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[Genshin Impact] Chapter 533: Prison (2-in-1 Chapter)
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 04:00:04 +0000 UTCInazuma, Grand Narukami Shrine.
After the shrine maiden finished her report and left, Nolan was still kneading Yae Miko’s calves. Flushed and irritated, Yae Miko grabbed his ear and snapped:
“Oh my, how bold of you to bully this Guuji. You've got some nerve! Tell me, how should I punish you?”
“It was just a joke, Guuji-sama... surely someone as magnanimous as you wouldn’t hold it against me…” Nolan tried to brush it off while holding her hand.
“Hmph!” Yae Miko let go of his ear but didn’t really press the issue. She parted her soft lips and said, “Hanachirusato is over by the Sacred Sakura Tree. You can go find her yourself.”
She knew Nolan had come today to ask Hanachirusato for his reward.
Still holding her hand, Nolan gently squeezed it and said:
“Besides getting some valuable knowledge about the former Guuji, Kitsune Saiguu, I actually have another matter to discuss...”
He went on to explain how his Wonderland Space might allow him to revive Kitsune Saiguu using remnants of her spiritual consciousness—mainly to see if Yae Miko had any clues or leads.
“Oh?”
Yae Miko looked surprised—she hadn’t expected Nolan to have such a ridiculous ability!
She held great respect for Lady Saiguu. If there were even a sliver of hope to bring her back, there was no reason not to try.
“Kitsune Saiguu was the previous Guuji of the shrine. While she protected humanity, she also strove to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and youkai.
“Many youkai agreed with her ideals. After all, humans and youkai don’t have an inherent conflict—demonic energy is harmful to humans, so people wouldn’t just go provoke youkai without reason.
“But even so, over the years, many youkai with hostility toward humans have appeared.
“Some arrogantly see humans as inferior beings—nothing more than slaves to be ordered around.
“Others see humans as food, no different from wild beasts, and completely disregard Lady Saiguu’s ideals.
“For such threats to peace between humans and youkai, Lady Saiguu never hesitated. If a youkai committed severe crimes, she would carry out an execution.
“For those whose offenses weren’t as grave—who hadn’t harmed anyone—she’d give them a chance to repent.
“Her approach was much like human justice: imprisonment and reform. But since youkai are powerful, the prisons that could hold them were no ordinary structures…”
Listening to her explanation, Nolan quickly caught on:
“You mean, that prison where the youkai are held... might be sealed with powerful formations that restrict their powers? And perhaps Lady Saiguu left part of her spiritual will there to guard it?”
This was fairly common. For example, Guizhong had left behind her divine will to maintain the sealing formations in the Hidden Palace of Guizang Formula, where ancient evils were sealed.
Generally, spiritual will fades over time if the body dies and no longer nourishes it.
But the stronger one is, the slower that dissipation. Even a god like Havria still retained traces of her will after thousands of years.
If Kitsune Saiguu had truly left her spiritual will behind in that "prison"...
Then given her strength as a retainer of the Raiden Shogun—even if not as powerful as an Archon—it shouldn't have vanished completely after just a few hundred years. That meant reviving her might actually be possible!
Nolan’s face lit up with hope.
“You guessed right,” Yae Miko said. “That prison holding the youkai does still have part of Lady Saiguu’s will guarding it and maintaining the formation.
“Unfortunately, back then she said she was going on a journey... and never returned. With no choice, I had to take over all the responsibilities at the shrine.
“She never had the chance to formally hand over control of the prison to me. I only know it’s somewhere in Chinju Forest. But the forest is vast, and with Lady Saiguu’s spells cloaking the site, it’s not easy to find…”
Yae Miko confirmed his suspicions and shook her head as she explained.
As she shook her head, her fluffy pink fox ears twitched slightly, stirring a strong urge in him to reach out and touch them.
“That’s why I’m going to ask Hanachirusato,” Nolan said. “She has Lady Saiguu’s memories. She should know.”
He grabbed both of Yae Miko’s hands with his left hand and suddenly stood up—his right hand reaching for her fox ears.
“Hmph! You've been staring at my ears this whole time. I knew exactly what you were planning!” Yae Miko huffed.
She swiftly dodged as Nolan lunged, making him miss. His hand brushed past her cheek and smacked right into the exposed shoulder of her sleeveless shrine maiden outfit.
Her cheeks flushed slightly, and she gently pushed him away, chuckling:
“Hehe. Weren’t you going to ask Hanachirusato about Lady Saiguu? If you really want to touch my ears, bring her back successfully—and maybe I’ll let you touch them… just a little.”
“Oh-ho? You said it—don’t go back on your word!”
Nolan, momentarily disappointed, was now fired up with motivation again. He made his way toward the Sacred Sakura Tree to find Hanachirusato, with Yae Miko following behind.
Outside the shrine, a shrine maiden was sweeping. Not wanting to be seen, Nolan went into stealth mode and stayed invisible until he reached the Sacred Sakura area.
“You! I knew it—you did that on purpose just now!”
Yae Miko scowled at him, referring to how he had hidden under her skirt earlier.
“That was a total accident. I forgot I even had stealth abilities, that’s all,” Nolan said, making excuses as he changed the subject.
“Anyway, look—there’s Hanachirusato under the Sacred Sakura. Let’s go.”
“Hmph. For Lady Saiguu’s sake, I’ll let it go this time…” Yae Miko said, a soft smile appearing on her fair face.
Soon, they approached Hanachirusato, who was still wearing her white fox mask and gazing slightly upward at the Sacred Sakura Tree. She turned toward them and said:
“As for the matter of writing out Lady Saiguu’s spell formulas—it will take some time. I can’t hand them over so quickly.”
She assumed that Nolan had come to ask for his reward.
“No worries, Miss Hanachirusato. We're actually here to ask you about something else.”
Nolan shook his head and explained that they wanted to know the location of the “prison” where Kitsune Saiguu had once sealed away youkai.
“The place where Lady Kitsune Saiguu imprisoned the youkai?” Hanachirusato nodded softly. She indeed had memories related to it:
“That location was a secret domain created by Lady Kitsune Saiguu and an onmyoji named Koregami Harunosuke. It's within Chinju Forest.
“As it happens, Lady Kitsune Saiguu also had a friend named Ioroi who is sealed within the same forest. Let me take you there.”
Lady Saiguu had sealed Ioroi in order to keep him from dying in the catastrophe of Khaenri’ah. After all this time, perhaps it was finally time to release him.
Though... she wasn’t sure if he’d harbor any resentment toward Lady Saiguu.
“Ioroi-senpai? No wonder he’s been missing for so long—I thought he had perished during that disaster... So he was sealed all this time?” Yae Miko said with surprise.
Many of Inazuma’s powerful youkai had been affected by the Khaenri’ah war. To protect their own kin, they had no choice but to take action. The youkai world had declined greatly since then.
But fortunately, their efforts had not been in vain—their traditions and heritage had survived.
“Mm. I’ll explain more on the way,” Hanachirusato added, promising to tell them the details as they walked.
Although Nolan already had some understanding from the game’s storyline, he was still interested in hearing Hanachirusato’s version of events.
Yae Miko felt the same.
Before long, with Yae Miko’s teleportation spell, the group quickly arrived in Chinju Forest. On the way to Ioroi’s stone statue, Hanachirusato began recounting the events of that time.
Listening to her story, Nolan found that it matched the game quite closely. After a short walk following the tale’s end, they arrived near the statue of Ioroi.
From a distance, they could see a few tanuki playing nearby. Upon noticing someone approaching, they scattered and dashed off, each hiding in what they thought were concealed spotspoof—transforming into withered trees, stones, and other such objects.
“Tanuki are playful by nature and love pranks. If you can find them, you might just become their friend,” Hanachirusato explained casually, having noticed the little ones as well.
“I see... they do seem like cute little guys. Guess I’ll play with them a bit,” Nolan smiled, not wanting to disappoint their desire to interact.
He had already locked onto their positions with his spiritual sense.
Of course, “finding” them meant pretending not to know where they were, acting like he was struggling to find them, and only after a while “barely” managing to spot them—so as not to hurt their pride.
His plan worked perfectly. After intentionally taking his time, he finally “found” the little tanuki, who were visibly excited once discovered.
As a reward for finding them, they gave him a few Primogems, which pleasantly surprised him—he hadn’t expected such a bonus.
Following the little tanuki back to Ioroi’s statue, he saw Hanachirusato already in conversation with him.
Yae Miko stood to the side, wearing a helpless expression.
Curious, Nolan walked up and listened for a bit, only to realize Ioroi was ranting—understandably so, given how long he’d been sealed.
However, it didn’t sound like he bore any resentment toward Kitsune Saiguu. He understood that she had sealed him away to prevent him from acting rashly and dying.
He understood that... but still had complaints. Though he said he was angry at Saiguu, it was really frustration at his own weakness—his inability to help his friend when she needed it most.
Seeing that Ioroi was probably going to complain for a while, Nolan and Yae Miko decided to leave him be and head off to find the youkai prison.
They had already gotten its location from Hanachirusato earlier.
Following her directions deeper into the forest, it wasn’t long before they reached what seemed to be the spot.
At that moment, Nolan activated Fischl’s affection skill—“Eye of Judgement.”
His pupils slowly turned golden. The eerie, mist-filled forest suddenly lit up.
The mist began to fade, and before him appeared a large stone gate. Carved in the universal Teyvat script above the arch were the words: “Secret Domain of Demon Suppression.”
This illusion was only dispelled because of his “Eye of Judgement,” which allowed him to see through illusion magic within a power threshold based on his and Fischl’s combined levels.
It was an incredibly high-level illusion—even Yae Miko hadn’t detected it—clearly the work of Kitsune Saiguu. It must have been designed to prevent others from stumbling in by accident.
“Hehe… I wonder what condition the place is in after all these years. Let’s just hope those youkai haven’t escaped,” Yae Miko commented.
If this had been before, she might not have been able to see through Saiguu’s illusion either. But thanks to the “Ninetails(?) Fox Spirit” spiritual attribute that Nolan gave her, her youkai power had grown greatly, rendering the illusions ineffective against her now.
“Let’s head in and take a look,” Nolan nodded.
Those youkai sealed inside shouldn’t have been affected by the Khaenri’ah disaster, but after all this time, they might have grown restless or aggressive.
For safety, Nolan summoned the “Sword God of Lumine” to push open the secret domain’s door.
However, the moment she touched the stone gate, a white sealing formation appeared and halted her movement.
He could easily break it, but Nolan decided to take the polite approach and asked Yae Miko to unlock it—in case brute-forcing it caused damage inside.
Besides, Yae Miko had already obtained the method to undo the seal from Hanachirusato, so there wouldn’t be any issue.
He looked toward Yae Miko, giving her a signal.
Arms folded, Yae Miko gave a slight nod. She stepped forward to the gate and, following Hanachirusato’s instructions, channeled her youkai power into the seal.
Perhaps recognizing the correct input method, the white formation quickly dimmed and faded away.
“All done. The seal on the door is now deactivated,” she confirmed, having received confirmation from the formation.
“Great,” Nolan responded. Then he once again had the Sword God push open the massive stone gate.
As the heavy stone scraped against the ground, a crack opened in the door. Through that narrow gap, they saw a dark, stone-built passage—completely devoid of light.
Sure, it was a prison, but not even a single lantern? Clearly, after so many years, the basic infrastructure had fallen into disrepair.
Nolan had Sword God fly inside first. Once she had scouted a bit ahead, he and Yae Miko slowly followed behind into the darkness.
—
(End of Chapter)
