"Remain uninvolved?"
Su Han had not expected the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata to make that kind of choice.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
Since she had obtained a new life and completely erased the marks that Teyvat had left on her.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata looked at Su Han gently and said with a smile:
"Yes. So from now on, everything will depend on you. If you have any questions, you can come ask me. However, it would be best if people outside don't learn of my existence."
"You don't need to worry about that. If you want to explore the current world, you can simply use another name."
Su Han understood her concerns.
The problem was that the Heavenly Principles were currently asleep, while Nahida's side was in a terrible situation.
If she truly refused to help at all, it would be somewhat excessive.
The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata revealed a thoughtful expression before finally agreeing with Su Han's suggestion.
"You have a point. Then what should my name be now?"
Since she had completely abandoned her former identity,
she needed a new name.
After thinking for a moment, Su Han asked:
"How about Xiyao?"
"Xiyao? You mean the character from the Chinese Paladin series?"
"You know about her too?"
"Yes. When you left, you gave me quite a few comics to pass the time. So I know many stories."
Whenever the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata thought of that, she could not help but praise him.
Five hundred long years.
Although she had spent part of that time asleep, she had spent most of it inside the Serenitea Pot.
Without anything to entertain herself, it truly would have been unbearable.
After thinking carefully, Su Han realized that made sense.
Since she had been sealed inside the Serenitea Pot, he must have left her many things.
"By the way, can you use Haki?"
"I can use all three types. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to resist the forbidden knowledge."
"Good. Then let's head out. Whatever we need to discuss, we can talk outside."
"Mm."
The two left the Serenitea Pot.
Xiyao, the name that would replace Greater Lord Rukkhadevata from now on, looked at the frozen black fuzzball before turning to Su Han.
"What kind of creature is this? I can sense the aura of the Abyss inside it."
"Something I found in the Second World. Its origins are unknown."
Su Han briefly described his journey and explained his purpose.
After hearing it, Xiyao could not help but shake her head.
"What a bizarre adventure. By the way, do you want to try now? Perhaps in this place, you'll be able to comprehend the mysteries of space and time."
Inside the tomb remained the power he had left behind five hundred years ago.
Though it had become extremely faint,
it was still the power of the same person. Perhaps it would resonate.
"Right. How did I forget about that?"
Su Han slapped his thigh as realization struck him.
Powers of the same origin would definitely resonate.
He immediately walked to the tomb's entrance and placed his hand upon it, sensing the power of time contained within.
The silver specks sleeping inside his body seemed to sense a kindred force and immediately became active.
At that moment,
Su Han saw countless fragments of time.
And at the end of those fragments,
he saw himself.
"Whew. Once all of this is finished, I should be able to return, right? I've already stayed in this era for quite a long time. After finishing this, I won't have to keep running around anymore."
"Oh right. The current me should be visible to the past me."
Within the vision,
Su Han waved toward the viewpoint.
"Hey, brother. Everything's going smoothly. No need to worry about any problems."
"If you have time, head to Watatsumi Island as soon as possible. There's a surprise waiting for you there."
"Oh, right, right."
"As for traveling through time, you actually already comprehended it when you returned from Takamagahara."
"If you want to affect the events of five hundred years ago, return to Mt. Yougou. You know what I mean."
"The Tree of Time has always existed. Got it?"
Hearing the message from his future self,
Su Han suddenly understood many things.
As for the surprise at Watatsumi Island,
he had no idea what it was.
But that probably wasn't important.
In any case, he could stop by and take a look when he returned.
The vision quickly ended.
Su Han could have continued using his power to see even more scenes,
but there was no need.
By comparison,
the thing he should pay the most attention to now
was the Tree of Time.
He opened his eyes.
The black fuzzball's restraints had been removed, but it knew absolutely nothing about what had happened.
"Huh? Master, what happened just now? And who is this woman?"
"Her name is Xiyao. As for her identity, you don't need to know. It's time for us to move on."
Now that he had figured everything out,
Su Han naturally wanted to return as soon as possible.
The black fuzzball pouted.
It was certain that many things had happened just now.
But if its master didn't say anything, it naturally didn't dare ask.
The three flew into the sky.
Su Han asked Xiyao:
"How do we get back to Teyvat from here?"
"Over there. There's a massive crater."
She pointed into the distance.
Su Han glanced in that direction and flew over.
Along the way,
Xiyao looked at the ruins scattered across the land, her expression becoming extremely grim.
"It seems Khaenri'ah has truly been destroyed. May I ask what became of the people of this nation afterward?"
In the final moments of her memories,
Khaenri'ah had been completely swallowed by the Abyss.
Even the people of Teyvat could not withstand it.
One could imagine the suffering that awaited them.
"They became Hilichurls, dark-skinned monsters that completely lost their reason."
"So they're still alive?"
Xiyao's view differed from everyone else's.
Others believed the Hilichurls had merely been cursed.
Su Han looked at her in surprise.
"You don't think becoming a monster is worse than dying?"
"You may not know what happens after being submerged by the Abyss. I've seen it with my own eyes. Countless civilians transformed within that black sludge into twisted, mindless abominations.
"Perhaps you've seen Rifthounds. Some of them were once human as well."
"What?"
Su Han was shocked.
Humans could become things like that?
But when he thought about the state of the Hilichurls, he finally understood why Xiyao considered the Heavenly Principles merciful.
Had they not intervened,
the people of Khaenri'ah would have suffered a fate far worse than becoming Hilichurls.
And that raised a question.
Lowering his voice, Su Han asked:
"Forbidden knowledge, right?"
"You guessed it?"
"Reduced intelligence and twisted bodies. If all of this was done to save the people of Khaenri'ah, then there's only one answer. Everyone had become infected by the curse of forbidden knowledge. But this is far too insane."
Su Han could not help drawing a sharp breath.
The entire population had been infected by forbidden knowledge.
Like a virus,
it had contaminated the whole nation in an instant.
And there were only two ways to save them.
Destroy them,
or lower their intelligence.
You could call the Heavenly Principles ruthless,
but at least the people of Khaenri'ah were still alive!
Xiyao let out a gentle sigh.
"Yes, exactly as you thought. Forbidden knowledge is that terrifying. Khaenri'ah was just like present-day Sumeru. The entire nation was filled with it, and everyone pursued the Abyss together."
"But if the gates of forbidden knowledge were opened,
and everyone faced extinction,
what should be done?"
"Perhaps some people of Khaenri'ah would say that everything was a curse from the Heavenly Principles, that everything happened because the Seven Archons monopolized the world."
"But they forgot one thing."
"Su Han, do you know?"
"The people of Khaenri'ah were exiles."
This story
went back to a very distant past.
The Seven Archons did not pursue technology.
Everyone relied on elemental power for combat.
Yet the technology of the Second World was clearly supreme.
So why had that world still been destroyed?
The answer was actually very simple.
The power of the Abyss could corrupt machinery.
Only an exceptionally powerful will could resist the Abyss's invasion.
That was the reason Visions existed.
But another problem arose.
The people of Khaenri'ah knew none of this.
The Five Sinners had not only blasphemed the gods,
they had blasphemed the entire world.
They believed that what they were doing would save the world.
That they were exposing the lies of the Heavenly Principles.
But when the gates of forbidden knowledge opened,
Khaenri'ah became the first place to be destroyed.
As Su Han reflected on the entire incident, he increasingly felt that the Heavenly Principles had fallen asleep because they had tried to save the people of Khaenri'ah.
After all, their power was unimaginably great.
If they had merely been resisting the Abyss,
that alone should not have forced them into slumber.
Soon they arrived at the place that led back to Teyvat.
A gigantic black hole.
Massive amounts of Abyssal power surged endlessly into the cavern.
The black fuzzball felt terrified just looking at it.
Clutching Su Han's sleeve, it said in a trembling voice:
"Master, we're really going back through that? Shouldn't we find another route? Just looking at it is terrifying."
The cavern was essentially an Abyssal vortex.
An enormous quantity of Abyssal power had accumulated within it.
If they jumped down there,
would they really survive?
Su Han looked at Xiyao and asked for her opinion.
"Relax. I understand how this place works. Before I fell asleep, this passage had already been sealed. Leave it to me."
Xiyao brought her hands together.
A massive green spiritual light enveloped the three of them.
Then the sphere flew into the cavern.
The Abyss's power frantically eroded the barrier,
yet it could not penetrate the green light at all.
In the past, Xiyao would not have been able to withstand it for long.
But now her body was the fruit of the Divine Tree.
Its essence was dozens of times stronger than before.
After all,
in the world of Chinese Paladin 3,
the Divine Tree was an existence that supported the entire world.
What was a mere Abyssal power in comparison?
Very quickly, they reached the bottom of the Abyssal cavern.
A vast green radiance resisted everything.
Yet what was remarkable was that,
although the light repelled the Abyss,
it did not reject Xiyao's sphere.
Thus, they passed through effortlessly.
"Wow, finally seeing sunlight again."
Upon reaching the outside world,
the black fuzzball looked at the sun in the sky and could not help sighing with emotion.
But it soon noticed something strange.
"Wait, Master. Haven't we been moving downward the entire time? Why is it that after reaching the very bottom, we're facing the sky instead?"
"You're pretty sharp. That's because Teyvat is an inverted world."
Su Han praised it before explaining.
Simply put,
Teyvat was a world turned upside down.
Hearing this only made the black fuzzball even more confused.
"Master, then why is it upside down?"
"I don't know either. Xiyao, do you?"
Su Han did not understand the structure of Teyvat's world, so he handed the question to the knowledgeable former Dendro Archon.
Brushing back her hair, Xiyao replied with a smile:
"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure of the real reason either. But based on the information we currently possess, I can make some guesses. As for whether they're correct, I have no way to verify them."
"Let's hear it."
Su Han was very interested in the concept of an inverted world.
He had also seen analyses by content creators on Earth before.
But none of them had ever been confirmed.
Xiyao cleared her throat and presented her theory.
"Before discussing why the world is inverted, let's first talk about Teyvat's structure."
"Besides being upside down, it possesses everything a world should have."
"For example, the sky, oceans, land, and stars."
"The thing that truly puzzles people is the issue of the stars."
"In our era, many gods wanted to explore the stars. But as you know, the stars are false."
"At the same time, the constellations are false as well."
"And both the world's foundation and the destroyed civilizations point toward one thing, the ley lines."
"The ley lines record everything that happens upon the land and then transmit it to Irminsul. This is incredibly mysterious. However, after reading a large number of comics, I've come to a completely new understanding."
"Irminsul may actually be a gigantic database."
"And although we are living beings, we are still influenced by that database. This also explains why the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah wanted to free themselves from the world's influence."
"Because they no longer wanted to be controlled by Irminsul."
"As for why the world is inverted, that's actually easy to understand. The land is where countless lives survive, so the ley lines are the roots of the tree. The inversion of the world exists so that countless living beings will never discover the truth."
These words left the black fuzzball completely dumbfounded.
So the problems of the Third World were this complicated.
"Wait, Big Sister Xiyao. If that's true, then if Irminsul gets corrupted by the Abyss, wouldn't the entire world be completely finished?"
"Of course. I've thought about that issue as well. Until I met Su Han."
At that,
Xiyao looked at him with a complicated expression.
"Me? What does that have to do with me? Wait, don't tell me you're saying I can take Irminsul away?"
Though the idea sounded absurd,
it was surprisingly logical.
After calming down,
Su Han even felt that this might be the true ending of Genshin Impact.
After all, the Traveler could journey to other seas of stars and worlds.
If the twins carried the records away from this doomed place,
could that not be interpreted as Teyvat receiving complete rebirth?
The more he thought about it,
the more plausible it seemed.
Xiyao smiled and nodded before gently shaking her head.
"Your idea is correct. But if there were another choice, who would willingly leave their homeland?"
Today's dizziness is still ongoing.