Chapter 361

The revival of the Myriad Mother Tree brought effects not limited to the vicinity of the Ambrosia Flower Sea.

As time passed.

Fresh flowers and green grass were spreading and covering the entire Floating Paradise.

Without the suppression of the Abyss.

The effects of the Ambrosia Living Water and the Spirit Light were then fully revealed.

The only regret is.

It is that Egeria's revival consumed too much of the Ambrosia Living Water, leaving only enough to support the oasis spreading outward a certain distance; any farther and it cannot do so.

Moreover, new flower spirits can no longer be born from the Ambrosia Living Water.

From now on, the flower spirit clan has only these remaining.

However, these things cannot conceal the joy of Egeria's resurrection.

For the Great Merciful Tree King.

Nothing could make people happier than this.

Although Egeria now lacks divine authority, she remains only an immortal spirit-light body and a not particularly strong divine sense.

But this is enough.

Because the new Hydro Archon has been born, she no longer needs to exhaust herself for Fontaine, so there is no need for mighty divine power or unparalleled authority to act.

"Just enjoy life in peace."

This is what the Great Merciful Tree King said to Egeria.

"Hmm."

Egeria laughed and responded.

But her eyes would occasionally glance toward the north.

That is the location of Fontaine.

It faces the border of Sumeru across the sea.

Speaking of which.

Luo De still doesn't quite understand.

Why does Sumeru's border have no defensive line? Is it because Fontaine doesn't need to defend? Or does the Academy think that this side of the desert is utterly uninhabited, so even if someone enters Sumeru from here, they would have to cross the vast desert before reaching Sumeru's core region? "Even if we don't set up military defenses, we still need to put up some watchtowers."

Luo De muttered a few words, and in his mind he roughly came up with some small plans.

Before, it might truly have been that the conditions weren't enough, making it impossible to set up a defensive line in the desert.

Now the tribes of these two flower deities, the Flower Spirits and the Guardian Spirits, have all been found by him.

With their power.

Opening a passage from Hope City to the Fontaine seaside is not difficult; in the middle there is the Sweet Dew Flower Sea that can serve as a transfer station.

By then this route will need to have guards.

At the same time we also need to guard against stowaways coming across the sea.

After all, Sumeru is no longer what it used to be.

We can no longer let those bandits who have fled everywhere come and go freely, allowing them to build up their strength.

This is why the bandits in the desert could never be eradicated before.

Those treasure-hunting gangs, wanted criminals, and even murderers and bandits from Fontaine, Natà, or other countries, when they can no longer survive in their own countries, will think of every way to flee to this no-man's-land of the Sumeru desert, where they can continue to live freely and at ease.

Luo De deeply knows that relying solely on suppressing bandits cannot possibly eradicate the bandits that have been rampant in the desert for over a thousand years; ultimately, he must return to governance.

Since governance is needed.

Then we must arrange personnel to long-maintain public order and stability.

Moreover, through this journey with the Great Merciful Tree King to the Floating Jade Paradise, Luo De and she together confirmed a route that could be used as a trade road leading straight to Fontaine.

Once this trade route and its supporting port are opened.

Afterwards, trade between the desert and Fontaine will no longer need to detour through the rainforest region; it can directly dock at Fontaine's Sea Dew Port.

Originally this matter was still quite difficult.

But now we have the assistance of the Guardian Spirits and Flower Spirits.

To open this trade route, the only difficulty is the Dama Mountain Range lying in the middle.

"The northern side of Dama Mountain was once a canal constructed by the Red King using the power of the Guardian Spirits."

"However, later, under the turmoil of the Guardian Spirits' mother Lilupar, these three canals lost their source, eventually dried up completely, and were buried by history in the yellow sands."

"Now we have found Lilupar and Filigis, these two great Guardian Spirits."

"Relying on their power, reshaping the three canals is not a difficult task."

"Your previous transfer station plan."

The Great Merciful Tree King, holding a map, glanced sideways at Luo De: "Are you sure you want to repeat the previous reclamation strategy and build a transfer station in the area of the three canals?"

"You yourself are a senior lecturer of the Mystic Discourse School; how could you not see that?"

Luo De pouted: "Such a long route, without supply points, are you planning to exhaust those transport convoys?"

"So you thought of using the Guardian Spirits as free labor?"

The Great Merciful Tree King crossed his arms and said: "Just a reminder, although the souls of those two Guardian Spirits are both complete, the divine authority of their retinue that they hold has already been mostly lost, and you need to make it up for them."

"Then let's restore it."

Luo De had an indifferent expression: "I hold these authorities, but there's not much I can do with them; it'd be better to let Lilupar and Filigis handle things."

"Oh, then you're not afraid they won't be loyal enough to you and will once again do something to destroy the desert city-state?"

The Great Merciful Tree King reminded Luo De: "Don't forget, that Lilupar once, for her own selfishness, brought the entire desert into war and division."

Luo De also knows this.

But this is the Flower God's fault.

The Spirit-Suppressing Clan she created is extremely twisted in its view of love.

It is precisely under the influence of this twisted view of love.

Li Lu Pa Er, who became the queen of Ju'er Cheng, immediately launched a series of retaliatory actions after noticing that the king's love for her had become twisted.

Directly and indirectly, this caused Ju'er Cheng to split apart, with the royal descendants slaughtering each other for over a hundred years until later generations were completely wiped out; the desert that had originally become a unified city-state eventually fragmented into countless city-states, and ultimately, amidst bloodshed and war, evolved into the chaotic pattern of later ages.

Hmm.

This is indeed a problem.

Luo De pondered and said: "However, I don't know how to reshape the familiars, nor do I know how to handle the issue with Li Lu Pa Er and Fe Li Ji Si; if we leave it unattended, should she fall in love with a human again, who knows what trouble might arise."

I'll handle this.

E Ge Li Ya, who had been silently listening, volunteered: "I have experience in crafting familiars; setting aside the negative aspects of personality, if it's a designated problem, I can still handle it."

Can you do it now?

Luo De glanced at E Ge Li Ya.

It's not that he doesn't trust E Ge Li Ya's ability; it's simply that E Ge Li Ya is still a bit weak at present.

Well, she is much weaker than him.

Strictly speaking.

Having lost her divinity and all her divine power, E Ge Li Ya now lacks even the strength of the lowest Archon; aside from possessing a true divine body, she is not even as strong as the divine puppet made by Lei Dian Ying.

That's still not a problem.

Facing doubts, E Ge Li Ya smiled slightly: "Although I no longer have the power of the Seven Worldly Executors, my vessel remains, and I still retain the ability to channel divine power; as long as someone among you is willing to lend me a bit of strength, eliminating the familiars' negative roots is still something I can do."

Hearing her say that, Luo De also relaxed and said: "Then I'll leave it to you."

After finishing those miscellaneous matters, Luo De, the Great Merciful Tree King, and E Ge Li Ya proceeded further and finally arrived at their destination.

One of the national gates of Kan Rui Ya.

Tu Ni Black Abyss.

The only person following them this time was the previously disabled Ke Lin Suo Er.

As for Ying and Paimon,

The two of them remained in the Sweet Dew Flower Sea, going to help find those flower spirits that had previously been scattered across various places in order to dispel the Black Abyss.

The Flower Spirit Clan is not limited to just Zu Er Wan and Si Lu Sha.

According to the two of them,

The newly born flower spirits over the past five hundred years, plus the surviving old-timer flower spirits from back then, total several dozen, more than enough to form a flower spirit squad.

At the same time, the Great Merciful Tree King also asked them to help find members of the Rectification Discourse Group.

Although Na Xian Zhu Na betrayed his ancestors,

But no matter what,

Most members of the Rectification Discourse Group still uphold the mission of the Na Qie Zhu Na Group, having fought against the Black Abyss in the desert for these hundreds of years.

Now the Black Abyss has been resealed.

It is also time to bring them back to the Academy.

What Luo De and the others need to do now is:

Namely, to enter the national gate of Kan Rui Ya and find the technology for creating perpetual motion devices and sustainable energy.

This was the original purpose of Luo De leaving Ke Lin Suo Er behind.

This guy is ultimately a descendant of the White Egret Knight.

His ancestor was none other than Hai Du La, who held a rather high status among the White Egret Knights.

With him present, many mechanisms would not need to be destroyed by brute force, thus allowing us to avoid triggering any possible self-destruct devices as much as possible, preventing important data from being damaged.

As for whether Ke Lin Suo Er is willing to cooperate on this matter,

The Great Merciful Tree King solved it perfectly with just a psychological hint.

Klinsool, having lost the Abyss's power, was mentally no different from an ordinary mortal; even under the torment of immortality, his mind grew even more fragile, and the Great Merciful Tree King hardly had to exert any effort before he became meek and obedient, with no trace of resistance or hostility left.

Under the suppressing influence of the Sweet Dew Flower Sea.

The ruined entrance of the tea-mud black abyss had no trace of concealment left; it lay bare and obvious outside.

The ground originally covered by the abyss had not a shred of life.

Even after hundreds of years have passed, the air still reeks of the atmosphere of death.

"This is the gate of Khaenri'ah."

Luo De had never been to such an oppressive place; as soon as he arrived at the gate, the smile still on his face vanished completely.

Just by observing from the outside.

One can see how brutal the Khaenri'ah war of that year was.

Shattered machinery lay scattered across the ground; the lifeless black mud had just receded, leaving behind countless holes; a barren, lifeless wasteland where no grass grows; no matter where you walk, you cannot see a trace of any living spirit's breath.

Compared to Luo De and the Great Merciful Tree King.

Erikalia's complexion appeared even more ashen.

Luo De had never witnessed how brutal the Khaenri'ah war was.

The Great Merciful Tree King, back then, was ordered by Heaven to guard the World Tree, so he never came to the borders of Khaenri'ah; instead, following the Flower God's arrangement, he created this Sweet Dew Flower Sea outside this gate, a region specially used to suppress and cleanse the black abyss.

But Erikalia was different.

She died in Khaenri'ah.

Thus, even to this day, her memory of Khaenri'ah's horror remains fresh.

"I originally thought that after dying once, I wouldn't be afraid of anything anymore."

Egelinya gave a bitter smile: "I never imagined that this fear would have penetrated so deeply into my soul; even now that I've become like this, returning here still makes me tremble all over with fear."

Egelinya's courage is beyond doubt.

She dared to defy the heavenly decree and create a god for humanity, and for this she was punished and imprisoned by the heavens for thousands of years, never yielding to the heavenly decree.

And yet she is such a god who dares to confront the heavenly decree.

Yet now she shivers in the realm of the Abyss.

The Great Merciful Tree King held Egelinya in his arms, sighing softly: "What kind of terror did you all endure back then?"

"That is a terror you cannot possibly imagine."

Egelinya shook her head: "I can't even describe to you what I saw; you just need to know that back then, when I faced Leidian Zhen, I didn't even have the strength to fight back—just a single glance left me gravely injured, my consciousness almost instantly sinking into silence, and Leidian Zhen fell on the spot. If it weren't for Molakesi holding the front, I wouldn't even have had a chance to flee to Fuluoyong."

"Hiss—"

Luo De couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air.

That really is terrifying enough.

The two Seven Sovereigns of the World, especially Leidian Zhen who possessed such a conceptual power, were still instantly killed by a single glance from the terror summoned by Kanriya.

"In Leidian Zhen's subconscious, he believed he could never slash through those terrors."

Along the way, Luo De walked while pondering Egelinya's words.

This Unceasing Slash ability is extremely overbearing.

And it is extremely idealistic.

Unless she is strong enough to make Leidian Zhen lose the will to resist at a glance, otherwise she would not only avoid being instantly killed, but would surely carve a piece of flesh from the terror's body.

Combined with the truth that Kelin suoer previously said,

Luo De could now be certain.

Teyvat is not false; it is merely, under the protection of the False Heaven, fallen into a strange kind of falsehood, or rather, a state of endless reincarnation.

The so-called heavenly decree cannot be defied, and fate is already fixed.

This is how it comes about.

And the truth that Kelin suoer spoke of, and the terror that Egelinya saw,

very likely the true Teyvat, a world scorched by war and corroded by darkness.

And Luo De also knows.

After the heavenly decree's second battle with the Dragon King Nibolonggen,

although he ultimately won, he also fell into a state of severe injury and near death.

In other words,

He can no longer protect Teyvat.

Therefore humanity must rise up, using its own strength to resist the falsehood ordained by the heavenly decree, thereby breaking free from endless reincarnation and becoming true humanity.

"The Abyss that contaminates everything is the true Teyvat."

Luo De came to an answer in his heart.

At the same time,

They also continued onward to a tightly sealed room.

This is the place Kelin suoer led them to.

As a descendant of Haidula, he still retained in his mind the maps of the various Kanriya scientific laboratories of old; under the psychological hint of the Great Merciful Tree King, he took no wrong turn and brought Luo De and the others to the Kanriya laboratory that still preserved a large amount of data.

(End of chapter)