It goes without saying how important load-bearing beams are for a tall building. In the eyes of the Kshahrewar School's builders, tampering with load-bearing beams is akin to dancing on their ancestors' graves; they would fight you to the death.
Not to mention, the load-bearing beams now support the entire Sumeru City, making them an existence that absolutely cannot be joked about.
Sumeru City is a city built upon a sacred tree, a giant tree hundreds of meters tall created by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's divine power. One can imagine the immense vitality Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's divine power possessed back then.
However, while such a massive tree supports the entire Sumeru City, it also brings enormous load pressure to the city.
If Sumeru City were built in any other nation, there would be no such danger, because whether it's Liyue, Mondstadt, or Inazuma, their land is solid. But it just so happens to be built in Sumeru, and Sumeru's geographical environment is notoriously... 'underworld-like'.
The entire Sumeru region, both the rainforest and the Desert, has been divided into upper and lower layers by the power of nature, meaning Sumeru's land is hollow.
Building a city on a hollow surface makes the position of load-bearing beams critically important.
Initially, to secretly construct the Divine Innovation Workshop and facilitate subsequent research, the sages directly utilized Sumeru's hollow geological structure, building the massive Divine Innovation Workshop beneath Sumeru City, relying on the terrain. This can be said to have further expanded the hollow area.
Of course, for safety, that sage of the Kshahrewar School naturally understood the importance of load-bearing beams and spent enormous effort constructing several load-bearing beams to support Sumeru City.
But now, the load-bearing beams have all been destroyed by Balladeer's final strike. Without its load-bearing beams, Sumeru City immediately became fraught with peril.
Within Sumeru City, there were already many signs: unexplained cracks in walls, roads suddenly splitting open, and even some houses beginning to tilt.
The series of accidents caused an inexplicable panic among Sumeru's residents. Akademiya officials and mercenaries within the city, with the help of Alhaitham and Dehya, had already begun evacuating the populace.
However, evacuating the entire population of Sumeru City in a short time is easier said than done. Even if they could be evacuated, where would they be resettled?
Looking at Sumeru City before them from the sky, Nahida, Lumine, and Paimon couldn't help but feel anxious.
Paimon quickly asked, "Nahida, what should we do now!"
Nahida's expression was very grim as she said, "The load-bearing beams are destroyed, and Sumeru City has lost its support. If this continues, Sumeru City cannot escape the fate of collapsing.
If Greater Lord Rukkhadevata were still alive, with her divine power to build the Sand Barrier and create the sacred tree, she would surely have a solution. But she has passed away, and I, who inherited her title, do not possess this ability.
The only remedial measure now is to immediately reinforce the hollow area beneath Sumeru City. But, is there really enough time to construct load-bearing beams in such a short period?"
Hearing Nahida's words, Lumine and Paimon's faces fell into expressions of despair. They had just witnessed the load-bearing beams with their own eyes; could load-bearing beams with diameters of tens of meters really be manufactured in such a short time?
Even Vision wielders of the Geo element would be useless. Besides, Geo constructs are not the same as load-bearing beams. Moreover, Sumeru doesn't seem to have any Geo Vision wielders, does it?
In Lumine and Paimon's knowledge, there seemed to be only one Geo Vision wielder with such ability.
Lumine couldn't help but say, "How about we go to Liyue and ask Zhong... no, ask the Geo Archon to reinforce it?"
Nahida's face showed a glimmer of hope when she heard this: "The Geo Archon? Are you referring to Lord Morax, the Geo Archon of Liyue?"
Paimon: "Oh right, we actually have a pretty good relationship with him. If we ask him, he'll probably help, right? It's just that traveling between Liyue and Sumeru takes some time. Will it really be in time?"
Nahida's face was filled with worry: "Although Lord Morax and I are both The Seven Archons, I have never met him in person. In his presence, I am merely a junior. Moreover, as the God of Contracts, to ask Lord Morax for such a big favor for Sumeru as soon as we meet... I'm not confident about it."
Lumine: "Where there's a will, there's a way. How will we know if we don't try? There's no other way now."
Nahida: "You're right. Then I'll trouble the two of you to go to Liyue for help. If Lord Morax has any requests, anything I can do is fine."
Paimon: "Then there's no time to lose, let's set off quickly."
Miyashiro, who had been watching for a long time, said with a smile, "Hey, hey, hey, is it appropriate for you to discuss so intensely and leave me out? Also, if you go to Liyue now, there's a fifty percent chance you might miss him."
Paimon: "Eh? Why?"
Miyashiro: "Because before I left Inazuma, the Geo Archon was still staying in Inazuma."
Paimon said with a shocked expression, "Eh? Why would he be in Inazuma?"
Miyashiro: "Inazuma previously experienced a civil war lasting nearly two years, resulting in hundreds of thousands of casualties. For a time, wandering spirits were everywhere in the mountains and wilds. So, when I was on a diplomatic mission to Liyue, I specifically invited Hu Tao of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and Zhongli to go to Inazuma together to deliver the souls of the deceased.
They were in Inazuma until before I left for Sumeru. However, I have been on my mission to Sumeru for some time now, so I don't know if they have returned to Liyue or are still in Inazuma."
Paimon: "I see. But that's too much of a coincidence. This is a very urgent situation. If we miss them, it will delay important matters."
Nahida and Lumine both had grave expressions. If Zhongli had already returned to Liyue, it would be fine; Liyue and Sumeru are neighboring countries, and the land route is clear. But if he was in Inazuma, traveling by ship would take an unknown amount of time.
Seeing their distressed expressions, Miyashiro stopped beating around the bush and said with a meaningful smile, "Perhaps you don't need to look so far ahead. If you focus on what's in front of you, there might be a better and faster solution."
When Nahida and Lumine heard Miyashiro say this, they immediately turned their gaze to Miyashiro, and the furrow in their brows instantly softened.
Nahida: "Mr. Miyashiro, do you have a solution?"
Lumine immediately recalled the terrifying wooden puppet Miyashiro had summoned during the second battle to defeat Osial. That wooden puppet, now remaining in the Sea of Clouds, had become a new tourist attraction in Liyue, attracting people to visit and take photos from time to time.
Lumine herself had visited and personally experienced the hardness of that wooden puppet. Even without Miyashiro's control, the puppet's body remained indestructible; it didn't seem like wood at all, but rather diamonds with a wooden pattern.
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