[Genshin Impact] Water, Ice, and Everything Nice

The Haunting at Wangshu Inn

"Chongyun!" a familiar voice called.

The white haired lad looked around in search of his friend, turning his head and body sluggishly. It was high noon and the August Liyue sun was as hot as it could possibly be. Chongyun had to be extra careful, especially at this time of the year. Otherwise, he risked getting out of control again.

"Up heerre!" the familiar voice called out again.

Chongyun looked up and saw Xingqiu sitting high above the famous wooden staircase of the Wangshu Inn. As usual, the blue-haired boy had a book in hand, his legs dangling precariously on the wooden planks of the broken staircase.

"Oi," Chongyun called back, smiling and squinting his eyes at the sunlight. "You should come down, Xingqiu. You might fa—"

Xingqiu leaped from the edge of the broken planks and summersaulted in midair, a strong gush of water emanating from his vision created rainbow colors that danced in the air. Xingqiu then plummeted gracefully towards the ground, his fall cushioned by four distinctly-shaped swords made of rain.

Beautiful. Chongyun thought to himself. He had always admired Xingqiu's Guhua Style : Fatal Rainscreen. After all, that technique had long been thought dead, only to be revived by the genius of his friend.

"I take it you got delayed because of the summer heat?" Xingqiu said, questioningly.

Chongyun nodded. "I'm sorry Xingqiu. I'm afraid my affliction still gets the best of me."

Chongyun was born with Congenital Positivity – or at least that's what 7 of the Liyue healers informed his father and mother when it first manifested in him.

"Tut, tut," Xingqiu said, shaking his head. "No need for that long face, now."

Chongyun smiled. Xingqiu had always been a reliable friend. Probably, he would have gone crazy trying out the different things he came up with to control and mitigate his affliction, had he not met Xingqiu.

"Come with," Xingqiu said. "Let's go and get refreshments upstairs."

Chongyun looked back at the many stairs leading up to the famous restaurant at Wangshu Inn. It would have been bearable for him to climb it slowly as some parts of the stairs were protected from the sun by the towering stone formations of this region. However, the staircase was clearly broken, and passage towards the inn itself was limited to the makeshift wooden planks exposed directly to sunlight.

"Don't worry," Xingqiu remarked. He seemed to have guessed what Chongyun was worried about. "The inn has this marvelous contraption called the come-upper!"

Xingqiu sounded positively excited as he dragged Chongyun's rather cold hands towards the western most wing of the Wangshu Inn. The two lads stopped short a wide opening on the floor.

Chongyun looked down and gasped, "Look at this height!"

"It gets better," Xingqiu commented.

Within seconds, a loud and steady chugging sound greeted their ears as an enormous wooden contraption descended from the floors above. The size of it could have easily fit about 10 lads of Chongyun size.

"Hop in," Xingqiu pulled at Chongyun, unable to contain his excitement.

Chongyun could not help but study and marvel at the wooden mechanism they were in. It had a sturdy floor made of wooden panels that were decorated with the sigils of Liyue, and the ceiling was in-laid with amber creating patterns that the Geo archon himself would be proud of.

And the walls were beyond anything Chongyun had ever laid eyes on. The walls of the come-upper were cut open in a wide arching holes allowing the riders to feast on the unadulterated beauty of the Dihua Marsh all the way to the hidden villages and bamboo forests of Mt. Qingce to the north.

Wangshu Inn, sitting atop a massive stone structure had always incited awe to the citizens of Liyue, but it seems that the inn's boss had outdone herself with this come-upper.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" asked Xingqiu.

Chongyun nodded, happy that he decided to come along and trusted Xingqiu on his intel about a ghostly apparition in the inn – which reminded him of why he was here.

"What kind of evil spirit did you say it was?" Chongyun asked the other boy as the come-upper came to a halt at the entrance of the inn.

"I heard from some of the merchants from our guild..." Xingqiu began as he hopped out of the come-upper. "...that the head Chef refused to buy our usual deliveries of almonds and sweet flower."

Chongyun followed Xingqiu towards the terrace overlooking the marshes. Even at that height, he could clearly see the unique sparkle of the silvergrass from where the area got its name. To top it off, the terrace had a lot of colorful parasols and is overshadowed by the stone formations that the sunlight was not bothering him at all. In fact, the cool breeze caressed his face playfully and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

"They said that the chef could no longer make his signature dish – Almond Tofu."

Chongyun gave the blue-haired boy a quizzed look. "Xingqiu, what does that have to do with evil spirits?"

"Ever the impatient one, you are!" Xingqiu remarked. "The chef could no longer make almond tofu because his hands are never steady these days!"

Xingqiu was staring at Chongyun expectantly, but Chongyun could not surmise anything from that little information.

Xingqiu smacked himself lightly in the forehead. "It means that a ghost's haunting him!"

Chongyun's eyebrows burrowed deep in his forehead and a feeling of dread splashed all over him like a bucket of boiling water. There could be thousands of reasons why the chef no longer had steady hands – a ghost haunting him being the least likely! Could this be, yet again, another one of Xingqiu's elaborate antics to make fun of Chongyun?

None but a few knew this but despite Xingqiu's noble and chivalric demeanor, his antics are downright crazy! Chongyun regretfully remembered those days he'd believe Xingqiu only to be welcomed by an array of traps inside a rumored haunted house.

Chongyun sighed audibly. "I think we should just enjoy the food and the view..."

Xingqiu eyed his friend disappointedly. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Chongyun shook his head and headed towards the restaurant, with Xingqiu following closely behind.

Once seated, however, things proved Xingqiu wrong once again. The two lads were advised by the waiter that the chef can now cook their famous Almond Tofu. Xingqiu tried to question the waiter about this, but the waiter did not seem to know the answer.

"I'm afraid I do not know why, young master. Chef Smiley Yangxiao could not do it just this morning. It's a miracle he can make this dish again!"

Once done, the two lads leisurely glided from atop the Wangshu Inn towards the marshes below.

It was then that something felt wrong. A foreboding feeling came over Chongyun, enveloping his entire body in an inexplicable emotion. He knew that it wasn't just him, as Xingqiu summoned his Fatal Rainscreen immediately after landing.

And then it happened.

Xingqiu parried a spear that came hurtling towards them out of nowhere. Chongyun drew his claymore, readying himself to strike.

Then there was another swoosh of strong air as Xingqiu parried another attempt at skewering the two of them.

"Show yourself," demanded Xingqiu. Chongyun gripped his claymore tight, ready to unleash his Chonghua's Layered Frost to support his friend.

"How dare you exorcise that girl?!" screamed a disembodied voice seemingly coming from the howling winds. "She was under the protection of this inn!"