Chapter 313: Zandike

Luo De's ambition, or rather expectation, left Raiden Ei speechless.

She also could understand what Luo De said.

In short, for the livelihood plan, money is not important; as long as it can make people's lives more convenient and swift, everything is worth it.

Next.

Several people then took a boat northward, and without hurry, spent a day to arrive at Sumeru Cheng.

Of course.

This is not because Luo De is not anxious.

It is because Ying and Paimon wanted to see more of Sumeru's scenery.

This also let Lin incidentally witness how Ying obtains elemental energy from the Seven Statues of the Gods.

The process is actually simple.

As long as one touches with a hand, one gains the ability to use grass elemental energy.

And Ying's way of using grass elemental energy is almost the same as Luo De's; she also lacks an internal organ for storing elemental energy, directly drawing elemental energy from the outside.

This gives her an extremely formidable level of elemental energy usage.

At least from Luo De's perspective.

Ying, who has just obtained grass elemental energy, in terms of grass elemental energy attainment, aside from lacking some application techniques, basically reaches the standard of 'strength enough to fly bricks'.

"This is the posture a Descender should have."

Luo De watched Ying playing with grass elemental energy there, and silently sighed.

Recalling how he suffered to train his elemental energy, he said this out of envy.

Originally, Luo De was imprisoned by the Vision.

Seeing that usable elemental energy is abundant.

Actually, each kind is limited; if used recklessly in battle, one will end up having to rely solely on martial arts.

To compensate for these shortcomings.

He went all over the place to study and train all day.

In contrast, the standard Descender Ying.

She only needs to lightly touch, and she immediately obtains grass elemental energy at the level of 'strength enough to fly bricks'; she doesn't even need to learn any techniques, just by her own exploration, she can reach an extremely formidable level.

However, although Ying's four elemental energies have improved, she still hasn't reached Archon level, that is, she hasn't reached Luo De's combat power.

Luo De and she sparred a bit.

The general feeling is that Ying's resistance to blows is absolutely at Archon level, while other aspects are far inferior.

Moreover, Ying's martial arts are strong.

At least from Luo De's perspective, purely comparing skills, Ying is not as good as him, yet she still surpasses most Vision holders.

"About the level of the Sanbing."

Luo De found a reference object similar to Ying.

Sanbing has fought him several times.

Regarding Sanbing's strength, he doesn't claim to fully understand it, but at least he can be said to know its basics.

What Sanbing is most proud of is the super-strong recovery and blow resistance brought by his puppet body.

In this regard.

Ying is not lacking.

This doesn't require Luo De to test.

Ying can withstand a claw from Apophis and remain unharmed.

Setting aside this top-tier physical defense, Ying's attack power is still slightly inferior to that of Sanbing with full firepower.

This is also why Luo De thinks their strengths are roughly equal.

As for Ying having once fought the ascended Sanbing and ultimately defeating him.

This is indeed done by Ying, but the main reliance is still on Nadixa.

Sanbing's ascension is a false god.

Because the gods' wisdom was not fully collected, and Nadixa's consciousness was not captured by the Doctor, thus that false god Sanbing fundamentally lacks divine authority; it is merely that his body and power have reached god level.

This gave Nadixa room to operate.

By relying on her intact dream authority, Nadixa dragged the false god Sanbing into the dream realm, relying on the dream realm's ability to be infinitely reset, Nadixa directly collected the wisdom of Sumeru's people, utilizing the characteristic of reincarnation, allowing Ying to repeatedly see through the false god's flaws, and ultimately, by means similar to a simulator, defeated the false god.

But this does not mean Ying is comparable to the false god.

After all, even with Nadixa's help, she was still killed by Sanbing over a hundred times.

"Between demigod and powerful Vision holder."

This is Luo De's final conclusion.

"Powerful Vision holder, just how strong is that?"

Paimon is not very satisfied with Luo De's evaluation.

In her view.

Ying is the strongest person in this world.

Because Ying is the one who defeated the gods!

"If you don't understand, don't just spout nonsense; be careful she always listens to your bragging, ends up getting carried away, and then truly encounters some major crisis that cannot be resolved."

Luo De spoke frankly: "Don't just look at Ying having a lot of elemental energy, but in Teyvat, there are many geniuses who have developed their Vision to the extreme; you haven't been to Mondstadt, have you? There, the Grand Master is exactly that—he relies solely on elemental energy and weapons inherited from the gods, without divine assistance, and can fight the top three seats of the god-level Fatui; compared to such a genius, you are still far behind."

That makes perfect sense.

Even the most stubborn Paimon cannot help but choose to remain silent.

As a protest that had been refuted.

Upon entering Sumeru Cheng, Paimon kept eating, buying whatever she saw and eating whatever she saw.

From the entrance of Sumeru Cheng to Pure Goodness Palace, her mouth never stopped.

Even when the time came to audience with Nadixa, Paimon was still holding a large pile of snacks in her arms.

"Traveler from another world, Paimon, and also Ba Er Ze Bu, nice to meet you."

"Nadixa naturally wouldn't mind Paimon's rudeness; her gaze swept over Ying and then settled on Luo De: 'Earlier I made a mistake, sorry, I've taken up so much of your time.'"

"It's fine."

"Most of the time there, you don't have to risk life and death."

"Then again, it's not bad."

"Luo De looked around and asked, 'Is Mister Zhongli not here?'"

"Hmm."

"He's been living in the Doctor's research institute lately, saying that the research there has borne fruit, worried the Doctor might cause trouble, so he simply stayed there to keep an eye on him."

"When the Doctor's research was mentioned, Nadixa's brows slightly furrowed, and her complexion wasn't as good as before."

"Although the Doctor's position is vacant,"

"but his research progress hasn't been delayed at all; without harming the Sumeru Cheng people in extracting divine wisdom, merely a few months later, that divine body has completed one-third."

"This speed is astonishing."

"Including Luo De, upon hearing this, he couldn't hide the surprise on his face."

"Originally, in his thoughts."

"Sumeru Cheng after all has little money; the funds for constructing the divine were all borrowed from Liyue, and moreover, he knew that the originally designated driver, the scoundrel, had died in Inazuma."

"So many mishaps have occurred. Given the warning that completing the divine body would bring trouble, shouldn't the Doctor slow down the research speed and seek a way to break the impasse?"

"How could he be completely unafraid, even accelerating the progress? As soon as they met, he brought up such a serious issue."

"The atmosphere instantly froze, leaving Paimon and Ying silent; they quietly stood aside, watching Luo De and Nadixa discuss the Doctor's matter."

"The big fish you asked me to watch for earlier, I've also found."

"Nadixa appeared to be speaking about a topic unrelated to the Doctor."

"But bringing this up at this time."

"Luo De immediately frowned and asked, 'Is it the Fatui?'"

"It's a fragment of the Doctor."

"Nadixa said solemnly, 'I too investigated for a long time before discovering who the big fish that kept trying to interfere in Sumeru Cheng's affairs really was; his registered name at the Academy is Zan Dike, a person expelled from the Academy and also the former head of human experiments at the House of Vitality.'"

"Zan Dike?"

"Luo De knows this name."

"This is a well-known troublemaker famous in the Academy's records."

"Earlier, when Luo De had nothing to do and was browsing Academy materials, he found some information about Zan Dike."

"First."

"The Academy didn't know he was a fragment of the Doctor."

"In the records, he is also described as a foreign genius scholar, his study progress being of genius level that the Academy could rank among the best in hundreds of years; he specialized in the Wonderful Theory school, and his grades in the Vital Theory school were also outstanding, making him a dual-school scholar of high caliber."

"Later, during a relic expedition,"

"the scientific team in which Zan Dike participated encountered a beast attack, and the killing machines in the relic suddenly revived, causing the entire team to be almost wiped out; only Zan Dike and some wounded members escaped back."

"Afterward,"

"The Academy examined the corpses of the deceased and found that the cause of death of the scholar named Suo He Lei was abnormal; thus, after reporting, the then Sage Sha Na Ma rejected Zan Dike's request to take ancient parts, confirmed that Suo He Lei's death was related to him, and finally expelled him from the Academy."

"After that,"

"Zan Dike vanished without a trace."

"Even the void covering all of Sumeru Cheng could not locate his position."

"Until now."

"Only now has his name reappeared in the Sumeru Cheng Academy's field of vision."

"Zan Dike secretly recruited many scholars dissatisfied with the Academy and, by any means, sent them to positions that were not theirs."

"Thus he gained control of a considerable portion of the Academy's authority."

"Ka Wa Jia is a member of Zan Dike's faction."

"But their slogan is not to destroy Sumeru Cheng or the Academy, but to bring true knowledge back to Sumeru Cheng so that its people are no longer ignorant."

"Nadixa recounted her recent investigative findings one by one to Luo De."

"Her words made Luo De's face grow increasingly solemn."

"According to Nadixa, the Academy's infiltration is likely already extremely severe; perhaps those extremist splitters are mostly Zan Dike's subordinates."

"Thinking this,"

"Luo De pondered and asked, 'How many people have we identified so far?'"

"Many."

"Those we currently know who acknowledge the desert and rainforest and have at least died on one side are all, to some extent, related to Zan Dike."

"Nadixa's words left Luo De stunned."

"So many?"

"Luo De didn't expect that the extremist faction on the desert side also had Zan Dike's people."

"Just how deeply has this fragment infiltrated Sumeru Cheng?"

"According to Luo De's knowledge."

The Academy has no shortage of extremists; even after two major purges, there remains a considerable number of extremists who still hold positions.

If these people are all of the same faction as Zan Dike, then purging them all would basically wipe out half the Academy!? 'These people believe their bloodline is superior to the other side, and think that only by eliminating Sumeru Cheng people with different beliefs and bloodlines can Sumeru Cheng develop better.'

Nadixa's face was also full of fury.

This was the first time Luo De had seen her show such an expression.

"His brainwashing ability is very strong."

"I have secretly used mind-reading technique to examine some people related to Zan Dike."

"Just as you said at the beginning."

"The ideology of exterminating an entire clan has already taken root in their hearts; even if I expelled them from the Academy, I cannot change their way of thinking."

"Moreover."

"The scholars we have expelled and the extremist Red King followers you have punished, under Zan Dike's guidance, have respectively set up two underground organizations in the rainforest and desert, infiltrating everywhere to carry out persecution."

"Since you and the Great Merciful Tree King are present in the desert, the extremists there cannot stir up any trouble."

"But the rainforest region is different."

Nadixa's face suddenly turned red, and she lowered her head, saying: 'Because of my earlier hesitation, these people have continued to develop quickly in secret; especially after I returned to the divine throne and began balancing the rainforest and desert, this has accelerated Zan Dike's recruitment of new members, letting them cause so many troublesome things.'

"You must have found many people, right?"

Luo De listened attentively, and then obtained an important piece of information from Nadixa's words.

Mainly, Nadixa's attitude this time is different from before.

Before, Nadixa's speech and actions were always hesitant.

For those who made mistakes, she is also indecisive; even when she knows it was a mistaken person, she still wavers over how to punish them.

But this time her face is filled with anger and decisiveness, completely unlike before.

This shows that she has not only made up her mind on how to handle things, but also identified those who need to be punished; she even said she might have already figured out Zan Dike's position, but lacking manpower to deal with Zan Dike, she has delayed until now.

Nadixa's answer also confirmed Luo De's speculation.

After all, she has mind-reading technique and the Void at her disposal.

The Void is the surveillance camera of Sumeru Cheng.

Although the Void has not yet been popularized in the desert, capturing people there is still somewhat troublesome.

However, the Great Merciful Tree King guards that place.

She does not have Nadixa's leniency; being caught by her means punishment starting at the death penalty, so no matter how the extremists there cause trouble, it is unlikely to create a major impact.

If we don't need to worry about the desert.

The rainforest monitored by the Void is easy to handle.

As long as the Void flags someone as a suspect, Nadixa can immediately lock onto them via mind-reading.

Relying on this method.

She compiled a list containing hundreds of names.

And she actually found Zan Dike.

It's just that Zan Dike's location is somewhat troublesome.

"He is inside Sumeru Cheng."

"The exact location is here."

Nadixa waved her hand and scattered a map of Sumeru Cheng, pointing at one location and saying: 'The place where he is is the most densely populated area of Sumeru Cheng; I went to probe it once, this fragment's strength is strong, I cannot beat him, and because there are too many people where he is, if a fight gets out of hand, it will likely affect many people.'

(End of chapter)