Genshin Impact, I, a mere mortal, cannot accompany you to the very end.

"Wisdom and clarity bring peace of mind."

"The three souls are eternal, and the spirit is never lost."

These are the incantations for the Nuoyou ritual, he recited softly.

Fushe was exhausted, Fushe was weary. His whole body was covered in blood, and his back was riddled with arrows. He took a breath, pulled out the arrows, straightened his back, and continued forward.

【lv.91】

He doesn't know how many people he killed, he doesn't know how much negative karma he absorbed—tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands?

The numbers are meaningless now. Logically speaking, his last shred of humanity should have dissipated long ago, should have been submerged long ago. Perhaps being submerged and dissipated would be a relief—he wouldn't be in so much pain anymore.

With each karmic burden he absorbs, he tastes a portion of suffering; he has already tasted hundreds of thousands of portions of suffering.

But he just wouldn't, wouldn't... He wanted to hold on until the very last moment, until the very last second.

Because...439,531 people, not a single one can be missing!!

[Remaining lifespan: half an hour]

He didn't know how long the battle had lasted. His steps became increasingly unsteady, his consciousness increasingly fragmented. He struggled, supporting himself with his long sword, and took one step after another forward.

The mad souls... are dwindling, his enemies are dwindling, the thousands of troops before Fushe are dwindling, and the last one... is a Yaksha.

Fushe... I still remember his name.

Bronze Sparrow.

His name was Tongque, he was the vanguard of Fushe's army, a soldier whom Fushe had personally raised... a hero who died before dawn.

"Bronze Sparrow".

Fu She said softly, "Hello."

Tongque watched him quietly. He was also tainted by the filth, but for some reason, he did not attack Fushe. He simply waited there quietly, waiting for Fushe's trembling longsword to slowly pierce his chest.

Even if it became a karmic obstacle, even if he lost his mind, this not-so-powerful Yaksha... was unwilling to lay a hand on Fushe.

"sorry."

Fushe could no longer support his body. He leaned weakly against Tongque, his body cold and trembling, his soul seemingly gone. Fushe finally felt eternal loneliness. He had lost everything; he was alone, with nowhere to go.

In the end, he was all alone.

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t… save you last time.” he said.

half an hour.

I don't know how much time has passed.

"marshal..."

"Big brother...big brother."

Fushe heard such a sound, and he felt an embrace, a warm embrace. Tongque held him tightly. Although the latter had no physical form, Fushe could feel his warmth and hear his heartbeat.

"Tongque...Tongque has never blamed his elder brother..."

Tongque trembled, trembled deeply, his voice choked with emotion: "Brother, you have... done so well, you are the best brother in the world... you are the best marshal in the world."

"Please stop saying sorry, please... You have done right by everyone, you have done right by every soldier, please don't... please don't blame yourself anymore."

"I am content. We are all content. I have no regrets about being able to see my elder brother again."

The figure of the Bronze Sparrow slowly dissipated, clutching Fu She's sleeve tightly, unwilling to leave, not wanting to leave. "We have wandered underground for hundreds of years, just to meet you again."

Fu She leaned wearily against him. The once indomitable Marshal Tai was no longer indomitable. He lowered his eyes and muttered under his breath, "You brat."

"You brat," he said fiercely.

"I am very content... If I could share a plate of grilled tigerfish with you again, that would be the best thing."

"Grilled sardines are even better, you brat."

"Then we must eat together!"

Tongque slowly released Fushe, his figure fading as he departed. Yaksha watched Fushe intently.

"Brother, you've done very well... You're not alone, please... please turn around, please look behind you."

Fushe paused, stunned. Since he began the exorcism ritual, he had been moving forward without ever looking back. He fought relentlessly, and his karmic obstacles diminished one by one.

He instinctively turned around, and then he froze—

The 430,000 soldiers and 430,000 heroic souls did not disperse, nor did they leave the ley lines to head towards the border between life and death. Instead, they remained silently behind him.

There were fewer and fewer people in front of him, and more and more people behind him.

And now, behind him.

—It is his vast army.

All the soldiers of the Thousand Rock Army, all their own men, gazed at Fushe with tears in their eyes, gazed at their marshal, gazed at the best marshal and the best elder brother in the world.

“Pu Shiyi, squad leader of the second battalion under Marshal Tai of Qianyan Army, is here to check in. All five men are present.”

"Liao Ba, a centurion under the command of the Grand Marshal of the Thousand Armies, is here for roll call..."

They were taking roll call, reporting to Fushe. According to the custom of the Qianyan Army, after each battle, each battalion and army would count the number of soldiers and report to Marshal Tai.

Each person's voice was faint, but one sentence after another, one person after another, the shouts lasted all day long, overlapping like ocean waves, and roaring like a dragon's cry.

Fushe stared at them blankly.

"Tongque, the vanguard of the Thousand Rocks Army, is here to report for duty."

Tongque said in a deep voice, his gradually blurring eyes glistening with clear and sincere tears.

"The Thousand Rock Army, numbering 439,531, is fully assembled today..."

He said, trembling, "...Let's return in triumph together!"

Their figures gradually dispersed, and everyone bowed their heads deeply to Fushe, clasped their hands together, and paid their final respects to Fushe.

"A thousand cliffs may be cleared, but towering peaks will not be moved."

Their eyes were filled with tears, their bodies trembled, and they were gradually dissipating:

"A thousand cliffs may crumble, but towering peaks will not move!!"

Fushe gazed at them, his eyes lowered. Suddenly, he burst into laughter, a laugh he had never known so freely, as if pouring all the pent-up frustration and hardship of his life into that one laugh. If Renli were to ask that question again, he could answer with pride and arrogance:

"Yes, I am very satisfied."

[Remaining lifespan: 15 minutes.]

The Bronze Sparrow vanished, and the Thousand Rock Army vanished as well. In this vast world, only Fushe remained. He picked up his sword and walked into the deepest part of the Layered Rock Abyss to dig his own grave.

"Green hills and clear waters, a soul adrift; in this fleeting life, a leisurely fan is waving."

"Amidst surging waves, they seek the dragon-tiger; through wind and snow, they return to the mountains to slay demons."

Before him lay endless darkness. He laughed loudly, his unrestrained voice echoing through the towering abyss, traversing two thousand four hundred years, reverberating also among the fireflies and the demons...

It echoed in Gan Yu's ears.

"What does it matter if life is but a fleeting moment? Ten thousand soldiers have all returned home."

"Burial flowers and salted fish in the desolate sea are bitter; all things are abandoned to remove karmic obstacles."

The entire army of 439,531 soldiers of Qianyan has arrived and is returning home in triumph today.

One person has not returned.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: A long-awaited three-in-one! Whew, I'm awesome, right?!

Chapter 101 A Life of Floating Life Ends Here (Three-in-One)

The sun cannot be seen from the depths of the towering abyss, the thick rock walls preventing even a sliver of light from penetrating.

A deep darkness covered the azure dome, and the raging fire subsided, slowly dying and solidifying, revealing brown patterns.

It's strange...quite bizarre.

Despite being deep within the mantle, near magma, Gan Yu felt a chill...

A stiff, icy coldness.

The chill seeped out from many places:

It seeped from the dead, bluish-brown flames, from the cracks in the rock strata, from the bodies of the dead soldiers, and from the back of Fushe, head bowed, staggering, taking one step at a time—

It seeped out.

That chilling coldness was enough to freeze the soul.

Every trace of coldness seeped into my bones, like a venomous snake slowly spreading towards my heart.

She certainly felt the cold. She bit her lip, her shoulders trembling slightly. She dared not look at Fu She's back anymore, as if continuing to stare would shake her resolve.

Fushe was certainly slaughtering soldiers, but slaughter might not necessarily be a form of liberation.

Gan Yu clearly saw that the smiles on the lips of every soldier killed by Fu She were almost blissful.

Karmic obstacles... Gan Yu still remembers the words Fu She recited when he left. The filth entangled in the soldier's departed soul, is that what is called 'karmic obstacles'?

She had never seen this thing before, nor had she ever heard of it.

For some reason, the existence of karmic obstacles has been erased by history.

Fushe devoured those karmic obstacles, thus freeing the originally frenzied soldiers. However, Fushe became even more insane as a result.

Is all of this still a lie?

Are these images still fake?

Even now, can Gan Yu still convince herself that everything in front of her is fake?

She thought of many more things. Since these karmic obstacles existed in the souls of soldiers, why did the Yaksha, who was a soldier, not have these so-called 'karmic obstacles'? Was it because the immortals had special physiques and were more powerful?

Or is it for some other reason?

No, that's impossible.