Above the earth, the radiant Golden Tree was drawing in a vast amount of filth from deep underground.
Chaotic and nauseating blackness flowed within the Golden Tree's roots, mixed with faint, almost imperceptible traces of crimson, surging into the Golden Tree's trunk.
Within the Golden Tree, this black forbidden knowledge would be stripped of its madness, stabilized by the power of gold, and ultimately transformed into the Golden Tree's continuous power.
However, while removing the madness, the Golden Tree detected an anomaly. Within the blackness, besides the meaningless roars, there was another distinct will.
It seemed to have once been a powerful individual, but now it was contaminated by forbidden knowledge.
Moreover, it seemed that this vast will existed within all forbidden knowledge. In this sense, it had become indistinguishable from forbidden knowledge.
But it encountered the Golden Tree. Reincarnation was also one of the Golden Tree's duties. Each reincarnation was accompanied by the carving of a soul.
Now, the Golden Tree could exercise its ability in this regard.
Following the throbbing deep within its bloodline, the Golden Tree began to attempt to strip away this peculiar will that was about to merge with forbidden knowledge.
It was difficult; it was too tightly bound to forbidden knowledge. The blackness on its soul had almost become its essence, and countless madnesses roared in its consciousness.
The Golden Tree felt very frustrated. It wondered if it was a defective product. Why was it so difficult to fulfill its instincts?
But it quickly abandoned these thoughts. It was created by a god. A god would not make mistakes; only it would.
The Golden Tree began to exert itself. The dew that had flowed up to the crown began to flow back; that was the power it intended to bestow as a blessing.
If nothing unexpected happened, the dew of grace would pour down like rain upon this land.
Although without the blessing of the law, this blessing might be somewhat bland. But eliminating suffering and pain, and extending the length of life, would be very easy.
Unfortunately, this power could not be used to drench the earth. They transformed into primal causality, pulling the will within the Golden Tree back to the origin before everything began.
The Golden Tree abandoned its duty of blessing life and turned to carving souls. Under this equally vast power, the will clinging to forbidden knowledge gradually shed its blackness and transformed into a light blue-white gas.
This was a wisp of that vast will; it had no intelligence yet, only constantly wandering within the Golden Tree.
The Golden Tree felt the pure consciousness wandering within it. It felt very familiar, similar to the great tree underground.
The Golden Tree now began to consider how to deal with this soul. It was a great tree, with roots, a main trunk..., and many things a great tree should have.
The only regret was that it had not yet borne fruit. And the Golden Tree also seemed unable to bear fruit.
So the Golden Tree decided to break this constraint. Whether it was a tree or a person, one should always try more. How would one know if it wouldn't work without trying?
Apparently, the Golden Tree was led astray by Yu Jin. If it were the previous Golden Tree, it would certainly not have had the idea of "trying."
Drawing in according to plan, blessing according to plan, reincarnating according to plan—that was what an adult Golden Tree should do.
Unfortunately, the Golden Tree grown by Yu Jin was neither adult nor golden.
It used its power to guide that pure soul to wander outwards. Finally, this blue-white soul penetrated the Golden Tree's bark and appeared outside.
So what should the fruit look like? The Golden Tree thought for a while, then decided to leave this question to the "fruit" itself.
The great tree only needed to provide nutrients; as for how the fruit would grow afterward, that was up to it.
Pure power surged towards the soul. This power had nothing, not even the Golden Tree's golden mark was removed.
This power came from the great tree underground and ultimately returned to the soul within the great tree. This was very good; was it another kind of blessing?
The Golden Tree felt very happy because it had fulfilled its duties in its bloodline. The god should not be disappointed.
Power enveloped the soul wandering outside the Golden Tree, and then that wisp of soul gained weight and needed support.
So it leaned on one of the Golden Tree's branches. Now, it not only had weight but also form.
The fruit stem appeared first, then the fruit leaves and skin. As for what was beneath the skin, that was the body where the soul began to gestate.
On the Golden Tree's crown, which was entirely golden, a particularly conspicuous blue-white light suddenly appeared.
It was a peculiar fruit like a flower bud, with a blue-white fruit stem connected to the Golden Tree's branch, and the tree's nutrients were continuously sent into the fruit.
Then Yu Jin stepped forward and poked it. He couldn't not poke it; this fruit grew right in front of him, and not poking it would be a disservice to his curiosity.
A faint blue-white light shone on Yu Jin's armor, also turning him completely white.
Yu Jin withdrew his finger, looked at the huge Golden Tree, and said in surprise, "Xiao Huang, you're female after all?"
"A Golden Tree that bears fruit? Your family truly has more males than females."
Yu Jin recalled the large and small Golden Trees he had seen in The Lands Between before, none of which bore fruit.
No wonder the Golden Tree was going extinct; it was fate, it was fate.
Yu Jin shook his head, completely forgetting his excitement when he set the fire. However, with Xiao Huang bearing fruit, a dark cloud loomed over Yu Jin's head.
That was: how did Xiao Huang and its siblings come into being?
"My King, perhaps the Golden Tree is hermaphroditic?" Lanssangx poked the fruit, which was almost half the size of a person, and reminded him.
The dark cloud dissipated then. So the Golden Tree was hermaphroditic!
Yu Jin felt very excited, and then the dark cloud returned: Why didn't other Golden Trees bear fruit?
This time the dark cloud didn't linger long—because it was torn apart by Lisa.
"Clang!"
"Ouch!"
Yu Jin and Lanssangx were both given a gentle punch by Lisa, while the latter rubbed her reddened fist and said helplessly,
"Can you two be a little more serious?"
"Absolutely serious, but let me remind you, being too violent isn't good for getting married." Yu Jin nodded solemnly, then pointed at Lanssangx and said,
"There's an example right here."
"Don't rub it in, My King." Lanssangx's heart was dealt a critical blow. Was she really too violent?
She stroked her chin, wondering if she should try to be gentler when she returned.
Lisa watched the two of them going back and forth, almost grinding her molars. If she wanted to get married, the suitors would line up from Mondstadt's front gate to its back!
"What is this? Don't tell me you don't know." Lisa decided to get straight to the point, not giving Yu Jin a chance to cause trouble.
"Tsk, not having a sense of humor isn't good for getting married either." Yu Jin shook his head. He thought of Melina again.
But seeing Lisa about to explode, Yu Jin quickly continued, "Actually, this is Irminsul's consciousness."
"Irminsul's consciousness?" Lisa's anger indeed subsided. Rather, in the face of such momentous news, anger and the like were better off standing aside.
"Irminsul has its own consciousness?" Lumine asked curiously. How could Irminsul's consciousness be here?
"If this is Irminsul's consciousness, then what about Irminsul?" Albedo considered more. For a creature that can produce consciousness, losing consciousness is not good news.
"Hehe, don't worry, to be precise, it's a pre-consciousness." Yu Jin chuckled, causing Albedo's furrowed brow to relax.
"Pre-consciousness?" Paimon was full of questions. Could such a thing as pre-consciousness exist? Shouldn't consciousness be destruction or rebirth? Would there be a distinction between before and after?
"Well, she was corrupted, so Irminsul needed a new consciousness. And she was deeply hidden within Irminsul, waiting to be eliminated."
"Then why did you pull her out?" Lisa asked Yu Jin. Two consciousnesses, that probably wouldn't be good for Irminsul, would it?
"Correction, I had the idea, but I didn't act on it; Xiao Huang did it herself." Yu Jin stomped on the golden bark beneath his feet, then said with a smile,
"Besides, don't you think it's interesting?"
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