Chapter 182

In theory.

As for this past event, Apep might not be willing to admit it.

But she was indeed once one of the Red King's Seven Sages.

This matter was recorded by the Red King's subjects as a major historical event.

However, the Red King's subjects did not leave any good words about this former Seven Sage.

In their view.

Having been granted the Red King's flesh and blood, Apep ought to feel grateful, kneel in worship for the Red King's favor, and sacrifice her liver and brains for the Red King's kingdom.

But Apep not only refused to admit it, she ignored the Red King's summons; only on the day the Yellow Sand City collapsed did she appear in the Red King's royal city, swallow the king's corpse in one gulp, and then stride away.

This is outright blasphemy!

Of course.

In Luo De and Nadixa's eyes.

Apep's attitude toward the Red King being like this is completely normal.

The venerable Primordial Dragon King.

Even though her control over elemental authority is incomplete, she remains one of the strongest beings in this world.

Proud as she is.

Not to mention the Red King; even the Geo Archon next door, who is over six thousand years old, is merely a child in her eyes.

To become one of the Red King's Seven Sages.

It was solely because she craved the forbidden knowledge the Red King possessed, with no other reason.

Through this matter, combined with some things he already knew, Luo De roughly worked out a relatively clear context for the various grudges and entanglements that occurred in the desert back then.

First and foremost, it's the age-old war between the Dragon Kings and the Heavenly Principle for dominion over Teyvat.

After the Dragon King Nibelung, returning with the black power, was defeated again by the Heavenly Principle and utterly fell, the remaining Dragon Kings either fought to the death, chose to submit, or fled due to their wounds; Apep, however, never gave up resisting the Heavenly Principle, continually searching the edges of the crumbling world for forbidden knowledge she could use.

The result was that just as she found the forbidden knowledge, she was severely wounded by the Heavenly Nail cast down from the Sky Island, and even her rainforest habitat was turned into the present-day expanse of yellow sand by the Heavenly Nail's effect.

If it weren't for the Grass Dragon's unparalleled adaptability and regenerative ability,

this single Heavenly Nail would be enough to keep her down forever.

Thereafter Apep went into hiding.

Until the Red King, with the Flower God's help, obtained forbidden knowledge.

Upon smelling it, Apep rushed out of her hiding place.

Using the pretext that Ahemael was trying to build a strong kingdom in his own territory, they reached a deal by picking a quarrel with the Red King.

The specifics were that Apep would tacitly allow the Red King's territorial expansion, but after the Red King's death, all the knowledge he possessed would belong to Apep.

Finally, when the Red King's kingdom was utterly destroyed by forbidden knowledge, Apep, bearing the title of the Red King's Seven Sage, arrived as promised, and in front of the other Seven Sages she swallowed the Red King's corpse in one gulp, thereby devouring his elemental energy and the forbidden knowledge within him.

This is the content of the deal Apep claims she had with the Red King.

However, Luo De has some different views on this deal.

According to his Sumeru history at the Academy,

the era of the three gods' joint rule,

Sumeru was not the present split of rainforest and desert, but a complete and powerful kingdom in which the Red King, the Flower God, and the Tree King equally shared Sumeru's authority.

Wali Weijie

is the name of that great kingdom.

The Flower God's birthday, celebrated to honor the Tree King, originated in that era.

This oasis kingdom, which could be called a paradise of Sumeru, lasted until after the Flower God's fall, when the three‑god pact fractured, the Red King and the Tree King drifted apart due to disagreements, and thereafter Sumeru endured a century of chaos and confusion until the Red King and the Great Merciful Tree King gathered the people, rebuilt the oasis garden, and thus ended the era of warlord division.

Then the question arises.

If Apep truly minded the Red King establishing a kingdom in her territory, then during the heyday of Vali Weijie she should have used force to expel the three gods so they and their people would not disturb her; why would she wait until after the Flower God's death to pick a fight, and even be compelled to seek the Red King's forbidden knowledge through peaceful talks?

"So Apep is actually strong on the outside but weak within, and essentially has no Dragon King's power left?"

Luo De drew a conclusion.

At least during the era of the gods, Apep still had some apprehension toward the Red King, or perhaps she simply could not defeat him.

If she can't even beat an Archon, then how much strength remains in this Primordial Dragon King after successive heavy blows is hard to say.

"No."

"Apep's strength is still very great."

Nadixa had a different opinion of Luo De's words: "I have read many histories of the Red King, and in an ancient classic I found this passage: it says that before Ahe·Apep joined the Seven Sages, she, like the other Seven Sages, had fought the Red King in a world‑shaking battle; at that time Ahe·Apep and her offspring made the sand sea boil like boiling water, and under her attack even the sturdiest city towers were blown away like fallen leaves; wherever Ahe·Apep passed, mountains shattered, rivers flowed backward, all living beings suffered; the many canyons now in the desert are traces left from that time of Ahe·Apep's havoc, until the Red King reached a reconciliation with her, the dragon named Ahe·Apep ultimately chose to withdraw from the struggle for dominance over the desert and became one of the Seven Sages as Ahe·Apep."

"Ha——ah?"

Luo De's mouth opened slightly, and only one thought filled his mind.

"This Red King, is he really that fierce?"

Nadixa's meaning is quite simple.

The Red King could reach a reconciliation with Apep not because Apep's strength had declined to the level of an Archon, but because the Red King is simply too strong—so strong that Apep can do nothing against him, leaving her no choice but to seek reconciliation.

"Does forbidden knowledge add that much to combat power?"

"Or perhaps."

"Is the Red King himself just that formidable?"

Having not witnessed that history, just hearing Nadixa speak, Luo De really cannot imagine how mighty this deity, honored by the gods and the Sumeru people as the King of the Four Directions of the Earth, truly is.

Speaking frankly.

If Nadixa's account is not the Red King's historian bragging, then Apep, when she fought the Red King, actually still retained the power to overwhelm Archons, and yet the Red King managed to force such a mighty being into a settlement by sheer strength, which is truly absurd.

What makes it even harder for Luo De to tell is.

Is the Red King's formidable martial strength due to his own innate power, or is it because of forbidden knowledge?

After all, the Nibelung King who defied the Heavenly Principle owed his turnaround—from being crushed by the Heavenly Principle to being able to arm-wrestle with it—to forbidden knowledge.

If the Red King became so strong because of forbidden knowledge, that would also be a reasonable explanation.

But if the Red King is inherently that strong, hiss, that would be a bit frightening.

Along the way, they chatted about the stories of Apep and the Red King.

Nadixa and Luo De found a batch of fungus beasts matching Luo De's description in the rainforest area.

Some were fainted, some were confused and dazed, and some showed strong hostility.

However, before the God of Plants.

Especially after Nadixa healed the fainted fungus beast, the hostility stemming from the monster's instinct completely disappeared.

This awakened fungus beast is a fungus beast that can speak human language.

But the moment she spoke her first sentence, Luo De couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, secretly glad he had foresight.

That's what the fungus beast said.

"Your power is very much like that of the Grass King."

"But you are not the Grass King."

"Who are you?"

As expected.

Since Nadixa did not inherit the Great Merciful Tree King's past, therefore in the eyes of this grass dragon folk who once made a pact with the Great Merciful Tree King,

Nadixa is merely a deity resembling the Great Merciful Tree King, not the true Great Merciful Tree King.

Moreover, there is another point.

That is, Nadixa's stature is much smaller than that of the Great Merciful Tree King back then.

This also differs from the grass dragon folk's memory.

Although this grass dragon folk has lost many memories, his mind is still somewhat hazy.

But what he lost were only memories related to forbidden knowledge; the memory of his homecoming promise with the Great Merciful Tree King remains, and he still firmly remembers that he must return home.

The only thing that is unclear.

is that he doesn't know where his home actually is.

To deal with this amnesia problem, and to quickly gain the trust of these grass dragon folk,

Before setting out, Luo De and Nadixa deliberately brought along the Great Merciful Tree King that had transformed into Pati Shalan.

This trick indeed works well.

This grass dragon folk before them quickly accepted that the Great Merciful Tree King had passed away, and that Nadixa had come as the new Dendro Archon to fulfill the promise of succeeding the Great Merciful Tree King.

Next.

Luo De and Nadixa, guided by this grass dragon folk, searched everywhere for its kin.

Before heading to Apep's location.

The more of this special group closest to her that gathers, the better.

After some conversation along the way,

Luo De's impression of this grass dragon folk group remains very good.

Don't judge them by their fungus beast appearance.

But in terms of speech, they are even more personable than many humans.

At the same time, Luo De also subtly proposed.

The attitude of the grass dragon toward deities and humans is not friendly; if the grass dragon makes any extreme move upon meeting, I hope they can help dissuade it.

Regardless.

As for Apep,

These grass dragon folk are nurtured by her internal elemental energy; physically speaking, they are equivalent to Apep's children and are the most likely to evoke her benevolent thoughts.

Regarding Luo De's request, the grass dragon folk were somewhat doubtful.

But they still readily agreed to it.

Afterward, they spent about another day.

Luo De and Nadixa gathered all the grass dragon folk they could find together.

Scattered as they were, they amounted to only a few dozen in total.

Such a miserable state made both Luo De and Nadixa frown involuntarily.

Even though they possess strong adaptability.

Over the long years,

After all, many grass dragon folk could not withstand the contamination of forbidden knowledge, eventually turning into the dead zones that spread across Sumeru.

Next came the journey to find Apep.

Guided by the fire seed.

The direction forward remained very clear.

Nadixa walked in the lead, Luo De at her side, and the grass dragon folk followed closely behind.

Compared to Luo De and Nadixa,

The closer they got to Apep's direction, the stronger their urge to return to Apep's body became.

Just like that.

They crossed the rainforest, traversed the desert, and finally arrived deep within the wind-swept desert.

Via the fire seed.

Nadixa could clearly sense Apep's power fluctuating between strong and weak.

It was obvious.

Such power fluctuations were a warning to the humans and gods who came to disturb her rest.

Luo De also had some feeling.

Different from Nadixa.

He had not used the fire seed, nor did he have divine-level perception.

He merely felt his hairs stand on end in Apep's threat, as if some unknown great terror lurked before him.

As they drew closer to Apep,

the wind and sand became increasingly biting.

Amid flying sand and stones, the road was hard to travel and their eyes, blinded by wind and sand, could hardly open; Luo De and Nadixa did not waste their elemental energy, one hand shielding against the wind and sand, the other relying on sensation to advance with effort.

The Grass Dragon's people were even more excited, whether flying in the sky or running on the ground, they were a bit happier than before.

Suddenly.

Luo De's heart pounded violently, Nadixa also stopped her steps, staring fixedly at the pair of huge eyes that suddenly appeared in the vast yellow sand.

As for Apep's body, only a vague black shadow faintly visible in the yellow sand could be judged.

Her size was at least several times greater than Tevarin's.

A true giant dragon.

"Tiny god, tiny human, leave my territory."

As soon as Apep spoke,

the surrounding wind and sand suddenly ceased.

Whether the howling wind or the flowing sand, in Apep's voice these disturbances instantly calmed; Apep did not release elemental energy, merely a cold voice that left Luo De and Nadixa no time to attend to anything else, forcing them to fully confront the primordial dragon king's pressure.

This was Luo De's first time directly facing such a terrifying opponent.

Frankly speaking.

He was truly feeling an instinctive fear from the bottom of his heart.

This was Luo De's most immediate sensation at that moment.

Apep's might is beyond doubt.

Though she did nothing, merely uttering a couple of sentences, Luo De saw stars, his ears rang continuously, and his body instinctively wanted to obey her words and turn away from here.

"Huu—"

Hermanubis' power stirred on its own, turning into a pure current that cleared Luo De's instinctive fear.

Seeing Luo De's eyes return to normal,

Nadixa then withdrew the hand she had been about to place on Luo De, embraced the Great Merciful Tree King's flowerpot, and told Apep her purpose.

The result was as expected.

Apep, who had been suppressing his anger, took no pleasure in Nadixa's kindness; after scolding her, he retreated beneath the yellow sand, and no matter how Nadixa called, he did not reappear.

According to the plan made together with Luo De before departure,

Nadixa stopped calling the stubborn Apep, instead taking out the Wind God's Gnosis, wrapping it with her divine power, and shouting toward the direction where Apep had vanished: "Grass Dragon, if you won't let me heal you, I will destroy the Gnosis here and awaken the Heavenly Principle!"

The words had just fallen.

Apep, who had previously decided to cut off communication with Nadixa, spoke again.

"Hmph—"

"Foolish Buye'er, do you think doing this will attract the Heavenly Principle's attention?"

Apep's voice was just as before, still cold.

"Grass Dragon."

"Don't you know that the Gnosis is the symbol by which the Heavenly Principle controls Teyvat Continent and all laws?"

Nadixa's elemental energy condensed again on her hand: "Do you really dare guarantee that damaging the Gnosis will surely not draw the Heavenly Principle's gaze? Grass Dragon, dare you bet on this? If the Heavenly Principle truly turns its gaze, upon detecting in the depths of Sumeru a dragon king like you who possesses forbidden knowledge just as the Nibelung Dragon King does, what do you think she will do?"

Threat!

An open-and-shut threat!

But it was very effective.

Because once the Heavenly Principle discovers that Apep, like the Nibelung Dragon King, has likewise acquired forbidden knowledge, what will she do?

This goes without saying!

It will inevitably be a heavenly nail descending, smashing Apep so he never gets a chance to rise again!

"Do you think that's possible?"

Apep's words were still spoken firmly, but even Luo De could tell her tone was not as resolute as before.

After all, when she first sought forbidden knowledge, it was a timely heavenly nail from the Heavenly Principle that struck her down to her present state.

Given her current condition,

If another heavenly nail were to fall, whether she could still have a chance to survive would be a question.

After a brief silence.

The words that came from Apep's mouth turned into something else.

"Even if you could awaken the Heavenly Principle, what then?"

"Even if the Heavenly Principle killed me, what then?"

"I am not one of those dragons who cling to life and fear death; the scale armor and will of the Nibelung Dragon King remain an indelible light in my heart, and even if I must walk to the end of my life for this, I will follow him."

They had been lured into a trap.

Luo De and Nadixa exchanged a glance.

Immediately Nadixa asked: "What about the living beings nurtured inside your body?"

Apeipu's voice suddenly stalled.

Nadixa didn't stop, continuing: "Since you're not afraid of death, then what are you living for now?"

"Even though you're tormented by forbidden knowledge like this, you still want to go on living no matter what."

"Grass Dragon Apeipu."

"You claim to have lived through long ages, and claim to understand more than I, this young god."

"Then, do you truly understand what you live for? And what you hate for?"

While Nadixa and Apeipu were debating.

Luo De gave a glance to those Grass Dragon folk who had remained silent.

"Grass Dragon Grass Dragon."

"Go home."

"Back home."

Finally seeing the Grass Dragon again, the one longed for, although there were thousands of words in heart, in the end, from the mouths of the Grass Dragon folk, it all turned into just the two simplest characters.

"Go home."

Hearing this, Apeipu fell into a death-like silence.

Nadixa didn't speak further.

Thus they quietly waited for Apeipu to make a decision.

This wait went on for a long time.

Just when even the most patient Luo De began to doubt whether Apeipu was truly giving up on himself, abandoning treatment.

Suddenly.

The earth shook and mountains swayed; a huge, soil-yellow dragon head burst from the ground, lunging straight at everyone. Before Luo De and Nadixa could react, they saw the dragon's massive jaws open, swallowing everyone present whole.

Apeipu wasn't angry just because he lost the debate to Nadixa.

Because when Luo De and Nadixa emerged from their dizziness and opened their eyes, what met their gaze was a completely withered-yellow heart, as large as a small mountain.

"Heart of the Oasis."

After confirmation from the Grass Dragon folk, Nadixa, realizing Apeipu had been persuaded, immediately sprang into action, fully drawing out the power of the fire seed and pouring its immense grass elemental energy onto the already withered Heart of the Oasis.

Luo De knew the fire seed was fragile.

Therefore, he never let Nadixa use it along the way.

Moreover, Luo De specifically instructed Nadixa: no matter what situation arose, she should rather use the Gnosis to block sudden mishaps, and absolutely must not use the fire seed.

He was worried that when the fire seed was truly needed, it might end up being destroyed.

And once the fire seed was activated.

Instantly, countless oddly shaped gray-green creatures surged from all directions toward the Heart of the Oasis.

Their bodies exuded a strong aura of withered death; they moved slowly, like walking corpses, and their purpose was clear: the fire seed in Nadixa's hand.

These were the Grass Dragon folk who failed to escape when the apocalypse descended at year's end.

To survive.

They chose to actively adapt to the apocalypse within Apeipu's body, and step by step evolved into their present form, indistinguishable from demons.

Unlike their kin who had turned into mushroom beasts.

These Grass Dragon folk assimilated by the apocalypse retained only the instinct to survive during their adaptation, discarding everything else useless.

For them.

The fire seed could ease their pain and let them continue living.

Thus, driven by instinct, these apocalypse-altered Grass Dragon folk swarmed over, and their numbers kept growing.

Considering they are all Grass Dragon folk, after the Heart of the Oasis recovers, they each have a chance to recover.

Luo De therefore could not just strike them down outright.

As just said, these apocalypse-altered Grass Dragon folk have abandoned everything, including their own strength, solely for the instinct to survive.

Thus, aside from their strong vitality, they are actually no different from the most ordinary monsters outside.

The only thing worth mentioning is the all-over contamination of forbidden knowledge.

Nadixa, who was fully activating the fire seed to heal Apeipu, absolutely must not come into contact with them.

Thus Luo De created three layers of isolation shields using elemental energy.

To avoid harming those Grass Dragon folk who still had a chance to recover, he especially used the gentlest grass elemental energy to keep them all isolated outside.

"Huh?"

Just as Luo De was preparing to form another isolation shield.

He suddenly noticed specks of green light drifting toward him.

This was the grass elemental energy of the fire seed originally meant to activate the Heart of the Oasis.

But this grass elemental energy wasn't heading for him; it was heading for the flower pot he was holding in his arms!

Moreover, as time passed, the diversion of this elemental energy increasingly veered toward this spot, visible to the naked eye—starting at a one‑nine split and in the blink of an eye becoming a five‑five split.

If this continues.

Before long, the Great Merciful Tree King will likely snatch away all of the fire seed's elemental energy.

"Hey, Great Merciful Tree King, this isn't the time to be stealing elemental energy!!!"

Luo De's mouth twitched; he also couldn't spare the effort to keep shaping isolation shields to protect Nadixa, so he hurriedly reached out to block, trying to stop the elemental energy being drawn by the Great Merciful Tree King.

No matter what means he used—even invoking the power of Hermanubis—he still couldn't stop the grass elemental energy drifting from the fire seed toward the Great Merciful Tree King.

"!!!"

This mishap made Luo De increasingly anxious.

This fire seed was crafted by the Great Merciful Tree King after she had suppressed the Scarlet King's forbidden knowledge pollution, at a time when she was at her weakest.

The elemental energy sealed inside isn't necessarily enough to activate the Oasis Heart.

Now this kind of mishap has cropped up again.

If the elemental energy inside the fire seed truly isn't enough at a crucial moment, then we'll have to deal with a lot of unnecessary trouble.

As for why this problem has arisen.

Luo De had roughly guessed it.

The elemental energy inside this fire seed is what the Great Merciful Tree King left behind.

For the Great Merciful Tree King, who is currently in urgent need of elemental energy to recover, there is no doubt that this power she herself left behind back then is the most suitable nourishment.

Even worse.

The Great Merciful Tree King's consciousness has not recovered, making communication impossible.

That is to say.

She is now completely in an unconscious state, instinctively reclaiming her own power.

Under normal circumstances.

Luo De would let her absorb this elemental energy.

But now it's absolutely impossible.

Apep's Oasis Heart requires a large amount of elemental energy to be reactivated.

If the Great Merciful Tree King were to intercept it.

Then this elemental energy shortfall must be made up by Nadixa exerting herself or sacrificing the grass dragon folk present.

However, due to Luo De's prior warning, Nadixa has never used the kindling, even though she sympathizes with those grass dragon folk, she hasn't wasted even a bit of the kindling's power to restore their forms, so the grass dragon folk here remain in a weak elemental energy mushroom beast form and doomsday appearance.

In this state.

The elemental energy they can provide is definitely insufficient.

Moreover, there is another thorny matter.

The kindling is a one-time-use item.

Once started, it cannot be stopped, otherwise it will explode on the second use.

Without Luo De's reminder.

As soon as the abnormal situation appeared here, Nadixa noticed.

When she discovered that the Pati Shahran transformed from the Great Merciful Tree King was there, greedily siphoning elemental energy, she hesitated not at all, with one hand maintaining the kindling's output and with the other using her own elemental energy to urgently set up a circular barrier around Luo De, trying to forcibly sever the connection between Luo De and the kindling.

However, her elemental energy had not yet fully formed the barrier when the Great Merciful Tree King directly performed a non-selective absorption, while seizing the kindling's elemental energy, it also pulled Nadixa's elemental energy over, like a gluttonous beast, consuming both streams of elemental energy.

""

Seeing this, Luo De made a quick decision and shouted: 'Apep, quickly send me out!!!'

If we don't leave now, it'll be too late!

"Hmph—"

With a cold snort, Luo De's view changed and he returned to that previous windswept sandy hill.

He recovered from the dizziness caused by the back-and-forth teleportation.

Looking at the Pati Shahran in his hand, which was becoming more lively and its bud had opened a bit, Luo De wanted to say 'You've really screwed me over,' but after thinking, he didn't say it, just let out a helpless sigh.

Now, the Great Merciful Tree King in this state has no subjective consciousness.

It's purely instinct-driven behavior; you can't blame her.

Moreover, what Luo De is more concerned about now is not how the Great Merciful Tree King is, but Nadixa, who is alone left in the Oasis Heart.

Such a big mishap occurred.

If the kindling's provided elemental energy turns out insufficient, given Nadixa's personality, it's unpredictable what she might do.

Luo De didn't hesitate, placed the Great Merciful Tree King on the ground and called out again: 'Apep, help me watch over the Great Merciful Tree King here and send me back! Quick!!!'

Being repeatedly ordered around by a human.

This made Apep somewhat impatient.

Regardless of whether Luo De is doing this to save her, she's a bit unhappy.

Specifically, the manifestation.

Specifically, Luo De, who had returned to the Oasis Heart, was thrown down from midair by her; if it weren't for Luo De's good reflexes and timely adjustment of his falling posture, he would surely have been badly hurt.

But now is not the time to lose temper.

After landing, Luo De's attention immediately shifted to Nadixa.

Indeed.

After the Great Merciful Tree King snatched it away, although Luo De and Nadixa responded quickly and realized they couldn't resolve it, they immediately had Apep send the Great Merciful Tree King away.

But the elemental energy stored in the kindling is still insufficient.

Nadixa had to use other means to fill this gap.

Fortunately.

She is using the power of the Dendro Archon's Heart, not her own power.

Seeing this scene.

Luo De's worried heart immediately eased considerably.

He feared Nadixa would be stubborn, seeing that the kindling's elemental energy was insufficient, she would directly hook herself up to it.

You should know that Nadixa's true form's power is very weak compared to a normal god.

To want to rely on her herself to make up the shortfall.

There's about an eighty or ninety percent chance she'll have to use that talent ability she once mentioned, which the Dendro Archon possesses.

Or rather.

An innate special skill for using elemental energy.

That is, when a large amount of elemental energy needs to be consumed, the Dendro Archon can, by reversing the growth process, obtain for herself a formidable power beyond limits.

But once this skill is used,

Nadixa will then encounter the same situation as when the Great Merciful Tree King cleared away forbidden knowledge: her form will greatly regress, possibly even all the way back to the branch-like appearance she had when she first came into this world.

The good news now is.

For now, with the Gnosis present, Nadixa temporarily does not need to forcibly overdraw her own power.

The uncertain news is.

It's unknown whether the elemental energy inside the Gnosis is enough.

Although Nadixa has more than one Gnosis in her hand, she cannot use the Gnosis of the Anemo Archon, so she still has to rely on the power of the Dendro Archon's Gnosis.

The key is that no one can say for sure how much elemental energy Apep's Oasis Heart needs to consume in order to be activated.

Luo De dared not leave.

Afraid that the Gnosis's elemental energy would run out, Nadixa's mind would snap and she would have to act on her own.

Thus he helped block the increasingly mad apocalyptic grass-dragon people while carefully observing Nadixa's situation, ready at any moment to intervene and stop her.

Such a tense state continued until the Oasis Heart finally came alive.

Yes.

It came alive.

The strong vital aura emitted by the reactivated Oasis Heart, just a light sniff, can dispel both physical and mental fatigue.

At this moment, the grass-dragon people gathered beneath the Oasis Heart.

Whether they were in mushroom-beast form or apocalyptic form.

As long as they are bathed in the Oasis Heart's light, they instantly undergo a metamorphosis: some return to their original grass-dragon form, others, feeling released, turn into grass elemental energy and return to the embrace of the grass dragon, awaiting the next rebirth.

"Huh—"

"Huh—"

Nadixa has never been this exhausted before.

Think back.

Fortunately, earlier when she wanted to use the Dendro Archon's Gnosis elemental energy to water the Great Merciful Tree King, Luo De persuaded her to stop; otherwise, given the Oasis Heart's terrifying demand for elemental energy, any shortfall in the Dendro Archon's Gnosis would have forced her to use her own power to fill the gap in this plan to save the grass dragons.

Now this situation.

Very good.

A highly ideal result.

"I won't thank you, Bu Ye'er."

The recovered Apep is still as tsundere as ever.

However, she now obviously no longer has that previously forcibly suppressed anger; instead, she has calm and composure.

Those grass-dragon people who have recovered their normal bodies are also now circling Luo De and Nadixa, cheering and leaping with joy.

"New Grass King, thank you."

"We're home, we're home, we're home~"

"Grass Dragon, we've returned~~"

Such joyful emotion also seems to have affected Apep.

When she communicates with her people.

Luo De listening to her voice actually faintly perceived a rather gentle feeling, forming a strong contrast with the icy repression he felt when he first saw her.

After communicating with the people for a while.

Under Apep's command.

These grass-dragon people reluctantly bade farewell to Luo De and Nadixa.

Afterward.

Just now, Apep, who had been gentle like a mother, returned to her former aloofness and said: "Bu Ye'er, go out, human, you stay."

"Grass—!"

Nadixa, hearing this, was startled and about to speak, but Apep unceremoniously threw her out of her body, leaving only Luo De with the corner of his mouth tugged, staring at a green-clad woman who had abruptly appeared inside Apep's body.

Grass Dragon Apep.

She actually manifested in human form before him, making Luo De inevitably uneasy.

Although the healed Apep appears to have regained calm, there is no doubt that she, who swore to follow the Dragon King Nibelung to the death, still harbors immense hatred toward the gods and the seven nations.

So, what does she intend by leaving this dangerous guy alone?

(End of chapter)