Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

Lily shook her head. "Every person's death and every person's fate are recorded in our shared understanding and in our common 'common sense.' If the past changes, this common sense will also collapse."

"You once presented me with a paradox called the grandfather paradox. You went back in time and stabbed your grandfather with a knife. Your grandfather died, so you could no longer exist. In that case, the 'reason' we all understand collapsed."

"Anyone who attempts to change the past will be punished by divine justice." Lily pointed to the sky.

Qing Nuoyan nodded again. The grandfather paradox is a classic paradox of time.

"However, we can deceive this principle."

Lily continued, “Your grandfather is dead, but he is not actually dead. It’s just that in the common understanding, your grandfather is dead. In fact, he is still alive, but he has never appeared in this world, and no one has seen him again.”

"Everyone saw him stabbed, fatally wounded, and after that, no one saw him again. In the common understanding, he was dead."

Ti Baihe looked at Qing Nuoyan and said seriously, "Under the premise of not violating reason, changing the past creates a paradox."

"In the original timeline, our friends are all dead, but the truth is, in our shared understanding, our friends are all dead, but in fact they are still alive, it's just that no one knows it."

“Each of your reincarnations…” Ti Baihe paused, then said seriously, “is actually a deception of reason.”

Qing Nuoyan was very surprised that her past self had told Ti Baihe so many secrets.

No wonder he had to flee for hundreds of years.

Burdened with so many secrets, he had no choice but to flee.

"That's why Mikoto Chiyo has always stayed in the shrine..." Kiyono Iwa was silent for a while, then suddenly realized and said, "That's why I made a promise with them in the past that no one would see them."

So, Raiden really... that Lord Baal is still alive in this world, they just don't know it.

What about fire?

Qingnuoyan recalled the illusion he had seen that day: in the destruction of Keria, Ying was killed by the chains of the Keepers of Heaven's Principles; this was the true story.

So he saved Ying...

Qingnuoyan and Ying met hundreds of years ago.

But Ying shouldn't be walking in this world anymore; she also needs to deceive Li's perception... Yes, Qing Nuoyan knows that Ying had fallen into a long slumber and only recently woke up.

Qing Nuoyan remembered something else, something from a very, very long time ago.

That was the memory the Human System had once taken from Ying... That memory should also include Qing Nuoyan's story, right?

—It's also to deceive that common sense.

They took away the memories of him, and they took away the promises between them.

Only when absolutely necessary did the system release a portion of its memories.

That was when Qingnuoyan, or rather Qingyefengyin, was completely killed by the lady at an inappropriate time, and her soul could no longer be maintained by the existing agreement, making it impossible for her to reincarnate.

Humanity restored some of Ying's memories, and by relying on the promise of the past, preserved the soul of Kiyono Fuue.

"Then you..." Qing Nuoyan paused, "Since you were going to hide forever, why are you coming out now?"

“Because the time has come.” Tengu looked at Qingnuoyan. “A lie is still a lie; it can’t be hidden forever. Since it can’t be hidden anymore, there’s no need to keep it secret any longer.”

"When did you start being unable to hide it anymore?"

“Spring,” Lily replied, “early spring.”

Early spring...that was the day Qingye Fengyin died and Qingnuoyan was born.

It is the time when people release and restore some of their memories.

Qing Nuoyan's breath hitched slightly, and he subconsciously gripped the hem of his clothes.

This time, I won't interfere in your life.

Qing Nuoyan remembered what Renli had told him.

In order to save him, to preserve his life, and so that he could live a carefree life, Renli chose to expose the secret and bear the consequences.

What will be the consequences?

Qing Nuoyan looked at Ti Baihe, his dark blue eyes reflecting her face. "What are the consequences of being discovered?"

“Of course, the wrong past must be corrected.” Ti Baihe gave a helpless smile. “We will be erased by the laws of nature, and that divine cherry tree will no longer exist.”

They were all erased...

What should we do about the agreed-upon cocktail party?

The lily will be gone, the chiyo will be gone, and Shin will never come back... even the sacred cherry tree will be gone.

What about Ying...?

Will Ying still be around?

Qing Nuoyan felt a slight flutter in his heart.

"What should I do?" Qing Nuoyan looked at him and calmed down.

There's only one way...

"Reach the dream's heart. Reach the consciousness space you left behind." Ti Baihe gazed at Qing Nuoyan, "Deceive 'Reason' once again."

"But I don't know how to get there."

"I know."

Lily's aged eyes reflected the boy's face. "Because this is something you asked me to do... I know the entrance to that consciousness space."

"I know."

Old Tengu's gaze shifted from the boy's face, lowering to his own. The autumn light, like water, covered his dim eyes, and his gaze seemed lost in thought, as if he were thinking about something from a long time ago.

"Four hundred years from now, we will meet again. Please take me to that place."

'Please keep this secret and leave this world far away.'

'What we're going to deceive... is the whole world.'

'You're the fastest runner... I can never beat you... This time, I lost to you too.' (See the first paragraph of Chapter 141)

-

P.S.: Time for bed!

This is similar to the principle in the original work where the world line is altered after the country collapses, 'hoping that one never existed.' The past cannot be changed; what is changed is the shared understanding, which is essentially deception—deceiving the world line.

Actually, Si Gu also felt that this setting was a bit bold... or rather, he wasn't confident that he could write it well.

But since it was designed this way from the beginning, and now that it's only one volume away from being finished, it should naturally have a beginning and an end, and the structure should be complete.

Chapter 140 "Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night"

The dark sky pressed down on the city of clouds, crushing the desolation and tranquility of autumn into dust by the shimmering rice paddies. The city of Inazuma had never felt so oppressed.

Something great is brewing among the clouds, moving through the sea of ​​clouds, indifferently looking down upon the world.

No thought, no desire, eternity.

That was a single, thoughtless strike.

Bearing the prestigious title of "Goken no Naruto no Mikoto", the people of Inatsuma are assured of the unchanging "eternity".

With the merciless light of the rice paddies, shatter attachment to love; with a solitary heart, forge a pure land.

Throughout these long years, the path to eternity has been dark and distant, yet His Highness the General has never hesitated—

The unchanging constant only reveals its "silent" nature after the noise has been removed.

All the wind in the castle tower stopped at that moment. Guo Beng's eyes widened slightly, his pupils contracted, and his jewel-like eyes reflected the glint of the blade. He wanted to retreat, but he knew he had nowhere to go.

So he decided not to back down.

My heart has never pounded so hard.

Five hundred years ago, that old man... perhaps he wasn't an old man then. A young man named Kiyono Raimei once took a blow from Musou before the Emperor. It was the height of summer, the trees were tall and the cicadas were silent, and the young samurai was in his prime.

At that time, Kiyono Raimei did not avoid it.

Therefore, the collapse of a nation cannot be avoided.

Do not move.

He gritted his teeth, the oppressive force of the rice light drawing blood from his cheeks, his purple hair swaying in the air. The intense and passionate blood was born from his heart, spreading throughout the doll's internal organs. As the blood flowed through the doll's cold mechanical blood vessels, he felt a new sensation and a vibrant life force.

The collapse of the country brought him close to death, yet he felt he had never lived so vividly, so clearly in this world, knowing life even in death.

So he still had a smile on his lips, a carefree smile.

That smile was exactly the same as Kiyono Raimei's.

His heart was beating fast, but his mind was at peace.

He must face the mindless thunder, face the past of hundreds of years of wandering, face the mother who abandoned him, and in the pure white thunder, he will be reborn!

The scattered wind blades regrouped, along with tiny lightning snakes. With wind as the blade and lightning as the handle, a naginata made of pure elemental force appeared in his hand.

He should not move.

The mind, empty after the collapse of the nation, saw nothing else in his eyes; the world had lost its form in his gaze, leaving only that one blade.

"Don't move—" he gritted his teeth, pure white steam pouring out from between them, "One cut."

A single, unmoving cut.

The sword left behind by the 500-year-old pillar of the state of Qingye, Leiming.

Narukami promised all people an eternal paradise, so she is "Musou" (meaning "without thought"). Kiyono Raimei, on the other hand, is just a mortal. He cannot promise such a grand dream. All he can do is protect them, protect them for one spring, protect them for one year, and protect them for five hundred years.

Five hundred years of Zhuguo.

Therefore, he must remain still; this is the meaning of a still, unmoving strike.

But Barzeb never cared about stillness; she pursued her unthinking, her eternity.

She had grand dreams, but the gods always stood in the clouds. When she pursued the pure land she promised, she neglected her small dream and ignored the fact that her land was always protected by the Immovable One as it became a pure land.

And if she were to pass away, her kingdom would collapse.

She, however, kept herself locked in her tower, never once glancing at the human world.

Even if the country collapses, we must win.