At first, they thought it was just an oversized rice cooker, but to their surprise, it was far more magical—it could finish cooking a dish in just a few seconds.

No wonder—it was Liyue technology.

Zhu Yuan's eyes were full of curiosity.

"How does it even work?"

Nekomata replied happily, "It's Adeptus arts, of course—the arts of the Adepti."

Watching Nekomata eating fish, Paimon couldn't sit still.

"Traveler, let's try it too!"

The Traveler nodded.

"Alright..."

Immediately after that, Paimon, the Traveler, Keqing, Billy, Arataki Itto, Nicole, and the others each tried it out, using the Divine Cooking Machine to make their favorite dishes.

In just a few minutes, a whole table was filled with food.

They soon realized the Divine Cooking Machine contained records of more than a dozen cooking methods and hundreds of dishes. Any named Liyue dish could be made with it.

As she ate, Paimon glanced at Anby.

"Haven't you made your favorite dish yet?"

Anby answered seriously, "I'm looking for the hamburger button..."

Cloud Retainer frowned.

"Hamburger?"

The Divine Cooking Machine had no such recipe.

Paimon explained, "Hamburger is a special kind of meat sandwich from New Eridu. Since it's not a Liyue dish, it probably isn't recorded in the Divine Cooking Machine."

Hearing this, Anby nodded.

"Then I'll try making a meat sandwich instead..."

Paimon flew over.

"You've never even seen one before—let me help you pick the ingredients!"

As they ate the dishes produced by the Divine Cooking Machine, everyone chatted about New Eridu, Liyue, and the Adepti.

When they learned that Cloud Retainer was most skilled in mechanical arts, everyone was stunned. None of them had expected Cloud Retainer to also be a Liyue inventor.

Zhu Yuan tried asking cautiously, "Besides the Divine Cooking Machine, does Cloud Retainer have other inventions?"

Cloud Retainer slowly nodded.

"Of course. Over the millennia, I have invented not hundreds, but thousands of devices. Each one is a masterpiece in its own right."

Once the topic of mechanical creations began, Cloud Retainer became animated, describing them one after another.

For example, the Giant Beast Packing Divine Machine—a trap designed to deal with gods and their followers...

The Flying Cannon Divine Machine—which could launch humans with Wind Gliders into the sky, dramatically boosting their speed and range...

And the Storytelling Divine Machine—just tell it a story, and it will respond: "That's a great story..."

...

After listening, Zhu Yuan, Tsukishiro Yanagi, and President Mihail looked at each other, struggling to hold back their laughter. Most of the inventions seemed completely impractical.

Especially the Storytelling Divine Machine—at first they thought it was for telling stories to people, but it turned out people were supposed to tell stories to the machine.

After finishing her introductions, Cloud Retainer said calmly, "I have shared a few interesting divine machines. What do you think of them?"

Tsukishiro Yanagi cleared his throat.

"Not bad..."

"Not bad?" Cloud Retainer pressed.

He quickly corrected himself.

"I mean very good! I'm sure those divine machines must be just as ingenious as the Divine Cooking Machine..."

Cloud Retainer nodded in satisfaction.

"Correct. Each mechanism has its own unique qualities."

She then shared little stories behind her inventions.

The Divine Cooking Machine, for instance, was born because she found Mountain Shaper's cooking unbearable. So she traveled across Liyue, collected detailed recipes for every dish, and created it.

As for the Giant Beast Packing Divine Machine—during the Archon War, she crafted thousands of them and placed them across Mt. Tianheng to stop the gods and their minions from invading Liyue. When the war ended, she recovered all the unused machines—except for one, which she accidentally left behind.

Cloud Retainer searched all over Mt. Tianheng but couldn't find the missing one.

"In the end, it was my disciple Ganyu who found it for me. Do you know how she did it?"

"Miss Ganyu? The Ganyu from Yujing Terrace? She's your disciple?"

"She must have searched every inch of Mt. Tianheng to find it..."

"Or maybe she gathered a whole group to help her look?"

Even Paimon pricked up her ears, eager to know how Ganyu had found the last Giant Beast Packing Machine.

Cloud Retainer pondered for a moment, then revealed the answer.

"One day, Ganyu happened to fall asleep on the mountain. A little boar ran off with one of her shoes. Startled awake, she chased after it. When she reached the thicket, she accidentally triggered the last Giant Beast Packing Machine. In an instant, it trapped her and sent her tumbling down the slope, rumbling all the way..."

The moment the story ended, Nicole, Nekomata, Billy, Qingyi, Tsukishiro Yanagi, and the others burst into laughter.

Just imagining her tumbling down the mountain was hilarious.

But Paimon and the Traveler only looked speechless. They had expected some new tale, but once again it was just the story of Ganyu rolling down the mountain.

To tell Ganyu's childhood story in front of so many people... If she ever found out, she'd want to crawl into a hole and never come out.

Zhu Yuan quickly coughed, suppressing his laughter.

"A divine machine that could pack away even Miss Ganyu must be incredibly powerful. If we brought it to New Eridu, it might even work against high-tier Ethereals."

Cloud Retainer replied calmly, "I still have many of them. I can send some along."

Tsukishiro Yanagi immediately expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, Adeptus—"

...

After this little interlude, everyone enjoyed their meal on Mt. Aozang, then prepared to return to Liyue with the three Adepti.

But as soon as they stepped out of the mountain gate, Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper transformed into two immortal cranes, vanishing into the clouds in an instant.

Not to be outdone, Moon Carver transformed into a massive red deer, striding swiftly across the air until he vanished into the distance.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuan and Tsukishiro Yanagi couldn't help but marvel again.

"As expected of Liyue's Adepti—they're as powerful as the gods in old films."

Zhu Yuan then remembered something.

"Should we visit the other Adepti next?"

Keqing shook her head.

"No need. With these three Adepti, plus the Vigilant Yaksha Xiao, that's more than enough to sweep through the Zero Hollows."

Paimon said seriously, "Then let's hurry back to Liyue. If we leave now, we'll reach Liyue Harbor before nightfall."

By this point, the New Eridu delegation had completed their mission. All that remained was to wait three or four days for the Archon's Memorial Day to conclude—then they could return to New Eridu.