Chapter 320: The Renewed Covenant of the Three Gods

Ying and Paimon are perhaps the most warm-hearted people on the entire Teyvat continent.

As soon as Luo De asked them for help, they agreed without hesitation, didn't even ask why, and took on the task of going to A Ru Cun to investigate.

Of course.

This matter couldn't be done without Kantisi's help.

Luo De bears the identity of the Red King's Divine Envoy, an ominous star; even the radical factions who are extremely dissatisfied with his closeness to the Dendro Archon dare not speak recklessly when faced with his questioning.

But Ying and Paimon are different.

This is their first time coming to Sumeru, and in A Ru Cun they are completely unfamiliar with the people and the land.

If it weren't for Kantisi's help.

Even if they held Luo De's Village Guardian Emblem, they couldn't find those who had received the 'Red King's Blessing'.

"If anyone speaks rudely, just show them this."

Before setting out, Luo De gave his emblem to Ying.

Although I don't know if it's still usable now.

But this is ultimately an emblem personally issued by Kantisi; the young might not care, but it should still work when faced with elderly folks.

As for those scholars from the Academy,

this is something Luo De must personally go find.

Don't be fooled by A Ru Cun's surface calm; underneath, currents are surging, making the situation far more complex than when Luo De was here before.

Back then, at least it was merely a conflict between Red King's followers and Dendro Archon's followers; internally, the radical and moderate factions had their disagreements, but in the face of major events, with Kantisi keeping them in check, nobody dared to cause trouble.

Now it's different.

Just from what Luo De learned from Setare, he knows that among those who believe the Red King is still alive, the radical faction, the moderate faction, and the Academy's scholars are all present.

Thus the situation has become delicate.

Needless to say, the radical faction,

they, who originally believed that Sumeru should have only Red King faith, regard Dendro Archon's followers with a fanatical ideology of slaughtering them all.

Previously, the fact that the Red King was thought dead kept them from going too far; most of the time they merely engaged in minor skirmishes in the desert.

However, after the news that the Red King is still alive spread,

Even Kantisi, who is confident in herself, now dares not say she can definitely suppress those fervent radicals.

Yet these people are the ones who provide Luo De with the most faith power.

Of course.

This faith is not for Luo De, but for the Red King.

However, under Apep's manipulation, all of this faith power has been siphoned away.

After that, things become even harder to handle.

It's not the Desert People.

but rather those scholars from the Academy.

Scholars like Setare, who originally came from the desert, are fine; they already have some faith basis in the Red King, and they had advance notice that the Red King would bless believers, so they are actually easier to deal with.

The trouble comes from those rainforest-area scholars who have received the 'Red King's Blessing'.

Logically speaking.

They should all be followers of the Dendro Archon.

Especially after Nadixa's return, their faith should have been unwavering.

But the Red King's blessing has made these people waver.

Even Setare can see how these senior and junior colleagues of hers are wavering between Dendro Archon faith and Red King faith.

And this indecision.

This also causes them to neither want to contact the Desert People nor communicate with fellow rainforest-area scholars, effectively making them a fourth faction among the three powers.

Among these people, the easiest to handle

are the moderate Red King followers led by Kantisi.

they, who originally advocated that Red King's followers and Dendro Archon's followers are one family, treat the desert‑rainforest relation by holding that everyone is a Sumeru person and should not fight each other.

Now, having witnessed the Red King's blessing,

they have instead become more steadfast in their belief.

The Red King has lain dormant in the desert for so many years without ever leading the Desert People to rise up in a divine war against the Dendro Archon; this shows that the Great Red King does not wish to fight the Dendro Archon, but only wants to peacefully improve the desert.

The moderate faction, believing they have grasped the true divine will,

have not forgotten their original intention, and are even more enthusiastic about ethnic integration than before.

Thus they have erupted into a more severe ideological conflict with the radical faction, and in upholding Luo De—whom they see as the key point of ethnic integration—they spare no effort.

Earlier, those who fought outside A Ru Cun over Luo De's reputation with the rainforest-area merchants were precisely the moderate Red King followers.

After careful consideration,

Luo De and Ying then split up: Luo De went to find the Academy's scholars, while Ying went with Kantisi to find the radical faction's people.

Just like that.

An entire day passed.

When evening came.

At Kantisi's home, several people sat around a table, eating the food on the plate while exchanging what they had gained that day.

"Those people are very stubborn."

"Your emblem is completely useless."

"They either refuse to say what kind of divine gift they received, or they simply decline to answer, and some even want to drive us out."

They say it's like that.

But Ying's mouth corner was always slightly raised.

Then I heard her say somewhat proudly: 'However, these people all ended up defeated under my and Kantisi's fists.'

She said.

She put down her spoon and pointed with her finger, saying: 'Most of those radicals who received the Red King's blessings gained power, and some even obtained a Vision.'

"A Vision?"

Luo De's expression turned serious as he looked at Kantisi.

A Ru Cun has always lacked Vision bearers.

Earlier.

Despite the village's size, only Luo De and Kantisi were Vision bearers.

If many Vision bearers were to appear in A Ru Cun now, given Kantisi's attention to this matter, she couldn't possibly be unaware.

"I actually knew about this long ago."

Facing Luo De's questioning, Kantisi openly admitted it, then shifted her tone: 'But those Visions, I suspect they aren't actually Visions at all.'

"Oh?"

"Not Visions?"

Luo De raised his eyebrows slightly.

Then Ying added from the side: 'Those Visions look exactly like normal Visions; the naked eye can't tell any difference, and they indeed grant the ability to use elemental energy. Oh, right, the Visions also have different attributes. We visited over thirty people today, and twenty-one of them received Visions, altogether encompassing five different elemental energies. Yet these Visions give me a very bad feeling.'

Ying pondered a moment and found the right word: 'To my perception, they are simply very uncomfortable; staring at them gives the feeling of being watched by something evil.'

"."

By this point, Luo De already had the answer: "An evil eye."

It can mimic a Vision, grant the ability to use elemental energy, and even make Ying feel palpitations.

Plus, the suspect creator of the evil eye is Dottore—there's no doubt about it.

The Visions that suddenly appeared in A Ru Cun are actually mass-produced evil eyes made by Snezhnaya using remnants of an Archon.

"I'm afraid that's exactly it."

As for the evil eye, Kantisi has heard of it slightly.

However, she only heard a little about it, mostly from her dealings with the Foolish People.

Not all soldiers of the Foolish People possess an evil eye.

Only those who can be called elite officers have the right to use an evil eye.

These people have had many conflicts with Kantisi.

Therefore, Kantisi clearly knows that, if we ignore the harm the evil eye does to the body, just from the standpoint of using elemental energy, even she would find it hard to tell the difference between an evil eye and a Vision.

And the reason she suspects those villagers are holding evil eyes is...

Simply because she doesn't believe Visions would suddenly appear in A Ru Cun like mass-produced goods.

Then only something capable of such convincing imitation could do that.

That would be the evil eye.

Kantisi then spoke with a worried expression: 'Those radicals firmly believe in the authenticity of the Visions in their hands, and I find it hard to explain through normal means that these are actually deceits by the Foolish People.'

"If we use forceful means,"

"These people currently hold evil eyes, granting them abilities not inferior to true Vision bearers."

"If we resort to violence,"

"I can indeed take them all down."

"But doing so,"

"One is that I can't guarantee that seizing the evil eyes won't cause them to rebel and harm the village, or rather, I can't guarantee this at all—I don't want to see the current village suffer any loss."

"Second,"

"Forcibly suppressing these radical evil-eye holders will surely provoke their fierce resistance; those people, you know"

Kantisi showed a helpless expression.

Too many complications.

Discovered too late.

These factors combined mean that even if she is A Ru Cun's strongest and most powerful guardian in history, she cannot correct these problems through ordinary means.

After Luo De finished hearing her words,

He noted the two words 'evil eye' in his mind and then asked: 'What rewards did the remaining people receive? Let's find out.'

"Hmm."

"Those who didn't receive an evil eye: some had their serious illnesses cured by divine light, some gained knowledge they never had before through divine light, and some..."

Setting aside the evil eye, the Red King's blessings others received are all sorts of things.

Basically, they are all benefits that can change one's current situation.

"A very good means of bewitching people's hearts."

Having said so much, relying on memory alone might miss details, so Luo De took out his notebook and pen, wrote down what Ying and Kantisi had said, and heavily circled the evil eye.

The rest are easy to talk about.

Illnesses can be treated with healing techniques.

Knowledge? Nadixa has plenty; he can obtain whatever he needs.

For martial arts that make one stronger, he already has them ready at hand.

Including weapons not inferior to Kantisi's Red Sand Staff, he can also obtain them.

The only trouble now.

It is this evil eye masquerading as a Vision.

Luo De has no evil eye, nor any substitute, and giving people a Vision is even more impossible.

Besides the Heavenly Principles, even the Seven Archons of the mortal world cannot fathom how the Vision system of Teyvat operates.

This point has been personally attested to by Nadixa, Venti, Zhongli, and Lei Dianying.

The distribution of Visions has nothing to do with them.

It simply depends on whether human wishes can gain the approval of Sky Island.

As for what kind of wish it is, nobody knows.

The real problem lies here.

Luo De wants to obtain faith from those who have obtained an evil eye; he must therefore have the same ability to convince them.

Just as Luo De lightly tapped the table with his right hand, he fell into contemplation.

Kantisi and Ying asked in unison: "How about your side? What did the scholars say?"

They.

Luo De came back to his senses, shook his head slightly, and said: "The scholars are fine; all they want is knowledge, and what they get is precisely the knowledge they have long dreamed of, that flash of inspiration feeling."

Their problem is.

Those scholars who came from the rainforest region yet received the Scarlet King's favor.

Speaking of this.

Luo De's brows furrowed even deeper.

Knowledge and a flash of inspiration are easy to handle.

He holds a World Tree leaf in his hand; although he lacks the authority to control the World Tree, as long as he unleashes the leaf's full power, it is enough to give that flash of inspiration feeling.

The problem lies in those people's mentality.

Their wavering between the two gods has left them without any inclination for scholarship, leaving them in a state of constant withdrawal; were it not for Luo De's triple identity as an Academy scholar, Scarlet King's envoy, and a member of the Dendro Archon's retinue, they would not even be willing to receive him, let alone give him the opportunity to read their minds.

However, Luo De still has a way to deal with them.

They are not just questioning whether their faith is flawed; as Nadixa said, simply announce the relationship between the Scarlet King and the Dendro Archon's position.

Three gods sharing rule.

All three deities are the Dendro Archon.

Thus, believing in any of them is believing in the 'Dendro Archon', so there is no need to argue over who exactly one believes in.

Moreover, taking advantage of this opportunity.

Luo De also intends to let the Great Merciful Tree King, who possesses a flash-of-inspiration body, return in the guise of a flower god; together with Nadixa's Dendro Archon and Luo De representing the Scarlet King, they can just renew the triple deity covenant, thereby redefining the rainforest, tribes, and mercenary organizations as all being the Dendro Archon's people, using this as an opportunity to eliminate the ethnic strife that has troubled Sumeru for hundreds of years.

No need to worry about the moderate faction.

The Academy side has no problem using the triple deity covenant.

The current trouble.

It is those radical factions who have obtained an evil eye.

Because Duotulei uses evil eyes to counterfeit Visions, creating the illusion that gods can grant Visions, and this also perfectly matches the rumor circulating in Teyvat that 'obtaining a god's glance can grant a Vision'.

Debunking the rumor is useless.

These fanatics will never believe it.

This leads to Luo De also having to produce the same means and objects to prove to these people that he is the Scarlet King.

"With so many evil eyes, perhaps there is a factory producing evil eyes near A Ru Cun."

"Let's go look for it together."

Luo De, who has not yet thought of a solution, can only first direct his efforts toward this possibly existing evil eye factory.

(End of chapter)