He changed Tiwat

As the biggest favorite to win the tournament, Han Fulai did not disappoint his fans. He overcame all obstacles and successfully completed the feat of defeating seventeen opponents in one battle, earning the title of "Best Bard of Mondstadt" in this tournament.

Barbara, the "Mondstadt icon," solemnly placed the laurel wreath symbolizing the "Poet Laureate" on his head.

Legend has it that 2,600 years ago, the first priestess of the wind god, Gungnird, also crowned the newly born wind god with a crown made of laurel branches and leaves. Since Barbatos was the best bard in Teyvat, the "laurel wreath" became the highest honor for bards in Mondstadt.

Today, a young girl from the Gunnhildr family was crowned "Mondstadt's Best Bard".

Although the girl had changed her surname to Page, and the crowned poet was neither a Mondstadt nor even a Teyvat native, Wendy seemed to see a reflection of her past in this scene—as people grow old, they tend to reminisce about the past.

A round of applause rang out.

Yura's expression was as cold as ever, but she clapped her hands very forcefully.

Once someone started it, cheers and applause erupted again, as people were excited to witness the birth of a legend.

Even Ning Lu, who lost the bet with Han Fulai, was not dissatisfied, even though he had to give up drinking because of it.

Sir Humphrey, who was "comparable to Barbatos," completely captivated the audience. His talent and poetry deeply moved everyone present.

Especially his last song, "Take Me to Your Heart," truly touched people's hearts.

Most of the time, when Ning Lu thought of his wife You Lu, he just felt that this woman was so annoying, forbidding him from doing this and that. Many times, he didn't even want to go home... Every man who frequents taverns always has some reason for not wanting to go home.

But after hearing Han Fulai's song, Ning Lu recalled some past events.

Like Marvin, Ninglu had also encountered danger during the storm a few months ago—when the enormous body of the "Wind Demon Dragon" flew over his head, stirring up a large amount of debris from the street and hurling it at him, leaving him bruised, swollen, and dizzy.

In a panic, Ning Lu scrambled into an empty wine barrel piled up in the corner of the tavern. The barrel still smelled of wine; normally, Ning Lu would have been like a gourmand, sniffing out what kind of fine wine had once been inside. But at that moment, he had no thought of "wine" whatsoever; his mind was filled with only one thought: "Mondstadt is doomed!"

Faced with the fear of the end of the world, Ninglu couldn't help but think of his wife, Youlu.

He also went straight to drinks after get off work that day, and as usual, Yuru would definitely go out to look for him at various bars if he didn't get home—what if Yuru encountered danger on her way to find him? Yuru isn't as thick-skinned as him; what if something happened to her…

At that moment, all Ninglu could do while huddled in the wine barrel was pray to the wind god: "Lord Barbatos, please protect Yulu and keep her safe. If she is safe, I will never touch a drop of alcohol again!"

After the typhoon passed, Ning Lu, covered in bumps, didn't bother to tend to his injuries and hurriedly searched for his wife on the street. He happened to run into You Lu, who was running to a bar. To his surprise, You Lu was unharmed.

It turns out that when Eurydice saw that he wasn't coming home that day, she went to complain to Sister Victoria in a huff. She was in the West Wind Cathedral when the storm hit and was not injured—in a way, this should be considered as Lord Barbatos's blessing, right?

Ninglu did indeed behave himself for a few days and didn't go to the tavern. However, the Stormterror incident quickly subsided, and Mondstadt returned to peace, so Ninglu put his prayer for Barbatos that day out of his mind...

But now, he thinks quitting drinking is a good thing—just like the lyrics say, "Love is now or never," isn't a lover more important than fine wine?

Anyway, after watching the game, he planned to secretly buy his wife a gift on his way home... Hmm, baby products would be a good idea.

Han Fulai, who was receiving the award, had no idea how much influence his song would have and how many people it would change.

After the awards ceremony, Barbara seemed to be planning to invite the newly crowned poet laureate to dinner to discuss future collaborations in the pop music scene—but Lisa stopped Barbara and pointed her to Miss Yura in the stands.

The guerrilla knight, who always exudes an icy and aloof aura, stood ramrod straight below the stands with his arms crossed, seemingly maintaining order. Thanks to this volunteer guerrilla knight, enthusiastic female spectators and reporters were kept at bay, allowing the awards ceremony to proceed smoothly.

However, the way she kept glancing at the stage told Barbara that she was actually waiting for someone.

Barbara tactfully turned to Lisa to discuss the compilation of the "Badminton Festival Poetry Anthology".

Han Fulai carefully put away the laurel wreath and finally stepped off the stage.

He stood on this stage for almost four hours today, and had to keep his brain working at high speed to recall the poems and perform live. It's impossible for him not to be tired—it's fortunate that he's now a demigod with the ability to work overtime; someone weaker would have collapsed on stage long ago.

But all these efforts were worthwhile; he perfectly accomplished all the tasks he wanted to complete in this match.

He has already acquired the right to designate the "Badminton Festival Princess," his reputation in Mondstadt, and the right to use the "Sky Harp."

Although Amber and Kaia's match is probably not over yet, Han Fulai has a lot of confidence in them and thinks they won't let him down.

Seeing him come down, a hint of barely perceptible joy appeared on Yura's face.

She actually had a lot to say to him. As a young lady with considerable artistic cultivation, Yura knew best how difficult it was for Han Fulai to win the match; she knew she could never have done the same. She now genuinely admired this man and even wanted to interview him like a reporter to find out how he managed to do it.

—Thinking that he did all this for her, Yura was even more moved.

However, we should first congratulate him.

Just as Yura was about to speak, a man suddenly appeared from the side—it was Ning Lu.

Ning Lu handed Han Fulai a business card-like item with both hands: "Angel's Gift Membership Card".

“I, Ning Lu, am a man of my word, Sir Humphrey. This membership card is yours! And the bottle of wine you requested will be on my tab!”

Ning Lu should actually feel heartbroken. The "Angel's Gift," which never allows credit, is a membership card issued only to regular customers who have been patronizing the bar for over ten years. Members can use this card to store drinks at the bar. For connoisseurs, it's a status symbol.

But Ning Lu felt relieved when he handed over the card. From now on, he would be a good husband and father who always kept his word, and he would quit drinking as soon as he said he would, so that his wife would never worry again.

Han Fulai looked at the membership card and a genuine smile appeared on his face—he had almost forgotten that he had also settled the bill for that super expensive bottle of 82 dandelion wine!

Chapter 286 Mondstadt Beacon Towers

After a friendly exchange with Ning Lu and seeing off this reformed drunkard, Han Fulai turned to Youla.

He had noticed earlier that Yura seemed to have something to say to him—well, she must have been impressed by his brilliant performance. He was quite looking forward to hearing how Yura would praise him; it was rare to hear a good word from Yura.

However, Yura simply said "Congratulations" and then said nothing more.

...Huh? That's it?

Generally speaking, in situations like this, even if it's just polite talk, shouldn't you at least give me a few more compliments?

Weren't you quite worried about me when the competition first started?

Han Fulai felt a strange sense of déjà vu, like when he was a child who went home with a perfect score on a test and asked his father for a reward, only to be met with the simple reply, "It's only right."

Uh, shouldn't he just casually reply with "It's only right" at this point?

Fortunately, the awkward situation didn't last long, and the surrounding crowd quickly surged forward again.

There were lucky people who had placed huge bets on him and made a fortune; there were also young girls holding bouquets of flowers; and even a professional female reporter holding a phonograph camera in one hand and a recording device in the other—and she even looked quite like Yan Fei…

Seeing that he was about to be overwhelmed by the enthusiastic audience, Yura grabbed his arm without saying a word and ran outside.

The two only stopped when they ran all the way from the high ground of Fengshen Square to the commercial street below.

The two looked at each other and laughed—this feeling of a "victorious escape" was quite fun.

"...By the way, why did you run away?" Han Fulai finally managed to ask the question after catching his breath.

He was actually prepared to be surrounded by enthusiastic spectators and interviewed by reporters. He had even thought about what he would say—well, first he would thank the Moonlit Pavilion of Liyue for its cultivation, then he would thank the Wind God for its protection, and then he would say some friendly words between Liyue and Mondstadt, and incidentally promote future trade cooperation between the two countries...

But since Yura pulled him away, he followed her.

His question to Yura made it difficult for her to answer—she couldn't very well say that she didn't want to see him surrounded by other people... especially a bunch of girls, could she?

Yura turned her face away, half-closed her eyes, and hummed, "I'm helping you. You must be hungry now, right? Lunch is on me."

After she mentioned it, Han Fulai realized that he was already starving.

The two had a simple lunch at a roadside shop before heading out of town to the place where the wind rises—the finish line of the "Flying Champion" finals.

As is customary in previous years, the final of the "Flying Champions" competition is supposed to involve a group of contestants starting from the top of the Cathedral of the Westerlands, navigating a series of artificial wind tunnels and obstacles such as balloons and bouncy fruits, circling the city of Mondstadt, and finally flying back to Aeolus Square. The finish line is set on the palm of the Barbatos statue.

But this year the tradition has been changed.

On the way, the two also talked about the reason why this routine was changed.

According to Yura, the tradition will be changed, of course, because this year's "Flying Champion" competition will be hosted by the rigid daughter of the Gunnhild family.

Leader Jean has always been very strict about flight safety, and the "Flying Champion" competition is basically the time when flight accidents occur most frequently—Mondstadt has many towering windmill towers, which are indeed natural obstacles for the competition, increasing the competitiveness, but also easily causing danger.

In every competition, there are always a few unlucky ones who "plop" crash into the windmill... When Captain Qin was still Captain Qin, she would always lead her knights to rescue these unlucky ones during the annual "Flying Champion" competition...

This year, it was finally Qin's turn to be in charge, and she naturally modified the competition format, which had safety risks.

At Qin's suggestion, this year's competition rules were changed from a flight obstacle course to a long-distance speed race, and the competition venue was set outside the city.

The rules are quite simple: contestants start from the top of the Windlook tower in northeast Mondstadt, blowing horns all the way to the Great Oak in Windrise, and the contestant who completes the journey the fastest is the winner.

Upon hearing this rule, Han Fulai's first reaction was: "Why do we need to blow a horn?"

Indeed, it's a race, so why is someone blowing a horn? It's understandable that he would have this question.

Yura's answer was: "This is to commemorate the first 'Watcher' of Mondstadt."

The so-called "watchers" are officially called "storm watchers".

A thousand years ago, before the Knights of Favonius were founded, and before Barbatos, the god of wind, had bestowed the protection known as the "Millennium Symphony" upon the entire Mondstadt—with Whispering Wood as the boundary, the Windrise Mountains to the east of Whispering Wood were already a dangerous area for the people of Mondstadt.

Besides the presence of monsters, people at that time also needed to be prepared to deal with storms coming from the sea at any time.

The names "Wangfeng Mountain" and its highest point, "Wangfeng Cape," both derive from the idea of ​​"looking out at storms at sea."

The people of Mondstadt today are protected by Barbatos's "Great Symphony of the Millennium" and have not seen a major storm (typhoon) from the sea for many years. The storms that Dvalin brings are like the end of the world to the people of Mondstadt today—but a thousand years ago, such "storms" would come every few years or even every few months.

The main purpose of Mondstadt's sturdy walls and towers is not to defend against monsters—no other country in Teyvat has such castles and high walls, so there must be a special reason for it.

If you think about it, you'll understand. The soldiers can handle the monsters that can be blocked by the city walls, but for flying dragons like the Demon Dragon Usa, the city walls are meaningless.

Those high city walls were built to withstand storms, hence the name "windbreak walls." Otherwise, when a storm came, the castles of the nobles would still stand, but the brick and wood houses of the common people would all be blown away.

After Vanessa established the Knights of Favonius, in addition to leading the people to raise and reinforce the "windbreak wall," she also sent people to Windlook to build a watchtower to observe storms at sea.

From Cape Windlook to the Windrise, the Knights' outposts were set up along the way, and each knight carried a huge horn. When a storm was observed, the watchman on the watchtower would blow the horn, and then the sound of the horn would be passed from one station to another, like a "beacon fire" relayed to the Windrise. The city would receive the horn's message and be able to prepare in advance to organize the people to deal with the "storm disaster".

The peaceful lives of most people often require sacrifices from a few.

Vanessa dispatched the first watchtower keeper to Windlook, a knight later known as the "Watchman," named Fender. He was responsible for guarding the closest and most dangerous post to the storm day and night.

The reason why Qin hosted this "Flying Champion" competition and had the contestants sound the horn was to commemorate this "watchman" Fender.

Chapter 287 Blind Date?!

As a country with a long history, Mondstadt's festivals and celebrations all have their own legendary origins.

Just as the origin of the "Badminton Festival" is the anecdote of Barbatos throwing feathers when he founded New Mondstadt, the chorus leader would ask the participants to blow horns during the competition, and there is actually a rather touching story behind this.

According to the Knights' records, during a storm, the watchtower guard Fender blew his horn but received no response from his colleagues. This was because the Knights did not have an equipment department like the Alchemy Workshop at that time, and most of the knights' equipment was quite poor and would break down from time to time. Not every horn could be blew at any time.

To make matters worse, it was a stormy night, and the sound of the horn was drowned out by the wind after only a few miles.

Therefore, the Knights' sentry post, which was supposed to relay the message, never heard Fender's horn.

Knight Fender was extremely anxious as he had not received a reply. Even a minute's delay in sending news of the approaching storm back to Mondstadt could cause enormous losses.

To send a message to Mondstadt, Fender took off from the Watchtower in his Windwing, braving the raging winds and rain, blowing his horn along the way, until he reached the Windrise. He traveled over forty kilometers without stopping, finally delivering the message to Mondstadt in time.

Thanks to the timely information, the Knights were able to organize the residents in time and suffered minimal losses in the storm. However, the knight Fender, who accomplished this feat, fell ill from overwork and died soon after.

Fender's son took over his father's responsibility and continued to serve as the "watchman" for Mondstadt.

Since then, the Fender family has watched over the storms of Mondstadt for generations, and even today, in Mondstadt where there are no more storms, the position of "Watcher" is still maintained by the Knights of Faith.

When the two arrived at the Windrise, the competition had already been going on for quite some time. A large number of spectators had gathered under the big oak tree, most of them sitting on the grass.

According to records, Vanessa, the first Dandelion Knight who founded the Knights of Favonius and revitalized Mondstadt, came to this place at the end of her life. She bid farewell to the city she had so devotedly protected, leaving behind a legend and a sapling.

This sapling, blessed by countless winds and illuminated by countless suns and moons, grew into a towering giant.

This great oak tree in the Land of the Rising Wind is known as the "Sacred Tree" in Mondstadt. It is the end point of the journey of the first "Dandelion Knights" and a symbol of Vanessa's transformation from a mortal to a god.

Even now, whenever she feels tired and wavering, Qin still comes to this tree to receive the baptism of the wind.

The wind washed away her weariness, giving her the strength to move forward again.

Of course, even without the legend of Vanessa, this is still a wonderful place.

Here, the water and trees complement each other, the grass is lush and green, and windmill chrysanthemums grow everywhere—these flowers have a unique characteristic: they only thrive in gentle breezes. They will not appear in places with no wind at all, or in areas ravaged by storms.

It can only grow successfully in the gentle breeze of this place where the wind rises.

The windmill chrysanthemums bloom so profusely in the windy place, which must also be thanks to that big oak tree. The big oak tree that Vanessa planted back then is now not only tall and majestic, but can also provide shade and shelter from the rain for people within a radius of hundreds of meters.

As the saying goes, it's good to enjoy the shade under a big tree. Under the shade of a tree, a cool breeze caresses your face, birds sing and flowers bloom, and even the air seems to be filled with a gentle atmosphere, as if telling people that life is full of beauty.

It's no wonder that this place is known as one of the three most popular dating spots in Mondstadt.

However, Qin did not enjoy the shade of the trees in the windy place like the tourists.

As the acting leader of the Knights, Jean maintained her meticulous work ethic.

She was currently standing a short distance from the large oak tree, surrounded by several knights, each carrying thick stacks of documents. Even while presiding over a competition, Jean's official duties were never-ending—after all, the entire Mondstadt needed the care of this "Mother Jean."

Han Fulai and Youla did not disturb Qin's official business, and casually found an open space to sit down.

The two of them looked up at the sky at the same time.

The sky was a clear, deep blue, with the occasional bird flying by—but there was no sign of the Wings of Wind.

"By the way, when is Amber coming?" Han Fulai asked.