when you're hungry.

"Who is this?" Jinwu looked into the air.

"He's our friend, Jiang Bai. He came underground with the Demon-Slaying Great Sage to find the Yaksha. That doesn't violate the laws of the Layered Rock Abyss, does it?"

Jinwu is an official of the General Affairs Department. It's still necessary to explain why someone would appear in front of her, crossing the Great Abyss Seal to enter the underground.

Jinwu remained silent for a while.

If Jiang Bai were to break the law on his own, she could still argue that he violated the law.

But having come down with the immortals to search for the Yaksha who once guarded Liyue, as one of those being protected, she really had no right to speak.

"There's a reason for this, so of course it doesn't count. The General Affairs Department has also been eager to find that Yaksha."

Hearing Jinwu say that, Paimon secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Sister Jinwu is quite strict and authoritative, so it's best that she doesn't pursue the matter of Jiang Bai sneaking down.

Paimon looked at Jiang Bai, "Jiang Bai, what brings you to the camp? You're not just here to freeload a meal, are you?"

"That's a long story..."

Jiang Bai glanced at Jin Wu and the Sumeru researcher beside him, and briefly recounted his encounter with the Abyss Apostle underground.

He stared at him blankly with lifeless eyes.

"The princess's own brother?"

"This is called a strategy, don't you understand? Who knows if that princess really has an older brother? What if she does? I can't exactly say I'm her father, can I?"

Because there were outsiders present, Jiang Bai did not reveal that Kong was a blood relative of the Abyss Cult's "Princess".

The Abyss Order is, after all, an anti-human organization, and if people were to learn of Kong's relationship with the Abyss Order, it would inevitably have some negative consequences.

Currently, only a few people know about Kong's relationship with the Abyss Order.

“Return Daddy…” Kong felt his fist was a little hard, and he really wanted to have a close encounter with Jiang Bai’s face.

"You might be more believable if you pretend to be the younger brother."

“A person should have some ambition; no one would willingly become a younger brother. Of course, if you want to call me older brother, Xiao Kong, I wouldn’t mind taking you in as my younger brother.”

Looking at Jiang Bai's irritating face, Kong felt his fists harden even more.

Kong's eyes flickered slightly, and he suddenly smiled.

He put his arm around Jiang Bai's shoulder, leaned close to his ear, and smiled very kindly.

"Brother~ I'm short on Mora lately. As a loving older brother, you wouldn't ignore this, right?"

"I don't need much, just 1 million Mora will do."

Jiang Bai froze. "Who's speaking? What brother? Who are you calling?"

Kong looked at him with disdain. "Didn't you want me to be your younger brother? You wouldn't even give me 1 million Mora. Tsk tsk tsk..."

Jiang Bai glanced at him sideways, "If you give me a billion Mora, I'll call you dad without a problem."

null:"……"

He lost; he shouldn't have overestimated this guy's integrity.

Chapter 611 The solution is simple

Watching the two bantering away as if no one else was around, Jinwu and Haitifu couldn't help but sigh inwardly, "Youth is truly wonderful."

"Alright, I'm not messing around with you anymore, let's get down to business."

After a hearty meal, Jiang Bai pulled out the peculiar cube.

Do you know what this thing is?

"Hmm?" Looking at this unusually uncomfortable thing, the Sumeru scholar Haidif subconsciously stroked his beard.

"show me."

Haidif took the cube Jiang Bai handed him and examined it carefully. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the mechanism to unlock the door to the deepest part that Zhiqiong mentioned."

All eyes turned to him.

Heidif continued, "I have also studied similar constructs, and coincidentally, the one you have is exactly the same as the one in my laboratory."

"Unfortunately, neither alchemy nor basic mechanics can easily explain the energy contained within, nor the principles underlying the unlocking mechanism..."

Jiang Bai looked at the scholar with some surprise, "Mr. Haidif also knows alchemy?"

"Yes, aren't you a paleontologist?" Sora looked at him in surprise.

This little-known scholar was far more knowledgeable than they had imagined.

"The scholars of biophysics at Amridic Academy don't welcome those who work in isolation. On many projects, we still have to collaborate with those blockheads from West Bandama. The more we collaborate, the more we naturally understand..."

"Doesn't the Order Academy have any all-rounders?" Jiang Bai asked curiously.

"A person's energy is limited, and the knowledge of any school of thought is as vast as the sea. It is already remarkable if a person can achieve something in a certain discipline in their lifetime. As for the polymath you mentioned, perhaps there are such people, but I have never met one."

"And what about your god? Isn't He the god of wisdom?"

“Gods…” Upon hearing this, the image of the Great Tree King subconsciously appeared in Haidifu’s mind. If it was the Great Tree King, then it would naturally be a wise and all-knowing genius.

As for the current Grass God, it seems that the world knows nothing about Him, not even him, a senior scholar of the Order of the Church.

It was as if this newly born god existed in name only, as if he did not exist at all.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Jiang Bai tilted his head to look at him.

Heidif shook his head. "I have never met the Little Lucky Grass King, but judging from the Church's attitude towards her, she may not be qualified to be called 'Wisdom'."

"Attitude? What attitude? I've rarely heard of anything about the Sumeru Little Auspicious Grass King," Paimon asked in confusion.

Their next stop might be Sumeru to see the Grass God, so it's necessary to gather some information beforehand.

"It's hard to say. It's not appropriate to tell outsiders like you about the internal affairs of the Church." Haidif didn't want to expose his family's dirty laundry.

Although their new god is too young and not yet wise enough, the Church Council's disregard and blockade of him is truly shameful for a citizen of Sumeru.

Even he himself didn't immediately recall that they had such a god.

Seeing Haidifu's appearance, Jiang Bai and Kong exchanged a glance, both feeling a sense of indescribable unease.

Of the countries I've visited so far, Mondstadt is the only one that's been relatively normal.

Although the wind god appears to be asleep, he is still watching over Mondstadt.

The old man planning his own funeral is a bit far-fetched, but at least he had been working diligently beforehand, and Liyue has proven that she doesn't need his help.

As for Inazuma, he simply became a recluse and ruled with puppets.

It's hard to imagine what Sumeru would look like.

Haidif drew their attention back to the main point: "If we can find the door that Zhiqiong mentioned, we should be able to open this strange mechanical artifact."

"Then I'll have to keep it safe."

Jiang Bai put the key into the Sanqing Bell so that he wouldn't lose it.

"Speaking of which, what do you think of this upside-down ruin and that space with a large amount of black mud?"

Jiang Bai took out the photos he had taken there. Although the photos were dim, the contents were still barely visible.

Haidif took the photo, looked at it, and then shook his head. "Hard to say."

"According to my investigation, the anomaly in the Great Abyss is essentially similar to the anomaly in the Dragonspine Snow Mountain. Their origins do not belong to the world we are familiar with; it is a battle between two forces... Why so much black mud has gathered here can only be known through on-site investigation."

"But on-site investigation is difficult... For those of us who do not have the Eye of God and cannot manipulate elemental power, those dark filths themselves will affect our bodies, and mutations can be harmful or even fatal."

"Those who get close to the source of the mutation will either slowly lose their perception of the normal world, or they will rapidly weaken until they mutate, become contaminated, and die..."

Although Haidif was a scholar, he had no way to investigate the places where black mud gathered, and those who could go might not be able to see anything, so it was a very unsolvable problem.

"In other words, even carrying fragments of the Heavenly Nail is useless, because what affects the human body is not a single energy source, but a mutation caused by the struggle between two forces..."

Jiang Bai suddenly became worried about Zhiqiong, as this situation was almost unsolvable for ordinary people.

Sigh, I hope she can fulfill her long-cherished wish.

"The anomalies in Dragonspine Mountain have stopped, haven't they? We haven't heard of anyone being affected on the mountain," Paimon asked.

They hadn't heard of anyone being affected by any strange changes while they were exploring the snow-capped mountains.

"The anomaly in the snow mountain originated from the remains of the demonic dragon Dulin five hundred years ago. The anomaly was not intense, and the two forces were not evenly matched. Over the years, the anomaly has long since subsided. The deep red stones that were born there, like Luminous Crystals, are products of the anomaly."

Although they have never actually investigated the snow mountain, the Kyoto Institute has preserved a lot of information about it.

These data are the results of investigations conducted by scholars dispatched by the Order of the Nation when the anomalies in the snow mountain first occurred.

"So, to stop the mutation, we need to weaken the power of the filth and strengthen the power of purification, right?" Paimon felt he had grasped the key point.

“That’s right,” Haidif replied affirmatively.

"We have found a way to effectively purify the black mud. As long as we continue to purify it and weaken the power of the black mud, we won't have to worry about the rest."

The power of the Heavenly Nail Crystal is not weak; it is only because of the Abyss Order's continuous corruption that the power of the Heavenly Nail Crystal is suppressed to this day.

Therefore, as long as they continue to purify the black mud and pay attention to the movements of the Abyss Order, the problem of the Abyss Anomaly will soon be resolved.

"Then we'll take care of it!" Kong, with an exceptionally strong sense of responsibility, readily agreed.

Chapter 612 Li Yue, I'm here!

Clouds come from the sea.

On the huge merchant ship, Yi Dou stood at the top of the mast, holding the mast with one hand and shielding his eyes from the sun shining directly above with the other, trying to see the huge port that was faintly visible in the distance.

"Wow, we're almost there!"

They set off from Inazuma two weeks ago, and after several days of rough seas, they can finally see Liyue Harbor.

"This is my first time visiting Liyue!"

Hisaki Shinobu stood on the deck, looking at Ichito with a somewhat weary expression.

"Boss, take it easy."

As they drew closer to Liyue Harbor, Yidou became increasingly excited.

Hisaki Shinobu was genuinely worried that he might fall headfirst into the sea.

It wasn't that I was worried he would drown, but the boat was going a bit too fast. If he fell in, he would have to swim to shore by himself.

"Ren, do you think my boss and Bai will come to greet us?" Ichidou's loud voice came from above.

"Although they know we're going to Liyue, they don't know when we'll arrive, so how could they possibly come to pick us up?"

Inazuma and Liyue are too far apart, making it impractical to communicate through letters.

Their sea voyage was unpredictable, and they had no way of telling them in advance when they would arrive.

It's impossible to welcome anything.

"Sigh, it's a real shame that I can't make a grand entrance." Ichidou let go of the mast and slid down from it.

"Once we get to Liyue Harbor, we'll go to the Hall of Rebirth to find them."

Hu Tao and Jiang Bai have fixed addresses, so it's easy to find them.

Yi Dou took out a comb and styled his hair in a cool way, then ran his fingers through it.

"I hope they won't be too surprised to see me."

As it turns out, there were no surprises, only shocks.

With Jiang Bai absent, Hu Tao, bored and wandering alone at the harbor, spotted an acquaintance on a large ship docked at the shore.