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

Upon opening the tin box, I saw a thick stack of letters, already eight hundred in total, almost full.

Many of the letters were yellowed and the handwriting was blurred. Qing Nuoyan looked at them one by one. The letters were written to Ying, but also to himself.

As he read the letter, dusk slowly faded away, leaving only a faint afterglow.

'When I've written a thousand letters, when I've filled an iron box with my longing for you, then I'll be able to see you again.'

This is a sentence from the seventy-third letter.

...It's not over yet.

Qing Nuoyan hadn't dreamed for a long time, not even for a hundred years. The images that once appeared in his dreams were now blurry: cherry blossoms and wine, sardines and salt, udon and dumplings... But today, Qing Nuoyan remembered that dream again.

He remembered what lay at the end of this long wait, what he had been waiting for for a thousand years.

It was just a cocktail party.

He was just waiting for a cocktail party under the cherry blossoms.

That is the meaning of his survival.

It can't end yet... it can't end yet.

Not yet.

Qingnuoyan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was no longer in Yingxiangshan.

This is a desolate and broken world.

Everywhere there are broken walls and ruins.

The sands of time wear down this world; large chunks of land are broken and float in the air; the sky is hazy and gray, and the sun is nowhere to be seen.

This is Qing Nuoyan's consciousness space, in other words, his soul.

This part of consciousness is about to die of old age.

Eight hundred years of wear and tear destroyed this world.

[Qingnuo Rock, climb the last step]

His body had already entered the realm of the gods, but his soul had not, so he was still a mortal, and mortals are weak and vulnerable as time goes by.

There was only one step left, and that step wasn't outside, but within his consciousness.

Qingnuo Rock stands on the scorched earth, raising its head to look at the steps.

The steps were crafted by the heart of the Rock God and the heart of the Floating God, connected by a defiled body, leading straight to the sky, to the dark and heavy clouds. At the end of those steps... what will be there? What is the scenery above the clouds like?

Qingnuoyan took a step.

A chilling flash of lightning flickered through the cracks in the sea of ​​clouds, then vanished in an instant, unleashing a deafening roar that shook the entire consciousness space. The earth, stretching for thousands of miles, shattered and floated in the air, and the sky itself cracked layer upon layer, the wear and tear reaching its peak at this moment.

He had only taken one step when he was about to fall.

My consciousness is about to shatter completely.

Creatures on earth can never reach the sky.

Otherwise, it would be blasphemy.

This is the law, the law engraved in the destiny of all living beings, the 'natural law' that endures.

It is not permitted for mortals to blaspheme the authority of the gods.

Qingnuoyan continued to climb, and the higher he went, the closer the world was to destruction—his soul was on the verge of destruction, everything lost its form, and world-destroying flames rose from the cracks in the scorched red earth, the tongues of fire licking the dim sky.

The sky shattered into countless fragments, and beyond those fragments lay death and nothingness.

Qing Nuoyan knew that when the sky completely shattered, eternal nothingness would embrace him.

All he could do was climb these steps and leave this sky before it shattered.

We continued up Qingnuoyan, climbing higher and higher.

He was writing a letter, writing a letter in his heart, writing the eight hundred and first letter.

[To Ying, 699 years from now]

Every step was difficult, and with each step, the soul groaned under the crushing weight of wear and tear, but Qingnuoyan continued to move forward, without looking back or stopping.

[When you read this letter, are the cherry blossoms around you blooming well?]

I may never see cherry blossoms again.

Qing Nuoyan's consciousness had melted away. His eyes were empty, leaving only a deathly void. Spiderweb-like cracks appeared in his consciousness space, and darkness was swallowing him up.

I've forgotten so many things, so many things.

I forgot why I should keep going.

Qing Nuoyan swayed and fell on the long steps, his soul trembling. He raised his eyes, struggled to his feet, and continued walking towards the dark sky.

[And I've forgotten the meaning of my life.]

He was exhausted from walking. The stairs had no end, and no matter how he climbed, he could never reach the sea of ​​clouds.

Forget my life

When the cracks reached their limit, the entire sky shattered, the world of consciousness collapsed and fell, and the steps also broke apart. Qingnuoyan fell from the sky, fell into the darkness, and was swallowed by the abyss.

I've forgotten my dream.

I only remember one thing.

Qing Nuoyan was still gazing into the distance. Even though the steps had crumbled, he still looked up at the collapsed sky and the huge gap in the sky.

I want to be home for dinner before dusk.

He continued to look at the sky, raising his hand and reaching towards it.

When you read this letter, I will be falling.

When you read this letter, I will be looking up at the sky.

When you read this letter, I will be thinking of you.

I want to see you before dusk. I've forgotten everything about myself. I want you to tell me about my name, my life, the meaning of my perseverance, my dreams... I want to hear you tell me all about them.

I want to see you before dusk. I want to see the cherry blossoms. How are the cherry blossoms of seven hundred years ago different from those of today? I want to know. I want to see the flowers with you; it must be so beautiful.

I want to see you before dusk. What does mackerel taste like? I've forgotten. I want to see you, I want you to tell me what mackerel tastes like.

I want to see you before dusk, so I will keep going for another two hundred years.

Qing Nuoyan reached out his hand forward. Although the steps were destroyed and the steps to godhood were broken, he seemed to have grasped the end.

The old space of consciousness is shattering.

The time it takes for dusk to fall is only a quarter of an hour, but for me, it feels like a thousand years of waiting.

The shrine, with its broken arms and crumbling ruins, is vanishing. The earth is shattered into pieces, the sky is collapsing, and flames rise from the depths of the earth's veins, using the entire old world as fuel to burn everything to ashes. All things have lost their form, but Qingnuoyan sees the emptiness in the sky.

The crimson sunset fell upon him, and through the void outside his consciousness, he saw a new landscape.

My thousand-year life is but a fleeting moment before the twilight falls.

But it's truly beautiful, and worth the wait.

Qingnuoyan captured that scene: the old world of consciousness had turned to ashes, and a new soul was born in the pure white ashes. He climbed the last step, transcended the consciousness of mortals, and reached the far end of his vision.

The moment we reunited was a thousand years in my life.

Having traversed the myriad layers of clouds, the world lay at his feet, the magnificent sunset his crown, and crimson fiery clouds spread out, cascading over towering mountains.

So this is my eternity.

The view he overlooked from above the clouds was his new space of consciousness.

It transcends the pure land of a single mind, blurs the boundaries of time, and sends him, hundreds of years from now, to the past... a powerful authority.

Its name is Dream One Heart

Qingnuo Rock was ascended to godhood today.

-

P.S.: Phew, an update from the living world!

Chapter 145 "Five Hundred Years Later, We Will Finally Meet Again"

Mikoto Chiyo lowered her eyes, her gaze dim and gloomy. She walked barefoot in the desolate forest, the cold moonlight casting shadows of the lush green leaves onto her magnificent twelve-layered kimono.

She had a huge wound on her abdomen, from which blood gushed out, staining her twelve-layered kimono red. The blood was so red it was almost black, spreading like ink across the plain white kimono.

In the depths of her empty eyes lay an abyss of darkness.

Mikoto Chiyo knew that she was about to die.

Corrupted by the beasts of the outside world, dying with a defiled body, was the final fate of her life.

Nevertheless...

Chapter 146 Reunion

Canria committed a sin.

An unforgivable sin.

When the sages sought forbidden knowledge from the abyss, its destruction was already inevitable. This kingdom once reached the pinnacle of human civilization, but now, under the judgment of the seven gods, its once-prosperous city has been reduced to wasteland.

A calamity from beyond the world descended upon this land, breaching the ancient walls of Kanria and spreading across the vast earth, corrupting and polluting all living things in its path.

The faded sky sadly shrouded the horizon, and mist enveloped the red earth, yet even on such a desolate land, flowers still bloomed.

It was already late spring, but the cherry blossoms still adorned the slender branches, struggling to survive in the howling cold wind.

So there are cherry blossoms in Canria too?

Looking at that flower... I couldn't help but think of it.

But the flower's life had come to an end; it was like a candle flickering in the wind, about to be extinguished at any moment—truly like the cherry blossom, it could die at any time.

She is indeed the Narukami of Inazuma, but at the same time, she is also the weakest ruler of the mortal world.