Seeing all the beautiful "girls" of various ages leave one after another,
Taro glanced once toward the kitchen, then clasped his hands behind his back and went upstairs.
Inside the building, any room that actually had someone living in it was already linked to the Heavenly Sky Small World.
Enter the room through the front door, step out through the side door, and you were in that miniature world of his.
The interior of each room had long since been replaced by space from within the Heavenly Sky Small World.
He pushed a door open.
Enter from the front, exit from the side.
Mm… honestly, there was no need to go through all this trouble.
As the true master of the Heavenly Sky Small World, Taro could enter and exit with a single thought.
It was just that… this damned sense of ceremony couldn't be thrown away.
Walking out from the Seraphic War Fortress,
the scenery of the Heavenly Sky Small World unfolded before his eyes.
After a period of moving things around and slowly improving it,
the Heavenly Sky Small World was now, well… at least a fair portion of it had become lush and verdant.
The central divine peak was no longer the barren, desolate mountain it had been before.
By now it really did have the bearing of an immortal mountain and blessed land.
"Hm?"
"Is that… Ganyu?"
Taro, who had originally been planning to head into the mountain's interior to check on how Zamaran was growing,
suddenly had his gaze drawn away by another figure.
Between the mountainside and the foot of the divine peak, Ganyu—with that seemingly frail little body of hers—was running back and forth,
arms raised over her head, holding up a boulder three people tall and weighing several dozen tons,
sprinting again and again between the base of the mountain and halfway up the slope.
Her body looked small and delicate, yet it contained a strength ordinary people could never imagine.
Moreover, there wasn't a trace of adeptal power circulating around Ganyu's body.
This was clearly pure physical strength.
The sight was genuinely stunning.
"This kind of raw power… could it be something passed down in a single line?"
"An adeptal body-forging art?"
Watching Ganyu run laps with the huge rock held high,
Taro vaguely recalled that Shenhe also possessed strength far beyond that of normal people.
A slab of Floating Stone weighing over ten tons, its special properties not yet even activated—
she had just shouldered it with one hand and carried it down the mountain.
That one move had directly shocked the blonde Traveler and the white-haired floating sprite silly.
"I don't think I've ever really tested what my own limits are either, have I?"
"Should I… give it a try?"
Watching Ganyu run back and forth, Taro rubbed his chin, considering.
Ever since he'd crossed over into Teyvat,
aside from that one playful bout with Tartaglia,
he had never truly shown the warrior side of his "battle-mage" class.
He always solved every problem easily using the mage side of that class.
After all, magic really was convenient.
As for raw strength… with his control long since far beyond the "microscopic" level,
any power that leaked out was meticulously restrained, and so his physical strength never looked particularly impressive.
Let alone the fact that he also had a pile of class skills that weren't limited to simple percentage buffs—
multiplicative strength boosts, limit-breaking burst skills, and so on.
Things like that were hard to properly measure unless it was an actual battle.
Thunk.
A soft sound echoed out.
The boulder Ganyu had been carrying was, under her precise control, gently set back into its original position.
"Phew~"
"Today's workout volume should be enough."
"With this, there is absolutely no way I'm getting fat."
Ganyu wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand,
then nodded in satisfaction.
Tonight's dinner had slightly broken away from the carefully planned diet she'd set for herself.
Her calorie intake had gone seriously over the limit.
To maintain her figure, Ganyu had therefore chosen to ramp up her training,
burning off that excess energy she'd just over-consumed.
Absolutely, absolutely must not get fat again.
(Although, strictly speaking, this was mostly Cloud Retainer's fault…)
Feeling quite pleased, Ganyu turned around.
The very next second, her whole body froze for a moment.
"Yo, young lady—finished your workout?"
Leaning casually on the rail at the edge of the platform, Taro gave her a very friendly greeting.
He definitely wasn't peeking.
Ahem—how could it be "peeking"?
It wasn't like she was taking a bath.
He was openly, righteously watching a cute girl working out, that was all. What ulterior motives could he possibly have?
"Mr. Taro…"
"Sorry you had to see that."
Ganyu landed lightly, her cheeks flushing as a faint nervousness crept into her expression.
Getting caught exercising in secret was, after all, a little embarrassing.
What are you shy about, girl?
Looking at the suddenly blushing half-adeptus, a faintly odd look flickered through Taro's eyes.
It wasn't as if she'd done anything shameful.
She was just exercising normally—so why be embarrassed?
"There's nothing to be sorry about."
Taro said gently, "Moderate exercise is good for both your body and your mind."
"Oh, right. There is something I've been curious about."
"Since adeptal arts also have body-forging methods…"
"Do they have a cultivation path for refining essence into qi?"
"Refining essence into qi?"
Hearing this phrase, Ganyu blinked, then shook her head.
"There are many adeptal arts, but… as for this term 'refining essence into qi,' this is Ganyu's first time hearing it."
"Of course, it may be that Ganyu is ignorant and has simply never come across it."
"I've disappointed you, Mr. Taro."
So they really don't have it?
That's not very "immortal" at all…
On second thought, though, it was normal enough.
Liyue might resemble the immortal cultivation worlds he used to know on the surface,
but in the end, this world walked the path of authorities and laws.
Those at the top played with divine authority,
those at the bottom played with elemental power.
It wore the trappings of the immortal path, yet wasn't quite the same thing.
"We're all familiar with each other by now, so no need to be so stiff."
Taro waved his hand. "Come up here first. Let's have a talk."
"Maybe, just maybe, I can help you get rid of a certain little… trouble."
"Really?"
At his words, Ganyu's eyes immediately lit up.
If it was Mr. Taro, maybe it really could work.
A "little" trouble?
In her heart, it definitely wasn't some small issue—
it was a huge, huge problem.
At that point she no longer cared about feeling shy.
She stepped onto a little cloud and floated directly to Taro's side,
her face full of anticipation.
"Mr. Taro, where should we start?"
"Should we begin by improving Master's body-forging art?"
"Or should we re-derive everything from scratch?"
To be honest…
she was a foodie.
A real foodie.
She not only loved sweets—
faced with all kinds of delicacies, she found them very hard to refuse.
If not for the fear of getting fat, with her love of beauty as the foundation,
she wouldn't have been able to maintain such self-control.
What she feared most was people urging her to eat at the table.
Once everyone got too enthusiastic, she had absolutely no idea how to turn them down.
And afterwards… all she could do was suffer in silence and increase her workouts.
If she could eat to her heart's content and still not gain any weight…
The moment that possibility appeared in her mind,
fiery determination blazed up beneath Ganyu's normally gentle expression.
"…"
All that, just for food—and for beauty.
This child could actually explode with this much passion… for staying in shape?
The ever-steady, always-composed Ganyu… had this side to her as well?
How interesting.
"Of course, I'll factor in real-life conditions and tweak things for you."
Taro pressed a hand down, gently reining in her impatience.
With adjustments made to suit her actual daily life, and a few additions and subtractions where needed—
Plus his current level of strength,
combined with the experience he'd accumulated in his previous life—
The two of them quickly sank into a whirlpool of discussing adeptal arts and improving adeptal arts,
unable to extricate themselves for a long, long time.
(End of Chapter)
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