Chapter 721: Hands, eyes, and expressions, a restless and unwilling dream

The Shiba Inu on the counter was wearing brown clothes and a white headscarf, looking at everyone and wagging its tail.

"What, what's going on! Is the dog talking?" Paimon was shocked.

This is a reaction that is in line with Paimeng's IQ. Jiang Yi was fanning himself and complaining in his heart when he suddenly saw Ying, who was as surprised as Paimeng.

OK! I take that back, this reaction is actually cute.

"Hahaha...there's nothing to be surprised about. This is the first time you've seen me like this, right?" The dog barked twice.

Ying asked in confusion: "Toma is... a dog? Where is the human-shaped Thomas?"

Jiang Yi closed the fan, feeling that he had to pretend, and showed a look of surprise.

"Well... haven't you seen anything similar in Liyue?" asked the Shiba Inu Thomas.

"Oh, I see. I seem to understand it all of a sudden." Paimeng suddenly realized, and a fat unicorn and a white snake entwined around Bai Shu appeared in his mind.

Ying realized it later: "Something is wrong?"

She looked at the counter. "But this is definitely a dog. It doesn't look like a monster or a magical beast that can transform."

“Hahahahahaha…” A burst of laughter was heard, and Thomas walked out from behind the cabinet. “Okay, okay, no more jokes like that.”

Jiang Yi could feel the slightly unpleasant atmosphere when they parted last time, but it almost disappeared immediately after Thomas's joke.

As expected, she was able to get along well with the residents of the outlying islands and become a local socialite in just one month.

Paimon found out that he had been deceived and was speechless: "Hey! Why are you like this!"

Toma stepped forward with a smile: "It was the same when I was on the island, and it was also in the tea room. The time to wait for you was a bit too long. So I thought of this special way of reception."

Ying and Paimon rolled their eyes: "It's all because of your Inazuma problem."

"Okay!" Thomas patted his forehead. "It's a bit harsh to ask you to solve the problem in an unfamiliar place right after you arrive."

His expression turned serious.

"But...please allow me to solemnly apologize to the three of you for the various 'tests' before. They were necessary formalities."

"This determines whether I can bring you to Miss Kamisato, and whether we can become... partners who dare to face the lightning together."

Jiang Yi smiled but said nothing.

"Again? We've already said that we're not prepared to fight General Raiden." Paimon crossed his arms and said, "Also, I'm not prepared to forgive you for what happened just now."

Ying shook her head.

"Ahaha..." Thomas was not embarrassed. After scratching his head, he continued to apologize.

Jiang Yi said: "So...what is the result of the test?"

"Of course it's an unexpectedly high score," Thomas said. "You actually put yourselves above those 'rules' from the very beginning, and your will never wavered, nor did you yield. I really like your theory that we should resist unreasonable rules."

"Once, there was such a companion...but after the lightning flashed..." he recalled with a sigh.

"Are you talking about that friend of Manye?" Paimon suddenly realized, "He lost his life in a duel in front of the emperor in order to resist the Eye Hunting Order."

Thomas was surprised: "So you have also heard of his story..."

He recalled that day, full of sadness and emotion: "His light is not dim at all, even outside of Inazuma..."

"Sorry!" Thomas quickly calmed down.

Ying couldn't wait any longer: "So, can we go meet the 'White Egret Princess'?"

How to meet General Lei Dian and how to do the deal must be decided by the person who has the final say.

Jiang Yi was also a little looking forward to it.

"Of course, no problem. I will take you to Kamisato's residence at the shrine's magistrate's office." Thomas nodded. "But... before that, there is another place I hope you three can come with me to see."

He said solemnly: "As long as you live on Ming Shen Island, you can't ignore the huge building under construction - the Thousand-armed and Hundred-eyed Statue."

The three followed Thomas out of the Mulou Teahouse.

Came to the side of the statue.

Paimon looked ahead and said, "We saw this big building when we went to the Tenryo Magistrate's Office."

The statue is actually next to the cliff where Inazuma Tenryo is practicing.

The Thousand-Armed and Hundred-Eyed Statue was very tall, and everyone standing on the wooden bridge under construction could only look up at it.

It was a woman wearing a hood, sitting on a marble circular base built against the cliff. The base was engraved with lines like a magic circle.

The upper body of this woman was as tall as several stories. She was wearing a long skirt, with her arms exposed, her hands crossed on her knees, and a pair of huge wings behind her.

The patterns inside the marble wings look like arms and eyes, inlaid with God's eyes of different colors such as gold, red, green, blue, purple...

Looking down, the side of the marble base is also inlaid with the Eye of God, like a decorative gem.

If the statue stood up, its height would probably be comparable to the statue of Barbatos, the god of wind, in Mond Square.

There are Inazuma soldiers patrolling around, but it seems that their duty is only to protect the statue from being destroyed, and they don't care whether anyone comes to visit.

"There's a solemn atmosphere around this statue..." Paimon felt that this place was very depressing. Not only was it quiet, but there was also a coldness like a forest of weapons. "Ordinary people wouldn't come here."

She looked at the Eye of God embedded on it.

"You are not mistaken. Those are the Eyes of God..." Thomas said as he looked at the nearly one hundred Eyes of God. "All the Eyes of God confiscated by the Eye Hunting Order will be built on this statue."

He had discovered that Jiang Yi, Ying, and Paimeng knew more than he thought, and they had shown on the outlying island that they had heard of the Eye Hunting Order.

"Do you know why the general issued the hunting order?" Thomas asked.

"For eternity." Jiang Yi replied casually.

"Yes! Inazuma is a country of 'eternity', just as Mondstadt is a 'free' city-state, and Liyue is a 'contract' city..." Thomas looked at the statue, "General Raiden is the supreme ruler of Inazuma, and also the god of Inazuma. The eternal and unchanging eternity for thousands of generations is the will of 'her' who governs this country."

Paimon nodded: "Every god has different ideas."

Thomas continued, "Yes. General Raiden relied on the Three Magistrates to stabilize the country's politics and the isolation order to cut off the flow of people. 'She' wanted Inazuma to maintain a static state, so that the long river of time could flow by on both sides, and only Inazuma would remain motionless until 'eternity'..."

After that, he explained: "Of course, this is also my own understanding."

"Perhaps the general believes that the Eye of God can provide the people with the power of 'change', while the 'eternity' in 'her' eyes cannot allow such 'instability' to exist."

"So General Lei Dian sent his men to collect the Eyes of God everywhere, and embedded them into the statue one by one."

"There was no Eye Hunting Order in the past, but it was issued now. The reason for this is probably that her thoughts have changed and she has become more determined to take the path of eternity."

Thomas looked up at the Thousand-armed Hundred-eyed statue that was built with great effort, "So this 'Thousand-armed Hundred-eyed statue' can be regarded as a symbol of Inazuma's 'eternity'."

The statue is unfinished, not because the body of the deity is not well sculpted, but because the number of "Eyes of God" inlaid on it is not enough. At least "one hundred" are needed to be worthy of the name, and later, more can be added, exceeding one hundred.

Now, it is almost time. We will soon achieve the first stage results that "Tianling Fengxing" wants.

Paimon sighed, "If you put it that way... isn't that General Thunder a bit selfish?"

Thomas laughed and said, "Haha, only foreigners like you dare to criticize General Raiden's actions so bluntly."

"But... I agree. The Eye Hunting Order is indeed something that should not exist. Miss Kamisato has been determined to fight since the first day the Eye Hunting Order was issued."

Paimeng suddenly noticed something unusual, and looked at Ying who was covering her head and Jiang Yi who was frowning: "Huh? What's wrong with you two? Your expressions are a little strange."

Ying shook her head slightly. She had just touched the statue and heard many confusing voices in her ears...

Inside Jiang Yi's body, the dark Yinglong that was not allowed to be born, the unfulfilled dream and the great wish that could not be realized, flapped its wings. The many unwilling dreams in the contract within his body conveyed the rage that wanted to turn the world upside down and tear the sky apart.

The dissatisfaction of sharing the same suffering, the unwillingness of being given and then taken away so casually.

In the darkness, who will listen to wishes?

The ants that could not shake the tree have merged into the darkness and gathered into... a dragon.

Can you hear the dragon's roar that resounds throughout the earth?

There was a slight distortion behind Jiang Yi, as if darkness was spreading.

Thomas felt a chill down his spine, as if something terrifying was about to appear.

"Let's go!" Jiang Yi suppressed those unwilling dreams.

He suddenly rolled up Thomas, Ying and Paimon, and chanted the Thousand Winds' true name at the same time, driving a wind that erased memory to blow through the surrounding Inazuma soldiers.

"Paimon, take my outdoor cave and pretend nothing happened and walk on the street." After Jiang Yi said this, he went straight into the outdoor cave.

Inazuma Castle is the residence of General Raiden.

A pair of purple eyes suddenly opened.

"General!"

In front of the Thousand-Armed and Hundred-Eyed Statue, the Inazuma soldiers were suddenly startled and looked at the noble figure.

"Who was here just now?" A majestic female voice oppressed the soldiers so much that they couldn't breathe.

"No...no." The Inazuma soldiers recalled and no one had come.

"Really?" He took a few steps and glanced around. The noble figure with purple eyes looked down at the soldiers, turned around and left while they were trembling slightly.

"That power..." She seemed to see a darkness and the dark monster from five hundred years ago.

Jiang Yi hid in the outer scene cave. As a small boat to escape from the world, the cave has the ability to isolate the inside and the outside. Unless it is broken or entered, even the gods cannot detect it.

Just now, because he was stimulated by the wish, some dark power overflowed from his body, and he immediately moved away from the Thousand-Armed and Hundred-Eyed Statue.

Where... It's too close, too close to the residence of the Inazuma God.

If the other party senses it, he will definitely come out to check.

Darkness, involving a five hundred year war, his own strength was enough to attract the attention of one side of the gods.

And he wasn't ready.