He changed Tiwat

Whether it's a dream within Sumeru City or a dream outside Sumeru City, every dream contains a sun.

She knew that it was not the real sun, but the legacy left by the previous Grass God, the Great Compassionate Tree King, called "Void".

“I used to think that wise men told such lies because they truly believed that ‘reason’ represented ‘wisdom’… but now it seems that it was just a cover-up.”

"They began experimenting with the power of the 'void' to harvest people's dreams hundreds of years ago. To avoid detection, they fabricated this lie, making people believe that not dreaming is a blessing from the gods..."

Paimon had finally realized what was happening: "You mean, the Sumerians just thought they didn't dream, but the truth is, the 'Void' stole their dreams without their knowledge? And this has been going on for hundreds of years?"

Naxi Da nodded silently.

“No wonder they couldn’t find the dream’s owner in those dream spaces outside the city.” Dixia recalled the information that Han Fulai and Yingmei had sent back earlier.

Those special spaces outside the city, filled with strange sights, are actually “dreams without an owner”.

Meanwhile, the Church is using the "Void" to harvest those "dreams without owners".

"But what is the purpose of the Church of Christ stealing people's dreams?" Paimon asked the same question as Ying.

Nasita still looked up at the sky: "'Void' operates by relying on the 'Heart of God,' and is the manifestation of the power of the God of Wisdom. It unites the wisdom of all people and bestows knowledge upon them."

"People can share their knowledge and experience through the 'Void,' allowing them to explore the world without leaving home; through the network formed by the 'Void,' people can enter a shared dream space, where they can think, communicate, and learn from each other; and by using 'canned knowledge,' people can bring the knowledge they learn in their dreams back to the real world..."

"It should have been a blessing left by the Tree King to the people of Sumeru."

As she spoke these words, Nasita's voice carried a faint sense of nostalgia—in the past, she had gradually come to understand this world, its people, and the knowledge they created through the "Void."

The gods only gave humanity the knowledge to fill their stomachs, but humanity used it to make tools, write characters, and build up city-states. Now they are looking to the stars and the abyss... They are creating new knowledge every moment.

Those magnificent creations captivated her, making it impossible for her to look away.

For nearly five hundred years, Nasita, a "caged bird," relied on the "void" to secretly peek at the outside of the "cage" and to learn and grow.

For her, "emptiness" was her first and only "teacher".

But this "teacher" is no longer the "teacher" she knew.

"Plundering people's dreams and forcing them to 'reincarnate' in their dreams—is this the Grass God's method of 'unifying the wisdom of all people and bestowing knowledge upon them'?" Dixia said sarcastically.

Out of discrimination against the desert people, the Council of Religion prohibited all channels for knowledge to flow into the desert—they weren't even allowed to bring scraps of paper with writing on them into the desert. Now, hearing Nasita say that "'the Void' bestows knowledge upon the people," it was quite restrained for Desia not to immediately hurl insults.

Nasita didn't seem to care about Dixia's sarcasm, and her tone remained calm: "Dreams are always wonderful, ingenious, and full of imagination, and the brain is most active when people are dreaming. In other words, dreams are a collection of human wisdom."

“‘Void’ keeps people’s brains in a state of constant dreaming and separates their consciousness from their original dreams… The separated consciousness gathers in the collective dream of ‘Flower Goddess’s Birthday Festival’, while those ‘ownerless dreams’ that are empty are ‘harvested’ by the void.”

"Unknowingly, a day in a dream ends, and a new 'cycle' begins... People wake up in the dream of another 'birthday of the goddess of flowers,' and the dream that should belong to them is once again 'harvested' by the void, and the cycle repeats itself."

"So... this place we are in is like an 'experimental field' for cultivating dreams, while the 'void' is the 'scythe' for harvesting dreams."

“Those dreams that have been ‘harvested’ will be transformed into the ‘wisdom’ needed for ‘void’, or rather… the energy needed for ‘the heart of God’.”

“‘Willpower’,” Han Fulai uttered the term. “Azar is using ‘Void’ to collect the ‘Willpower’ of the entire Sumeru. Dreams are the ‘raw materials’ he needs to obtain ‘Willpower’.”

"'Wish Power'? Is it here too?" Ying looked at the ground beneath her feet, puzzled.

She received the divine status left by Orobas, and a large part of the "power of will" of the islanders of the sea spirits flowed to her. She also experienced that power from the hearts of people to some extent.

Moreover, when she entered the "Pure Land of One Heart" and fought with the Shadow, she had personally witnessed the "power of will" that shone like stars, so she had a relatively good understanding of "power of will".

But in the prehistoric time of this dream, Watt was still in a state of "half seawater and half fire", and there was no human life at all... If even humans did not exist, how could there be "willpower"?

Han Fulai explained it this way: "As the old saying goes, 'What you think about during the day, you dream about at night.' Dreams have always been considered to represent deep-seated human desires and are the manifestation of desires buried deep in people's hearts."

"When a person is awake, they can suppress subconscious desires through reason, especially those that violate social morality and public order and good customs... But in dreams, the subjective consciousness no longer occupies a dominant position, the subconscious is no longer suppressed, and the desires that are usually suppressed will secretly rise to the surface and express themselves in various forms, forming dreams."

"For example, Lana's dream that we saw before."

"In real life, the forest ranger named Lana may just be one of many forest rangers, an ordinary person. But in the dream, she is the center of attention in the entire Vimo Village—she is worshipped by the children, respected by the elders, and she maintains the safety and peace of the entire Vimo Village. She is a hero of Vimo Village... This is probably Lana's wish."

"And the ancient Watt beneath our feet is even more incredible..."

He gestured with his eyes to draw Yingmei's attention to the "flowing sandstone" and the "howling fish".

Several fish are coming ashore, having grown fins that resemble limbs, and are attempting to crawl and walk upright.

"It represents one of the Six Root Sins of the Council, 'The Matter of Human Evolution.' The owner of this dream is actually secretly researching the 'History of Human Evolution,' which is forbidden by the Council, in order to reveal the prehistoric face of Teyvat and find the source of human evolution."

"This prehistoric continent of Teyvat, and those strange 'fish,' may very well be the subject of the 'human evolution' that this scholar is studying."

Some scholars on Earth believe that humans evolved from the sea and were originally mammals that lived in the ocean, and this scholar probably holds the same view.

Although Han Fulai already knew the answer to "the matter of human evolution" after reading "The Past of the Sun and Moon", the scholars of the Academy of Teachings were obviously unaware of this and continued to conduct their research diligently.

These studies are also reflected in this dream, which represents the scholar's "wishes".

"The dream's owner has had their primary consciousness stripped away and is concentrated in the dream's Sumeru City, where they engage in an endless 'Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival.' Because their primary consciousness has been stripped away, their subconscious is not suppressed in any way and repeatedly produces dreams, as well as 'wishes' and 'willpower.'"

“You can think of the ‘cycle of the Flower Goddess’s Birthday’ as a ‘sweatshop’ where everyone is a human battery in the eyes of the Church, working tirelessly year-round to generate ‘willpower’ to supply the ‘void’.”

"As for why the Order of the Church collects 'willpower'... I think you should have the answer by now."

Han Fulai and Ying exchanged a glance, and both uttered two words in unison: "Creating a god."

Chapter 89 The Method to Break the Cycle of Reincarnation

"Hmm? The 'Void Terminal' is responding."

The "void terminal" that Han Fulai had left for Dixia suddenly emitted a bright golden light.

The light, like a lighthouse, pierced through the false landscape and stretched into the unknown distance.

Then, two figures suddenly appeared on the country path.

"They're back!"

A joyful smile spread across Dixia's face as she immediately reported the good news to Paimon and Nasita, while little Paimon had already rushed into Ying's arms like a whirlwind.

"Ying! Waaaaah... Waaaah...!!!"

After holding back his tears for half a day, Paimon finally couldn't hold them back any longer. He hugged Yingmei and burst into tears. His tears and snot quickly soaked a large area of ​​Yingmei's chest.

Ying was momentarily at a loss, haphazardly smoothing Paimon's hair: "W-what's wrong?"

Paimon sobbed and punched Yingmei's slime with his little fists: "Why did you leave for so long? I thought I would never see you again! Why didn't you wait for me! What if you didn't come back!"

Faced with Paimon's barrage of questions, Ying scratched her head, somewhat amused and exasperated: "It's not as serious as you make it out to be. We just went out of town for a quick look and returned shortly afterward, it was only a few tens of minutes... Besides, didn't we leave a message for Desia, telling her to wait patiently for a while?"

She was telling the truth. Apart from spending a dozen minutes exploring the dream world of Vimo Village when they first left the city, she and Han Fulai flew non-stop toward their return route.

Although the distance was quite far, according to her senses, it had only been flying for less than forty minutes at most, and in total, she had been away for at most an hour.

"...Do you know how long you've been gone?" Paimon's eyes widened.

Dixia pointed to the sky; the sun above Sumeru City had already set, and night would soon fall.

“You were gone for more than five hours, and there was almost no news of you during that time, so Paimon was worried…” she said.

Ying looked up in surprise and realized that it was already evening in Sumeru City.

Paimon puffed out his cheeks: "I wanted to go out and find you, but Desia wouldn't let me... I've been conflicted, anxious, and scared all this time. How are you going to make it up to me?"

“Uh… I didn’t know it would turn out like this, but…” Luminous hugged Paimon tightly. “I’m sorry, Paimon. I will never leave you.”

Paimon buried his head in Yingmei's chest: "...Waaah...Okay, I'll forgive you for now. It's the best thing that you didn't really disappear...I was really scared that you would suddenly go to another world."

Han Fulai looked back thoughtfully and said, "The city and the outside world are different dream spaces, and the speed at which time passes in different dream spaces is different, just like the length of a day varies for different planets due to their different rotation speeds."

"Fortunately, we made it back in time, otherwise we might have really missed this 'cycle'."

The "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" dream in Sumeru City has a twelve-hour cycle and can be regarded as a planet with a twelve-hour rotation period. The time passes much faster than the "dream bubbles" outside.

This may be the most dangerous place in those dream spaces outside the city—due to the different flow of time, even if they are lost outside the city for only a few hours, many cycles of "reincarnation" may have already passed in the city... If they delay for a longer period of time, the consciousness of the people in the "Flower Goddess's Birthday" dream, such as Dina Zede and the others, may be completely worn away.

Even a short absence could lead to a sense of loss, like a lost soul returning home, not to mention the possibility of not being able to find their way back, forever lost in the countless dreamlike spaces outside the city.

In this light, it seems that Hazard's defense mechanism for "leaving the city" was actually quite sophisticated in order to cover up the truth of "reincarnation".

Even if someone breaks through the blockade of the "group of thirty" and finds the truth outside the city, they will still face the crisis of dream "harvesting" that occurs outside the city, the risk of getting lost, and the problem of the difference in the flow of time.

If someone else were to go out of the city to investigate, such as Desia, they might not be able to return safely, and even if they did, it might be too late.

Fortunately, he and Yingmei were not ordinary people; they possessed the ability to locate the dream world of Sumeru City and quickly travel between different dream worlds. At the same time, the time spent investigating the situation was very short, which allowed them to return in time.

Otherwise, if it drags on until the next "reincarnation," Dixia might lose the memories of this "reincarnation," and the "road sign" he left for Dixia would also be lost. At that time, it would probably not be as easy for him to return as it is now... He would have to pay a much greater price than he has now.

Of course, risk and reward are proportional. He risked going out of the city to explore and also gained enough rewards—as the "secrets outside the city" were revealed, the method to break the "reincarnation" had already appeared.

Nasita remained silent, only looking at Ying and Paimon with a hint of curiosity.

In her view, a reunion should be a joyous occasion, and the fact that Ying and Han Fulai's investigation outside the city had yielded results was even more cause for celebration. Since this was a double celebration, Paimon should have been laughing heartily, so why was she crying so bitterly?

However, she didn't ask directly.

She was used to using "observation" instead of "asking questions," after all, not every question has an answer, and not everyone is willing to answer her questions...

Once Paimon had calmed down (she even used Yingmei's collar to wipe her face clean), Narcida spoke up: "Gentlemen, could you please describe your 'perspective'? In the dream space outside the city, you must have seen the secrets hidden by the Church Council, right?"

Ying was somewhat surprised: "Huh, Nasida, how did you know that the area outside the city is a dream space?"

Han Fulai raised an eyebrow and glanced at the "Void Terminal" in Nasida's hand, then at the "Void Terminal" on Yingmei's ear, and immediately understood everything: "Are you monitoring our actions through the 'Void Terminal'?"

Nasita ignored the dissatisfaction in Han Fulai's words and nodded as if it were a matter of course: "I can transform them into my own 'eyes' and 'ears'... but the signal interference outside the city is very serious, and we haven't been able to get much information from outside the city."

Han Fulai didn't pursue Naxida's "surveillance." Although he hated being monitored, now was not the time to dwell on such trivial matters.

He coldly revealed the truth: "Outside the city are the dreams of the Sumeru people. Their main consciousness has been stripped away by the Order of the Church and imprisoned in this 'Sumeru City,' experiencing the endless 'Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival'; while their subconscious maintains its own dream, constantly dreaming, and then constantly being harvested by the 'Void'."

"The 'sun' above our heads is 'emptiness'. As long as we can destroy it, 'reincarnation' will stop."

Chapter 90 The "Void" Must Not Be Destroyed [4k]

"You mean, to destroy the 'sun'?... Is that even possible?" Desia looked at the distant horizon with some hesitation.

The sun of "Xume City" has already set in the west, leaving only half of the faint red glow of the setting sun, which will soon sink below the horizon.

They now know that the "sun" was not the real sun, but a reflection of the "void" in this dream space.

Even if it is not the real sun, it is definitely not something that human beings can touch or destroy. The "Void" is something left behind by the previous Grass God, the Great Compassionate Tree King. It is a creation of the gods, and its divine power can cover the entire Sumeru region and even control the consciousness and dreams of everyone connected to it.

The “cycle of the Flower Goddess’s Birthday Festival” is controlled by the “Void”. The duration of each “cycle” is essentially the cycle of the rising and setting of this “sun”.

When the sun rises, the cycle of reincarnation begins; when the sun sets, the cycle of reincarnation ends.

In this sense, it wouldn't be a problem to consider it as the real sun.

Is it possible for a human to destroy the sun?

Even in the legends and stories her father told her when she was a child, no great hero had ever accomplished such a feat, so she had never even considered it.

But Han Fulai was confident he could do it.

He is a time traveler from China, and the legend of "Hou Yi shooting down the suns" is familiar to every Chinese child.

The great heroes of China are the kind who can shoot down nine out of ten suns, and only leave the last one alive because it is useful to the people... Conquering nature is an instinct in the blood of the Chinese nation. Things like "The Foolish Old Man Who Moved Mountains" and "Jingwei Filling the Sea" highlight that one person can conquer nature and level mountains and seas.

Besides, the "sun" of Teyvat has fallen before; that's how the Pitfall was formed.

If the "sun" can fall down once, it can certainly fall down a second time. Moreover, the "sun" he is about to face is merely a creation of the previous Grass God, and is certainly much weaker than the "sun" on the "false heaven" created by the principles of heaven.

With Han Fulai's current strength and Ying's cooperation, destroying the "Void" is by no means a pipe dream.

In fact, he had already devised this plan to destroy the "Void" before he even left the city to investigate. Before leaving, he emphasized to Yingmei, "Don't forget, I have already 'ascended to godhood,'" referring to this very thing. The information he obtained during this investigation further solidified his idea.

Han Fulai stated his thoughts very frankly: "'Reincarnation' originates from 'Void,' so the fastest way to break 'Reincarnation' is to destroy 'Void' and nip 'Reincarnation' in the bud from its 'source.' As long as 'the sun stops rising,' then 'Reincarnation' will not continue."

"Hey, you're not thinking of blowing up that 'sun,' are you?" Paimon tilted his head and looked Han Fulai up and down.

She knew this guy was powerful, that was true, but he didn't seem powerful enough to punch the sun to pieces, right? And this "martial arts" approach seemed more like someone else's style—

The other person immediately chimed in: "How will you know if you can do it if you don't try? That drunkard in Mondstadt can rip stars off the ground, I'm sure I'm no worse than him. So what if I cleave the sun in two with one sword!"

Seeing Yingmei's eager expression, Paimon couldn't help but facepalm.

She knew this plan was definitely Ying's idea, especially that kind of "unwarranted competitive spirit"... If you're so capable, why don't you compare yourself to those two who have the title of "God of War"? Why compare yourself to Wendy?

Ying couldn't wait to draw her sword.

Ever since she learned that the "sun" was the "void," she had been urging Han Fulai to let her "test the knife."

"The Strike Without Thought" is a sword technique that can "cut through the void" in the literal sense. Coincidentally, this thing called Sumeru is also called "Void" - how could she not use it to cut through the void, which is a great move that she has worked so hard to learn and practice?

Han Fulai naturally agreed, since even if Ying didn't destroy "Void", there wouldn't be any loss.

Dixia looked at the two of them with a face full of awe.

Compared to that "Little Lucky Grass King" who doesn't look like a god at all, these two are definitely more like gods; the words they're saying don't even sound like human speech...

At this moment, the “Little Lucky Grass King” who had no divine appearance whatsoever spoke up: “...This is impossible.”