With the truth behind the Khaenri'ah Cataclysm laid bare, everything finally fit together.
Celestia had deliberately allowed Khaenri'ah's last black king, Irmin, to continue his research into Abyssal power.
They sat above the sky, waiting for the day Khaenri'ah would lose control.
At the crucial moment, they lured Aether—the one person capable of stopping the Abyssal outbreak—away from the front, letting the black tide sweep across the world.
And when the twins later tried to leave Teyvat altogether, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles appeared, sealed them, and cut off their escape.
Aether was the first to awaken again, traveling with Dainsleif—who had taken a share of his power.
Looking at a world scarred and hollowed out by the Abyss, Aether's heart filled with guilt. On his journey, he helped many regions deal with the lingering disasters left by the Cataclysm.
When he returned to Sumeru and met Chlothar again, the man twisted the knife even deeper—
accusing him, the "Prince of Khaenri'ah," of turning his back on his homeland.
That guilt and self-reproach finally chained Aether's heart to Teyvat.
Once Aether was anchored, Lumine, as the other Descender, was naturally anchored as well.
Twins with limitless capacity to accept Abyssal power—
in the eyes of Celestia, they would inevitably play a decisive role when the time came.
As for The White Princess and the Six Dwarfs—
the part where the six dwarfs colluded with the Night Mother to kill the Prince of Light?
Placed beside the scene of the "Six Sinners of Khaenri'ah" dividing Aether's Abyssal power, it wasn't hard to understand the parallel.
After all, if Aether's power hadn't been split, Celestia's side might not have been able to defeat him once he fully embraced the Abyss.
Before they executed their grand plan, they had to weaken him.
Those six who bore the weight of a world's power did nothing when the Abyss erupted.
Gold—Rhinedottir—even released Elynas and the dragon Durin, letting them ravage Fontaine and Mondstadt.
And yet Celestia didn't punish the Six Sinners.
They even had their own lofty constellations in the sky, symbols of "honor".
Because this too… was part of Celestia's plan.
The four Inazuma women calmly returned to their day jobs and daily routines.
They had already built a deep bond with Su Xuan.
At this point, they could only accept all of this with a helpless sigh and treat it as yet another piece of cosmic gossip.
The only one who stayed behind with him was Rukkhadevata, and she was feeling far more complicated.
"...Sigh..." Rukkhadevata exhaled heavily, curled up against Su Xuan's chest.
She remembered that disaster five hundred years ago in vivid detail.
The sky burned red.
The land drowned in blood.
Countless lives were erased.
And now she found out it had all been a carefully orchestrated script from the heavens.
That sort of truth was not easy to swallow.
"There's no need for such a heavy sigh," Su Xuan said gently, running his fingers through her long silver hair.
"This is just a matter of scale."
"In mortal lives, those high above can also use their status to completely rewrite someone's fate."
"On a world with supernatural powers, having destiny controlled by others is just… normal."
"And compared to the fate of a world, an individual's destiny isn't even worth mentioning."
"And besides..."
The entire function of Irminsul—storing information—existed precisely so that disasters could be reversed.
The Loom of Fate truly had the ability to use informational records to rewrite what had already happened.
In a future where Su Xuan never appeared, Aether did manage to complete the Loom of Fate with Natlan's ley lines. He was only missing a suitable space to "re-project" Khaenri'ah's people into reality.
The one who helped him invade Natlan's ley lines was the Night God, ruler of Natlan's subterranean flow of power.
Yes—
the Night God who governed Natlan's ley lines helped the Abyss Order harness Natlan's land.
Curious about the Loom of Fate—about how it could store all the information of a country and re-manifest it—
the Night God tested it, and seeing that the Loom didn't harm Natlan's ley lines, agreed to Aether's proposal.
Thus, the memories of Khaenri'ah's people were transferred into Natlan's ley lines.
When Aether later explained all this to Lumine, the Archon of Earth—Natlan's ruling god—was literally eavesdropping from outside the wall.
Once caught, the Archon turned tail and ran like a thief,
never once trying to stop Aether's plan.
Perhaps this, too, was part of Celestia's blueprint.
As long as the Loom of Fate could be completed, and combined with Irminsul's full backup of all information on Teyvat…
Then someday in the future, with a Descender (Lumine) in control of both Irminsul and the Loom of Fate—
Even if this world were destroyed, it could be recreated from its memory.
Rukkhadevata's eyes trembled. After a long while she murmured:
"So Celestia has always known exactly what the Abyss Order was up to..."
Su Xuan nodded.
"They're the highest shareholders of this world.
If they didn't know what was happening on the continent, that'd make them idiots, wouldn't it?"
Rukkhadevata sucked in a breath, then let out a small rueful laugh.
"Only you would dare talk about Celestia like that."
Su Xuan didn't deny it.
"It's fine. That floating island everyone sees when they look up isn't even where they actually sit."
"But I'm pretty sure some of the things I did when I first arrived… did not go unnoticed."
Rukkhadevata nodded repeatedly.
Right after descending into Teyvat, he'd kidnapped an Archon, subdued Dvalin, executed Osial, shattered the False Sky twice, and even dropped a Nail of Cold Sky in Inazuma.
Liyue was already using his Ministry of Works and design schematics to mine ore with Khaenri'ahn machines.
As long as the gods of Celestia weren't already dead, they definitely knew a certain "Su" had appeared on Teyvat.
They probably wanted to observe this anomaly for a while…
And then realized:
They couldn't afford to provoke him.
Since he showed no intention of destroying Teyvat, they might as well keep their heads down and pretend nothing was happening.
A thought flashed through Rukkhadevata's mind and she smiled, pressing her lips together.
"I suddenly wanted to ask… The Sustainer of Heavenly Principles' situation also seems to match your diary-holder conditions, doesn't it?"
"Maybe she's one of the diary holders too, and just used your entries to peek at your secrets."
"Peek, don't peek, whatever," Su Xuan said, utterly shameless. "Honestly, whether she's a diary holder or not doesn't matter."
"As long as I think she's good—her ending is only ever going to be one thing."
"My private property."
The silver-haired lady's eyes went wide.
So it really had nothing to do with diary qualifications at all.
"Of course, if she's 'one of mine,' I'll share what I can."
As he said that, light flashed in Su Xuan's palm.
When it faded, there was a delicate miniature tower standing on his hand.
"Take this back to Sumeru and put it somewhere appropriate."
"It'll expand into its full size once you set it down."
"Like the Ministry of Works' structures, it can't be damaged by any type of attack."
"As for what it does—think of it as a world-scale signal relay."
"It functions similarly to the God of Wisdom's authority you used to create the Akasha."
"As for the 'mini Akasha'—that's this."
He pulled out a sleek, rectangular device.
"This is called a phone."
"Each one comes with a unique number when it's made."
"You can use that number to make long-distance calls, send messages, or even have face-to-face video calls from far away."
"Each phone also comes with an information hub—for knowledge, music, history, food, all sorts of things. Anyone can upload what they like and share it with others."
"As for the rest of the functions, I won't go through them one by one. Each phone ships with its own user guide. People can figure it out themselves."
Last night, in the dead of night—
Su Xuan had emptied out his gacha stockpile in one go.
This time, the usable rewards were all tools.
A world-level signal tower capable of covering an entire planet, plus a production device paired with it for mass-manufacturing phones.
A further upgrade to the Heaven-Earth Mirror—
on top of its original functions, it now had the ability to rewrite the genetic code of any being it shone upon.
The description of this ability was only a few lines long.
But it was utterly broken.
Because it scaled directly off Su Xuan's level, it had absolute lethal power over any being weaker than him.
As long as the target's level was below Su Xuan's, the Mirror could forcibly alter their genes.
He could turn humans into animals or monsters.
Or vice versa—turn animals and monsters into humans.
Or remodel them into some entirely new species.
And all of this required only a single flash of light.
The last reward was, like the Heaven-Earth Mirror, a bonded artifact connected to his life and spirit:
[The World Tree Variant – Jianmu]
A strange crimson tree rooted directly in his sea of consciousness.
A demonic, blood-red sacred tree.
Nothing like the neighboring "Flourishing Jianmu" that brought vitality and abundance.
This Jianmu had only one function:
Devour.
It could extend branches or roots, coil around a target, and drain all its energy—
then feed it back to Su Xuan with no loss, no backlash, no side effects.
For example:
As Su Xuan was now, his lowest attack output started at "planet-busting".
So scaled down to a "planetary level" standard—
his Jianmu's roots and branches could cover an entire world in moments.
Every lifeform's energy, every technological energy source, even the planet's core itself could be emptied out.
In the end, that world would become a dead star.
For everyone else—
Jianmu brought only destruction.
For Su Xuan?
It was delicious.
"This tower will reveal its full form once you set it up in a chosen spot," he continued.
"As for phone production—this little box will automatically generate a hundred new ones a day. If you don't want to bother with distribution, just hand the business over to Ningguang."
Rukkhadevata took the tower model and the phone production device, her fingertips trembling slightly.
"To be able to publish knowledge and information to share with anyone, anywhere…"
"This is…"
Its function was similar to the Akasha—but the tower's reach covered the entire world.
Which meant all of Teyvat could connect with each other through these devices.
Share information.
Share lives.
And with things like "music", "food", "maps", "photos", "video" and all kinds of features tied to daily life, entertainment, and travel…
This thing far surpassed the Akasha.
"...Maps?" Rukkhadevata blinked. "Phones… come with maps, too?"
"The signal tower comes with a radar system," Su Xuan said. "It can transmit a full map of Teyvat to every phone."
"If you forget the path while traveling, or want the shortest route, you use the map."
After hearing his explanation, Rukkhadevata's face warmed.
As the so-called God of Wisdom, she felt oddly embarrassed to be so clueless.
But then again, he was from beyond this universe.
It was hardly surprising his toys were beyond her.
"In other worlds, this kind of thing isn't even that impressive," Su Xuan added casually.
"But in present-day Teyvat? Aside from the sleeping Heavenly Principles, no one has ever seen such a thing."
"This should be a pretty good achievement to announce alongside your return."
"...ngh!"
Rukkhadevata's ears burned bright red.
Su Xuan had already given her a second life.
Now he was handing her a tool that could completely change the way people lived—and letting her take the credit for it.
Gratitude felt too small a word.
After all, Sumeru's sages once believed they could surpass the God of Wisdom.
"If there's no concrete display of wisdom, even a god will struggle to keep those arrogant so-called scholars in check…" she murmured.
She rose and bowed deeply.
"Rukkhadevata offers you her heartfelt thanks."
Su Xuan's mouth twitched.
"Don't overthink it."
"I just think it fits your role better."
"As for those self-important scholars—
let's say I'm curious whether 'reckless plundering of people's dreams and minds' is considered a crime under Sumeru's law."
Rukkhadevata froze.
She'd seen in the diary that he disliked meddling in the affairs of nations.
But now, looking at him…
It seemed he had no intention of letting the Sages walk away clean.
"I want their power and wealth stripped from them."
"Confine them to Sumeru City. No one is allowed to help them. No food, no handouts, no special treatment."
"I'd like to see whether all that 'wisdom' they brag about is enough to keep them alive."
"After all, these are the geniuses who thought they could create a god."
Rukkhadevata understood instantly.
In such circumstances, the only way to survive was to eat whatever scraps other people threw away.
Beggars and vagrants still had the right to beg.
These people wouldn't even have that.
From the highest echelon of Sumeru's power structure to something lower than a beggar—
the fall would be catastrophic.
The physical suffering was one thing.
The psychological collapse—that was the real punishment.
The reason Su Xuan was personally intervening with such a brutal sentence was simple:
He was defending Nahida.
As a father, he couldn't just watch his daughter suffer and let it go.
No matter how gently he phrased it, this was essentially an order to Rukkhadevata.
"You're right," Rukkhadevata said solemnly. "They must be punished."
"Otherwise, not only would Nahida's suffering be for nothing, future generations might start believing what they did was justified."
"And those in power exist to protect their people, not drain them dry."
Seeing Su Xuan's approving expression, she knew:
His business in Sumeru was finished.
That reminded her of the four Inazuma ladies from that morning.
After reorganizing everything she'd learned about social dynamics and "modern life" from the diary, she hesitated for a moment.
Su Xuan waited.
She remained silent, thinking.
Just as he opened his mouth to break the awkward lull—
She suddenly leaned in, her breath brushing his lips, and said in a slightly shaky voice:
"In a bit, I'll personally open the Tree King's Domain for you."
"Would you… like to go see the place where Nahida was born?"
"It lies at the very deepest part… of that domain."
Su Xuan: "...?"
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