Omniscius [Genshin Impact]

44: The Time to Start Believing

Yakshas. They were the adepti Rex Lapis had appointed after the Archon War to purge all evil through slaughter, shouldering death to cleanse the land.

The Yakshas played a great role when the Geo Archon made his first contract to Liyue–To cleanse and to defend. There used to be five Yakshas carrying the duty of death but in the end, not all of them could live.

One succumbed to corruption. Two fought each other to the death. One more abandoned his duty until only one remained loyal, standing against time to uphold his duties to the nation thanklessly.

That was Xiao, dubbed the 'Vigilant Yaksha' and 'Conqueror of Demons'. This mysterious adeptus had forced the Grim Reaper into relinquishing its title, for Xiao took the duty of death into his own hands and paid the price for it.

Soleil can only look down on the piece of paper before her, where Xiao's Yaskha mask was sketched from memory. She closed her eyes and immersed herself in the past events.

She could feel traces of Archon Residue seeping into the surroundings the first time they met... That was something to Soleil.

"Hu Tao?" Soleil called to the girl seated on the opposite side of the table.

"Hm?" Hu Tao blinked and looked up from her notebook. She was busy writing verses and was reading one of the books she herself had written and successfully published.

"Xiao... You've met him before, right?" Soleil asked. "Oh? You mean that adeptus guy who never smiles? Pretty much, yeah. What about him?" Hu Tao spoke curiously.

"I've come across him a few times now. There is this strange energy that seems to be hurting him. You know about his condition, don't you?" Soleil asked.

"Oh...? What of it?" Hu Tao asked, flipping a page. "I read it was because of 'karma'," Soleil looked at Hu Tao, "But we both know that isn't the real case."

"Hehehe! Do we now?" Hu Tao giggled, "Be careful, Soleil~ You may not have much respect for the divine, but these things are passed down from generation to generation and is considered 'truth'. Do you really want to contest it? Who will believe you?"

"We both know that the 'wrath of bygone gods' is also nothing but bullshit. We simply go with it because we know people won't believe us since the Archons themselves consider it that way," Soleil snorted.

"True, true," Hu Tao nodded and leaned back on her seat while reading, "But it's better that way, no? The actual truth is not something the common folk will be able to accept. It can be a little...shocking, to put it lightly, hehe. I guess the truth should only be kept amongst ourselves~"

Soleil nodded, "The real truth should never get out... For the sake of the people."

The wrath of dead gods... Slain deities casting curses on the living... Those were just things people of ancient times made to further scare themselves.

Archon Residue and Tatarigami aren't just corrupted energy or curses embodied by the dead gods. Soleil can testify as she was one of the head researchers of that forsaken Fatui project.

These energies were nothing more but decaying matters of the gods' corpses during the Archon War, but the truth has long been distorted...fuelled by fear and enforced by divine intervention.

Hundreds of gods used to walk the lands of Teyvat. So when they were slain, their bodies piled up and were left to rot. Without proper disposal, the dead would still affect the health of the living. These decaying bodies were what infected the land and dubbed as 'wrath of bygone gods'.

Hu Tao comes from a family that practices burials and has a tradition as old as Liyue Harbor itself, granted a special bloodline to see both the living and the spirits of the dead. Naturally, the secrets of the past were also passed down for her to keep.