Genshin Impact is a big stage, come if you dare

In front of the altar lit by candlelight, the vigorous old man was busy while muttering to himself, "I hope... no, Lady Thunderbird will be satisfied with this festival. After all, he is the only child she has favored in all these years..."

There were candles lit everywhere in the semi-enclosed sacrificial hall, and many phantoms of the past gathered here.

It seemed that the young people who were nimble and quick-footed had been sent out to take care of the matters concerning the offerings to the roost, and the old phantoms gathered here were either old people or children. The children were playing, and the old people were chatting.

Through the noisy conversations among the children, the traveler group discovered that they were not interested in the festival. They even whispered that the grandfather in charge of the festival was a liar and that the stories he told were all fake.

The traveler team moved to a pair of elderly people who were chatting, listening to their topic and gathering information.

The old woman sighed, "It's only once in my life. I really want to go outside the "Sea of ​​Fog" and take a look."

"That's a dark world!" the old man warned, "The priest said that if we leave the fog, our souls will be lost and become shadows wandering in the silent kingdom. If it weren't for Master Thunderbird using the fog to protect Crane View, we would have been finished long ago! That's why we hold the festival to thank Master Thunderbird for his protection."

Old woman: "What's the world like outside? Aren't you curious at all?"

The old man sighed: "In the past, some people wanted to leave here and follow the light of Lord Thunderbird to find new lands, but no one came back alive..."

This was the only part of the conversation. The traveler team waited for a long time but they didn't say anything else.

Paimeng was puzzled: "The people of Heguan seem to think that the world outside Heguan has been destroyed?" When Heguan was destroyed by the thunderbird, the dark disaster had not yet arrived. Why did the people of Heguan think so?

Those who went looking for new land may not want to go to the gloomy Heguan again, so why do they just assume that the other party is dead?

Kong was also thinking about this question. Either before the Dark Disaster, a similar extinction-level disaster had occurred on the continent of Teyvat, causing the people of Heguan to believe that the outside world had been destroyed.

Or the priests fabricated such lies in order to maintain their dignity and power.

No more clues could be obtained here, so a group of people walked out of the festival and prepared to look for Aru.

However, once they left the sacrifice site, the fog became thicker again, and in an instant, everyone could not even see the surroundings within one meter around them.

Something seemed to be stirring in the fog. Paimon quickly huddled together with Su, while Sora and Hanasari were alert to the fog around them.

Feeling Paimon's trembling, Su took out the lantern Lisa gave him from his backpack. The lightning element stored in the wick just happened to light up the stone lampstand on the side of the road, and the small patch of thick fog nearby immediately became much lighter.

The objects in the thick fog were revealed: a group of white figures swaying in the mist like candle flames.

Hanasari was stunned: "These are...human souls."

When humans on the continent of Teyvat die, their memories and thoughts will flow into the earth veins, and their souls will go to the resting place.

Only a small number of souls filled with obsession and pain will, by chance, succeed in forcing themselves to stay where they are and become what Inazuma calls "earthbound spirits."

"But this is too much..." Hanasari didn't understand. "Even if the souls are stuck because of the abnormality of the ground veins, there shouldn't be so many, right?"

Hanasari upholds the character and duties of a shrine maiden and takes the initiative to liberate these souls that are like candles in the wind.

However, none of these souls, which had been worn out so much that their faces were completely unrecognizable, were successfully liberated.

Hanasari's expression became more serious. "These souls were forcibly trapped here. They were cursed with a powerful curse."

Paimon was about to collapse. He felt that Inazuma was poisonous and there was no safe island.

Paimon: "Should we retreat or..."

But Kong wants to find out what happened in Heguan back then, and Hanasari wants to save the souls of the dead here.

Su looked around and said, "I won't vote." Paimon had already lost anyway.

A group of people lit stone lamps along the way to disperse the fog. They spent a lot of time groping their way back to the stone gate and passed through it again.

The mist in my eyes dissipated again, and my vision became clear again.

Paimeng complained, "The effect of this stone gate is actually time-limited... Be careful!" A group of beast hounds that broke through the space appeared in the clear field of vision.

The traveler team, who were already familiar with dealing with this kind of monster, wiped them out in no time, and Su picked up the spoils carefully.

"So awesome!" Aru appeared out of nowhere and praised the Traveler Team enthusiastically, "Everyone is so awesome! You are real adventurers! Others have been here before, but none of them are as awesome as Paimon's companions."

"We didn't have these things before, nor did we have those hairy people and big metal people." Aru became worried, "I wonder if they came from outside the fog sea."

Paimon asked, "Are you talking about the Hillilchur and the Iron-clad Little... Ugh, Ruins Guard?"

The Adventurer's Association had sent people to explore before, but they only brought back limited information. They didn't clarify the situation in Heguan, nor did they solve the fog in Heguan.

The Ruins Guardian is a creation of Kanreya. It only appeared on the continent of Teyvat five hundred years ago when Kanreya was destroyed, which is later than the destruction of Tsurukan. Could it be that Aru has really lived for thousands of years? !

"So those are called Hilichurls and the Pooh Ruins Guards?" Aru scratched her head. "It sounds dangerous, but also very interesting!"

"It's the ruins guard," Paimon corrected his mistake, "The world outside is very exciting. Aru, grow up well, and maybe you can become a great adventurer in the future." Speaking of which, how long will it take for Aru, who is thousands of years old and still looks like a child, to grow up?

“Sister Paimon, can you do me another favor?” Although Aryu was embarrassed, she still spoke up, “Ajiu-san, who is in charge of offering sacrifices to this roost tree, broke his leg... Roost tree...”

Come again?

Although it is very simple for them.

Paimon questioned: "Aru is also very sensitive to elements, why doesn't she do these things herself?" Sister Zuo Shi also said that she envied Aru.

Ru seemed to recall some bad memories, "Well... I've done all kinds of things at festivals before, but the results weren't very good."

After Aru said this, Paimon lost his temper and said, "How many times do we have to go through these troubles?"

"Everything starts with three. Anything must go through three times before it can have a result, right?" Although Aru is a child, he is very knowledgeable when it comes to big principles.

"For example, a good omen must occur three times before good luck will truly come. When doing things, you will encounter difficulties three times before you succeed on the fourth try." Although he had tried thousands of times and failed...

But! If Paimon and her companions are such powerful adventurers, maybe they can really succeed this time!

Paimon: "In that case, everything should be four times!" The fourth time will definitely succeed! After all, Kong and Su are super powerful!

The figure sitting on the ground with an injured leg murmured unwillingly: "This is so embarrassing... I hope it won't affect the festival. Otherwise, I'll be so sorry for Ru."

Aru looked at the group of travelers pleadingly, "Please take care of the offerings to the roost. I'll stay here with Aku-nii."

After a group of people ran around with a hemp rope for a long time, they finally drove "Feather" back to its roost. The unattended Alu disappeared again.

Sora suggested, "Let's make offerings to the Roost once more and then go to the sacrifice site to check. Maybe we can find some new clues."

The power of the perch seems to bring back more information from these old apparitions.

A group of people returned to the sacrificial site, and there was a young man in front of the old man in charge of the sacrifice.

The young man respectfully reported to the old man, "Master Priest, the time is almost up and A-ru hasn't come yet."

The old man - the priest comforted him: "...It's the last day already. It won't hurt to let him walk around outside for a while."

The young man was very anxious: "But, Master Thunderbird has already returned to Mount Sugana!"

The priest sighed and pointed out, "Let's go to the Okoshi Field and the beach. Aru might be there. Okoshi Field is where he met Thunderbird-sama. As for the beach, he often picked up shells there with Zuo Shi."

"Zuo Shi...that talkative woman. She keeps talking about the world outside the fog sea. She should be given three days of water and food and then exiled outside the fog sea." The young man was full of dissatisfaction with Zuo Shi and walked out viciously.

This conversation gave the traveler group a bad feeling and they all rushed to the beach.

There was wind blowing on the beach, and the shadow of the girl in a short kimono was very faint. She was half bent over and seemed to be talking to a child.

"I have seen people from outside. Someone came to our island, got lost in the fog and fell. I saved him, and that person told me a lot about the outside world."

"He came from an island on the other side of the sea. There is no fog on that island. It is all green land, blue sky and golden sun. He said that the thunderbird always flies from our island to his island, so he couldn't help but come to see what our island looks like."

"Aru, do you want to come with me? Let's escape to the world outside the fog sea together!"

The girl seemed a little sad as if she was rejected. "You really won't go with me? I think it's too depressing here. I don't like sacrificing people to Thunderbird. Besides, I don't think Thunderbird would like it. Why must Aru bear such a responsibility?"

The horror in this plain conversation tightened everyone's heartstrings. Before Paimon could scream out, the fog thickened again and swallowed up everything in front of them.