Black lines spread upward from Gu Chen's chest.
His neck, jawline, and half his cheek were already marked with ominous patterns.
Forbidden knowledge was overwhelmingly powerful—
so powerful that even the God of Wisdom offering all her strength, plus the wisdom of millions of Sumeru's people, was only barely enough to eradicate it.
Alone, Gu Chen was no match for it.
Yet his flesh was burning.
His twisted bones grated with sharp cracking noises.
It felt as though an inextinguishable fire clung to his very soul.
Pain in countless forms surrounded him—
and yet, those pains granted Gu Chen tremendous power.
But now, that power had reached its limit.
His aura no longer climbed, nor stabilized—
instead, it began to fall.
"No…"
Buer could not accept this.
"Don't stop me."
Gu Chen shook his head.
"If your interference causes everything to fail, it'll be even harder for you to bear."
Buer did not know how to answer.
But she acted instead—
trying to stop Gu Chen.
"I am the God of Wisdom!"
"You were merely my first great sage—you must listen to me!"
Seeing her stubborn expression, Gu Chen said calmly:
"I was born rebellious."
"You—!"
Buer choked.
Her great sage who always indulged her, always followed her wishes—how could he possibly be rebellious?
He was saying it on purpose!
Just as she tried to rush forward, an invisible force cut her off from Gu Chen.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not cross that invisible chasm.
The sorrowful, desperate God of Wisdom lost her composure.
She sobbed uncontrollably.
"I don't want to—don't want to forget you…"
"These memories are precious to me. Even… even if the world forgets me, I want to keep these memories for the new me…"
"Great sage… you'll listen to me like before, right…?"
Only silence answered her.
"If you must die… then I will not live alone!"
Buer tried to bypass the barrier and reconnect her consciousness to Irminsul.
Gu Chen frowned.
"Buer! You are the God of Wisdom—the faith of millions of Sumeru's people! How can you say such irresponsible things?!"
Buer froze.
Gu Chen's expression softened.
His voice lowered.
"Sumeru needs your wisdom.
The world tree will need your protection in the future.
Everyone depends on you.
As for me… I came from beyond this world. Of course I must return beyond it."
"But you promised me—you promised you'd stay with me forever!"
Gu Chen gave a wistful smile, tinged with apology.
"Forgive me—this is my broken promise."
Buer stood helplessly at the side, not knowing what to do.
All her vast wisdom seemed to vanish in this moment.
"It's almost done."
Gu Chen withdrew his hand.
The forbidden knowledge spreading across the land had, unbeknownst to anyone, been halted.
The source swirled like a vortex, drawing all corruption back—
all of it absorbed by Gu Chen.
The overturned rainforest remained desolate and scarred,
yet no longer carried the same suffocating despair.
The maddened people regained their sanity.
Scales shed from their bodies, and their skin returned to normal.
"I'm leaving."
Gu Chen looked at Buer with a faint smile, a flash of reluctance in his eyes—quickly replaced by resolve.
"You're going to forget me already?"
Buer had no preparation at all.
She broke down like a child about to lose her dearest treasure.
"But we… we never even got to truly love each other. I thought you would wait—wait until I grew up again and then marry me!"
Gu Chen's voice was gentle.
"I'm sorry, Buer."
"Coming to this world… the time spent by your side was joyful. It's a memory I too find hard to part with."
"But Buer, you must understand—
this is the best choice for both of us."
"A flower that looks the same… is still only similar. It would never truly be you. I will never regret choosing you."
"I don't want you to forget me… nor do I want to forget you."
"Do you remember the falling stars we watched together?
To Teyvat, they were just fleeting guests in an endless life."
"So from now on, let us forget each other.
Let me be like a shooting star crossing your night sky…"
As he spoke softly—
immense divine power lifted him upward.
His figure grew faint, more transparent by the second.
Buer's tear-blurred eyes couldn't see him clearly.
She lunged forward like one losing her mind—
yet caught nothing but air.
She could only watch helplessly, sorrowfully, as Gu Chen slowly disappeared into the sky.
[Nilou]: Aaaaah!! My eyes are gonna dry out from crying!! Why does it end with mutual forgetting?! (Diona: annoyed)
[Kaeya]: Damn! My eyes are leaking!
[Collei]: I can't accept this—I just can't!! This regret is unbearable!! (Baizhu: spitting blood)
[Ayaka]: Centuries together, yet gone like a shooting star… This ending shouldn't be like this!
[Kokomi]: Eliminating forbidden knowledge was necessary. Mr. Gu Chen didn't want one side to suffer alone from forgetting, so he chose mutual forgetting… erasing all traces of himself from Irminsul. He was like a meteor that didn't even leave a streak of light behind… (Gorou: cries)
[Yun Jin]: So stifling! Why must the ending be like this? I can feel the Dendro Archon's despair—she was so close to marrying her sage in perfect form… Why…
[Yae Miko]: You know this kind of light novel ending gets the author mailed knives, right? (Ei: threatening)
[Keqing]: I reject this.
[Ningguang]: My mood now depends on the reward we get after the video ends.
Irminsul returned to purity and dreamlike light the moment Gu Chen vanished.
Buer's weary face carried only confusion.
She looked at herself, then slumped weakly to the ground.
She touched her cheek—feeling tears.
"Why… am I crying?"
She frowned.
No matter how long she tried, she found no answer.
She pressed her hand over her heart.
"Why does it… hurt so much…"
With no answers,
Buer staggered to her feet.
"This place is intact… I wonder how Sumeru is doing."
At some unknown time, the great battle had ceased.
Buer stepped outside.
"Great Dendro Archon, you've returned!"
The sages and scholars rejoiced.
"Huh? My lord, you…?"
They looked at her in confusion—puzzled by her exhausted, dazed expression.
"I don't know."
She shook her head lightly.
"What's the situation?"
"Not good."
A sage sighed.
"We mobilized huge resources and finally defeated that giant Ruin Machine, but the casualties were… severe."
Buer nodded.
"Begin the recovery efforts."
She returned to her office.
Standing at the doorway, she paused.
Something felt off.
As if this place belonged to her—yet also didn't.
Everything was arranged exactly to her taste, yet…
She sat at the small table by the window.
Then froze.
"Why… did I instinctively sit here?"
"My lord, are you overworking yourself?" the sage asked, worried.
"I don't know."
Buer shook her head again.
He didn't dare push further.
After briefing several urgent matters, he waited—
but Buer didn't respond.
It was as if she were waiting for someone else to speak first.
After a long silence, she finally said:
"I understand. Handle everything yourself. I may truly be tired."
"Yes, my lord. Please rest well."
Buer returned to the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
She tried resting—her mental strength slowly recovered.
Her wisdom told her she had forgotten something.
Something important.
"What… have I forgotten?"
Every time she thought of the question, her heart throbbed sharply in instinctive pain.
Following that instinct,
she walked through the rainforest, restoring life to the land—
and following a path she did not remember.
Eventually, she reached the rainfall mechanism.
"I built this…?"
"How strange…"
"What exactly… did I forget?"
With deepening confusion, Buer continued forward.
[Nilou]: Oh my god—the Dendro Archon is walking the exact path she once walked with Mr. Gu Chen! Exactly the same! Even if she forgot him, the feeling wasn't just in her heart—it carved itself into her soul!
[Collei]: It's sweet but… too cruel! With her wisdom, she already knows she forgot something. And those missing memories hurt her. She'll try to find the truth—but she'll never get an answer!
[Ayaka]: How can this get even more heartbreaking?!
[Nahida]: The Dendro Archon is wise—she won't be trapped by forgotten emotions. She will understand Mr. Gu Chen's intention. (Nahida: thinking)
[Kaeya]: Speaking of which, if the sage hadn't erased everything with forbidden knowledge, then after the previous archon sacrificed herself… wouldn't Nahida be that "similar flower"?
(Heizou notices something)
[Heizou]: Let's assume Mr. Gu Chen only came to Teyvat recently—everyone knows this. Then how did the forbidden knowledge 500 years ago disappear? Sumeru had the Akasha System coordinating all wisdom, and the Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had already fallen 500 years ago. So! As the Great Lord once said—break off the purest branch, and over the years she will regrow!
[Dvalin]: @[Nahida] You still say you aren't Rukkhadevata?!
[Nahida]: S-So I am Rukkhadevata…?
(Collei: blank)
[Collei]: @[Gu Chen] Mr. Gu Chen, can you share your thoughts?
[Gu Chen]: Sad, regretful… but still a good choice, isn't it?
[Zhongli]: Rationally speaking, the choice was cruel to both the archon and the sage. But it balanced everything.
[Venti]: Exactly. Someone brought forbidden knowledge from beyond the world. The sage also came from beyond. Harshly put, the sage canceled out the forbidden knowledge—and Teyvat returned to normal. Only the Dendro Archon suffers from a love lost in her heart.
[Osial]: The sage is too great—sacrificing himself to save the archon and Teyvat! I bow down!
[Gu Chen]: As expected of me—your Grand Vortex Heavenly Lord of Supreme Horizons!
(Zhongli: Dragon King smirk)
[Kirara]: Um… if the archon shrank after losing power the first time, then grew when she regained strength… why is the little Dendro Archon still so small after 500 years?
(Sucrose: puzzled)
[Venti]: Isn't she just a single branch? How big can a twig grow?
[Kaeya]: Don't slander—logically, she should indeed be Rukkhadevata's cycle of rebirth. She can grow.
[Zhongli]: Correct.
[Nahida]: I simply grew used to living alone…
"Is this enough?" Nahida asked Dottore.
"Thank you for your cooperation."
Dottore bowed slightly, a strange smile forming under his mask.
Given the video and reality,
this Little Lord Kusanali was indeed very likely a reincarnation—a rebirth—of Rukkhadevata.
Or simply the new God of Wisdom.
The essence of wisdom the same; consciousness different.
In any case, Sumeru would soon welcome their god again.
Continuing to imprison her would be foolish.
Behind the mask, Dottore narrowed his eyes.
"In a few days, you will have your freedom. But I hope you will keep silent. Or at least… delay things. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee my experiments will remain stable."
"…I understand," Nahida murmured, discouraged.
If only she were as clever as the archon in the video… she wouldn't be bullied by Dottore like this.
"Then I'll take my leave."
Dottore laughed for no discernible reason.
He exited the Sanctuary of Surasthana.
The Fatui were moving the items from Jnagarbha Day.
They weren't leaving Sumeru.
The most dangerous place was the safest.
Even the God of Wisdom could overlook something due to cognitive inertia.
With Nahida stalled for time and a carefully chosen location,
Dottore was certain he could complete his experiment.
"May the video play slowly…" he muttered, looking back at the projection.
Sanctuary of Surasthana.
Silver moonlight spilled over the balcony.
The white-haired, sharp-eared God of Wisdom stood quietly, gazing at the starry sky—lost in thought.
Something about this view felt inexplicably familiar.
The night breeze brushed her hair; her pale strands danced like an elf's.
Her cross-shaped pupils reflected the brilliant galaxy.
Suddenly—
a faint light shimmered in her eyes.
Buer blinked, focusing on the starry river.
A streak of light was traveling across the sky—
carrying a trail of radiance, breathtakingly bright.
The meteor pierced the dark mist, entering the vibrant sea of stars.
Amid the galaxy's glow, it shone even more beautifully.
But the beauty lasted only a moment.
It flashed, then vanished.
By the time Buer returned to herself, the meteor had disappeared completely.
"Is this… what I've forgotten?"
Her wisdom told her not to seek what was lost.
"But my soul tells me…
even if all wisdom is exhausted—
even if it leads only to sorrow—
I cannot forget for eternity."
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