Sensing someone watching her,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata slowly opened her eyes as she lay on the bench.
A trace of delight lit up within them.
"Su Han!"
"You really came!"
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata stood up.
The smile on her face grew even brighter.
But before she could steady herself, a black aura flooded her eyes.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata instantly collapsed.
Her entire body became incredibly weak.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Su Han hurriedly landed beside her.
Looking at the Tree King whose aura had become extremely faint, his eyes were filled with confusion.
What exactly had happened?
Hearing the concern in Su Han's voice, the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata waved her hand.
"It's nothing. It's the backlash from the Abyss's power. I'm already used to it..."
"Then..."
"Don't rush. Let me tell you what happened back then first."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata knew Su Han wanted to ask about the past.
So she began explaining on her own.
"It was five hundred years ago. You know that my body is connected to the Irminsul. Since the Irminsul was being devoured by the Abyss, I suffered the same consequences."
"So just when I thought I was about to die..."
"You appeared before me and used a powerful force to seal the surrounding time."
"Although it only lasted for a brief instant, I was miraculously saved."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was filled with gratitude.
If she had not met Su Han back then,
she likely would have been completely erased.
Although she understood the price of eliminating Forbidden Knowledge,
if there was a chance to survive,
she was still willing to fight for it.
Su Han finally understood everything, but he still had one question.
"Then your current body..."
"Mhm. It's already been corroded beyond saving. The power of Forbidden Knowledge far exceeded my imagination. Looking back, I truly regret it."
Thinking of the past,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was filled with remorse.
If she had not been drawn in by the Goddess of Flowers, the world probably would not have suffered that catastrophe.
The thought was agonizing.
Su Han nodded lightly, indicating that he understood her condition.
Since that was the case,
the solution was actually quite simple.
Su Han took out a Divine Tree Fruit from his robe and handed it to her.
"If you use this, can you reconstruct your body?"
"Th-This... what exactly is this?"
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was utterly shocked.
As a Dendro Archon, she could clearly sense the power contained within the fruit.
Not to mention her own flesh and blood, even if she searched all of Teyvat, she would never find such a magnificent existence.
It was like a sun,
constantly radiating overwhelming life energy.
At that moment, she recalled her first meeting with Su Han five hundred years ago.
Back then, he had told her that as long as she endured, there would definitely come a day when she could be revived.
But she had never imagined
that the tool for her resurrection would be this powerful.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata swallowed hard and looked at Su Han with her pale green eyes.
"Such a treasure... are you really giving it to me?"
"Of course. Right now, you're the most suitable person to use it."
At that moment,
Su Han finally understood why his past self had chosen to save the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
The reason was simple.
Given Sumeru's current situation, who could step forward and effortlessly solve everything?
There was only one answer.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
Of course, that did not mean Nahida's efforts during this time had been meaningless.
On the contrary, her efforts had transformed the stagnant and conservative Sumeru.
However, if the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata returned,
Sumeru's entire situation would reverse instantly.
And the price was merely a single Divine Tree Fruit.
Yet the result would save countless amounts of effort.
A perfect outcome with multiple benefits.
As for reviving Raiden Makoto,
Su Han already possessed a fragment of that tree's True Spirit, so there was no need to worry.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata stared at him for a long time.
Only after confirming that Su Han was sincere did she accept the Divine Tree Fruit.
"Su Han, I will remember this kindness forever."
"From the moment you saved me five hundred years ago, it proved that everything in the first half of my life was wrong."
"So continuing to rule Sumeru isn't realistic."
"Let Nahida take my place."
As she spoke,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's body gradually began to disintegrate.
Like a withered tree trunk, it slowly lost all luster until it completely dried up.
Under the sunlight,
her True Spirit appeared before Su Han.
There was nothing covering her body.
Yet her originally flawless form was now covered with large patches of repulsive purple-black corruption.
"This is the Abyss's backlash?"
From the blackened skin, Su Han sensed endless malice and vast amounts of corruption.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata nodded gently.
"That's right. Your perception is correct. The power of the Abyss is the opposite of all living things. It changes according to your nature until it completely corrupts you."
"As I embody life, its manifestation within me is decay."
As she spoke,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata took a deep breath.
Her entire body transformed into a beam of light and flew into the Divine Tree Fruit.
There was no need to purify the Abyssal power beforehand.
No matter how powerful the Abyss was,
it could not compare to this Divine Tree Fruit.
This was a difference in fundamental levels.
Ink could stain a cup of water black,
but it could never stain an entire lake.
The Divine Tree Fruit resembled a coconut.
Its overall color was brown.
The moment the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata entered it,
her True Spirit instantly fused with the fruit.
The fruit itself was already powerful enough.
There was no need for any further enhancement.
Su Han quietly waited.
About half an hour later,
the floating Divine Tree Fruit finally awakened.
Crack.
Crack.
Fractures appeared across its shell and spread in every direction.
Within a few breaths,
the outer shell completely fell away.
Then a tiny figure flew out from within.
Her body was extremely small,
as cute as a thumb-sized fairy.
Yet her appearance was still that of the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata.
Of course, one could also describe her as Nahida shrunk down a hundred times.
"Eeya..."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata waved her tiny hand toward Su Han.
Having just been born, she had not yet gained the ability to speak.
Feeling the limitations of her body,
she frowned.
Then she puffed out her cheeks and inhaled deeply.
Her tiny body miraculously began to grow.
"Heiya!"
With each breath,
she grew several times larger.
Until she reached the same size as Nahida.
Only then did the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata stop changing.
"Whew... I have a body now, but it seems I'll need some time to adapt..."
The little girl patted her body, very satisfied with her current condition.
Su Han curiously poked her shoulder and asked,
"What happened to the Abyss's power?"
"It's all been completely purified!"
When speaking about her current condition,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's face was filled with satisfaction.
This body was simply incredible.
Before it, the power of the Abyss was not worth mentioning.
"That easy?"
"Yes."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata sat on the ground and began explaining what had happened.
After her True Spirit fused with the Divine Tree Fruit,
the next step was reconstructing her body.
The process itself was simple.
She only needed to absorb the fruit's power.
What truly worried her, however, was the issue of Forbidden Knowledge.
That was the very thing that had driven her to ruin.
So while reconstructing her body, she suddenly remembered the problem.
But when she came back to her senses,
something astonishing had happened.
This fruit, which contained endless vitality, had effortlessly removed all the Forbidden Knowledge hidden within her True Spirit.
"I never imagined that the Forbidden Knowledge which killed me could be removed so easily. Thank you so much, Su Han..."
"Then do you feel that your current body is stronger than before?"
"More than several times stronger."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata answered with absolute certainty.
This was an elevation of her very essence.
As long as she adapted to this body,
she would undoubtedly become countless times stronger than before.
Most astonishing of all,
an unimaginable power lay hidden within this body.
It was simply that she had not yet learned how to draw it out.
Su Han nodded.
"That's good. By the way, can I ask you some questions? About what happened five hundred years ago..."
"No problem. I can answer all your doubts."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata smiled gently.
Comparing her to Nahida,
Su Han felt there was still a significant difference between them.
First of all, although the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was also small in stature, she naturally radiated a gentle and mature older-sister aura.
Nahida, on the other hand, still felt like a child.
Although she tried to appear more mature,
an act was still an act.
Something always felt slightly off.
After thinking for a moment, Su Han asked his first question.
"When we first met, roughly what period was it?"
"The final stage of the catastrophe. At that time, I was already finished. I had chosen to sacrifice myself. Had you not appeared, I would no longer exist in this world."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata recounted the time of their first meeting.
She admitted that she had truly been only a step away from death.
Even now, the memory felt frightening.
Su Han thought for a moment.
The timeline was finally beginning to connect.
Most likely, after crossing over, he had first arrived in Inazuma, then traveled to Liyue, and eventually reached Sumeru.
"Then my second question. Were your deaths, King Deshret's death, and Egeria's death related to the Goddess of Flowers?"
"Your guess is very accurate. But right now, I don't even want to hear that bastard's name. Goddess of Flowers? Bah. That vicious woman was the greatest mastermind behind the world's disasters."
The moment Su Han mentioned the Goddess of Flowers,
the smile vanished from the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's face.
Not only that, she openly cursed her.
It was the first time Su Han had ever seen such an expression from her.
Confused, he asked,
"What happened back then?"
"Everything was a conspiracy."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata took a deep breath.
Then she began explaining from the beginning.
It was a story between the rainforest and the desert.
The gods of Sumeru were different from those of other regions.
None of them liked conflict.
So they chose discussion and philosophical debate instead.
Originally, that should have been a good thing.
But the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had underestimated the Goddess of Flowers' malice.
"In those days, the three of us often gathered together to discuss everything."
"Both King Deshret and I cared deeply for the Goddess of Flowers."
"She was beautiful and graceful, but behind that beauty hid endless malice."
"Just as you've seen in the mortal world, she seduced King Deshret and then revealed the Abyss's forbidden secrets to him."
"Heh... thinking about it now, I truly underestimated her..."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata let out a cold laugh.
Back then, the Goddess of Flowers had seemed like a beautiful and innocent woman in her eyes.
She was willing to give up land and faith.
Yet every concession had been made solely to lure them into opening the Abyss's forbidden secrets.
By the time the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata realized something was wrong,
the Irminsul had already been contaminated.
And King Deshret had gone to confront that woman.
At this point, the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata sneered.
"Su Han, guess what the Goddess of Flowers did."
"She sacrificed herself and opened a passage to the Abyss."
"As expected, you know everything."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata let out a deep sigh.
That day had been dark and hopeless.
King Deshret had gone to question the Goddess of Flowers.
But she had thrown herself into the earth.
And just like that,
the gate to the Abyss opened.
Terrifying and catastrophic.
The Goddess of Flowers' territory instantly became the source of Abyssal contamination.
At the same time, King Deshret, the unluckiest of all,
saw nearly all of his followers wiped out.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata reacted quickly.
Before the Irminsul could be fully corrupted, she chose self-destruction.
Of course, there was another outcome.
Su Han had stopped everything.
Using power from beyond the world, he sealed her within this place.
After finishing her story,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata asked curiously,
"What is Sumeru like now, after my disappearance?"
"I think it's better if you don't know."
"Why?"
She was extremely puzzled by Su Han's answer.
What did he mean by better not knowing?
Had Sumeru been destroyed?
That shouldn't be possible.
Looking at the Tree King's curious face, Su Han gazed at the clouds within the Serenitea Pot and shook his head.
"It's nothing. A bunch of foolish humans imprisoned Nahida, that's all."
"..."
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's face darkened instantly.
For a moment, she felt an overwhelming urge to curse.
But she was very intelligent.
After thinking for a moment, she arrived at the answer.
"Don't tell me my followers trusted me so much that they never accepted Nahida, and eventually imprisoned her?"
"The answer is that simple."
Su Han's words confirmed her guess.
Yet it was the outcome she most wanted to avoid.
Human stupidity had once again surpassed her expectations.
To the point that even she did not know how to evaluate it.
"That really makes my vision go dark."
"Exactly."
Su Han completely agreed.
If humans possessed even a little self-awareness, they would make far fewer mistakes.
And Sumeru's greatest mistake had been believing they were too capable.
So capable that they thought they could even create a god.
Of course, the result was that all those people ended up gone.
"So, what do you plan to do?"
Faced with Su Han's question,
the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata fell silent for a moment.
After considering the current situation, she gave a surprising answer.
"I think that under the present circumstances, it depends on what plans you have. No one understands Sumeru's current situation better than you. As someone who has already died, it would be best for me to remain uninvolved."
If she participated too much,
even if the Irminsul could not retain her imprint, the Heavenly Principles would still learn of her existence.
Therefore, this time, the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata intended to be an invisible person.
An outsider looking in.