Chapter 319: Divine Traces

The method that Nadixa and the Great Merciful Tree King came up with left Luo De in a long silence.

Their meaning was actually quite simple.

Simply have Luo De seize the title of the Red King, thereby bringing this thorny situation under their control.

Nadixa had even worked out the gimmick.

【Luo De is the reincarnation of the Red King, and his good relations with the Dendro Archon stem from the fact that the Red King was once an ally of the Great Merciful Tree King; they are merely renewing the divine covenant of old.】

That gimmick is actually sound and convincing just by looking at it.

Luo De pondered it carefully and also felt the method was feasible.

The only difficulty in this matter.

Namely, how to make people believe he is the Red King's reincarnation rather than doubt his true identity.

Displaying divine power is one way.

Now having Luo De display power close to that of the Seven Archons is still not enough, but displaying an Archon-level ability he can still do.

Moreover, Sumeru has gone five hundred years without a god to govern it.

Those who have witnessed a god displaying divine might are all from five hundred years ago; now the grass on the graves is taller than the Academy.

Such convenient conditions exist.

In theory.

Luo De only needs to display Archon-level power, and that will be enough to convince the desert folk who have never seen a god.

And the flaw in this method.

Namely, if, because of that Dottore slice in the desert you find displeasing, you come out and challenge Lin Ye to a duel, then relying on the Red King image established earlier, Luo De would likely fail to see through his disguise.

"The statue that Apep had erected for you."

While Luo De was pondering, Nadixa brought up the matter of the statue again.

Just hear her say: "She might have also discovered that someone was impersonating the Red King to deceive the desert folk, so she erected a statue in A Ru Cun for you that can receive faith power, uh, a divine image, and she used this statue to intercept the faith power that might arise from this, which is why she suddenly had the statue erected for you."

"Is that so?"

Nadixa saying that also counts as solving a mystery in Luo De's heart.

Although he had previously spoken magnanimously, he still minded why Apep had erected a statue for him out of nowhere.

If Nadixa's deduction is correct.

That would indicate Apep is also dissatisfied with the person secretly impersonating the Red King, and even specially acted once to transfer that faith power onto Luo De.

Someone who could make even a person like her grow weary.

Basically, it also settled the guess that the person secretly behind Luo De is Dottore.

On the other hand.

Nadixa's words weren't finished yet.

"Faith power, from certain levels of perspective, is essentially the foundation of becoming a god, or possessing divinity."

She gave an example: "The Wind God Barbatos, before becoming a god, was merely an ordinary wind sprite; compared to the Storm Archon Diekalaban, they were worlds apart, or you could say completely incomparable, yet he still won that battle—why?"

It seemed she was asking Luo De.

But before Luo De could speak, Nadixa gave the answer: "Because Barbatos, who faced the Storm Archon head-on, represented the Mondstadt people's spirit of resistance against Diekalaban; after the rebellion began, the faith offered by those Mondstadt people continuously supplied Barbatos with enough power to oppose the Storm Archon, thereby defeating the invincible Storm Archon and ascending to the Wind God's throne of Mondstadt."

"Huh?"

What Nadixa said was not quite the same as Luo De's impression.

He clearly remembered that Diekalaban, upon seeing his own people united with Venti in resisting him, eventually came to his senses and willingly gave his power and divinity to Venti; that's why Mondstadt did not end up with Storm Archon remnants littering the ground like Liyue, nor did it see the divine power of the Storm Archon dissipate upon Guizhong's death, which would have nearly destroyed the Guyilian plateau.

Moreover, Venti himself has admitted to this.

Diekalaban's crown is kept with him, used to store the faith power that the Mondstadt people have offered him over the past two thousand years.

Could there be some hidden truth in this?

Luo De blinked, about to ask, when Nadixa said: "You haven't used wish power in Inazuma, have you? You should know how great an impact the people's wish power placed upon an outsider can have on a god."

"."

The Thunderclap Fantasy of the single-minded dreamer fell silent.

She had to admit it.

What Nadixa said was correct.

Earlier, when Luo De and Ying challenged her,

What truly made her change her mind was precisely the wish power generated by the Inazuma people due to their dissatisfaction with her, which actually surpassed her own power, prompting her to reconsider whether she had gone wrong somewhere, leading to the subsequent actions of lifting the lockdown order and abolishing the Vision Hunt Decree.

By analogy,

Nadixa's description of Mondstadt's situation back then.

Actually, the true reason for Diekalaban's defeat was that Barbatos, who possessed the entirety of the Mondstadt people's wish power, with merely the body of an ordinary wind sprite, defeated him—the Storm Archon who ruled all of Mondstadt—causing him to exhibit self-doubt even more severe than that of the Thunderclap Fantasy.

Furthermore, Diekalaban's attitude toward humans was genuinely affectionate.

Although the Mondstadt people have cursed him as a tyrant for over two thousand years, that's only because, as an Archon, he fundamentally cannot comprehend human emotions, single-mindedly believing that by building a city with gales he lets Mondstadt folk escape wind and snow, eat their fill and stay warm, which he considers the proper way to love humanity.

Thus when Venti, carrying the Mondstadt people's wish power, defeated him in one fell swoop,

Diekalaban finally came to realize that his own subjects actually did not like him, and even loathed his rule.

Diekalaban's psychological defenses completely collapsed.

Just as mortal faith in gods can collapse, he who professed love for humanity yet was despised by his people ultimately chose to let go of everything, entrusting Mondstadt to Barbatos, who was more beloved by the Mondstadt people.

And this.

is the truth of those days.

Of course.

Nadixa has said all that.

I'm not giving Luo De a history lesson.

That's what she wanted to say.

It's that Luo De already has the foundation to become a god; as long as the power of faith continues to grow and reaches the level where a divine essence can be condensed, Luo De will become the first mortal to ascend to godhood through mortal strength since the establishment of the mortal world's Seven Archons system.

As for the Mondstadt legend that one can become a god by using the power of a Vision, becoming the first Original God in history, that would be the great knight Vennessa.

Even a god like Nadixa cannot verify the truth of that rumor.

In that case.

Before Nadixa and those other gods, Luo De truly has a chance to ascend to godhood, and indeed he is the case they speak of—the first mortal to become a god.

"You mean I should, through this identity as the reincarnation of the Red King, condense the faith of the desert people into a divine essence that only an Archon can possess?"

To be honest.

That's really tempting.

An Archon and a mortal of Archon-level are ultimately still not quite the same.

Right now there's an opportunity to ascend straight to Archonhood; if Luo De said he wasn't moved, that would be impossible.

But he still has some reservations in his heart.

Moreover, he hasn't really asked about it yet. That is, the birth of an Archon should all stem from the fragment of the first Descender who landed on the Teyvat continent, namely the Primordial Person.

This is also why every Archon has an Archon's beloved, a mental imprint that can be called a base‑level code.

According to Nadixa's explanation.

If gathering the power of faith can condense a divine essence, then how should we handle this Primordial Fragment? He pondered it for a while.

Luo De still asked this question: "The divine essence you speak of—can it really be condensed from the power of faith? Shouldn't that thing be a fragment of the Primordial?"

"Do you know about the Primordial Fragment?"

Now it's not just Nadixa; the sisters Raiden Shogun and Raiden Mei also exclaimed in surprise.

The matter of the Primordial Fragment.

Even among Archons, few know about it.

Nadixa knows because she is the embodiment of the World Tree; although the Great Merciful Tree King has taken away most of her authority, she still retains the right to draw knowledge from the World Tree, achieving omniscience as the Wise God.

Raiden Shogun and Raiden Mei know because they are both first‑generation Archons, aware of many heavenly secrets that second‑generation Archons do not know.

Especially the Great Merciful Tree King and Raiden Shogun, as veterans of the Archon War, have a deeper understanding of many minor details of that war.

Therefore they know the essence of the Archon War: under the new Sevenfold Order, the Primordial Fragments devour one another and ultimately achieve the Seven Gods' thrones, becoming a new order that replaces the Heavenly Principle's suppression of the Dragon Order.

And the birth of Visions also comes precisely from the Primordial Fragments within the thrones of the Seven Archons.

So theoretically speaking.

On the present Teyvat continent, it is almost impossible for a new god to be born.

Unless someone possesses a new Primordial Fragment.

Or—"Because you are a Descender."

Having learned that Luo De had heard of the Primordial Fragment, Nadixa no longer hid certain things, and instead explained why they were optimistic about Luo De.

"A Descender is not merely a person from some faraway land, nor is he bound by the Sevenfold Order; he truly possesses a will and potential capable of rivaling an entire world."

"That is why the Heavenly Principle can suppress the whole of Teyvat."

"And you, like her, are also a Descender, and thus the same applies to you."

Nadixa paused, then explained: "Since you are not constrained, you can completely free yourself from the requirement that gods must possess a Primordial Fragment; you therefore have a full chance to condense a divine essence on your own."

"I understand."

Now Luo De finally understood, and all those mysteries about becoming a god were finally answered perfectly.

Then the next steps lie before us.

"How can we smoothly replace the firm, unwavering belief that Multiple has already instilled in the desert people?"

Luo De stroked his chin and came up with a plan.

"First."

"We first need to know how many people Multiple has impersonated the Red King for."

"We also need to know what he told those people, what favors he gave them, making them firmly believe that the Red King is still alive."

Don't think these matters are insignificant just because they seem minor before the Red King's reincarnation.

But in Luo De's view, this is very important.

If we don't know what Multiple has done, impersonating him and seizing his faith among the desert people would easily arouse suspicion.

Luo De does not doubt the desert people's loyalty to the Red King at all.

However, the issue of loyalty cannot serve as the sole criterion for verification when a god appears.

"If we want to impersonate the Red King as seen by the desert people,"

"we must match their mental image of him down to the finest detail."

"His abilities, appearance, words spoken, and favors bestowed must all match up, so that those fanatics will acknowledge me as the Red King."

"If there is any lapse in this, once the fanatics doubt me, that doubt will not disappear but only intensify, making it hard to resolve in the end."

While speaking.

Luo De's preliminary plan has already been formulated.

That is, taking advantage of this time in A Ru Cun, we should thoroughly investigate people like Setare who have received the Red King's favor, gather all the details, combine them, and finally compile an image of the Red King.

"I need permission to use mind‑reading."

To prevent being deceived by false words, Luo De prepares to use the simplest, most forceful method.

That is Nadixa's mind‑reading ability.

This is one of the evolutions of the Dendro Archon's authority.

It just so happens that Luo De hasn't returned the Thousand-Night Floating Dream to Nadixa yet; as long as Nadixa agrees, he can fully borrow the Thousand-Night Floating Dream and directly use mind-reading to gather the information he wants.

Besides that.

There is also a very important problem that needs to be solved.

"How should I display a god's power so that people will believe I am a true god?"

"You four are all gods."

"Give me an opinion, okay?"

Luo De said.

This refers to the way divine manifestations appear, not the usual mode in which Nadixa and Raiden Ei directly meet their subjects.

The so‑called divine manifestation, divine manifestation.

Naturally, it is an ability that mortal strength cannot achieve, but divine power can realize.

For example, Apep's Oasis Source.

A single seed can create an oasis in a barren desert that can encompass a great city.

Another example: when the Red King goes out, the desert wind stops, the killing ceases, and the red sun stretches ten thousand li.

These are divine manifestations sufficient to make mortals feel awe and reverence.

Luo De wants people to believe he is truly the Red King's reincarnation and possesses the ability to bless his followers; naturally, he must display a divine manifestation that will make the Red King's followers willingly submit.

"Under normal circumstances, I simply stir changes in heavenly phenomena and use thunder to display divine might."

This is the genuine method of lightning.

As a god formed from the earliest lightning embodiment in Teyvat, lightning's natural might is certainly the most fitting.

Raiden Ei skipped this topic directly.

Since she succeeded the Electro Archon, she has remained in a withdrawn state; displaying divine manifestations is the general's duty, and it is much the same as the genuine lightning method.

Nadixa likewise.

As for the Great Merciful Tree King,

What she offered was not just advice; as an old friend of the Red King, nobody knows the Red King better than she does. Therefore, before giving her opinion, her first step was to explain to Luo De what kind of divine manifestations the Red King had shown to his subjects in the past, then, combining historical records from the desert and the Academy, she proposed a divine manifestation most suitable for Luo De—one that he could actually display with his abilities.

(End of chapter)