"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Nahida blinked her large green eyes, studying Victor and the others with curiosity.
Her voice was gentle and pleasant, carrying a soothing quality that seemed to ease the soul and put people at peace.
Before Victor and Lumine could respond, Paimon answered first. "We're here to rescue you!"
"Rescue me?"
Nahida tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled.
"That's right! We're here to save you! Cute Dendro Archon, come with us later!"
Lumine rubbed her hands together with a slightly deranged smile.
Victor looked at her with exasperation. "I'm curious, did you have the same expression when you first met Klee?"
"She absolutely did!" Paimon nodded vigorously. "Back then, Lumine's expression was so weird that Captain Jean almost threw her in the dungeon!"
Thinking back to that incident, Paimon still felt frightened. She definitely didn't want to be locked up!
"Lumine! Stop making that creepy face!"
At that moment, Nahida spoke again, her voice still gentle. "You're not from Sumeru, are you? You're not my people either, so why would you help me?"
"Just think of this as a masked rider losing interest," Victor replied.
Masked rider?
What's that supposed to mean?
Victor swung his sword, and in an instant, the barrier that had imprisoned Nahida for so long shattered into countless fragments.
Nahida's eyes widened in shock. Just one sword strike was enough to break the barrier left by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata?
This person's strength probably rivaled the Seven Archons themselves!
Realizing this, the little god became even more curious about Victor.
"No! Don't put the ice cream on the ground!"
Just as Nahida's feet were about to touch the floor, Lumine suddenly rushed forward and caught her in a princess carry.
"How can such adorable, white, and tender ice cream be placed on the ground? What a waste!"
Everyone's mouths twitched at her words.
Victor pulled the overeager traveler back by her collar. "Be careful, you're going to scare her."
If it were an ordinary little girl, she would've been terrified by Lumine's abnormal behavior.
Although Nahida was the God of Wisdom and had lived for hundreds of years, she'd never left the Sanctuary of Surasthana and knew little about worldly affairs. She merely looked puzzled by Lumine's strange behavior.
Ice cream?
Do I have ice cream on me?
Still confused, she kept examining herself, her gaze finally settling on her bare feet.
They were white and tender, and... actually did look a bit like ice cream.
At that moment, Victor's words drew Nahida's attention again.
"Now that we've rescued the Dendro Archon, the next step is to resolve the pollution from forbidden knowledge."
"You also know about forbidden knowledge?" Nahida was shocked.
He's clearly from another nation, how could he know such secrets?
"Also, you just said you can prevent the contamination of forbidden knowledge? Is that true?"
Victor gently patted the little god's head and nodded. "Of course it's true."
"So, what exactly is forbidden knowledge?" Paimon spread her hands in confusion. "If I remember correctly, you mentioned this thing when we were in the city."
Nahida ignored the large hand on her head and began explaining. "Forbidden knowledge is knowledge that possesses great power but also brings tremendous risk."
"It usually originates from the depths of the Abyss, not from the continent of Teyvat itself."
"The Abyss again?" Lumine said with exasperation. "I always feel like the disasters that happen in Teyvat are closely related to the Abyss."
The Abyss really was industrious, always stirring up trouble wherever it went.
Paimon continued asking, "So the disaster happening in Sumeru now is also related to forbidden knowledge?"
"Yes." Nahida nodded with a sigh. "The emergence of forbidden knowledge has led to the appearance of numerous Dead Zones and the outbreak of Eleazar Disease in Sumeru. Over the years, countless people have died because of it."
"If forbidden knowledge is so dangerous, how did it appear in the first place?"
"The forbidden knowledge didn't appear on its own, it was brought here by the Scarlet King."
"That's right. In order to revive the Goddess of Flowers whom he loved, the Scarlet King came into contact with forbidden knowledge and abused it. But in the end, he was consumed by this very knowledge, which directly led to the pollution of the World Tree and the resulting disaster."
This time, it was Victor who spoke.
"I didn't expect you to understand these secrets better than I do."
At this moment, Nahida's curiosity about Victor grew even stronger.
This kind of secret wasn't something ordinary people could know.
But this person not only knew about it, he understood it thoroughly.
This inevitably made her extremely curious.
"Wait! If the outbreak of Eleazar Disease is caused by the contamination of forbidden knowledge, does that mean as long as we erase the forbidden knowledge, Eleazar can be cured?"
At that moment, Paimon, who wasn't particularly bright, suddenly discovered something important.
Nahida nodded. "In theory, yes. But it's not easy to eradicate forbidden knowledge."
"Great! This way Collei can be saved!"
In Paimon's mind, with Victor around, everything could be done easily!
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"
Victor waved his hand, and through spatial displacement, everyone was transported to the base of a towering tree.
This giant tree was even larger than the one in Sumeru City!
Its branches emitted fluorescent light, and every green leaf exuded the breath of life.
"Where is this?" Lumine and Paimon looked around.
"This... is where the World Tree is located!" Nahida explained.
Victor nodded. "That's right. Since the root of all disasters is that the World Tree has been contaminated by forbidden knowledge, we only need to delete all the forbidden knowledge in the World Tree!"
Paimon said, "But there doesn't seem to be any sign of pollution here."
The World Tree before them looked very healthy, not at all like it had been contaminated by forbidden knowledge.
"That's because before us, someone had already come here and erased some of the forbidden knowledge from the World Tree."
"Huh?"
Victor's words left the three of them confused.
Victor continued to explain. "Unfortunately, the person who's been erasing the forbidden knowledge for the World Tree is herself a source of that pollution!"
"Even if she erases all the forbidden knowledge in the World Tree, as long as she remains, the forbidden knowledge will always persist in Teyvat!"
"However, she can only help the World Tree erase the forbidden knowledge but cannot erase her own existence. So she's been waiting for someone, waiting for someone who can erase her from existence."
"Am I right? Greater Lord Rukkhadevata."
As soon as he finished speaking, a breeze swept by.
Then, a woman who looked exactly like Nahida appeared before everyone.
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