nycdaug Chapter 653 The Past and Present Life of Hua Ling
Chapter 653 The Past and Present Life of Hua Ling
"If that's the case, why won't you give her that flower crown?"
Xu Ning asked curiously.
This question seems difficult to answer, and Zurwan seems to be figuring out where to begin.
"If we're going to talk about this, we have to start with the birth of Hua Ling. Do you have the patience to listen to such a long story?"
Xu Ning laughed and said, "You sent Slusa and Kong away to do chores so that I could listen to the story quietly here, right? Of course I'm willing."
Zurwan smiled slightly and did not deny it.
"The story goes back hundreds of years."
"It originated from a gift between the mistress of flowers and the queen of plants... The mistress of flowers saw the invasion of chaos and darkness in the future, and gave a piece of the spiritual light in her body to the queen of plants."
"After breaking with the Lord of the Red Sand, the Queen of the Grass and Trees sculpted the aura into the form of a divine bird, named Seymour, and gave it the responsibility of guarding the two worlds."
"It gathers the colors of millions of birds, sings the harmony of millions of flowers, and hides the dream of the oasis within its body. That is the pure and dazzling endless sea of flowers within the divine bird's body."
Xu Ning frowned and asked, "Is it just a sea of flowers? Then what are the trees that are sealing this abyss rift?"
This problem seems to have stumped Zurwan.
"This is a mother tree of ten thousand kinds... and... it must have been planted by the owner of the plants..."
Seeing Zuerwan struggling to recall, Xu Ning suddenly realized that this big tree must have been planted by the Great Compassion Tree King himself.
When the Great Tree King suppressed the calamity, it sacrificed all its power and became tainted with filth. So it took off its purest branch and gave birth to Nasita, who then also lost her physical form.
But in reality, the Great Tree King did not disappear; it has always existed in the World Tree's memory, or more likely, it exists within this Mother Tree of Ten Thousand Species.
For the Flower Spirit who guards this place, there were actually two Lords of Plants and Trees at that time.
She helped Naxida erase the Great Tree King from this world, which caused a flaw in Hua Ling's memories.
"Please don't mind my question, what happened next?"
Xu Ning comforted the ancient flower spirit and continued to ask.
"In the sorrowful prophecy of the Flower Mistress, the Lord of Dew and the Lord of Plants will perish before the divine bird Seymour. The divine bird Seymour merges with the pure water left behind by the Lord of Dew, shattering its divine form and forming a hundred kinds of spiritual light, which purifies the filth."
"Among the hundred kinds of spiritual light, the one with intelligence is us, the Flower Spirits."
After hearing the origin of Hua Ling's story, Xu Ning's brows furrowed deeply.
The scale of this plan was far too grand, clearly exceeding his expectations.
What appears to be just the outbreak of the Black Tide of Kanria five hundred years ago actually involves the plans of at least three gods, just in sealing off the location of the Tu Ni Black Abyss.
The most mysterious flower goddess, Nabu, foresaw what was about to happen from the very beginning, and even went so far as to split her body to deliver her spiritual light to the Great Tree King ahead of time.
The Great Compassion Tree King transformed its spiritual light into a divine bird, which guarded this destined place, awaiting the arrival of calamity.
And when the disaster strikes, a series of actions—planting trees, branching, and exploding—lock the disaster in place.
And that Lord of Dew should be the previous Water God of Fontaine, who just happened to die in this very spot, leaving behind the living dew. On one hand, it nourished the spiritual light, allowing the divine bird to transform into hundreds of forms of spiritual light to cleanse the impurities; on the other hand, it nourished the myriad mother trees, allowing them to grow and tightly seal the rifts in the abyss, and even...
Xu Ning looked at his wine gourd. If his memory of the pure water spirit he met at the Stone Gate Poetry Gathering was correct, and she had also given him a stream of sweet dew, it was very likely that it was the only spring water in his wine spring—sweet rain.
If my conjecture is correct, then the springs in the octagonal hall of the Layered Rock Abyss have an owner; perhaps it was I who brought these springs back to Liyue and used them in the Layered Rock Abyss.
Why are these gods putting so much effort into this place?
What exactly is this so-called destined land of Zurwan?
Xu Ning sorted out his thoughts and asked again, "So, the Ten Thousand Species Mother Tree has been resisting the filth of the abyss and enduring its contamination here all year round, relying on the power of the sweet dew and spiritual light?"
Zurwan nodded. "Yes, but the protective body of the Ten Thousand Mother Trees also has its limits. It cannot be allowed to be eroded. That's why it is necessary to perform the Water Offering Ritual to cleanse it of impurities regularly. However, those foolish fellows in the Corrections Group are unable to do it. Fortunately, you performed the Water Offering Ritual, which delayed the imminent crisis by a great deal."
Xu Ning thought for a moment and then asked, "Then what is the double-horned flower crown that Slusa keeps mentioning, the one that the Flower Spirit Warrior wears?"
Zurwan smiled and said, "Among the hundred kinds of spiritual light that the divine bird has transformed into, only we can communicate with the divine consciousness of the mother tree and obtain the power to guide the spiritual light."
"In other words, obtaining the flower crown is equivalent to obtaining the authority to guide spiritual light. Before Slusa understands all this, rashly granting her this authority might be exploited by those with ulterior motives."
Xu Ning nodded to himself, thinking to himself, "It seems that experience really matters."
"You mean there's a problem with the Corrections Group?"
Zurwan nodded and said, "Of course. In order to obtain the title of Flower Spirit Warrior, Slusa specifically told me about the sacrifice process that the members of the Correction Group had told her."
"In my opinion, apart from the slightly laughable process of the final sacrifice, since I was the one who solved the problem of the last Heavenly Phenomenon of Burning Truth, there were no problems with any of the other steps."
Xu Ning frowned. "The process is basically without problems, yet you've been stuck on it for so long. What went wrong?"
Zurwan smiled and said, "No problem, that's the biggest problem."
"After all, your human race is a group of short-lived creatures. Any storm in the long river of time will cause you to lose a lot. Moreover, when we solved the celestial phenomenon problem last time, I completed the last two steps entirely by myself. Even the leader of the Correction Group at that time was unaware of the detailed steps involved."
Xu Ning immediately understood.
The so-called "no problem" means that this group of critics has somehow learned the answer to the problem, an answer that should not be known to them.
It's like when the exam questions are accidentally put on an elementary school test paper instead of a high school math question, and a certain elementary school student manages to solve it perfectly.
Everyone knew there was something wrong with this little guy.
"Didn't you check their sources of information? For example, those documents that Nassen Zhu keeps mentioning?"
Zurwan shook her head. "There's no need for that, because I know who else knows the final two steps besides me, and that person shouldn't be involved with this group of hypocrites at all. If they really are involved..."
Seeing that Zuerwan remained silent, Xu Ning interjected, "...Then things will become very troublesome?"
Zulwan nodded slowly. "This is why I want Sluza to obtain the authority of the Aura as late as possible, so that she won't be used by others and hand over the most important Aura to those with ulterior motives."
Xu Ning nodded, "Then now..."
"Now that you've arrived, although you used the Water Offering Ritual to help the Ten Thousand Mother Trees, it cannot completely extinguish the Celestial Phenomenon of Burning Truth. Please take Slusa and complete the entire process. I believe that with your care, Slusa will be able to complete the mission."
Can I refuse?
Xu Ning asked himself honestly, and he knew he couldn't possibly refuse such a request.
Even if such a celestial phenomenon could recreate the Black Tide War of yesteryear, for the sake of the Great Compassion Tree King inside his gourd, and for the spring water that was most likely given to him by the previous Water God, he couldn't just watch this sea of flowers be destroyed.
"Alright, actually you don't need to tell me, I would have followed this matter to the end anyway. After all, I am Lady Slusa's patron saint."
Xu Ning said with a loud laugh.
"Ugh, please don't say that word in Zurwan anymore, it's so embarrassing!"
As soon as Xu Ning finished speaking, a cluster of pink flower spirits rushed over, pressed against Xu Ning's head, and growled fiercely in a low voice.
She was in a panic, so anxious that she could even speak properly!
Zulwan glanced at Slusa, "It's not very polite to ask, but didn't you come back a little too quickly? And I didn't see Michael and Rasharu either..."
Xu Ning also looked curiously behind Sluza and added, "...Kong and Paimon didn't come either..."
Slusa snorted. "I've already rescued that foolish Michael from that dark and cramped cave in the Blade Forest. It's just that the guy looks terrible covered in filth and can't return to the Flower Sea. Right now, Bai Piaopiao and her Lord of Worship are accompanying Michael on his pilgrimage to cleanse himself."
Xu Ning looked at Zurwan with some confusion, "The pilgrimage route for purification?"
Zurwan smiled and said, "Actually, it's just a winding path filled with gentle breezes, clean water, and wandering spiritual light. It's not a punishment, but rather a way to help her cleanse herself of the filth that has tainted her."
Xu Ning understood, "If that's the case, I can help speed up the process."
Sluza flapped her wings a few times and said, "Otherwise, why do you think I came here first? When Paimon's Lord of Hymns was clearing the purple mist from the valley, he used your kind of wine power on those filthy entities, and originally intended to wash that filthy Mihir as well..."
"That's probably not enough. This guy doesn't really like drinking, so I didn't give him much."
Xu Ning then realized that Slusa wanted him to come over, turned around and said goodbye to Zulwan, and quickly left the sea of flowers with Slusa.
As Xu Ning met Paimon and Kong along the way they came, he saw the "foolish Mihir" that Slusa had mentioned.
"Ahem, I must say, this Mihir is much more stylish than Silsa. If Silsa is the sun of Yoshiwara, then Mihir is Tsukuyomi."
Of course, this idea only crossed Xu Ning's mind; he didn't dare say it out loud in front of Slusa, lest the easily angered little one get jealous.
Instead of using wine to remove the filth remaining on Mihir's body, Xu Ning used the spring water of Ganlin to pour it over the little fellow wearing the crown of thorns several times from head to toe.
"I can feel that the filth on my body has been washed away. Thank you for your gift. I can continue to carry out my mission. By the way, your pure water is almost comparable to the spring water of the Dew Pool. It is truly fortunate for this world that there is still a source of water that can easily wash away calamities."
Mihir thanked Xu Ning sincerely, and then, without needing any further accompaniment, went off to find Zurwan.
"Alright, I'm one step closer to the crown now. Let's go find that foolish Rasharu."
The task of finding two flower spirits was half completed, but Slusa didn't feel much joy.
“Lasharu is over there at the top of the giant tree on the top of the pine tree. I have a feeling that it might not be easy to get this foolish fellow back to the sea of flowers.”
"She's already spouting discouraging words before we've even set off. This isn't quite the Flower Spirit Warrior Silsa I know. Should I include this part in my poem of praise?"
Xu Ning imitated the cowardly god's posture of tricking people into drinking, pretending to think, which immediately made Slusa panic.
"Don't write! Let these useless sighs linger here. I will definitely complete the mission and get the double-horned crown. I will drag Rasharu back, even if I have to."
Xu Ning and Kong exchanged a glance.
Judging from what Silsa said, it seems that it might really be a bit difficult.
Paimon, however, was full of confidence.
"It's alright. If it's still like before, just let Kong use the grass lantern lotus to protect us, and let the big drunkard use the gourd to sprinkle it around. That filth will be easily cleaned up."
Sluza shook her head. "It's not as simple as you think."
As everyone followed Slusa up the mountain, Xu Ning asked Kong what the grass lantern lotus was.
"It's a method of using grass element," Kong said, turning his palm upward and condensing grass element in his palm. Instantly, a green lotus seat appeared, with a grass element body that looked like a ray of light sitting on it.
From the moment this grass lantern lotus appeared, it began to bathe the people and things around it in a layer of green lotus light.
"Oh, there's an automatic mechanism too? That's interesting. If it's against a monster, it's like it's automatically unleashing an area-of-effect attack, right?"
Xu Ning was very interested in Kong's move.
The little grass god's divine heart had already been fed to Chiba Jiuquan, but he still had no concept of how to construct a clone of the grass element.
This trip to the flower sea has given Xu Ning a lot of direction. He saw Slusa, who represents flowers, and Mihir, who represents thorns, and Rasharu, who he has not yet met and is very likely to represent trees.
However, the way the air element is used now seems more intriguing.
"Sometimes, I'm really jealous of your self-taught little brain! Speaking of which, didn't you tell me you came from outer space? Are these applications of the elements moves you already had in your memory, or did you create them yourself after coming to Teyvat?"