Walnut used me to boost her sales performance.

This fungus has the appearance of a fungus, but its interior is made of elemental force, making it fundamentally different from fungus that evolved from spores.

Most importantly, the elemental power within this fungus is exactly the same as the elemental power in the crystal that Nasida found.

"It's truly a coincidence."

Jiang Bai felt that this coincidence was too subtle. He was just looking for clues when they came to him.

Chapter 837 If you forget where your home is

What are you talking about?

Paimon was completely bewildered.

Jiang Bai recounted Naxida's story.

"I see, that's quite a coincidence."

After Nasita replenished the mushroom's depleted elemental power, it quickly awoke.

"The king of grass, the king of grass!"

This planktonic fungus was clearly quite special; it not only recognized Nasita, but it could also speak.

Nasida was not surprised that this elemental being could speak.

Words are merely one form of communication in life.

Plants have their own language, and animals have their own language, but no one can understand these languages.

"What exactly are you? Where did you come from?"

“I come from a very ancient tribe, we have existed for a very long time, perhaps longer than all records have ever been written…”

The story of this elemental life form is not complicated.

Their people, their homeland, suffered an apocalyptic destruction. A terrible force devoured everything, and the seeds of calamity sprouted within them, gradually twisting and driving them out of control.

It survived by chance and left its home with some of its family members, hoping to find a way to save its hometown.

Over the long process, it gradually learned that the power of the apocalypse was known to humankind as forbidden knowledge.

"It really is forbidden knowledge. It seems our approach was correct."

I don't know if this is a problem left over from the past, or something else...

"But the disaster caused by forbidden knowledge should have ended by now."

"That's right, I can feel that the pollution has been cleared, but in doing so, it also took away some of my knowledge and memories. I can no longer remember where my hometown is."

Saving their homeland is their lifelong wish, yet they have forgotten where their home is.

Nasita cared deeply about this matter; her intuition told her that these lives were inextricably linked to that important thing she couldn't remember.

She decided to find the companions of this elemental life form, to find their homeland, and to bring them home with her.

It must be said that Little Lucky Grass King is a very kind deity. This kindness is not a bad thing, but it also brings him a lot of unnecessary burdens.

Although these are just elemental life forms, to her they are no different from humans.

All lives are equal, and there is no distinction between high and low, noble and base.

This elemental life form has quite a few members, but most of them died after enduring prolonged suffering and were transformed into Death Domain Tumors.

After the desire for death is cleared, this elemental life form will gather the elemental power of its companions, thus bringing them home with it.

This is a group that has suffered greatly, and most of them have a long history, existing from the ancient past to the present.

They gradually adapt to life outside their home, like plants, accumulating experience and growing little by little.

Growth may not have any results, but growth itself is the best gift.

Fortunately, you don't come away empty-handed. From the mouth of a living elemental being, Nasita finally grasped that blurry thread.

"The Grass Dragon!"

"So it's the Grass Dragon!"

"Wait? Grass Dragon? What does all this have to do with Grass Dragon?" Jiang Bai was confused.

“The Grass Dragon Apep, a dragon king who has survived from the beginning to the present,” Nasita answered the three’s questions.

The planktonic fungus, now knowing where its home was, happily flapped its two leaf-like little hands.

"Within the Grass Dragon lies another world, which nurtured us and protects us within it..."

“Wait… if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean Apep was also contaminated by ‘taboo knowledge’?” Nasita suddenly realized the seriousness of the matter.

What would happen if he got contaminated?

Jiang Bai thought of Tvalin.

Dvalin was not corrupted by economic knowledge, but it was once corrupted by the abyss.

During its 500 years of slumber, it suffered constant torment, its spirit and soul ravaged.

Apep, the Grass Dragon, suffered even more from the direct contamination of forbidden knowledge.

“Appepu is the most adaptable creature in the world; ‘taboo knowledge’ should have long been a part of its body. Therefore, eliminating all ‘taboo knowledge’ will create a huge void within it…”

Nasita's tone was unusually heavy. Although she and Apep were enemies, she did not want to see her old friend suffer such hardship.

"Its body and soul must have been completely destroyed long ago."

"No wonder I haven't seen Apep for so long. How did it get contaminated...? Was it because of the destruction of the Red King civilization?"

Nasita was annoyed that she hadn't even made the connection to Apep.

Jiang Bai rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought. "Perhaps, it was that [miracle]?"

He remembered that when the pollution of forbidden knowledge first erupted, the Red King sacrificed his life, and the Great Tree King contributed most of his power, transforming his body into a child.

Even so, the suppression of the outbreak of forbidden knowledge was still called a "miracle".

Perhaps that "miracle" was directly related to the Grass Dragon, Apep.

Otherwise, it's hard to imagine how it could have been contaminated by taboo knowledge.

"Very likely. But now is not the time to dwell on the reasons. If the grass dragon cannot hold on, the elemental power will no longer be able to remain in its body in a living form, and will dissipate completely."

"That concentration of herbaceous elemental energy would cause the rainforest to overgrow... The towering trees would completely block out the sunlight, and the plants would compete with humans for air, making the entire Sumeru region unsuitable for life..."

Naxida became increasingly flustered and agitated as she spoke.

She actually forgot about something so important!

"Calm down. You are the key to everything. If you lose your composure, we will have no idea what to do. Besides, Apep's contamination didn't happen overnight. There's no point in panicking until we find a way to save him."

Nasita took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"You're right."

That crystal is undoubtedly the key to saving Appepp, but the question is how to use it?

To find the answer, we must continue searching for the creatures of this species.

However, perhaps because the relationship between crystals and forbidden knowledge is too close, their memories, like their own, have been interfered with.

Continuing the search will only yield the same result.

Things seem to have suddenly returned to a dead end.

Jiang Bai felt that since the Great Compassion Tree King had left this crystal so early on, it was impossible that he hadn't thought of all this.

Therefore, there must be a way to break this deadlock.

Is there anything that is unaffected by the power of the World Tree?

Chapter 838 A Salvation Across Thousands of Years

The elemental life form in the form of a planktonic fungus recalled carefully, "A family member once said that 'the end of the world' is part of us and has value in being preserved."

At the time, our community did not agree with its views, so it left.

"Does he want to preserve these memories? But what method can bypass the influence of the World Tree's power?"

Jiang Bai himself will not be affected by the World Tree, and neither will some higher-level beings.

Alternatively, they could go to special places like the Abyss Palace, which are detached from the World Tree, where they might be able to preserve their memories.

But the question is, what method will it choose to save it?

“Do you know where it went?” Nasita asked.

“Yu Yan once mentioned it. To the east of Mount Sumeru, in the unfathomable depths of the earth, in a turbid land from which there is no return.”

A single location simultaneously came to mind for several people.

A colossal abyss of layered rock!

There is a Heavenly Nail in the Abyss of Laminaria, but the key question is, what role can the Heavenly Nail play in this matter?

Nasita's mind raced. "Let me think... preserving 'forbidden knowledge' is impossible, but..."

What if what is preserved is no longer "taboo knowledge"?

Jiang Bai understood.

Since forbidden knowledge cannot be preserved, perhaps it can be preserved by transforming it into something else.

Without lingering, the group quickly made their way to the bottom of the Abyss of Layered Rocks, where the Sky Nail was located.

Is that elemental being really here?

Paimon looked around, completely unable to sense the presence of that elemental life form.

It should be noted that the Grass Dragon Apep was corrupted by forbidden knowledge a long time ago. If it came here because it wanted to preserve its memories through prophecy, then it must have been here for a very long time.

But whether it was when they discovered the Heavenly Nail or when she accidentally entered the underground space inside the Heavenly Nail, she did not see any elemental life forms here.

"It's here, but it's not what we thought it was."

Looking at the celestial nail floating in mid-air, radiating a pure blue light, Nasida's tone was quite complicated.

"That is an artifact used to fight against the Abyss. In the distant past, it mended the rifts in Teyvat. It has the power to purify and stabilize forces that should not exist in Teyvat."

"The 'forbidden knowledge' illuminated by its light will remain here permanently in another form."

For example, we see silt.

"silt!"

Paimon's eyes widened in surprise.

Although we had learned about this group's strong environmental adaptability along the way, adapting to mud was still somewhat unbelievable.

Jiang Bai reached out and flicked her crown. "Nasida means that the pollution inside that elemental life form was altered by the power of the giant nail and is now hidden in some silt."

Kong opened his mouth and said, "Let's clear away the silt around here."

"Ah."

After the silt was evolved, an elemental life form in the form of a fungus appeared before them. However, due to being soaked in the silt for a long time, it had become one with the silt, and its whole body exuded an ominous power.

Kong suggested that he purify the corrupting power, but it wouldn't work. The corruption had become one with this elemental life form; as the corruption was purified, this life form and its associated memories would also be purified.

At Nasita's insistence, the power of the crystal was used to restore the consciousness of this elemental life form.

Using the power within might bring unknown consequences, but there is no other way now.

The elemental being slowly awoke, retaining the appearance of a fungus beast, but with an unusually aged voice.

It turns out that it had made a pact with the former King of Grass, or rather, the Great Tree King, to come here as a spark to preserve the last memories.

The Great Tree King had made long-term preparations long ago.

She anticipated that in completely eradicating forbidden knowledge, all related memories would also be erased.

This life also made a sacrifice for its people and to save their home.

He stayed there for a long time, enduring the pain under the light of the Heavenly Nails, waiting for the arrival of the King of Grass in the future.

Naxi Da was somewhat saddened.

In making this decision, it voluntarily relinquished its chance to be saved by her.