People in Teyvat, starting from saving the grass god

The result was that just as she found the forbidden knowledge, she was severely damaged by the sky nails that dropped from the Sky Island. Even the rainforest that served as her habitat was turned into the yellow sand it is today under the influence of the sky nails.

If it weren’t for the Grass Dragon’s unparalleled adaptability and recovery abilities.

This one nail was enough to make her unable to recover forever.

Since then, Apep has been dormant.

Until the Red King obtained forbidden knowledge with the help of the Flower God.

Apep, sensing the scent, ran out from his hiding place.

He made a deal with the Red King by finding fault with Akhmār, claiming that Akhmār was trying to build a powerful kingdom on his territory.

The specific content is that Apep will condone the Red King's expansion of his territory, but after the Red King's death, all the knowledge he possesses will belong to Apep.

Finally, when the Scarlet King's kingdom was completely destroyed because of the forbidden knowledge, Apep, who was known as the Seven Sages of the Scarlet King, arrived as promised. In front of the other seven sages, he swallowed the Scarlet King's body in one gulp, thereby devouring the Scarlet King's elemental power and the forbidden knowledge in his body.

This is the content of the deal between her and the Red King according to Apep.

However, Rhodes had some different views on this deal.

According to his history of Sumeru in the Institute of Teachings.

An era of three gods ruling together.

Xumi was not the divided state of rainforest and desert like it is now, but a complete and powerful kingdom. The Red King, the Flower God and the Tree King shared the power of Xumi equally.

Valiwej.

This was the name of that great kingdom.

The Flower God's Birthday, which celebrates the birthday of the King of Trees, originated in that era.

This oasis kingdom, which could be called the paradise of Mount Sumeru, lasted until the death of the flower god. The alliance of the three gods fell apart, and the Red King and the Tree King drifted apart due to their differences. After that, Mount Sumeru experienced a hundred years of chaos and confusion until the Red King and the Great Compassionate Tree King gathered their subjects and rebuilt the oasis garden, which ended the chaotic era of separatist kings.

Then the problem is coming.

If Apepu really cared about the Red King establishing a kingdom in her territory, then when Valiwege was strong, she should have used force to expel the three gods and told them and their people not to bother her? Why did she wait until the Flower God died to find fault, and even be forced to negotiate to seek the Red King's forbidden knowledge?

"So Apep is actually just strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and doesn't even have the strength of a dragon king?"

Rhodes came to a conclusion.

At least in the Age of Gods, Apep was still wary of the Red King, or rather, she might not be able to defeat the Red King.

If she can't even defeat a demon god, then it's hard to say how much strength she, the original dragon king, has left after being severely injured one after another.

"Do not."

"Apep is still very powerful."

Nashida had some different opinions on Rhodes' words: "I have read a lot of history about the Red King, and I found such a record in a very old book. It said that before Ah-Apep became one of the Seven Sages, he had a world-shaking battle with the Red King like the other Seven Sages. At that time, Apep and her descendants made the sand sea boil like boiling water. Under her attack, even the strongest towers were easily blown away like fallen leaves. Wherever Apep passed, mountains were broken, rivers flowed backwards, and lives were destroyed. Now many canyons in the desert are traces left by Apep's chaos. Until the Red King reached a reconciliation with her, the dragon named Apep finally chose to withdraw from the struggle for power in the desert and became Ah-Apep, one of the Seven Sages."

"Aha?"

Rhodes opened his mouth slightly, with only one sentence in his mind.

Is this Red King so fierce?

The meaning of Nashida's words was simple.

The reason why the Red King and Apep were able to reach a reconciliation was not because Apep's strength had regressed to the level of a demon god, but because the Red King was simply too powerful, so powerful that even Apep could not do anything to him, and finally had to choose to reconcile.

"Does forbidden knowledge have such a huge impact on combat power?"

"Or."

"Is the Scarlet King so powerful?"

Having never witnessed that period of history, just from listening to Nashida's words, Rhodes really couldn't imagine how powerful this god, who was revered as the King of the Four Corners of the Earth by the gods and the people of Xumi, was.

Tell the truth.

If the history that Nashida told was not the exaggeration of the Red King's historian, then when he fought against the Red King, Apep actually still had the strength to crush the demon god. It was really outrageous that the Red King could force such a powerful guy to reconcile with him by force.

What made it even more difficult for Rhodes to distinguish was...

Is the Scarlet King's powerful military force due to his inherent strength or the result of forbidden knowledge?

After all, the King of the Nibelung who rebelled against the will of heaven relied on forbidden knowledge to go from being suppressed by the will of heaven to being able to compete with the will of heaven.

If the Scarlet King became so powerful because of forbidden knowledge, it would be a reasonable explanation.

But if the Scarlet King himself is so powerful, that would be a bit scary.

Along the way, we talked about the story of Apep and the Red King.

Nashida and Rhodes found a group of mushroom beasts that met Rhodes' description in the rainforest.

Some of them fainted, some were confused and dazed, and some showed strong hostility.

But in front of the God of Plants.

Especially after Nashida cured the unconscious mushroom beast, the hostility that came from the monster's instinct completely disappeared.

This awakened mushroom beast can speak human language.

The first words she said made Rhode raise his eyebrows, secretly congratulating himself for having foresight.

That’s what the mushroom beast said.

"Your power is much like the Grass King."

"But you are not the king of grass."

"who are you?"

really.

Since Nashida did not inherit the past of the Great Mercy Tree King, in the eyes of this grass dragon people who had made a covenant with the Great Mercy Tree King.

Nashida is just a god who is very similar to the Mahakala King, not the real Mahakala King.

There is one more thing.

That is, Nashida's stature was much smaller than that of the Great Mercy Tree King at that time.

This is also different from the memories of the Caolong people.

Although this grass dragon citizen has lost a lot of memories and his mind is still a little confused.

But what he lost were only the memories related to the forbidden knowledge. The memory of making an agreement with the Great Compassionate Tree King to go home was still there, and he still remembered clearly that he wanted to go home.

The only thing that is unclear.

He just doesn't know where his home is.

In order to deal with the problem of amnesia and quickly gain the trust of these grass dragon people.

Before Rhodes and Nashida went out, they deliberately brought the Great Kindness Tree King, who had transformed into Patisalan, with them.

This trick really works well.

The grass dragon in front of them quickly accepted the fact that the Great Mercy Tree King had passed away and that Nashida was the new Grass God who succeeded the Great Mercy Tree King to fulfill the promise.

Next.

Led by this grass dragon's people, Rhodes and Nashida searched everywhere for its fellow creatures.

Before going to Apep.

The more of this special group that was closest to her gathered together, the better.

After a conversation on the road.

Rhodes had a very good impression of the group of Grass Dragon people.

Don't be fooled by their appearance as mushroom beasts.

But when it comes to conversation, they are even more human than many humans.

At the same time, Rhodes also proposed it implicitly.

The Grass Dragon is unfriendly to gods and humans. If the Grass Dragon does anything extreme when they meet it, they hope they can help dissuade it.

Anyway.

For Apep.

These grass dragon people were all bred by the elemental force in her body. In a physical sense, they are equivalent to Apep's children and are the ones who can most arouse Apep's kindness.

The Grass Dragon people were somewhat confused about Rhodes' request.

But they still readily agreed to it.

It took about another day after that.

Rhodes and Nashida gathered together all the grass dragon people they could find.

There are only a few dozen of them scattered all together.

Such a tragic scene made Rhodes and Nashida frown.

Even with strong adaptability.

In the long years.

After all, many grass dragon people could not survive the pollution of forbidden knowledge and eventually turned into death zones all over Xumi.

Next is the journey to find Apep.

There is the guidance of fire.

The direction forward is still very clear.

Nashida walked in front, Rhodes was beside her, and the people of the Grass Dragon followed closely behind.

Compared to Rhodes and Nashida.

The closer they got to Apep's direction, the stronger their desire to return to Apep's body became.

that's it.

They crossed the rainforest, crossed the desert, and finally came to the depths of the desert swept by sandstorms.

Through Tinder.

Nashida could clearly sense the fluctuating strength of Apep.

It is clear.

Such fluctuations of power are a warning to humans and gods who come to disturb her rest.

Rhodes also had some feelings.

Unlike Nashida.

He did not use fire, nor did he have god-level perception.

But at the threat of Apep, his hair stood on end, as if there was some unknown horror hidden before his eyes.

As they got closer to Apep.

The wind and sand became increasingly fierce.

Not only was it difficult to walk amidst the flying sand and rocks, but it was also difficult to open one's eyes as they were blinded by the wind and sand. Rhodes and Nashida did not waste their elemental power. They used their hands to block the wind and sand while relying on their senses to move forward laboriously.

The Grass Dragon's people were even more excited. Whether they were floating in the sky or running on the ground, they were all happier than before.

Suddenly.

Rhodes' heart was pounding. Nashida also stopped and stared at a pair of huge eyes that suddenly appeared in the yellow sand.

As for Apep's body, it could only be judged from the vague black shadow vaguely revealed in the yellow sand.

Her size is at least several times larger than Twarin's.

A veritable dragon.

"Little gods, little humans, leave my territory."

As soon as Apep opened his mouth.

The wind and sand around suddenly stopped.

Whether it was the whistling wind or the flowing sand, all the agitation was instantly calmed down by Apep's voice. Apep did not release the elemental power, but only a cold voice, which made Rhodes and Nashida unable to take care of other things and could only concentrate on dealing with the pressure of the original dragon king.

This was the first time that Rhodes faced such a terrifying opponent.