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

To gain recognition.

It's not just for myself.

For that old man.

He has to win!

To prove the old man's path!

He came to the Emperor with the heart of an old man!

The clash between thoughtlessness and stillness caused the rice light to shatter layer by layer. The scattered radiance fell into the air, making the night sky seem like daytime. It was as if the sky over Inazuma was being crushed. Clouds, rain, and thunder crashed down at the same moment.

In that instant, all sound fell silent.

His consciousness of national collapse was rapidly dissipating. All the blood in his body was evaporated, and his heart slowly stopped beating. His breathing became increasingly weak, and all he could see was a pale white lightning flash. He was gradually losing his grip on the knife and was about to be defeated.

[Consciousness] can reside in objects.

Yae no Miko once entrusted her consciousness to an ornament, and this method of entrusting consciousness was taught to her by Kiyono Raimei.

Before his death, Kiyono Raimei also entrusted something to this heart... to the nation's collapse, or rather... to his Lord Narukami.

That is a wish.

His wish.

That was also their wish.

It's right here in my heart.

The tradition of the Pillar Army is that after each soldier dies, the next soldier must remember his name and continue the journey. As the last Pillar Army soldier, Kiyono Raiming must remember the names of all the Pillar Army soldiers and leave everyone's wishes in his heart.

Thus, the wishes of all people in the world were remembered.

'Dad didn't let his child down.'

"Your Excellency, so I was already dead... Your Excellency, are the people alright?"

I really want to... go back to Konta Village... and have one last meal of Seino tofu.

"I am Mishima Saetoshi, a second-class naval soldier under the command of the Grand Pillar of State."

'Teppei Mishima, captain of the Herring First Squad, dreams of becoming a soldier in the Pillar Army.'

...

Those words flickered in the hearts of those whose country was collapsing, and they also shone in the castle tower. Those dreams also echoed in everyone's ears, and were recalled in the ears of the Thunder General.

It also echoes in the Pure Land.

The echoes in Lei's movie.

Those eternally lonely eyes trembled slightly, as if something was struggling to break free.

These wishes converged in the unmoving blade.

Guo Beng's once-dead heart began to beat again, and the scattered blades and scattered lightning snakes began to coalesce into a blade again. Guo Beng no longer retreated; on the contrary, he stepped forward step by step, pressing down on Wu Xiang's blade.

'eternal'

'eternal'

Eliminate unwanted noise.

To eliminate noise.

She can't get out.

Lei Yingdian lowered her eyes, clutching the naginata in her hand, refusing to look at the already overwhelming thunder above the sacred land.

But the pure land of the heart has already been shaken, and those dreams are gradually beginning to crumble.

Those sounds, those fleeting desires, are but a brief moment in the face of eternity.

That's what she thought.

But her gaze froze.

She heard that voice, that long-lost voice, both familiar and strange.

All the dreams flashed by, and after each thunderclap, only two wishes remained.

A wish came from long ago, from a boy, and that was the beginning of all wishes—

"If I can withstand one of your blows, you will grant my request."

"Then let me stay by Shadow's side forever."

This was Kiyono Raimei's wish.

On those summer days when cicadas sang in the tall trees, that was the wish that boy made.

This was the boy's wish, and also Kiyono Raimei's first wish—small and insignificant.

...

One came recently, from an old man, and that was the end of all wishes.

"Even if you kill all the filth, they will rise again sooner or later. What's the point if you ask me?"

"The meaning is that, long afterward, when the snow melts, when the shadow leaves the Pure Land of the Heart, at that time..."

"She can see a clean and flawless spring, days without filth, it must be very beautiful."

"The young soldiers who swept away the filth can return home, and there will be no more sacrifices this winter; wives can reunite with their husbands, children can see their fathers, and the people of Inazuma can enjoy a happy and harmonious New Year."

"That was the last gift I gave her, Kiyono Raimei's final two hundred and twenty-one days—"

"That's the meaning of those days."

This was the old man's wish, and also Kiyono Raimei's last wish.

Two wishes, from beginning to end, spanning five hundred years, remained unchanged. In order to protect her alone, he protected the entire Inazuma.

He was a pillar of the state and a close attendant to the emperor. He remained unmoved, neither at the border of Inazuma nor before the steps of the emperor. His heart never wavered.

.

Ying heard the voice of Qingye Leiming, the voice of a boy and the voice of an old man. Ying also heard the dream of Qingye Leiming, the dream of a boy and the dream of an old man. Her heart suddenly felt empty, and her emotions were left blank.

Those sounds were thunder; two bolts of lightning fell into the pure land, and also struck her lonely and cold heart, creating fine cracks.

Lei Movie realized that the pure land was crumbling.

It's less about breaking apart and more about collapsing.

Her strong yet cold heart was slowly crumbling.

The ancient and desolate eternal world was rapidly fading away. The roar of thunder shattered the clouds, and the light of the rice paddies poured down to the ground. In the pure white light, Lei saw an old man.

That was the last consciousness that Kiyono Raimei had left in this heart before he passed away.

One hundred years later, they finally reunited.

He is really old.

She wore a snow-white kimono, a white cloth bag tied around her waist, with plum blossoms and bamboo patterns on the edges, snow-white silver hair, and a katana at her waist.

He took out a stack of tobacco from the lining of his kimono, rolled it in tobacco paper, lit it with a match, took a puff, and exhaled a thin mist.

When the mist dissipated, the old man raised his eyes and looked at Ying, but he didn't say anything.

Lei Yingdian's shoulders trembled slightly. Her eyes flickered, and her thin lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything in the end. She just stared at Qingye Leiming, her purple eyes reflecting his face, for a long, long time.

What will she do when they meet again?

Kage once asked Kiyono Sara this question, but when they finally met again, she didn't know what to say.

She simply gazed at Kiyono Raimei for a long, long time, at the pterygium covering his gray eyes, at his snow-white hair, and after a long while, she whispered:

"So... this is what you're like now."

There were so many things I wanted to say, but in the end, only one sentence remained—a sigh that was almost a lament.

"You've really gotten old."

Ying closed her eyes, a bleak and helpless smile on her face, and whispered, "Time really flies."

"But you haven't changed at all."

Kiyono Raimei watched the smoke dissipate in the air and slowly disappear, and watched the fire slowly burn out. He coughed and smiled softly, "Time really flies... You haven't changed much, but I can no longer stay by your side."

"Like now, this cigarette hasn't even finished burning, and I have to go." He smiled.

Space is gradually collapsing.

The cigarette in Kiyono Raimei's hand was almost burned out. It was just a brief consciousness residing in Fudo Isshin, like a lightning bolt that lasted for 0.3 seconds, merely an echo.

But even the lingering echo of thunder is enough to leave a mark in one's heart.

"Thunder roars through the fields."

Ying lowered her head, obscuring her eyes. She bit her lip and said in a low voice, "I miss you so much."

Kiyono Raimei, I miss you so much.

"Me too. For the past hundred years, I have missed you dearly, and I long to see you. I wish you could come out of the castle tower."

Kiyono Raimei said softly, "But now I'm leaving. Even if I come back, I won't be Kiyono Raimei anymore."

He finally finished the cigarette, and the lingering consciousness was about to dissipate. He put the cigarette in his shirt, coughed lightly, waved to Lei Yingdian, and was about to leave.

"Shadow, I'm leaving."

"Please step out of this attic, go see Inazuma, go see those people, go see the gift I gave you—that pure and flawless spring."

"This is a sentence I wrote in a letter, and now I want to say it to you in person."

"Shadow, if I can never see you again."

—"Dear Lei Films, good morning, good afternoon, and good night."

The last echo faded away, like thunder receding into the sky, leaving only endless desolation. But thunder is also the awakening of spring; after the last thunder of winter dies, the valley will welcome spring.

Ying finally stepped out of that boundless pure land, and also out of the mind that had bound her, and walked towards spring.

Outside, General Thunder lost control of his body, but the puppet did not show any resistance. On the contrary, its once ever-calm face now held a faint smile. The general smiled helplessly and closed his eyes.