At the same time, the rainbow-blue interwoven colors reappeared in Shiki's eyes. She then saw a golden light shining on this God of the Hearth statue, and resonating with it were…
Keqing and Xiangling?
In a Vision invisible to ordinary people, Keqing and Xiangling, these two girls, were emitting the same light as the God of the Hearth statue.
The same golden light was resonating with each other. Of course, it wasn't just them; golden light was resonating with the statue in various parts of Liyue Harbor.
However, the number wasn't very large. Shiki thought it should be that only Vision holders would resonate with the statue, which was the so-called "wish power."
But this golden light, in the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, still had lines of death.
Do only Vision holders generate wish power because their mental strength is stronger than ordinary people, or is it because they have a Constellation in the sky?
Shiki recalled the event [Unreconciled Stars] in Version 1.1. Although she hadn't started playing at that time, she had some understanding of the story.
After all, Ei appeared in it, so out of curiosity, she went to check out the story.
The result was that she didn't know until she saw it, and when she saw it, she was shocked.
The entire Teyvat starry sky was fake. What fell from the sky in the event were not meteorites, but the Constellations of Vision holders.
The Constellation contained the person's wish from their lifetime, and the mental power it contained could even construct an abnormally realistic environment.
'Sure enough, the waters of Teyvat are deep. When will I be able to glimpse the full picture of this world?'
Her thoughts returned to reality. After the God of the Hearth statue flickered a few times, the stones wrapped around its outer layer suddenly burst open, revealing its true appearance.
Keqing: "This… this is?"
Traveler: "Isn't this Guoba?"
Shiki: "As expected…"
Ayaka: "Miss Xiangling's family is actually the God of the Hearth?"
"Ah? Guoba? How could it be you…"
"Lu!"
Xiangling was shocked, and Guoba also widened its eyes in confusion. It didn't understand why, after this big stone burst open, its own image was inside.
Paimon, however, spotted the blind spot: "Wait, Miss Ryougi, why did you say 'as expected'? Do you know something?"
"Well… I guess I just guessed it?" Shiki thought for a moment and said, "You see, in Mondstadt, you followed Venti to find Barbatos. In Liyue, you followed Morax to find Morax. In Inazuma, you followed me to find Garan no Dou."
"So, following Guoba to find the God of the Hearth during the Moonchase Festival is also a very reasonable thing, isn't it?"
"It seems so… No, no, is that all?"
It sounded logical, but Paimon always felt something was off.
"What else could it be? If I had to say, Guoba and the God of the Hearth both light fires in woks?"
Shiki shrugged. This was essentially a matter of intuition. After all, with previous examples and her familiarity with this group of people, the idea naturally popped into her mind.
She still remembered that when they were looking for the Darknight Hero, the first person they met was Diluc?
Emmm...
"Uh… I'm completely convinced…"
Paimon held her forehead. It did seem to be the case. This only meant they were too unlucky, always failing to discover it.
'Damn it, those people must be laughing at me and the Traveler! We're always kept in the dark!'
At this moment, a gentle breeze swept by, followed by a familiar voice from behind.
"It seems you've already had the spicy meat rolls."
"Master!"
"Granny Ping."
The few of them greeted her in unison, and Granny Ping nodded with a gentle smile.
"Granny Ping, look! The God of the Hearth is actually Guoba!" Paimon said in great surprise.
"Heh heh, yes, after all, Guoba is the God of the Hearth you are looking for—the God of the Hearth."
"Guoba… is a Archon?"
Paimon was completely stunned. This little bear, and they were telling her it was a Archon capable of moving mountains and filling seas?
Shiki was also a bit surprised. She had thought Guoba was a clone of this God of the Hearth, but she hadn't expected it to be the true body, and a Archon at that.
It was like when she first learned that the panda, the mascot of China, was Chiyou's mount—it was hard to connect the two.
Oh, right, Diluc was even more down and out. He used to be Lu Guoba, so now he should be… Count LuLu?
Diluc: I'm out of your league, my friends.
"LuLu~~"
Guoba responded with two happy sounds. Although it didn't understand what these people were saying, its intuition told it that it was being praised.
"You asked me if enough excitement could awaken the God of the Hearth. I must say, yes and no."
Granny Ping said, slowly walking in front of them.
"The God of the Hearth has always been a benevolent Archon who acts in accordance with people's wishes. For him, wishes and effort are different things."
"Effort is skill, talent, and experience. Only wishes represent the purest power in people's hearts."
Upon hearing Granny Ping's words, Shiki immediately thought: "Like a Vision?"
"Exactly. When a person's wish is strong to the extreme, the gods' gaze will be cast down."
"So when the God of the Hearth perceives people's wishes, he will also take action."
Granny Ping nodded. Archons all possessed the ability to hear wishes, but she knew that the granting of Visions had little to do with the Seven Nations.
Even before the Archon War ended and the Seven Nations were established, there were already people with Visions.
For example, that Xiao.
"The Chef King Competition was indeed wonderful, but that was just effort. Mere effort is not enough to awaken the God of the Hearth."
"But when Keqing ate the spicy meat rolls, the wish in her heart was satisfied, along with her beautiful memories with her grandfather."
"This powerful force, unleashed by the fulfillment of a wish, resonated with the statue, causing its original form to reappear in the human world."
"Of course, this is just the God of the Hearth statue. The true God of the Hearth is right beside us."
"Lu~"
Listening to Granny Ping's words, Guoba tilted its head and smiled.
"How does it feel? To see your form in your prime? Look at him, he's still so majestic."
"Prime form? It seems something happened in the past…" Shiki said.
Even though the Archon race had strong and weak individuals, they were ultimately stronger than mortals.
Shiki was certain that Guoba had experienced something during the Archon War that made him so weak.
"Oh, right! Is Guoba different from before?" Xiangling asked curiously.
"Haha, him… he used to be the Earth Archon of Liyue, and now he is your Guoba."
"However, all the power and wisdom he once possessed were dedicated to this land."
"Dedicated power to the land? What's going on?"
Now it was Shiki's turn to be confused. Weren't Archons outsiders? Why could their power make the land better?
Especially the power unleashed by a Archon after death could even make an area unsuitable for human habitation for hundreds of years.
Could it be that Archons are like reactors? They work well when operating, but become nuclear bombs after exploding?
The electro archon's residue was very similar to the power of the Abyss, but also different from it.
Shiki herself possessed the authority of a Archon and had beaten Enjou, who used the power of the Abyss, so she naturally knew the difference.
The power of the Abyss… was like a mutated form of Archon power.
Similar, but different.
"Alas… the dangers and trials a land faces are far more than you can imagine," Granny Ping sighed.
"On the land of Liyue, disasters have never completely disappeared. Troubles that haven't appeared in the past will arise in the future, and mortal bodies are incredibly fragile, most affected by these factors."
"Once, it was Markosius who accompanied you across the barren plains to the port, building houses and lighting fires."
"It was he who personally lit the first night lamp in Liyue, letting the aroma of food drift into thousands of households."
"You no longer remember him, but in the era when you did remember him, he was the immortal closest to people."
As her voice fell, Granny Ping used her immortal arts to construct stunningly beautiful scroll paintings before their eyes.
"The God of the Hearth, Markosius, was born from the sparks struck between colliding stones."
"He presided over hearth fire and people's livelihoods, a Archon who loved humanity."
On the scroll, Guoba's figure emerged from a flame. His massive body was taller than an adult's foot.
"A thousand years ago, ancient people expanded their city, establishing settlements on the plains, naming them [Guili Assembly]."
"The God of the Hearth cherished people's livelihoods, forming clones to sneak into thousands of households to help with daily life and cooking, assisting people in reuniting."
The scroll changed with Granny Ping's voice, as several "Guobas" helped people light fires, forming a harmonious scene.
But this harmonious scene didn't last long. A flood directly washed away Guili Assembly, turning it into ruins.
"The flood took away people's homes, and the residents of Guili Assembly were forced to relocate back to Liyue Harbor."
"The journey wasn't far, but there were strong winds and sudden downpours along the way."
"The Adepti escorted the people for over half a month."
One Adeptus after another descended from the clouds. Guoba was the first, and Shiki also saw Wang Xiaomei (no), a very chatty one (confirmed), and Lishan Dieshui.
"During this time, the God of the Hearth created an ancient delicacy."
"Composed of naan and meat filling that expels dampness and cold, it was easy to carry. This is the origin of the spicy meat rolls."
"For several centuries thereafter, as disasters and diseases befell the land, the God of the Hearth no longer appeared frequently, instead pouring all his power into the land to quell various calamities."
"The God of the Hearth, having exhausted his power, greatly diminished in wisdom, and his body became very small. When he finally bid us farewell, he was less than a person's height."
"He imparted the auspicious dishes and the mysteries of the hearth fire to the Geo Archon and me."
"Finally, he went to the mountains… to sleep alone for a very long time…"
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"