The rescuers were none other than Reisen Riou, Anko Kanno, and a group of junior mikos from the Ritou Shrine.
With their small, elite team, mobility was top-notch. After resting, they arrived just as the Shogunate army breached the Hilichurl camp at the canyon's mouth.
They said little, taking position atop the canyon to observe the battle, mopping up scattered Hilichurls. Reisen Riou prepared to sense the Ley Line stagnation point.
Before he could, chaos erupted below.
Snapped awake by the mikos' gasps, Reisen Riou saw a Mitachurl Thunderhelm flatten a samurai.
No time to save him.
As the Thunderhelm charged toward the Vision-bearing samurai and Kujou Sei, Reisen Riou drew his greatbow, unleashing a full-power shot.
Infused with Armor-Piercing, Anti-Magic, Enchantment, Elemental Arrows, and Gigantification, the arrow morphed into a massive Electro spear, pinning the Thunderhelm in place.
The Miko of Martial Rice lived up to her rare martial prowess. As Reisen Riou fired, she launched herself from the canyon's edge with a grappling claw, descending like a red-and-white blur. Her naginata flashed, beheading the Thunderhelm in one fluid strike.
The Mitachurl Thunderhelm had no chance to react. It died still bound by the Electro spear, unable to raise its signature elemental shield.
Good thing, too. A Thunderhelm's shield granted high elemental resistance and physical damage reduction. Had it activated, Reisen Riou's team would've paid dearly to take it down.
With the Thunderhelm dead, the Ley Lines stabilized, and the Ley Line Suppression Stone fully activated.
Reisen Riou, Anko, and a battered Kujou Sei coordinated briefly. Kujou Sei began tallying casualties and setting up camp to recover.
The mikos prepared a ritual to mend the Ley Lines.
This was beyond Reisen Riou's purview. Any trained miko could handle Ley Line cleansing.
Soon, the Ley Lines flowed smoothly, free of monster-spawning risks. The mikos, with samurai aid, retrieved the Suppression Stone.
Ritou's stagnation points weren't severe, so the stone didn't need to stay. Plus, Suppression Stones were hard to craft, so they were recycled.
In energy-rich regions, stones were permanent, periodically releasing suppressed Ley Line energy to spawn monsters, which were then culled to regulate flow.
Reisen Riou focused, sensing the Ley Lines.
To Teyvatians, Ley Lines were the mother of all and the resting place of souls and matter. Most beings returned to the Ley Lines upon death, carrying faint obsessions but mostly memories.
Strong obsessions, paired with a vessel, became Saint Relics.
But the intense grudges of powerful, unjustly slain beings? Those were Demon God Resentments or Curses—called karmic debts by Liyue's Adepti. Bad news all around.
"Lord Guardian, how's the Ley Line?" Anko asked post-ritual.
"Still a bit sluggish, but mostly normal. No stagnation likely soon," Reisen Riou said. "But this canyon's terrain and magnetic field are trouble. Long-term, it'll stagnate easily. Any fixes?"
Learned as he was, Reisen Riou lacked experience here and asked.
"Not impossible," Anko said. "A Ley Line Suppression Stone would do it, but Ritou's got just one. For now, we station Foot Soldiers to clear monsters. A permanent fix needs a new stone from the Grand Narukami Shrine."
"Apply for one, then," Reisen Riou decided.
They discussed the Suppression Stone's mechanics. Though a martial miko, Anko, from a miko lineage, knew plenty about them.
She claimed she could craft one with enough materials—a testament to her senior miko versatility.
But the core materials—Liyue's Radiant-Grade Noctilucous Jade and rare Cor Lapis—were scarce.
Unlike the game, Noctilucous Jade was a precious gem in Teyvat. Radiant-Grade was its finest cut, held by Liyue's mining magnates or veteran miners.
A single flawless Cor Lapis took a skilled miner a month to extract, underscoring its value.
Only Liyue, rich in minerals, could deploy Suppression Stones widely.
Morax, master of Mora, was loaded. How rich? Anko didn't know, but he footed the bill for every Seven Archons' banquet—effortlessly. Other gods brought local specialties; Inazuma's twin gods, rumor had it, couldn't afford a single banquet.
This intel came from Yae Miko, an Archon kin, so it was credible.
Anko said Yae Miko had attended the outer banquets of the Seven Archons' gatherings, mingling with other Archon kin.
These outer banquets were for the kin while the Archons feasted. Held in Liyue, they drew mostly Adepti, with few Inazumans attending—only Yae Miko and Chiyo.
They then analyzed the Thunderhelm's appearance.
Per Ley Line theory, it was summoned from deep Ley Lines by the surge of energy from mass monster deaths.
Ley Lines spanned Teyvat. Ritou's weak flow couldn't birth a Thunderhelm, so it likely drifted from another region's deeper currents.
Such cross-regional flow happened only in deep Ley Lines.
They were just unlucky to hit this rare case.
Smaller monsters were more likely from deep Ley Lines, not a full-blown Thunderhelm.
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