Chapter 58: A God Without Any Presence

Have you seen a god?

A De Ba Yi's words really startled Luo De.

As for that 'god whom the Great Sage said had already died'.

If Luo De's understanding is correct, what A De Ba Yi said should be the previous Dendro Archon of Sumeru, the Great Merciful Tree King.

Indeed.

This god has not completely died; a certain consciousness remains.

But with A De Ba Yi's abilities, there is simply no possibility of seeing that consciousness.

Moreover, Sumeru's god is different from the gods of other nations in Teyvat.

The entire Tiwatedalu has a total of seven nations.

Except for Sumeru, only Mondstadt's Anemo Archon has disappeared for over five hundred years and has not reappeared, while the gods of other nations all sit in the highest executive position.

Sumeru's situation is relatively unique.

After the Great Merciful Tree King passed away, they also welcomed a new god.

That is the current Dendro Archon, the Little Auspicious Grass King.

However, this god does not participate in any political affairs; instead, they were imprisoned by their own followers.

Luo De remembers this very clearly.

The Academy strictly monitors this god, and has basically erased her title, the Little Auspicious Grass King, from the void; even the Grand Wind Discipline Officer Sai Nuo once believed that the Little Auspicious Grass King was a god who never existed.

On the contrary.

However, there is a great deal of information in the void about the previous Dendro Archon, the Great Merciful Tree King.

So.

Did A De Ba Yi mistake the person?

The Academy has not yet fully launched the god‑creation project.

Therefore, the confinement of the Little Auspicious Grass King is not absolute; she can still communicate with the outside world through consciousness.

If that is indeed the case.

A De Ba Yi might have mistaken the Little Auspicious Grass King for the Great Merciful Tree King.

To prove this.

Luo De probed, asking: "What does the god you saw look like?"

I don't know.

You don't know?

When I saw her, warm green light like a mother's embrace surrounded her; I could barely make out her figure, which was like that of a child. Then she reached out, pulling my consciousness back from the brink of falling into degeneration, and afterwards she warned me not to attempt to touch the World Tree again.

A De Ba Yi reminisced with a nostalgic expression about the experience of first seeing the god.

Could not see her face clearly.

Could only confirm that her figure was like that of a child, matching the last recorded appearance of the Great Merciful Tree King in the histories.

Thus he naturally assumed that the god who saved him must be the Great Merciful Tree King.

Luo De had a rough idea and asked again: "Um, may I ask, is the god you saw the Great Merciful Tree King?"

Who else could it be besides the Tree King?

Speaking of which, A De Ba Yi continued recalling the situation: "I was originally trying to deeply connect with the World Tree, hoping to see if I could gain more knowledge."

What a pity.

The divine knowledge within the World Tree is certainly not something a mere mortal like me can comprehend; after just a few minutes of contact with the World Tree, I felt myself plunging into boundless darkness and chaos, seeing nothing before me, only maddening darkness and a silent, lifeless gloom.

Fortunately.

Fortunately, the Tree King pulled my consciousness out of that darkness; otherwise I would have ended up like those fellows, completely becoming a bewildered madman.

Saying this, A De Ba Yi couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.

Immediately.

He then started cursing angrily again.

Hmph, I just said the Tree King is definitely not dead yet.

But whenever I bring this up, the bunch of bastards at the Academy mock me with sneers and taunts.

Especially that damned A Zha Er, who went so far as to warn me not to spread anywhere the claim that the Great Merciful Tree King is still not dead.

Bah!

That hypocritical guy; if he weren't the Great Sage, I'd definitely give him two hard punches.

A De Ba Yi waved his right hand, wrapped in bandages, and made a threatening gesture to hit someone.

Luo De understood.

This guy really did mistake the person.

However, he got one thing wrong: his descent into degeneration was not due to contacting the god's knowledge, but because the World Tree associated with the Great Merciful Tree King had a problem.

That's a long story.

Anyway, roughly speaking, the Great Merciful Tree King once exerted all her strength to save Sumeru from the disaster of forbidden knowledge, but she herself ended up contaminated by it; since she is the embodiment of the World Tree, even after death her existence persists as memory and knowledge within the World Tree.

Thus the forbidden knowledge can never be completely eradicated.

In order to completely resolve the contamination of the World Tree by forbidden knowledge, the Great Merciful Tree King sealed her already‑tainted consciousness in a mental space, simultaneously broke off the purest branch from the World Tree, transformed it into her reincarnation, and left clues so that the newly born Dendro Archon could reach her consciousness space and completely erase her contaminated self from the World Tree.

But the Great Merciful Tree King probably never imagined.

As the Little Auspicious Grass King left behind as a backup, she was imprisoned in the Academy's Puregood Palace the moment she was born by those who should have been her most devoted followers.

Not to mention saving the World Tree according to her clues, the Little Auspicious Grass King can't even step out of the gate of the Puregood Palace, and information about her name has almost been completely erased by the Academy.

A bunch of reckless, unfilial wretches!

This is Luo De's evaluation of the Academy.

If it weren't for this bunch of rebellious guys who have gone mad, allowing the Little Auspicious Grass King to freely seek knowledge, fulfill his divine duties, and soon perfect his own authority, the pollution on the World Tree could have been cleared by her long ago; why let it come to the present situation where knowledge stagnates and people's conflicts grow ever sharper?

After explaining that he had seen a deity.

After that, the account became much simpler.

The claim that the Great Merciful Tree King is still alive is absolutely not allowed by the Academy.

Nobody knows better than them that the Great Merciful Tree King died long ago, and the deity who saved A De Ba Yi is definitely the imprisoned Little Auspicious Grass King.

Therefore, if we let him continue spreading the news that the Great Merciful Tree King hasn't died, someone might uncover the matter of the Little Auspicious Grass King from clues.

This does not conform to the future development route set by the Academy.

Thus, after repeatedly warning A De Ba Yi to no avail, the Great Sage A Zha Er unceremoniously placed a mad scholar's cap on A De Ba Yi.

In order to prove that A De Ba Yi had gone mad.

A Zha Er also tampered with A De Ba Yi's experimental report, forging a document that he had violated prohibitions by conducting human experiments.

This tactic works very well.

A De Ba Yi was eventually exiled to A Ru Cun, where he now lives this kind of life.

Besides the hatred of being exiled, A De Ba Yi also cares about another matter.

That is, after being labeled a mad scholar and accused of violating prohibitions, no one would believe anything he said, whether it was the news that the Great Merciful Tree King had not died or his own painstakingly researched academic theories.

"Nobody believes my words, nobody believes my research, nobody believes the Tree King is still alive."

The more he recounted these past events, the more A De Ba Yi's expression fell and the more disappointed he became.

Under A Zha Er's leadership, the Academy is beyond saving.

They not only lost the desire to seek knowledge, but also lost reverence for deities.

How could such a bunch of insects possibly govern Mount Sumeru well!

"By the way, I still have a question."

After A De Ba Yi had vented his frustrations, Luo De finally found a chance to ask: "Do you know the Little Auspicious Grass King?"

"Little Auspicious Grass King?"

"Hmph—"

"If the Tree King is still alive, then she must be a deity fabricated by the Academy; what talk of a successor to the Tree King? The Tree King is clearly still alive—why would we need a successor!"

A De Ba Yi's answer fit Luo De's expectations perfectly.

As expected.

Under the Academy's deliberate shaping, the presence of the name Little Auspicious Grass King has grown ever weaker.

(End of chapter)