Kapitel 62: Chapter 62

At this moment, the witches with power comparable to gods had no idea that a giant eye in the sky was staring at Teyvat, waiting for them to be exposed.

Takumi, Yae Miko, and Istaru rested leisurely at Wangshu Inn for a day. During their stay, Takumi teased Yae Miko, playfully picked her ears, and used Istaru as a pillow. Originally, he wanted to stroke Yae Miko's tail, but she had completely hidden it, giving him no chance.

Takumi wasn't in a hurry; he simply liked the sense of possession that came with slowly getting closer to Yae Miko. Yae Miko understood his thoughts, which made teasing her even more enjoyable for him. Istaru, as the observer, simply stuck out her tongue at the two. She might look small, but as the once great god who played a major role during the Demon God War, she understood the dynamics between men and women.

After leaving Wangshu Inn, they took a bamboo raft to the ancient ruins known as the "Salt of the Ground," located on the far right side of Dihua Marsh, near the border of Mondstadt.

Yae Miko followed Takumi into the sealed ancient ruin passage. "What is this place?"

She didn't know what Takumi, the god of Sky Island and the Adventurer, intended here, but she knew it must be significant, probably involving a demon.

Istaru spoke up, "This is the birthplace and place of death of Heulia, the Demon God of Salt. Takumi is here to recover her original fragment."

Yae Miko nodded. "As I expected, it's related to a demon god."

She didn't know who the Demon God of Salt was. After all, she was only five hundred years old, and the Demon God War was far before her time. Kage and Zhen rarely spoke about it.

"Are you going to resurrect the Demon God of Salt?" she asked.

After all, Takumi had already resurrected Makoto, and since "original fragment" implied a demon's origin, she knew that demon gods didn't truly die.

Takumi's eyes turned golden as he surveyed the entire Salt of the Ground, wiping out all the Hilichurls, slimes, and even the Abyss Mage directing the Hilichurls to dig up the soil.

"Yes, the Demon God of Salt, Heulia, fully controlled the power of salt. Unfortunately, the power of salt wasn't inherently strong. In the Demon God War, such a practical but non-combative power made it difficult for her to survive."

Istaru continued where Takumi had left off. "The other problem was that Heulia's character was too gentle and submissive. She believed that as long as she avoided conflict, others would not attack her."

"Her constant retreats only made her weakness more apparent to other demon gods. Her territory was continuously annexed, and eventually, only her birthplace remained."

Yae Miko's ears perked up as she listened. "So, she was killed by other demon gods here?"

Takumi picked up Heulia's artifact, the 'Salt Chalice,' from the altar and tossed it to Yae Miko, who hurriedly caught it.

"No, she was killed by her own people."

Yae Miko was stunned. "What?"

Was she dreaming? Mortals killing gods? No matter how weak a demon god was, they were still gods—beings in the divine realm.

Takumi continued, leading her deeper into the ruins and picking up another artifact, the 'Salt Ruler.' "Her people realized Heulia couldn't protect them. They thought that instead of letting her be killed by other demon gods in humiliation, they should give her a dignified death."

"Heulia was too weak to fight against other demon gods and was even unable to resist her own people. She willingly allowed them to kill her."

Yae Miko couldn't help but ask, "Then what is the point of resurrecting such a weak god?"

Such a weak demon god, with no will to resist, seemed useless in a grand plan to conquer worlds.

Takumi smiled at Yae Miko playfully. "Isn't such a character very easy to manipulate? Besides, in terms of conquering other worlds, don't you think you could train her?"

The different worlds that Teyvat had conquered so far weren't extremely powerful, so Takumi needed stability. Weak and malleable gods weren't always a disadvantage—sometimes, they just needed a bit of training.

If he resurrected Amon, the Red King, who knew what chaos would follow with his challenging personality. For now, he wasn't willing to take that risk.

Yae Miko sighed, unable to argue. "So, you just want an obedient goddess to control?"

They arrived at the final ancient structure in the ruins. The area was filled with condensed salt blocks, with many salt statues depicting people in fleeing, fearful poses. In the center stood a salt sculpture holding a sword.

Takumi waved his hand, shattering all the surrounding salt sculptures into basic salt particles. Even though Heulia was weak, she had protected the humans who prayed to her during the Demon God War. But when those same humans realized Heulia couldn't protect them, they turned against their benefactor.

They had justified it as sparing Heulia from a humiliating death at the hands of other demon gods. In the end, they comforted themselves by saying, "It was fear that made us act, and she will understand us."

Humanity's flaws were on full display here.

"Come forth." Takumi extended his hand, and a small white ball of light, no larger than an egg, slowly emerged at the place where Heulia had died.

As soon as the light ball appeared, ripples of energy spread throughout the area, causing the buildings around them to turn to salt under the pressure. The flow of energy from the earth veins began to gather at the Salt of the Ground, forming an energy vortex that swirled around the light ball.

Istaru watched with a calm expression. She had seen this scene countless times; she knew how demon gods were reborn.

Yae Miko's eyes widened. Though she had witnessed Makoto's resurrection, she hadn't truly understood how a demon god came into being.

"Thanks to Morax's continuous purification of the demon gods' resentment over the past two thousand years, the immortals and numerous Tianheng sorcerers were able to stabilize Liyue's ley lines. Among the Seven Nations, Liyue's ley lines are undoubtedly the most stable."

After all, compared to other regions that were still struggling, Liyue had indeed done the best.

The energy from Dihua Marsh slowly gathered towards the Salt of the Ground.

"Heulia is a weak demon god. Even if we resurrect her to her prime, she'll only need twenty percent of the ley line energy in Dihua Marsh. It won't destabilize the region."

As Takumi spoke, the 'primordial fragment' encased within the vortex of ley line energy began to take shape, transforming into a curled-up human figure—almost like a sleeping child.

The primordial fragment rested at the center of her chest, and the curled figure resembled a slumbering infant, awaiting rebirth.