He changed Tiwat

After drinking about the amount of two tumble peaches, Haibasha finally woke up from her semi-comatose state.

"Hmm...who? Is it Tinari..." Haibasha, who was still not fully conscious, had just sat up when she saw the white floating sprite and was so frightened that she almost lay back down.

Fortunately, Paimon was prepared and held up the letter written by Tinari himself in front of Haibasha: "Haibasha, don't be afraid, Tinari sent us to bring you food—look, this is his letter to you."

After reading the letter, Haibasha finally understood what had happened and bowed to the two men to express her gratitude: "So that's how it is. You are friends of Tinari. I'm so sorry for causing you trouble earlier. Thank goodness you came to my rescue in time... and brought so much fruit."

Paimon tilted his head: "Wait, didn't you find these fruits yourself? They were already here when we came in. We were wondering how you could have fainted from hunger when there was so much food around you and juice on your lips?"

"Huh, is that so?" Haibasha paused for a moment, then seemed to realize something. "I understand... So, my 'roommate' must have been here before."

"Roommate? Are there other people living around here?" Paimon looked around but didn't see any other caves or signs of other people living there.

Ying then pulled out her adventurer's handbook, flipping to the sketches she had drawn of those "cabbages" while cleaning the Statue of Seven: "Is this the kind of creature you're talking about?"

Haibasha pushed up her glasses in surprise: "So, you can see him too?"

Yingmei nodded and told her about the strange creature she encountered when she first entered the cave.

Her memory ends with the strange creature suddenly jumping up and disappearing.

After hearing Ying's story, Hai Baxia seemed to understand something and nodded, saying, "I think you were also dragged into a dream by that little guy just now—I had a similar experience once before, accidentally scaring my shy roommate. Don't worry, he didn't mean any harm. He dragged you into the dream just to buy himself some time so he could slip away quickly."

"I first saw him on the day my consciousness successfully made contact with the 'World Tree'."

"At that moment, I opened my eyes from meditation, my mind was still buzzing with the knowledge that had flooded in, and my heart was pounding... Suddenly, I noticed a small figure at the edge of the cave."

"I walked over to him out of curiosity. He must have been used to me being around, so he didn't pay any attention to me and was still happily doing his own thing until I squatted down to look at him. Only then did he suddenly realize that I could actually see him."

"Then... I had a dream. When I came to my senses, he had already disappeared."

“I thought he would never show up again, but a few days later I saw him again in the neighborhood, along with his other companions.”

“I don’t know what kind of creatures they are, but I feel that they have a deep connection with the ‘World Tree’ and the Grass God…” Hai Baxia said, picking up the plump peaches and gently stroking them in her arms: “Recently, I could feel that he was no longer so afraid of me, but I didn’t expect that he would come to save me just now.”

Paimon finally understood: "You mean, these juicy peaches were brought over by that little cabbage-shaped guy, and they're the ones who fed you juice..."

Ying then gave that "cabbage" a new title in the Adventurer's Handbook: "The Best Roommate in Sumeru!"

Just then, Haibasha's stomach rumbled.

Having not eaten a single grain of rice for three days, she was clearly starving. She looked at the lunchbox Ying had brought with some embarrassment, her face showing a mixture of wanting to say something but holding back.

She sent a message to Tinari for help when she was delirious with hunger, acting entirely on instinct. Now that she has regained her senses, she should continue her fasting and try to reconnect with the World Tree.

The scholars of the Order of the Fathers come to the rainforest to practice asceticism in order to gain divine wisdom; this is essentially a form of "asceticism." Fasting and meditation are part of this "asceticism," the principle of which is roughly to bring oneself into a near-death state, achieving spiritual sublimation while the body weakens, thereby connecting with the "World Tree"...

In this sense, Hypasha shouldn't have sought help from the outside world. Within the Church Council, there's a saying, "If one hears the Way in the morning, one can die content in the evening." For a scholar pursuing all worldly wisdom, "gaining wisdom" takes far greater priority than "filling one's stomach."

Maintaining a state of "fasting" makes it easier to connect to the "World Tree." If she fills her stomach now, it means that the past three days of hunger have been wasted...

But her stomach, her digestive system, and her instincts seemed to be working against her brain—they were clearly telling her that, of all things, eating is the most important!

Hearing Haibasha's stomach growl, Ying and Paimon exchanged a smile.

Ying opened the lunchbox in her hand and handed it over, while Paimon flew around to gather dry branches to help start a fire.

Haibasha had received "emergency food" from Tina, but they hadn't had dinner yet.

After feeding Hybasha the "emergency food" and sharing a meal of sweet flower-stuffed chicken, a special dish made by Mondstadt honorary knights, the three of them sat around the campfire and began discussing the topic that concerned them most—

"World Tree".

Chapter Twenty-One: The Dreamless Kingdom [4k]

"Although I have read Tina's letter and heard you recount it in person, the fact that you connected with the World Tree the first time you smelled the fragrance of lingfen is still too shocking to me!"

When talking about Yingmei's experience of connecting with the "World Tree," Haibasha was still speechless: "I spent about three years cultivating in the rainforest before I was able to connect with the 'World Tree'—this is already considered 'genius' among the scholars of the Faculty Academy. You know, some scholars might spend their entire lives and still not be able to do this!"

Ying tilted her nose up, looking like she was saying, "Look, this is what a genius is like."

Paimon scoffed, "She was able to connect to the World Tree only because of that 'Spiritual Fragrance,' right?"

Haibasha immediately refuted Paimon's statement: "No, the reason why 'Lingfenxiang' can help people's consciousness connect with the 'World Tree' is mainly because its formula comes from several plants created by the Great Tree King, which can stimulate our perception of the power of the Grass God."

"The source of Grass God's power is the 'World Tree,' which allows us to occasionally glimpse a corner of the earth's depths through her power... But Ying is different."

She looked at Ying and said seriously, "Ying's physique is very special. She can control elemental power without the Eye of God and has a very keen sense of elemental power. The reason she fainted after smelling the 'Spiritual Fragrance' was precisely because her perception of the Grass God's power was stimulated by the fragrance, which overstimulated her senses and caused her body to be unable to withstand it, resulting in a stress reaction."

"To use an analogy... well, it's like pole vaulting. 'Lingfenxiang' is the long pole. Ordinary people need the help of the long pole to jump that high, but with Ying's physique, she can reach the height of an ordinary person's pole vault by jumping from a standing position. On the contrary, she jumped too high after pole vaulting, causing her body to not be able to withstand the impact of falling, so she fainted."

“So that’s how it is…” Haibasha’s analogy was easy to understand, and Ying grasped it immediately.

Paimon then asked, "But why is she fine now after smelling the 'Lingfen' fragrance?"

Hai Basha pushed up her glasses and replied, "Because she later absorbed the grass elemental power from the earth's veins."

"According to the records of the Order of the Teachings, the Great Tree King returned to the earth's ley lines five hundred years ago in order to protect the people of Sumeru... In other words, the grass elemental power she is using now is the divine power left in the earth's ley lines by the Great Tree King!"

"Now that she has a portion of the Grass God's power, the 'Spiritual Fragrance' made with the Grass God's power will no longer stimulate her. Now she can contact the 'World Tree' in meditation without any external help. To be honest, I really envy her perception. Even if it makes me feel palpitations and headaches for the rest of my life, I would be willing to do it as long as I can connect to the World Tree."

“Uh… I wouldn’t want to do it myself…” Paimon still felt a chill run down his spine when he thought of Ying’s unconscious state. “Hypasha, why are you so fixated on this?”

Haibasha said with a wry smile, "There's nothing I can do about it; I'm a scholar, after all."

“I belong to the ‘Minglun School’ of the Order of the Church, and my main research focuses on the relationship between the stars and the fate of living beings. However, there are simply too many unsolved mysteries about the stars. Therefore, I can only ask the omniscient ‘World Tree’.”

"Unfortunately, my perception is limited. I can neither find the 'World Tree' every time nor guarantee that my spirit will not be destroyed by it."

She paused, pointing to the books and scrolls around her. These things contained intricate star charts and formulas, but also some nonsensical scribblings. These were the results she had obtained after coming into contact with the "World Tree".

“My current stage of cultivation is called the ‘Forest Dwelling Madness Period’. Many scholars from Sumeru come to the rainforest during this stage to try to contact the ‘World Tree’… and many of them go mad while exploring the ‘World Tree’.”

"The sages say that because the 'World Tree' contains the knowledge of the gods, our minds cannot bear it if we try to access it when we are not capable enough. Therefore, in order to maintain our mental stability and not to implicate others, we can only try to stay alone..."

Paimon took a few steps back in fright: "Gaining knowledge from the 'World Tree' is so dangerous! Hypasha, aren't you afraid?"

"Of course I'm scared. Who wants to go crazy? Besides, it's lonely being alone in a cave, especially on a night without moonlight or insects..."

Haibasha poured out her grievances to them: "...But without connecting to the 'World Tree,' we can't obtain knowledge about the stars; without knowledge, we can't write papers; without publishing papers, we can't upgrade to 'Tosata'; without upgrading to 'Tosata,' we won't get research funding..."

Ying looked at Haibaxia's troubled expression and didn't know how to comfort her.

She had already learned about the "False Heaven" in the Abyss Palace, and knew that the starry sky explored by the scholars of the Order Academy was actually a "sky curtain" created by Sky Island.

The Church Council's "Minglun faction" researching those false star trajectories is actually meaningless. Moreover, the truth about the "False Heaven" involves the prohibitions of Sky Island, and anyone who dares to publicly proclaim this matter will be wiped out by Sky Island. These scholars, having truly touched upon the truth of the stars, will instead face annihilation.

The thought that Hyabasha and the others risked their lives to connect with the wisdom of the "World Tree" was actually just a lie filled Ying with deep sorrow...

However, Hibasha is very good at finding joy in hardship; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to endure so long alone in the rainforest.

Instead, she smiled and comforted Ying: "Don't worry about me. I haven't been so scared since I found out that there's a little neighbor living nearby. I must be able to see him because the Grass God is protecting me, right? Hehe, it's strange, it's clearly the messenger of the god of wisdom, yet it has the power to make people 'dream'."

Ying keenly caught the "keywords" in Haibasha's words: "Wait a minute, is it strange that the messenger of the god of wisdom can make people 'dream'?"

Haibasha was taken aback at first, then understood: "Oh, because you are from out of town, you haven't heard of this—the Sumeru people almost never dream."

"Huh? Is that true?" Ying and Paimon's eyes widened at the same time; it was the first time they had ever heard of such a thing.

More importantly, the machine belonging to the Fools that they discovered on the "Golden Apple Islands," as well as the ability of that "little bird," both allow people to fall into a dream!

The power of the Grass God is to make people dream, and those nameless little creatures, as the Grass God's servants, also possess the ability to make people dream, isn't that reasonable? But why don't the Grass God's people dream?

Haibasha hesitated and said, "As far as I know, only children dream in Sumeru, and it seems that adults don't."

“The wise say that ‘wisdom’ also means ‘reason,’ but things in dreams often lack both reason and logic. People are often troubled by their own anxieties in their dreams, and after waking up, they may feel anxious and uncertain about the content of their dreams, affecting their mental state…”

"Therefore, the sages believe that the fact that the Sumeru people do not dream is a blessing from the Great Compassion Tree King, who is the 'God of Wisdom,' which keeps us away from those foolish delusions in our sleep."

"For example, I was born into a family of scholars in Sumeru City. My parents told me from a young age that I would become an adult when I stopped dreaming. I studied hard and became a student of the Order of the Church, and then a researcher... After that, I never dreamed again."

"I used to think this was proof that I had come close to wisdom."

"Later, on the day I met that little guy, he gave me a dream. It was really magical. Although I don't remember what I saw in the dream, I suddenly felt like I had returned to my childhood. As a child, I was so ignorant, but I was fearless... Maybe dreams aren't as bad as you think."

Immersed in her childhood memories, Haibasha couldn't help but smile again, but she quickly realized her lapse and shook her head: "Ah, if you ever get to Sumeru City, don't say these strange things to other people, or you'll be laughed at."

Ying and Paimon quickly assured her that they would keep it a secret for Hibasha, but in an attempt to change the subject, they asked Hibasha about that phrase again—"The world...forget me..." What does that mean? And who said it?

Haibasha was completely unaware of this either, as neither her experience connecting with the "World Tree" nor the records in the Faculty of Orders contained any record of the "World Tree" speaking.

When scholars come into contact with the "World Tree," they all feel that knowledge is poured into their heads like a waterfall, and no one ever hears anyone speaking in their ears—of course, this kind of "imparting" is more efficient than teaching knowledge through language.

Of course, to repay their life-saving grace, Haibasha gave them two very useful suggestions.

Firstly, it was suggested that Ying stay in the cave tonight and try meditation with her to see if they could successfully connect to the "World Tree." If they succeeded, they might be able to hear that voice again.

Secondly, after scholars break through the "Forest Dwelling and Wild Words" stage and reach the "Silent Perfection" stage, their connection with the "World Tree" seems to become even stronger, and they can obtain more knowledge from the "World Tree." Therefore, seeking out scholars in the "Silent Perfection" stage and asking them questions might yield the answers.

The Academy of Religion divided scholars' academic careers into four stages: "Practice Period," "Entering the World Period," "Living in the Forest Period," and "Retreating from the World Period."

The "Period of Diligent Practice" is the stage in which a person receives basic education and enters the Academy for further study. As a student, one should follow the principle of "extensive learning and diligent practice" to lay a solid foundation for one's entire academic career.

The "worldly period" refers to the time after students graduate from the Academy and become formal researchers (i.e., "trainee tussata"), when they begin to "read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles" (referring to conducting research all over the world in order to publish papers). It is also the period when Sumeru scholars are most deeply "worldly".

The "Forest Dwelling Period" refers to the time when scholars have achieved success in their "worldly" endeavors and begin to delve deeper into their research fields, attempting to access "truth." The "Satyavada Life" is another name for the "Forest Dwelling Period," actually a sarcastic remark. "Satyavada" in Sumerian means "true meaning," implying that scholars are pursuing the true essence of knowledge. Scholars who reach this stage generally possess the title of "Tasata."

The "Retreat from the World" period, also known as the "Paripurna Life," is a state of "enlightenment" achieved after having come into contact with "truth" (the "World Tree"). Scholars who reach this state have all undergone decades of hard work and have become leading figures in their respective fields.

— Generally speaking, for a Sumeru scholar to reach the "period of tranquility and perfection," it must be after becoming a "Habantha." Reaching the "period of tranquility and perfection" is also considered by the Order of the Teachings as one of the qualification thresholds for becoming a "sage."

Once they reached the "period of quiet perfection," the scholars all made a remarkably consistent choice: to return to the Chancellery, write books, teach and educate, and pass on their wisdom to the next generation.

Haibasha suggested that Ying consult a scholar from the "Quiet Perfection Period," which, to put it bluntly, meant she should go to the Order Academy and ask a "sage."

The Academy is divided into six major schools and six colleges, each with a "Sage" serving as its "Dean." Scholars who can assume the position of "Sage" must have been exposed to the wisdom of the "World Tree" and are also the most learned people in the entire Sumeru region. Consulting them is the most likely way to obtain answers.

It is naturally difficult for ordinary people to come into contact with "sages," including Hibasha, who is a scholar of the Order of the Church.

The current "head" of the Sumeru Academy, the core leader among the six sages, the "Great Sage" Azhar, is the dean of the Ritualistic Academy of the "Minglun School".

During her student days, Haibasha had studied under Hazar for a period of time, but since she fled into the rainforest, she hadn't seen the old dean for more than three years. It was said that the great sage Hazar was extremely busy and now didn't even have time to supervise graduate students. Sages from other colleges rarely got to see him unless they were in meetings, let alone Ying and Paimon.

But Ying and Paimon had another way out—their new friend Tinari was a disciple of the biophilist Nafis!

In other words, if they ask Tinari to write a letter of introduction, they can go to the College of the Church to find the sage Nafis to answer their questions.

That night, Ying followed Haibasha in meditation in the cave for an entire night, but unfortunately, they gained nothing.

She still failed to make contact with the "World Tree" itself this time.

Just like last time, she saw the giant tree again in her meditation.

However, this time she was even further away from the main body of the giant tree, and she encountered more obstacles on her way to it—in Ying's own opinion, this was "the World Tree rejecting her."

Although she didn't understand why, the "World Tree" seemed unwilling to communicate with her... Unable to get close to the giant tree's main body, she naturally couldn't hear the voice from last time.

This means that she has no choice but to go to the Order House to seek answers.

Chapter Twenty-Two: An old man in a straw hat and raincoat, fishing alone on the snowy Han River [4k5]

Upon returning to Huacheng Guo, Ying immediately noticed a significant change in the village's atmosphere. The forest rangers she encountered all had tense faces and somewhat blank stares, resembling those who were clearly not fully awake but were forcing themselves to come to work.

I've seen this expression before in Mondstadt—the Knights of Favonius who patrol the city are usually lazy and listless, but when Lord Jean is around, they stand up straight like javelins, so serious that they're almost unrecognizable...

If nothing unexpected happens, it's probably some important figure from the Imperial Academy who has come to inspect Huacheng Guo.

Her premonition soon came true.

At the door of Tinari's hut, Ying saw a group of scholars dressed in the green robes of the Church of Christ surrounding Tinari, arguing loudly from time to time.

Ying and Paimon quietly approached to observe, and saw a young scholar wearing a laurel wreath glaring at Tinari, his voice so loud it sounded like he was arguing: "Tinari, don't you think this reason for refusal is just avoiding the real issue?! I know you are a forest ranger, and restoring the 'Dead Zone' is your job, but you also know that doing this is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause!"

"Lord Kavaja has already said that what you can do in Sumeru City will determine whether the entire 'World Tree' can be healed. In that case, what reason do you have to refuse?"

An elderly man with white hair next to him waved his hand: "Don't be so aggressive, Ghulam, listen to his explanation. We're here to invite Tinari back to the Council of the Fathers, not to make enemies."

Tinaari seemed completely unaffected by the other party's attitude, his voice remaining calm: "Lord Kavaja, I am truly sorry to have troubled you to come in person. But I am merely a forest ranger, and I am hardly someone who can be of any help to a sage like you, a 'theorist'."

Cavaja smiled slightly: "Hehe, isn't it because your previous letter rejected your mentor outright, making this wise man of the life theory lose face? That's why I came on his behalf."

“It’s the ‘Sage’!” Paimon exclaimed softly, covering his mouth.

Ying also stared at the old man.

Last night, Haibasha suggested that she go to the Order of the Church to consult a sage about the "World Tree," and unexpectedly, a sage came to her door today.

This wise man of the "Epistemology" school, Cavajra, wore an expensive purple robe inlaid with jade, and a pair of pince-nez glasses perched on his nose; he certainly looked very learned. His expression was also more approachable than that of the younger scholars—perhaps this was… well, the refinement of a scholar?

“I see…” Tinari smiled nonchalantly. “I thought that with my mentor’s temper, he would have to come and scold me in person before he would be satisfied.”

Mentioning the other sage, Kavaja emphasized, saying solemnly, "Tinari, your mentor also participated in this project, and now he desperately needs your strength."

Tinari pondered for a moment and then asked, "Lord Kavaja, what does my teacher need me to do for him?"

Kavaja did not give a specific answer, but only said, "You will know when you get to Sumeru City."

Tinari then asked, "How long will it take me?"