allonlinenovel Chapter 123 A Conversation with My Future Self
Chapter 123 A Conversation with My Future Self
A word of caution: this chapter contains a lot of personal interpretations. If you find anything unreasonable, feel free to call the author an idiot.
The following is the main text.
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That's true, but it's ultimately Kiana's wishful thinking. She has no idea how to help, and she can't consult Zhongli, the all-knowing one. It seems her only option is to approach the Dragon King Ruotu.
On the way back, Kiana chatted with Bella while thinking about how to persuade (scratch that) the Dragon King Ruoduo. When Zhongli wasn't looking, she told Bella her thoughts, and Bella naturally supported Kiana unconditionally.
For Kiana, persuading the Dragon King of Rota is both simple and difficult. It's simple because the seal, which is a major problem for others, is no longer an issue after Kiana has been inside the seal and memorized its coordinates. The difficulty lies in how to convince the Dragon King of Rota, since the safety of Liyue is more important to both the Dragon King of Rota and Zhongli.
However, the simplest solution would be to invite them to a group chat and offer rewards for answering questions to address the wear and tear issue. But currently, Kiana and her friends are muted, and even some functions are disabled, including inviting others to the group chat.
It seems this was the work of my future self, meaning that my future self may have helped King Ruoduo and the others, and may even have resolved the wear and tear without using the power of the group chat.
In other words, there must be some way to resolve the wear and tear that the laws of nature have imposed on the beings of Teyvat. According to my memories from my previous life, the original beings reversed destruction, and there is a false heaven in Teyvat.
Does this mean that Teyvat once faced a cataclysmic event capable of destroying the world, only to be reversed by the so-called Primal Being just before it was about to plunge into the Sea of Quanta? Is the so-called False Heaven both the decree that determines the fate of everyone on Teyvat and the protective shell that shelters the continent?
Could the so-called leyline system be the same technology used by the Hughes to reconnect the world bubble to the Imaginary Tree? No, that's not right. Based on the information I obtained from the Imaginary Tree, Teyvat is undoubtedly a complete world, not some kind of world bubble.
In this case, the so-called "Primordial Being" reversing destruction might be a smokescreen released by miHoYo, or it might not refer to Teyvat being saved by the Primordial Being when it was on the verge of destruction, but rather to a crisis that could destroy the world and was then resolved by the Primordial Being.
Regardless, the principles of Heaven arose from the very beginning of that primordial being, or rather, that primordial being is what we call the principles of Heaven. He redefined this world and established its rules. This included granting long-lived beings like the Dragon King of Rota the ability to wear down their bodies. But why did He do this?
Perhaps only by untangling this relationship can she truly help King Rota. After much thought, Kiana realized that she seemed to have no way to help them without being deeply bound to this world.
After all, wear and tear is a rule established by the laws of nature, and the only way to change this rule is to work on the laws of nature themselves. But now the laws of nature are asleep, and the mortal world is jointly managed by seven demon gods, above whom there are four rulers who maintain the order created by the laws of nature.
Since persuading Tianli to change the rules is not an option, the only solution is to replace Tianli as the new Tianli and redefine the rules.
But this is also a scenario that Zhongli did not want to see. Now that he thinks about it, as the most ancient demon god in the world, Zhongli may know much more than what is implied in the plot.
That's why Zhongli didn't want Kiana, who wasn't part of the original Teyvat storyline, to get too involved. After figuring this out, Kiana also began to hesitate.
After all, Teyvat was just a stop on her journey, and her future self hoped she could change her fate and achieve a different ending. If her future self truly succeeded in solving the wear and tear problem, wouldn't she be walking the same path she had once walked?
But Zhongli was Kiana's favorite character in her past life, and both she and Kiana in the past life hoped that Zhongli would no longer suffer. Now that an opportunity has presented itself to Kiana, she truly doesn't want to give it up.
So, I apologize to my future self, but no matter what, I still intend to help with this to the end.
It seems you've ultimately followed the path I once walked.
The moment Kiana made up her mind, a voice resonated within her heart. It was a voice from her future self, speaking to her after transcending time.
[But what can I do? You're me too! Yes! Neither Kiana nor my past self would stand idly by; if I could lend a hand, I would.]
[So, did your past self truly become the natural order of this Teyvat world?]
[Yes and no, but it's a given fact that Teyvat's fate has been inextricably linked to mine ever since. But don't worry, with my help this time, perhaps we can make some changes.]
[First, you need to know the entire history of Teyvat...]
With Kiana's explanation in the future, Kiana also learned about some of Teyvat's history.
Teyvat is now divided into the Land of Light, the Land of Man, and the Land of Nothingness. The Land of Light represents Teyvat's most primal form, an ideal habitat for creatures like dragons and lizards, but unsuitable for humans. It has been transformed into the Land of Man by the Primal Being, with only a portion of the Land of Light's power remaining to resist the encroachment of the Land of Nothingness.
The so-called Void Realm represents the power of the Abyss, which is highly corrosive and was blocked outside by the barrier drawn by Fanes.
Originally, Teyvat consisted of the Light Realm, ruled by seven elemental dragon kings and one dragon king, Nibelungen, as well as the all-consuming Void Realm. Later, the arrival of the primordial being, Phanes, disrupted this order. He waged a great war against the seven elemental dragon kings, ultimately leaving only one, the Grass Dragon King, while Nibelungen fled to a place beyond the Light Realm to lie dormant.
After defeating the Elemental Dragon Lords, Farnese began to transform Teyvat, and four hundred years later, he officially began the transformation, turning it into an environment that humans could adapt to. At the same time, he demarcated the world, separating Teyvat from the [World] and the [Universe]. The original Light Sphere was renamed the Human Sphere, and the primordial elemental forces, under Farnese's transformation, became elemental forces more suitable for humans, while the Wilderness elemental forces were transformed into Wilderness Force, which remained in some areas.
This is the history of the First Throne, established by the primordial being Phanes. The Second Throne, however, is the history of the powerless dragon king Nibelungen returning to Teyvat to reclaim Teyvat's rule from Phanes.
Unfortunately, Nibelungen failed, but the Void Force it brought—the power of the Abyss—remained and continued to erode Teyvat, which was on the verge of destruction. Left with no other option, Farnese could only deploy spikes to stabilize Teyvat's structure and purify the areas corrupted by the Abyss.
That nail was the Frostbite Nail on Dragon Ridge, but that doesn't mean the Frostbite Nail on Dragon Ridge was the first nail that Fanes threw.
In fact, there are many more nails like this on Teyvat, and whether there was a civilization there before the nails were thrown down, or what the subsequent impact would be, were not things that the person who threw the nails considered.
Because dropping a nail signifies the existence of an abyss in that location, the nail's purpose is to stabilize the world and purify the abyss. Compared to being corrupted by the abyss, the subsequent effects of the nail are negligible.
This is the history of the Second Throne. After that, Phanes fell into a deep sleep, and his four shadows took over the management of Teyvat. Then there was the Third Throne, the Fourth Throne, and so on... until Kiana in the future finally finished telling the story, and Kiana finally understood what was going on with the wear and tear on King Rota's body.
So this is one of the punishments that Fanes has brought upon the elemental dragon kings! Originally, Fanes only wanted to create an environment suitable for human survival. Whether you Nibelungen fled to the outside world and never returned, or returned to submit, it was fine. But you Nibelungen not only returned with the power of the abyss, but also planned to pull me down from my ruling position and try to restore the former order.
As a result, the world he had painstakingly transformed was almost destroyed by the war He had instigated once again. Originally, Fanes had planned to wait for the appearance of the second-generation Elemental Dragon King, who possessed the power of the Ancient Dragons, to help govern humanity. At that time, the Elemental Dragon Kings would still be among the rulers of this world. However, the appearance of Nibelungen made Fanes change his mind.
Since you, Nibelungen, are ruthless, then don't blame me, Farnese, for being unjust. As Farnese reshaped the world, he wielded a great hand, adding the concept of wear and tear to the elemental creatures and incorporating it into the rules, while simultaneously seizing control of the ancient dragons' power entirely in his own hands.
The subsequent wear and tear on the demon gods and even the immortal beings was actually affected by this rule. As for the grass elemental dragon king, although it was not subjected to wear and tear, being stripped of its ancient dragon authority damaged its very foundation, and it will probably not be long before it returns to the earth's veins.
Seeing this, Fanes decided to let her go. However, to Fanes' surprise, thanks to the powerful vitality brought by the grass element, the Grass Element Dragon King managed to survive the weakest period and continuously heal herself, which allowed her to actually live to this day.
[I understand the situation, but what does this have to do with fixing the damage on Naga King Rota's body?]
[Indeed, it has nothing to do with us.]
[You...]
[It was just a joke, how could you actually believe it?]
[so?]
[The solution to the wear and tear is simple: the first step is to return all the ancient dragon powers to their rightful owners. With the blessing of these ancient dragon powers, the elemental dragon lords will be able to break free from the rules set by Farnese to some extent, but…]
[But wouldn't this inevitably reignite the war between Heaven's Law and the Elemental Dragon King?]
[Yes, if you only want to resolve the wear and tear on King Rota, then performing just the first step is enough, or even simply returning the Ancient Dragon authority to King Rock Dragon. Isn't that simple?]
[Well said. So how do I find that so-called Gu Long's power?]
[Simple, just ask Zhongli for it.]
[ah? ]
[In reality, the current power of the Ancient Dragons is represented by the seven divine thrones held by the Seven Rulers of the Mortal Realm. When the four shadows of Phanes launched the Demon God War to select the seven gods, their aim was to completely seize control of the Ancient Dragons. They transformed the Ancient Dragons' power into divine thrones representing the seven gods, and used the remains of the Third Descendant to create the Heart of God, which they then distributed to the seven gods. Everything they did was to ensure that the Ancient Dragons' power would not fall back into the hands of the Elemental Dragon Kings.]
[Wait, did you say something incredible? The Heart of God was made from the remains of the Third Advance?]
[Yes, so the Heart of God truly is an ominous thing in every sense of the word. Returning the ancient dragon's power is quite simple: use the connection between the Heart of God and the throne to completely destroy the throne. This way, the ancient dragon's power sealed within will return to the corresponding elemental dragon king, which is…]
[In this way, the laws of nature will inevitably awaken, leading to another great war like the one in the primordial era, and the ancient dragons will once again seize power.]
[Yes, so if you want to return Gu Long's power, you first need to find a way that won't be discovered by the forces of nature; otherwise, it's all out of the question.]
[Honestly, was it because you didn't know this in the first place that you were forced to be tied to Teyvat?]
[This... guess?]
Upon hearing this, Kiana knew without a second thought that she had guessed correctly. After all, wasn't her future self still herself? How could she not know her own personality? She habitually said this whenever someone guessed something about her.
It seems that no matter how much time has passed, this habit has not changed.
Now that we know the method, the task at hand is to persuade Zhongli to give up the throne. This shouldn't be too difficult, since Zhongli has already given away the Heart of God, so he's clearly not interested in the position of the Rock God.
If destroying the Divine Throne could help her friend, Zhongli would likely not stop her. The problem lies in two things: first, they need to find a way or place to carry out the plan without being discovered by the heavens, as Kiana doesn't want her actions to cause widespread destruction in Teyvat; second, Zhongli has already given away the Heart of God, making it virtually impossible to contact the corresponding Divine Throne, let alone use it to destroy it and return the Elder Dragon's power.
"Sure enough, this isn't something I should be planning," Kiana thought to herself as she secretly rubbed her throbbing head while Zhongli wasn't looking.
For the first time, she actually thought how wonderful it would be if Dr. Tesla or Dr. Einstein were by her side. That way, she wouldn't have to think so much and could just focus on executing the plan. Or even a cheap car would do!
Wouldn't it be wonderful to put the coffin lid on him after he has finished making his plans?
Unfortunately, these are just fantasies. Now, we can only rely on whether we can obtain more information from the Imaginary Tree.
Hopefully, there's relevant information on the Imaginary Tree, but is there really a place that can escape the surveillance of Heaven?
After returning to her temporary residence in Liyue Harbor with this question in mind, Kiana connected to the Imaginary Tree.