Chapter Summaries

After choosing Blackflame, Xiu Yuan began his third reincarnation with the mission of helping Shenhe adapt to human society. He found her in the forest and fought off Hilichurls and a Stonehide Lawachurl, ending the chapter as he stepped forward to face the monster alone.

• Xiu Yuan chose Blackflame as the skill to inherit in his third life.
• Xiu Yuan learned about Shenhe's abandonment by her father, her rescue by Cloud Retainer, and the Red Ropes that restrained her fate and temperament.
• Xiu Yuan wandered through a forest and encountered Hilichurls, which Shenhe's Frost Puppet Escort drove away.
• Xiu Yuan defeated the Hilichurls with his spear, then protected Shenhe from a Stonehide Lawachurl with Flame Flash Body Flicker.
• Xiu Yuan stopped Shenhe from joining the fight and went forward to face the Stonehide Lawachurl himself.

Xiu Yuan defeated a Mitachurl King and invited Shenhe to travel with him through the mountains. As they shared a meal, he challenged her belief that she was denied happiness, and Shenhe began to feel comfortable enough to smile and learn from him.

• Xiu Yuan destroyed the charging Mitachurl King with Blackflame and introduced himself to Shenhe.
• Shenhe explained her fate of solitary calamity, and Xiu Yuan invited her to travel with him away from crowded places.
• As they rested in a cave, Xiu Yuan told Shenhe that he valued the peace of nature but believed humans still belonged in the mortal world.
• Xiu Yuan told Shenhe that everyone had the right to happiness, leaving her wondering whether she did too.
• Xiu Yuan burned his fish, and Shenhe smiled before trading fish with him and listening as he explained what joking meant.

Xiu Yuan and Shenhe continued training in the mountains, where they rescued people from monsters and met Jean. Xiu Yuan saw through Shenhe’s claim that she had saved the group only in passing, leaving her unsettled by how well he understood her.

• Shenhe offered Xiu Yuan morning dew, and they spoke about Coconut Milk and the person he could no longer share it with.
• Xiu Yuan and Shenhe found ordinary people under attack by monsters and defeated them.
• Jean arrived, thanked the travelers, and heard Shenhe dismiss her rescue as instinctive self-protection before Shenhe left.
• Xiu Yuan told Jean that Shenhe was always like that, then followed her into the forest.
• Xiu Yuan suggested Shenhe had rushed to protect the people because she feared they would be hurt and asked why she suppressed herself with coldness.
• Shenhe rubbed her red cord, stayed silent, and privately reflected on how different and perceptive Xiu Yuan was.

Shenhe told Xiu Yuan how her father abandoned her as a child and how an Adeptus saved her, and he comforted her by rejecting the idea that she was destined to bring calamity. The next morning, Shenhe woke with new trust in him and called him her husband before running away in embarrassment.

• Shenhe confessed that her father had left her in a cave of God Remains after an evil book declared her the Lone Star of Calamity.
• Xiu Yuan understood that Shenhe had risked herself to save the villagers because she knew the despair of facing monsters alone.
• Xiu Yuan embraced Shenhe, told her she was not at fault for her fate, and promised she could rely on him.
• Shenhe cried in Xiu Yuan's arms until she fell asleep, while the wild boar burned to charcoal.
• Shenhe woke to find Xiu Yuan exhausted, chased after him, then blushed when she realized he had gone behind a tree to relieve himself.
• Shenhe called Xiu Yuan her husband, kissed his cheek, and fled in embarrassment.

Xiu Yuan persuaded Shenhe to slow down their relationship, then brought her to Mondstadt and made her tomato and egg noodles. The familiar taste and his gentle words brought back memories of her mother, and Shenhe broke down in tears in his arms.

• Xiu Yuan told Shenhe they needed more time to know each other before making a lifelong commitment, and she agreed to remain friends for now.
• Five days later, Xiu Yuan and Shenhe reached Mondstadt, where he encouraged her to experience ordinary life and took her to a restaurant.
• Shenhe told Xiu Yuan that she could not remember the food her master had shared with her, but still remembered noodles she had eaten at home as a child.
• Xiu Yuan went to the kitchen and returned with a bowl of tomato and egg noodles he had made for Shenhe.
• Shenhe recognized the taste and remembered her mother telling her to eat slowly, then sobbed and threw herself into Xiu Yuan's arms.

Xiu Yuan and Shenhe explored Mondstadt with Acting Grand Master Jean, and Shenhe began learning why people relied on judgment rather than killing wrongdoers outright. After nightfall, Xiu Yuan asked Jean for help with a plan, bought fine cider, and went to meet Venti.

• Shenhe stopped a burly man from intimidating a restaurant waiter, and Xiu Yuan tripped the man when he tried to flee.
• Acting Grand Master Jean arrived, confirmed the man's misconduct, and invited Xiu Yuan and Shenhe on a tour of Mondstadt.
• Shenhe questioned why people reasoned with troublemakers, and Xiu Yuan explained that people could be wrongly accused.
• Acting Grand Master Jean arranged rooms at an inn, and Xiu Yuan told Shenhe he would be going out to meet someone.
• Xiu Yuan asked Acting Grand Master Jean for help, bought several bottles of fine cider, and found Venti sitting in a tree.

Xiu Yuan questioned Venti in Mondstadt, then grew closer to Shenhe during their weeks together. When Shenhe tried to make their relationship physical, Xiu Yuan rejected her and vanished, leaving her devastated.

• Xiu Yuan traded Venti bottles of cider for answers, then left Venti pondering him and promising to compose a poem for him.
• Shenhe asked to share Xiu Yuan's bed, embraced him while they slept, and thanked him the next morning for helping her rest.
• Over several weeks in Mondstadt, Shenhe became more sociable, learned from Jean, and tried to cook tomato and egg noodles for Xiu Yuan.
• Shenhe tried to remove her Red Ropes and told Xiu Yuan that he was the one who could truly bind her, but Xiu Yuan said he did not love her and told her to stop clinging to him.
• Xiu Yuan hurled his Long Spear through the window and vanished before Shenhe could stop him, while Jean stood outside the door.

Xiu Yuan left Mondstadt after arranging for Acting Grand Master Jean to help Shenhe build a life among people. The chapter revealed his plan to make Shenhe hate him and leave before his terminal illness took his life, hoping she would eventually find happiness without him.

• Xiu Yuan told Acting Grand Master Jean about Shenhe’s lonely past and asked her to become Shenhe’s friend and support her after he died.
• Xiu Yuan revealed that he had a terminal illness and had originally traveled to find a place to be buried, but meeting Shenhe gave him a reason to help her.
• Xiu Yuan asked Acting Grand Master Jean to hint to Shenhe about marriage once she had adjusted to life in Mondstadt, so Shenhe would come to confess her feelings.
• Xiu Yuan planned to reject Shenhe cruelly and leave, accepting that she might hate him so Acting Grand Master Jean could help her move on.
• More than ten days later, Xiu Yuan walked away from Mondstadt, grieving as he put his plan into action.

Xiu Yuan asked Venti how to replace Shenhe’s fate of solitude and calamity, and learned that the exchange required specific conditions and could bring severe karmic consequences. As Xiu Yuan left to seek Moon Carver’s help, Shenhe broke down, injured herself, and tried to stab herself before Acting Grand Master Jean stopped her.

• Xiu Yuan offered Venti cider in exchange for answers about changing fate, and Venti explained that a good fate could replace a bad one under strict conditions.
• Venti directed Xiu Yuan to find Moon Carver at Cloud-Retainer's Abode and warned him of the karmic consequences.
• Xiu Yuan told Venti about Shenhe’s loneliness and said he was willing to bear her fate so she could experience the warmth of human life.
• Venti gave Xiu Yuan a paper talisman, and Xiu Yuan left while Venti watched him disappear into the night.
• Shenhe believed Xiu Yuan had abandoned her, beat her fists against the floor, and reached for a kitchen knife before Acting Grand Master Jean intervened.
• Shenhe clung to Acting Grand Master Jean and sobbed that Xiu Yuan no longer wanted her, while Jean tried to comfort her.

Xiu Yuan exchanged his fate of happiness for Shenhe’s lone calamity, and Shenhe learned of his sacrifice when she returned to Liyue. After hearing his final message, she mourned him and vowed to wait for him.

• Xiu Yuan asked Moon Carver to exchange his fate for Shenhe’s, and the exchange succeeded after lightning struck them both.
• Shenhe discovered that her baleful energy had vanished and traveled to Liyue with Acting Grand Master Jean to ask her master what had happened.
• Moon Carver examined Shenhe and revealed that her fate had changed from lone calamity to happiness because Xiu Yuan had exchanged their fates.
• Shenhe recalled Xiu Yuan’s promises, begged Moon Carver to reverse the exchange, and learned that fate could only be exchanged once.
• Acting Grand Master Jean comforted Shenhe as Moon Carver relayed Xiu Yuan’s final message, and Shenhe vowed to wait for him.

On the first anniversary of Xiu Yuan’s passing, Hu Tao visited his grave and confessed how much she missed him and how tired she was from carrying her responsibilities. Zhongli watched over her, promised Xiu Yuan he would care for her, and carried the sleeping Hu Tao home.

• Hu Tao worried that business at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor had slowed, while Zhongli suggested she spend time with her old friends.
• Hu Tao insisted she was too busy as director, though Zhongli knew she had been suppressing her wish to play and carrying the burden of the parlor.
• At midnight, Hu Tao visited Xiu Yuan’s grave and told him about the past year, including Rex Lapis’s death and the Rite of Parting she held with Zhongli’s help.
• Hu Tao broke down in tears, telling Xiu Yuan she missed him, felt exhausted, and wanted to sing with her friends again.
• Zhongli watched Hu Tao through the night, draped his coat over her, promised Xiu Yuan he would care for her, and carried her home after she cried herself to sleep.

Hu Tao and Zhongli made a contract about arranging his funeral, but decades later Hu Tao realized that the Rite of Parting had fulfilled it. As Hu Tao died of old age, Zhongli held her memory in his heart.

• Hu Tao returned to the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor after failing to find customers and asked Zhongli why people did not prepare for death in advance.
• Hu Tao told Zhongli she had prepared his funeral and promised to make it as grand as Rex Lapis's.
• Zhongli and Hu Tao sealed a contract, with Zhongli invoking the Wrath of the Rock against anyone who broke their word.
• Decades later, the aged Hu Tao realized that the Rite of Parting had fulfilled the contract, thanked Zhongli, and died.
• Zhongli watched Hu Tao's hand fall and carried another lasting memory of her.

When Little Fluff stopped eating, Qiqi and Xiangling learned that the finch had reached the end of its life. They brought it to the Forest Cabin, where Little Fluff died among a gathering of finches, and Qiqi realized it had returned home.

• Qiqi grew worried when Little Fluff stopped eating and drinking, so she and Xiangling took the finch to a veterinarian.
• The veterinarian told Qiqi and Xiangling that Little Fluff was healthy but had reached the end of its life, and that it had likely been happy returning to them after flying free.
• Qiqi sensed that Little Fluff wanted to be buried at Xiu Yuan's cabin, so she and Xiangling carried it to the Forest Cabin after sunset.
• Little Fluff died when they arrived, and fireflies and a flock of finches gathered around Qiqi and Xiangling.
• Qiqi understood that the Forest Cabin had been Little Fluff's home all along and smiled through her tears.

Xiu Yuan and Qiqi searched for ingredients with Xiangling, then found her trapped on a cliff after she secretly went to gather Violetgrass. Xiu Yuan saved her and was wounded, and the chapter left Xiangling grateful and resolved not to gather dangerous ingredients alone again.

• Xiangling asked Xiu Yuan and Qiqi to help gather ingredients, and the three split up after agreeing to meet at eleven.
• When Xiangling failed to return, Xiu Yuan and Qiqi searched the forest and found her clinging to a cliff while Hilichurl archers attacked.
• Xiu Yuan shielded Xiangling from the arrows, helped her up the cliff, and Qiqi defeated the Hilichurl archers.
• Xiu Yuan removed the arrows from his wounds and let Xiangling bandage him before they headed back to Liyue.
• Xiu Yuan confronted Xiangling for secretly gathering Violetgrass alone, and Qiqi agreed they should gather ingredients together.
• Xiangling apologized and remembered Xiu Yuan's actions with gratitude as she realized how lucky Qiqi was to have him.

Qiqi reread the last page of her notebook and mourned Xiu Yuan, who had left Liyue. She added that she wanted to watch the coming Lantern Rite with him and vowed to wait for his return.

• After finishing her Soft Gymnastics, Qiqi checked her notebook and remembered that she had one last task: reread her story with Xiu Yuan.
• Qiqi read her heartfelt memories of Xiu Yuan and the warmth he had brought into her life.
• Qiqi cried and said she missed Xiu Yuan and hoped he would remember her too.
• After hearing from Xiangling that the Lantern Rite was approaching, Qiqi wrote that she wanted to watch it with Xiu Yuan.
• Qiqi finished the last page, gazed at the stars, and promised to wait for Xiu Yuan to come back.

At an inn in Mondstadt, Shenhe shared her painful past with Xiu Yuan and imagined a future as his wife and the mother of his child. Xiu Yuan hid his sorrow about eventually leaving her, and the chapter ended with him watching over the sleeping Shenhe and wishing they could be together.

• Shenhe told Xiu Yuan that her village had been abandoned and her father had died, leaving her feeling cut off from her human ties.
• Xiu Yuan comforted Shenhe, and they shared candied hawthorns as she delighted in their sweetness.
• Shenhe asked whether Xiu Yuan would want a boy or a girl if they married, and he said he only wanted her because pregnancy and childbirth could be painful.
• Shenhe said she would gladly endure those hardships for him and imagined raising a son with the best father in the world.
• Xiu Yuan ended the conversation and went inside with Shenhe, then sat alone by the window after she fell asleep and wished she could be his wife.

After completing his third reincarnation, Xiu Yuan chose the Demon Qilin Garment and began his fourth life with the mission to make Xiao smile from the heart. He considered Xiao’s painful past and learned how the Golden Roc Yaksha was freed by Morax and became the Conqueror of Demons.

• Xiu Yuan refused to choose a skill or continue reincarnating until he learned a replacement personality could affect his previous worlds, prompting him to continue so no one could take his place.
• Xiu Yuan selected the Demon Qilin Garment for its defensive abilities and was sent to Liyue with the mission to make Xiao smile from the heart again.
• Xiu Yuan recalled how the god who controlled Golden Roc forced him to kill and devour his enemies’ dreams, leaving him emotionally hardened.
• Morax defeated Golden Roc’s master, freed the Yaksha, and gave him the name Xiao.
• Xiao vowed to protect Liyue, becoming the Conqueror of Demons and the sole surviving Guardian Yaksha after three died and one disappeared.

Xiu Yuan found Xiao fighting evil spirits in Nightfall Forest and challenged him to prove their strength was equal. After battling all night without a winner, Xiao acknowledged Xiu Yuan and asked whether he wanted to slay evil spirits together, but Xiu Yuan tried to provoke him into fighting longer.

• Xiu Yuan followed the sounds of battle through Nightfall Forest and joined Xiao in defeating several evil spirits.
• Xiu Yuan introduced himself and asked to join Xiao in slaying demons, then argued that he was Xiao's equal.
• Xiao challenged Xiu Yuan to a test of strength, and they fought with spears for hours before unleashing their full abilities.
• Xiu Yuan and Xiao battled through the night without either winning, and Xiao acknowledged Xiu Yuan's strength.
• Xiao asked whether Xiu Yuan still wanted to slay evil spirits with him, and Xiu Yuan taunted him to keep fighting for another three thousand rounds.

Xiu Yuan and Xiao fought until they collapsed, then recognized the friendship they had found in each other. They raced to Wangshu Inn for Almond Tofu and immediately started competing over how much to order.

• Xiu Yuan and Xiao fought through the day and night, defeating any evil spirits that interrupted them.
• Xiu Yuan and Xiao both collapsed, then argued over who had fallen first.
• Xiao remembered his friendship with the other Guardian Yakshas, while Xiu Yuan insisted Xiao was afraid he would take his position.
• Xiu Yuan and Xiao challenged each other to fight again, but stopped when their stomachs growled.
• Xiu Yuan and Xiao raced to Wangshu Inn and competed over how many portions of Almond Tofu to order.

Xiu Yuan befriended Xiao at Wangshu Inn over Almond Tofu, then ignored Xiao’s warnings about karmic debt and declared himself commissioned to help purge evil spirits. He left Xiao bewildered and went to sleep beneath a tree, exhausted from their fight.

• Xiao ordered Almond Tofu, and Xiu Yuan ordered a bowl to find common ground with him.
• Xiu Yuan and Xiao talked about being alone and sharing a spear, and Xiu Yuan ate ten bowls of Almond Tofu.
• Xiao warned Xiu Yuan three times that hunting evil spirits brought unbearable karmic debt, but Xiu Yuan dismissed his concern.
• Xiu Yuan told Xiao that the meal was on him as payment for a commission to help purge evil spirits, then left to nap.
• Xiao stared at the empty bowls in confusion while Xiu Yuan fell asleep under a tree.