Genshin Impact: Dionysus reigns supreme, all demons retreat!

Chapter 429 The Eight-Cornered Hall: The First Rainfall

Xu Ning poured the big man another bowl of wine, and couldn't help but look up at the dried-up fountain above again.

The big man shook his head slightly as he looked at Xu Ning, somewhat puzzled as to why he was so concerned about the pool above.

Turning his head to glance around, the burly man spoke up, "I don't know which era this castle was built in, but I'm certain it's not from any particular generation of Liyue. Most of the statues in Liyue are heroic figures who protected the country and its people, unlike these upside-down statues with crowns, each holding a large bowl, looking like beggars..."

Xu Ning found his words amusing and laughed, "As decorations next to the fountain, water should originally flow down from their bowls..."

Halfway through his sentence, Xu Ning noticed that the four stone statues around him actually had complete heads and crowns.

When Xu Ning and Kong came here, he remembered that all four stone statues only had half a face left, their heads were gone, let alone any crowns.

Moreover, upon seeing the crown, Xu Ning had a strange feeling again.

Just like the feeling I had when I saw those Abyss Apostles come out here last time, there must be some information that I've forgotten.

"Crown, crown... Could it be related to the crown?"

Xu Ning seemed to be muttering to himself in a daze, then walked towards the upside-down stone statues.

The stone statues are very intact. Each statue wears a sacrificial crown made of silver-white wooden branches on its forehead, and blue buds are even growing on the white branches.

"This is... the Water Offering Ritual Crown!"

Xu Ning finally realized where that strange feeling came from; it all stemmed from this series of sacrificial offerings.

In my previous life, I knew of four types of sacrificial caps, each corresponding to the change of a generation.

The fire-worshiping ceremony corresponds to "the thawing of the frozen land and the first rekindling of the new fire".

The water-offering ceremony corresponds to the phrase "the old fire is about to go out, and the sweet rain is about to fall."

The ritual crown for offering sacrifices to thunder corresponds to the phrase "when rivers and seas dry up, thunder first rumbles."

The ice-worshiping ceremony corresponds to the phrase "the breath of all things gradually weakens, and the earth is frozen forever."

The four symbols cycle endlessly, and those are the stories recorded behind those ceremonial hats.

In his previous battle against the Abyss Apostles, it was because the attributes of each of them corresponded to these four elemental forces.

Based on my understanding of this world, the Abyss probably existed before Teyvat.

On the continent of Teyvat, countless generations seem to have come and gone, like the royal palace atop the snow-capped mountains, like the inverted city beneath the earth.

If in every generation, someone sees the truth of this world and then plunges into the abyss, and those people happen to belong to each generation...

At least I haven't seen any other Abyss Apostles with other elemental powers.

"The water-offering ceremony, and look at the style of this fountain and statues—they belong to that prosperous and bountiful era, where the old fire is about to die out, and the first sweet rain falls, sweet rain, sweet rain..."

Xu Ning reached out and climbed upwards, using the stone statue as a crutch.

When he climbed to the top, Xu Ning saw that there was a circular groove below the water outlet on the base of the stone statue.

If viewed from below, most people would probably just see it as a stone pit created by the impact of water, but after observing it up close, Xu Ning instantly realized what should have been placed there.

Xu Ning leaped down from above and reached out to remove the water-offering crown from the top of the stone statue's head.

There are four crowns in total, which correspond exactly to the four water outlets on the four bases.

The ceremonial crowns were so tight that Xu Ning even had to break off a portion of the stone statue to remove all four crowns from its head.

Climbing up again, Xu Ning embedded the four ceremonial crowns beneath the four water outlets, then shook the Dust Concealment Gourd. "Whether it succeeds or not depends on you."

A clear spring flowed from Xu Ning's Dust-Hidden Gourd. It was not wine, but the spring that, according to Qingyi, served as the base for the wine spring—"Sweet Rain."

When the spring water touched the water-offering crown, it no longer spilled upside down like the wine had before, but instead flowed out as if it had been poured onto flat ground.

Before long, the entire pool was overflowing.

After the spring water submerged the four water-offering crowns, the water outlets at the four stone statue bases, as well as the four water outlets at the central stone base, all overflowed with spring water as sweet as rain.

Eight streams of clear spring water flowed continuously into the pool, yet the pool seemed to remain perpetually at just the fullest level, neither overflowing nor diminishing.

Xu Ning put away the Dust Concealment Gourd, jumped down from above, and said happily, "It's done!"

The big man finally understood what Xu Ning meant by the power that could weaken the surrounding demons.

When the wine poured from Xu Ning's gourd reached above the ceremonial crown, the big man felt a strange power spreading out from above.

That power was extremely similar to the power of the wine Xu Ning gave him; both could reduce and suppress the karmic obstacles within one's body.

If one can even reduce one's own karmic burdens, then the demons outside must be having an even harder time.

"Brother, do you want to rest a little longer? Once we've had our fill of rest, we can open the door and have a good fight."

The burly man shook his head slightly. "He has rested enough."

Xu Ning felt that his physical strength had recovered a lot, and he didn't know if it was due to the effect of the rain on his head.

Xu Ning beckoned the rock elemental to pass through the wall and open the portal to the Eight Gates Hall for himself and the big man. He had even prepared for a surprise attack from the monsters outside.

However, after the eight portals opened, Xu Ning could only see countless demons bypassing the hall and breaking through towards an underground river.

Xu Ning and the big man exchanged a glance. "The effect seems to be surprisingly good!"

"With this place where the monsters dare not enter, we have many more flexible strategic options. It's probably almost dawn, and I need to go back to help them defend the last wave. Hopefully, more reinforcements will arrive by daybreak."

The burly man watched Xu Ning prepare to return, paused for a moment, and then said, "I'll go with you, but I won't get too close to those people. The karmic burdens of the Yakshas are beyond what mortals can bear, not to mention the taint of these abyssal auras..."

Xu Ning laughed as he walked, "It's alright, I left them plenty of drinks."

After resting for a while, the two attacked even more swiftly than before. With the assistance of Xu Ning's two elemental bodies, they returned to the mouth of the giant abyss with almost no effort.

Xu Ning instructed the two elemental beings to guard him and placed the Dust Concealment Gourd in place. "Brother, you go into my cave first, and I'll take you up with me."

The burly man glanced at the surrounding rock formations and shook his head slightly. "No need, I can go straight up."