"What happened to Guoba?" It was only after Xiao disappeared that Xiangling noticed Guoba was standing there in low spirits, looking rather unhappy.
"Guoba?"
It was likely because Xiao hadn't paid him any attention that he was a bit upset. Through observation, Raiden Makoto realized that Guoba must know Xiao, which was actually quite normal.
However, Guoba probably had very few memories left and could only act on instinct.
"Why does Guoba look so unhappy?" Xiangling blinked. "But that's not enough; Master, I'm planning to go back and keep testing my dishes."
"Mhm."
Wanmin Restaurant.
"Sister, hehe, I succeeded again!" When Raiden Makoto saw the two large iron buckets in front of her, with the electric stove beside them, she knew Raiden Ei had tinkered with it again.
"And I've already tested it; it definitely won't explode now," Raiden Ei said with certainty. "A circuit will be created between the positive Electro Slime and the negative Slime..."
"That can just power the electric stove... and since the Slimes don't have much electricity, the electric stove can generate heat perfectly fine..." Raiden Ei said excitedly. She now had absolute confidence that the electric stove would never explode again.
"Sister Ei, honestly... I don't recommend you cook..." Xiangling knew those words were a bit discouraging, but she also knew that for the safety of the other contestants, she should stop Raiden Ei.
In any case, she had lost a bit of faith in Raiden Ei.
"Traveler, don't you agree? Sister Ei is fundamentally not suited for cooking," Xiangling said very seriously.
"Yeah... Sister Ei, you've caused so many explosions... what if it happens again?" Paimon nodded, agreeing with Xiangling. "Isn't that disregarding everyone's safety?"
"I... I guarantee there won't be an explosion this time!" Raiden Ei then immediately started trying it out with the electric stove. When everyone saw the pot of water on the stove begin to boil...
They realized that it really wouldn't explode anymore.
"Ei... do you actually know how to cook?" Raiden Makoto's next question left Raiden Ei completely stunned. She had solved the problem of being unable to use fire to cook, but she... didn't know how to cook at all.
"What if I don't know how to cook? I can just practice... Sister, will you teach me?"
"Where would I find the time to teach you?" Raiden Makoto rolled her eyes at Raiden Ei. "Besides, those skills aren't something that can be mastered overnight."
"But..."
"I tried to teach you before, but you didn't study seriously," Raiden Makoto sighed slightly. "It's too late to ask me to teach you now."
"..."
Raiden Ei then turned her gaze toward Xiangling; she could only pin her hopes on her.
"Then Xiangling... could you teach me... how to cook?" Raiden Ei felt a bit embarrassed. She was also going to participate in the Culinary King Competition; strictly speaking, Xiangling was her competitor.
"Ah? Sure... okay!" Xiangling was stunned for a moment before nodding. "But I can only teach you a few simple dishes, Sister Ei... the others are too complex, I'm afraid you..."
Her culinary skills weren't built in a day either; she naturally knew how difficult the culinary path could be.
"Mhm, mhm."
"There are still a few days left, so I'll teach you how to make a few dishes."
"Okay."
Seeing Raiden Ei's excited and agitated look, Raiden Makoto knew that bringing her out was the right thing to do.
Some things cannot be answered by simply meditating in one place; some things must be personally experienced to be understood.
"Then teach me now?" Raiden Ei was full of anticipation. She had to learn how to cook as soon as possible so she could win the championship at the Culinary King Competition and amaze everyone.
"Mhm."
Watching Xiangling teach Raiden Ei how to cook, Raiden Makoto turned her gaze toward Lumine and Paimon and asked curiously, "Where do you plan to go after the Moonchase Festival is over?"
"Probably Sumeru..." Lumine said thoughtfully. "To continue on to the next nation."
"What about you? Are you and Sister Ei going back to Inazuma together?" Lumine was also curious. She felt that unlike Zhongli's retirement, Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei should still have work to complete in Inazuma.
"Mhm."
"There is still some work to be done in Inazuma," Raiden Makoto nodded. "After all, Inazuma is different from Liyue... current Inazuma is waiting for many things to be rebuilt."
"Speaking of which, before you head to Sumeru, could you do me a favor?" Raiden Makoto pondered for a moment before looking at Lumine seriously. Lumine might be able to help with those matters.
"Eh?" Lumine was slightly stunned, then nodded and said, "Just say it, Sister Makoto. If I can help, I definitely will."
"I'll find you when the time comes then."
After a brief moment of thought, a question that Lumine had always wanted to ask but never did suddenly surfaced in her mind.
"Sister Makoto, Venti and Zhongli should both know about me and my brother, and about that Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. But Venti has always been speaking in riddles, and Zhongli said he signed a contract, so he didn't tell us those things. But why would you tell me?" This question had always been in Lumine's mind, but she had never asked it.
She had always forgotten.
"Me? I'm not like them... they have their own plans. As for me... I've lived a second life," Raiden Makoto smiled. The various restrictions the Heavenly Principles had placed on her in the past had completely vanished.
Erosion is actually something the Heavenly Principles imposes on Gods... to limit them. But since she had completely recovered her memories and power, she found that all the restrictions the Heavenly Principles had placed on her were gone.
"There are some things that wouldn't matter if I told you... the Sustainer is dying... as for the matters regarding you and your brother, you will eventually know everything in the future anyway," Raiden Makoto smiled.
After recovering her memories, she actually knew quite a few secrets. She knew why Lumine and Aether were in their current situation.
"In short, the future of Teyvat also depends on you two," Raiden Makoto said, then looked back at Xiangling and Raiden Ei.
"Why do I feel like Sister Makoto is also a bit of a riddle-maker?" Paimon couldn't understand Raiden Makoto's words at all. "And..."
Was it because she wanted to be a riddle-maker? She had just noticed that Paimon's expression had changed slightly when she was saying those things to Lumine.
She knew that Paimon wasn't simple either, though the current Paimon indeed seemed to know absolutely nothing.
"Some things are better left unsaid too clearly; wouldn't that be detrimental to your future journey? Lumine..."
"You can completely treat the journey through the Seven Nations as just a journey... and those matters are, for you, a journey to explore the unknown, an interesting journey, aren't they?" Raiden Makoto smiled. Looking at Raiden Makoto's smile, Lumine was slightly dazed.
"Mhm."
Her brother had also said that her time in the Seven Nations would be a journey, and he would be waiting for her at the journey's end.
"I understand..." Raiden Makoto had already told her some secret information, and she was grateful enough to her. At least Raiden Makoto wasn't like Venti and Zhongli, who said almost nothing.
"I haven't met your brother, but Ei probably has... Five hundred years ago, someone completed the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual in Inazuma. I suspect that person... was likely your brother."
"Like you, he also traveled through the Seven Nations... he once journeyed across them all."
"And the contract Morax signed was likely from that time... as for me, I had already passed away by then..." Raiden Makoto's speculation made Lumine freeze for a moment.
Because in her memory, her brother had indeed told her that he had once been on a journey.
"So I am not restricted by the contract." Raiden Makoto had roughly sorted out the details in her mind and generally knew why Morax and Barbatos were hiding things.
"Thank you, Sister Makoto," Lumine couldn't help but feel grateful. "I will do my best to reach the end and see the path my brother once walked."
"Mhm."
Since recovering all her memories, she completely understood the disaster that had occurred back then.
Khaenri'ah was not just because of its technological development, but even more so because it used power from an otherworldly realm. The Heavenly Principles summoned the Seven Gods to descend together.
And after the destruction of Khaenri'ah, the Abyss swept in because of it.
She had passed away because of that disaster, but not because of Khaenri'ah, nor because of the Abyss.
It was because of... the Heavenly Principles.
During the chat between Raiden Makoto and Lumine, Xiangling had finished guiding Raiden Ei to create her first dish.
Raiden Ei was quite excited. The first dish she had ever created through cooking since her birth—it was her first big success in the kitchen!
"Xiangling, how is it? Is it good?" Raiden Ei looked at Xiangling with anticipation. However, as soon as the food entered Xiangling's mouth, she spat it out immediately.
"Pui, pui, pui..."
"Why is it so salty... Sister Ei, didn't I tell you to put in a spoonful of salt?" The expression on Xiangling's face was very poor. It was truly too salty; it almost choked her to death.
"Wasn't it a spoonful?" When Raiden Ei picked up the soup ladle from the side, Xiangling immediately understood why the dish was so salty upon seeing the large ladle in Raiden Ei's hand.
"Sister Ei... that's a soup ladle... who would use a soup ladle..." Xiangling was speechless; she even began to doubt her life.
Clearly, her Master's cooking skills were so good, so why was her Master's sister so... "It's too salty... completely inedible..." All she could taste was salt; even the original flavor of the ingredients was gone. Xiangling was now extremely speechless; she had never seen anyone so bad at cooking.
She had taught her several times before Raiden Ei finally learned the preparation method. She had thought that if Raiden Ei followed the method, the taste shouldn't be too bad.
The results showed that she was wrong—completely and utterly wrong.
Her Master's sister's talent for cooking was truly the worst she had ever seen.
"Sister Ei, you need to practice your basics... your knife skills need to be more refined... putting aside the taste, look at how you cut these potatoes..." Xiangling finally knew why her Master was unwilling to teach Raiden Ei how to cook. If she had known earlier, she wouldn't have been willing either.
What should have been shredded potatoes had been turned into Stir-fried Potato Chunks by Raiden Ei... and some pieces were large while others were small.
But seeing Raiden Ei's excited expression, Xiangling knew she shouldn't discourage her.
"Sister Ei, practice some more. You have to be careful when cooking... you can't be too careless." Xiangling let out a long sigh. "I'll supervise you."
"Alright."
"Then I'll try again..." Raiden Ei nodded. She had more or less learned how to make Stir-fried Shredded Potatoes. Now she just needed to keep trying and she should succeed. If once wasn't enough, she'd do it twice; if twice wasn't enough, she'd do it three times.
She didn't believe she couldn't succeed! She had already taken the first step.
Looking at Xiangling's expression, she could guess just how terrible her Stir-fried Shredded Potatoes were.
Fortunately, she had let Xiangling try it first instead of trying it herself, or letting her sister try it.
If she had given it to her sister, wouldn't she be scolded to death?
"Ei, come over here for a moment." After a brief moment of thought, Raiden Makoto looked over at Ei, who was hard at work studying culinary arts. She happened to have some questions she wanted to ask Ei.
"Eh?"
"Lumine, I'll help you ask Ei." Those were not only matters she was concerned about, but also matters Lumine was concerned about.
"Ah?"
"Okay!" Lumine nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you... Sister Makoto..."
She increasingly felt that among the three Gods she had met so far, only Raiden Makoto seemed closer to her.
The other two, although they treated her as a friend, she could feel a sense of distance.
"Sister... what is it?" Raiden Ei blinked. "Is there something you need me for?"
"Five hundred years ago, was the person who helped Inazuma complete the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual... Aether?" Raiden Makoto looked at Raiden Ei seriously.
"Aether?" Raiden Ei was slightly stunned, then she shook her head and said, "I don't know."
"At that time, I was already in the Plane of Euthymia... everything was being handled by the Shogun."
However, through Raiden Ei's expression, Raiden Makoto knew that she was lying. She knew her sister too well.
Lumine, however, was a bit disappointed. They thought what Raiden Ei said was true, but it was only a bit of disappointment.
She had now completely ignited her fighting spirit; she would do her best to reach the end of the journey.
"And the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual was also..."
"Mhm." Raiden Makoto nodded. "You can go back to being busy. Study cooking well with Xiangling."
"Mhm, mhm."
From Raiden Ei's performance, she more or less understood. The one who helped Inazuma complete the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual back then was definitely Lumine's brother, Aether. One of the twins had already conducted a journey through the Seven Nations five hundred years ago.
Raiden Ei bore no ill will toward Lumine, which meant that when she passed away, Aether likely had nothing to do with the Abyss.
"Sister Makoto, no need to trouble yourself further." Lumine smiled. "I know about those things now... as for news about my brother, I will ask him personally when I find him in the future."
"Mhm."
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