Chapter 297: What's going on?

Huh, you don't seem at all surprised I'd appear here, huh?

After a brief self-introduction, Raiden Makoto's voice gained a hint of curiosity.

This is aimed at Luo De.

Although Raiden Ei's facial expression hardly changed upon Raiden Makoto's sudden appearance, her slightly trembling hand still betrayed her unease at the moment.

The Raiden Shogun, still within the consciousness space, stood aside, silently watching the reunion of the two Electro Archons.

This is the Raiden Shogun Unit Two.

At the moment of creation, all emotional consciousness was wiped away; she understands neither joy nor anger, sorrow nor pleasure, nor what love, hatred, or fear are, her sole purpose being to guard Inazuma's eternity.

Thus.

She was the only person present who felt truly unmoved by Raiden Makoto's appearance.

Naturally, the one who piqued Raiden Makoto's curiosity was Luo De.

"A brand-new power just burst forth within Oneiric Heart."

"It was that power that broke the previously evenly matched situation."

"I know this sword is yours."

"So I guessed you must have left something in this sword."

Luo De gave a reasonable explanation for his earlier lack of reaction, then continued: "Yae Miko and Hanamizuki's consciousness have both said before that they taught you sisters how to lodge consciousness in objects, so what you left in this sword is easy to guess."

"Hahaha—"

"You really are an interesting person."

"Ying, having a friend like you truly makes me happy~~~"

Compared to the stoic Raiden Ei, Raiden Makoto is noticeably more lively; even though she is now merely a fragment of consciousness like Hanamizuki, she still maintains an optimistic mindset, and her laughter has not ceased since her appearance.

After a brief exchange of pleasantries.

Raiden Makoto then shifted the topic, beginning to recount to Raiden Ei what had happened back then and the contingency she had left for Inazuma,

were all things Luo De had heard before.

He therefore stopped listening closely to Raiden Makoto's words, instead seeking a quiet place and, like the Raiden Shogun, silently standing aside to watch Raiden Ei and Raiden Makoto exchange sisterly sentiments.

However,

Such tranquility was quickly shattered by a sudden voice ringing in his mind.

"Can you save her?"

It was Hanamizuki, who had not yet been recorded by Luo De in the World Tree leaves.

Hidden within Luo De's consciousness space, she naturally also saw that fragment of Raiden Makoto's consciousness.

As their closest friend back then,

Hanamizuki, who inherited the memories and emotions of the Fox Zhai Palace, naturally did not want to see Raiden Makoto completely dissipate.

So she set her sights on Luo De.

After all, she had personally experienced the restorative effect of Luo De's consciousness space on consciousness entities; if Raiden Makoto were also allowed to enter Luo De's consciousness space, Hanamizuki firmly believed that, given enough time, Raiden Makoto's consciousness could surely be restored and she could return to the world.

However, Luo De poured cold water on her.

"Impossible."

Gazing at Raiden Makoto as she spoke with Raiden Ei, Luo De frowned and said, "Your consciousness is merely the condensed residual memories and obsessions of Hanamizuki; to restore your consciousness, I remained in this place where time is nearly at a standstill for decades before completing your restoration."

"How do you think your consciousness compares to Raiden Makoto's?"

Without waiting for Hanamizuki's reply, Luo De continued, "With my abilities, restoring the consciousness of a divine being like Raiden Makoto would likely take centuries; moreover, Raiden Makoto's consciousness is about to dissipate, and if it does, this consciousness space will vanish along with it—do you think I would have time to preserve her consciousness?"

He said while speaking.

Luo De spread his hands helplessly: "I haven't even factored in whether she would accept being infused with my aura and becoming an existence beyond the world."

"."

Hanamizuki fell silent after being told that.

Everything Luo De said was true.

From every angle, preserving Raiden Makoto's consciousness is indeed extremely difficult.

In fact.

Not only Hanamizuki had this idea.

Even as soon as he entered this space, Luo De had realized that Raiden Makoto retained a fragment of consciousness hidden within Oneiric Heart.

According to his idea.

Adding that if he could preserve Raiden Makoto's consciousness—even if only by recording the information in the World Tree's leaves—he still couldn't let her return to the real world as the Great Merciful Tree King had.

But for Inazuma, and for Raiden Ei,

this was enough to make them unconditionally guard Luo De for life.

Hmm.

That's how it is.

As long as Luo De can preserve Raiden Makoto's information and give her a chance to return to the world, then, given Raiden Ei's personality, she would become Luo De's strongest bulwark, firmer than Nadixa, Zhongli, and Venti, and even if it meant wielding a blade against the Heavenly Principles, she would hesitate not at all.

Unfortunately,

After personally undertaking the work of preserving Hanamizuki's restored consciousness, Luo De felt he had been overly optimistic and somewhat fanciful.

Even at her weakest, Raiden Makoto remains a divine being.

A true deity who has been invested by the Heavenly Principles, possessing the Electro Archon's Throne and the Gnosis.

Although she perished in Inazuma,

although only a fragment of her consciousness remains.

A god is a god.

Repairing this fragment of Huasanli's consciousness would take him decades of time.

Repairing Leidian Zhen, Luo De dare not imagine how many years he would have to spend.

"Give up."

Seeing Huasanli fall silent, Luo De shook his head and glanced at Leidian Ying and Leidian Zhen.

The two sisters were about to reach the time to hand over the Divine Cherry Tree seed.

Realizing this, Luo De spoke again: "Get ready, your time has come."

"Hmm."

Although she only gave a soft "hmm," Huasanli's evident loss and sorrow also made Luo De involuntarily sigh.

After the sigh.

Huasanli also didn't let Luo De act; she herself actively walked up to that sapling in Luo De's consciousness space.

No overly complex operation is needed.

She simply placed her hand on this sapling evolved from the World Tree's leaves, and her figure gradually became illusory, while a leaf on the sapling also lit up.

It only took a moment.

When in the outside world, no matter how hard Luo De tried, he could not send information into the leaves, so it completely merged into the World Tree's leaves, becoming a distinctly green leaf among them.

"Tsk."

After waving at the leaf that Huasanli had turned into, Luo De withdrew his consciousness and turned his gaze back to Leidian Zhen and Leidian Ying.

The sisters' words also came to an end.

Leidian Zhen basically affirmed and trusted Leidian Ying, and when Huasanli entered the World Tree's leaves, he placed a seed shining with purple light into Leidian Ying's hand.

"It's coming."

"Plant the current seed in Inazuma from five hundred years ago," Luo De stared unblinking at Leidian Ying.

Then he saw her, in resonance with the Divine Cherry Tree seed, her eyes and the markings on her body glowing with the same lightning as the seed.

At the same time.

Leidian Zhen's consciousness space also began to show slight tremors.

Immediately after.

Having infused the seed with lightning power, Leidian Ying opened her hand, allowing the seed, already filled with lightning power, to fall to the ground.

"Here it comes!"

Luo De, who had been paying attention, once again felt the flow of the river of time.

Although I don't know how Leidian Zhen obtained this power that far surpasses the seven elements.

There is no doubt that.

This stems from the might of the Time Ruler Yisitalu, allowing Luo De to truly witness what the power of time is.

Unlike the time turbulence when entering Leidian Zhen's consciousness space.

This time.

The time spanned by the Divine Cherry Tree seed is regular, allowing one to feel time flowing backward, and it will not cause one's consciousness to fall into the chaos of time.

As a witness.

Luo De personally watched the seed of the Divine Cherry Tree fall from high altitude; although hundreds of years had passed, it seemed to land, take root, and sprout in an instant, growing at a visible speed into the Divine Cherry Tree of this scale, and quickly absorbing all the deep-sea corruption spreading throughout Inazuma, buying time for the war-torn Inazuma to barely survive.

Luo De even heard Huasanli's voice.

No.

It should be the voice of the Fox Purification Shrine.

That was a tragic yet calm voice, full of contradiction and complexity.

Vaguely.

Luo De seemed to see a white-haired, white-eared shrine maiden of extraordinary beauty, a fox woman, raising both hands; she stood before the Divine Cherry Tree, offering herself as sacrifice, performing the first-generation Divine Cherry Great Purification for Inazuma.

"So then, gnaw at my dark will; now I have lost all my power, let my White Dawn Blood be at your disposal."

"But, although I am in a humble position, I still hope you will hear my request."

"If you can see what I cherish, then please spare those living beings."

"If you grant me a wish, please return my eternally bright memory to the land I love."

"Hopefully, after your rampage, something beautiful can still remain."

Such powerful obsession and memory.

Even if the body is torn apart, even if facing this most terrible calamity, Huasanli's memory never fully dissolved, and after the calamity was defeated, it merged with the calamity that flowed into the earth, becoming Huasanli.

"Huh?"

Luo De, who was carefully observing the five-hundred-year changes related to the Divine Cherry Tree, suddenly found in this history of Huasanli's appearance an excellent vessel capable of carrying Huasanli's consciousness.

"The roots of the Divine Cherry Tree!"

Luo De stroked his chin, and an unreliable idea formed in his mind.

Huasanli was born from the impurity in the earth's veins.

Then the Divine Cherry Tree roots that can contain impurity are naturally the best vessel for her consciousness.

"After it ends"

Just as Luo De was thinking about how to tell Leidian Ying about this, his vision suddenly changed.

That five-hundred-year history, like a revolving lantern, also vanished in an instant.

"Hiss—"

Luo De, feeling a bit dizzy, after regaining composure, discovered he had returned to the Narukami Grand Shrine.

Leidian Ying and Yae Miko were saying something.

When they noticed Luo De had woken up, Yae Miko smiled and said, "Little guy, how do you feel?"

My head is still a bit dizzy.

Luo De rubbed his temples.

In the Electro Archon's conscious space at that time, it was still fine; the river of time then still had traces to follow, and it wasn't a chaotic temporal turbulence, so he could still accept it.

But when the Electro Archon's conscious space suddenly dissipated, he was forced to follow the Electro Archon back to reality.

That temporal node was suddenly cut off; his consciousness jerked back from several hundred years ago to the present, causing a sudden and disordered feeling that left him unable to quickly recover, mentally or physically, in a short time.

That's already pretty good.

That turbulence, even if I were in it, I probably wouldn't do much better than you.

Yae Miko praised Luo De, then added, "How is she? I heard from Shadow that the situation is good?"

Hmm.

As he said that, Luo De subconsciously glanced at the World Tree sapling.

Then he saw a sight that left him stunned.

In the conscious space that had originally been filled with trees, now dark clouds gathered, lightning flashed, yet not a drop of rain fell.

This?

The Electro Archon?

Luo De blurted out the name of the Electro Archon in confusion.

When the flower-scattered village actively entered the World Tree leaves, his conscious space remained normal, except for a grove centered on the World Tree sapling, with nothing else special present.

Until he left the Electro Archon's conscious space, his own conscious space had not yet shown such an anomaly.

Such abnormal lightning appearing.

This made Luo De involuntarily wonder whether the Electro Archon's residual consciousness had somehow slipped into his own conscious space.

Yae Miko's words also confirmed his guess.

Hmm, you guessed right, it's indeed the Electro Archon.

Yae Miko finished speaking.

The Electro Archon then continued: "When the Electro Archon dissipated, I don't know why, the petals she turned into all fell on your body, but you seemed unaware of it at the time, and your consciousness was clearly muddled—you didn't even realize the Electro Archon's conscious space had dissipated—so I could only bring you back to the present time."

Luo De listened, feeling confused.

Did the Electro Archon's consciousness deliberately burrow into his own body before dissipating?

And at that time his consciousness was muddled, so he was unaware of it.

What the heck is this?

At that time he was clearly backtracking the memories of the Sacred Sakura Tree— "Huasanli!!"

Luo De's pupils contracted slightly as he recalled the main figure of that historical segment he had seen.

It wasn't Huasanli.

It was the Fox Shrine Palace.

She, in the unseen, had attracted the already-dissipated Electro Archon, allowing this former Electro Archon, in a state lacking a true physical form and even personal consciousness, to be stored in Luo De's conscious space.

How is this done?

Luo De scratched his head, racking his brains but still couldn't figure out how Huasanli managed to make such an absolutely impossible thing happen to him.

(End of chapter)