Chapter 196: It turns out I'm not human

Luo De did not deceive Azhaer.

The consciousness inside the bud is indeed the Great Merciful Tree King.

This is something Nadixa confirmed after the frank discussion among the gods ended.

However, Luo De's suspicion about the Great Merciful Tree King's identity is not entirely wrong.

Because that Patishalan flower is the transformation of a fragment of divine light that the Flower God bestowed upon the Great Merciful Tree King.

The so-called divine light.

It is the remnant soul the Flower God gave to the Great Merciful Tree King before her passing, the purifying essence of flowers.

In legend,

The Flower God once dreamed of a faceless nightmare at night, felt frightened and uneasy, so she separated the divine light from her own body, hoping the light would ward off that nightmare's arrival.

This original divine light, which the Flower God called the light in her eyes, was her most innocent and pure daughter.

On the eve of building a bridge to communicate forbidden knowledge for the Red King.

The Flower God bestowed this divine light upon her close friend the Great Merciful Tree King, and urged her to keep it safe until the day of calamity.

It is also precisely a fragment of this divine light.

As the Great Merciful Tree King was about to completely dissipate, she successfully preserved her remnant consciousness and, with the aid of Luo De's Vision and the Dendro Archon's Gnosis, achieved rebirth.

This is why the Great Merciful Tree King's consciousness revived within the Flower God's Patishalan.

And this fragment of divine light can protect the Great Merciful Tree King's remnant consciousness from the erosion of forbidden knowledge.

The reason is that the Flower God's divine light possesses the function to reverse abyssal power; relying on this trait that no being in Teyvat possesses, the Great Merciful Tree King's consciousness, already tainted by forbidden knowledge, can retain a fragment.

Originally, Nadixa merely mentioned this in passing.

But after hearing it, Luo De couldn't help falling into deep thought.

The ability to reverse abyssal power.

How does this sound so familiar?

"Could my body also be made of divine light?"

This speculation is quite unreliable.

But upon closer examination, it seems to hold some truth.

Combined with the fact that when I first opened my eyes, I happened to be in a desert where even birds don't defecate.

Luo De formed a hypothesis.

Perhaps he is not actually a transmigrant; rather, his current body came into existence only after his soul arrived.

Perhaps.

Before his soul came to the Teyvat continent, his present body was merely a wandering divine light in the desert; after his soul descended and attached itself to that light, relying on memories retained in his soul, the previously shapeless light automatically constructed his former self's body, even perfectly recreating the physique of a college student, thus giving Luo De the illusion that he had transmigrated.

This also explains why he possesses a unique ability to purify abyssal power and convert it into elemental energy.

Including his self-taught Teyvat language, and the fact that using Hermanubis' power—a divine power—leaves no side effects; perhaps all this stems from his true nature being divine light.

After all, divine light is what the Flower God separated from her own body; even if it didn't leave Luo De any divine power, it is still an emanation of a deity's form, giving it strong inclusivity toward other deities' powers, and the subconscious of this light may still retain part of the Flower God's memories—though Luo De is unaware of this, he simply attributes his uniqueness to the special circumstance of transmigration.

As for the speculation that the Vision is a shackle binding himself,

this might be due to his soul not belonging to the Teyvat continent, and it's still hard to confirm.

Then, according to this speculation,

the Great Merciful Tree King's current situation is exactly the same as Luo De's.

Both are bodies composed of divine light; both host foreign consciousness, not the light's own consciousness.

Clarifying the train of thought that one is made of divine light.

Then there is yet another problem before Luo De.

The Oasis Queen Flower God, Nabu·Malikat a.

She differs from the Great Merciful Tree King and from the elemental Archons of the Teyvat continent.

She is a very special Archon who does not wield elemental power.

As for the power the Flower God commands,

it is this divine light capable of reversing abyssal power.

If Luo De recalls correctly, this power should be called Light Boundary Power.

According to this idea,

Luo De, by biological definition, is not human at all but an elemental being composed of Light Boundary Power.

This also explains why his elemental energy innately possesses self-healing ability.

Because this is a trait of elemental beings.

"After all that fuss, it turns out I'm not human."

These interlocking speculations made Luo De gloomy all day until Azhaer came and saw Tighnari, which eased him a little.

Since that day, after informing Azhaer about the Great Merciful Tree King's impending return,

Luo De has paid him no further attention.

Each day he merely provides food and drink at set times and places, just enough to keep him from starving.

However, upon learning that the Great Merciful Tree King is still not dead,

Azhaer became like a walking corpse.

Let alone eating and drinking.

He doesn't even know how to use the toilet.

He sits dazed on the ground all day, his mouth repeatedly muttering, "She wasn't dead after all, she wasn't dead after all."

During this period, Tighnari came over once.

He had originally come over to tell Luo De that he had gotten a vacation from Nafis, but upon seeing Azar's current state, Tighnari felt compassion.

He didn't ask why Azar had become like this.

He also didn't ask who the person Azar mentioned who hadn't died was.

He just let out a light sigh.

He helped this former Great Sage, who even if exiled still presented himself as a dignified scholar, tidy him up, and also fed him food and water.

In Tighnari's words.

At least he used to be a scholar of the Academy; even if leaving, he must leave decently, cannot lose face of Sumeru in front of outsiders.

Luo De did not stop him.

Originally Azar's health wasn't good; according to Nafis, even if safe, he'd only have a year or two left to live.

Now that he knows the news of the Great Merciful Tree King, with his spirit greatly damaged, he probably doesn't have many days left to live.

No matter how heinous his past deeds were.

Now Azar is about to die; giving him a decent death is still no problem.

Just like that.

Tighnari stayed at Luo De's place to take care of Azar until the agreed departure time.

The Lady and Mondstadt's envoy group were both very punctual.

Just as the two groups met, they could see strong hostility in each other's eyes.

Especially when Venti saw the Lady, he didn't say anything, stuck out his tongue, then simply hid behind Albedo, the military officer of the Mondstadt envoy group, and stayed together with the little kid Klee.

"Mr. Luo De, you really have a lot of guests."

In terms of strength, the Lady, though absolutely at a disadvantage, shows no fear, instead openly releasing her malice toward Mondstadt people, her eyes unabashedly fixed on the pitiful-looking Venti.

She knows very well in her heart.

This is Sumeru, not Mondstadt.

If, without any provocative action on her part, Mondstadt people attack her, this envoy officially dispatched by Snezhnaya, the Ice Queen's reprimand will not lessen just because Mondstadt's wind god returns.

"So it's the Lady from Snezhnaya."

"Fortunately to travel together; if there's any offense, please forgive."

The Mondstadt side's spokesperson is Kaeya.

Compared to the Lady.

He, on the other hand, showed no malice, even putting on a full face of smiles, making it hard to discern his true thoughts.

Just as both sides were being snarky.

Luo De stepped forward and stood between the two groups, directly interrupting their possible conflict: "Everyone, we should set off; if we're late, by the time we reach Hope City there will be no dinner."

"Hmph—"

"Please—"

In the differing voices of the Lady and Kaeya, this investigation team composed of Snezhnaya envoys and Mondstadt envoys together set out on the road to Hope City.

(End of chapter)