Genshin Impact: Dionysus reigns supreme, all demons retreat!

Chapter 652 Cleansing the Filthy Giant Tree

As everyone stood beside a huge, grayish-white crater, Sluza pointed down and said, "See this? This is where I was destined to sacrifice myself."

Xu Ning watched as Slusa stood in mid-air, pointing at the large pit below and speaking.

Yes, it's just like in my past life when I went with my dad to pay respects at our ancestors' graves. My dad stood in one spot and said, "This is where I'll sleep from now on. And the place over there at your feet is yours."

"The crystals on these are really exaggerated, how did they form such large chunks?"

Paimon clicked his tongue as he looked at the enormous gray crystals surrounding the crater.

Slusa laughed and said, "Bai Piaopiao is wrong. Those are not entirely gray crystals. They are giant trees that were used to seal and suppress the demons of the Black Abyss, but they have been corrupted by the power of filth for a long time and have turned into this."

Upon hearing this, Kong couldn't help but look at Xu Ning.

Although Xu Ning went to Haizhi Island to play and kiss Xin Hai while Inazuma was performing a great purification ritual for Shen Ying, Ling Hua told her in great detail everything Xu Ning did to rescue that Lord Zhai Gong when they were playing together.

Xu Ning saw Kong looking at him, seemingly wanting to say something but stopping himself. Without even checking Kong's thoughts, he knew what Kong was thinking.

Xu Ning subtly shook the wine gourd, signaling Kong not to speak.

Kong immediately understood Xu Ning's meaning and turned back to listen to Xian Zhu Na explain the function of the Ferry Crossing Ritual.

"The process is simple. Our Lady Sluza obtains the Hero's Qualification, which allows her to acquire the Radiant Melody and stabilize the seal on the Black Abyss. Then, she uses the Ritual of Crossing to cross the Black Abyss, reach the location of the Celestial Phenomenon, purify the filth, and extinguish the Celestial Phenomenon."

Xu Ning nodded like a serious scribe. "I've written it all down. Now let's discuss the first step. Our Lady Slusa, when will your Hero Certificate be approved?"

The pink Sluza suddenly became popular.

Na Xianzhu shook his head and said, "What is the Hero's Certificate? It should be that only by obtaining the double-horned flower crown can one become a Flower Spirit Hero who can gather spiritual power. This requires the approval of the original Flower Spirit - Lord Zuerwan."

Slusa, embarrassed and annoyed, tumbled around in a circle and said, "But that senior just doesn't approve of my supreme wish, and there's nothing I can do about it. Besides, I think I can do it by sacrificing myself."

Xu Ning immediately rejected the idea, saying, "It's not safe enough. What if we travel to the destination and are missing a certain necessary condition? Our sacrifice would be worthless. Is that something Lady Silsa can accept?"

Slusa hesitated for a moment.

She was not afraid of making sacrifices, but she absolutely could not tolerate making worthless sacrifices that would be recorded and ridiculed by future generations.

Nassen Zhuna suggested, "We still need to start with Lady Zurwan and change her opinion of you. Now that you have the opportunity to worship the Lord, perhaps Lady Zurwan will change her mind?"

Paimon asked doubtfully, "If this method works, why don't you try it?"

Nassen Zhuna chuckled awkwardly, "Someone like me who only knows how to read books would definitely not be of interest to Lord Zurwan..."

Sluza bluntly revealed the answer: "He went, but he wouldn't even let me in the door."

Na Xianzhu coughed twice. "Well, I still have a lot of data to organize, including collecting details of the 'Swan Song of Light.' You guys go and give it a try. If you can finish it, we'll meet up at the camp on Mount Tiemu again."

Xu Ning watched Na Xian Zhu Na's departing figure, circulated his elemental power, and Na Xian Zhu Na's thoughts clearly appeared in his glasses.

We must first investigate those two...

Xu Ning sneered, "You want to investigate us? I don't even need to investigate you; I know you're definitely up to something."

"Okay, the person who's in the way has left."

Xu Ning stretched his body. "Kong, since you're here this time, it saves Shen He and the others the trouble. You'll protect me. If anything happens to me, don't panic. Just make sure I don't hurt anyone or myself."

Slusa looked at Xu Ning curiously, "What are you going to do?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Didn't you just say that these gray crystals are covering the giant trees that seal the Black Abyss? Don't you feel uncomfortable looking at them? I'll give them a simple cleaning."

Paimon pulled the bewildered Sluza aside and said, "Now is the time for these two in front of us to praise the Lord. We just need to stand behind them and watch."

Kong turned back to Paimon with disdain and said, "I am not your patron saint."

Paimon chuckled and said, "You have to do better."

"This central location is the seal, right? To be on the safe side, I'll leave it alone and just deal with the giant trees around it."

Xu Ning flexed his wrists. "The trees of Sumeru should like 'Thousand Leaves' the most, so let's use this one."

A huge whirlwind was released from Xu Ning's left hand and swirled around the massive crater.

Then a stream of emerald green wine was drawn out from Xu Ning's wine gourd, swirling and pouring downwards along the trajectory of the whirlwind.

A violent roar immediately filled the area around the giant pit.

Xu Ning watched as countless wisps of black mist emanated from the point where the wine and the gray crystals came into contact, only to be covered and vanished by the pouring wine.

This wasn't the first time his wine had clashed with the power of the abyss.

Neither of them seems to be the orthodox power of Teyvat, but his own wine is precisely the kind of corrupt power that counteracts the Abyss. The two almost always annihilate each other upon contact, leaving nothing behind.

However, during the Great Purification of Divine Cherry, the memories within the Divine Cherry that were corrupted by the power of the abyss were cleansed by the wine itself, the filth disappeared, and the memories remained.

The gray crystals here, upon encountering their own wine, left not a single dreg, making the guards standing nearby seem somewhat superfluous.

As the liquid was poured into the swirling wind, the thick layer of ash crystals on the trees surrounding the giant pit was washed away, slowly revealing the brown trunks inside.

As Slusa watched Xu Ning display his skills, she recalled the advice that Zurwan had once given her.

"Only humans act blindly, Silsa. You must learn to wait for fate to take its course."

This is fate's arrangement!

Although I never believed that statement, I still waited for it to happen.

Sluza turned to look at another part of the sky, at the deep purple celestial phenomenon.

You can clearly see a green light slowly rising from beneath the purple.

It was as if the power of the myriad mother trees was slowly recovering and resisting the filthy celestial phenomena.

Seeing that the branches and trunk of the giant tree were exposed, Xu Ning immediately stopped and took a few big gulps of water, then let out a long breath.

"That's basically it. Based on how this cleaning went, it'll probably be several dozen months before it turns into that grayish-crystal-like form again."

Slusa shook her head. "If we can't resolve the crisis of the Burning Truth Celestial Phenomenon, the rate at which the filth seeps in will only accelerate, and we might not even be able to wait a month."

"Let's get back to the most fundamental issue. The priority is to resolve the celestial phenomena. Now, come with me to find Senior Zurwan. Perhaps he will change his mind when he sees your abilities."

Xu Ning was also very interested in the Flower Spirit race. "Are you going to take us directly to your Flower Spirit gathering place?"

Slusa pointed to the area directly in front of her below the Celestial Phenomenon of Burning Truth, "Yes, that's where our Flower Spirit Clan's settlement is. I'll also show you what the Celestial Phenomenon of Burning Truth really looks like."

After Xu Ning saw the eternal oasis at Dama Mountain, he thought that such a large-scale oasis in the desert existed only there.

Unexpectedly, after just crossing half a hill, a vast expanse of green land, almost as impressive as the Eternal Oasis, suddenly appeared before our eyes.

"Wow……"

Xu Ning and the other two exclaimed in surprise almost simultaneously, marveling at this magical oasis in the desert.

“Slusa, it’s been a while since you’ve been here.”

A white flower spirit that looked somewhat weathered spoke slowly to Slusa.

When Slusa was in front of this flower spirit, she immediately lost her arrogant demeanor and instead appeared somewhat reserved.

"In order to once again emulate the divine bird in extinguishing the heavenly fire, I have been working with those people to come up with a solution."

The white flower spirit chuckled, "I just saw that the power of the Ten Thousand Mother Trees seems to have suddenly recovered somewhat. It seems that you and those guys must have found a good solution?"

Sluza turned red again.

"No...no, this time it was entirely due to the power of my hymns to the Lord."

The white flower spirit smiled, then turned her gaze to Xu Ning and Kong, who were standing to the side.

"Heh, it feels like I've seen people like you two a long, long time ago. Let's introduce ourselves first. There aren't many humans who can stand here and have their names asked by me."

Xu Ning felt Kong beside him shudder, and he felt the same way about Kong's reaction.

Now both of them clearly understand the deeper meaning behind the phrase "looks familiar".

When Xu Ning heard this, it usually meant that he was very likely to have to take the blame for his predecessor.

For Sora, if someone says that, it means there must be news about his sister or Dain.

"I am Xu Ning from Liyue, chosen by Lady Sluza as a Singer. This is Kong, and also Paimon."

The white flower spirit chuckled, "Lady Silsa? And the Lord of Hymns? Although it's obvious that Silsa has made a mistake, I'll just consider you as Silsa's companions for now. You can call me Zulwan, but please don't add 'Lady' to my name."

Xu Ning looked at Slusa beside him with amusement; the little thing was so red it was almost burning up.

"Then, Zurwan, you must have guessed why we're here. After all, I heard that you turned away the Xianzhu from the Jiaolun Group, but we didn't feel any hindrance when we came in."

When Zurwan heard Xu Ning mention the Jiao Lun Group, he snorted coldly.

"You mean those people? Although we Flower Spirits once fought alongside them and even lived together in this sea of ​​flowers, over the years, those guys have become foolish and degenerate to the point that they no longer even hold the Water Offering Ceremony. This has caused the seal of the Tu Ni Black Abyss to begin to loosen. Otherwise, how could it have triggered the celestial phenomena so quickly?"

Zurwan turned to look at Slusa, "But since two such interesting warriors have come here with Flower Spirit again, it seems the wheel of fate has started turning again."

Xu Ning and Kong both showed slight changes in expression upon hearing the spinning wheel of fate, but both wisely refrained from asking any questions.

“Slusa, you know where Rasharu and Mihir are, right? Go with this little Kong brother and call them here. And as a token of my trust in you, I will give you the Twin Horned Crown.”

Although Slusa looked visibly unhappy upon hearing the two names, she immediately lost her awkwardness when she heard that she could get the double-horned flower crown and qualify as a Flower Spirit Warrior. Instead, she urged Sora and Paimon to hurry up.

"Hey, we've all gone to work, where's that big drunkard?" Paimon sat on Kong's shoulder, turning back to look curiously at Xu Ning, who was drinking.

Zurwan smiled and said, "Of course, there are even more important tasks."

Paimon glanced suspiciously at Zurwan and Xu Ning, feeling as if the two were having an affair.

Fortunately, Kong reached out and tugged at Xiaobai Mao, signaling her not to doubt Brother Xu.

"What do you think of Sluza?"

As Zurwan watched Kong and Slusa walk away, he suddenly asked Xu Ning a question.

Xu Ning sat down next to Zurwan and couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you want me to tell the truth? I'm a complete idiot."

Zuerwan smiled as she listened to Xu Ning's words.

"However, in terms of responsibility and courage alone, she surpasses many creatures on Teyvat. Perhaps she really can accomplish something great!"

Hearing Xu Ning's praise, Zuerwan shook her head slightly.

"Iron-headed fool? That's strangely fitting! But whatever you do, don't say what you just said to her face, or I really don't know what other stupid things she might do... I'm sure you've heard about her so-called great achievements along the way, right?"

Xu Ning nodded. "Yes, she emphasized it many times, but I don't like the idea of ​​using sacrifice as a prerequisite for salvation. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I won't allow such a foolish thing to happen as long as there's even the slightest possibility."

Zurwan laughed and said, "I knew you wouldn't be like those foolish hypocrites who would try to bewitch Slusa with ulterior motives. That's why I'm willing to let you and that little brother complete the mission that belongs to Slusa."

"A mission unique to her?"

Xu Ning was surprised that Zurwan had already confirmed that this mission belonged to Slusa. "Judging from Slusa's attitude towards you, I thought her restraint stemmed from not being able to gain your approval, but I didn't expect you to have already entrusted her with it?"

“It wasn’t my idea,” Zulwan said solemnly. “Every flower spirit has a destined responsibility, and in this respect, Slusa is undoubtedly special. However, because she was born after the last calamity and has never witnessed the ancient battles, she has many fantasies about sacrifice. But without a doubt, she is the one chosen by the light, the destined flower spirit.”