One must know that after advancing to the level of a God, the issue of lifespan is no longer a concern. If it weren't for the shackle named 'erode' imposed upon all living beings by the Heavenly Principles, it would not be difficult for the Gods to live until the world's destruction.
Only after ascending to the God level does one qualify to consider dealing with erode; before that, it only causes unnecessary trouble.
Because the lifespan of ordinary creatures simply does not last long enough to ever touch upon erode.
It can be said that Gods and other beings in Teyvat are worlds apart.
And after ascending to the God level, improving strength becomes extremely difficult. For someone like the Slime Queen to advance so 'quickly' is simply terrifying.
"Arkz, wait a moment, let me handle this!"
Xiao held his crescent pike, shielding Arkz behind him.
Arkz, who could prepare the water of purity, was of significant importance whether for Liyue or for himself, so Xiao naturally did not wish to see him injured in battle.
"The difference in strength between a God and those below God level is immense. Don't force..."
Huh?!"
Xiao looked towards Arkz, intending to comfort him that it wasn't shameful to be outmatched, only to find that Arkz beside him had already vanished.
"Xiao, leave that colorful blob to me!"
Turning at the sound, Xiao saw Arkz, who had somehow produced a tea table, drinking tea with Zhongli, leaving him momentarily speechless.
Zhongli savored the water of life in his teacup, his expression showing visible relaxation and enjoyment. Although the water of purity was tasteless, to Zhongli, it was like immortal dew and fine wine.
The mere fact that the water of purity could alleviate the pressure brought by erode surpassed all other teas in the world.
"Originally, Xiao's plan was, if the enemy was a newly ascended God, I would leave it to you for practice. Under the pressure of a life-or-death crisis, perhaps you could also advance to the God level. Xiao was also confident enough to protect his life."
"But this Slime's strength has exceeded Xiao's expectations."
"It has also exceeded my expectations."
"Oh?" Zhongli's words piqued Arkz's curiosity, and he couldn't help but ask:
"Although this Slime possesses God-level strength, its power wouldn't even be considered noteworthy in the Archon War thousands of years ago, right?"
"How could it catch the eye of you, old sir?"
Zhongli smiled, "While this Slime's raw strength is not great, its ability to strengthen itself by devouring other Slimes is truly terrifying."
Arkz looked at the Slime Queen confronting Xiao and said:
"Not necessarily!"
"This move looks powerful, but it's not without a way to break it."
"At the speed this Slime devours, even if it were given several years to fully devour the Slimes on the Teyvat continent, it probably couldn't surpass you, right?"
"Conversely, a casual Geo construct from you, Zhongli, could seal it, couldn't it?"
Zhongli shook his head, "This Teyvat continent never lacks lunatics."
Arkz nodded, strongly agreeing with this statement.
"You are right, especially those Fatui from Snezhnaya and their Harbingers—they are all a bit crazy!"
(Especially that Dottore fellow, he was so ruthless to his own clones, he could even castrate his own little brother, truly... hiss.)
"What do you think would happen if the Fatui learned about the other aspects of this Slime?" Zhongli's eyes drooped slightly, seeming somewhat helpless.
Arkz suddenly understood, a smile spreading across his face:
"They would definitely hide this Slime in the safest place, then desperately feed it Slimes until this Slime reaches the Heavenly Principles level, and then release it to fight the Heavenly Principles!"
(Hiss! This plan seems more reliable than the plan to collect the Gnoses.)
Those people from Snezhnaya dared to gamble their nation's fate to resist the rule of the Heavenly Principles; what else wouldn't they dare to do!
"But for this Slime's strength to reach the Heavenly Principles level, even adding up all the Slimes on the entire Teyvat continent might not be enough!!!"
Zhongli glanced at Xiao who was entangled with the Slime Queen and explained:
"The Teyvat continent is filled with Elemental Power, and the flow of Elemental Power forms the ley lines."
"Elemental Power is the cornerstone of the Teyvat continent. Even if Teyvat is destroyed, the Elemental Power will not disappear."
"And wherever there is Elemental Power, new Slimes will be born."
Arkz fell into thought.
"This..."
"Why do I feel that compared to the humans and various intelligent beings on Teyvat, Slimes are the more indigenous life forms of the Teyvat continent!"
"Zhongli, do you think that millions of years from now, when humanity is extinct and everything left behind by civilization has vanished, these Slimes, seen everywhere on the Teyvat continent, might evolve into beings more intelligent than humans and establish a more advanced civilization?"
Arkz asked with some curiosity.
Faced with Arkz's question, Zhongli fell into deep thought.
After a long while, Zhongli spoke:
"Millions of years—even for a God, that span of time is too long for me. Even a thousand years of erode has already left me exhausted."
Arkz patted Zhongli's shoulder and comforted him, "Don't be discouraged!"
"Compared to civilization, the existence of a single individual is too insignificant. Looking on the bright side, perhaps millions of years from now, humanity on Teyvat will have already set foot among the stars and be conquering a vaster world!"
"The stars?"
Zhongli looked up at the ceiling of the Underground Mine, his gaze seeming to pierce through the obstruction of the rock, through the veil of the false sky, through time and space, seeing future humans exploring and adventuring in the sea of stars.
Despite saying that, Arkz was not optimistic about the future of the Teyvat continent.
With the Traveler as the protagonist, the Abyss lurking over everything in Teyvat, and major dangers buried everywhere in the Seven Nations, honestly, even if the Teyvat continent exploded in the future and everyone died together, Arkz wouldn't be surprised.
(After all, dying together is a form of happy ending, wouldn't you agree, in the neighboring Honkai world.)
In the center of the battlefield on Underground Level 100, Xiao and the Slime Queen were fighting fiercely.
As Arkz approached, the moment Xiao made a move, the Slime Queen knew the newcomer was a formidable enemy capable of threatening its life, so it immediately stopped devouring Slimes and focused all its strength on the fight.
"Bane of All Evil!!!"
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!!!"
The tip of the crescent pike was wrapped in Anemo Element. The tearing wounds brought by the Anemo Element caused the Slime Queen to feel pain. It continuously spat out various elemental orbs while also extending tentacles from all over its body to attack Xiao.
However, with this transformation, the colorful blob that looked quite nice just a moment ago immediately turned into a tentacled monster, becoming extremely repulsive.
Although Xiao's offensive was fierce, the Slime Queen's recovery ability was truly abnormal. A tentacle grabbed a lucky Slime, threw it into its mouth, and it dissolved instantly, recovering its injuries immediately.
Xiao attacked for a long time, but other than consuming a lot of stamina and Elemental Power, he didn't inflict much DMG on the Slime Queen.
Looking at the aggressively waving tentacles of the Slime Queen, just as Xiao was about to put on his Yaksha mask and try another ultimate move, a gentle yet majestic voice suddenly reached his ears.
"Xiao, let me handle this!"
"Lord Rex Lapis!!!"
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