Genshin Impact: The Beginning of the Wind

"Hehehe, I knew you were really useless, Wu Baizang. I don't know what Fox Palace said to the General back then, that made you become some kind of 'Hidden God Preservation Bureau Chief Wu Baizang'. Now you've only got this much ability. If word gets out, it will really embarrass us great demons."

Just when even Gosho was about to give up, another aged voice came from somewhere. Upon hearing this voice, Gosho almost instinctively shivered, but quickly mustered his courage.

"You Lezhai, don't think I'm afraid of you! I'm the fifth-ranking official of the Baosheng Division, and I'm much stronger than before. I'm not afraid of you at all!"

Upon hearing the familiar voice, Gosho mustered his courage and spoke those words, though his body trembled slightly as he did so. In truth, Kosai-gumi had not misjudged Gosho; he was not a courageous demon. Even now, he only mustered the courage to stand up and face the endless demons after sensing the presence of Hana-sanri, who carried Kosai-gumi's aura, in this dangerous place.

"Haha, you little raccoon are quite interesting. Maybe that's why everyone liked you so much back then. But since you've managed to survive, then live well. Let's leave some things to us old folks who are no longer useful!"

When Yulezhai saw Wubaizang's appearance, he couldn't help but laugh even harder. If he were not a demon wind but had a physical body, he would probably be holding his stomach and unable to stand up straight by now.

"Hmph! Are you looking down on me? I'm still the great demon Gohyakuzo!"

However, despite Yurakusai's teasing, Gohyaku still expressed his dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, although his words were firm, his increasingly tired and disheveled body under the attack of the demons made his words unconvincing.

"You're still being stubborn. Well then, we'll show you what a moonless night, a parade of a hundred demons, and a true great monster are all about!"

With only his remnant soul remaining, You Lezhai laughed wildly as he uttered these words, and as soon as he finished speaking, a demonic wind suddenly arose.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Hundred Ghosts Parade, Breaking Through the Black Mist

Inazuma was once a place where many monsters roamed freely.

The celestial dog soars across the sky, and the demons gallop across the battlefield; the fox demon appears in the fields, and the fox spirit walks among humans.

Under the banner of Narukami, the demons, with their incredible power, helped humanity through a period of primitive, arduous development, marked by slash-and-burn agriculture.

But one disaster after another took away the once powerful demons, and the once magnificent Night Parade of One Hundred Demons gradually faded into legend.

However, as extraordinary beings, monsters are not so easily killed.

Just like Hana Sanri now, powerful yokai always manage to preserve a part of themselves in various ways.

Perhaps the part that remains is no longer the real them, but it still retains a portion of their power.

The force now sweeping across the entire Shadow Mountain, riding the demonic winds, is the remnant power of those former demons—this is also the last reinforcement that Yae no Miko has found to support Inazuma in the present.

The demons of the past will shine their last light at this moment when the world has lost its color.

"A parade of a hundred demons?"

Upon witnessing this scene, Hana Sanri, standing beside Ayato, murmured something. As she looked at the demonic wind sweeping across the land, she seemed lost in some kind of memory—yes, it seemed that the Hundred Demons of the past once rode the demonic wind with such unbridled abandon across the land of Inazuma.

When did the hundred demons cease to be seen?

Hana Sanri was also unclear. Having only inherited a portion of the memories of Kosai-gumi, there were too many things she didn't know. However, after witnessing this Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, which was stirred up by the remnants of the spirits of a hundred demons, her heart couldn't help but tremble.

"Hahaha! Fox Abode Palace, what are you waiting for? This is our last Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. If you don't join us, you'll be too out of place, won't you?"

"Come on, come on, let's be a little unrestrained one last time. After all, you're not the priest of Narukami Shrine anymore, so why bother pretending?"

"The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons wouldn't be interesting without you."

While Hana Sanri was still hesitating, Yurakuzai extended an invitation to her directly, just like a long, long time ago when they invited Kosai-no-miya to fool around together.

"..."

"Click!"

Perhaps it was the invitation from Yurakusai that broke the camel's back. After hesitating for a moment, Hana Sanri took off her mask, revealing the face that once belonged to Kosai-gumi once again. The fox ears on her head and the pure white fox tail on her back were no longer hidden.

"Although I am not Lord Fox-Sai-no-miya, if it is the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons... I have no objection."

"Consider this...the last time I'll be so insolent!"

As if relieved of a heavy burden, Hana Sanri revealed a captivating smile. Then, under the hesitant gaze of Yae no Miko, who had just arrived, she too transformed into a dazzling light and joined the demonic wind stirred up by the monsters. After she joined them, the already mighty demonic wind seemed to grow even larger at this moment.

The demons, unrestrained, charged through the final Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) against the endless stream of monsters pouring out of Narukami Taisha. These hastily created monsters were so fragile and vulnerable in the face of the Hyakki Yagyō. After the monsters in front of them were completely torn apart by the demons, the group finally managed to enter Narukami Taisha.

Then everyone saw the shrine maidens who were being firmly suppressed by the monsters in the main hall of the shrine.

It is clear that the shrine maidens who faced numerous monsters in the first wave have not given up their resistance. Unfortunately, their strength is not particularly formidable, so in the end they have only been able to barely hold on by relying on the barrier within the shrine.

"Phew~ I feel like I still need to strengthen the shrine maidens' abilities more in the future. It's a bit embarrassing that we were suppressed so badly even with the shrine's barrier!"

"And it's embarrassing in front of them."

After finally returning to the shrine and seeing that the shrine maidens were not in too bad a condition, Yae no Miko breathed a sigh of relief. However, when she saw the remaining limbs inside the shrine and some shrine maidens who had clearly lost their life force, her breath hitched again.

But the goddess quickly recovered and ordered Ayato to lead a group of soldiers to rescue the priestesses. She herself looked at the filthy cocoon that was still expanding in front of the withered Divine Cherry Blossom.

"My old friend, you really know how to cause us trouble!"

Upon witnessing this scene, the divine child clenched her fists. She summoned the purple Kagura Bell, then held the bell and softly murmured, "My old friend, whether you want to wake up or not this time, I will definitely give you a good beating to wake you up!"

......

After a long time, Su Feng finally found a way to temporarily part the black mist in front of him. When he entered Inazuma, the first thing he saw was the filthy demons that had begun to spread everywhere. The aura of Mana coming from the direction of Shadow Mountain made Su Feng unable to help but look into the distance.

Then he saw the filthy cocoon that contained General Thunder.

"Is that... a coup against the ruling power of the mortal world?"

Even though it was just a distant view, Su Feng immediately guessed what Mana was doing after seeing the filthy cocoon—he hoped to seize the position and authority of the ruler of the mortal world from Ray Movie.

One-seventh of the earthly power can naturally influence the rules of Teyvat. As long as this power is used to disrupt the rules of the natural order, then it will naturally have the opportunity to overthrow the entire Teyvat.

But how easy is it to seize power and position in earthly governance?

General Thunder was indeed caught off guard and trapped in the cocoon of filth, but Su Feng's gaze easily pierced through the thick filth and he naturally saw the general still surrounded by lightning.

The general continued to resist. Although lightning did not have a good purifying effect on filth, it was almost impossible for Mana to completely overwhelm the lightning general with filth in a short period of time—this short period of time could even be hundreds of years!

This is because the filth hidden within Inazuma by Mana is deep and abundant, and the general, who is firmly enveloped by the filth, is temporarily unable to break free from its seal and unleash his most powerful martial arts. Otherwise, the current situation would definitely not be like this.

If it were a direct confrontation, even if the general was no match for him, he wouldn't lose quickly. In fact, if it were a life-or-death struggle, the general might not lose.

"Phew~ thankfully it didn't get to the worst."

After realizing this, Su Feng couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the general's side hadn't run into any problems, there was still room for things to turn around.

However, just as Su Feng was about to take direct action to rescue the general from the filth, a familiar consciousness suddenly approached him.

"Wait, now is not the time to rescue Ying."

Chapter Thirty: The Divine Child's Resolve

Su Feng, who was about to make a move, subconsciously paused his actions after hearing the sudden sound of Raiden Shin. He looked down at the ground with some curiosity—right there stood a Raiden Cherry Tree, a branch of the Divine Cherry Tree.

"What other plans do you have? But Inazuma's situation isn't very good right now, so if you have any plans, you'd better put them into action as soon as possible."

Surprised that he could actually contact himself through the Thunder Cherry Tree, Su Feng was curious about what the First Generation Naruto wanted to do.

After all, neither Kage nor Inazuma are in good condition right now, so we can't afford to delay.

But since lightning really stopped him, it must have its own plans.

"I plan to take this opportunity to completely resolve many of Inazuma's problems, especially my stubborn sister. Inazuma also really needs a disaster to rekindle everyone's courage, otherwise, more problems will arise when facing Teyvat's repeated calamities."

She hesitated slightly when she said those words, but more than that, she showed an unstoppable determination; clearly, she had made up her mind.

"You want to use this disaster to help the people of Inazuma shed their past burdens and move towards a new future... On this point, you and Morax may have something in common."

Upon hearing that it was a real plan, Su Feng was taken aback, but he quickly recalled Morax's previous plan.

In this respect, Zhen and Morax are quite similar; they both understand very well how a god of a nation should ensure the continued existence of his people.

However, Su Feng was unsure how effective this method would be, since he wasn't a ruler in the mortal world and didn't have any subjects to worry about.

Besides, Inazuma is ultimately one of the Raiden twins, so he doesn't need to care so much. In the end, all he needs to do is ensure that Raiden Shin and Raiden Movie don't run into any problems. What happens to others is none of his business.

Even so, Su Feng still reminded him: "That newly born evil god is not easy to deal with. Although its strength is not too outrageous, there is no way to kill it if all the filth is not cleansed."

"Even I can only use time and absolute power to wear that guy down little by little. If there is no other way, letting that thing continue to exist will probably do more harm than good to Inazuma."

Su Feng was very worried about whether the Thunder Twins could defeat Mana, after all, this evil god was not one of those losers who were easily slaughtered before.

Su Feng believed that Mana was no match for him, but even so, he would still need to spend a lot of time and effort to completely defeat him. And could the Thunder Twins, who were in a very bad state at the moment, really defeat him?

Su Feng expressed his doubts about this.

"Don't worry about that. I've already prepared a solution. I might need you to lend me some strength right now, but you can leave the rest to me."

However, compared to Su Feng's worries, Zhen seemed full of confidence.

Although Su Feng was puzzled about what method Zhen intended to use to deal with Mana, he didn't ask her now—since Zhen felt confident, he would let her handle it herself.

It's just a little bit of energy anyway, which is nothing to Su Feng, who has almost infinite light power.

"Let's get started quickly then. We can't waste any more time. Who knows what other tricks that guy has up his sleeve?"

Now that the next step had been decided, there was no time to delay any longer. So Su Feng quickly made a decision. He placed his palm on the Thunder Cherry Tree in front of him, and then the enormous power of the transformed Herrscher of Thunder was injected into it.

"Hmm! This power... is much stronger than I imagined!"

"I never imagined you were this powerful. At the pure energy level, you may have already surpassed the Sustainers."

Even Zhen couldn't help but exclaim in surprise after truly experiencing Su Feng's immense power for the first time. Unlike ordinary demon gods, as one of the fragments of Ishtar, she knew very well the level of power of the maintainers. It was precisely because of this that she could better understand just how powerful the power Su Feng was giving her was.

Faced with this power, even the maintainers must be cautious.

However, just as Su Feng said, now is not the time to consider these issues. After obtaining this power, she was more confident in her plan. After briefly expressing her gratitude to Su Feng, her consciousness left the Thunder Cherry Tree and returned to the Divine Cherry Tree.

......

With the help of the Hundred Demons, the group finally reached the Cocoon of Filth on the mountain, but they soon discovered something even worse—even though they had reached the Cocoon of Filth, they were unable to do anything to this huge cocoon that imprisoned the general.

Theoretically speaking, this cocoon could even be considered Mana's body, but now it has concentrated all its power on the inside to try to corrupt the general. Otherwise, the people wouldn't even be able to stand in front of it—the corruption on its body is no joke. Even a great monster like Qian would be extremely vulnerable when facing it.

Even if Mana uses all her power to imprison and corrupt the general, so what? She can stand still and let everyone attack her. No matter whose attack lands on the filthy cocoon, it won't even cause the slightest ripple.

This is quite normal. How could mortals and monsters possibly shake an evil god who has even suppressed the general?

"No, we have to find a way to re-establish contact with Shadow!"

After seeing that her lightning strikes the filthy cocoon without even staining it, the Divine Child couldn't help but cross her arms and start biting her nails. She never expected that the situation, which had been fine, would change so quickly.

I had made perfect preparations, so why did things turn out so differently from what I expected?

Thinking of this, the Divine Child couldn't help but look at the withered Divine Cherry Tree and the black mist surrounding the entire Inazuma in the sky—her greatest support was probably now isolated outside this black mist, which meant that she really could only rely on herself now.

The other demons, including Hana Sanri, are now just remnants and echoes. Her once reliable predecessors are gone, and her support is either isolated outside or locked in a cocoon. As a little fox, she naturally has to bear everything now.

However... it's not like there's no way to make a last-ditch effort, it's just that we don't know if we can succeed this time.