"Xuanqing, what is it?"
At the top of the cliff, Longhua, sitting cross-legged in mid-air while manipulating the mechanisms of the barrier with her slender fingers, frowned and turned her head to look at Xuanqing.
Given Xuanqing's personality, she wouldn't disturb Longhua unless it was something she couldn't handle herself.
"Sect Leader, something major has happened in Shanhaijing."
Xuanqing recounted everything that had occurred in Shanhaijing.
Longhua slowly stopped her movements, her face not showing any shock or disbelief but instead a hint of sorrow.
Gradually, she descended from the cliff, her feet touching the ground as she gazed somewhat lost at the clouds below.
"Did… did I make a mistake?"
"Sect Leader?"
Even Xuanqing, who had remained calm in the face of such a serious situation, couldn't help but look up at Longhua in disbelief.
For the first time in her life, she heard such a fragile tone from the Sect Leader.
She immediately spoke up: "Sect Leader, there's no need to blame yourself. There's no way the Traveler did this."
"I know. But that's not the point."
Longhua closed her eyes.
"Clearly, the enemy was brought into Shanhaijing because of me. If I hadn't left the island, if I hadn't decided to open Shanhaijing to the world, this wouldn't have happened."
"For five thousand years, nothing like this has ever occurred. Now, just as we've begun to interact with the outside world, the people are facing such a disaster… How can I not feel that I've made a mistake?"
"Sect Leader…"
Xuanqing didn't know what to say. In the end, she could only lower her head and remain silent.
Longhua, however, didn't dwell on her sorrow for long. Time was of the essence, so she quickly took a step forward, soaring into the air. In the blink of an eye, she arrived in front of Gaoyang Mountain, landed, and then walked inside.
Although the barrier was her creation, even Longhua couldn't enter or exit it at will. She had to follow the rules to pass through.
If it weren't for this, the barrier wouldn't be such a big deal.
Both the barrier surrounding Shanhaijing and the one around Gaoyang Mountain were powerful enough to block even deities.
It wasn't impossible to break the barrier by force, but even with Longhua's or Zhongli's strength, it would take at least ten years of continuous, uninterrupted attacks to gradually wear it down.
For deities, battles lasting years or even decades were normal. Otherwise, the Archon War wouldn't have lasted over a thousand years. But even so, no deity would spend decades pointlessly chipping away at a barrier.
This was why Shanhaijing had remained as stable as a mountain for five thousand years. Longhua had never worried about the safety of Shanhaijing.
Even if there were a deity with nothing better to do, after spending at least ten years weakening the barrier, would they still have enough strength left to fight Longhua?
Longhua herself was one of the most powerful deities. The only ones who could match or possibly surpass her were the four Heavenly Principles and the seven Archons.
With such power and such a barrier, what did Longhua have to worry about?
...…Yes, as long as Shanhaijing remained closed, Longhua had nothing to worry about.
Had the barrier's entry point been discovered?
That wasn't a big deal.
Although she didn't know how the enemy had found it, Longhua could simply alter the barrier's foundation to change the entry point.
So, as long as Shanhaijing remained sealed, her people would continue to live in peace as they always had.
Then, had she truly made a mistake?
Back then, her people had begged for peace, which was why they chose to isolate themselves. Why had she now pushed them out of that peace?
Amidst these chaotic thoughts, Longhua finally entered Gaoyang Mountain and saw what was poisoning the water source.
And then…
"This is…!?"
Longhua's expression couldn't help but change slightly.
In the towering water column, a crimson energy orb floated, emitting faint ripples.
Longhua couldn't help but reach out and touch the Vision embedded in the garter on her thigh.
Her Vision was glowing faintly.
It wasn't the light of a Geo Vision but a strange, crimson glow.
The power within wasn't even elemental energy but something entirely different, completely aligned with the energy orb in the water column.
The Geo energy within the Vision was completely suppressed at this moment.
—The animated short fully depicted this scene.
The strange glow of the Vision.
Longhua's shock.
The snow-white skin of her thigh… Oh, that part's irrelevant.
No! Who said it was irrelevant?
"Sluuurp—!"
Hóu turned the camera to let the viewers see clearly, then leaned forward and licked the computer screen.
「666666」
「Wait, you actually licked it?」
「Legend! Absolute legend!」
「You think you're the only one who can lick?」
「Alright, stop messing around! This is clearly setting up something big!」
「Focus on the CG! Don't miss any important details. miHoYo's clearly about to drop something huge!」
"Alright, alright, let's focus on the CG. I just couldn't help myself earlier. Everyone, don't miss this animated short. There's a lot of important information here."
Hóu quickly laughed and urged everyone to pay attention to the animated short.
While his antics were entertaining, the animated short was clearly more important now because it was about to reveal crucial information—information related to the biggest mystery in Genshin Impact's lore.
Namely, the "Original Sin" power of Astrea and Themis.
So far, most characters in Genshin Impact derive their power from Visions—even Xiao, the adeptus, and Ganyu, the half-qilin. The only exceptions are Zhongli and Venti, whose powers are tied to their Gnoses—though they no longer possess them, using the Gnosis to signify their divine status and differentiate them from other characters makes sense.
Aside from them, all other characters should logically rely on Visions.
After all, that's the foundational power system of Genshin Impact.
However, the reality is that since the game's launch, there's been one character who stands out from the rest: Astrea, who's in the standard banner.
From the beginning, her profile stated that her power was "Original Sin," not a Vision or a Gnosis. Later, Themis, another character from Fontaine, was also revealed to wield "Original Sin," and both possessed power comparable to deities. How could players not be curious?
Unfortunately, up until now, Genshin Impact's storyline and various texts haven't provided any details about "Original Sin."
The only remotely related piece of lore was when Dottore, upon being killed by Themis, exclaimed in shock that Themis's power didn't belong to this world.
Other than that, there's been nothing.
—And now, Genshin Impact is finally about to reveal more about this mystery.