The "Divine Knowledge" that contained Rukkhadevata was, at best, a fragment of her lingering will.
After Su Xuan and the others talked with her for a short while, that fragment of consciousness quickly thinned and faded away with the passing of time.
"Father, before we go back to the Jade Chamber, I'd like to use the World Tree's authority to view Mother's memories…"
Back in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, Nahida immediately asked Su Xuan for permission to invoke the World Tree.
But Su Xuan turned her down.
"There's no need to go to all that trouble. And right now, the World Tree is still tainted by the Abyss."
"You don't have to act yet."
"Over on our side, someone already holds Rukkhadevata's memories."
Nahida truly had no trace of Rukkhadevata in her own mind.
But that didn't stop Su Xuan from finding Rukkhadevata's memories somewhere in Teyvat without touching the World Tree.
"Back then, when the Archon War ended and the Seven were established, Teyvat went through a relatively peaceful era."
"Every year, the Seven would gather in Liyue for the Archons' Banquet."
"Each of the first-generation Archons holds their own memories of that beautiful time."
"Makoto's mind, for example, contains memories of Rukkhadevata."
Clearing the Abyssal taint from the World Tree wouldn't be hard.
Rukkhadevata was the incarnation of the World Tree, inherently bound to it.
As long as the corruption on her was cleansed, the contamination clinging to the World Tree's data would be washed away as well.
Once the World Tree's records were no longer distorted, the Eleazar afflicting Sumeru's people would vanish along with that influence.
All that would be left was to restore the already-polluted lands back to normal.
Su Xuan's execution was, as always, swift.
Once he'd decided, he took Nahida back to the Jade Chamber, found Raiden Makoto, then used Makoto's memories to pull Greater Lord Rukkhadevata back into the world.
Inside a room within the Serenitea Pot—
Nahida's mouth fell open, filled with shock.
"T-That's… Mother?"
The silver-haired woman lying on the bed was like a sleeping beauty.
Around the bed, grass and flowers had sprouted spontaneously in response to her return.
Even though she lay unconscious, the mature elegance and gentle intellect she radiated still overshadowed everything around her.
"Father, if I grow up someday… will I look like this too?" Nahida asked curiously.
Su Xuan gently patted her head and smiled.
"Right now you're just a little branch, and she's a fully grown tree."
"If you want to become like this, it'll probably take at least a thousand years…"
"But personally, I think you're perfect as you are. Once you grow up, you won't be as cute."
"That's right. Only like this can Nahida be called 'daughter,'" Paimon chimed in.
She then exchanged a look and a raised brow with Ying.
Raiden Makoto, standing nearby, couldn't help covering her lips and laughing at the two of them.
Nahida nodded, half understanding, half not.
Still, she felt Paimon had a point.
Su Xuan had acknowledged her as his daughter because her small, soft appearance suited the role.
If she grew into a towering tree, she might lose that special favor.
"As long as there's knowledge in my head and my mind can keep growing, my body doesn't need to," Nahida said, nodding firmly. "That's what really matters."
"Exactly." Su Xuan pinched her soft, squishy cheek. "If you grow up, you won't be cute anymore."
"All right, I'm sure you have a lot you want to say to Rukkhadevata once she wakes up."
"You stay here and wait for her. I'll take this little gap in time to deal with Sumeru's dead zones."
Nahida nodded obediently, her little legs carrying her alongside him as she saw Su Xuan and the others out of the room.
Once everyone had left—
Nahida quietly sat in a chair, waiting for Rukkhadevata to awaken.
It wasn't long before her diary copy leapt out in front of her.
A familiar light curtain unfolded in front of her eyes.
"Father must've started acting already…"
Su Xuan himself didn't appear in the projection.
Under the night sky of Teyvat, stars blanketed the heavens above Sumeru—then suddenly, multicolored auroral light began to ripple across the firmament.
The seven-colored brilliance poured down upon the rainforest.
Wherever that radiance fell on a dead zone, the pitch-black ground beneath it rapidly returned to normal.
"Eh? It's… already fixed?" Nahida blurted.
At the same time, on the Jade Chamber's plaza, Su Xuan slowly opened his eyes while enjoying the night breeze.
Ying and Paimon both stared wide-eyed.
Makoto and Ei, the Raiden sisters, also frowned slightly in concentration.
Shenhe let out a soft murmur.
"Sumeru's issue is settled?"
"Mm." Su Xuan smiled and nodded.
"That rainbow light that just appeared over Sumeru was…" Lisa frowned slightly. To her, it looked suspiciously like a beam from the Qian Kun Mirror.
"The Qian Kun Mirror," Su Xuan sighed. "Don't be fooled by how it looks like just a tool. It's spiritually bound to my consciousness."
"Now that my mind can blanket the whole of Teyvat, it's nothing special for it to appear anywhere it needs to."
Su Xuan secretly laughed at how inexperienced they all still were—then sent out a pulse of thought.
[About the Qian Kun Mirror acting on its own in Sumeru:]
[It's a companion artifact linked to my consciousness, so anywhere my will reaches, it can go.]
[I'd actually planned to use the opportunity of cleansing Sumeru's dead zones to let them see some aurora.]
[But the lot around me focused entirely on how I cleared the dead zones instead.]
[They completely wasted my good will.]
[Since they clearly don't appreciate my efforts, I'll just have to deepen their understanding tonight.]
[A bunch of ungrateful brats.jpg]
Paimon: "…"
Don't be fooled by how dopey she usually looked—after spending so long with them, she'd already pieced together some of the secrets between Su Xuan and the diary's other holders.
"Uh… Ying, I suddenly really feel like eating some of Xiangling's cooking. I'll head out first. Let's talk tomorrow."
"Oh, right—remember to come find me yourself tomorrow."
Ying: "?"
"No wonder I felt like Paimon's been looking at us weird lately," Lisa said, amused. "So this little thing has noticed something."
Ying snorted lightly.
"It's not that I refused to tell Paimon—just… you know, it was awkward."
"But now that she's figured it out, that's fine. We won't have to hide things from her anymore."
"What does surprise me is you, Boss Su. I thought you'd wait around for Rukkhadevata to wake up tonight and… 'taste' her first."
"There's no rush. It's not like she can run off," Su Xuan replied, utterly unconcerned about his image.
His bluntness drew waves of soft laughter from the women around him.
"Knew it. So your motive for making Nahida your daughter wasn't exactly pure."
"But with the two of them joining in, our research group is going to skyrocket."
Lisa giggled as she twisted her hips and slipped into Su Xuan's arms.
"Not just that. With her wisdom, Rukkhadevata will be crucial to the world's future development."
At that moment, Ningguang, Keqing, Ayaka, and the others walked over from another side of the plaza.
Shenhe's brows knit together slightly.
There were… more of them again.
The thought of numbers led her to another question.
"Isn't there anyone in Sumeru with a diary copy?" Shenhe asked curiously. "I remember you mentioned Nahida arranged a very good dancer for you there."
"Why didn't she come back with you this time?"
Su Xuan: "…"
Faced with her question, Su Xuan could only be speechless for a moment.
He smacked a palm firmly onto Shenhe's straight back.
"A-He, do I look like some demon who forgets his proper work the moment he sees a pretty face?"
"There's no need to be that impatient, is there?"
"Hmph…" Shenhe snorted softly. "I remember your personal creed is 'no eagle without rabbit in sight.' So in Sumeru…"
Before she could finish, Su Xuan took her hand and led her towards a stone bench.
Seeing the icy beauty lowered by the head and pinned in place for "talking too much," the other women all flushed red.
This guy was getting more outrageous by the day.
This was the Jade Chamber's plaza—no outsiders would be here, sure, but to bully someone this openly was…
A bit too stimulating.
Fortunately, at that critical moment, the diary updated again.
The girls all seized on that to distract themselves.
[Just now, Shenhe asked about how things went in Sumeru.]
[I've long since grown numb to anything the fate system of this fake sky throws at this world.]
[There really isn't much to say about Sumeru. The whole place basically exists just for Scaramouche.]
[Rukkhadevata's lingering will is still shocked, baffled, and appalled by how the first "Nahida" used the World Tree's authority just to whitewash Scaramouche.]
[She's even worried Sumeru might get punished with a sky nail because of it.]
[Sigh…]
[My poor Rukkhadevata. The truth is, she was pretty ridiculous herself under that same fate system.]
Nahida: "Huh?"
For a moment, all the Sumeru girls were stunned.
Even Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had done something absurd under the fake sky's destiny?
[Like today, when Nahida suddenly said that Rukkhadevata's last memory required two Gnoses to unlock.]
[That alone is completely illogical, isn't it?]
[What was Rukkhadevata trying to do?]
[Use her lingering consciousness to tell the future Nahida that she must erase Rukkhadevata's existence in order to save the World Tree.]
[The sooner she's erased, the fewer days Sumeru's people suffer under Eleazar.]
[But she just had to lock that final memory behind the power of two Gnoses.]
[Did she never once stop to consider how Nahida was supposed to obtain a second Gnosis from another Archon?]
[Even if she believed her fellow first-generation Archon would help Nahida, what if that god had also been replaced by someone she didn't know? What then?]
[Was she really pinning the fate of everything on "what ifs"?]
[Not to mention, Barbatos and Morax willingly surrendered their Gnoses to the Tsaritsa—and even then, they had to put on a half-play about it first.]
[Where would Nahida so easily find another Gnosis just lying around to borrow?]
[Even if she somehow talked another Archon into lending her their Gnosis, the time it would take to travel and negotiate would only delay everything.]
[In that delay, Sumeru's people would only suffer longer.]
[If Rukkhadevata was worried someone else might open her final memory, a single Gnosis as the key would've been more than enough.]
[Did she really think mortals could brute-force something sealed by a Gnosis' power?]
[This whole setup is just… muddle-headed. I doubt even she could explain why she designed it that way.]
[But when you look at it alongside Scaramouche's ascension, it becomes easier to understand.]
[The fake sky's destiny system was terrified something would go wrong with its arrangement in Sumeru.]
[Giving the Abyss-tainted capsule to Scaramouche and calling it "Divine Knowledge" for god-making was already risky. If he got too corrupted, it might derail the plan.]
[So destiny added two extra locks.]
[The Akademiya wouldn't be able to open it with only Ei's Gnosis.]
[Then, after Scaramouche's defeat, the second "Nahida" would foolishly take Ei's Gnosis, completing the set of keys needed to open the capsule.]
[She'd erase Rukkhadevata… and delete herself along with her.]
[Only then would the "true" first-generation Little Lucky Grass King make her debut and fulfill destiny's script.]
[When Rukkhadevata panicked at the thought that this first Nahida had done something so outrageous, afraid Sumeru might suffer a sky nail, I honestly didn't know how to answer her.]
[Because the whole sequence of events is exactly what this world's will wanted.]
[It's precisely the result Celestia's fate system aimed to produce.]
[Why on earth would Celestia punish them with a sky nail for that?]
"Sigh…"
Back in the Jade Chamber's room, Nahida, still waiting for Rukkhadevata to wake, let out a long, heavy breath.
"I really don't know how Mother will feel once she sees all this."
"Fate… really doesn't seem to stand on our side at all…"
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