He changed Tiwat

Schubert may very well have been imprisoned at the "Falcon Gate".

Of course, to be on the safe side, Yura still needed to clarify Han Fulai's reasons for his judgment.

"Why is it called the 'Eagle Gate'? Both are places that cannot be divined or observed. What's the difference? Could it be related to the different images that were divined earlier?"

The "Gate of the Eagle" is located near Eagle Beach, quite a distance from Mondstadt. Even traveling at full speed, it would probably take most of the day to reach it.

If we come up empty-handed, not only will we have wasted a lot of effort, but we may also alert the enemy, who may then move on again.

"Well, to be honest, those three abandoned temples are actually the territory of the wind god Barbatos. He can sense everything that happens inside. Only the 'Gate of the Eagle' is a 'lawless zone.' There should still be traces of the aura left behind after Dvalin was contaminated by the poisonous blood of the demon dragon Durin. No one except monsters would want to approach it, making it a perfect secret base," Han Fulai replied.

"Wait, you sound like you know this result perfectly well. How do you know?" Mona asked.

As a genius astrologer, she couldn't figure out things even with her water divination techniques, but Han Fulai seemed to know everything just by calculating with his fingers—this sense of defeat made Mona very unwilling.

Han Fulai smiled and replied, "This is thanks to two things. First, I am quite familiar with that 'Honorary Knight' Ying, and I know her deeds quite well. I know that she went to these places during the 'Dragon Disaster'. Second, I saw through the 'word games' that the Wind God was playing. I am also a poetry enthusiast, so I know very well how many tricks poets can play for the sake of poetic imagery and rhyme."

His explanation, of course, failed to satisfy Mona: "We clearly met on the way to Mondstadt, how come I didn't know you were close to Luminous?"

"Oh?" Yura also squinted at Han Fulai, and she inexplicably felt that this guy's relationship with that blond honor knight was more than just very familiar.

Han Fulai felt a little awkward. He couldn't very well say, "I'm so close to Yingmei in the game that we're practically inseparable..."

“Uh… this is called, a friend of a friend is a friend of a friend. I’ve heard a lot about her from my friend, and we’ve known each other for a long time.” He coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject: “During that ‘Dragon Plague,’ the Fatui tried to use the ‘Protection Agreement’ to coerce the Knights of Favonius into killing Dvalin, or to force Mondstadt to hand over its defenses entirely to the Fatui. You’ve heard about this, haven’t you, Yola?”

"That's true." Yura nodded.

"The true purpose of the Fools was actually to plunder the power of the Wind God's followers and even the Wind God himself... The Fools' strategy at the time was to collect the Wind God's aura left behind in the temples of the Four Winds Guardians, as well as the tears shed by Dvalin due to the pain of being corrupted by black blood, attempting to use the connection between the Four Winds Guardians and the Wind God to lure out the Wind God Barbatos..."

"The 'Wind Demon Dragon' Dvalin once occupied these temples and the Eagle Gate for a period of time, shedding his tears, while Luminous fought with the Fatui for these things."

"Thanks to the efforts of the Honor Knight Ying, a great deal of Wind God's aura and Wind Dragon's tears were successfully recovered, which played a significant role in resolving the 'Dragon Disaster' and thwarted the Fatui's plot. Hmm... I may not be able to go into more specifics here, after all, we secretaries have a duty of confidentiality. In short, it was from these events that I learned that the Wind God's power remained in these places."

During the "Dragon Plague," the Fatui executor "Lady" used Dvalin's madness to lure out the wind god Barbatos and successfully stole Barbatos's "Heart of God."

As for the veteran actress Wendy getting so into character that she was slapped in the face and then had her heart ripped out by "the lady"... that's, of course, a Mondstadt secret. Not even Mona, let alone Yola, could possibly know.

Although Venti was shameless, Han Fulai still had to give him some face. Mondstadt's official narrative didn't mention Venti at all, nor did it mention the help of Harp Master and Diluc. Basically, all the credit was given to the great heroine who saved Mondstadt, Luminous. Han Fulai just followed Mondstadt's official narrative.

Mona nodded, then asked, "So what do you mean by 'word games'?"

Han Fulai still smiled: "Actually, the secret is hidden in the name of the Four Winds Guardian."

He turned to Yura, "Yura, as a member of the Knights, you should know where the faith of the Four Winds Guardians came from, right?"

Yura gave her answer without hesitation.

"A thousand years ago, to protect all that was hard-won, Vanessa founded the Knights of Favonius; the dragon Dvalin, captivated by Barbatos's untamed winds and songs, descended to earth and pledged allegiance to him; the Knights of the North Wind ended their wanderings in Mondstadt and settled in the Wolf Forest. Vanessa the Lion Fang Knight, the Knights of Favonius, Dvalin the East Wind Dragon, and the Knights of the North Wind—these were the first four guardians of the winds in Mondstadt."

Just like the civil service exam in Liyue requires a Liyue history test, the written exam for joining the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt also requires a Mondstadt history test.

Although Grand Master Falgar and Jean offered their kind assistance, it only qualified Yura, the "descendant of a sinner," to join the Knights. Yura had passed the test through her own merit, so she naturally answered the Knights' civil service exam questions fluently.

"You should know the names of the four guardians of the winds, right?" Han Fulai continued to ask.

“Of course.” Yura rattled off a string of names without hesitation: “Dvalinn, the Dragon of the East Wind; Dandelion, the Lion of the South Wind; Boreas, the Wolf of the North Wind; and Zephyrus, the Eagle of the West Wind.”

The names of these four guardians of the winds were mentioned in the game's storyline, and Han Fulai still remembered them quite well—because, apart from Dvalin, the other three names were completely different from the original guardians in history.

"Hmm, let me ask you again, what is the full name of your 'Knights of the West'?" Han Fulai asked again.

“The Knights of Favonius,” Yura replied immediately.

She now has a dazed feeling, as if she were fifteen years old, taking the Knights' exam.

"Then why is the Knights called 'Favonius' instead of 'Zephyrus', which is enshrined in the temple?" Han Fulai continued to ask.

This question did not stump Yura: "Because the Mongolian language we use now has changed a lot compared to the ancient Mongolian language from a thousand years ago, and the nouns used to refer to it have also changed. But in fact, Zephyrus from a thousand years ago is the same as Favonius now, both representing the name of the West Wind Eagle."

Yura, being a descendant of the Lawrence family, received a noble education from a young age and had a deep understanding of the languages ​​of that era. To draw an analogy, it's like Mondstadt a thousand years ago was spoken in Latin, and after the aristocracy was overthrown, the common people began to speak the more colloquial English.

But after answering the question, Yura was already a little unhappy. Those stale, decadent aristocratic uncles in her family were always saying, "Let me test you," and then showing off their half-baked historical knowledge to the young girl…

Sensing that Yura's tone was getting a little impatient, Han Fulai quickly switched from the "gentle persuasion" mode he used with Keqing to the "frank and straightforward" mode he used with Ganyu: "Ahem, the reason I asked these questions is to explain one thing—the 'Four Winds Guardians' enshrined in the temple are fake, and there has never been any such 'Four Winds Guardian Faith'."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Not only Yura, but Mona was also surprised.

Without the faith of the Four Winds, are the Knights of the North Wind and the Lion Fang Knights just fake? What was the point of building those temples?

“Apart from the still-living ‘Dragon of the East Wind,’ the names and identities of the other three guardians do not match up.”

"The 'West Wind Guardians' is a unified order of knights, so why is it called 'Zeferos' or 'Favonius'? The 'South Wind Guardians' is clearly Vanessa, so why is she called 'Dandelion'? Who is the North Wind Knight? Is it the first North Wind Knight, Rivendell, or the Wolf King Andrius? And why was the 'North Wind Guardians' renamed 'Porias'?"

Han Fu asked and answered himself: "Just as our faith needs an 'idol,' in Liyue, people create all sorts of statues of the Geo Archon to worship, some in human form, some in dragon form... but the faith is directed towards the Geo Archon. In Mondstadt, the faith of the Four Winds Guardians is directed only towards the Anemo Archon himself."

"Porias is the god of wind, Zephyros is the god of wind, and Dandelion is a homonym for 'dandelion,' which also refers to the god of wind."

This must be Wendy's plan that started a thousand years ago.

Chapter 205 The Correct Collective Memory of the Mondstadt People [4k]

Han Fulai had previously suspected that Teyvat and Earth were inextricably linked. He could find traces of China in the cultural landscape and geographical environment of Liyue, and Mondstadt also had a similar connection.

The influence of ancient Greece and Rome can be seen everywhere in Mondstadt.

Similar architectural styles, such as knight's castles, cathedrals, amphitheaters, and gladiatorial arenas, as well as similar myths and legends.

In some famous Greek myths he had read before his transmigration, such as the Odyssey and the Iliad, there was a mention of four wind gods. Zephyrus, the west wind god, and Boreas, the north wind god, were both wind gods.

Although the wind god is never the protagonist of mythology, he appears in many heroes' stories, giving them treasures or providing help. He just loves to join in the fun—like that wandering bard.

Take the so-called "Eagle of the West Wind," Zephyrus, for example. Why would Vanessa choose an eagle as the emblem of the Knights? Her title is "Lion Fang," so it would be more normal for her to use a lion as the emblem of the Knights.

Moreover, during the royal era, the knightly orders established by the nobles were named "Starlight," and there was no mention in various legends that the West Wind had anything to do with the eagle. So how did the eagle suddenly come to represent the West Wind in Vanessa's era?

—This was of course a forced arrangement by the poet Wendy to make the four winds neat and orderly... If one of the four winds were missing, it would absolutely drive the obsessive-compulsive poet crazy.

The reason why the Knights were named "West Wind Eagle" still lies in the Greek mythology of Earth.

In Greek mythology, Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, had a harpy named Potalges as his lover. Therefore, a harpy is often depicted next to Zephyrus, and statues of Zephyrus often have a pair of harpy wings.

Take, for example, "The Lion of the South" Dandelion.

In Mondstadt legend, the "Lion Fang Knight" and the "Dandelion Knight" symbolize Vanessa's two sides: the "fighting" spirit of a lion and the "freedom" spirit of a dandelion. The "Lion Fang Knight" represents Vanessa's past struggles for Mondstadt, while the "Dandelion Knight," who emerged after establishing the Knights of Favonius, represents the future of Mondstadt that she envisioned.

But in reality, it was just a pun riddle played by Wendy, the bard.

Just as "potato" and "malling potato" are two ways of saying "potato," the words "lion's tooth" and "dandelion" are both pronounced "Dandelion" in Old Mongolian.

This is actually a word-splitting trick, breaking down "dandelion" into "dan de lion".

In Old Mongolian, "dan" means "tooth," "de" is a conjunction equivalent to "of," and "lion" means lion. Together, these three words mean "lion's tooth."

The reason dandelions are associated with lions is probably because their serrated leaves resemble lion teeth. A certain bard added a touch of poetic imagination and romance, and from then on, Mondstadt gained a guardian deity…

And coincidentally... or perhaps not so coincidentally, as far as Han Fulai knows, the etymology of the word "dandelion" on Earth also evolved in the same way as Mondstadt.

The so-called "Lion of the South Wind" has never been a real lion, nor does it have any teeth... It has always had only one meaning—a symbol of Mondstadt, a symbol of the wind god, and a dandelion.

As for "The North Wind Wolf" Boreas, Wendy shamelessly swindled and deceived people.

The Wolf King of the North Wind has always been called Andrius, and his remnant soul is still in Wolfrunt. He neither obeys orders nor proclamations, and he would never change his name to become a subordinate for Venti... When Venti passes through Wolfrunt, the Wolf King might even say, "Barbatos, are you ready to accept the trial?"

To put it bluntly, the so-called "Four Winds Guardian" is nothing more than Venti creating a new account and changing identities, just like Zhongli next door.

Although Han Fulai didn't know where Wendy had heard these Greek myths from, just as Zhongli was very familiar with Chinese culture, Wendy was very likely to have some understanding of Earth's civilization.

Or... is this one of the secrets of Sky Isle? Perhaps it's even related to his reason for traveling to Teyvat?

Of course, at least for now, these are things that Han Fulai "cannot say even if he knows them".

Hearing Han Fulai's words, Mona's face showed a hint of doubt: "You mean... Barbatos, the god of wind, is using the 'Four Winds Guardian Faith' to shape his people's faith in him? But isn't that redundant? Mondstadt's faith in the god of wind has never changed, and isn't the Church of Favonius doing very well now?"

The person who answered Mona was Yura: "But that is the Church of the West Wind, a subordinate church of the Knights of the West Wind. A thousand years ago, it should have been called the Church of the Wind God."

As a descendant of the Lawrence family and a member of the Knights of Favonius, Yura was quite aware of these matters.

In that era, the people of Mondstadt were firmly controlled by the Lawrence family, both materially and spiritually.

According to historical records such as The Tower of Mondstadt, the Church of Aeolus during the Mondstadt era had a rather infamous reputation. It is said that the Church of Aeolus at that time was completely a puppet of the nobility, engaging in many shady dealings with the Mondstadt nobles under the banner of Aeolus.

At that time, the church not only betrayed its faith in the wind god and condoned the nobles to overthrow the wind god statue and build a tower, but also helped the nobles fabricate various so-called "divine punishments" to suppress the people's resistance in the name of Barbatos and assist the nobles in levying exorbitant taxes.

The sordid acts committed by the church, besides various acts of satisfying the personal desires of the church's leaders in the name of faith, even included a special fondness for young boys and the forced abduction of women's "first nights," as well as a series of vigilante killings and murders to cover up their crimes. In short, in the eyes of the Mondstadt people at that time, the Church of the Wind God was also a synonym for evil.

So after Vanessa raised the flag of rebellion, the Church of Aeolus, like Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris during the French Revolution, was burned to the ground by the people of Mondstadt.

The reason why the Church of the West Wind is now called the "Church of the West Wind" instead of the "Church of the Wind God" is because the Church of the Wind God's name has been completely tarnished.

Although the Church of Favonius still worships the wind god Barbatos, its name has changed. It has become part of the Knights of Favonius, instead of the "Church of the Wind God" established by the wind god priest Gunnhild two thousand six hundred years ago.

To put it bluntly, it's a demotion. The church went from being "the earthly representative of the supreme wind god Barbatos" to "the Religious Affairs Bureau (deputy ministerial level) under the Knights of Favonius".

This is, of course, to prevent the church, which embodies the people's faith, from once again becoming an accomplice in oppressing the people.

Upon hearing Yura's words, Mona's face showed a look of sudden realization: "So that's how it is! He's using the Four Winds Guardians to replace the Church of the Wind God whose faith has collapsed, transferring the people of Mondstadt's faith to the Four Winds Guardians, and then rebuilding the church in the name of the Four Winds Guardians! That's why I was able to divine the aura of the Wind God from the temple of the Four Winds Guardians!"

"It is indeed an ingenious design, worthy of the earthly ruler who founded Mondstadt." Yura also sincerely praised the god's ingenuity.

The perverse actions of the Wind God Church a thousand years ago caused the people's faith in the Wind God to be severely shaken. Compared to the Wind God Church that had been riding on their backs and lording it over for thousands of years, and the Wind God who had been slacking off for a thousand years without offering any help, the people preferred to believe in the knightly order that overthrew the church.

Barbatos's solution was to simply abandon the rotten Church of the Wind God and, going with the flow, make the knight who saved the country a god.

He designated the Knights who had distinguished themselves in the revolution as servants of the Aeolus, and fabricated the legend of the "Guardians of the Four Winds" to endow them with divinity. He then used Vanessa to establish the "Protestant Church" of the Guardians of the Four Winds to replace the collapsed Church of the Aeolus, thus reshaping the faith of the Mondstadt people.

Whether you believe in the Knights, Vanessa, or the Four Winds Guardians... in the end, you still return to the belief system of the Wind God.

Mona and Yura exchanged a glance, both of them looking deeply amazed.

Han Fulai smiled but remained silent.

He knew that what Wendy was doing was even more amazing than what Mona and Yura were experiencing now.

According to Han Fulai, Wendy's move was a so-called "backdoor listing," using the shell of Sifeng Guardian while selling Barbatos's stock.

Moreover, Wendy accomplished something significant—he easily shaped the "correct collective memory of Mondstadt" through this arrangement, thus gaining complete control over the power of the Seven Earthly Rulers.

Of the four guardians of the winds, apart from Dvalin, who is the true servant, the other three guardians are actually incarnations of the wind god. When people build temples to worship the four guardians of the winds, they are actually only worshipping the wind god himself—coincidentally, the temple of the guardian of the east wind disappeared in history.

In other words, all the "incense offerings" made by the people of Mondstadt over the past millennium belong to Wendy.

Han Fulai would never believe that this wasn't Wendy's deliberate design.

The Rock King, who gathers the power of wishes with Mora, and Barbatos, who gathers faith with the protection of the four winds... The two oldest of the Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm have been secretly accumulating power to rebel against Sky Isles, growing stronger day by day.

The power of the gods is related to the power of their will, a fact that Han Fulai has already obtained conclusive evidence of in his past experiences.

The gods obtain the power of their people's wishes and must fulfill those wishes; they cannot obtain the power of wishes for no reason.

To put it more simply, civil servants on Sky Island need to have "achievements," and slacking off at work will result in deductions from their performance evaluations.

Wendy was sidelined by the Time Rulers for a long time and abandoned by the Mondstadt people of the Royal Age. His self-admitted "weakness" was probably due to a lack of willpower.

If Wendy was a “weak ruler” 2,600 years ago, Wendy a thousand years ago would probably be a “very weak god”.

To put it bluntly, Wendy a thousand years ago was a god in name only, and his power might not even have been stronger than that of the dragon Usa and the Lawrence family at the time. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed Vanessa and some "Treasury of the Wind" to help him. He could have simply wiped out those blasphemous nobles and churches, just like he did when he fought the "Lone King in the Tower" two thousand six hundred years ago.

Wendy's strategy at the time was to instigate a nationwide revolution to overthrow the aristocracy, to unite the people's faith in freedom in the struggle, and to gradually regain the throne.

In the process of overthrowing the aristocracy, the influence left by that Time Ruler also completely dissipated with the downfall of the Lawrence family.

The subsequent establishment of the Four Winds Guardian Faith system essentially meant that the Knights of Familia were doing his bidding for free, with their followers representing the wind gods to fulfill the wishes of their people. This naturally provided Venti with ample willpower, allowing him to truly possess the strength of a seventh-rank ruler.

Sixteen hundred years before the Vanessa era, Barbatos was all alone, with no companions other than Dvalin. He was sidelined, forgotten, and spent his time either wandering around or sleeping.

After Vanessa established the Knights, Barbatos transformed into a powerful god with four divine servants.

Furthermore, due to the activities of the Knights and the spread of the legend of the Four Winds, Barbatos's image has become increasingly lofty over the past thousand years. Although Barbatos is no longer active in the martial world, his legends are still widely circulated—including many legends that may have originally belonged to others.

When Mondstadt residents talk about history, they all say in unison, "There can only be one sun in the sky, and we Mondstadt have only had one sun since ancient times: Barbatos," as if Barbatos has been this powerful since 2,600 years ago.

What Tower King? A defeated foe of the Wind God. What North Wind Wolf King? A lackey of the Wind God. What Time Demon God? Never heard of him!

Barbatos, on the other hand, continued to slack off and sleep as usual, telling Sky Island that nothing had changed, that he was still the same Barbatos, the most loyal, honest, and reliable civil servant of Sky Island.

Mona stared at the map Han Fulai had drawn on the table for a while, and finally concluded: "...If the Temple of the Four Winds is indeed related to Barbatos, the god of the winds, the Fools wouldn't be so arrogant as to use it as a base. Excluding the Temple of the Four Winds, only the 'Gate of the Eagle' fits the criteria for hiding there. Hmm, I think there's a high possibility that Schubert is imprisoned there."

Han Fulai looked at Yura: "Yura, what do you think? If you think what I said makes sense, then we can set off now."

“Well, I’ll go back to the Knights Order now to gather the guerrilla knights and head to the ‘Gate of the Eagle.’ Considering that the number of the enemy is unknown, we may need to add more manpower…” Yura said as she stood up.

She has always disliked dragging things out, so if she felt it was worth a try, she should act immediately.

Han Fulai naturally stood up with her.

Noticing Han Fulai's actions, Yura finally realized that something was off about what Han Fulai had just said—

"...Wait a minute, you just said 'we're leaving now'...you want to come along too?"