Chapter Summaries

Scaramouche’s strike destroyed the pillars supporting Sumeru City, leaving the city at risk of collapse while its residents were evacuated. Nahida, Lumine, and Paimon sought a way to reinforce the ground, and Yucheng hinted that he could offer a faster solution.

• Scaramouche’s final strike destroyed the load-bearing pillars, and cracks, fissures, and tilting houses appeared across Sumeru City.
• Alhaitham and Dehya helped Akademiya officials and mercenaries evacuate the residents as Nahida explained that the city would collapse without immediate reinforcement.
• Lumine and Paimon proposed asking Morax for help, and Nahida sent them to seek the Geo Archon’s aid.
• Yucheng warned them that Zhongli might still be in Inazuma, where he had gone with Hu Tao to help the departed souls from the civil war pass on.
• Yucheng suggested they look for a solution closer at hand, and Lumine remembered the durable Wood Golem he had summoned during the campaign against Osial.

Yucheng stabilized Sumeru City and left Nahida to uncover Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s final memory, then returned to Inazuma with the unconscious Scaramouche. He asked Kokomi and Ayaka whether Scaramouche should be taken to Ei or handed over to Nahida, and Kokomi asked whether he wanted Scaramouche to live or die.

• Yucheng used Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence to support Sumeru City and prevent it from collapsing.
• Yucheng declined to stay for Nahida’s interpretation of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata’s final memory and departed, urging Nahida not to delay.
• Yucheng returned to the Inazuma delegation’s residence, reassured Ayaka and Kokomi, and told them the plan had succeeded.
• Yucheng brought the unconscious Scaramouche out of the Kamui Dimension and explained his identity and crimes to Kokomi and Ayaka.
• Yucheng asked whether he should take Scaramouche to Ei or leave him in Sumeru for Nahida, and Kokomi asked whether he wanted Scaramouche to live or die.

Yucheng realized that Nahida had erased Greater Lord Rukkhadevata from Irminsul, rewriting the world's memories and history. In the Sanctuary of Surasthana, Lumine and Paimon were knocked unconscious, and The Doctor appeared before Nahida.

• Yucheng and Kokomi agreed to hand Scaramouche over to Sumeru in exchange for a price, while Ayaka and Kokomi objected to Yucheng's shameless bargaining.
• Yucheng sensed Nahida's power through their Summoning Contract and resisted an attempt to alter his understanding.
• Yucheng questioned Kokomi and Ayaka about Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, and their ignorance confirmed that Irminsul had erased her from the world's memories.
• Yucheng understood that Nahida had removed the forbidden knowledge by erasing Rukkhadevata, causing history to be rewritten so Nahida inherited her past.
• After the forbidden knowledge was eradicated and Sumeru's afflictions were cured, a mysterious sound rendered Lumine and Paimon unconscious.
• The Doctor appeared in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, and Nahida asked why he was there.

The Doctor confronted Nahida in the Sanctuary of Surasthana to claim the Electro Archon's Gnosis, but Nahida used the threat of awakening the Heavenly Principles to force negotiations. Yucheng joined her, and the Doctor agreed to erase all his other segments in exchange for the Gnosis.

• The Doctor appeared in the Sanctuary of Surasthana and sought to recover the Gnosis of the Electro Archon from Nahida.
• Nahida threatened to destroy the Gnosis and potentially draw the Heavenly Principles' attention, persuading the Doctor to negotiate rather than seize it by force.
• The Doctor questioned Nahida about Yucheng, and Yucheng appeared before him as Nahida handed him the Gnosis.
• Yucheng recounted the Gnosis's journey and returned it to Nahida, saying it was her trophy and that he would witness their negotiations.
• Nahida demanded that the Doctor erase all his other segments, and the Doctor accepted the deal.

Nahida and The Doctor completed a trade after he erased all sixty-nine of his Segments, and she gave him the Electro Gnosis. The Doctor then sought the Dendro Gnosis, but Yucheng revealed that he wanted the Akasha for Inazuma and planned to introduce it gradually.

• The Doctor explained that he was willing to erase his Segments in exchange for the Electro Gnosis, and Yucheng demonstrated his Shadow Clone technique.
• Nahida monitored The Doctor as he erased the consciousnesses of sixty-nine Segments, whose sudden disappearance caused unexplained cases across Teyvat.
• Nahida gave The Doctor the Electro Gnosis, ordered him to leave Sumeru, and declared that she would take control of the Akademiya and shut down the Akasha.
• The Doctor asked about the Dendro Gnosis, and Yucheng opposed giving it to him because he intended to use the Akasha in Inazuma.
• Yucheng explained that he would restrict Akasha access in Inazuma, including charging for queries and limiting who could use it.

The Doctor traded knowledge about Teyvat’s false starry sky for Nahida’s Gnosis, while Nahida offered to help Yucheng operate the Akasha in Inazuma. After The Doctor left with both Gnoses and without his Segments, Yucheng decided to pursue him while he was weakened.

• The Doctor offered Nahida knowledge about the truth of Teyvat in exchange for her Gnosis, and Nahida accepted despite Yucheng’s favor to her.
• Yucheng let Nahida hear The Doctor’s secret without him, saying she could share it afterward if she chose.
• Nahida gave The Doctor her Gnosis, and he left the Sanctuary of Surasthana with both Gnoses.
• Nahida told Yucheng that The Doctor’s knowledge answered many of her questions, then offered to operate Inazuma’s Akasha with her divine power.
• Yucheng realized The Doctor was at his weakest after losing his Segments and declared that he would ambush him.

Yucheng confronted The Doctor at Devantaka Mountain after the Doctor’s boat diverted from its route to Port Ormos. The Doctor revealed he had anticipated Yucheng and summoned five groups of dangerous beings infused with Archon Residue, leaving their fight about to begin.

• Yucheng’s tracker on the Electro Gnosis led him to follow The Doctor toward Port Ormos, but the boat diverted into Devantaka Mountain.
• The Doctor revealed he had detected Yucheng’s approach and the tiny piece of Message Wood attached to the Gnosis.
• Yucheng challenged The Doctor to a fight, arguing that the Doctor remaining in Sumeru was no longer officially recognized as a Fatui Harbinger.
• The Doctor said he had erased his Segments during negotiations with the God of Wisdom and that only he remained.
• The Doctor opened five black holes and summoned groups of humanoid figures infused with Archon Residue for Yucheng to fight.

Yucheng confronted the Doctor and fought off his monsters, but the Doctor escaped by exploiting the fact that Yucheng had only eliminated the Segments he knew about. He left Yucheng holding the Electro and Dendro Gnoses and asked him to deliver them to a ship at Port Ormos, leaving Yucheng furious at being played for a courier.

• Yucheng learned that the Doctor had abducted people, including Collei, for experiments and turned many victims into monsters.
• Yucheng attacked the Doctor with Water Severing Wave and Majestic Destroyer Flame, destroying the monsters while the Doctor evaded him.
• The Doctor attacked Yucheng from behind, but Yucheng's body turned intangible, allowing him to bind the Doctor with Wood Release before severing the wood as the Doctor's energy began to corrode it.
• The Doctor admitted he could not defeat Yucheng and handed him the Electro and Dendro Gnoses, explaining that he had erased only the Segments he knew about.
• The Doctor vanished and told Yucheng to take the Gnoses to a ship at Port Ormos, and Yucheng realized the Doctor had used him as a courier.

Yucheng left Devantaka Mountain with the two Gnoses, intending to deliver them while making the Fatui pay a price. In Sumeru, Nahida reclaimed the Akademiya, exposed the sages’ crimes, and followed Yucheng’s advice to commute their death sentences to life imprisonment, then asked him about his unusual way of dealing with intellectuals.

• Yucheng took a block of ground containing the corroded remains of his Wood Release construct and chose to deliver the two Gnoses rather than risk drawing Snezhnaya’s attention to Inazuma.
• Nahida took charge of the Akademiya again and dismissed four sages, including the Great Sage, while respected scholars such as Havaks and Tirgans were implicated.
• Nahida publicly explained that the sages had imprisoned her and the other remaining sages and collaborated with the Fatui to create a god, turning the people of Sumeru against Azar and his allies.
• At Nahida’s insistence, Azar and the other sages were sentenced to life imprisonment instead of death after Yucheng advised her to preserve her benevolent image.
• Yucheng offered to teach Nahida a special way to deal with intellectuals, leaving her wondering how mercy and cruelty could coexist.

Lesser Lord Kusanali reduced Azar and the other sages’ sentences to life imprisonment, but sent them to Aaru Village for hard labor and subjected them to a public parade that left many dead or broken. With most of the Akademiya’s leadership removed or unable to serve, scholars turned their attention to competing for the vacant sage positions and the role of Great Sage.

• Lesser Lord Kusanali changed Azar and the others’ death sentences to life imprisonment and ordered them sent to Aaru Village to perform hard labor.
• Yucheng’s proposal led to Azar and the other prisoners being paraded through Sumeru City in prison carts as crowds pelted them with garbage.
• Five prisoners, including Kavus, killed themselves during the journey, while two went mad and the others arrived at Aaru Village mentally shattered.
• Scholars who had pleaded for Azar grew fearful of Lesser Lord Kusanali after hearing what happened to the prisoners.
• With four sages and dozens of Havaks gone and Nafis and Isolde needing time to recover, the Akademiya faced a contest to fill its sage and Great Sage positions.

Nahida announced that the Akasha would be shut down and that she would change how the Akademiya selected its Sages, while Setaria waited anxiously to learn her own fate. After Cyno refused her request to leave for the desert, Yucheng joined her at the meeting, where an official accused them of bringing in an outsider and called for their arrest.

• Nahida announced that the Akasha would be shut down because it restricted curiosity and relied on people's dreams.
• Nahida said the Akademiya's Sage selection process would change to prioritize scholarship over status and connections.
• Setaria decided to leave the Akademiya and teach in the desert, but Cyno refused her request and said Nahida had already decided what would happen to her.
• Yucheng sat beside Setaria at the meeting, surprising her by appearing at the internal Akademiya gathering.
• An official accused Setaria of bringing an outsider into the House of Daena and called for guards to arrest her and Yucheng.

Nahida appointed Alhaitham Acting Great Sage and handed him the task of selecting new Sages. The meeting was interrupted when Afshin confronted Setaria, reigniting an old grudge over how she had rejected him and he had stolen her academic work.

• Nahida overawed the scholars arguing over Akademiya positions and assigned Alhaitham to choose candidates for the vacant Sage posts.
• Nahida announced Alhaitham’s appointment as Acting Great Sage, and he reluctantly accepted.
• Afshin shouted at Setaria for causing a disturbance and bringing an outsider into the House of Daena.
• Setaria remembered how Sahar and Afshin had discriminated against her, stolen her academic work, and later sought her forgiveness after she became Azar’s secretary.
• Afshin saw Setaria’s fall from favor as a chance to avenge the humiliation of having once kowtowed to her.

Sahar and Afshin tried to have Setaria arrested by accusing her of treason, hoping to protect Sahar’s prospects of becoming a Sage. Nahida revealed that Sumeru City’s guards would now answer to Cyno, giving him full law enforcement authority.

• Sahar saw Setaria as a threat to his bid for Sage after Afshin confronted her at the Akademiya meeting.
• Afshin accused Setaria of bringing a foreign spy into the Akademiya and betraying Sumeru, and Sahar ordered the guards to arrest them.
• Cyno told Sahar that Sumeru City’s guards no longer followed his orders.
• Nahida announced a new military system for Sumeru City, placing its guards under Cyno’s command with Asfand as his deputy.
• Cyno gained authority over both the Matra and Sumeru City’s guards.

At the Akademiya meeting, Alhaitham and Nahida revealed Setaria’s role in rescuing Lesser Lord Kusanali, stopping Sahar and Afshin from having her arrested. Yucheng then exposed Sahar and Afshin for stealing Setaria’s graduation thesis, and Nahida’s question about Afshin’s thesis title made their guilt clear.

• Cyno refused Sahar’s request to arrest Setaria and the foreign spy.
• Alhaitham credited Setaria with secretly providing intelligence on Azar, and Nahida revealed that Setaria had also ended the repeating Sabzeruz Festival.
• Yucheng revealed himself as Inazuma’s Regent, and Nahida explained that he had helped defeat Scaramouche and saved Sumeru City.
• Yucheng accused Sahar of taking Setaria’s thesis and passing it off as Afshin’s, while Sahar and Afshin denied the charge.
• Nahida asked Afshin for the title of his graduation thesis, and his inability to answer exposed the plagiarism.

Cyno punished Afshin and Sahar for academic plagiarism and began a systematic review of the Akademiya's thesis repository. Nahida appointed Setaria to lead the Western Support Plan, a policy to expand education and development in the Desert.

• Cyno had Afshin and Sahar arrested and announced a review of the Akademiya's thesis repository, with the approval of Nahida and Alhaitham.
• Nahida comforted Setaria and nominated her as the Sage of Rtawahist, but Setaria declined the position.
• Setaria explained that she wanted to return to the Desert to improve education for its people.
• Nahida acknowledged the Desert's long-standing hardship and promised funding, admissions opportunities, and promotion incentives to support its development.
• Nahida named the policy the Western Support Plan and placed Setaria in charge.

Nahida announced a major plan to develop Sumeru’s desert region, but the Akademiya’s Sages worried that funding it would harm their Darshans and that the harsh environment made success unlikely. Iskandar argued against rushing into the investment, leaving Nahida to consider his concerns.

• Setaria accepted responsibility for the desert development plan and pledged herself to Nahida’s cause.
• The Akademiya officials recognized that the plan would direct substantial resources toward the desert, potentially reducing funding for the Six Great Darshans.
• Iskandar, the Sage of Vahumana, asked Nahida to reconsider the plan and explained that scarce water, barren soil, and shifting sand made development difficult.
• Iskandar offered Vahumana’s students and teaching materials to support desert education but opposed allocating Akademiya funds to broader western development.

Setaria and the scholars agreed that the desert’s harsh conditions made economic development difficult, so they favored establishing libraries and classrooms. Nahida then revealed that Yucheng could transform the desert into a forest, leaving Alhaitham worried about what the Inazuma Regent expected in return for his help.

• Setaria considered possible industries for the desert and concluded that its limited resources made development difficult.
• The scholars agreed with Iskandar that building libraries and classrooms in desert settlements would be more practical than large-scale investment.
• Nahida announced that Yucheng could turn the desert into a forest and was willing to help Sumeru.
• Yucheng grew two trees through the Akademiya’s platform, astonishing the gathered scholars.
• Alhaitham wondered what Yucheng wanted from Sumeru and feared that the Regent was about to demand repayment for his contributions.

After the Divine Return Conference, Sumeru began implementing its new policies while Alhaitham adjusted the Akademiya’s work practices. Recovering in Avidya Forest, Lumine and Paimon learned that Tighnari had also refused a Sage position.

• Iskandar’s objections faded after Yucheng’s feat, and news of the conference spread across Sumeru as the Divine Return Conference became a landmark event.
• Alhaitham maintained his strict working style as Acting Great Sage, then introduced reporting guidelines that improved efficiency throughout the Akademiya.
• Tighnari allowed the recovered Lumine and Paimon to go out, and Collei gave Lumine a letter from Nilou inviting them to a Grand Bazaar banquet.
• Lumine and Paimon asked Tighnari about the changes in Sumeru, and he revealed that he had refused Sage Nafis’s proposal for him to become Sage of the Amurta.

Lumine gathered Sumeru’s friends for Nilou’s victory banquet after discovering that Nilou had failed to notify most of the guests. The celebration ended with Nahida and Yucheng arriving at the Grand Bazaar.

• Tighnari explained that he had no interest in becoming a sage, described Cyno’s new military authority, and said Azar and his accomplices were undergoing reform through labor in Aaru Village.
• Lumine and Paimon visited Nilou and learned that almost no one had received her invitation to the banquet, so Lumine spent two days inviting guests across Sumeru.
• Lumine found Azar working the soil in Aaru Village and reflected that her travels had once again brought major changes to a nation.
• Nilou’s victory banquet went ahead, bringing together Alhaitham, Cyno, Tighnari, Collei, Kaveh, and their friends to celebrate Sumeru’s changes and recount the Operation to Save the God.
• Nahida and Yucheng entered the Grand Bazaar, surprising the theater staff and guests.

Yucheng brought Nahida to the Grand Bazaar’s celebration, where he revealed that his wife had been cured of archon residue using help from the gods of Liyue and Mondstadt. Paimon said she could arrange the same help for Collei, leaving Collei, Tighnari, and Cyno hopeful about finding a cure.

• Nahida joined the Grand Bazaar celebration with Yucheng, and the crowd enthusiastically welcomed her.
• Yucheng went to the stage and explained that he and Nahida had been discussing cooperation between Sumeru and Inazuma.
• Yucheng noticed Collei’s archon residue and told Tighnari and Cyno that his wife had been cured of the same affliction.
• Yucheng said the cure required a jar of thousand-year-old Osmanthus Wine for Barbatos, making Collei, Tighnari, and Cyno despair at first.
• Paimon said she knew Barbatos and offered to ask him to help Collei, while Cyno agreed to search the Akademiya for suitable wine.