Genshin Impact: Pool Character, Nirvana of the Demon God

“I can sense that you have no hostility towards me.”

"So, I wonder if you would be so kind as to come out and meet me, senior?"

Iya shouted, his voice piercing through the howling sandstorm, like a crimson flame splitting through chaos, stirring up an echo in the deathly silence.

The sandstorm surged like a raging sea, and the gale roared and howled across the empty wasteland, whipping up thousands of feet of yellow dust, as if the entire desert was holding its breath.

After a long while, a deep, resonant response came from the depths of the sand, seemingly rising slowly from beneath ancient rock strata:

"can."

The voice added another sentence, each word like metal or stone falling to the ground:

"But it is not I who am going to meet you, but you who must come to see me."

Before the words were even finished, the earth trembled violently—the once still sea of ​​sand came to life with a roar, like a giant beast opening its eyes, stirring up towering sand waves, carrying scorching air currents and bone-chilling pressure, sweeping towards Iya!

With a jolt of her arms, fiery wings burst forth from her back, surging and billowing with crimson-gold flames, before abruptly closing in—in an instant, a cocoon of blazing light enveloped her completely.

The next instant, that stubborn, vibrant crimson was completely swallowed up by the boundless, desolate sandstorm.

Only then did the yellowish-brown sand pillar, which stretched straight into the sky and stretched across the heavens and earth, slowly recede.

Its edges swirl with eddies of dark gold and grayish brown, like the shadows cast by a god's eyelashes when he lowers his gaze, gradually settling down in silence.

All was silent. The wind stopped, the sand fell, and even time seemed to have been pulled away for a moment.

Everything was as if it had never happened.

As for the "dead zone" that previously occupied this area?

—What dead zone is there?

All that remains is a vast, barren sea of ​​reddish-yellow sand, desolate, ancient, and eerily silent.

……

A familiar sense of tearing suddenly struck—the faint light of spatial teleportation flashed across my retina.

Iya was no longer the naive child who was experiencing this place for the first time.

Her experience of traversing space several times allowed her to stand upright, breathe steadily, and not even her fingertips trembled in the slightest.

The instant the teleportation ended, her wings suddenly spread open, crimson flames surged, and the fine crimson sand covering her body was shaken off—the sand grains peeled off like a layer of rusty armor being removed.

The vision suddenly opens up.

Before me lies the inner chamber of a magnificent and solemn stone palace: layers of gray-white stone bricks are stacked, with sharp edges and a structure that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, resembling a giant pyramid suspended in mid-air.

Each brick and stone has a matte finish, as if it were carved and placed by the hand of ancient times.

Beneath my feet lay not ordinary sand and gravel, but an endless sea of ​​crimson sand—a lifeless expanse devoid of even the faintest static electricity, a state of absolute, almost divine stillness.

Yi Ya's heart stirred slightly: her brother Jun Bai had mentioned that this structure was called a "pyramid".

The interior of the hall was extremely spacious, almost austerely simple—there were no reliefs, no murals, and no ornamentation.

Only a few simple household items were scattered among them:

A pottery urn stood quietly in the corner, its mouth covered with plain linen; a low stone couch was placed in the center, covered with a thin blanket woven from coarse gray-blue cloth; a wooden staff leaned against the wall, its head inlaid with a warm amber, from which a faint light seemed to flow...

Everything was arranged exactly like an ordinary human dwelling.

Her brow furrowed slightly, and a hint of doubt quietly crept into her mind:

This ancient demon god who controls the origin of nature... actually lives in the form of a human in the small world he created?

—Each nature deity possesses its own unique little world:

In Junbai's Luofeng Abyss, where the phoenix tree was burned to ashes, the phoenix was reborn from the ashes.

The rainbow mirage of the Heavenly Bow, with its seven-colored illusory light floating and sinking, has already shattered the sky even before the arrow is released;

The World Tree Dream of the Great Compassion Tree King is hidden deep within a subtle realm that cannot be directly seen by the spirit—the World Tree only appears in dreams, and she quietly sprouted from the roots of those dreams.

The pyramid atop the red sand stands silently, unspoken, yet it seems to be using the entire space as its lips, quietly awaiting her question.

Nature's demons have almost absolute control over the small worlds that nurture them—after all, these small worlds are born to bear their will and nourish their divinity.

Because of them, there is the world; the world exists because of them and changes with them.

Therefore, in most cases, the scenery inside the small world will spontaneously evolve into a form that best matches the essential characteristics of the corresponding natural demon god:

Whether it is as fiery as a furnace, as deep as a deep abyss, or as silent as the void... everything is a reflection of its essential existence.

For example, Jun Bai's Fallen Phoenix Abyss burns year-round with a gentle yet powerful flame of rebirth—

The flames do not burn the skin, but they can cleanse the old body and promote the growth of new feathers. It is a natural altar formed by the resonance between the phoenix bloodline and the laws of heaven and earth.

In other words, unless one is like the Great Tree King, born with human form, human wisdom, and human wishes, one is born with a mortal body as the foundation and the human heart as the mirror;

Otherwise, in the small world ruled by ordinary nature gods, there would be no natural traces of human civilization.

There were no houses, no utensils, no cooking smoke, and certainly no books, looms, potter's wheels, or even a worn-out copper coin.

But the desolate land before him caused a slight tremor in Iya's heart.

Scattered among the broken walls are rusty bronze candlesticks, wooden comb boxes half-buried in the sand, and glass wind chimes that sway incessantly from the dome... Even in a corner lies a yellowed copy of "Star Chart Notes," its pages worn from repeated reading.

All of this is clearly the warm aftertaste left by humankind's long-term dwelling and meticulous life.

So—that nature demon god, who symbolizes [barrenness], actually prefers to walk in the world in human form?

But if that's the case, how do we explain that colossal, sky-covering shadow that we caught a glimpse of deep within the sandstorm earlier?

A hint of doubt quietly rose to Yi Ya's brow, but it vanished like the wind across a lake, leaving no deep ripples.

This is not a paradox.

It is not unusual for a natural demon to take human form—her brother Jun Bai is proof of this:

As a Nirvana Demon God, her true form is the True Phoenix, who burned away the old calamities and returned in flames. However, she is now always dressed in white and holding a folding fan, and often hangs out in teahouses and taverns in Liyue Harbor.

Zhongli once commented that Junbai was "more human than a human being."

Among the known natural gods, only Iya's Heavenly Bow Elder dislikes anthropomorphism and often patrols the heavens in his true form, bowing his head to hold the moon and howling at the stars.

However, now that the bow-shaped body has dissipated, the natural demon god representing the celestial phenomena has had his daughter, Cailin, take over the divine office.

However, since Rainbow Phosphorus has not yet grown up, it cannot be called a Nature Demon God. In other words, all the known Nature Demon Gods today prefer to walk in the world in human form.

Therefore, the traces of humanity in this small world, though slightly surprising, are not illogical.

Moreover, this place is clearly not a core Dao domain—the dome hangs low, and grains of sand slip through the cracks in the rocks; the air is heavy, and the spiritual energy is as thin as a dissipating mist; even the light and shadow have a sluggish gray tone.

All indications suggest that this place is most likely the edge fold of a small world, a "remnant land" where consciousness has not yet fully permeated.

Perhaps the Lord of the Wasteland is waiting here—neither welcoming nor rejecting, neither revealing nor hiding, only waiting for visitors to find their way with their hearts and knock on the door with sincerity.

"The guests have come uninvited, yet the host has made such a show of it..." Yi Ya lightly stroked a bronze mirror engraved with spiral runes with his fingertips, a slight smile playing on his lips, his voice clear and melodious like shattered jade falling onto a plate, "It's more like seeing off guests than welcoming them."

Her gaze swept over her slightly smiling eyes in the mirror, and she said softly, "However, it was indeed me who trespassed first—for now, consider it my rudeness."

Before she finished speaking, she had already stepped into the deep corridors of the pyramid.

Unexpectedly, this seemingly ancient and massive structure was fortified with layers of defenses, as if it were alive: crossbows silently fired from the corners, shimmering energy circuits rose from beneath the floor tiles, and a string of suspended, rotating rhomboid crystal clusters hung from a crack in the dome, each reflecting Iya from a different angle—

It's hard to distinguish between reality and illusion; truth and falsehood are intertwined.

What stunned her most were the mechanisms themselves: sharp-lined alloy hinges, crystal bearings inlaid with shimmering runes, gear sets with intricate star trail patterns etched on their surfaces...

Everywhere you look, there is a cold, austere order that doesn't belong to the original evolution of this small world, and the craftsman's heart.

"...A senior who is proficient in mechanical arts?" She murmured softly, her fingertips hovering above a slowly spinning bronze compass, but her eyes gleamed with eager anticipation.

Over the years, she has traveled all over the country with Ying, and she is no longer the little girl who would just sit on Gui Zhong's lap and listen to stories.

Snow-covered northern frontiers, scorching hot sands, turbulent ocean tides... She has seen too many relics buried by time, and has personally brushed away countless mechanical locks that have been sealed for thousands of years.

Not to mention when she returned to Liyue to visit her family, Junbai taught her to observe fire and recognize veins, Zhongli explained the yin-yang mechanism of the earth vein mechanism to her, Guizhong demonstrated the nested logic of the ancient immortal array patterns, and Xianyun handed her a stack of annotated copies of "Illustrations of a Hundred Immortal Mechanisms" with a smile.

Every word is precious, every sentence is insightful.

Therefore, these mechanisms that clearly reveal their structure and openly demonstrate their principles are not obstacles, but rather resemble an invitation.

For her, deciphering them was as easy as brushing aside a thin layer of fog.

In the past, Ying would clear the way before she even reached out—so those nimble hands always had fewer opportunities to show their brilliance in front of others.

Now, with only herself left, she had no more worries and could freely use her skills—her fingers flew across the room, and in no time she had dismantled the mechanism; the mechanism clicked softly like tearing silk, and the hidden lock opened with a sound.

Her fluid and graceful movements silently yet powerfully demonstrated her extraordinary skill in mechanical engineering and her calm and composed demeanor.

As he deciphered the mechanisms, Iya steadily moved forward, his robes fluttering against the dark stone walls, his footsteps echoing softly in the empty corridors, as if the entire ruins were holding their breath and watching this uninvited guest.

However, despite her meticulous attention to detail and skillful methods, she searched for half a day but still could not find the [Desolate] Nature Demon God who dwells here—that ancient being who controls life and death and merges into annihilation.

This place is like a naturally formed maze: winding paths coil like vines entwining the heart, crisscrossing paths crisscross like spider webs covering the eyes, the dim light hanging from the dome flickers, and even the wind carries a hesitant breath.

Yiya gradually felt like a lost butterfly, flapping its wings in vain in the boundless darkness, unable to discern its direction or find its way home.

She suddenly stopped, her fingertips hovering in mid-air, not touching the new mechanism, but her heart was already as calm as a still pool.

A clear and sharp thought surfaced in my mind: if I were to rely solely on brute force to break the locks and on intuition to navigate, even if I could solve a thousand puzzles, I would only be going around in circles on the surface of the labyrinth.

The true path is never behind the mechanisms, but outside of them; it is not under your feet, but right in front of you.

She had to find another way.