He changed Tiwat

That's why Wendy deliberately passed on information to him, hinting that he should go to Sumeru to sabotage Winter's plans.

Depending on the situation, he may have to confront the Fools or some other force, so he must be fully prepared.

Because Inazuma is isolated overseas, communication with the mainland is very slow—for example, Sumeru has absolutely no information about his current situation while he is in Inazuma.

He needed to hurry back to Liyue to use the intelligence networks of Moonsea Pavilion and Ningguang to learn about the Fatui's movements and find out the true nature of Sumeru.

That being said, he was actually quite worried about Yingmei.

Yingmei's massacre of the Fools' "Evil Eye Factory" by Inazuma and her "Duel in the Imperial Court" with "Lady" that directly led to "Lady's" death—these two acts alone are enough for the Fools to issue a kill order against Yingmei.

The strange machine that appeared on the "Golden Apple Islands" is likely derived from the power of the Sumeru Grass God, and given that Sumeru is currently in a strange state of "lockdown"... the worst-case scenario Han Fulai can imagine is this:

One or more of the Fatui's executives obtained the "Heart of God" of the Grass God, and the entire Sumeru region has been taken over by the Fatui. Even the Grass God Buyer has had his power taken away by the Fatui and become a puppet.

At the same time, the Fools also used the power of the Grass God to open a kind of "locked-down" barrier covering the entire Sumeru region, severing Sumeru's connection with the outside world.

Ying and Paimon entered the border of the Sumeru Kingdom, only to stumble upon the Fools' conspiracy, and were subsequently hunted down by them...

—But even in such a situation, Han Fulai did not think Ying would be in danger.

He wasn't worried about Ying's fighting ability at all.

Ying now possesses the power of three elements, has inherited the divinity of Aurobas and the "Seven Transformations of the Serpent," and even has a sword technique comparable to "The One-Slash of Musou"—it is no exaggeration to say that her current combat power is already at the level of a demon god.

What is the concept of combat power at the level of a demon god?

...Well, let's just think of Ying as a slightly smaller puppet general.

If Yingmei fights with all her might, it's hard to say whether she can unleash a "Musou Blade Across the Narrow Space," but literally splitting a mountain shouldn't be a problem. Even if the Fools gather several companies to besiege Yingmei, they might not be able to withstand a single blow from her.

Furthermore, Han Fulai had witnessed Yingmei's monstrous physical abilities; her resilience and regenerative abilities were likely on par with those of a puppet general...

To deal with such a figure as Luminosity, it is meaningless to simply increase the number of Fatui members; in fact, most of the Fatui's executives might not even be a match for Luminosity.

The only feasible option is probably the "Ancient Chinese School's Mindset"—to deceive and launch a sneak attack.

Yingmei's inner self—primarily referring to her internal organs—is still human; after all, she's not a doll and still needs to eat, sleep, and use the toilet. And for any human who needs to eat, sleep, and use the toilet, there's always some kind of drug that can knock them out.

Sumeru happens to be a country with highly advanced drug research.

Han Fulai is worried that those two idiots might have eaten spiked food at the restaurant in Xumi, or that someone might have put a sleeping potion on them in the middle of the night at the inn...

The Fatui's spy network spans the entire continent of Teyvat, and there are even "spies" who remain hidden for decades, disguised as ordinary people, waiting to be used. If the Fatui are to use their cunning against the unsuspecting, even if Yingmei is incredibly powerful, she will likely be powerless.

In addition, the so-called "sensory mimicry" device also made him feel uneasy. According to Wendy, the Grass God's power is related to dreams and consciousness, and he had experienced similar "mental attacks" when fighting the "Skirms" in the "Evil Eye Factory".

If the Fools of Sumeru really steal the power of the Grass God and possess similar abilities to the "Scattered Soldiers," Yingmei might have a hard time dealing with them...

Unfortunately, the "Dudu Communicator" is not working now, and he has no way to find Yingmei who is in Xumi. All he can do is prepare to go to Xumi as soon as possible and try to get those two silly girls out of the trap before they fall into it.

It should be said that Han Fulai's concerns were quite reasonable. While he was communicating with Wendy, Yingmei, who was far away in Sumeru, had already fallen into a coma.

Paimon was so anxious that tears streamed down his face. He kept circling around the collapsed Yingmei, crying, "Waaah... Yingmei, please wake up! I promise I'll never fight you for food again. I... I can eat even less, waaah... Please, please don't let anything happen to you!"

A calm voice interrupted Paimon's cries: "What happened?"

This sentence was spoken in Mongolian.

"Huh?" Paimon turned around in surprise and saw a young man with an unusual appearance.

He had short, dark green hair, wore a dark blue short-sleeved hoodie and dark rolled-up lantern pants, a large gold corsage on his chest, and a purple belt with a Sumerian style around his waist. The belt was decorated with sparkling agate and turquoise, giving him a very rainforest-like appearance.

Add to that the emerald green longbow slung across his shoulder and the two long, large, black pointed ears on his head, and Paimon was almost certain he was a hunter living in the rainforest—and perhaps even a relative of Diona's family.

She and Ying had encountered a woman dressed in Sumeru robes before, but it seemed that because of the language barrier, the woman did not respond even when they asked for directions. Meeting a local hunter with whom they could communicate was undoubtedly a godsend.

Paimon quickly flew up and grabbed the hunter's sleeve: "I... I'm Paimon, a traveler from Mondstadt, and I just entered the rainforest... Ying, my companion, she suddenly fainted while we were walking, and she didn't respond no matter how I called her..."

The hunter with the big ears flapped his ears, then squatted down with Paimon. He first checked Ying's breath, then reached out and lifted Ying's eyelids to take a look, and then took her pulse, looking very professional.

Paimon noticed something dark green move behind him—a fluffy, soft fox tail.

...He doesn't seem to be Diona's relative, but rather the Divine Child's relative?

"Breathing and pulse rates are within the normal range, eye movements are rapid and irregular, and all muscles are relaxed... Hmm, there is no danger to life."

The fox-like young man, who seemed to know medicine, came to a conclusion.

"Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself—"

He turned his head and pulled out a bright green Eye of God from his waistband, along with a badge tied to it.

“My name is Tinari, I am the forest ranger of Daocheng Forest, and also a scholar of the Monastic School. This is my tasata badge, which can be used in place of a medical license. Rest assured, I will take responsibility for treating her.”

"Great! It's the forest ranger!"

Paimon finally breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Heidif had said that the rangers of Daochenglin were the people who knew the rainforest best.

For rangers, the rainforest is like their own backyard. Meeting a ranger is like having the most reliable local guide; they will help lost travelers find the right path.

Tinari then added, "...But medicine requires targeted treatment, and I need to know the patient's condition...Paimon, what have you eaten since you entered the rainforest? Like mushrooms?"

"Huh, mushrooms?" Paimon was taken aback.

They did have lunch once after entering the rainforest. Uh, what did they eat for lunch?

"You can't just eat any mushroom in the rainforest; there are many people like you..."

Tinari seemed unfazed, as if he'd seen people faint in the rainforest all the time: "Didn't you see the notice board before you entered the rainforest? I even wrote a rhyme about the precautions and had the rangers post it in a prominent place—'Red umbrella, white pole, after eating, lie down on the board together…'"

"Uh...we don't seem to have seen any notice boards..." Paimon replied somewhat guiltily.

When traveling from other countries to Sumeru, people usually take a boat to Omos Port, the largest seaport in Sumeru, and then travel north to Vimos Village before finally arriving at Sumeru City.

However, Ying and Paimon took the land route this time.

They first took the North Star's "Death Star" back to Liyue, then went to the Laminaria to find the Sumeru scholar Hydif and asked him about the "Little Lucky Grass King" before passing through the tunnel at the bottom of the Laminaria to reach the Sumeru Rainforest.

—This road was a tunnel accidentally dug by workers in the Layered Rock Abyss. It wasn't a proper trade route and had originally been sealed off by the Seven Stars. Later, an earthquake caused by the awakening of the "Relic Serpent" shook open the stones blocking the road, and the tunnel was reopened.

So strictly speaking, they were "illegally immigrating".

Ying's trip to Sumeru wasn't just for sightseeing; she was there to rescue a "little bird" trapped in a "cage" called "Jingshan Palace."

Considering that "Little Bird" might be imprisoned by the Fools, Yingke carefully designed a "smuggling" route, striving to sneak into Sumeru Castle without being discovered by the Fools.

Since it was an "illegal crossing," they naturally didn't see the notice boards on the main road.

Ignoring Paimon's guilty expression, Tinari continued, "Did you see any fairies dancing after you ate the mushrooms? If so, don't be afraid, it's normal, nothing to worry about. However, if you heard the surrounding plants start talking, then the problem might be serious, you might need to have your stomach pumped..."

"No, no! We had our own cherry blossom mochi and moon eggs for lunch."

Paimon finally remembered the lunch menu... There were no mushrooms at all!

Upon hearing this, Tinari glanced at Paimon again: "...You said you came from Mondstadt, but you're carrying Liyue and Inazuma's specialty snacks?"

"Uh...yes, yeah, we came here via Liyue Harbor. Liyue Harbor has all kinds of good food." Paimon's eyes darted around.

Tinari raised a hand and rubbed his ear. "That's strange. If you didn't accidentally eat the hallucinogenic fungi in the Forest of Life, then why did she suddenly fall into a deep sleep... Ah..."

As if he had just remembered something, he suddenly clapped his hands: "You guys didn't smell 'Lingfen Fragrance,' did you?"

“What…what fragrance?” Paimon scratched his head.

Tinali gestured with his hand to her the shape of an incense burner: "It's a burner of this shape, filled with incense, and usually placed near some caves."

Paimon exclaimed immediately, "Yes! That's it!"

About half an hour ago, Paimon, "the best guide in Teyvat," and Luminous, "the strongest adventurer in Teyvat," got lost in Dalmatian.

The dense rainforest blocked out the sunlight, and also obscured the distant city of Sumeru.

To conceal her presence and avoid being discovered by the Fools, Ying carefully donned a hooded robe of Sumeru to cover her conspicuous foreign attire and her brilliant golden hair, trekking through the rainforest like an ordinary traveler. For the same reason, Paimon did not fly high in the sky to scout the way, but simply walked beside Ying.

To outsiders, the rainforest looks pretty much the same everywhere, so the two wandered around in circles for a long time.

Fortunately, they met a green-haired woman in the rainforest who wore glasses and had a scholarly air about her.

Paimon quickly greeted the woman and asked her for directions, but the woman glanced at Paimon and then ignored him, continuing to walk forward without giving him any response.

Although they sensed that the woman was not very friendly, they had no one else to ask for directions, so they decided to follow her from a distance and ask other people or villages for directions when they encountered them.

However, this "following" resulted in a dead end—the woman walked into a secluded cave hidden behind a waterfall, then closed her eyes and sat down in front of an incense burner, never glancing at the two of them again.

Judging from the woman's posture, it looked like she was sitting cross-legged in "Pure Land of One Mind," which is "meditation."

Paimon wanted to ask the woman again, but he noticed that Ying suddenly covered her mouth and nose and turned around and ran out of the cave.

Paimon, taken aback, quickly followed Ying.

Ying ran with her head down for less than two minutes before collapsing...

Looking back now—

"It was that woman who lit the incense! Ying fainted because she smelled that incense!" Detective Paimon finally discovered the real culprit.

Chapter Seven: The World...Forget Me...

Ying finds herself in a strange space.

The sky here is as red as blood, high and boundless, and even with the strongest eyesight, the boundary cannot be seen; the ground is a lush green, with countless thick branches forming countless paths, each leading to the same destination—the giant tree standing in the center of the world.

In fact, Ying couldn't determine her location. There was no sun, no moon, no stars, nothing to use as a reference point, so she couldn't distinguish between east, west, south, and north...

But she had a strange intuition, an intuition that told her—

The whole world exists for this giant tree; this tree is the whole world.

She didn't know why she was in this place, but as a traveler, an adventurer, she could instinctively feel a joy from the depths of her consciousness—as if she had climbed the legendary "Peak of the Spire" and become the first human in the world to witness a heaven beyond the heavens; or as if she had successfully circled the continent of Teyvat, proving that Teyvat was round...

There's an old saying in Liyue: "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening."

She was even willing to give her life if she could just touch that giant tree.

That tree gave her that feeling.

Driven by this impulse, Ying began to move towards the giant tree.

Of course, progress will not be without obstacles.

Just as adventures are always accompanied by difficulties and obstacles, the road to the giant tree is also fraught with various difficulties and obstacles.

Sometimes the branches beneath her feet would suddenly collapse and break; sometimes meteorites would fall from the sky above her; sometimes thorny brambles would suddenly sprout behind her; sometimes sharp, knife-like winds would suddenly sweep in front of her…

It seemed as if the whole world was rejecting her progress.

But Ying overcame all obstacles.

She stepped over broken branches, crushed falling meteorites, cut through overgrown thorns, and cleaved through invisible gales... Nothing could stop a determined adventurer.

If someone were to ask her why she was so determined to touch that giant tree, even at the risk of her life, Ying would definitely answer: "Because it's there."

With the goal right in front of her, she could only move forward, forward, and forward again.

Finally, after overcoming numerous hardships, Ying arrived at the foot of the giant tree.

She could touch the giant tree if she simply reached out her hand.

Ying reached out her hand to the giant tree without hesitation.

At that very moment, Ying heard a voice, a woman's voice that sounded gentle yet sad.

The voice seemed both far away and very close, sometimes like the horizon, sometimes right beside her ear—Ying could only discern a few words: "The world...forget me..."

"...Are you really alright? It's been so long already..."

Is that... Paimon's voice?

Another unfamiliar girl's voice comforted Paimon: "Don't worry... Master is very knowledgeable. Since he said she's alright, then there's definitely no problem."

Paimon clearly disagreed with what the other person said: "If there's nothing wrong, why hasn't he woken up yet?"

It sounds like she's arguing with someone.

Ying opened her eyes with great difficulty.

Her eyelids felt heavy, probably because she hadn't slept well. Her mouth tasted bitter, and there was a strange smell in her nasal cavity... Uh, could it be because she forgot to rinse her mouth before bed last night?

Even if you forgot to rinse your mouth, it wouldn't smell this bad...

A beautiful girl like me should always smell nice!

Ying decided to ignore the issue of her breath and first complain to Paimon about making a lot of noise while others were sleeping, but then she forgot what she was about to do because of the strange ceiling in front of her.

To be precise, what she saw might not be a "ceiling," but rather "leaves."

The "ceiling" in front of her was entirely made of huge, green leaves, and even the bed she was sleeping on was made of the same material.