Rukkhadevata, the King of the Great Compassion Tree, clasped her hands in front of her chest and made a prayer gesture. In an instant, a green palace formed under their feet.
[She set up a barrier to isolate herself from the outside world,] Raiden Makoto told Yilan through his consciousness.
Yilan nodded to show he understood. After setting up the barrier, the Great Compassion Tree King seemed to have exhausted all her strength. Beads of sweat flowed down her fair skin, and she looked so breathless that he felt sorry for her.
"Are you okay?"
Yilan asked with concern. He could sense that the other party had come with good intentions.
The Great Tree King shook her head gently and said in a soft voice, "My name is Rukkhadevata. I don't have much time left, so let me make it short."
"I've been 'watching' you all this time."
Rukkhadevata's tone was a little hurried, as if something was chasing her from behind. Without waiting for Yilan's response, she continued:
"My consciousness is connected to the World Tree, and the World Tree records all the information in the world.
When the Kanreya catastrophe occurred, I was dealing with the disease on the World Tree. During this process, I became curious about your progress through the World Tree, but I found that I could not see any trace of Thunder God Baal, even though Thunder God Baal does exist in this world.
The World Tree records the information of all living things on earth, but it does not include you. From this, I judged that you must be someone from outside the world, just like Master Phanes."
Having said that, Rukkhadevata paused, as if thinking of something embarrassing, and a shy blush appeared on her slightly pale face.
"You know, the God of Wisdom is always full of curiosity, so I placed my consciousness into the body of a bird and used it to observe you. At that time, you happened to call Baalzebul (Raiden Ei) into the room…"
"Ahem!"
Yilan interrupted Rukkhadevata's words with a cough.
She was tactful and did not continue the topic. Instead, she asked in a serious tone,
"Can I ask you a question? What do you think of the Kanreya disaster and Lord Tianli's suppression of Kanreya?"
In his previous life, Yilan had been a stay-at-home and played a lot of GALGAMEs. He could be considered a veteran, and had seen a lot. More than twenty years of experience across two lives reminded him that he was facing the answer to a key question at this moment.
He carefully considered his words, then answered firmly:
"Human beings will never stop moving forward."
No matter if there is an abyss or a paradise ahead, humanity will not stop moving forward.
Therefore, when the will of heaven destroyed an ancient snow-mountain kingdom, another Kanreya appeared.
Now Kanreya has been destroyed, but in the future, another kingdom will definitely rise.
This is the inevitability of humanity — even gods cannot stop it.
This time, Rukkhadevata was silent for a long time. The only sound within the barrier was the gentle breeze. Her profile, illuminated by the sunlight, looked like a beautiful painting.
When she spoke again, Yilan had the illusion that time itself was flowing.
"I understand."
Her voice was distant and gentle. With a flash of green light, a seed appeared in her hand. She handed it to Yilan and said:
"This is a seed I condensed through the World Tree. I believe it will be useful for your next journey. You are a kind person, someone who can change fate. I hope you can lead the world in the right direction."
Yilan took the seed from her hand, and its use naturally emerged in his mind.
This made him feel the urge to complain inwardly:
I seriously suspect that it was Wendy who deliberately gave away the Heart of God.
Zhongli made a deal with the Tsaritsa and gave away the Heart of God.
And now the Great Compassion Tree King.
Among the seven earthly rulers appointed by Heaven, three have already openly opposed Heaven.
No, wait a minute—
Yilan sorted out the known plot points in his mind.
In the latest "Genshin Impact" storyline, because Tianli's information was not recorded by the World Tree, the Fatui defined Tianli as the "first adventer," but this was without them knowing about the book "Ages of the Sun and the Moon."
According to the records in "Ages of the Sun and the Moon," the original man Phanes was the first to come to this world.
Before Phanes' arrival, the continent of Teyvat was in chaos, ruled by the seven dragon kings.
It was Phanes who used the "eggshell" to separate the "universe" from the "miniature world," then defeated the seven dragon kings, created mountains, rivers, plants, and life, and established the Teyvat we know today.
The ley lines, the World Tree, and the demon gods should have been born during that period.
Phanes also gave the demon gods the mission of loving and protecting the world.
In other words, as the creator of this world, it was normal for Phanes to be considered a "native" by the World Tree.
Later, the second throne, Tianli, arrived — and judging from the results, Tianli should have defeated Phanes.
Then, in order to control the laws of Teyvat, Heaven forcibly launched the War of the Archons, causing immense suffering and restricting humanity's development.
From this point of view, it was only natural that the current Seven should oppose the heavenly order.
"It seems you know a lot," Rukkhadevata said, noticing Yilan's shifting expression. Her beautiful face showed a look of regret. "It's a pity that I don't have much time left. Otherwise, I would have liked to talk with you by candlelight all night long."
"Are you going to use your life to suppress the forbidden knowledge on the World Tree?" Yilan asked.
"You even know that?"
Even the God of Wisdom couldn't help but show surprise on her face.
Yilan didn't answer her directly. Instead, he held his chin, thinking aloud:
"Although it brings disaster, you still call 'forbidden knowledge' knowledge. Since it is knowledge, it should be interpretable."
"You want to…" Rukkhadevata shook her head repeatedly. "No, that's too crazy. The Red King already lost his life because of it. I can't…"
"But I'm different. I come from outside this world. Many things that are taboo to you are not untouchable to me."
All signs in the current plot hinted that the forbidden knowledge was likely related to the Abyss.
In the original storyline, the protagonist could purify dragon tears contaminated by the Abyss' power, and the anti-leader was clearly the leader of the Abyss Order.
Then, it stood to reason that he should be able to touch the power of the Abyss.
—It doesn't matter if I guess wrong. After all, this is a life simulator. At worst, I'll just start over!
Yilan looked at the Great Compassion Tree King, whose power was nearly exhausted and who looked pitiful and beautiful like a fairy, with a mischievous smile:
"Lord Great Compassion Tree King, you wouldn't want me to be rough with you, would you?"