Genshin Impact: The Beginning of the Wind

"But you're too late. You won't get any credit for this rescue!"

Paimon, who was startled by Su Feng's sudden appearance behind him, finally recovered and, perhaps to ease the awkwardness of instinctively hiding behind Ying, immediately said to Su Feng smugly.

Of course, judging from her expression, it was clear that saving Sumeru made her feel quite proud.

"Then congratulations! This honor should rightfully belong to you, after all, you did save Sumeru."

"So from now on, Paimon can tell everyone you're the great heroes who saved Sumeru!"

Su Feng wasn't particularly bothered by Paimon's smug look. Although the God of Righteousness meant nothing to him, it was indeed a huge threat to Sumeru in its current state.

Although the way the God of Justice finally fell was somewhat dramatic, it was also due to everyone's efforts, especially Ying, who fought against the God of Justice and worked extremely hard, even risking her life under the God of Justice's attacks.

Even for Ying, this was quite dangerous, so it was only right that she received this honor in the end.

"Well, while it's nice that you acknowledged our achievements, it feels a bit strange to hear you say it like that, considering you've done far more than us."

Faced with Su Feng's congratulations, Paimon exchanged a glance with Ying and then said something somewhat unwillingly. Although he had barely managed to save Sumi, Paimon still felt somewhat powerless when facing Su Feng.

After all, they only saved one Sumeru, and their role in the process was indeed limited. Without the efforts of Sumeru's companions, it would have been impossible for the two of them alone to defeat the Fools, the Order of the Monarchs, and the God of the Right Machine.

Su Feng had even given them a lot of help, so Paimon, who wanted to show off a little to Su Feng, felt that this was very inappropriate. In the end, she gave up on showing off.

"Well then, you two, since that's the case, let's put aside our mutual boasting for now. After all, the matter on Mount Sumeru hasn't been completely resolved yet!"

Su Feng didn't take Paimon's minor complaints to heart. In any case, he didn't care much about his reputation among mortals, and besides, they had more important things to do right now.

"Can we set off now?"

When Su Feng turned his gaze to her, Nasita asked with a smile, and Paimon, who finally realized that this was not the time to open the champagne, stopped talking for the time being.

Although he can be a bit unreliable most of the time, Paimon will never hold everyone back when it really matters.

"Let's go. I think the Great Tree King has been waiting for us for a long time. If we continue to delay, she will probably get anxious."

Su Feng smiled and said this to everyone. No one objected to Su Feng's statement. After all, now was not the time to open the champagne. Now that the basic conditions for solving all problems had been met, it was natural to go for it in one go.

When all eyes turned to her, Narcida couldn't help but smile. Then, the Heart of Thor in her hand began to emit a purple light, and a wave originating from a dream gradually enveloped everyone.

Chapter Forty-Eight: Two Lucky Grasses?

The World Tree is a rather mysterious entity.

In many cases, even gods cannot find the World Tree—let alone perform any operations on it, even connecting with it is not a simple matter.

Although mortals in Sumeru can acquire knowledge through their connection with the World Tree, this acquisition is too arbitrary and inefficient, and has no effect whatsoever on beings of the divine level.

If the gods want to do something to the World Tree, the best way is to enter the World Tree itself.

However, the passage to the World Tree is not so easy to find. In fact, the only passage to the inside of the World Tree is controlled by the Grass God. Both the Great Kindness Tree King and the Little Lucky Grass King know how to enter the World Tree, but only they know how to enter the World Tree.

After all, the World Tree could not possibly refuse its daughter's return to its embrace.

However, the World Tree's situation is still not good. It can hardly resist the erosion of forbidden knowledge. If it weren't for the many measures prepared by the Great Tree King, the World Tree probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until now.

"Has the World Tree's condition become this bad?"

Narcida, the embodiment of the World Tree, couldn't help but show a worried expression after sensing the World Tree's current situation. However, Su Feng, who was standing next to her, gently placed his hand on Narcida's shoulder to comfort the worried young deity.

"You don't need to worry so much. The World Tree's condition is indeed not good, but isn't that why we came here?

"You're not the only one trying to save the World Tree. Everyone has put in a lot of effort for this, so have a little confidence in yourself. After all, you're not alone."

Su Feng's words of comfort sounded slightly stiff, even giving the impression that he was reading from a script, so unsurprisingly he received both Nasida and Ying's amused and exasperated looks.

“I am indeed very worried about the World Tree’s situation, but now that I’m here, I can’t let it continue to get worse. I’ve already made up my mind to solve all the problems, so you don’t need to worry about me now.”

Although she phrased it somewhat euphemistically, Nasida actually wanted to tell Su Feng that he was worrying in the wrong direction, and that his attempt to comfort him was completely ineffective.

Nasita, who had already made up her mind to save the World Tree even if it meant sacrificing everything, naturally wouldn't give up just because of the dire situation she was facing, so Su Feng's words of comfort were in vain.

However, Su Feng didn't pay much attention to this. He quickly focused more on the vast World Tree in front of him. Although he had received support from the World Tree in the battle against Nibelungen, his understanding of the World Tree was still quite weak.

After all, he had only used the information in the World Tree before, and even the information that might be useful was deliberately sent from the World Tree to his eyes, which naturally reduced Su Feng's understanding of the World Tree to a minimum.

Therefore, he was not entirely clear about how the World Tree had been corrupted by forbidden knowledge.

But now it seems that the World Tree is not in a very good state, especially when forbidden knowledge filled with filth and destruction flows through it, making this existence, which should be extremely sacred, seem extremely bad.

Although it is not an ordinary tree, its sickly and even dying state is so pronounced that it gives people this feeling, which is definitely not good news for the World Tree.

“The Great Tree King has come looking for us; he has been looking forward to this day for a long time.”

Just as everyone was observing the World Tree, a soul-ferrying vessel resembling one descending from the heavens appeared before them. Upon seeing this soul-ferrying vessel, Su Feng briefly explained it to the two people beside him.

However, his explanation was of little use; in fact, Nasita was extremely excited when she saw the Soul Ferry.

She now looks like a fan about to meet her idol, unable to hide her overwhelming excitement.

However, this is not surprising. After all, as the successor of the Great Tree King, Nasita was well aware of the vast difference between herself and this wise and ancient being. When mortals rejected her and still reminisced about the Great Tree King, this worship of the predecessor became even more profound.

So after confirming that the Soul Ferry in front of them was indeed the work of the Great Tree King, Nasita almost couldn't wait to pull Su Feng and Ying onto this ferry specially made for moving inside the World Tree.

However, Nasita's excitement and exhilaration did not last long, especially after she saw the figure in the World Tree that looked exactly like her, which left her bewildered.

So a rather interesting scene unfolded – two identical Narcissus looked at each other, and at that moment, Paimon, who was the most bewildered, even had the illusion that Narcissus was looking in a mirror.

"It seems my current appearance is causing you a lot of trouble?"

Nasita's bewildered expression did not go unnoticed, especially when the Great Tree King saw Nasita's adorable appearance and narrowed his eyes—at that moment, he seemed to reveal a hint of a smile.

Nasita was naturally puzzled, because she could clearly feel the power and will of the Great Tree King from the figure in front of her, but she could also feel the same essence from the same source.

They are the same being!

"I... am you?"

Naxi Da asked the question with a mix of confusion and timidity. She seemed unwilling to get a definite answer. After all, if she and the Great Tree King were essentially the same person, then what was the meaning of Sumeru's pursuit of the deceased Great Tree King?

"Of course, I am you!"

“You are Nasita, but you are also Buyer!”

The truth cannot be denied by anyone. The Great Tree King finally revealed the final answer, and Nasita, who had to face this answer, had an unimaginable complexity in her eyes.

In that instant, she didn't even know what emotions she should express.

“In the distant past, the calamities of the abyss erupted several times on the land of Sumeru.”

Perhaps sensing Nasita's complex emotions, the Great Tree King did not choose to comfort her. Instead, he waved his hand and replaced everything around them with an illusion. In this illusion, they saw the calamity gushing out from the ground, and the unimaginable monsters and filth emerging from the calamity polluted the entire land.

These are countless terrible calamities. The power from the abyss is the deadly poison of the mortal world, and the black fire and monsters flowing like water completely destroy everything in sight.

"In order to suppress these calamities, both the people and the gods of Sumeru paid an extremely heavy price, but in any case, we drove out those calamities that came from outside the world."

The voice of the Great Tree King, calm yet tinged with regret and sorrow, rang out once more. Accompanying her voice, the illusion surrounding everyone shifted again, this time revealing the warriors who had once lingered in the Great Tree King's memories.

Sages, warriors, forest rangers, and countless ordinary people—all took up arms to fight against the calamities that surged from the abyss, and blood and broken weapons stained the earth.

These are the people who sacrificed themselves to resist one calamity after another, and even now the Great Tree King still keeps these people firmly in his heart.

"Similarly, the gods of Mount Sumeru also paid a huge price to resist the calamity."

The voice of the Great Tree King came again, and this time it showed two shattered images—the Flower Goddess being completely suppressed and torn apart by the Heavenly Nails, and the Crimson King being devoured by the giant insect.

Following these two were the Great Tree King and the divine bird Seymourne, who sacrificed everything to give birth to ten thousand mother trees and a hundred kinds of spiritual light...

"Calamity has been looming over all of us, and all sacrifices are worthwhile in order to resist it and protect our people."

The Great Tree King removed the illusion that had enveloped everyone, and she looked at Nasita, who was exactly like herself, and smiled brightly once again.

“Nasita, my other self, my reincarnated self, my brand new self... I will completely hand over Sumeru to you, but before that, I need to resolve the last problem—the forbidden knowledge that has polluted the World Tree.”

"After this, you'll have to rely on yourself."

Chapter 49 The God of Sumeru always wants to sacrifice himself

"So... what are your plans to do with the forbidden knowledge attached to the World Tree?"

Although it was a question, Nasita's voice trembled as she asked it—she seemed to have guessed something, but she just couldn't believe that her guess was true.

"You already guessed it, didn't you?"

However, the Great Tree King still cruelly shattered Nasita's illusions. It was no easy task to resolve the forbidden knowledge within the World Tree. The Great Tree King was even forced to perish due to the corruption of forbidden knowledge, and now, five hundred years later, the forbidden knowledge has become even more powerful.

How can we address the contamination of taboo knowledge in this situation?

Only sacrifice remains.

"But... I am not a qualified god. I... for five hundred years, the children of Sumeru still refuse to acknowledge me... so... why can't I be the one to sacrifice myself?"

Perhaps it is a common trait among the gods of Mount Sumeru, but at crucial moments, the gods of Mount Sumeru always tend to sacrifice themselves to solve problems. Naturally, Nasita, who does not have much confidence in herself, is also more inclined to sacrifice herself, a 'useless' god.

"Eh!"

However, upon hearing Narcida's words, Paimon cried out anxiously. She seemed to instinctively want to say something to Luminous, but was temporarily stopped by Luminous. In the end, she could only helplessly suppress her inner anxiety and stay quietly in place.

Now is not the time for them to interfere, nor are they qualified to meddle in this matter. All they can do now is wait and witness.

Thinking of this, Ying's eyes seemed to dim considerably. An impulse was brewing in her heart, but in the end she could only suppress it. She needed to witness everything with her own eyes. If this was the only way in the end, she would at least use her identity and special status to record everything.

Because this may be the only proof that these victims once existed.

"No, Nasita, your thinking is wrong."

The Great Tree King refused Nasita's self-sacrifice, and looked at Nasita gently with a happy smile.

"I have already been corrupted. As the incarnation of the World Tree, I was corrupted as the Great Tree King when forbidden knowledge first invaded the World Tree. And after that, due to a series of events, I was simply unable to deal with the forbidden knowledge inside the World Tree."

"By the time I came to my senses, everything had already progressed to the point of no return."

"So in the end, I had no choice but to break off the purest branch from the World Tree and transform it into you, and then do my best to confine the forbidden knowledge within the World Tree to a certain range."

The Great Tree King slowly recounted the events she had experienced. After hearing this, Nasita had already guessed many things, but she still chose to listen attentively until the Great Tree King finished speaking.

"For the World Tree, there is only one way to get rid of forbidden knowledge—to delete the contaminated parts. But this requires ensuring that all contaminated parts are completely deleted. Only in this way can all the problems be completely solved."

"If even a tiny bit is left behind, it will allow forbidden knowledge to make a comeback."

"Therefore... the part of me that has already been contaminated to a certain extent must also be deleted, otherwise forbidden knowledge will inevitably contaminate the World Tree again!"

The Great Tree King spoke the worst words in his still gentle tone, and upon hearing this, Nasita could no longer maintain her composure; she instinctively wanted to object.

"This won't do. If you do this... if you do this... everything you have will disappear!"