Chapter Summaries

Xiu Yuan and Morax created Lantern Rite so Liyue’s people could send their wishes skyward and remember those far from home that all was well. On the festival’s first morning, a boy hurried out to make a wish to Rex Lapis while his father revealed a Sea Lantern to his mother.

• Xiu Yuan proposed Lantern Rite as a way for people to remember him through a festival celebrating peace and happiness, and Morax accepted the idea.
• Xiu Yuan and Morax set Lantern Rite for the first full moon and announced that Liyue would welcome outsiders who followed its rules and contracts.
• Xiu Yuan made over a thousand Sea Lanterns, and he and Morax hid them around Liyue before the festival.
• A boy eagerly left home to make a wish to Rex Lapis, encouraged by his father and teased by his mother.
• The boy’s father showed his wife a Sea Lantern, which she had never seen before.

A family discovered sea lanterns hidden around their home, while the lantern hunt brought joyful festivities to all of Liyue. A man encouraged people to share lanterns and candy, spreading happiness among the children.

• A middle-aged man showed his wife two sea lanterns he had found near their home and explained that he had sent their child out to find one.
• The man and woman opened their door and saw people throughout Liyue celebrating the sea lantern hunt.
• A little girl refused to share her three sea lanterns until her father reminded her to share with her friends.
• The girl gave a sea lantern to a teasing man, who thanked her with candy.
• The man passed the lantern to an anxious boy who had not found one, and the boy ran happily to join his friends.

On Lantern Rite night, lost Xin'er wrote a wish to find her parents on a lantern and released it. Her parents followed its light to Mt. Tianheng and reunited with her, while a masked man vanished from a nearby tree.

• Xin'er wandered into the forest at the foot of Mt. Tianheng and became lost as her parents searched for her in Liyue.
• Morax released the first lantern, wishing that Liyue would remember Brother Xiu Yuan and enjoy peace and good health.
• Xin'er found a lit lantern tied to a tree, wrote that she wanted to reunite with her parents, and released it into the sky.
• Xin'er's parents saw the lantern rising from the mountains and ran to Mt. Tianheng, where they heard her calling and found her.
• A masked man vanished from atop a tree as Xin'er reunited with her parents, then they headed back toward Liyue together.

As Demon Gods and conflict spread across Teyvat, Liyue faced attacks, refugees, and growing internal problems. Xiu Yuan left to deal with the unrest, leaving Morax to protect Liyue as he watched him go.

• Liyue grew into a thriving harbor, but strange sea monsters, tsunamis, and conflicts caused trade to decline and refugees to arrive.
• Morax drove off three Demon Gods in one day while worrying about Liyue’s growing population and frequent disputes.
• Xiu Yuan told Morax he would leave for an unknown length of time and asked him to protect Liyue.
• Xiu Yuan walked away through the air, and Morax watched him leave before turning back to Liyue.

After decades of reflection, Xiu Yuan encountered Ganyu and a Demon God who mocked her appearance. He drove the Demon God away without killing him, then learned that Ganyu was half human and half qilin.

• Xiu Yuan wandered near Mt. Tianheng, reflecting on his first eight lives and renewing his resolve to return.
• Xiu Yuan found a blue, ball-shaped Ganyu being mocked by a Demon God.
• The Demon God threatened Xiu Yuan, but Xiu Yuan swiftly held a blade to his throat and forced him to flee.
• Xiu Yuan spared the Demon God to avoid trouble and to keep from making a bad first impression on Ganyu.
• Ganyu told Xiu Yuan that she was a Half-Immortal Beast, with human and qilin bloodlines.

Xiu Yuan reassured Ganyu that he believed her and told her about Liyue, where he lived as the Dark Archon. Ganyu asked to join Liyue, and Xiu Yuan welcomed her.

• Xiu Yuan believed Ganyu was a Half-Immortal Beast, and she cried with relief after he accepted her identity.
• Xiu Yuan advised Ganyu to leave Cuijue Slope because the fighting was worsening, then explained that he lived in Liyue.
• Ganyu learned that Xiu Yuan was the Dark Archon, also called the Dark Night King, and that Rex Lapis was Liyue’s Geo Archon.
• Ganyu asked to join Liyue, offering to work hard and use her abilities to help.
• Xiu Yuan asked Ganyu’s name and welcomed her to Liyue.

Xiu Yuan agreed to let Ganyu join Liyue, and she asked him to help find her master and the other Adepti in Jueyun Karst. As they set out together, Ganyu worried that her slow pace was holding him back, but Xiu Yuan reassured her and continued walking beside her.

• Ganyu happily joined Liyue and asked Xiu Yuan if she could call him King.
• Ganyu told Xiu Yuan that her master and other powerful people were in Jueyun Karst, though she had lost her way back.
• Xiu Yuan agreed to go to Jueyun Karst with Ganyu to see whether her master and the others would join Liyue.
• As they walked, Ganyu offered to wait behind because she thought her slow pace was delaying Xiu Yuan.
• Xiu Yuan told Ganyu there was no need to hurry and continued toward Jueyun Karst beside her.

Ganyu led Xiu Yuan to Cloud Retainer’s hidden Palace in Jueyun Karst and introduced him as Liyue’s Dark Archon. Xiu Yuan proposed testing Cloud Retainer’s strength to see if she could join Liyue, while Ganyu urged her to join before the growing turmoil worsened.

• Ganyu happily returned to Jueyun Karst and guided Xiu Yuan along a hidden route to Cloud Retainer’s Palace.
• Cloud Retainer appeared and told Ganyu she had searched for only half an hour, disappointing her.
• Cloud Retainer became wary when Ganyu introduced Xiu Yuan as Liyue’s Dark Archon, but Ganyu insisted that Liyue had two guardian gods.
• Xiu Yuan said he had come to test whether Cloud Retainer was strong enough to join Liyue.
• Ganyu described the rising number of refugees and Demon Gods and urged Cloud Retainer to join Liyue, but Cloud Retainer remained confident in her hidden abode and mechanical arts.

Xiu Yuan tested Cloud Retainer's mechanical arts by navigating her traps and exposing their flaws, impressing her with his strength and insight. Cloud Retainer's suspicion disappeared, and she came to admire him wholeheartedly.

• Cloud Retainer asked Xiu Yuan to test her, and he invited her to challenge him with the mechanical craft she excelled at.
• Cloud Retainer led Xiu Yuan through three areas filled with mechanisms she had designed.
• Xiu Yuan evaded the traps, endured their attacks, and solved them without relying on brute force.
• Xiu Yuan told Cloud Retainer her mechanisms were worse than he expected, then identified flaws in many of them.
• Cloud Retainer listened to Xiu Yuan's critiques with growing amazement and became thoroughly convinced of his abilities.

Xiu Yuan impressed Cloud Retainer with his knowledge of mechanical arts and learned how Ganyu had become lost at Cuijue Slope. After defeating Moon Carver, Mountain Shaper, and Skybracer, he led the adepti toward Liyue.

• Cloud Retainer asked Xiu Yuan to teach her mechanical arts, and he asked where the other adepti were.
• Cloud Retainer teased Ganyu about getting lost while searching for food, and Ganyu explained that she had waited at Cuijue Slope for more than a month.
• Moon Carver, Mountain Shaper, and Skybracer returned to the Immortal Abode.
• Xiu Yuan defeated the three adepti in tests of their skill, winning their submission.
• Xiu Yuan led the adepti toward Liyue.

Xiu Yuan returned to Liyue with four adepti and Ganyu, strengthening Morax’s allies before Celestia announced that it would choose seven Demon Gods to govern the mortal world within a thousand years. Xiu Yuan warned Morax that the announcement would spark a war over territory and resources, leaving Liyue to prepare for conflict.

• Xiu Yuan returned to Liyue with the adepti, and Morax welcomed the powerful allies they could provide.
• Xiu Yuan and Morax prepared homes atop Mt. Tianheng for the four adepti and Ganyu.
• Celestia sent every Demon God a message announcing that it would select The Seven within a thousand years.
• Morax questioned Xiu Yuan about the announcement, and Xiu Yuan warned him that war was coming.
• Xiu Yuan explained that Demon Gods without nations or people would seize territory, putting Liyue at risk of invasion and competition for resources.

Xiu Yuan warned Morax that the coming Archon War would demand a different response from the earlier clashes over territory. He planned to hide and support Morax as he fought to become Liyue’s god, and Morax agreed that he would kill his enemies.

• Morax suggested splitting Liyue so he and Xiu Yuan could rule beside each other, but Xiu Yuan refused.
• Xiu Yuan proposed secretly supporting Morax until Morax secured Liyue’s divine seat, then joining forces to claim a neighboring seat.
• Xiu Yuan said he would conceal his existence, train Morax and the adepti from Jueyun Karst, and require Morax to fight every battle.
• Xiu Yuan told Morax that war meant killing his enemies, unlike their earlier disputes, where defeated Demon Gods could simply leave.
• Morax hesitated at the thought of killing, but promised Xiu Yuan he would do it.

Morax announced wartime restrictions in Liyue and prepared with Xiu Yuan and the adepti for an approaching Demon God. The chapter ended with Morax defending himself against the god’s first attack.

• Morax declared a state of wartime emergency, closed Liyue’s harbor, restricted fishing and mining, and named four adepti Three-Eyed Five-Manifestation Immortals.
• Xiu Yuan sent Cloud Retainer and the other adepti to install concealed alarm devices around Mt. Tianheng, then began teaching Morax a powerful move.
• After five days, Xiu Yuan sensed a Demon God approaching from the northwest and urged Morax to face it.
• Morax met the Demon God, who vowed to take Liyue after killing him and attacked with a rain of icicles.
• Morax shielded himself with Geo, shattering the icicles against it.

Morax defeated a Demon God attacking Liyue but spared him after he begged for mercy, only for Xiu Yuan to kill the Demon God and tell Morax he was disappointed. Morax recognized that his mercy could endanger Liyue, but still struggled to kill someone who pleaded for his life.

• The Demon God trapped Morax inside an expanding iceberg, but Morax broke free and pierced the Demon God through an ice shield with a hidden second force in his arrow.
• Morax wounded the Demon God’s legs with rocks and aimed a second arrow at his head, but lowered his bow after the Demon God begged for mercy.
• As the Demon God thanked Morax and tried to rise, a sharp rock pierced his skull, and Morax saw a masked man leave from a tree.
• Morax chased after Xiu Yuan, apologized, and watched as Xiu Yuan pushed him aside and said he was disappointed.
• Morax reflected that other Demon Gods might exploit his mercy and threaten Liyue, yet he still could not bring himself to kill a stranger begging for his life.

Xiu Yuan returned to Mt. Tianheng and guided the adepti while Morax dealt with a Demon God. When Morax returned ashamed of letting the Demon God go, Xiu Yuan apologized for being too harsh, and Morax promised to protect Liyue’s people.

• Xiu Yuan returned to Mt. Tianheng, where Cloud Retainer and Moon Carver confirmed the alarms were installed.
• Xiu Yuan answered the adepti’s questions until Morax returned, dejected after letting the Demon God go.
• Xiu Yuan apologized to Morax for being too harsh and comforted him.
• Morax admitted he felt too weak and cowardly to kill the Demon God, despite knowing Liyue’s people relied on him.
• Morax promised to protect the people of Liyue, and Xiu Yuan told him he believed in him.

Xiu Yuan trained Morax and the adepti as Liyue prepared for war, and Morax defeated an invading Demon God. After learning the Demon God had fought to survive rather than out of malice, Morax watched him take his own life, leaving Morax stunned.

• Xiu Yuan guided the adepti and taught Morax Planet Befall while Liyue's people forged weapons in fear of the Demon Gods.
• When an alarm signaled an invasion, Morax rejected Moon Carver's offer to fight and went alone to confront the Demon God.
• Morax defeated the Demon God with his versatile fighting style and asked whether he would have fought if there were no war.
• The Demon God explained that he had invaded to claim territory and subjects so he could survive, then condemned Morax's pity.
• The Demon God slit his own throat, and Morax froze as Xiu Yuan watched from afar and sighed.

After a defeated Demon God killed himself, Morax realized his question had humiliated him and returned to Xiu Yuan colder and more mature. As the Archon War intensified, Demon Gods began recruiting powerful beings as retainers, escalating the conflict.

• Morax understood that his question had wounded the defeated Demon God, who had killed himself rather than endure Morax's pity.
• Xiu Yuan returned to Mt. Tianheng, and Morax came back half a month later, changed by the encounter.
• Morax told Xiu Yuan he had figured things out and wanted to continue learning the skill.
• Morax stopped showing mercy to Demon Gods who attacked Liyue, while the Adepti joined missions against them.
• Demon Gods began recruiting powerful elemental beings as Demon God Retainers, and the Archon War grew more brutal.

Morax confronted threats to Liyue as Demon Gods gathered to challenge him, while Xiu Yuan brought Ganyu along with the adepti to fight one of them. Ganyu attacked after the Demon God mocked her appearance, and the battle began.

• Morax defeated Baqiu by pinning the sea monster in a dark ocean trench with a Kite Bird, and refugees and Demon Gods began arriving in Liyue.
• Two Demon Gods attacked Liyue from different directions, so Morax sent Skybracer and the adepti west while he rushed toward the other threat.
• Ganyu asked to join the fight, and Xiu Yuan persuaded Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper to let her come along.
• Four adepti carried Ganyu in a blue sphere to the Demon God's location, where the Demon God mocked her as a ball.
• Ganyu angrily hurled hailstones at the Demon God, who blocked them, and the adepti launched their attack.

The adepti struggled to evade the Demon God after he transformed into a Six-Armed Black Ape, but Ganyu fell and was grabbed. Her Ice Crystal Armor made her slip from his grip and lodge in his throat, leaving him choking and the adepti confused about what had happened.

• The Demon God transformed into a gigantic Six-Armed Black Ape, but the adepti continued dodging his attacks.
• Ganyu lost her balance in the shaking ground and fell, so the Demon God grabbed her and tried to eat her.
• Ganyu used Ice Crystal Armor, slipped from the Demon God's grip, and fell into his throat.
• The Demon God choked and thrashed in agony while the adepti kept their distance.
• Cloud Retainer wondered whether Ganyu was poisonous, and Ganyu shouted from inside the Demon God's throat that she was merely stuck there.

Ganyu accidentally killed a Demon God by becoming lodged in his throat, and the Adepti freed her. Morax killed another Demon God despite the pleas of the people he had protected, then encountered a masked man in black as he headed back to Mt. Tianheng.

• Ganyu realized the Demon God had died after she became stuck in his throat, and the Adepti confirmed his death.
• The Adepti cut open the Demon God's neck and freed Ganyu, who became embarrassed when she learned she had killed him.
• The people shielded their wounded Demon God from Morax, but the Demon God stepped forward and begged Morax not to hurt them.
• Morax disarmed the Demon God and killed him with his spear as the people watched.
• The people attacked Morax's shield in grief and anger, while Morax ignored them and rose toward Mt. Tianheng.
• A masked man dressed in black appeared beside Morax.