Chapter Summaries

Ellin, Venti, and Zhongli reunited in the Dandelion Sea, where Zhongli asked Ellin to explain how she knew about his secret contract. After Venti shared that Ellin was a reincarnator in a created world, Zhongli accepted her as a new variable and invited her to help shape Liyue’s future.

• Noelle, Fischl, and Sucrose watched from afar as Ellin, Venti, and Zhongli talked in the Dandelion Sea.
• Venti told Zhongli why he had donned his crown three times, and Zhongli explained that he had postponed the Rite of Descension because Venti’s actions made him suspect a crisis in Mondstadt.
• Zhongli asked Ellin how she had recognized his mortal identity and learned he was rehearsing life without using divine power to create Mora.
• Ellin asked Zhongli to promise secrecy, and he sealed a contract before Venti raised a Flowing Wind Barrier around them.
• Venti explained Ellin’s reincarnation and the created world to Zhongli, who accepted the account and said Ellin’s arrival had already changed the world’s course.
• Zhongli welcomed Ellin’s influence on Liyue and said he looked forward to seeing how she would affect the nation, the world, and the Heavenly Principles.

Ellin discussed the coming events in Liyue with Zhongli, who agreed to support her as long as she did not disrupt his contract. After learning that changing her body back to male was unlikely, Ellin reconsidered her identity and began to accept the life and relationships she had built as a woman.

• Zhongli summarized the expected Rite of Descension plot, and Ellin confirmed it before he agreed she could act freely as a Variable while respecting the contract.
• Ellin asked Zhongli to teach her how to become male again, but he explained that transformation arts could not change her underlying nature and that her future was uncertain.
• Zhongli told Ellin that her attachment to being male came from her previous life and urged her to consider the family, friends, and bonds she had gained in this world.
• Ellin saw Fischl, Sucrose, and Noelle wave to her, returned their greeting, and made up her mind to embrace her present life.

Zhongli helped Ellin reconsider her fixation on becoming a man and prepare for the loneliness and grief of an Archon’s long life. Ellin vowed to create a world where her friends’ smiles would never fade, and Zhongli and Venti agreed to support her growth.

• Zhongli told Ellin that an Archon did not need a gender or offspring and needed enduring companionship more than mortal romantic love.
• Zhongli warned Ellin that Fischl, Sucrose, and Noelle would grow old and die while she remained young, and that their bonds would bring sorrow to both sides.
• After thinking about her friends’ future, Ellin declared that she could not accept them growing old and wanted to create a world where their smiles lasted forever.
• Zhongli and Venti left Ellin to spend time with her friends, then discussed how close she was to fulfilling the third condition for becoming a god.
• Zhongli said he would help Ellin because he hoped she could become Liyue’s guardian after he left his divine seat.

Ellin felt more relaxed after Zhongli helped her find a new direction, and she went looking for him to ask about Geo. She hid when she saw him dining with Venti, then watched as Zhongli made Venti pay the enormous bill; the chapter ended with the author announcing a short break.

• Fischl woke to find Ellin cuddling her, and Ellin explained that she had wanted to hold her.
• Fischl, Noelle, and Sucrose noticed that Ellin seemed more relaxed and gentle than she had since arriving in Liyue.
• Ellin went searching for Zhongli so she could ask him to teach her how to use Geo.
• Ellin hid when she found Zhongli treating Venti to a meal at the Xinyue Kiosk.
• Zhongli revealed that Venti would have to pay the 1,860,000 Mora bill, and Venti paid it after Zhongli cited his old debts.
• The author announced a two- or three-day break to rest and asked readers to report frightening images in the review section.

Zhongli taught Ellin how Geo could be used for close-fitting defense and powerful resonance attacks. Ellin saw him unleash a shock wave that devastated the ground while protecting her and Venti.

• Ellin asked Zhongli to teach her how to wield Geo power, explaining that Geo shields restricted her attacks and conventional Geo strikes seemed weak.
• Zhongli demonstrated a thin, precisely controlled layer of Geo armor that protected him while leaving him free to attack.
• Zhongli explained that Geo's true offensive method was Resonance, using oneself as a focal point to set surrounding Geo vibrating.
• Zhongli tapped the air, causing a massive shock wave that shattered the ground and destroyed nearby plants while shielding Ellin and Venti from harm.

Zhongli buried Ellin for six days to help her overcome the wind god's core interfering with her use of Geo energy. She emerged able to channel Geo smoothly and demonstrated her new abilities, while Feng'er silently reacted to her shouted challenge to the Heavenly Principles.

• Zhongli explained that Ellin's wind god's core made it difficult for her to channel Geo energy and said she could improve by experiencing Geo's weight and solidity.
• Zhongli and Venti buried Ellin in the earth, where she spent six days sensing Geo energy while they ate and drank nearby.
• On her seventh day underground, Ellin burst out of the earth and told Zhongli she could now use Geo energy smoothly.
• Ellin formed a golden Geo shield and summoned a giant stone sphere that exploded in a small lake.
• A nearby little zombie girl turned toward the explosion, while Feng'er twitched at Ellin's challenge to the Heavenly Principles.

At the Rite of Descension, Rex Lapis’s lifeless dragon form crashed onto Yujing Terrace, and Ningguang declared that the Geo Archon had been assassinated. Lumine fled the Millelith with help from Childe, while Zhongli, Venti, and Ellin watched the event from a barbecue stall.

• Ningguang began the Rite of Descension, but a storm gathered instead of the usual auspicious signs.
• Rex Lapis’s dragon form fell lifeless onto Yujing Terrace, throwing the crowd into panic.
• Ningguang ordered the Millelith to seal off the area, and Lumine and Paimon fled the cordon.
• Childe attacked the Millelith with Hydro arrows and blades, opened a gap, and led Lumine away.
• Zhongli watched Venti and Ellin discuss how calmly he had watched himself die.

Ellin explained Childe’s plan to use Lumine and the adepti to sow conflict in Liyue while he searched for Morax’s hidden corpse and Gnosis. After Childe sent Lumine and Paimon to Jueyun Karst with a Sigil of Permission, Ellin, Venti, and Zhongli waited for her return and for Childe to approach the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

• Zhongli recounted how the Traveler had become the prime suspect in the Rite of Descension and encountered Childe while fleeing.
• Ellin described how Childe would use Lumine to tell the adepti about Morax’s death, stirring conflict that could help him find the Gnosis.
• At the Northland Bank, Childe revealed that he was a Fatui Harbinger, questioned Lumine about the Liyue Qixing, and offered to help clear her name.
• Childe gave Lumine a Sigil of Permission and urged her to take it to Jueyun Karst to tell the adepti about Rex Lapis’s death.
• Venti and Zhongli confirmed that Lumine and Paimon had left Liyue Harbor, and Ellin chilled their watermelons with Cryo energy.
• Ellin, Venti, and Zhongli agreed to wait for Lumine’s return and for Childe to approach the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

As the Fatui stirred public outrage over Rex Lapis’s death, Childe sought a way to force the Liyue Qixing to reveal the Prime of the Adepti’s Exuvia. Lumine agreed to help Zhongli prepare a Rite of Parting after reuniting with Ellin, while Childe began to suspect Ellin’s ties to the Knights of Favonius.

• Childe spread false rumors that the Liyue Qixing had killed Rex Lapis and concealed his body to seize power, while the Qixing stalled to keep the Fatui from obtaining the Gnosis.
• Lumine and Paimon returned from Jueyun Karst with the Sigil of Permission and told Childe that the adepti were gathering to come to Liyue Harbor.
• Childe brought Lumine and Paimon to meet Zhongli, where they unexpectedly reunited with Ellin and Feng'er.
• Zhongli asked Lumine to help prepare the Geo Archon’s Rite of Parting, and Ellin persuaded her that doing so was the only way to see the hidden body.
• After they left, Childe recognized Ellin as the Sun Knight of the Knights of Favonius and warned that he would remove her if she interfered.

Zhongli, Lumine, Paimon, and Ellin gathered materials for Rex Lapis’s rite of parting, and the merchants they met gave up profits to help honor him. Zhongli felt heartened by Liyue’s people as Ellin and he returned to Yujing Terrace with the Noctilucous jade.

• Zhongli led Lumine and Paimon to the Jade Mystery to buy top-quality Noctilucous jade for the rite of parting.
• Ellin persuaded Lumine and Paimon to buy all three varieties of jade and offered to pay, while joking that she would force Childe to reimburse her if needed.
• After learning the jade was for Rex Lapis’s farewell, Shitou sold it at half price and explained his family’s debt to the Geo Archon.
• Zhongli and the others bought three varieties of Silk flowers, and the flower shop owner offered them for free after learning their purpose.
• Zhongli asked Lumine and Paimon to find someone skilled at making perfume while he and Ellin carried the jade to Yujing Terrace.
• Ellin asked Zhongli how he felt, and he said he was heartened by the people of Liyue’s generosity and gratitude.

Zhongli reflected on why he had endured for Liyue and how Keqing’s challenge convinced him that the nation might be ready to stand on its own. Having arranged a test of Liyue’s ability to face Osial, he questioned whether the story Ellin had revealed would unfold as expected after a new variable arrived.

• Zhongli recalled that millennia of protecting Liyue had left him exhausted and afraid that erosion might make him turn against the nation.
• Zhongli remembered Keqing’s declaration that humans should write their own history and saw it as a sign that Liyue might be ready for a new age.
• Zhongli explained that he had made a contract with the Cryo Archon and staged his death to test whether the Liyue Qixing and adepti could protect the harbor from Osial.
• Zhongli said he would intervene to seal Osial again if Liyue’s defenders failed.
• Zhongli told the Blue-Dressed Girl that a new variable could change the events Ellin had described, then wondered whether the story would go smoothly.

Ellin joined Lumine, Paimon, and Zhongli to arrange fragrant balm with Ying'er, then turned Ying'er's innuendo back on her with her own seductive teasing. Ying'er admitted defeat and led them to Wanmin Restaurant to cook the balm.

• Ellin and Zhongli found Lumine and Paimon near Liyue's crafting bench and learned that Ying'er had embarrassed them while discussing fragrant balm.
• Ellin accompanied Lumine to Chunxiang Kiln and told Ying'er that she was the one ordering the fragrant balm.
• Ying'er teased Ellin about juggling three lovers, but Ellin shamelessly agreed and flirted with Ying'er in return.
• Ellin's seductive charm nearly overwhelmed Ying'er, who recovered, recognized Ellin as her match, and stopped teasing her.
• Ying'er hurriedly led the group to Wanmin Restaurant to borrow a stove, while Zhongli asked Lumine and Paimon whether Ellin was usually so bold.

Ellin used her innocent fairy persona to turn Ying'er's suggestive scented-paste lesson against her at Wanmin Restaurant. Ying'er was publicly condemned and fled, while Zhongli, Lumine, and Paimon recognized Ellin's successful trick.

• Ellin floated into Wanmin Restaurant, rang her bell, and drew the diners' attention as the Clear-Bell Flower-Butterfly Fairy.
• Ying'er gave Ellin suggestive instructions for making scented paste, believing she could tease the apparently innocent fairy.
• Ellin blushed and acted as though she misunderstood Ying'er's remarks, prompting the diners to see her as pure and Ying'er as shameless.
• A diner confronted Ying'er for disrespecting the fairy, and the crowd joined in once Ying'er realized who Ellin was.
• Ying'er finished making the scented paste under the crowd's condemnation and fled, while Ellin greeted the diners and Zhongli, Lumine, and Paimon watched in amazement.

Zhongli explained to Ellin that the people of Liyue considered her an adeptus because of the good she had done, regardless of her origins. The group then offered three perfumes to the Statue of the Seven, which responded to the third, leaving Ellin to wonder whether Zhongli had chosen it in memory of a departed friend.

• Paimon praised Ellin for standing up to Ying'er, and Zhongli reflected on how much the people of Liyue admired Ellin.
• Ellin asked Zhongli whether it was right for a woman from Mondstadt to be treated as a Liyue adeptus.
• Zhongli told Ellin that those who use their strength to protect others and do good deeds deserve to be called adepti, and that Liyue's people honored her for her contributions.
• Zhongli led Ellin, Lumine, and Paimon to offer three perfumes to the Statue of the Seven, which responded only to the third perfume.
• Paimon joked that Rex Lapis might be a mature lady, and Ellin wondered whether Zhongli had chosen the third perfume to remember a departed female friend.

Ellin split from Zhongli, Lumine, and Paimon to retrieve the Cleansing Bell from Madame Ping at Yujing Terrace. She befriended the adeptus with unusual plants from Sucrose, then left with the bell as Madame Ping considered teaching her.

• Zhongli explained the rite of parting preparations and sent Ellin to collect the Cleansing Bell from Madame Ping while he went to Bubu Pharmacy with Lumine and Paimon.
• Ellin met Madame Ping at Yujing Terrace and gave her unusual plants cultivated by Sucrose.
• Ellin showed Madame Ping plants that glowed, produced a breeze, and yielded sugar water, impressing the adeptus.
• Ellin took the Cleansing Bell and departed after promising Madame Ping she could visit her Sub-Space Creation later.
• Madame Ping watched Ellin leave and wondered whether she would be interested in learning her skills.

Zhongli used the search for Everwake Incense to lure Childe into suspecting that the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia was hidden in the Golden House, while Ningguang invited Ellin, Lumine, and Paimon to the Jade Chamber. Ellin carried Lumine and Paimon into the sky, and Ningguang realized Ganyu may have forgotten to explain how to reach the Jade Chamber.

• Zhongli, Lumine, and Paimon learned that Everwake Incense cost three million Mora, so Childe offered to help and negotiated the price down to 2.99 million.
• Childe questioned a Fatui woman outside Bubu Pharmacy, learned the Golden House had been commandeered, and suspected the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia was inside.
• Zhongli told Ellin that his deliberate leak had prompted Childe to investigate the Golden House, and Ellin decided to take action.
• Ganyu invited Ellin, Lumine, and Paimon to the Jade Chamber on Ningguang's behalf, and Ellin flew them there herself.
• Ningguang asked Ganyu whether she had told the group how to reach the Jade Chamber, and Ganyu froze in response.

Ganyu apologized to Ningguang for forgetting to tell Ellin and her companions how to reach the Jade Chamber, and Ningguang urged her to take time off to grieve Rex Lapis. Ellin, Lumine, and Paimon arrived, and Ningguang and Keqing explained the Qixing’s position on the Adepti and denied having any reason to kill Rex Lapis.

• Ganyu apologized to Ningguang, who told her to take a few days off because Rex Lapis’s death had left her distracted and grieving.
• Ellin flew Lumine and Paimon to the Jade Chamber, where Ningguang and Ganyu welcomed them.
• Keqing joined the group, and Lumine asked Ningguang why she had invited them.
• Ningguang asked Lumine to remain neutral between the Qixing and the Adepti, while Keqing criticized the Adepti’s condescension toward mortals and argued that Liyue needed to face a future without them.
• Ningguang explained that the Qixing had no motive to murder Rex Lapis, since Liyue’s people were his loyal subjects and the next Geo Archon would eventually appear.

Ningguang explained to Lumine why the Liyue Qixing had hidden Rex Lapis’s remains while they dealt with the power vacuum and Fatui schemes. Ellin told Ningguang and Keqing she would protect Liyue’s people, then warned that Childe knew where the Exuvia was hidden.

• Ningguang told Lumine that the Qixing hid the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia to foil the Fatui and buy time to assume authority after Rex Lapis’s death.
• Ningguang revealed that the Fatui were making copies of the Sigil of Permission near the Guili Plains.
• Ellin told Ningguang and Keqing that she favored the people of Liyue and would intervene if they faced danger.
• Ellin warned Ningguang and Keqing that Childe knew the Exuvia was hidden in the Golden House.
• Keqing and Ningguang vowed not to let the Fatui desecrate the Exuvia or succeed in their plot.

As the adepti arrived in Liyue Harbor and the Qixing prepared for a possible clash, Ellin volunteered to guard the Golden House, letting its defenses be redeployed. Childe took the opportunity to attack, only to find the entrance strangely unguarded and his expected ambush absent.

• Keqing and Ningguang accepted Ellin's offer to guard the Golden House and the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia alone.
• Lumine and Zhongli obtained a Wild Glaze Lily with Ganyu's help and returned to find the adepti confronting the Liyue Qixing outside the harbor.
• Zhongli told Lumine that Ellin was guarding the Golden House, then hurried off to check on Hu Tao while Lumine went to mediate between the adepti and the Qixing.
• Childe saw that the Golden House had no guards outside and suspected a trap, but entered anyway to seize the Gnosis.
• Childe kicked open the doors and dodged aside, but no arrows or other ambush awaited him.

Childe entered the undefended Golden House to seize the Gnosis and found Ellin guarding the Prime of the Adepti's Exuvia. After Childe provoked her, Ellin unleashed her Anemo and Electro powers and struck him with a heavy punch.

• Childe entered the Golden House, puzzled that the Liyue Qixing had left it without Millelith guards.
• Childe sensed a powerful opponent and hurried deeper into the Golden House, expecting to find the Exuvia and its Gnosis.
• Ellin revealed that the Liyue Qixing had entrusted her with guarding the Golden House, and Childe declared that he would take the Gnosis.
• Childe taunted Ellin and challenged her to fight, while his remarks about Venti and his demand that she please him angered her.
• Ellin rose from her air sofa, surged forward with Anemo and Electro, and punched Childe in the abdomen.