Chapter 600: Under the Lovesick Tree!

Turning the page, in the illustration, Isak's grandfather had his eyes closed, but a shimmering green light emanated from his body. In an instant, he appeared in front of Isak and protected him.

The shimmering green power formed a barrier that enveloped everyone. Within the barrier, the most eye-catching were Paimon and the Traveler.

The Traveler was trapped by the quicksand, but Paimon was a flying type—she was immune to ground-type moves.

Paimon, who was immune to the "move," didn't run away. Instead, she actively grabbed hold of the Traveler and desperately tried with all her strength to save her.

Paimon—she truly was the Traveler's best partner.

Even though her own strength was weak, even though she was usually timid and fearful, when real danger came, she would absolutely rush forward to protect the Traveler. It was the same back when they faced the Raiden Shogun.

Unfortunately, her strength was too feeble. Not only did she fail to pull the Traveler out, she was instead dragged down by the Traveler.

Fortunately, everyone was protected by the shimmering green barrier. When they fell into the ruins, they suffered no injuries.

It was very clear that this power did not belong to the village guardians. The readers could easily determine that this was Nahida's power.

They simply hadn't expected that Nahida, who was already imprisoned at this point, was still watching over and protecting everyone. Her character—no, her grass—was truly good.

At this moment, the readers still didn't know that after being imprisoned, Nahida was unable to monitor the desert side.

This burst of power was something Nahida had prepared in advance. Because accidents often happened in the desert, she worried she wouldn't be able to rescue them in time, so she left this kind of insurance measure.

Under the protection of Nahida's residual power, the group in the story was neither injured nor separated. They had simply fallen into a cavern and now needed to find another way out.

Seeing this, the readers weren't particularly worried. After all, the Traveler had fallen into The Chasm before—this depth was nothing.

If worst came to worst, they could just use the ultimate move: "Xiao—the great hero of Dihua Marsh~!"

Wait—no, thinking carefully, this was Sumeru. Xiao probably couldn't make it here, right? Now the readers were a bit concerned.

In contrast, the trapped group in the story showed no panic at all. Alhaitham immediately began investigating.

There was a large gate here, and the symbols on the gate were left from the Scarlet King's civilization era.

The Mausoleum of King Deshret—the symbols on the gate might even say "KFC." This Scarlet King would have to revive on a Thursday.

[Rahman said: "Now is not the time for disputes… Our noble king has guided us to this sanctuary today."]

What he meant was: Ah~ this scorching maxim, this burning truth!

As a fanatic of the Scarlet King, naturally, upon seeing the great ruins of the Scarlet King, he wanted to go inside and explore.

Fortunately, the Mausoleum of King Deshret was still a proper place. If it were the great ruins of the Anemo Archon Barbatos, it might very well be a tavern.

In any case, Alhaitham in the story was also very interested in "grave robbing"… or, more elegantly, archaeology. His desire for conflict had vanished, and his thirst for knowledge was rising.

Faruzan: That's right—we in Haravatat all love archaeology. I can vouch for that.

[Alhaitham: "Two great gods vying to display their power—it would be a shame not to witness it."]

[Paimon was puzzled by Alhaitham's words: "Didn't you say you have no interest in gods?!"]

[Alhaitham replied: "Indeed, I don't. To me, gods are merely higher beings in a different form. You could even call them animals."]

If anything, Alhaitham's thinking was quite materialistic. In Teyvat, gods truly existed, so materialism wouldn't deny the existence of gods either.

But similarly, the materialist Alhaitham approached gods with an attitude more akin to academic research—there was no room for faith or worship.

Nahida nodded. She quite approved of Alhaitham's way of thinking, but…

"I'm a plant, you know." Nahida said through the Akasha.

Lucian nodded: "Exactly—when working, you have to use the official title (plant)!"

Nahida nodded again, clapping her little hands: "That joke was good."

"Eh? Explain it to me?" Kaveh leaned over.

"Let me explain." Cyno stepped forward.

Alhaitham: "..."

Lord Dendro Archon must have been led astray by Lucian!

But Alhaitham had no intention of stopping it—he was used to hearing it anyway. Better to just keep reading.

The group in the story decided to enter the ruins and take a look. Rahman's subordinates had weaker constitutions, and even with Nahida's protection from the earlier sand vortex, they were exhausted and couldn't continue.

[Rahman: "Just let them lie here. The Scarlet King will bless his people. Now, I am entering the sanctuary."]

The readers sighed—this was what a fanatic was like? Their minds were filled only with divine miracles.

But in Teyvat, the number of "fanatics" was far from few. They sighed only because they hadn't realized they were the same.

The gods they believed in were still alive, so they couldn't empathize with the Scarlet King's followers.

Upon entering the ruins, the group discovered that the plants inside were surprisingly full of life, nearly filling the entire ruin.

This was a structure in the desert—how could there be so many plants?

During conversation inside the ruins, Alhaitham addressed Rahman as "Your Excellency," but Rahman himself didn't seem satisfied with the title.

He was really nitpicking—not satisfied with being called "Your Excellency," thinking Alhaitham was mocking him.

If not "Your Excellency," what should he call him? How about Colonel?

[Alhaitham: "I hope you notice one thing—this structure belongs to the Scarlet King's civilization, yet the power flowing within it belongs to the Dendro Archon."]

He wanted to remind Rahman that perhaps the relationship between the Scarlet King and the Dendro Archon wasn't as bad as thought.

If their relationship were truly terrible, how could the Scarlet King's ruins be filled with the Dendro Archon's power?

However, Rahman did not appreciate Alhaitham's reminder.

The reason was simple—he had no Vision and could hardly sense the flow of elemental energy. To him, whether Alhaitham was right or wrong, he had no way to verify.

The trust between the two sides wasn't exactly harmonious without suspicion—it could even be called "faithless and treacherous."

In this situation, Rahman naturally wouldn't believe Alhaitham's words. Unless he saw it with his own eyes, Alhaitham could talk until flowers bloomed, and he still wouldn't believe it.

But in fact, Rahman was shaken inside—for a simple reason.

Nowadays, the Dendro Archon's power was spread throughout Sumeru, yet the desert still had very few plants growing. But the plants in these ruins were far too abundant.

Clearly, there was a deeper secret here—they just didn't know what it was yet.

To figure everything out, the group continued deeper. The deeper they went, the more amazed they became—what kind of high technology was this?

[Rahman: "As expected of the Scarlet King—this magnificent sight… I've never seen anything like it before."]

To be honest, it wasn't just Rahman—the readers hadn't seen much like it either. Only the people of Natlan might think it was fine; dragon technology was also breathtaking.

Then, as they continued deeper, the group finally arrived in front of a great tree.