Genshin Impact: Rise of the Desert

The Flower Sea is a large lake situated on a plateau, in which stands a towering tree that reaches into the clouds. The higher the tree trunk rises, the more ethereal it appears, like a white cloud in the sky, yet it truly exists.

However, no one dared to climb it; it was the desert people's faith, and no desecration was permitted.

This tree was planted by the Flower Goddess, the Crimson King, and the Tree King together, and became a defensive line against the abyss. It is still in use today, and only a few abyss monsters can break through from the desolate desert.

If a life in Teyvat falls into the Abyss, it will be corrupted and turned into a monster. Monsters from the Abyss that enter Teyvat will turn to stone without the help of their kind to massively alter the environment.

After pouring the linga into the sea of ​​flowers, the chieftains walked along the roots of the great tree to its base, where dozens of swings stood, clean and tidy, as if the spirits of the gods had once sat on them. The three tallest swings corresponded to the Flower Goddess, the Red King, and the Tree King, respectively.

Although the Tree Queen broke the covenant, she is still a goddess, and mortals cannot approach her. Therefore, the chieftains all sat down on the swings below, forming a circle.

The meeting began, and no one dared to speak first. Whoever spoke first would face rebuttal from the other tribes and lose face. Unless, of course, you were powerful enough.

At this moment, Nogai joked, "Hehe, remember that woman from the Tanit tribe? She claimed to be the spokesperson for the Flower Goddess and wanted to get us involved in developing the Dew Flower Sea and diverting water to the Thousand Ravines Sandy Land, haha..."

His words made everyone laugh so hard they were doubled over.

The Tanit tribe might have some influence in the Thousand Ravines Sands, but who cares about them in Fuluoyou? You claim to be the spokesperson for the Flower Goddess, but who here isn't a descendant of the Red King?

Once the joke was made, everyone started discussing exchanging items, mainly food and weapons, but everyone was short of both, so the trading volume wasn't large, and the conversation eventually quieted down.

However, the people gathered around Ivan were still talking.

“Valisi’s son, Ivan IV, I held you when you were just born. For the sake of the Red King, let us go to the port to sell some things. I’ll give you 30% of the profits.”

“Ivan, my father greatly assisted your grandfather, Toghtogbuqa, when he declared himself the Chanyu. For the sake of this friendship, I am willing to give you 50% of the profits.”

"Moscow chief, I have no interest in the Fontainebleau people, but I'd like to sell some goods at the port, hehe..."

Bringing up old accounts and voluntarily giving up some profits is enough to tempt most people.

But Ivan had something even more important on his mind, which he kept hidden. Those tribespeople farther from Ivan's village had no idea about the changes in Moscow and stared at him in utter bewilderment.

Ivan cleared his throat, and everyone immediately shut up.

Then, Ivan got off the swing and walked into the middle of the crowd.

Normally, no one would come to the middle position. After discussing it, they would get off the swing and walk to the side.

Everyone immediately understood that this young man was about to declare himself the Chanyu!

The claim that the Chanyu (ruler) was to be a leader was to take two steps: first, to use rhetoric to convince most people, and second, to subdue those who did not believe him.

Looking at the assembled chieftains, Ivan confidently declared, "I, Ivan Rurik, have been diligently learning Hilichurls since birth. I've persuaded the Hilichurls to form an alliance and hired them to build the port with food."

“I went to Fontainebleau and had a great adventure! My brief service as a water god’s guard brought me a large amount of supplies and attracted merchants to do business. I believe many people want to do business with the people of Fontainebleau.”

"In this way, we won't have to buy expensive tea from Liyue merchants anymore, nor will we have to sell precious furs to the Rainforest people. With my permission, we can do business with the Hilichurls and Fontainebleau people in their territory."

At this point, many people's breathing became heavy. Fontaine, with its more advanced technology than Sumeru, meant high quality at low prices. The furs obtained from hunting, parts from monsters, and the tobacco grown were sold to the rainforest at rock-bottom prices, but they had no choice but to sell.

Fontaine and the desert had no enmity; Ivan opened up the trade route, giving the tribes of Fuluoyou an opportunity. But some wanted to kill Ivan on his way back and seize his territory.

God loves the world, but the blood of gods, once gilded and made of gold, has long been diluted; they only love their own people.

But this is just wishful thinking. Moscow has had a Chanyu (ruler), Valishi was the first Batel of Fuluoyu, and Ivan even acquired a large flock of sheep through deception, fraud, arson, murder, and plunder. The changes are obvious to the naked eye. You can't do these things without real power.

At this moment, Kerry Charagosa sneered, "There's an old saying in the desert: 'A young man with no experience is unreliable.' Kid, you're good at herding in Moscow, but as for doing business, well... why don't you become a translator and we all form an alliance with the Chuchus? Then I'll show you how we do business."

Kerry's words drew everyone's attention to Ivan. If everyone was willing to do business with the Fontaines, who would want to listen to this little brat?

Ivan said, "As long as you agree to let me become the Chanyu, I will naturally take you to the port."

The crowd exchanged bewildered glances. They knew Ivan wanted to declare himself Chanyu, but they hadn't expected him to say it so directly. Either this kid had enough power, or he was an idiot.

In the desert, no one who becomes a leader is an idiot.

Kerry scoffed, "Incompetent people bully their own kind, and incompetent dogs bark at their own mouths. You think you can use something given to you by outsiders to intimidate us desert people?"

Kerry's words not only compared Ivan to a dog but also called him incompetent, directly placing Ivan on the opposite side of the desert people.

Ivan sneered: "It seems you don't know why those Fontaines are willing to do business with me. Chagan Sukhbaatar, tell him!"

Chagan Suhbalu's name is quite interesting. His tribe is called the Suhe tribe. In the ancient desert, Chagan means white, Suhbalu means tiger, and Suhe means axe. Put together, it means a white tiger holding an axe.

Although his name sounds nice, everyone can't help but laugh when his tribe's name is mentioned. The Suhe tribe is very close to the Moscow tribe, and Chagan is old, over sixty years old. He has witnessed the rise of the Rurik family and the prosperity of the Moscow tribe under Ivan's leadership.

He went to see Esen in person to request that he open the port, but was refused. Afterwards, he chatted for a while with a tourist from Fontainebleau in Moscow. The tourist told him that Ivan had found a set of armor in the underwater secret realm, defeated the Abyss Apostle, saved the Water God, and even kindly gave him a newspaper.

Chagan saw the unconscious Ivan and his armor in the newspaper; it was in the shape of Hermanubis, like the elemental burst of Cyno.

There are so many undiscovered secret realms in Teyvat. For example, Ivan's father obtained a mechanical horse from one of these realms, and Ivan's armor alone looks far superior to his father's horse.

Therefore, Chagan dared not refuse Ivan and told him everything he had heard from the Fontaine people. He had also brought the newspaper with him, originally intending to warn the tribal chiefs he was on good terms with not to provoke Ivan, but now he could only take it out and let everyone read it.

After listening to Chagan's words and looking at the newspaper, everyone fell into a brief silence again.