He changed Tiwat

With this question in mind, Han Fulai opened the last volume of the novel.

The latest volume of "Inuyasha Half-Dog," the eleventh volume, can be described as a thunderbolt at the beginning.

The very first paragraph was extremely explosive:

"Let me shut up that noisy dog's mouth..."

"Ugh—!"

That night, the girl entrusted something important to the loyal dog...

However, as Han Fulai continued reading, he realized that even with "Yaezō's" standards, it was impossible for Lisa to actually write what readers wanted to see; at least, people and dogs were out of the question...

The last ray of light gradually disappeared, and darkness was about to envelop the entire forest.

"It's time to get a new older sister."

Madaline suddenly put Dietrich down from her arms.

"Oh, right, let me give you one last gift. I'm sure your sister will be happy too."

As she spoke, fluorescent light seeped from the girl's fingers, gradually gathering into a dazzling ball of light; Madaline had activated her light magic.

"Okay, now you have to be good. Shh—don't talk yet."

"What is it—so mysterious...mmm." Odierich hadn't reacted yet and muttered something under his breath, but before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted as a slender hand firmly gripped Odierich's muzzle.

In the blink of an eye, something was quickly stuffed into his mouth by the girl who had been replaced.

"This is--"

It's the hilt of his sword.

The sword that once proudly adorned his belt.

This volume tells the story of a witch and her loyal dog encountering a sudden enemy. Using the power of "light magic," she entrusts a "gift" and a sword to the loyal dog. The story abruptly ends the moment they encounter the enemy.

"Light magic," and "sword"—could this be some kind of metaphor?

The witch in the novel uses forbidden light magic to extract the soul of her deceased sister, combine it with dark magic and alchemy to create a body, and then resurrect the soul by placing it into the new body. The snake-shaped bracelet wrapped around the witch's arm is an object transformed from her sister's body.

The forbidden art of resurrecting the dead seems impossible even in a world with gods and magic.

Han Fulai thought for a moment, then picked up another book in front of him.

Volume 7 of "Dog and a Half".

The seventh volume's story, in short, is about the young master of the Lawrence family being punished by the wicked witch Nottfriars, who gives him a nightmare. He dreams of the Lawrence family's rule collapsing, his parents becoming miserable beings, and himself being captured by the witch and thrown into a pot to be boiled into dog meat soup…

There is a slightly strange part in this story that Han Fulai had previously overlooked, but now he vaguely feels that it contains clues that Lisa wants to tell others.

He quickly flipped through the book and soon found the passage that seemed a bit unusual to him.

Odierich suddenly opened his eyes, and what was in front of him was—

A blonde, blue-eyed girl.

"That's great, you're finally awake." The girl smiled.

"Could this be... Sky Island?" Odirich wondered.

"No, it's just an ordinary grove of trees," the girl said.

Odiere snapped out of her daze. The girl before her was none other than the culprit—the wretched old witch Nottfriars! The dog immediately panicked, leaping back to create distance and adopting a wary stance.

right here!

Han Fulai's eyes were fixed on the middle line of text.

In the story, Odiere has a nightmare in which he thinks he is dead. When he opens his eyes, he thinks he has arrived in "heaven"... but what he refers to as "heaven" is "Sky Island".

"In Mondstadt customs, is Sky Isle considered a paradise for the dead? Or is there such a rumor among the nobles of the royal era?" Han Fulai asked.

Mona shook her head: "The Mondstadt people worship the wind god. They will say that the wind can carry the souls of the dead back to their homeland, but they will not say that it carries them to the Sky Isles. Everyone knows that the Sky Isles are the abode of the supreme gods, and mortals cannot touch them... To this day, the only legend of Vanessa ascending to the Sky Isles after death is that of Vanessa. When ordinary people die, people usually say that their souls return to the ley lines."

Han Fulai nodded slightly and added, "Moreover, the story of this book is set in the royal era when the Lawrence family ruled. Vanessa did not exist in that era, so there should be no legend of anyone dying and ascending to Sky Island."

The abrupt appearance of the term "Sky Island" is already a very obvious hint.

This story is not just about Lawrence, nor just about Mond or the witch; Lisa's metaphorical object is actually from the Isle of Skye.

After all, no one in this world can be freed alive—this statement refers to "everyone in this world," not just the witch family; no one in this world can be freed alive.

The key lies in understanding what Lisa means by "liberation".

...What if we consider this statement from the opposite perspective?

The opposite of liberation is bondage.

When people seek liberation, there must be corresponding constraints.

Is there something in this world that binds all of humanity...?

Han Fulai's gaze fell on the face of the witch sitting opposite him.

The genius astrologer then spoke up: "If I'm not mistaken, the truth that Lisa wants to convey to others is probably the same as the truth we're looking for."

Han Fulai uttered a single word: "Fate?"

Mona nodded. "Fate."

Above the false heavens, everyone's fate has already been decided by the laws of nature—perhaps even the gods and the rulers are no exception.

If...

The witch in the story represents one or two gods who rebelled against Sky Island; the young master of the Lawrence family, who was reformed by the witch, represents the first generation of the Lawrence family who once spied on the secrets of Sky Island; the "gift" the witch bestowed upon the loyal dog is the power that the Lawrence family obtained from the ruler of Sky Island; the young master's sword represents the Lawrence family's sword-shaped "Ice Seal"...

Lisa is saying that "time reigns," and she is also rebelling against Sky Island!

Chapter 253 The God with "One Body, Two Souls"?

Han Fulai couldn't help but recall the advice the languid librarian had given him when he first met Lisa at the library—

"If you ask too much of God for miracles, you should think carefully about whether you can afford the price God is asking for."

The price of defying fate is indeed heavy.

The "Time Ruler," who rebelled against Sky Isle and granted power to the Lawrence family, is now "dead." Her soul resides in her sister, or perhaps another deity?

If the Lawrence family appears in this story, if the story takes place in Mondstadt, and if the witch with "two souls in one body" is all referring to something...

Han Fulai rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Shi Yu Feng... 'Thousand Winds Temple'?"

"The Temple of a Thousand Winds, is that the one mentioned in the 'Fragments of the Ritual'?" Mona blinked.

“That’s it.” Han Fulai nodded. “There used to be two ‘Temple of the Thousand Winds’ in Mondstadt, each dedicated to a different god. After the Royal Family era, only the current Wind God remains. Apart from the ruins on Starcliff, the other temple has been hidden overseas in Mondstadt. This time, Schubert Lawrence and the Fools are cooperating to find that temple that has disappeared from history.”

"Ah... so that's why you said 'time and wind,' these two... have become one?" Mona suddenly realized.

Han Fulai nodded again, "Very likely."

This is a huge secret.

The term "one half" in "Dog Half" refers to the concept of "one body, two souls."

—The soul of that "ruler of time" may now reside in Barbatos.

They are fighting together against a fate from which no one can escape.

If we replace the so-called "light magic" in the book with elemental power, and "black magic" with abyssal power...

So the body mentioned in the book, created by combining "dark magic" and alchemy... isn't that the "artificial human" Abedo created using Canria technology?

At this point, all the metaphors in this story have come together.

What Lisa is writing isn't a romance novel at all; she's clearly writing a "contemporary history"!

Mona had previously only discerned the metaphors about the Lawrence family and the "Time Ruler's" rebellion against Sky Island, but the discovery of "one body, two souls" truly shocked her to the point of speechlessness.

It turns out that so many terrible secrets are hidden in the seemingly peaceful country of Mondstadt!

But new questions arose in her mind.

Although she had only been away from her master and in Mondstadt for less than a month, and only half a month between the meteor shower and her decision to "seek the truth," she was repeatedly shocked by that "truth" in those short two weeks.

She remembered the story Han Fu had told her and Wendy on Musk Reef, the story of a man named "Tureman":

"Everything in his life was scripted. His experiences, his thoughts, and his feelings were almost all guided by others. He didn't even have the right to decide his own life or death. For him, everything was 'predestined'."

For the people living in this world, this world called Teyvat, every single person, even the gods, may be a "Truman."

The Trumans, who on the continent of Teyvat desperately tried to change their fate, all seemed to meet rather unpleasant ends.

Even something as powerful as "time rule" has ended up disappearing from history.

After all, the one on Sky Island is capable of creating false skies and stars, weaving "destiny" for everyone!

"...Why would you go to such lengths to defy 'fate'? Even if it's likely to be futile?" she couldn't help but ask.

Indeed, Mona wanted to pursue the truth and find out the truth hidden by Sky Island. Her astrologer's "heart of truth-seeking" drove her to explore all the hidden mysteries.

She wanted to witness whether a "true destiny" existed after the "false destiny" determined by the laws of nature.

As an astrologer who believes in "predestination," she hopes to find the value and practical significance of the discipline of "astrology," believing that true destiny must exist. For this, she is even willing to disregard the "cause and effect and consequences" of such actions, in order to uncover secrets that could bring her death.

But ultimately, it's because she's an astrologer, an astrologer who seeks the truth.

But what about the others?

Leonard, who risked his life to climb "Peak of the Spire"; Vanilla Lawrence, who helped Leonard; the "Time Ruler," who might have died resisting Sky Island; the idle and irresponsible Green Bard... and the man named Han Fulai sitting in front of her.

Why do they absolutely need to know the truth?

Mona used to be disliked for telling people the harsh truths when she did fortune telling. She actually understood that for most people, ignorance is a kind of happiness.

“I’m someone who has witnessed ‘fate’ quite often. As far as I know, ‘fate’ never wavers.” Mona’s eyes were very serious.

Although her previously invincible "water divination" has suffered various unexpected failures since she met Ying and Han Fulai, this is because the fate trajectories of those special people have all been hidden.

Assuming she could see those trajectories of fate clearly, Mona was very confident that the outcomes those trajectories symbolized would never waver.

The problem lies in how we interpret fate, but fate itself is something that has already been decided.

In response to Mona's question, Han Fulai smiled and said, "In your astrologer's theory, all the 'fate' in this world has already been decided. Even if it wasn't decided by Sky Island, there must be some other force that determines people's fate, right?"

Mona nodded. This was the cornerstone of astrology. Even knowing of the existence of the "False Heaven," Mona believed that behind the "False Heaven" there was a "True Heaven" that determined people's fate.

Han Fulai nodded, "Yes, in my previous world, your viewpoint was called 'determinism'—meaning that everything in this world has already been decided, the so-called 'predestined fate'."

"Huh? You have astrologers like me over there? Really?" Mona was surprised and delighted.

Han Fulai nodded with a smile, "Yes, I've come across the so-called 'determinism' before."

Chapter 254 Laplace's Demon on Sky Island [4k]

"In my world, the person who proposed 'determinism' was also an 'astrologer.' His name was Laplace, and he worked in a place similar to the Fontaine Academy, studying the trajectories of the stars. He also possessed a divine beast that was good at divination and could know everything; we later called it 'Laplace's Demon.'"

Well, astronomers were indeed colleagues with astrologers in ancient times. As for Laplace's demon, it's one of the four mythical creatures of physics, and almost every student who has studied physics knows about it.

Han Fulai's words clearly piqued Mona's interest.

"Tell me quickly what your 'determinism' is, and what 'Laplace's demon' is?"

Her initial purpose in coming to Mondstadt was to exchange occult knowledge with Aerith's successor, thereby enhancing her own research in astrology. Although she didn't gain any useful knowledge from Klee, if she could obtain the otherworldly astrological knowledge that Han Fulai possessed, it would be a case of losing one thing and gaining another.

"Skilled in deduction, able to know all things"—isn't this the ultimate pursuit of astrologers?

Seeing Mona's excitement, Han Fulai solemnly gave the astrologer a lecture on otherworldly astrology: "Simply put, this world obeys the law of cause and effect, and everything that happens has its reason."

“Let’s take the current situation as an example: If I hadn’t ordered that super expensive dandelion wine last night, I wouldn’t have come to see you so early this morning, and I wouldn’t have gotten this delicious ‘satisfaction salad,’ and of course we wouldn’t be sitting here talking right now… Just like that, we can keep tracing the cause of things back to the beginning.”

“It is unimaginable for something to happen without a cause. Similarly, we cannot imagine something happening without any consequences. So, when something happens, it produces a consequence, and that consequence leads to a new consequence... This forms a causal chain. As long as we can find this causal chain, we can follow the clues to deduce everything in the chain.”

"The reason we are having this conversation can be traced back to our meeting on the outskirts of Liyue Harbor more than half a month ago. And if we trace it back further, we can go all the way to our birth, and even the birth of our ancestors... Going back infinitely, perhaps from the beginning of the existence of this universe, our acquaintance and our conversation today have all been determined by 'fate'."

"Everything in nature, every 'cause' strictly determines every 'effect,' and every 'effect' can be traced back to its 'cause.' By extension, in the entire spacetime of nature, at every moment and at every location, all phenomena are strictly determined by the causal chain of natural laws. This is called 'determinism.'"

“Isn’t this just ‘cause and effect and consequences’? When I was little, the old lady first explained ‘predestination’ in astrology to me, and it was almost exactly the same as what you said.” Mona had a strange sense of déjà vu, as if she were listening to an old lady from another world giving a lecture. “However… the old lady didn’t have any ‘divine beasts’, although she boasted that her ‘water divination’ could predict the fate of all things…”

Hearing Mona say that, Han Fulai thought of the "Teyvat Babbage" named Garcha. Could it be that Mona's master is "Teyvat Trapulus"...?

Speaking of Laplace, he was the founder of celestial mechanics, a pioneer of applied mathematics, and Napoleon's teacher. He was able to use his mathematical talent to help Napoleon train personnel for his artillery corps. In the process of studying celestial problems, he created and developed many mathematical methods. The Laplace transform, Laplace's theorem, and Laplace's equation, which are named after him, have wide applications in various fields of science and technology.

If we can win over this witch through Mona, it would definitely be a good thing.

Of course, these witches, who could be described as ancient monsters, mostly lived in seclusion, so for now he could only dream about them.

Han Fulai continued, "The so-called 'Laplace's Demon' is not actually a real monster. It is actually a 'thought experiment' proposed by the astrologer Laplace."