NOTE: Folders in boldface denote playable characters.

Adepti

The adepti (singular "adeptus") are supernatural beings, most of whom are disciples of Rex Lapis, first gathered when he began his rule 3,700 years ago, sworn to protect the people under his aegis. The people of Liyue believe that they are divine beings who descend from Celestia, like Mondstadt perceives gods, revering but not worshipping them. Compared to the Gods, the adepti are relatively shorter-lived, and their passing is traditionally marked with the "Rite of Parting."

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General Tropes

Animorphism: The adepti's ranks are largely populated by Illuminated Beasts like the Qilin. They can in fact shapeshift into human forms (given this is the only way hybrids like Ganyu and Yanfei could happen), but when gathering for council, or when appearing before mortals (which are extremely rare occasions), they usually default to their Illuminated Beast forms.
Antiquated Linguistics: The Zhenjun and, to a lesser degree, Xiao speak in a very formal but old-fashioned manner. This fits as they have been around for millennia but tend to shun interactions with humans. Perhaps most notably, Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper both always use "one" or "one's" instead of "I", "me" or "mine" when speaking of themselves.
Bishōnen Line: It appears the more powerful an adeptus is, the more human-looking they become.
- Morax as the Prime of the Adepti is known to take many human forms, and is believed to have used a humanoid form during his battles despite his Exuvia form being a dragon.
- The Yakshas are the most powerful of the adepti serving Morax and they all look humanoid, merely donning their masks when in battle. They remain humanoid even when they fell to madness. Xiao in particular looks the most human among the Foremost, and he manages to remain sane until the present day whereas his brothers and sisters have long fallen.
- When Fujin uses up her powers to turn the water and soil of Chenyu Vale back to normal, she reverts back to a carp as she no longer has the energy to maintain her humanoid form.
Deity of Human Origin: Though the adepti are not gods and thus not worshipped (except for Rex Lapis, who is a god), a sizable number of Liyue's people still revere them, and a human could become one of the adepti in the past. A human could achieve this either through great accomplishments, or through undergoing 'trials of heaven and earth'. The adepti used to hold the trial of 'earth' in Taishan Mansion, but ever since the adepti secluded themselves from Liyue's people, no human has joined their ranks.
Divine Birds : While they are not as divine as gods, numerous adepti such as Cloud Retainer and Xiao have avian illuminated beast forms, and humans will seek them out for guidance.
Due to the Dead: Every Lantern Rite giant lantern is built based on a different deceased adeptus to honour their memory and their contribution to Liyue. In 2021, it was Skybracer, 2022 was an unnamed fish adeptus, 2023 was Sea Gazer, and Menogias in 2024.
Dwindling Party: Over the millennia, various adepti have died in the line of duty to defend Liyue and its citizens from threats, and now those still alive can be counted on with two hands.
Everybody Knew Already: In the 2023 Lantern Rite event, Cloud Retainer reveals that they had figured out that Rex Lapis had faked his death, and is now living among mortals as Zhongli.
Guardian Angel: They are the divine guardians of Liyue who have sworn an oath to Rex Lapis to protect the land from supernatural threats. Nevertheless, a number have condescending views against humans and at times perceive the Liyue Qixing as potential threats to the land. After the Archon Wars ended, they secluded themselves in the mountains, believing the humans have no need for their protection.
Home of the Gods: Adepti have taken residence in the mountains of Jueyun Karst. Humans who venture there without a Sigil of Permission are either seen as very brave, very desperate, or very foolish.
I Gave My Word: The adepti are bound by contract to help Liyue in times of need, and they will take any agreement they make very seriously.
Kirin: Among the adepti are qilin and xiezhi which Ganyu and Yanfei are descended from respectively, though in Genshin they look nothing like classical depictions of such creatures and instead resemble giant goats, as in the case of qilin, or deer.
Long-Lived: They naturally live for at least thousands of years. Even a half-human, half-Illuminated Beast like Ganyu can live for 3,700 years while keeping her youthful appearance, and other adepti are even older.
Lost in Translation: In the East Asian languages, Moon Carver, Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper, Madame Ping, Skybracer, and Sea Gazer are collectively called 真君 (Zhēnjūn, "Perfected Lord"), alluding to their shared history of strength and wisdom in service of Rex Lapis. In some other translations such as English, they lack a group name.
Nature Spirit: Xianyun's Vision story reveals that natural born adepti are pure elemental beings, and hence already have mastery over the elements and do not require Visions.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Most adepti (except for Madame Ping) are known among mortals only by their titles, such as Cloud Retainer, Mountain Shaper and Moon Carver. They also seem to prefer calling each other by their titles.
Person of Mass Destruction: Not on the same level as the Archons, but they easily take second place. Special mentions go to Cloud Retainer who seriously considered destroying the entirety of Liyue Harbor as retaliation for Rex Lapis' demise (Paimon fearfully noted that she wasn't joking) and Xiao, essentially a warrior spirit who the story entry notes regularly battled with forces that could destroy all of Liyue, and won.
Precursors: They're a demigod-like race who created much of the ruins and magitek found around Liyue, including automated siege weapons, anti-gravity, and space manipulation. A few of them are still alive, but they mostly avoid humans, only making a major appearance to help defend Liyue from a reawakened god.
Proud Warrior Race: All of them are perfectly capable warriors, with the Yakshas being known as the most fearsome warriors among them. They also seem to hold battle prowess in high esteem, which is likely due to them being founded during the Archon War, which made those skills vital. Tellingly, the five foremost Yakshas, the most skilled warriors among the adepti (second to their Archon of course) also held a high level of seniority among them.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: In the East Asian localizations, the adepti are referred to as 仙人—"Xiānrén" in Chinese, "Sennin" (via go-on, or Wu Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana せんにん) in Japanese, and "Seonin" (hangul 선인) in Korean—referring to the Xian, an immortal being in Taoism. The term "adeptus" is the common English translation of the characters (otherwise, they literally mean "Xian person," the first character having a multitude of meanings).
Semi-Divine: Although the adepti do not interact with humans, at least two of the Illuminated Beasts among their ranks are capable of reproducing with humans, resulting in half-human, half-Illuminated Beast offspring. Ganyu and Yanfei are the only known examples so far. The first was born before the Archon War, and the latter after the war.
Talking Animal: They can still communicate through spoken language even if they choose to appear as animals.
Third-Person Person: The Zhenjun refer to themselves as 'one', a third-person indefinite pronoun.
Try to Fit That on a Business Card: The adepti's titles in the East Asian localizations are very long when translated directly, hence in English their titles are just shorthanded.
Uplifted Animal: It is possible for an animal to become an adepti through numerous years of training and cultivation, as Yuandai aims to be and Fujin became.
Voluntary Shapeshifter: Every Illuminated Beast has a human form which they can change shape into at their own will.

The Zhenjun / Jueyun adepti

The group of adepti assigned by Rex Lapis to watch over Liyue.

Xianyun / Cloud Retainer

Xianyun / Cloud Retainer, The Perfected Lord Who Retains the Clouds by Borrowing the Wind

Introduced: January 31, 2024 (v.4.4 "Vibrant Harriers Aloft in Spring Breeze" [first half])
Voiced by: Qin Ziyi (Chinese), Mana Nakatomi (Japanese), Kang Si-hyeon (Korean), Stephanie Panisello (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xianyun.png

Passerine Herald

^{Click to see her crane form.}

"What? A cursory change in one's appearance, and you barely recognize me? Hah! Then let one dispel any doubt — one is in all things unconstrained and unabashed, free to live as one pleases, go where one desires, and journey with whomsoever one wishes. Ehm, nevertheless, ahem... in light of one's considerable renown... please call me "Xianyun" in public."

Rarity: 5★
Element: Anemo
Weapon: Catalyst
Constellation: Grus Serena, the Tranquil Crane

The adeptus living atop Mount Aocang, typically taking the form of an enormous crane with white and blue feathers. Known amongst her peers as a master artisan, but also for her aloofness, the apparent death of Rex Lapis left her jaded with humanity until the Traveler's heroics in defeating Osial and foiling the Fatui's schemes, as well as learning that the Geo Archon still lives, albeit incognito, convinced her to stand down and continue observing humanity, mostly through her disciples Ganyu and Shenhe. After a few years, she develops a curiosity for human life and settles down at Liyue Harbor under the alias "Xianyun," in the process developing a witty and chatty, but ultimately warm-hearted, woman who continues making machines.

Xianyun shows her adeptal might by casting herself and her allies aloft to drive their foes away. Her Elemental Skill, White Clouds at Dawn, puts her in the "Cloud Transmogrification" state that upgrades her leap into Skyladder, which she can perform up to thrice in succession, as well as her plunging attack into Driftcloud Wave, where she transforms into her crane form to home in onto a foe and whose potency and radius increases the higher she has leapt. Her Elemental Burst, Stars Gather At Dusk, summons the Starwicker, a mechanical crane that blasts surrounding foes with billowing winds before proceeding to periodically heal allies around the active character, enhances their jumping power, and grants them eight stacks of Adeptal Assistance that are consumed one at a time to augment their plunging attacks with blasts of wind.^note

Action Mom: She is a veteran of the Archon Wars just like her eldest adopted daughter Ganyu, trained Shenhe in martial arts, and is still able to fight hordes of monsters single-handedly should the situation requires it.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl:
- Her human form is a tall dark-haired lady and is a self-proclaimed "austere and private" individual by nature that "never relished socializing". As she puts it...
  "Just because one is not ignorant of social graces does not mean one is fond of them!"
- Her Teaser Trailer has Zhongli recalling a time when Cloud Retainer actually preferred to appear in this form and was revered as a bold, decisive figure by Liyue's citizens.
- As of her playable appearance, however, this now seems to be downplayed. While she's still a bit arrogant and proud, she is much more open for conversation and demonstrates her warmer self more often.
- According to Xiao, she also took on this form back when she fought in the Archon War, where after Guizhong's death she was known to be taciturn and solemn and only spoke when she had to activate her adepti sigils. Sometime later, she returned to her illuminated beast form as part of her decision to distance herself from humanity.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: A non-biological example. Cloud Retainer has known Ganyu since she was a child, and would gleefully recount embarrassing stories about her childhood to the Traveler and Paimon, much to the latter's embarrassment. In addition, her adopted daughter Shenhe is likely also a regular victim of this behavior, if the way she hurriedly stops Cloud Retainer from doing so during the first Archon Quest Interlude is any indication. This is supported by Yaoyao's voice line saying that she found out that Shenhe once got sick from eating too much raw Qingxin because Cloud Retainer told her about it.
Ambiguous Situation: As opposed to Venti and Zhongli who wear fake Visions in order to remain inconspicuous in their mortal guises, Xianyun's Anemo Vision is genuine and she does use it. Unlike most Vision bearers though, how she acquired it is unknown as her Vision story is instead a line of thought for using it while in her human disguise.
Ascended Extra: The biggest case of this trope in the game so far, Cloud Retainer went from being a (somewhat recurrent) Quest-exclusive NPC using a modified generic crane model from the game's release, to be shown to have a human form in the 3.4 Lantern Rite Event, to become fully playable in update 4.4. For comparison, another 1.0 character, Baizhu, was clearly meant to be playable long before he was released since he had a unique model.
Author Appeal: For the 2024 Lantern Rite, she asks Shenhe and Ganyu which colors they prefer for their new outfits. Both reply blue and black, which pleases her because they chose colors Xianyun also favors. While Ganyu picked those colors because she already associated them with her master’s Adeptus form, Shenhe's real reason is because they hide dirt stains better.
Bad Liar: Unlike Rex Lapis, Cloud Retainer has a difficult time disguising herself as a human. After choosing to take on the identity of Xianyun she ends up giving away the fact that she's an adeptus to the first person she meets. She also slips up and says that her mechanical inventions are hundreds of years old when she tries to sell them, stumbling over the not entirely convincing explanation that they're family heirlooms.
Big Eater: She enjoys it when people bring her food as offerings, as much as she loves to cook herself, putting more effort into perfecting her cooking devices.
- At the end of her story quest, she declares her intent to order Bamboo Shoot Soup, Mora Meat, Crab Roe Tofu, and Triple-Layered Consommé at Wanmin Restaurant. She also considers Shuyu's suggestion of trying Adeptus's Temptation, surprising Paimon with the food quantity. It's justified that she likes eating in company, which also means that she can order a lot of different dishes in one go.
- One of her idle animations has her inventing a gadget that makes her pop corn.
- In her voice-lines about food, she mentions that she enjoys eating every kind of food as long as it's well made. If it's poorly made and doesn't have good flavor, don't even bother giving it to her.
- In her voice lines, she considers one of her life-long goals to perfect her Supreme Cuisine Machine, so she can cook to perfection every dish in the world. Although she somewhat takes offense when Xiangling considers the dishes made with it "inauthentic" as they weren't prepared by hand. Xianyun however argues that they technically are as the machine was made by her hands and that they should one day have a contest to see whose dishes are better, once she's made improvements to her device.
Biker Babe: In the past, apparently she invented a magical form of motorcycle that she used to race against Moon Carver. No mention whether she's riding it in her crane or human form though.
Can't Argue with Elves: While most of them are a bit standoffish, Cloud Retainer is one of the most outwardly prideful and has little patience for anything she doesn't find interesting. Nearly all her words and actions in her first appearance serve to to support Keqing's early view about the adepti. Her later appearances reveal her to be somewhat more reasonable and approachable, but impressing her enough for her to give one the time of day is still very difficult. Tellingly, Keqing is very careful to tailor her gifts to the adeptus in order to avoid giving a bad impression, even going so far as to ask Ganyu for advice.
Characterization Marches On: Cloud Retainer is first introduced as aloof, unimpressed by humans, and ruthless, willing to destroy Liyue Harbor as a response to Rex Lapis' supposed assassination. Most of her appearances since then have highlighted her kinder, comedic, and more sociable sides, from her treatment of Ganyu and Shenhe to her reasonable relationship with the Traveler. Zhongli even comments during the 2022 Lantern Rite that she cares deeply for humanity despite her saying she prefers to keep her distance from it. This continues as Xianyun where, in her curiosity to get closer to humanity, she's much easier to get along with.
- Emphasized to great effect in the 2024 Lantern Rite Event. Initially, the main questline seems to tease that event's premise of kites using technology from Fontaine would trigger her competitive side, with many characters saying that she wouldn't want to be shown up by mortal devices. However, she herself says that the concept doesn't affect her, and most of her energy during the questline is dedicated to helping Gaming reconcile with his father. In the end, she does actually develop a kite that flies head and shoulders above the combined Liyue-Fontaine kites, but she also uses it to help lift those kites higher when the wind dies down.
Paimon: And when we told her that Rex Lapis had been assassinated, she immediately threatened to "squash Liyue Harbor"! Paimon thought she'd be impossible to get along with, but now that we've spent some more time together, she's really not like that at all.
The Comically Serious: During the dialogue with her when she looks down on Ningguang's Jade Chamber and boasts about herself being the superior engineer, the Traveler can call her a Sore Loser. She then responds that she neither has sores, nor that she had lost anything.
Competition Freak: She is known by her fellow Adepti and students to be very competitive. Her most notable competitions were her defeats against Guizhong. After Guizhong's death and the loss of her greatest rival, she tried to keep competing with her friends. According to Shenhe, she once challenged Moon Carver to a race, but she eventually stopped challenging them because she didn't feel she was being challenged enough^note.
Complexity Addiction: Cloud Retainer has a tendency to get rather invested in what she's doing and thus overdo it as well. She's introduced mentioning she wanted solitude, so she built an entire sprawling domain filled with traps and mechanisms to keep people out. In her story quest, she goes to great lengths to aid her wayward disciple from the shadows rather than simply introduce herself and help openly. In the 2024 Lanter Rite Event, she crafts an elaborate scheme to manipulate Gaming and Yip Tak into reconciling involving a fake bandit attack, having a loud conversation with Shenhe while in earshot, and other such tricks. Gaming sees through it, her attempts to sway Yip Tak go awry, and ultimately Zhongli demonstrates a more effective approach by simply having a heartfelt conversation with Yip Tak about his worries for his son and giving him some advice.
Cooldown Manipulation: If she does not perform her Skill's unique plunge within a short window of time, its cooldown will be reduced from twelve seconds to nine. In addition, her sixth Constellation upgrade, They Call Her Cloud Retainer, negates the cooldown time of the first eight uses of her Skill for as long as the Starwicker is active, in addition to a further damage boost to its unique plunging attack (see "Critical Hit Class" below).
Crippling Overspecialization: Unlike your typical Anemo Vision holder, Xianyun doesn't specialize in crowd control, instead aiming to substantially boost her allies' plunging attacks. This makes her less, well, adept at regular team compositions, instead benefitting characters with who rely on such attacks as their main source of damage or at least have very high damage multipliers for plunging attacks, such as Xiao, Diluc, or Kazuha.
Critical Hit Class: Her first-ascension passive, Galefeather Pursuit, grants the party up to four stacks of Storm Pinions for twenty seconds for each enemy struck by her unique plunging attack, which increases the Critical Damage of their plunging attacks by 4% with one stack, with another 2% per subsequent stack (to a maximum of 10%). Furthermore, her sixth Constellation upgrade (see "Cooldown Manipulation" above) increases the same stat for such an attack by 15/35/70% depending on how many times she has leapt beforehand.
Department of Redundancy Department: She used to see her Vision as this, as she could already freely channel elemental power without one. She rethinks her position after choosing to live amongst humanity, believing that using it over her adeptal powers would allow her to fit in better.
Doting Parent:
- One of her most warm-hearted aspects. She used to make toys (advanced as they might've been) for Ganyu when the former was a little girl, and also accepts Shenhe's request of making a Xiao lantern for her during the 2023 Lantern Rite, with the intention of making an especially good-looking lantern.
- She also develops this with the Traveler, giving them a headpat and inviting them to visit her whenever they feel down.
Double Jump: Her Skill can be used up to thrice in succession, the second and third of which can be done in midair, which can be further enhanced whenever the Starwicker is active.
Dub Name Change:
- Cloud Retainer's adeptal name derives from the first two characters of 留云借风真君 [simplified]/留雲借風真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord who Retains the Clouds by Borrowing the Wind"), which are read as "Liúyún Jièfēng Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Ryūun Shakufū Shinkun" (hiragana りゅううんしゃくふうしんくん) in Japanese, and "Ryuun Chapung Jingun" (hangul 류운 차풍 진군) in Korean.
- Her civilian alias, Xianyun (simplified, 闲云 traditional 閒雲, pinyin "Xiányún"), is read as "Kan'un" (via kan-on [Han Chinese-derived] reading; kanji 閑雲, katakana カンウン) in Japanese and "Han-un" (hangul 한운) in Korean.
Early-Bird Cameo: Pun aside, her human form was first seen in a flashback the 2023 Lantern Rite event, a whole year before she was Promoted to Playable.
Elemental Personalities: Anemo couldn't fit this proud, yet free-spirited adeptus more than it does, moreso as Xianyun due to her more personable demeanor.
Establishing Character Moment: The story introduces Cloud Retainer with hints that she was a mediator between Guizhong and Rex Lapis due to the presence of a table outside her domain that had all three of their names on it—implying a judicial mind— and freely invites the player within her realm upon sensing the sigil they carry. When told the news, however, she flies into a Tranquil Fury and intends to put off convening with the others to go punish (read: destroy) all Liyue Harbor in revenge and the player must talk her out of it. As for the table outside her abode, it is eventually revealed that she and Guizhong were rivals in the field of mechanical engineering, and it was actually Rex Lapis who was there to mediate one of her challenges to the God of Dust.
The Fashionista: Another hobby she has is designing and sewing clothes, even if it's not at the same level of dedication as Menogias. The first gift she made for Shuyu was a new dress with turquoise-white shades, and as a Lantern Rite gift, she designed two dresses for Ganyu and Shenhe and sent the commission to a seamstress.
Femme Fatalons: Her human form has short talons at the ends of her fingers as appropriate for her crane form.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Her Skill's unique leap can deal damage to an enemy while she is jumping forward, while her unique plunging attack has her transform into her crane form to dive onto enemies.
Form-Fitting Wardrobe: The clothes she is seen wearing while in her human form appear similar to the bodysuits that her wards Ganyu and Shenhe presently wear.
Foil:
- Xianyun and Madame Ping are both the known surviving female adepti from Rex Lapis' old guard that have been long friends for millennia and had a Friendly Rivalry with Guizhong.
  - Both took students, prominently one human and one half-Adeptus each. Xianyun’s apprentices, Ganyu and Shenhe, are Cryo users with quiet personalities and their outfits feature black tights, while Madame Ping’s, Xianling and Yanfei, are Pyro users with passionate and extroverted personalities, and both their outfits showcase minishorts and bright colors. While Madame Ping took Yao Yao, a child with a Dendro vision, as a student, Xianyun took in Shuyu, a child with crane blood and the potential to become an adeptus, as her fourth disciple.
  - While Madame Ping competed with Guizhong in their musical talents, Xianyun was more inclined to gadgets and inventions. Both of them were often defeated by Guizhong.
  - Both were deeply hurt by Guizhong’s death, but they dealt with their mourning very differently. Xianyun kept herself away from humans, is still immortal, and occasionally takes students and spends her time honing her gadgetry skills, while Madame Ping retired to live in the city and let herself grow old, still took students and mostly abandoned music save for very special occasions.
- She and Zhongli are old friends from Liyue’s Ancient History, and both end up taking human identities to live among mortals.
  - While Zhongli did it to finally retire from his throne, let the humans protect themselves, and thinking about the inevitability of his own erosion some time in the future, Xianyun decided to move to the city because she started to feel lonely after living for so long in the mountains.
  - Both also have questionable budget management, Xianyun at least takes in consideration how much she earns for selling her items, even if she can’t help overspending in the end, while Zhongli can’t bargain even if he tries, often shifting the consequent debt to Hu Tao’s (previously Tartaglia’s) account.
  - While Zhongli already has some practice at blending with the humans despite his speech patterns, mostly passing off as an old-fashioned Cultured Badass, Xianyun tries to act natural, but she ends up either slipping away her Adeptus pride or using a very ancient vocabulary, to the point humans like the Qixing and Gaming have already figured out her true identity.
Gadgeteer Genius: One of Xianyun's foremost pastimes is tinkering with mechanisms, with the Dwelling in the Clouds floating above Qingyun Peak being one of her creations. She admits that Guizhong was the better inventor, though.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Though Ganyu and Shenhe are both disciples of Cloud Retainer, they don't have much synergy with the latter's playable self as Xianyun; her kit revolves around plunging attacks, which Ganyu and Shenhe do not excel in, with the two being tailored more towards charged shots DPS and Cryo support playstyles, respectively.
Glass Cannon: While Xianyun is more of a Support Party Member, her excellent Attack means she can hold her own in battle. Her Elemental Talents also scale off of said stat, incentivizing players to skyrocket her offenses, and she even benefits from the same Status Buffs she provides. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of her endurance, possessing below-average Max HP and low Defense, and the Starwicker's healing buff doesn't help much, meaning every hit she takes must be taken seriously were players to keep her active for long.
Good Parents: Played with since she's more of a Parental Substitute, but Cloud Retainer has treated all of her disciples kindly.
- She cares greatly for Ganyu, even if she's bad at showing it; she knows the girl's human heart makes her a terrible fit for life in Jueyun Karst, and confides this to the Traveler in the hope that they can help soothe her loneliness. Xianyun's teaser trailer also reveals she used to make toys for Ganyu when she was little, although they tended to be a little advanced for a child to be playing with.
- She rescued Shenhe and adopted her into the world of the adepti, which made Shenhe what she is today. During Shenhe's character teaser, Cloud Retainer notices when Shenhe wakes up from a terrible nightmare during their training; though she sternly reminds Shenhe that she needs to wear the red ropes even while sleeping, she adds that they're done for the day. During the 3.4 Lantern Rite event, Cloud Retainer also immediately jumps at the chance to make a Xiao lantern for Shenhe when her disciple asks for one, declaring that she would make one "the likes of which the world has never seen" for her to "take to Liyue Harbor and display its magnificence for all".
- She held no hard feelings for Yuandai after the latter left her to be with her human husband, even giving her pills with her own blood to allow the former crane to retain her human form. Later on, when Yuandai's granddaughter Shuyu fell sick, she brought the child to Mt. Aocang to treat her. Finally, after Yuandai returns to her crane form in order to continue her training to become an adeptus, Xianyun happily accepts Shuyu's request to become her fourth disciple, taking her into her new home in Liyue and even sewing her new clothes.
Hates Being Alone:
- Her Teaser Trailer has Shenhe revealing that Cloud Retainer actually doesn't mind visitors on Mount Aocang every now and then and gets lonely if no one ever goes to see her despite her preference for peace and quiet, as shown when she's seen spying on Shenhe who in-turn is spying on the Traveler and Paimon fishing.
- This is the catalyst that begins her character quest, unhappy that Ganyu and Shenhe only visit her once or twice a year, she decides to take on a human form and go visit them instead. Throughout the quest, it is very apparent that while she is too proud to admit it, she has become terribly lonely now that all her disciples have left the nest.
- This all culminates in her finally moving to Liyue during her story quest, so she can be closer to her disciples, while also taking on a fourth disciple.
Healing Shiv: Her fourth Constellation upgrade, Mystery Millet Gourmet, allows her unique plunging attack to heal allies caught within its damage radius equivalent to 50/80/150% of her Attack stat depending on how many times she has leaped using her Skill beforehand.
Heal It with Blood: She made medicinal pills with her own blood so that Yuandai could maintain her human form for a few more decades without its more adverse side effects.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Her original characterization used to be this. Though she can be cold and sharp-tongued, and is liable to shut out the outside world to focus on her work, people she views with favor get to see her softer side.
- She's a good, Doting Parent to people she has adopted (often leaning into My Beloved Smother), notably worrying for Ganyu's and Shenhe's well-being.
- She made and gifted Yaoyao her rabbit-shaped adeptal protection and tracking device Yuegui for her safety, and is familiar with her to the point where Yaoyao addresses her as "Aunty Cloud Retainer" and says that she's her favorite.
- Notably, her abode has a table set outside to welcome special guests like Guizhong and Morax, a token of hospitality not found at either Moon Carver or Mountain Shaper's domains.
- In the "Echoes of the Heart" story teaser, she was not happy to see Rex Lapis considering Guizhong's ballista mechanism to be superior. However, proud as she was to admit to it, Cloud Retainer always thought the latter was a much better engineer than she ever was.
  Cloud Retainer: Though one was too proud to acknowledge it, in one's heart, one knew that Guizhong was indeed the superior talent in the mechanical arts...
Hot Teacher: She's the mentor to Ganyu and Shenhe, and her human form is clearly designed to be attractive, being a tall, shapely woman wearing a skintight black bodysuit.
Immortal Immaturity: Reveals herself to have some degree of this during Fleeting Colors in Flight. She's peeved at Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper for leaving her alone in Jueyun Karst, and mouths off at them as "old coots" and "old fossils" despite her also being thousands of years old and still somewhat old-fashioned in outlook herself. (Perhaps they're The Older Immortal compared to her?)
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Platonic example. Cloud Retainer is a highly opinionated individual who is quite vocal when expressing her displeasure. Nonetheless, she is a loyal individual who keeps people close to her heart, and will drop everything to ensure the well-being of the people she cares about, even stomaching her worst complaints so long as they are happy. Case in point, though she had a low opinion of Yuandai's lover, the earnest love and care he showed Yuandai when she was ill managed to win Cloud Retainer's begrudging approval. Thus, to ensure the couple's happiness, she used her own blood to make a medicine to alleviate Yuandai's symptoms instead of getting her disciple to change back, and spent many decades thereafter watching over their family in secret.
In a Single Bound: Her Burst summons the Starwicker, a crane-like mechanism that gradually heals the active character and surrounding allies, enhances the jumping power of the active character and surrounding allies, and bestows eight stacks of Adeptal Assistance that are consumed one at a time to augment their plunging attacks with an extra burst of Anemo damage, in addition to gradually healing them. In addition, her fourth-ascension passive, Consider, the Adeptus in Her Realm, further increases the damage of the said augmentation equivalent to twice the value of her Attack stat (to a maximum of 9,000 additional points); this is further doubled with her second Constellation upgrade, Aloof From the World (hence a damage multiplier equivalent to four times her Attack stat and a damage cap of 18,000).
Insufferable Genius: Designed intricate devices whose design and workings humans have trouble understanding, and she is more than happy to remind humans of her technological genius.
Jerkass Has a Point: The justification she offers for considering destroying Liyue Harbor is that anyone willing and able to kill a god cannot be allowed to escape. She adds it almost as an afterthought however, and regardless it's clear that her rage at the death of her lord and friend is clouding her judgement.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Cloud Retainer, at first, is cold, arrogant, and callous —especially to humanity— and would rather harm people to send a message than parse the truth of a matter. She is also the only adeptus who refuses to believe the player upon receiving their message; this could very easily make Eula come across as a Nice Girl by comparison! However, once the issue with Liyue's resolved, she's much more affable and friendlier when you meet her again later; she likes the Traveler and Paimon enough to hold civil conversation, and trusts them enough to ask them for small favors. She still talks herself up, but at least she rarely throw jabs at them. She is also a supportive presence in Ganyu and Shenhe's lives, and by the time of Fleeting Colors in Flight she has accepted the direction the Qixing have taken in running Liyue. Her demeanor mellows further when she assumes the identity of Xianyun, as she is a proud, yet more coordial figure.
Jiggle Physics: Xianyun's breasts have some noticeable jiggle in some of her normal attack animations and when she's running.
Large Ham: Stephanie Panisello must have had a great time recording her lines — most, if not all, of Xianyun's playable voice-overs are delivered with such an emphasis that further pronounces her proud nature, you may even wonder if you're watching a play instead.
Lazy Alias: Her civilian alias Xianyun roughly translates to "Idle cloud", which is one character off from "Liuyun" (part of her full adeptus title in Chinese) and similar in terms of meaning to "Cloud Retainer".
Mirror Character:
- Xianyun and Xiao are both adepti with avian forms and Anemo powers and have similarly proud yet deeply caring personalities, though Xiao is more self-deprecating.
- She also shares similarities with Arlecchino, as both are surrogate parents and serve directly under an Archon. While Xianyun is very motherly to her students and adopted daughters and took them under her wing when the girls needed her the most; Shenhe was just finished fighting the demon she was left with as a sacrifice for, and Shuyu was took in after her grandmother went back to her crane form, Arlecchino assumed the leadership of the House of Hearth to protect the children from the previous owner and some of them she rescued herself, most notably, she saved Lynette from a human trader and killed him before Lyney got there, and despite using the orphans as Fatui agents, she genuinely cares about them. Xianyun is completely loyal to Rex Lapis, even after he decides to retire from his position, to the point she almost decides to destroy Liyue Harbor out of grief when she is informed of his supposed death. Arlecchino, on the other hand, serves the Tsaritsa out of convenience, and according to Tartaglia and Scaramouche, she wouldn’t hesitate to betray The Tsaritsa if it benefits her agenda, but at the same time, she looks to protect Fontaine from the prophecy while getting the Gnosis for her.
Money Dumb: While not in the same level as Zhongli, Xianyun at least can calculate her expenses, but she can’t help going over budget when it comes to eat with her loved ones or getting them gifts. Rather than being perpetually poor like other immortals, Xianyun is easily swayed by "special deals". During the 2024 Lantern Rite, an attempt to buy two boxes of tea balloons into four boxes and 10 souvenirs thanks to the mercant promising discounts, and right after she buys the latest Fontanian mechanical toy from another vendor after he attracts her attention. All the while the Traveler can't help but remark on her tendency to buy extra.
Morphic Resonance: Her human form reflects multiple elements of her crane form, such as gloves that match the appearance of her crane claws, a hairpin that mirrors the colorful crown on her head as a crane, and red glasses that evoke the red markings under her eyes as a crane.
Ms. Fanservice: With a very well-endowed and tall figure, Hartman Hips, Form-Fitting Wardrobe, and exposed back, Xianyun certainly qualifies. Her glasses also add to her appeal, and the gaps in her outfit show she's clearly not wearing anything underneath, which results in her having large amounts of Jiggle Physics.
My Beloved Smother: Xianyun tends to treat her disciples more like a mother than a master. She constantly worries about the health of Ganyu and Shenhe, wondering if they are overworked or underfed. She also really didn't like Yuandai's husband, but accepts that while unskilled in her eyes his feelings were genuine that she begrudgingly approved of him.
No Social Skills: She has caused embarrassment to Ganyu and Shenhe because she was unable to read the room and realise that they may not like her sharing their childhood stories with their acquaintances/co-workers. Furthermore, during the 3.4 Lantern Rite event, she was also extremely nervous when attempting to broach the topic of Guizhong with Madame Ping, uncharacteristically stumbling over her words and only managing to get a greeting out before giving up and requesting Ganyu to do it in her stead. After she assumes a human identity in her Story Quest, she's friendlier but still socially deficient in other areas. She slips up and gives away the fact that she's an adeptus to the first person she meets, and as an adeptus who has lived outside human society for so long, she has a poor understanding of human etiquette. For example, she praises Shenhe for standing up for herself by threatening her customers.
Obnoxious In-Laws: In another instance of her treating her disciples like her own children, while recounting her role behind the scenes of Yuandai's adventures, she ends up getting side tracked and going on a rant on how she could not understand what Yuandai saw in her husband and how inadequate he was. The only nice thing she has to say about him is that his love for Yuandai was genuine.
Oh, Crap!: She tries to prompt Yip into treating his son better by showing off proper parental love via having a conversation with Shenhe where she suggests they do something fun. Shenhe interprets "fun" as "training" and reminisces about times Xianyun forced her to carry boulders up and down mountains. Xianyun looks horrified and visibly struggles not to glance over and see how Yip is reacting to what Shenhe just said.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Cloud Retainer is immensely proud of her technological prowess and is happy to lord that superiority over humans at every chance. So the fact that she's the one to suggest using the Jade Chamber's reverse-engineered Guizhong Ballistae shows how serious the situation is; rather than call them shoddy or useless, the worst she says about them is more or less "you'll never understand how to make them work", which, while true and still condescending, also basically admits that the ballistae are passable enough for the adepti to be able to fight with.
Open Secret: In her reveal story, every Adepti-related character in Liyue is aware Xianyun is Cloud Retainer, and not doing a particularly great job of hiding the fact. Even strangers have caught on to her otherworldly nature, wondering if she's a heroine from an epic or the truth that she is an adeptus. Since Keqing addresses her by her full name and title during the 2024 Lantern Rite, and Ningguang has voice lines in her profile thinking about inviting her over, it's safe to say that the Qixing know as well. Even Gaming, who is just a normal person that's neither connected to the adepti nor the Qixing, is fully aware she's an adeptus during the aforementioned event and is not surprised at all when others call her Cloud Retainer or when she turns into a crane right in front of him.
Paper-Thin Disguise: She once disguised herself as a traveling merchant by donning a conical hat, veil, and false mustache. Somehow, it worked.
Parental Substitute: Cloud Retainer might not be the best at reading the room, but she has very good insight into the plights of her charges, Ganyu and Shenhe. Her concern for their welfare is one of Cloud Retainer's decent sparks pre-character development.
- She's known Ganyu since she was a child and is the one to explain to the Traveler the difficulties Ganyu experiences as a Child of Two Worlds. She also confides in them that the half-human adeptus would almost certainly be miserable in Jueyun Karst, clearly hoping that they will help talk her into returning to Liyue Harbor.
- She rescued Shenhe and chose to adopt her, and is her primary master in the ways of the adepti. It is likely because of this choice that Shenhe was able to grow up even remotely well-adjusted, as without the guidance of the adepti she would likely have succumbed to the bloodlust of her curse. She sensed Shenhe's melancholy when she returned from her first foray back into the human world and is glad to hear the happier outcome of her second.
  - When Shenhe hesitatingly requests for a Xiao lantern during the 2023 Lantern Rite denouement cutscene, Cloud Retainer immediately jumps at the chance, declaring that she will create one "the likes of which the world has never seen" and starts going back into her abode while instructing Shenhe to take it to Liyue Harbor after she finishes it to "display its magnificence for all", much like a proud parent wanting to give her child the best she can offer.
- Cloud Retainer's Story Quest is pretty much all about this trope, as it eventually reveals that she decided to visit Liyue Harbor in human form for the first time in centuries because she wanted to help her second disciple, Yuandai, to stabilize her condition and return to her original form, spilling the truth along the way that she had been watching over the whole family through the years and helping in secret when she could. The quest ends with her formally accepting Shuyu as her newest disciple.
Pet the Dog: She sent Shenhe to Liyue Harbor to help Ningguang get the Jade Chamber ready for the ambush on Beischt, as Shenhe is probably the human most qualified to make the needed Adepti Sigils. Note that most of the adepti are adhering very strictly to their agreement to leave Liyue in the Qixing's hands and that Cloud Retainer herself is personally evaluating their efforts against the Avenger of the Vortex. She could easily have done nothing and been justified in doing so, and yet she still sidestepped the terms of their agreement to give the plan the best possible chance at success.
Power Echoes: As Cloud Retainer, her voice has echoes added to it to emphasize her mystical nature. Subverted as Xianyun, where her voice lacks echoes to blend in better with mortals though she is no less powerful.
Pride: Her voice tone and actions say it all — when one's highly smug about their technological prowess being superior to humanity's own, it's just a given.
Promoted to Playable: While she's been present in the game from the very beginning in her crane form, it wasn't until 4.4 where she had a playable humanoid form.
Punny Name: The characters in Xianyun (闲云 [simplified]/閒雲 [traditional]) roughly translate to "Idle Cloud", a play on her Adepti name Cloud Retainer. The "Xian" part of her name also has the same pronunciation (though different tone) as the race of divine immortals from Chinese Mythology which the adepti are inspired by.
Red Baron: She's also known as the "Free Adeptus" and "The Unfettered".
Regenerating Health: In addition to empowering the party's plunging attacks (see "In a Single Bound" above), her Burst periodically heals the active character and surrounding allies.
Robot Buddy: More accurately a being of stacked paper (at least on the outside), but her latest creation, the Cloud Retainer's Damasked Device act as this for the Traveler.
Sensual Spandex: Apparently Ganyu's and Shenhe's fashion tastes were influenced by her, as her human form also wears skintight clothing that clearly outlines her body shape and exposes her back.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Judging by her stories about Shenhe and Ganyu and her character introduction announcement, she has a tendency to be rather long-winded.
Sexy Backless Outfit: The only fabric on her back, from just above her buttocks to below her shoulder blades, is two thin intersecting straps holding her dress together.
Shockwave Stomp: In addition to buffing other party member's own Plunging Attacks, Xianyun can perform a unique one through her Skill, Driftcloud Wave, transforming back into her crane self to charge at the ground and send enemies flying.
Sore Loser: Downplayed — in her tale about Guizhong, her immediate reaction was to sulk when Zhongli chose Guizhong's ballista over her own crossbow design. That said, Cloud Retainer still thought Guizhong was the superior engineer, even if she kept it to herself.
Sprint Shoes: Her utility passive, Crane Form, increases the party's gliding speed by 15%.
Statuesque Stunner: As fitting her appearance as an enormous blue crane in her Illuminated Beast form, Cloud Retainer's human form is that of a tall woman with Hartman Hips, wearing sexy red glasses and a Form-Fitting Wardrobe whose height is accentuated by high heels and a high ponytail.
Stealth Pun: Xianyun’s Story Quest opens with her planning to visit Ganyu and Shenhe (who have moved to Liyue Harbor) with it being made clear that for all her protests otherwise, she is rather lonely. She’s an empty nester.
Support Party Member: Xianyun's forte is improving on plunging attacks; by utilizing her Burst, the increase in jump height makes such attacks easier to perform, and they're provided a significant damage increase. Her Skill also improves on exploration by granting Xianyun up to four Double Jumps.
Supreme Chef: Cloud Retainer is something of a foodie, so cooking is also one of her interests, especially the invention of machines meant to cook food to precise perfection. The Supreme Cuisine Machine from the Moonlight Merriment event is one such machine, and in her blurb as Xianyun, she's working on another invention called the "Exquisite Mini Broth Pot" that supposedly brings out flavors much better than a regular soup pot.
Third-Person Person: Much like the other Zhenjun, she often refers to herself this way. Downplayed a bit as a playable character, however, as she does slip in a few "me" or "I".
Took a Level in Kindness: In her first appearances, as Cloud Retainer, she's a proud, aloof and ruthless being who let her emotions get the best of her when learning of Rex Lapis' apparent death. In subsequent appearances, she is much more warm-hearted and open to talk, though she remains with a high image of herself. As Xianyun, her desire to live closer to humanity has made her adopt a much less aloof demeanor, and she's noted to be more chatty and warm-hearted; this is reflected in playable voice-overs as well.
Tsundere: A classic Harsh example. She's a very proud, almost haughty, woman who does not like sharing her true feelings, but underneath the pride filled bluster is a very loving and sweet person who would do anything for the ones she loves. Ganyu, Shenhe, Shuyu, Yaoyao and Yuandai are taken care of by her, and she likes the Traveler and Paimon enough to show her civil side.
The Unfettered: It's even one of her titles, as seen above. Cloud Retainer largely says and does as she pleases, regardless of what others may think is proper. This makes her liable to consider options her fellow adepti would find outrageous or unthinkable, both for better and for worse. In her better moments, she loosens up more readily than her fellow Zhenjun and allows herself to be more personable and approachable. At her worst, however, such as when the Traveler approached her with news of Rex Lapis' death, she seriously considered destroying Liyue Harbor in retaliation.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—her third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Creations of Star and Moon and Astride Rose-Colored Clouds, add three levels to, respectively, her Burst and Skill.
Vapor Wear: Due to how her back is exposed, there's no way Xianyun is wearing a bra. And like her disciple Shenhe, the location of the 'hip windows' of her bodysuit clearly indicate she isn't wearing panties either.
Voluntary Shapeshifter: Though every Illuminated Beast can do this, Xianyun gets bonus points for doing so in gameplay, switching into her crane and human forms back and forth when using her unique plunging attack.
Weapon Specialization: Her Wish banner runs concurrent with that for the Crane's Echoing Call (5★), whose substat is Attack (3.6–16.5%), and whose "Cloudfall Axiom" passive bestows buffs related to plunging attacks, namely a 28–80% damage boost to those of the party within twenty seconds after the wielder performs one, as well as restores 2.5–3.5 Energy for the wielder (even if they are off-field) whenever their allies do so, which lends itself well to Xianyun's specialization in enhancing the party's ability to rain down such attacks.

Moon Carver

Voiced by: Yu Xiaoxu (Chinese), Ryosuke Horiguchi (Japanese), Zach Aguilar (English)

The Perfected Lord who Carves the Moon and Builds the Sun

"He before you is the mighty and illuminated adeptus, Moon Carver. Speak, traveler. What business have you here?"

A disciple of Rex Lapis, taking the form of a stag.

Bad "Bad Acting": When he and Mountain Shaper fake a bandit raid on Gaming, his father, and The Traveler, not only do they continue speaking in their standard Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, but none of their 'threats' are even halfway believable. The only reason they get away with it is because Gaming is rattled about someone trying to attack his father.
Brick Joke: In the beginning of the 2024 Lantern Rite event, Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper had to convince Paimon that they did descend to Liyue Harbour in human form and aren't Treasure Horders atttempting to impersonate adepti. Come the third act, they disguised themselves (rather unconvincingly) as bandits as part of Xianyun's plan to help Gaming reconcile with his father.
Dub Name Change: Moon Carver's international name derives from the first two characters of 削月筑阳真君 [simplified]/削月築陽真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord who Carves the Moon and Builds the Sun"), which are read as "Xuēyuè Zhúyáng Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Sakugetsu Chikuyō Shinkun" (hiragana さくげつちくようしんくん) in Japanese, and "Sowol Chugyang Jingun" (hangul 소월 축양 진군) in Korean.
The Marvelous Deer: He's a giant brown deer, with glowing eyes, legs, and antlers.
Nice Guy: Compared to his fellow illuminated beasts, Moon Carver is known to be "the kindest adeptus amongst all". Case in point, he is extremely indignant on the Traveler's behalf when he hears that the Qixing are trying to arrest them over something that they are innocent of.
Reasonable Authority Figure: When the Traveler arrives bearing a Sigil of Permission, he reveals himself and agrees to hear them out. He is not pleased when the Millelith interrupt, and proceeds to help them by giving them his adeptus power to beat the incoming soldiers. When the Traveler finally gets to recount their story, he believes them and is furious on their behalf, instructing them to help assemble his fellow adepti so they can plan their next course of action. His reason for trying to wrest control of Liyue from the Qixing later is out of concern that they might abuse their power, and relents after Ningguang sacrifices the Jade Chamber to defend the harbor from Osial.
Sacred Hospitality: When the Millelith intrude on the Traveler's audience with Moon Carver and try to arrest them, the adeptus is not pleased by the interruption and helps the Traveler in defeating them before hearing out their story. He is furious to hear that the Qixing would try to arrest a guest and takes it as a sign that they are abusing their power.

Mountain Shaper

Voiced by: Gan Ziqi (Chinese), Tetsuya Taishiro (Japanese)

The Perfected Lord who Guides the Waters and Shapes the Mountains

"The city of Liyue has changed much after our long separation. One fears that by the time one finally grasps the new contracts of Liyue, you humans would have once again changed the place beyond recognition."

The adeptus living in Mt. Hulao.

Bad "Bad Acting": When he and Moon Carver fake a bandit raid on Gaming, his father, and The Traveler, not only do they continue speaking in their standard Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, but none of their 'threats' are even halfway believable. The only reason they get away with it is because Gaming is rattled about someone trying to attack his father.
Brick Joke: In the beginning of the 2024 Lantern Rite event, Moon Carver and Mountain Shaper had to convince Paimon that they did descend to Liyue Harbour in human form and aren't Treasure Horders attempting to impersonate adepti. Come the third act, they disguised themselves (rather unconvincingly) as bandits as part of Xianyun's plan to help Gaming reconcile with his father.
Chekhov's Gunman: Mountain Shaper was first mentioned in Qiqi's Character Story anecdotes as the one who sealed her in amber after her powers went haywire. During the Liyue Archon Quest, he would also play a prominent role in deciding Liyue's future following the apparent passing of Rex Lapis.
Dub Name Change: Mountain Shaper's international name derives from the middle two characters of 理水叠山真君 [simplified]/理水疊山真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord who Guides the Waters and Shapes the Mountains"), which are read as "Lǐshuǐ Diéshān Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Risui Jōzan Shinkun" (hiragana りすいじょうざんしんくん) in Japanese, and "Risu Cheopsan Jingun" (hangul 리수 첩산 진군) in Korean.
Establishing Character Moment: Played with, in that while they both get such scenes, both Mountain Shaper and Cloud Retainer react to the news of Rex Lapis' assassination in opposite ways to the players' initial set up impressions of them. Mountain Shaper, a thunderous spirit introduced having punished a hapless adventurer with an eternity trapped in amber, who threatens to punish the Traveler for trespassing the moment he lays eyes on them, reacts not with punishment but a realization that he must meet with his other adepti - and he intentionally delays doing so to ensure the amber will not harm innocent people in his absence.
The Jailer: He's attributed with the power to build amber prisons. He trapped an unlucky mountain climber in amber as punishment. In actuality, the amber prisons are a natural occurrence, a product of a plant native to the mountain he lives in; he simply decides not to help trespassers.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- While cold and cruel to trespassers and transgressors, he takes his role as protector of Liyue very seriously — only being hands off now because he feels the city no longer needs his guidance — and does take measures to ensure his punishments do not affect innocent people.
- He muses to Moon Carver during The Exquisite Night Chimes that he wanted to give Shenhe more to eat than just herbs while she was growing up, and would have if he'd been able to use Cloud Retainer's Supreme Cuisine Machine.
Morphic Resonance: His human form retains the majorly brown with red highlights of his plummage, the sleeves on his shirt are shaped like wings, his ponytail matches his bottom tail feathers, and there is the image of a bird's scissor tail on the back of his shirt.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He calls the Traveler out for breaking Li Dang out of his amber prison. Mountain Shaper is so serious about this that he is already angry when you finally get to meet him.
Mountain Shaper: ...You intrude upon the sanctity of Mt. Hulao, you destroy the amber of my mountain, and you free a thief whose freedom is not yours to give. The thieves' ignorance was an affront to the adepti... but your actions are an abomination of the highest order!

Madame Ping

Madame Ping / Streetward Rambler

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pingold.jpg

The Perfected Lord Who Sings Among the Mortals and Rambles in the City

^{Click here to see her younger appearance}

Voiced by: Zhou Ji (Chinese), Momone Iizumi (Japanese)

Young version voiced by: Shang Luo (Chinese)

An old lady usually found looking after Glaze Lilies at Yuehai Pavilion. She is Xiangling's and Yaoyao's master, Yanfei's caretaker, and also gifts the Traveler with a Serenitea Pot, an artifact that allows them to create a pocket-dimension home.

Animal Motifs: Though her Illuminated Beast form has yet to be shown, the ''Echoes of the Heart'' cutscene at the climax of the 2023 Lantern Rite event shows her younger self wears clothes with scale-like patterns as well as trailing dress tails that give the appearance of a fish, and her zither also has a vaguely fish-like carving, implying that her animal form is an aquatic creature.
Cool Old Lady: She's an open-minded elder whom you can have all sorts of conversations with. Her topics are mostly about flowers, but she also slips in snarks.
Madame Ping: Just because my complexion screams "ancient history" does mean I love discussing the past, you know. ...Relax, I'm only kidding.
Dub Name Change: Madame Ping's adeptal title in the international localizations, "Streetward Rambler," is derived from the middle two characters of 歌尘浪市真君 [simplified]/歌塵浪市真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord Who Sings Among the Mortals and Rambles in the City"), which are read as "Gēchén Làngshì Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Kajin Rōichi Shinkun" (hiragana かじんろういちしんくん) in Japanese, and "Gajin Nangsi Jingun" (hangul 가진 낭시 진군) in Korean.
Elderly Immortal: Even a half-human, half-Illuminated Beast adeptus like Ganyu can remain youthful at over 3,000 years old, but Madame Ping looks like a wizened old lady. The fact that she described herself as a "vain beauty" in her youth might explain why she has chosen to currently take on the appearance of an elderly woman.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the moment when you discover that her teapot holds a pocket dimension where she keeps the Cleansing Bell, Paimon quickly suspects that Madame Ping is an adeptus, something confirmed after you get out of the teapot.
Humans Are Special: While the other Adepti have chosen to live in isolation and generally look down on humanity, Ping has always held a special fondness for them. She chose to allow herself to grow old, and lives among humans while mentoring numerous youth humans.
I Was Quite the Looker: In her younger years, Madame Ping looks very reminiscent of her protégé Xiangling, only with a lighter shade of teal. Of course, as an adeptus, there is a possibility she chose to assume the form of an old lady to better mingle with humanity.
Meaningful Name: Madame Ping's adeptal title, "Street Rambler," befits her description as one of the few ancient adepti who have integrated into mortal Liyuan society.
The Mentor: According to some of Xiangling's lines, she learned how to fight with a spear from Madame Ping. Yaoyao is also her youngest disciple.
Never Mess with Granny: When she does her part in Chapter 1 act 3, she gives the strongest and only offensive buff to the party out of the adepti.
Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: In the distant past, her relationship with Guizhong involved constant bickering over their differing ideals about music, eventually requiring Rex Lapis himself to intervene. In spite of this, the two grew extremely close, to the point where Madame Ping grew to view Guizhong as her soulmate, and they enjoyed discussing and debating each other on numerous subjects, often going up into the mountains to play together. The Cleansing Bell that Madame Ping was guarding was created by Guizhong and kept in memory of their friendship. Even hundreds of years after Guizhong's death, Madame Ping has not moved on from her and mourns her by solemnly reminiscing about the past and admiring the Glaze Lilies.
Pocket Dimension: Her teapot holds a dungeon inside of it, monsters included. She later reveals this ability is called "Sub-Space Creation", and gives you your own teapot Pocket Dimension.
Roman à Clef: With the specific use of 知音 (zhīyīn, literally "(One that) understands (my) music") by Madame Ping in the original Chinese text to describe Guizhong, them becoming friends over music, as well as Madame Ping being a Chinese zither player, the story behind their relationship is based on a famous historical tale about a Chinese zither player who was so heartbroken after his friend who understood his music passed away that he never played again, which is also where "知音" is widely known from.
Really 700 Years Old: Madame Ping's current appearance makes her look no different than any other mortal elderly lady in Liyue, but she is part of the older generation of adepti that have lived longer than Ganyu and Xiao, who are themselves more than 3700 years old.
Scatterbrained Senior: There are cobwebs and spiders around the domain inside her teapot, to which Paimon suspects that Madame Ping rarely cleans up that place anymore. And after you obtained the Cleansing Bell inside it, she takes a while to create an exit portal that boots you out of her dimension.
Secret-Keeper: Madame Ping's dialogue to the Traveler in the Archon Quest when they pick up the Cleansing Bell and the end of the Moonlight Merriment story implies she is in the loop that Zhongli is Rex Lapis Morax.
Status Buff: In the battle against Osial, she provides your playable characters with a buff that creates explosions every time you attack the enemies, making quick work of them.
Tragic Keepsake: The Cleansing Bell was created by Guizhong, and central to a major argument between the two women. After the goddess's death, Ping asked to keep the bell and then left to live among humanity and let herself grow old.
Used to Be More Social: Cloud Retainer mentions that she once loved being social and would often attend gatherings, but after Guizhong's passing, she retreated into solitude to compose a melody on her zither that she could play with the Cleansing Bell.
Wham Shot: From "The Exquisite Night Chimes" Lantern Rite cutscene, the shot of the young Streetward Rambler transitioning into an elderly Madame Ping confirms that they're the same person.
When I Was Your Age...: Her first dialogue line mentions that the younger generation does not appreciate flowers anymore.

Sea Gazer

The Perfected Lord Who Resounds in Sea and Lives in Rosy Clouds

A deceased adeptus whose Illuminated Beast form was a goose, who once gifted the Fantastic Compass found in The Chasm to a mortal thaumaturge friend. He is honored in the 2023 Lantern Rite event.

Collector of the Strange: In life, he was known for his collection of rare and mystical items. Among his prized possessions was the Fantastic Compass and a massive deposit of Sunset Vermillionite.
Dub Name Change: Sea Gazer's international name is derived from the first two characters of 鸣海栖霞真君 [simplified]/鳴海棲霞真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord Who Resounds in Sea and Lives in Rosy Clouds"), which are read as "Mínghǎi Qīxiá Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Narumi Seika Shinkun" (hiragana なるみせいかしんくん) in Japanese, and "Myeonghae Seoha Jingun"(hangul 명해 서하 진군) in Korean.
Mayfly–December Friendship: As indicated in the YouTube description of the Perilous Trail cutscene, he was known for befriending human exorcists, aiding them in their work and even granting one of his most prized treasures to a human friend.
Noisy Duck: Or goose, rather. Cloud Retainer describes him as being prone to bragging loudly, whenever he would have a new treasure or trinket to show off.
Posthumous Character: He is one of the fallen heroes of Liyue honoured through the Lantern Rite festival, though the time of his death is unknown. Only his abode remains.
Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: The Sunset Vermillionite boulder, one of the treasures that Shenhe and the Traveler found in Sea Gazer's abode during the first Interlude Archon Quest, positively dwarfs them. It doesn't stop Shenhe for lifting it anyway.

Skybracer

The Perfected Lord who Moves the Heavens by Guiding the Sky

A deceased adeptus whose Illuminated Beast form was a stag, who famously sacrificed himself by cutting off his own antlers to defend what is now Liyue Harbor from a collapse of Mount Tianheng. He is honored in the 2021 Lantern Rite festival.

Dub Name Change: Skybracer's international name is derived from the middle two characters of 移霄导天真君 [simplified]/移霄導天真君 [traditional] ("The Perfected Lord who Moves the Heavens by Guiding the Sky"), which are read as "Yíxiāo Dǎotiān Zhēnjūn" in Chinese, "Ishō Dōten Shinkun" (hiragana いしょうどうてんしんくん) in Japanese, and "Iso Docheon Jingun" (hangul 이소 도천 진군) in Korean.
Heavenly Blue: If his memorial lantern is an accurate depiction, he had dark blue fur.
Heroic Sacrifice: During the Archon War, an enemy god slashed Mt. Tianheng, nearly causing it to collapse onto a nearby village until Skybracer had another adeptus cut off his prized antlers to hold the mountain up. Skybracer continued to fight and ended up dying from blood loss.
"Just So" Story: Legend tells that the blood that flowed from Skybracer's head after he had his own antlers cut off to save a village from the collapsing Mt. Tianheng then became the Bishui River.
The Marvelous Deer: He takes the form of a blue deer.
Meaningful Name: He is "the Perfected Lord who Moves the Heavens by Guiding the Sky", otherwise known as "Sky Bracer", a name that well befits an apostle-like figure who used his antlers to hold up a mountain.

Yanfei's Father

A full-blooded Xiezhi adeptus. According to Madame Ping, he is known for his quiet and solemn personality.

The Ghost: Has yet to be seen in game, though Yanfei's character stories explain that he is currently on a trip with his wife around Teyvat.
Good Parents: By all accounts, Yanfei's parents seem to be wonderful people. Her profile states that she grew up surrounded by love, and unlike others of adepti blood who have signed contracts with Rex Lapis, her only contract is an informal, simple one with her parents to live happily. He was also the one who gave Yanfei the steelyard balance that she occasionally materializes in her idle animation, which is stated to be her most prized possession.
Happily Married: Implied to be the case, as Yanfei finds child custody disputes particularly exhausting to deal with precisely because she was never impacted by any negative fallout caused by her parents' marriage.
Horned Humanoid: As a xiezhi, he most likely has deer antlers similar to Yanfei's, which she inherited from him.
Interspecies Relationship: His wife, Yanfei's mother, is human.

Yakshas

Bosacius, Bonanus, Alatus/Xiao, Indarias, and Menogias

Following the Archon War two thousand years ago, Rex Lapis created a sub-group of adepti called the Yakshas, warriors dedicated to fighting the remnants, grudges, and other manifestations of the other gods defeated and/or sealed away by the Geo Archon. While dozens of adepti serve as Yakshas, five of their mightiest warriors—Bosacius, Indarias, Bonanus, Menogias, and Alatus—form their own group, the "Foremost." Unfortunately, due to their battles accumulating karma against them, their numbers dwindled as they went mad, turned against each other, or simply vanished, leaving only Alatus, now known as Xiao, the sole remaining Yaksha in active duty.

General Tropes

Animal Motifs: All the yakshas' titles associate them with an animal.
- Alatus is "General Golden Peng", a bird-like creature.
- Bosacius is "Generalissimo Soaring Snake".
- Bonanus is "General Curled Snail".
- Indarias is "General Fire Rat".
- Menogias is "General Mind-Monkey".
- Pervases is "Copper Bird".
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Foremost Yakshas have extraordinary battle prowess (keep in mind that the Yakshas are already known for their talent in battle). All of them held the rank of a General, except for Bosacius who was a Marshal.
Badass Creed: The Yakshas had one when they pledged their service to Rex Lapis:
Restore order through slaughter, purge evil through battle; to this we dedicate our lives.
Beware the Nice Ones: Bosacius' memories show the five Yakshas to be incredibly kind, loving and even playful with each other, and Xiao remembers how the other four wished to live a peaceful mortal life when their work was done. However, their particular line of work makes it clear that this kindness does not extend to their enemies.
Bishōnen Line: Though the adepti prefer Animorphism, the Yakshas were known to take humanoid forms. They are also the most powerful among the adepti, given they alone are responsible for fighting remnants of gods plaguing the land of Liyue.
Dub Pronunciation Change: Except for Alatus and Pervases, the Yakshas' names in most non-East Asian localizations are quasi-Latinized transliterations of their Chinese names:
- Alatus is 金鹏 [simplified]/金鵬 [traditional], which reads as "Jīnpéng" in Chinese, "Kinhō" (via kan-on, or Han Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana きんほう) in Japanese, and "Geumdol" (hangul 금돌) in Korean.
- Bosacius is 浮舍, which reads as "Fúshě" in Chinese, "Fūsha" (via kan-on, or Han Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana ふうしゃ) in Japanese, and "Busa" (hangul 부사) in Korean.
- Bonanus is 伐难 [simplified]/伐難 [traditional], which reads as "Fánàn" in Chinese, "Batsunan" (respectively via kan'yō-on and go-on, or modified and Wu Chinese-derived, reading; kanji 伐難, hiragana ばつなん) in Japanese, and "Beolnan" (hangul 벌난) in Korean.
- Indarias is 应达 [simplified]/應達 [traditional], which reads as "Yìngdá" in Chinese, "Ōtatsu" (respectively, via go-on and kan-on, or Wu and Han Chinese-derived, reading; kanji 応達, hiragana おうたつ) in Japanese, and "Eungdal" (hangul 응달) in Korean.
- Menogias is 弥怒 [simplified]/彌怒 [traditonal], which reads as "Mínù" in Chinese, "Minu" (via go-on, or Wu Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana みぬ) in Japanese, and "Mino" (hangul 미노) in Korean.
- Pervases is 铜雀 [simplified]/銅雀 [traditional], which reads as "Tóngquè" in Chinese, "Dōjaku" (via kan'yō-on, or modified Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana どう) in Japanese, and "Dongjak" (hangul 동) in Korean.
Elemental Hair Colors: Whether their were born with it or whether it's a sign of their mastery over the elements, all of the five Yakshas have hair with the color reflecting their corresponding element.
Facial Markings: With the exception of Bosacius, the Yakshas are shown to have facial markings often in the color of the element they wield (sans Xiao, who has a purple diamond on his forehead despite controlling Anemo).
Five-Man Band: There were five Foremost Yakshas.
Found Family: Bosacius' memories imply that the five were closer to each other than the rest, as he calls them his family and they were shown to be fairly loving towards each other. Xiao explains that Bosacius told them to always look out for one another and know each other's fate, and was subsequently haunted for half a millenium that he didn't know for sure what became of Bosacius.
Bosacius: My brothers and sisters have come for me, Boyang.
Four-Star Badass: All of them were generals in the Archon Wars and after them.
Good Is Not Soft: While they have sworn themselves to Rex Lapis and the protection of Liyue, they are known for their ruthlessness in battle. Even the first part of their Badass Creed says to "restore order through slaughter".
Heroic RRoD: They are described as going mad with fear and having turned on each other.
Heroic Sacrifice: With the exception of Xiao (not for lack of trying on his part) all of them gave their lives to save Liyue from the wrath of dead and/or sealed gods.
I Have Many Names: Except for Pervases, all of them have more than one name. Bosacius was also named Marshal Vritras, Indarias was also named General Musatas, Bonanus was General Chizapus, and Menogias was General Kapisas. General Alatus even has 3 names, though his original name before Rex Lapis named him "Xiao" for his protection is unknown.
Karma: One common thing among the Yakshas is how they face karmic debt from their battles against remnants of fallen gods due to their miasmas and curses tainting the Yakshas' souls, resulting in them suffering from their darkness. Indarias fell into insanity, Bonanus and Menogias turned on each other, and Bosacius vanished without a trace with the Act II of the Interlude Archon Quest revealing he also slipped into insanity and died. Even the sole remaining Yaksha, Xiao, is shown in his promotional video and the "Endless Suffering" trailer to be regularly dealing with his inner demons, and Zhongli's line about him has the former wanting to give the latter painkillers. Paimon lampshades it when she reads the story about it, saying that all the Yaksha got for their work and duty was suffering. Xiao's story entry mentions a documentary of Liyue by Sumeru Academia; part of it mentions how people believe food offerings, holy chants and the like would help appeasing the Yakshas' pain and suffering.
Mark of the Supernatural: Aside from their masks, the Yakshas all have certain physical marks common among them as well. These include:
- All of them have two-toned hair (not unlike the Archons) colored like their respective element. Their individual hairstyles also seem to invoke each element (Xiao has an asymmetrical windswept haircut, Bosacius' hair stands up as if electrified, Bonanus has long flowing hair like water, etc).
- The hands of each Yaksha likewise has the color of their corresponding element. It's left ambiguous with Xiao, whose hands are always covered in gloves.
- Except for Bosacius, all the Yakshas have Facial Markings, often but not always in the color of the element they wield.
- Both Bosacius and Xiao have tattoos, Bosacius has lightning emitting thunderclouds, while Xiao's somewhat resembles an upside-down bird. Xiao's tattoo is linked to his true form and starts glowing whenever he wears the mask. It's unknown if Indarias or Menogias have tattoos as well, as their clothing makes it hard to tell; Bonanus however doesn't seem to have one.
Mask Power: They wore masks to power up and handle their corruption.
Mythical Motifs: Most of the foremost Yakshas' Chinese titles connect them to mythical animals:
- Alatus is "General Golden Peng" (金鹏大将) is the Chinese term for the garuda in South Asian religions such as Buddhism).
- Bosacius is "Generalissimo Tengshe" (腾蛇大元帅), or "flying dragon-snake").
- Indarias is "Fire Rat" (火鼠大将), a rat from Chinese Mythology famed for its fireproof fur.
- Menogias is "General Mind-Monkey" (心猿大将), with "mind-monkey" being a term associated with Sun Wukong.
Older Than They Look: While they all appear as young adults, the "Echoes from the Heart" cutscene from the 2023 Lantern Rite clarifies that the Foremost Yakshas were alive three thousand seven hundred years ago, as they are shown sealing the remains of Guizhong upon her death.
Posthumous Character: All of the named Yakshas below (besides Xiao) died long ago.
Really 700 Years Old: Though still unspecified on the actual ages for each of the Foremost Yakshas, the "Echoes from the Heart" cutscene from the 2023 Lantern Rite clarifies that they were all in active service more than three thousand seven hundred years ago, as they are shown sealing the remains of Guizhong upon her death.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: The Yakshas take their name after a class of nature spirits considered as guardian deities in South Asian religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, the latter which took root in East Asia, where the name is translated into 夜叉, which is read as "Yèchā" in Chinese, "Yasha" (via go-on, or Wu Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana やしゃ) in Japanese, and "Yacha" (hangul 야차) in Korean.
True Companions: The Yakshas in general were this to each other, but they also regarded the Millelith as their brothers in arms. The Five Foremost Yakshas are even closer to a Found Family.
Two Girls to a Team: Indarias and Bonanus were the female Foremost Yakshas as opposed to the three male Foremost Yakshas.
War God: The Yaksha race as a whole are described as violent, warlike beings. This is precisely why Morax conscripted them, as they were most fit to endure millennia of violence.

Alatus / Xiao

Xiao, né Alatus

Introduced: February 3, 2021 (v1.3 "All That Glitters" [first half])
Voiced by: kinsen (Chinese), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Jeong Yoo-mi (Korean, pre-update), Shim Gyu-hyuk (Korean, current), Laila Berzins (English)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xiao_59.png

Vigilant Yaksha

"If you awake to a knife at your throat, if monsters dig their claws into you, if death comes knocking at your door, call out my name. Adeptus Xiao. I will be here when you call."

Rarity: 5★
Element: Anemo
Weapon: Polearm
Constellation: Alatus Nemeseos, the Winged Nemesis

Of the five Foremost Yakshas, Xiao is the last one still in active duty. Noble of heart, swift in judgement, and ever-vigilant, he alone bears the weight of his lost comrades, and the guilt of leaving them, up to this very day. As befitting his personality of few words, his first meeting with the Traveler in the Archon Quest is brief before he disappears, only for them to intercept him again and reveal him the unfortunate news regarding Rex Lapis' passing, leaving to inform the Adepti of the news before he helps them later in their fight against Osial.

Xiao's high-flying fighting style allows him to dart to and fro and strike at his foes from every angle, in addition to an immunity to self-inflicted damge from plunging attacks. His Elemental Skill, Lemniscatic Wind Cycling, is a high-speed lunge he can perform up to twice in succession and can be performed in midair, while in his Elemental Burst, Bane of All Evil, he dons his Yaksha Mask and takes up a more ferocious fighting style, giving his attacks an Anemo effect that cannot be overriden by reactions, in addition to heightened attacking range, damage potency, and jumping height, at the cost of slowly losing HP.^note

Air-Dashing: His Skill allows Xiao to lunge forward at enemies up to twice in a row to deal Anemo damage. He can also use it mid-air to increase his air time while traversing the overworld.
Alien Blood: When seen wounded during the second Archon Quest Interlude, he is shown to have strange teal-colored blood that flows out of his wounds like smoke rather than liquid.
Animal Eyes: Xiao has golden eyes with slitted pupils, giving him a catlike glare. He also has the personality to match.
Anti-Frustration Features: In his Story Quest, in the special domain, the Xiao that serves as trial character has his Yaksha Mask perpetually on, meaning he stays powered up but also gradually loses HP. To compensate, dealing damage to enemies also heals him, and his HP will never drop to zero so long as he is not attacked.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: According to Chongyun, exorcists hold Xiao in high esteem and have fought alongside the Conqueror of Demons in defense of Liyue for generations. On the other hand, Xiao believes that exorcists are weak and lack the proper means to perform their duty, something that doesn't sit well with Chongyun. Justified in that Xiao has been working for at least a couple millennia and has likely fought far greater threats than what Liyue's exorcist clans can ever hope to face.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Xiao quickly climbed the ranks of the adepti thanks to his unparalleled combat skills and holds the position of one (and now the last) of the five Foremost Yakshas, which makes him a big deal among the adepti, who call him the "Conqueror of Demons" out of respect.
Bad Liar: He has a hard time pretending to not know Zhongli and Venti, to the point he has to make a lot of effort to not treat them with respect. When Hu Tao asks if an Adeptus can disguise as a normal human, Xiao is visibly struggling to answer a simple "I don't know."
Badass Boast: In case the yakshas' Badass Creed did not make it clear enough, Xiao's boast tells you all you need to know about him.
(Chat: Wandering Spirits) "The damned will sooner die again than lay a hand on me."
Badass in Distress:
- Essentially the plot of Perilous Trails. Having successfully powered up the Fantastic Compass, protected his companions from harm but ultimately unable to save himself in the story's third act, he seemingly makes peace with his end as he falls back into the Chasm's depths. Thankfully, Zhongli steps in and brings him back to the surface.
- Xiao goes through this in his trailer "Endless Suffering". Having fought and purged countless demons, he passes out from exhaustion and is rescued by Qiqi, who brings him back to Bubu Pharmacy to be looked after by Baizhu.
Because You Were Nice to Me: As gratitude to Rex Lapis for liberating him, he chose to help him protect Liyue. He also says that he will not forgive anyone who speaks against Morax.
Big Secret: He insists in his Friendship Level 3 lines that he doesn't harbor any desire. When the player reaches Friendship Level 6 with him, however, he clarifies that he simply would not speak about it to others, believing that spoken wishes will not come true in the end.
Bizarre Taste in Food: One of his voice lines for when it snows has him say that he thinks snow is edible when it's thick enough. If a comment made by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, his Japanese voice actor, in a YouTube interview is any sign, it is because back then, Xiao was forced to survive by eating snow.
Blood Knight: Implied. When asked about his hobbies, he invites the Traveler to try fighting him.
Breaking Old Trends: Unlike multiple previous Anemo Vision holders like Jean, Venti, or Sucrose, Xiao's skillset doesn't share their ability to suck in opponents (as well as infuse elements like the latter two). Nevertheless, the increased damage radius of plunging attacks while the Yaksha Mask is in play compensates for this shortcoming. In addition, he is the first spear wielder to not have a thrust as his charged attack, as well as the first to be able to use their Elemental Skill in midair.
Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Shenhe's voice-over about Xiao implies that Traveler is the Gentle Girl/Boy to Xiao's Brooding Boy.
(Shenhe (About Xiao):' My first impression of him was that he's not one to smile. After meeting him again more recently, however, he's still as reserved as ever, but... he seems a lot more relaxed now. Maybe he... met someone special.
Broken Ace: Xiao is handsome, incredibly skilled at what he does, and serves dutifully under Rex Lapis for millennia... and suffers immensely under his karmic debt, as well as being generally unapproachable and dismissive, only slowly warming up to the Traveler.
Brutal Honesty: Xiao does not talk much, and when he does, he does not care for niceties.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Xiao doesn't remember when or how he got his Vision, which is an unforgettable moment in the life of every human, because to him it merely meant the beginning of his endless battle.
Call on Me:
- At the conclusion of the Liyue Archon Quest, he promises that he will come whenever the Traveler calls his name. During the 2.1 "Moonlight Merriment" event, Paimon tries calling his name to no avail, because he exclusively promised the Traveler such — the moment they calls his name, he's instantly there. Xiao also says something similar in his "Hello" voice-over, quoted at the top of the page.
- Hu Tao demonstrates this during The Exquisite Night Chimes, where she yells out all of Xiao's revered titles from atop Wangshu Inn's balcony in an effort to summon him.
- Happens again during Baizhu's story quest, with Paimon commenting that the Traveler "better do the honors" instead of her.
- Averted during the first part of the Perilous Trails questline. The Traveler's call could not reach Xiao due to the chaotic space the main cast was trapped in.
Cast from Hit Points: His Burst increases his damage potential in combat in exchange for slowly losing HP.
Catch a Falling Star:
- In the climax of the Liyue Archon Quest, he catches the Traveler when Osial broke the magical platform that they were previously standing on.
- In the second Archon Quest Interlude, after Xiao sacrifices himself to teleport the rest of the group to the surface, Zhongli saves him from falling back into the Chasm's Bed.
Character Development: There is an evident progress in Xiao's characterization throughout the released game versions.
- Compared to his first appearance where he was cold to the point of rudeness and quickly vanished again, Xiao has mellowed out considerably around the Traveler. He gave them his word to show up whenever they call his name, and is a lot more likely to agree to a favor the Traveler may ask of him. Despite being someone who keeps to himself, he trusts them with his thoughts and feelings, as shown in the last part of Perilous Trails and their talk during The Exquisite Night Chimes.
- While he is still not much of a talker, he has become less abrasive with his words and even gives praise where he sees it fit, notably during Moonlight Merriment when Xiangling asks for criticism regarding her dishes.
- During v3.4's Lantern Rite event, he accepts Hu Tao's invitation and stays throughout her banquet dinner, as well as Xiangling's gift of Almond Tofu (though not without some encouragement from the Traveler) after originally refusing to enter Liyue Harbor during the first Lantern Rite festival.
- In his 2023 birthday letter, Xiao recounts taking the Traveler's advice to socialize and pays a visit to Moon Carver on his birthday. He agrees to stay when the adepti set up an impromptu birthday gathering, even noting how he would have refused in the past but is now appreciating the people by his side.
- In v4.4's Lantern Rite event, he invites the Traveler to release his handmade Xiao lantern with him, a 180° in attitude from his voice line about Lantern Rite where he referred to the lanterns as "glowing trash" and the custom as "childish".
Cold Ham: With Xiao's acerbic attitude, penchant for Stealth Hi/Byes and dramatic if old-fashioned way of speaking, he fits the bill.
Cool Mask: He has a black Yaksha Mask that he will occasionally materialize over his face in one of his idle animations before sharply jerking his head to the side as it disappears. Bane of All Evil sees him donning the mask to dish out considerable damage at the cost of slowly losing HP. In his Story Quest, Paimon notes how he only wears it in battle, contrasting with "Starsnatcher" who wore his all the time.
Critical Hit Class: Xiao's ascension stat is Critical Rate, which can reach as high as 19.2% at his sixth.
Critical Status Buff: With his fourth constellation upgrade, Transcension: Extinction of Suffering, Xiao's Defense doubles whenever his HP falls below half.
Dark and Troubled Past: Xiao was once enslaved by an unnamed god who forced him to slay countless people and devour his victims' dreams, before Morax defeated them and brought him under his care. And as a Yaksha, he is waging a perpetual war against the remnants of defeated gods that keep reappearing, during which he lost all his comrades-in-arms.
Deadly Lunge: His Skill is a quick dash he can do up to twice in quick succession, deals damage to enemies on its way, and he can also do it in midair. His fourth-ascension passive, Dissolution Eon: Heaven Fall, increases the damage of successive uses of the Skill by 15% for seven seconds for a maximum of three charges. His first Constellation upgrade, Dissolution Eon: Destroyer of Worlds, adds a third charge, and his sixth, Conqueror of Evil: Guardian Yaksha, allows him to restore one charge if he hits at least two enemies with a plunging attack while wearing the Yaksha Mask, as well as negates charge consumption for one second, allowing him to spam it more often.
Death from Above: Xiao does not take damage from his plunge attacks no matter how far he falls. Wearing the Yaksha Mask increases his jumping height, allowing him to spam one plunging attack after another (in addition to increased power and range).
Defrosting Ice King: He consistently comes across as aloof and blunt to the point of rudeness. It's only over time that Xiao very slowly warms up to the Traveler, which is also when his gentler side comes out. He is still somewhat clumsy at expressing that side of him, which shows in his birthday line:
(Birthday) "This mortal concept of commemorating the day of your birth really is redundant... (ahem) Wait! Uh... have this. It's a butterfly I made from leaves... Okay! Take it... it's an adepti amulet. It staves off evil."
Declaration of Protection:
- His voice line when pulling for him (quoted at the top of the page) is a variant of this. If anything happens, calling out his name will summon him.
- Another line of his, however, is an inversion, where he says that if the Traveler is tainted by the darkness, he shall be the one to fall them.
  (About Us: Warnings) "If a day comes where even you are taken by the darkness, it will be up to me."
Destructive Savior:
- The Yakshas were assembled to combat the lingering power of fallen or sealed gods following the Archon War, which demanded every ounce of their strength to eradicate, and Xiao hasn't exactly toned down his response over the years; he reacts to every problem with the same effort, however disproportionate, or even destructive, it may be. The best he can really manage is to try and finish quickly. Huai'an and Verr Goldet thus commission the Adventurers' Guild to deal with monsters near Wangshu Inn lest Xiao intervene and inadvertently create more havoc.
- During Baizhu's Story Quest, he tells the Traveler to deal with the matter regarding the god remains as soon as possible, lest he intervenes and causes more harm than good.
Determinator: He keeps fighting for centuries to defend Liyue from the fallen gods' lingering grudges (including monsters and miasma) despite repeatedly suffering from karmic debts and exposing himself to the wrath of the gods, for he had made the vow under the Geo Archon to defend the country.
Dismissing a Compliment: In his line about Ganyu, he points out how you praise him for being a good mentor for her. He, a Yaksha who knows only battle and bloodshed (as he claims), then says this...
"Your mind occupies a very different world from that which your body inhabits."
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Xiao considers the suffering he and his comrades went through as Yakshas to be a matter of course and becomes offended when he receives pity for it.
Dramatic High Perching: Perches on the railing of a nearby ship's crow's nest when the Traveler calls out for him during the Moonlight Merriment, as well as the roof of Wangshu Inn when Hu Tao yelled for him during The Exquisite Night Chimes. He does it again during Baizhu's Story Quest, appearing on the roof of the house where the Traveler was at when they call on him for help regarding the god remains in Qingce Village.
The Dreaded: If Xiao shows up to fight, it's a sign you really need to be elsewhere. Case in point, his appearance is dreaded by his enemies often as much as by those he protects, as humans can (and have) ended up caught in the crossfire, even if he tries to minimize it. Even when not fighting he appears intimidating enough that Paimon, peeved as she was, not only refrained from giving him an ugly nickname (while having had no trouble doing so for a literal god) but seems notably more measured in her interactions with him.
Dream Stealer: Xiao used to be one. Under his enslavement by an evil god, he fed upon people's dreams. While he hated doing so, Xiao still has a fondness for the taste, as the texture of almond tofu is like that of the dreams he devoured.
Dub Pronunciation Change: The character of his name (魈, pinyin "Xiāo") is read as "Shō" (via on'yomi, or Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana しょう) in Japanese and "So" (hangul 소) in Korean.
Dub Personality Change: In the original Chinese as well as Japanese and Korean dubs, Xiao comes off as more melancholic and distant, while in the English dub, Xiao is actively harsher and more incandescent.
Due to the Dead: At the end of his first Story Quest, Xiao orders Grilled Tiger Fish at Wangshu Inn rather than his usual Almond Tofu, in honor of Pervases, his former junior Yaksha whose spirit the Traveler met.
Exact Words: As explored during the 2.1 Moonlight Merriment event. He gave the Traveler his word to appear should they call his name. It's not just a kind expression he'll be willing to assist them; he literally appears when his name is spoken by the Traveler. This is shown when Paimon's attempts end up moot even though the Traveler is right beside her.
Face Doodling: Xiao was once a victim to this, as shown in the second Archon Quest Interlude chapter Perilous Trails. Bosacius is seen drawing on his face during a montage of the former's fond memories with his fellow Foremost Yakshas.
Facial Markings: He has a purple diamond in the middle of his forehead.
Famed In-Story: There are legends about him documented in ancient books. He dismisses most of them as "literati fanfiction."
Falling Damage: Subverted. He's the only character to not take fall damage after his plunge attack not matter the height. Played straight when falling normally though.
Fashionable Asymmetry: A consistent theme throughout his character design. Xiao sports an asymmetrical haircut, has a tattoo on his right forearm, and wears a spiked, jade-inlaid pauldron, as well as a long detached sleeve on his left arm. His gloves differ in length and color (turquoise on the right side, black on the left). Finally he also wears different decorative elements on his pants and boots.
Fate Worse than Death: The spirit of Pervases saw Xiao's current circumstances as such. While talking to the Traveler, he inverts Survivor's Guilt, reflecting that his death in battle^note is a "selfish indulgence" compared to the physical suffering Xiao endures due to his karma.
Flashy Teleportation: He appears and disappears in a cloud of dark mist and glowing Anemo particles.
Foil: To Ganyu. Both are veterans of the Archon War who swore fealty to Rex Lapis, but while Ganyu has been an ally to him from the get-go, Xiao entered Rex Lapis's service through battle. They are also both fairly reserved, but while Ganyu is soft-spoken and friendly, Xiao can come across as cold and aloof even to those who have known him longer. Both have feelings of inadequacy among the humans of Liyue Harbor, Ganyu due to her half-qilin bloodline and Xiao fearing that he would be too dangerous to be around people. Protecting Liyue is also their lives' missions, albeit in different ways—for Xiao, through endlessly battling the remnants of ancient gods; for Ganyu, through working with the Qixing while avoiding combat whenever possible.
Food as Bribe: During the first act of the Liyue Archon Quest, the Traveler and Paimon had to inform him of Rex Lapis' apparent death. Since he just went off in their first attempt, Verr advises them to get his favorite dish so they can have his ear.
Friend to All Children: Some of his actions imply this to be the case. Xiao asked Huai'an to look after the spirit of Little Meng, who wasn't yet ready to move on; and in another instance he once personally returned a stolen doll to a little girl. This is quite telling given his usual cold demeanor.
Fun with Homophones: Xiao and the Xiao Lanterns from the 2021 event Lantern Rite. The Xiao Lanterns come from the word xiǎo (小) that means "small" due to their size, while Xiao takes his name (魈, xiāo) after a creature in Chinese Mythology. But of course, the event is about getting Xiao to take part.
Gathering Steam: His first-ascension passive, Conqueror of Evil: Tamer of Demons, increases Xiao's damage potential by 5% while wearing the Yaksha Mask, with an additional 5% for every three seconds he is wearing the Mask (to a maximum of 25%, equivalent to at least fifteen seconds).
Glass Cannon: Xiao has a high base Defense and HP, yet his Skill eats away at his HP for greater damage, and his Defense counteracts the HP he lost until the Burst ends, which lasts long unless you pull him out and replace him with another character. This makes healing pivotal for him or else he could fall easily from overclocking on the Burst or strong enemy attacks.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: While his natural golden eyes are already striking enough, the Yaksha Mask has eerily glowing teal eyes. Whenever he dons it, this always spells trouble for his enemies.
Good Is Not Nice: He comes off as cold and uncaring, but he has been protecting Liyue for hundreds of years and goes out of his way not to kill humans.
Good Is Not Soft: As a Yaksha who has sworn himself to rid Liyue of evil through endless battle, Xiao is known for not holding back when it comes to dealing with enemies, to the point of becoming a bit of a Destructive Savior.
Guyliner: Wears red eyeliner on the sides and upper corner of his eyes.
Heroic Sacrifice: Downplayed. Towards the end of the second Archon Quest Interlude, when he realizes his strength won't be enough to get himself and his companions out of the Chasm's Bed, while having just recovered from injuries from previous battles, Xiao uses what's left of his strength to teleport them away, while he chooses to stay behind on the shattering platform. Fortunately, Zhongli intervenes just in time to save him.
Hidden Depths:
- While he is a bit of a hardass and prone to Brutal Honesty, he is a surprisingly effective teacher and far more insightful than his blunt exterior would suggest. He shows understanding for Ganyu's struggle to fit in with either side of her heritage and shows her a possible way to deal with a confused mind. And when giving Xiangling his opinion on her cooking (even complimenting her which he didn't do for Ganyu) he also advises her to not fixate on it and use it as she sees fit, which is surprisingly modest given how revered the adepti are, essentially telling her not to overly rely on the opinion of what would be considered almost a deity.
- There are many instances where Xiao expresses his veiled curiosity. He ponders over the use of treasure box items before backtracking and saying he's not interested, as evidenced by his Chinese voice-over. One of his favored teapot furnishing sets shows his fascination with Liyue-style houses, having never gotten the chance to see them up close. Developer Insight #4: Character Stories, written by the game developers, likens him to "a caged beast circling the fire of a stove: fearful, but also full of curiosity."
- He was able to tell that Baizhu transfers his life force to others to heal them and figure out that's why he seeks immortality at a glance, so his warning is less a general dismissal of his quest but rather a roundabout way to look out after him.
Humble Hero:
- Surprisingly enough, Xiao is among the least prideful of the adepti, especially compared to the likes of Cloud Retainer or Mountain Shaper. Since the Yakshas have largely been forgotten, hardly anyone remembers or prays to them, which leaves Xiao completely unbothered as he still continues to protect the people of Liyue regardless.
- During Baizhu's Story Quest, he reminds the doctor that immortality may not be the blessing he perceives that it is, but not before saying that he does not wish to sway the decisions of mortals himself. This is very telling for an adeptus to not want to interfere with the goals of ordinary humans no matter how foolish, despite having basically more knowledge and experience than them. This is even noticed by Changsheng, who regards him as "strange" compared to the adepti she remembers.
In a Single Bound: While wearing the Yaksha Mask, Xiao's jumping height increases, allowing him to spam his plunging attacks.
I Gave My Word: True to Liyue's ideals, Xiao will always honor the terms of an agreement, whether that's a contract with Rex Lapis or a promise he made to the Traveler. You should, however, mind his exact wording.
Ineffectual Loner: Xiao is the Last of His Kind and prefers to keep to himself, partly because he has No Social Skills and also because he doesn't want others to become affected by the amount of negative karma he accumulated over the years. While he did have people helping him (whether or not he is aware of that), the Traveler is the first person in a long time to get somewhat close to him.
Ganyu (About Xiao): He seems like a bit of an outsider, socially. Probably just his personality... I can understand that, to be honest, but I'm not really about to try and get close to him. I mean... all the people he's ever agreed to team up with are no longer with us.
Implied Love Interest: Even if the nature of the relationship between Xiao and the Traveler has never been confirmed to be anything beyond platonic, Xiao's visible Character Development is a result of them being his most trusted confidante, which Venti, the other adepti, Hu Tao and Shenhe have noticed. It's no exaggeration that during most times when Xiao appears in game, and even occasionally because he appears, their relationship takes on more romantic implications with how especially attentive he is towards the Traveler.
I Work Alone: He is a lone wolf partly by necessity, as his fellow Yakshas have passed or vanished, and he doesn't want others to get hurt by his accumulated bad karma. Ganyu's voice line about him implies that he's always been a bit of an outsider, and aside from the other Yakshas he didn't work closely with other adepti to begin with.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Xiao is not a warm person, to say the least, but he genuinely cares about the people he protects, doing so for millennia without so much as asking for thanks.
Baizhu (About Xiao): Only the most magnanimous soul could labor to preserve life by slaying evil spirits.
Knight in Sour Armor: Xiao appears casually disinterested in his better moods and outright scornful in his worse, and will often comment on the "feebleness" of the people of modern Liyue or the ineffectiveness of the exorcists. As he lived through the Archon War, during which he was enslaved by an unknown god, defended Liyue from numerous demons and lost his fellow Yakshas to the wrath of slain gods, his attitude is not without reason. However, he still upholds his oath to Rex Lapis and continues to protect the people of Liyue even long after he is the lone Yaksha in active duty and his master retired.
Last of His Kind: Of the five Foremost Yakshas, only Xiao still is on active duty, as three have died after succumbing to madness and killing each other, while the other survivor, Bosacius, died in the Chasm's Bed during the Cataclysm.
Leave Me Alone!: Justified. Xiao suffers from extreme karmic debt and fears he would one day succumb to it like his fellow Yakshas, and that he would taint other people with it. This is why he prefers to work alone, putting on an aloof front to keep others away. The Traveler is among the few people he will not be harsh towards.
Martyr Without a Cause: A trait of his that comes out front and center in the second Archon Quest Interlude chapter Perilous Trails. Xiao puts so little worth on his own life that he constantly offers to get the others out of the Chasm's Bed at the cost of leaving him behind to die, and can't understand why the others would risk their lives for him, let alone object to him going it alone. By the end of the chapter, Xiao confides to the Traveler that he suspects his suicidal tendencies may be his specific manifestation of the madness his fellow Yakshas succumbed to as a consequence of accumulating karmic debt.
Meaningful Rename: According to his character story entry, he received the name "Xiao" after Morax defeated his earlier master, who enslaved him. The Geo Archon gave him that name after a "story in another world" about a spirit of the same name^notethe name of a Chinese demon, who endured much hardship and suffering, and thus he felt it would fit him.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Xiao is the first character whose Elemental Skill can be used midair, the second being Kazuha.
Mental Health Recovery Arc: At the beginning of the game, Xiao closed himself off from the world because he sees himself as nothing more than a tool of slaughter and as easily disposable. Over the course of various limited-time events and his own birthdays, Xiao learns to open up and accept the the simple pleasures of life as well as the kindness of others. Perilous Trails also focuses on him trying to curtail his suicidal tendencies as the others encourage him to place more value on his life. The name of his own Wish Banner, Invitation to Mundane Life, may also be a nod to Xiao's developmental arc, where he'll someday be able to live a more leisurely and peaceful life.
Mirror Character:
- Xiao and Cyno are fearsome warriors famed for their sheer prowess, cold demeanor, and relentlessness in hunting down evil. But while Xiao is an old soul willing to retire should he be able to afford it, Cyno is young and reluctant to accept the fact that someday he may tire of his job, much less waver in his convictions. Gameplay-wise, both wield spears, have the Medium Male model, perform a Deadly Lunge for their Elemental Skill, and their Elemental Burst triggers a Super Mode that infuses their innate element to their regular attacks and increases their damage output, with the key difference being that Cyno's has the potential to be extended.
- While their thought processes clash, as shown in Perilous Trails, Xiao and Yelan have surprisingly a lot in common. Their service to Liyue, while substantial, is shrouded in secret: Xiao distances himself from humans as he fights his battles without any thanks due to his karmic debt and yakshas are mostly forgotten in the modern times. Meanwhile, Yelan's dangerous operations are covert in nature and is essentially a "non-entity", not included in the Ministry of Civil Affairs' list of employees. Yelan also used to work with a team who have all since perished, just like Xiao and the other yakshas. They both also have lost someone in the Chasm: Bosacius for Xiao and Boyang for Yelan and her ancestors. Regardless of their differences in beliefs, however, they hold a degree of respect for one another.
- Xiao and the Wanderer are immortal male Anemo vision holders with similar abrasive, cat-like personalities stemming from abusive pasts of serving under a morally dubious god for centuries, who are now atoning for their bad karma through the duties given by the Archon who granted them a Meaningful Rename and act like harsh Tsunderes towards the Traveler with repeated interaction.
- Xiao and Xianyun are both adepti with avian forms and Anemo powers and have similarly proud yet deeply caring personalities, though Xiao is more self-deprecating.
- Xiao and Freminet are both Broken Ace soldiers with bird Animal Motifs that put on their Signature Headgear while fighting, have a Found Family made of their fellow soldiers, suffered greatly under the tyranny of an evil superior who ordered them to kill, and have difficulty opening up to others due to their Dark And Troubled Pasts.
Mirror Match: His ongoing fight with karmic debt is portrayed as such in the "Endless Suffering" trailer, with him being continuously haunted by and having to subdue a masked version of himself to ensure that he does not succumb to insanity and become one of the monsters he is tasked to destroy.
My Country, Right or Wrong: He's not particularly impressed with the values of the people of modern Liyue, expressing mild contempt for how easily "Starsnatcher" duped people. Still, he swore an oath to protect Liyue, and continues to do so even after his fellow adepti have withdrawn and secluded themselves in Jueyun Karst.
Mysterious Backer: Has had multiple in his lifetime.
- Unbeknownst to him, Verr Goldet and Huai'an, the husband-and-wife heads of Wangshu Inn who regularly give him Almond Tofu, are also associates of the Qixing tasked to help him in his duty.
- His profile recounts a time when his accumulated karma nearly overtook him after a particularly difficult battle. The sound of a flute that played until dawn saved him and took away his pain, allowing him a moment of peace. Xiao never saw the flutist but suspects them to have been a member of The Seven. As shown in his character trailer, Venti is playing a flute in the distance, implying that he was the one helping Xiao.
  - Averted when Xiao admits that he is aware of Venti helping him with his karmic debt during the 2023 Lantern Rite epilogue, saying "an old friend" helped his condition to stabilise right before Venti crashes the banquet dinner.
Mythical Motifs: Xiao's name, when rednered in pinyin (xiāo), is homophonous to that of a four-winged bird (simplified 嚣, traditional 囂) from Chinese Mythology (hence the bird depicted on his Constellation and befitting his Anemo Vision), while the character of his name (魈) is the second of that of the shānxiāo (山魈), a one-legged simian mountain spirit (befitting with the adepti living amidst the mountains of Jueyun Karst, as well as his association with Wangshu Inn, which sits atop a tall rock).
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name means "Demon" and he certainly fights like one. There's also his epithet "Conqueror of Demons", and he is an exemplar of just that, having slain countless powerful monsters in his long vigil over Liyue.
No Place for Me There: Even though the hard work of Xiao and the other Yakshas helped make Liyue as peaceful as it is now, Xiao refuses to let himself enjoy life in modern Liyue due to the negative effects his karma has on other people. As a result, he avoids places with people, especially during celebrations; the festive mood clashes painfully with the weight of his Forever War against the lingering hate of defeated gods.
No Social Skills:
- He speaks in a very blunt manner to both humans and adepti and tends to remain rather aloof, but is nonetheless devoted to protecting Liyue from evil and saving people from danger, even if it sometimes results in unintentional collateral damage. His voice lines show that he has trouble understanding human customs and habits, and he tells you to think of him as a "weapon" and nothing more.
  (About Xiao: Inhuman) "I'm far from human. I can't make much of human emotions."
- The epilogue of The Exquisite Night Chimes puts him outside his comfort zone when he attends Hu Tao's banquet dinner. He voices nervousness about being surrounded by more people than he expected, is visibly uncomfortable when Paimon pays her respects to him in a formal manner, and sitting right next to Zhongli and Venti while they act under the guise of mortals and have Snark-to-Snark Combat puts him on edge to the point that he practically jumps when the Traveler decides to take him outside for a breather. In the ensuing conversation between him and the Traveler, he expresses insecurity that he isn't able to get along with humans as easily as Zhongli or Venti.
Odd Friendship: With Hu Tao. Her liveliness irritates him a bit (as per most other characters), but he appreciates her humor. As seen in The Exquisite Night Chimes, Xiao doesn't have much of a problem accepting Hu Tao's invitation for dinner with friends, even if it's rather awkward to him.
Only One Finds It Fun: Xiao actually finds Hu Tao humorous, even though she also annoys him a bit.
(About Hu Tao) "Hu Tao? Her liveliness is irritating... fortunately, she is also quite humorous, so you need not worry about her growing into a boring human."
Perpetual Frowner: He is an incredibly prickly figure, and no one, not even Verr Goldet has ever seen him smile. Considering what he is going through, it is not surprising.
Personal Horror: Xiao's history describes how his battles against remnants of vengeful fallen gods have caused their hatred to taint his soul. The only way to rid himself of said taints is to accept his karmic debts, which caused every part of his being to suffer; but he knows that "no grudge can last a thousand years; nor is any debt so great that it cannot be paid off in this time." If there is one thing he dislikes, it is the Lantern Rite, because whenever he sees floating lantern lights from the distance...
(Vision) "At that moment, another special feeling blossomed in Xiao's heart. Loneliness? Peace? Or was it his fears for the future? The young-seeming adeptus searched his heart, only to find no answers."
Picky Eater: Before the story, Smiley Yanxiao tells that he often has trouble finding dishes that suit his taste other than Almond Tofu, until he met the Traveler and accepted the Satisfiying Salad they made for him along with the Almond Tofu. During the "Spices from the West" event, Xiao only gives positive responses to Fragrant Almond Tofu and Fragrant Grilled Fish, which is a dish he only started ordering in honor of his deceased friend Pervases.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Xiao is among the shortest characters with the "Medium Male" model, but people know better than to underestimate him based on his height alone. The fact that one, he is a yaksha, and second, holds the title "Conqueror of Demons" should be telling enough.
Power Stereotype Flip: While characters associated with wind would be vivacious, accepting of change and talkative, Xiao is the opposite; a brooding, to-the-point guy who's not of many words and doesn't (or at least tries not to) concern himself with change. In the English version, he adds to this by being somewhat rude.
Pragmatic Hero: While he's definitely on the side of protecting the people of Liyue and would never harm innocents, he's not above widespread environmental destruction if it gets the job done. He embodies to the point that Verr Goldet expresses relief in a Daily Commission when the Traveler clears out some monsters instead of him. Let's also not forget that time he was willing to let himself get sealed away in the Chasm's Bed to save the Traveler and their companions.
Pretty Boy: Xiao has been described as beautiful multiple times, both by in-game characters and even the game developers themselves.
- Little Luo from Qingce Village talked about having been saved from hilichurls by a "handsome, dashing Adeptus" while she was out playing in the forest. Given that said Adeptus did not like to smile, it's highly likely she encountered Xiao.
- Smiley Yanxiao calls him "the good-looking fella" during Moonlight Merriment.
- Referenced in the Outside the Canvas, Inside the Lens event when players are tasked with picturing Wangshu Inn. While she doesn't interact with them, the notes of Asagiri (the event NPC) clearly describe the inn's inhabitants, including a certain "handsome lad who always has a cold expression on his face."
- In his very own Developer's Notes, the game's Art Team and Creative Concept & Writing Team were both on the same page when they visualized him to be a young, beautiful Adeptus.
Purple Is Powerful: As the last remaining Yaksha, Xiao's power is not questioned by many people and, ironically enough for an Anemo Vision holder, purple is the most prominent color in his character design with his pants and diamond mark on his forehead.
The Quiet One: Xiao is not a chatty person and tends to keep conversations with other people to an absolute minimum.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: He really lays it into "Starsnatcher" in his own Story Quest, sternly telling him off about his duplicitous ways. The fake Adeptus, being a fan of the Yakshas, apologizes profusely and promises to not repeat it again.
Red Baron: Quite a bunch of them.
- The "Conqueror of Demons". People refer to him as this respectfully, though he does request to those he's closest with to just call him by his name.
- His character title is the "Vigilant Yaksha", befitting his duty to protect Liyue for centuries on end and him being the sole survivor of the five Foremost.
- His title as one of the Yakshas is "General Alatus" ("Wing"), 金翅鹏王 ("Golden-winged King"), or 金鹏 ("Jinpeng") in Chinese, a reference to the Garuda from Hinduism and Jainism.
Regenerating Mana: With his second Constellation upgrade, Annihilation Eon: Blossom of Kaleidos, Xiao's Energy Recharge increases by 25% while he is inactive.
Reduced Mana Cost: Played with. His utility passive, Transcension: Gravity Defier, shaves 20% off of the party's Stamina consumption while climbing.
Secret-Keeper: The end of Perilous Trails reveals that he knows that Zhongli is the current guise of Rex Lapis.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Xiao's top, which is also noticeably skin-tight, has a window exposing his back to boot.
Sitting on the Roof: Has a habit of sitting on Wangshu Inn's roof, as seen in the 2.4 ''Fleeting Colors in Flight'' cutscene where he admires the fireworks, his featured EP, as well as in ''Gourmet Tour: "Liyue's Cuisine Collection" Issue No. 4''.
Sleep Deprivation: Since his line of work requires him to be vigilant all the time, constantly fighting demons day and night, Xiao suffers from this case. You catch him dozing off in his "About Us: Drowsiness" voice line, to which he says irritably...
"You think I sleep? You have no respect for the ways of the adepti."
- Related to this, he actually Fell Asleep Standing Up in one of his chibi birthday arts.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Xiao is noted to have little in the way of material desires, doesn't care for teamwork and allies much, and prefers to go it alone most of the time. Gameplay-wise, Xiao is a DPS unit who works alone to deal as much damage as possible, whose party should be built more around keeping him alive than being extra sword hands. He has no weapon made to capitalize on his playstyle and for a long time did not have an Artifact set that synergizes with his kit. And while all other 5-stars' Story Quests have them as a 5th guest member to your existing party, Xiao's Story Quest instead has you play as him alone.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside:
- Xiao can be quite blunt and rude, but after hearing his backstory even Paimon cannot help but sympathize with him. He rarely loses his cool and only shows off his more vulnerable side to the Traveler as they spend time together.
- One of his idle animations explores the "sad inside" part more in-depth: a glowing little being catches Xiao's attention, and he tentatively tries to reach out to it. However, it senses his karmic debt and quickly flies off, leaving Xiao staring at his hand for a while, feeling dejected.
Speed Blitz: Xiao is known for his exceptional speed, which gameplay-wise shows in his Skill, a high-speed lunge during which he disappears into a gust of wind and phases right through his opponent. It's powerful enough that he doesn't even need his polearm to perform said attack.
Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Performing plunge attacks while the Yaksha Mask is on allows Xiao to create a circle of spears made of Anemo energy that erupts from the ground.
Status Buff: In the battle against Osial, he provides the active character with a buff that increases movement speed.
Stealth Hi/Bye: Xiao has a habit of suddenly appearing and disappearing without much of a warning, often startling the others nearby, particularly Paimon.
Paimon: Well that's Xiao for ya. Shows up without a warning and disappears without a trace.
Stern Teacher: Xiao was one of Ganyu's mentors and the only one she claims can unlock her true potential, to Paimon's surprise. He grills Ganyu for being half an hour late and refuses her apology, saying that he does not require mutual understanding between them and is only there to help her with her training. Beneath his callous behavior, however, lies the understanding that Ganyu is treading a fine line between two worlds and that only she can forge her path forward, and thus approval from others is not needed.
The Stoic: Xiao rarely shows any emotion outside his near-constant irritation. Even though the news of Rex Lapis's death upsets him, he does not even raise his voice or fly in a rage like the other adepti. Even among his fellow Yakshas, he seemed the most reserved.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Xiao is icy towards everyone he meets. He does have a gentler side but is reluctant to show it to anyone. As the story progressed he slowly warms up to the Traveler, and his birthday messages all but confirm it. Xiao also seems to have a soft spot for children, having personally returned a stolen doll to a little girl.
Super Mode: Xiao's Burst has him don his Yaksha Mask, becoming a much more fearsome fighter. For fifteen seconds, he jumps much higher and gains wider and more powerful attacks infused with an Anemo effect that cannot be overridden with reactions, albeit at the cost of he slowly losing HP for every second it is active. With his first-ascension passive, Conqueror of Evil: Tamer of Demons, he can get a bonus damage boost the longer he stays in this mode.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: He has yellow and slitted eyes showing his identity as an Adeptus.
Sweet Tooth: Xiao has an affinity for Almond Tofu, albeit not so much for its flavor as much as for the texture, describing it as similar to the sweet dreams he once devoured from people. Still, the Traveler calls him to be a taste tester for Xiangling because of his mild taste in food.
Terrifying Rescuer: He's described as striking fear into the hearts of the common people who happen to catch a glimpse of him, even from a distance.
Thou Shall Not Kill: As far as humans go, at least, since he takes his vow to protect humanity very seriously. Though the ferocity of his battles may catch unfortunate bystanders, he has managed to avoid explicitly going after humans with lethal force and is not in a hurry to change that any time soon.
Trademark Favorite Food: Almond Tofu. Xiao himself claims it's the only thing he's able to stomach, but he will occasionally try different dishes if he's honoring a dead friend, or as a favor to the Traveler. Smiley Yanxiao still has trouble trying to feed him anything else.
Tsundere: As his friendship with the Traveler improves, he comes off as the Harsh type. His birthday voice line has him expressing contempt for the concept of a birthday in the first place, then handing them a butterfly of leaves he made himself.
Tsurime Eyes: Befitting his personality, he has upward-angled eyes that are made to appear even more angular through sharp eyeliner.
Undying Loyalty: To Rex Lapis. His dedication to protecting humanity is due to a millennia-old contract with Rex Lapis. Xiao willingly follows this contract since he holds the Geo Archon in a very high regard.
(More About Xiao: IV) "'Morax'...? What do you know of this name?! He gave me the name Xiao and released me from the endless pain I endured. I will not forgive those that dare to speak against him, even you."
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Defied. All the bad karma he accumulated from fighting off the remnants of the old gods started to taint the monsters in the wild as well, so he goes out to take them down personally.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—his third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Conqueror of Evil: Wrath Deity and Evolution Eon: Origin of Ignorance, add three levels to, respectively, his Skill and Burst.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Implied in his character story. Although it seems that well hidden, Xiao still managed to retain a bit of his gentle nature as he mellowed out considerably around the Traveler.
Character Story 3: "His past of service under the evil god had rid Xiao of his innocence and gentleness. All that remained within him was the means to kill and the weight of his sins."
Useless Useful Spell: All his Constellation upgrades other than his first and sixth tend to be this: his second requires Xiao to be off-field to benefit from its heightened Energy Recharge, which can be counterproductive for an on-field DPS like him; he cannot capitalize on the Skill boost provided by his third unless he has unlocked his sixth, which allows him to trigger it faster; his fourth, which boosts his Defense whenever his HP is dangerously low, is rendered moot not only by his lack of Defense-scaling talents but also the fact that his optimal supports tend to be shielders and/or healers anyway; and his fifth does little to boost his already strong Burst.
Vague Age: Xiao is stated to be "something over two thousand years" old, but he was enslaved by an evil god for "eons" during the Archon War which only ended two thousand years ago, and there is an unspecified amount of time he lived before he was enslaved. The "Echoes from the Heart" cutscene from The Exquisite Night Chimes event even puts his age at more than three thousand seven hundred years old as he is shown sealing the remains of Guizhong upon her death with his fellow Foremost Yakshas.
Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Implied. In one commission Huai'an asks that the Traveler deal with some monsters foraging for Silvergrass in Dihua Marsh. He explains that the Millelith have already taken care of most of them and that they won't come anywhere near the Inn but are an "eyesore." If you express shock over being asked to deal with an eyesore, Huai'an will explain that he wouldn't bother to deal with them normally but that a certain guest can't tolerate their presence, indicating that Xiao doesn't care whether or not the monsters he's hunting pose a threat. Of course, it could be that Xiao is simply afraid his evil aura will aggravate the monsters, which means if they don't pose a threat now, they will become one later.
Vocal Dissonance: Present in the English dub, where his voice, while remaining youthful, has a significant rasp to it.
Weapon Specialization: In his official artworks and both his Character Demo and Collected Miscellany videos, Xiao wields the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (5★). It suits well with his pure offensive gameplay, given its Ascension substat of Critical Rate (4.8–22.1%) and is "Eagle Spear of Justice" passive that grants him stacks of a 3.2–6.4% Attack boost whenever he hits enemies for six seconds, triggered at least every 0.3 second and which can stack up to seven times, with an additional 12% once that maximum was reached (hence 34.4–56.8%).
When He Smiles: It's very brief, but in the ending cinematic of the first Lantern Rite event, Xiao smiles up at the lanterns◊ while watching from Liyue Harbor's outskirts, and again during the Fleeting Colors in Flight custscene, while he watches the Wangshu Inn crew dine.◊ He also sports a small smile for his 2023 chibi birthday art◊.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Despite his status, Xiao seems to harbor a few self-esteem issues, seeing himself as little more than a historically glorified slaughterer and worries about burdening others, even when those have given their help freely. It takes a bit of a pep-talk from the Traveler (and indirectly Ushi) for him to accept that there's no shame in relying on help, and that people should look out for one another.
Your Soul Is Mine!: In his Story Quest, he and the Traveler use an adeptus ritual called "Dream Trawler" to put the "Starsnatcher's" consciousness to them while he was sleeping, to teach him a lesson about pretending to be an adeptus to scam people.

Bosacius

Marshal Vritras

Voiced By: Gan Ziqi (Chinese), Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Brook Chalmers (English)
Weapon: Polearm
"...Liyue is now at peace, but of our number, none but Alatus and I remain. And for my part, I wish to depart, to be done with this world."

The eldest of the Foremost, whose bellowing laughter sounded like thunder when he shared it with his friends, yet his enemies cowered in fear of the lightning strikes he commanded. He was kind and gentle in nature, yet also commanding and ferocious in battle. Alas, he grew weary of battle and disappeared, leaving Alatus, also known as Xiao, as the sole remaining Yaksha in Liyue. Xiao ascertaining his fate is the focus of the "Perilous Trail" Archon Quest added in v2.7.

Ambiguous Situation: How was Bosacius not killed with the other Yakshas? Where did he go? It isn't until the second Archon Quest Interlude that we finally learn that he and a group of human allies willingly sealed themselves in the Chasm's Bed to contain an invasion of Abyss monsters during the Cataclysm.
Boisterous Bruiser: He was known to be very proud, to the point of announcing himself by name every time he enters a battle. The memories of Bosacius that are stuck in the Chasm confirm this to be true, as he gloats about how the abyssal demons will die with him. Which also makes for an interesting contrast with his backhanded fighting style.
But Now I Must Go: "The Yaksha's Wish" side quest is about a ruins tablet written by Bosacius where he states his wish to depart and be done with this world now that Liyue is at last at peace.
Casting a Shadow: Bosacius uniquely had the ability to cloak himself in shadow and strike from them.
Death Seeker: The death of three of his five blood-siblings and the weight of his karmic debt eventually made him wish to be free from this world once and for all. Bosacius thus wandered into the depths of The Chasm to make the ultimate sacrifice, destroying as many Abyss monsters as he could to his last breath. It gets a bit zig-zagged in the end, as he had already lost his mind when entering the battle and spent his last moments trying to recall his found family, implying the he wanted to be with his brothers- and sisters-in-arms more than anything else.
Determinator: Bosacius, despite having gone insane joined the Millelith in battle against the monsters of Khaenri'ah and even came up with a plan to defeat them for good, all while unable to even remember his name.
Dying as Yourself: Bosacius fought during Khaenri'ah's incursion into Liyue through The Chasm. He barely remembered himself and was cognizant of little around him, but he still sacrificed himself to seal Khaenri'ah's forces in the Chasm. When he was on the verge of death, he finally remembered his name and the identity of his friends.
Early-Bird Cameo: Before a cutscene to Xiao's Story Quest references Bosacius and the second Archon Quest Interlude, you can complete a World Quest called "The Yaksha's Wish" in Minlin, which is a message left behind from Bosacius allowing the finder to find the riches they left behind.
Face Doodling: Pulled this on Xiao with ink and brush in a flashback. Some things are just universal...
A Father to His Men: As the oldest of the Yakshas, he was the primary leader of all the other Yakshas, including the rest of the five. Xiao comments on Bosacius' great leadership abilities, and how greatly the death of Pervases saddened the Electro Yaksha. Though he regarded at least the other four Yakshas more as his brothers and sisters.
Guile Hero: A guardian Yaksha who specialized in illusions and sneak attacks from the darkness.
Identity Amnesia: His mental degradation took a form similar to Alzheimer's disease, with him forgetting large portions of his memories and even his own name, with only brief periods of lucidity.
Insane Equals Violent: A subversion. Even after losing his sanity to his karmic debt, he still resurfaced to fight in defense of Liyue during the Cataclysm, and was lucid enough to devise a plan to sacrifice himself to seal the monsters away.
Large and in Charge: Bosacius towered over the other Yakshas and was their leader.
Meaningful Name: It's Lost in Translation due to Dub Name Change in the English dub and the deeply Buddhist connotations that are hard to explain without context, but his last words in the Chinese and Japanese dub make reference to his name as he declares his intent to lay down his life to ensure the safety of Liyue.
Bosacius: 我叫浮舍 - 意为浮生一刹，万般皆舍。("I'm Fu'she, meaning "Life is fleeting, all material things will end.")
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Had four muscular arms rather than the standard two of his brothers and sisters.
The Prankster: Bosacius is shown during one of Xiao's flashbacks inking on his face while he slept.
Shock and Awe: He wielded the Electro element.
Tragic Keepsake: The lore for the Calamity Queller suggests that Bosacius took possession of it and brought it into the Chasm to fight the Khaenri'an forces after Bonanus and Menogias killed each other.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Was never seen wearing any clothing that covers his torso. In a cutscene flashback, Menogias had apparently tried persuading him to wear robes similar to his, but he never did.

Indarias

General Musatas

Voiced By: Chen Ruijie (Chinese), Yuka Matsueda (Japanese)

The Pyro Yaksha. She fell to the karmic debt, and had to be struck down...

Amazing Technicolor Population: Her hands were a deep red up to her wrists, and when she lost her mind her whole body turned a very dark red.
Berserker Tears: When Indarias went mad she cried berserker tears.
Flaming Hair: Indarias had fiery black and red hair that seems to have moved like flames.
Playing with Fire: As the Guardian Yaksha of Fire, this is a given.
Purple Is Powerful: She had purple eyes and was one of the most powerful Yaksha to live.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Her outfit exposed a great deal of her back.

Menogias

General Kapisas

Voiced By: Xu Xiang (Chinese), Kuze Shuichi (Japanese), Michael Malconian (English)

The Geo Yaksha. Reliable as stone he was for his comrades, yet most destructive in battle, just as the master he served. He was struck down by a mad Bonanus in a duel, though he managed to take her with him into the beyond. His death was honored by the people of Liyue during the 2024 Lantern Rite event.

Dishing Out Dirt: As the Yaksha of Earth he wielded the element of Geo.
Fighting Your Friend: He and Bonanus turned against each other when corrupted by their negative karmic energy.
Hidden Depths: The 2023 Lantern Rite quest "Between Facades and Familiar Faces" has Xiao reveal that he had an interest in fashion design and would approach others to ask them to wear the clothes he made. This is shown by the flashback cutscene in the "Perilous Trail" Archon Quest where he is seen offering some robes to Bosacius, and Xiao also mentions that Zhongli liked and collected some of his designs, which include the business suit he currently wears.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How Menogias was killed.
Mutual Kill: In Xiao's character trailer, Menogias is shown attacking Bonanus with magic, which presumably gravely injured her. Bonanus is later shown in Bosacius's cutscene to have impaled Menogias afterwards, killing him too.

Bonanus

General Chizapus

Voiced By: Wenjing Qin (Chinese), Yui Shouji (Japanese)
Weapon: Polearm

The Hydro Yaksha. She was overcome with madness and struck down Menogias. Yet with his final strike, she was forced to accompany him on the journey into the beyond.

Horned Humanoid: She had long curved horns.
Fighting Your Friend: She and Menogias turned on each other when their karmic energy corrupted them.
Making a Splash: As befitting the Yaksha of Water.
Mutual Kill: In Xiao's character trailer, Menogias is shown attacking Bonanus with magic, which presumably gravely injured her. Bonanus is later shown in Bosacius's cutscene to have impaled Menogias afterwards, killing him too.
Sexy Backless Outfit: Like Indarias, her outfit exposed a great deal of her back.
Sirens Are Mermaids: Zigzagged; Bonanus is the Yaksha of Water and her legs have a scale pattern, suggesting a mermaid theme, yet she sports large claws evocative of a bird's talons and her weapon, the Calamity Queller, has a winged motif rather than a fish-like one, suggesting a siren.
Water Is Womanly: She was one of two women in the Foremost Yakshas and wielded the element of water.
Weapon Specialization: The Calamity Queller is heavily suggested to have been the spear she fought Menogias with. It was later taken by Bosacius and brought to the Chasm.
Wolverine Claws: Bonanus fought with giant clawed appendages.

Pervases

"By wave and storm I hunt for fish, by wind and snow I slay evil..."

A junior that served in the Yakshas with Xiao.

Dead All Along: He's been dead for ages, though his spirit persists to a degree in the form of a copper statue of a bird.
Interface Spoiler: One can learn his name the moment he appears if they have captions on. Not much of a problem in Chinese, but in English, a Latin-sounding name like Pervases sticks out like a sore thumb, as in the Chinese-themed Liyue the only Latin is among members of the adepti, which gives away the twist.
Meaningful Name: His name in the Chinese dub is Tongque, meaning "copper bird", referring to his memory reduced to a copper statue of a bird. It is also a reference to the Bronze Bird Terrace, or the Tongquetai, a legendary terrace from the end of the Han dynasty and the time of the Three Kingdoms era.
Trademark Favorite Food: Grilled Tiger Fish, a favorite among adepti. At the end of Xiao's Story Quest, Xiao orders Grilled Tiger Fish in tribute to Pervases.

Chenyu Vale adepti

The adepti servants of the previous god of Chenyu Vale, who unlike the Zhenjun / Jueyun adepti have never signed a contract with Rex Lapis.

Fujin

^{Click here to see her carp form}

A carp adeptus who first appears in the World Quest series "Chenyu's Blessings of Sunken Jade", requesting the Traveler and Paimon's help with saving Chenyu Vale from falling into ruin by the miasma plaguing the land and water.

Childhood Friends: Well as much of a "childhood" as a bunch of immortal beings can have, but she is a very old friend of Herblord, aka Changsheng, aka the sassy white snake wrapped around Baizhu's neck. Currently Fujin thinks she died after sacrificing herself to stop the old god from flooding Chenyu Vale.
Facial Markings: She has a aqua green, vaguely diamond shaped marking outlined in orange in the middle of her forehead.
Gold and White Are Divine: Well, not gold and white specifically but both her and her Illuminated Beast form have gold and a very light teal colouration.
Humanity Is Infectious: Originally a carp who became an adepti, Fujin at first found humans weird and a little scary, over time however she came to love them. She became very interested in their culture and even makes an effort to speak like them, correcting herself whenever referring to herself as "one" and changing it to "I".
Inconvenient Summons: She essentially pulls this on the Traveler and Paimon as the two are casually traveling only to be pulled into Chenyu Vale by her. The dialogue options in her introduction even have the Traveler state they were just passing through with Paimon also being upset over this.
Legendary Carp: At various points in the Chenyu's Blessings of Sunken Jade questline she takes the form of a carp. Ironically, despite it being her original form she finds appearing in it as embarrassing, though she does think it's easier to move in compared to her human form.
Locked Out of the Loop: Due to losing most of her power following the Archon War and being confined to Carp's Rest since then, Fujin has no knowledge about the Cataclysm in Khaenri'ah 500 years in the past.
My Country, Right or Wrong: What eventually drove her defy the god she served during the Archon War was said god's attempt to repel Rex Lapis with a flood that would have drowned the humans of Chenyu Vale.
Sideboob: It's hard to notice, but Fujin's dress has two slits in the front that expose the sides of her breasts.

Lingyuan

Lingyuan / "Bluey"

A suanni who is a longtime friend of Fujin and Herblord. Appears in the World Quest series "Chenyu's Blessings of Sunken Jade".

Anti-Villain: She was only disrupting the spirit veins causing Chenyu Vale to "return to nature" in order to help bring back Fujin's power.
Armor-Piercing Question: When asked about her views on humanity, she is unable to immediately give an answer unlike the Traveler who gives their thoughts on humans going against their purpose. She does have thoughts on the matter however, and promises to share them after she's had a chance to sort them out.
Boss Subtitles: "Beastlord of the Sunken Jade Realm".
Mix-and-Match Critter: Like the Solitary Suanni, she is a lion-fish hybrid with barbel-like whiskers, fins on her back and a fish tail with four legs.
Palette Swap: Her in-game appearance is a Solitary Suanni whose fur is a darker shade of blue with whiskers that transition from yellow to orange at their tips.
Shoo the Dog: When Fujin and the Herblord rebelled against their god, Lingyuan and her suanni brethren chased Chenyu Vale's human populace into hidden sanctuaries the friends had prepared so they would remain safe.
Smarter Than You Look: She talks herself down as a "foolish" or "slow-witted beast" but also taught Little Mao all about the history of Chenyu Vale and the hydrodynamics of the Bishui River running through it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything she was doing was for the sake of helping Fujin, even if it meant driving humanity to ruin in the process.

Herblord

A snake adeptus who allegedly perished during the Archon War saving Chenyu Vale from a flooding caused by the god she and Fujin served under.

See her entry as Changsheng here

(in Baizhu's folder).

Disciples

General

Pals with Jesus: Being disciples of Adepti, they are all very close to them and still maintain good relations with them
Token Human: Barring Yuandai, all of them are entirely or partially human, but are still associated with the Adepti.

Disciples of Xianyun/Cloud Retainer

General

Bizarre Taste in Food: Despite their master having made a machine for cooking, all of them barring Shuyu have weird culinary tastes. Ironically, Xianyun herself never has enforced this rule which means they eat Qingxin and braised earthworms completely out of their own free will.

Ganyu

Ganyu

A half-human, half-Qilin adeptus, and comrade in arms of Rex Lapis during the Archon War, who now serves as the secretary to the Liyue Qixing.

See her entry here.

Shenhe

Shenhe

The adopted daughter and disciple of Cloud Retainer, who hails from a branch of thaumaturges. She was found when young by Cloud Retainer and, though not a proper adeptus, was trained in the ways of the adepti.

See her entry here.

Yuandai

An old woman living in Liyue Harbor with her granddaughter who has a mysterious past connection to Cloud Retainer.

Bizarre Taste in Food: An old lady who has a taste for earthworm-based dishes.
But Now I Must Go: While she was able to regain all her memories, the potion has finally worn off and there is no way to extend its affects anymore so she has to return to her original form and begin her adepti training anew.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Her condition is played a lot like someone suffering from Alzheimer's. It’s even initially referred to as dementia.
Dramatic Irony: In part thanks to the potions side effects making her forget some key details, she spends a good chunk of her life thinking she had committed some sort of major sin against someone, but she couldn't remember who it was or what she did. In truth she was just feeling guilty that she wanted to remain human and the person she thought she had committed a sin against turns out to be Cloud Retainer, who is far from angry with her.
Ill Girl: She's had a chronic unknown illness all her life. Later we find out her dementia is a symptom of the illness, which turns out not to be an illness so much as the potion she took to become human wearing off.
Foreshadowing: She tries to order braised earthworms at Wanmin restaurant. While its supposed to sound like her "dementia" talking, it's also a tipoff she's a transformed bird.
Outliving One's Offspring: Her son and his wife both died young, leaving their young daughter in her care.
Really 700 Years Old: While revealing that she had been a crane before becoming human, she mentions that she had been training as an adepti for several hundred years.
The Reveal: Her true form is a crane who had gained sentience on Mt. Aocang, and became Cloud Retainer's second disciple. Eager to become human and follow in her masters footsteps she took a potion that temporarily gave her a human form, but it only lasted ten years and had nasty side effects. In her first ten years she fell in love and had a family, when it was time to return she refused and took magic pills to prolong the potions effects for a couple decades.
Unconventional Food Order: You meet her trying to order braised earthworms.

Shuyu

Yuandai's grandaughter and Cloud Retainer's fourth disciple.

Adorably Precocious Child: Thanks in part to her grandmothers severe dementia, she acts a lot more mature and responsible then one would think for a child her age.
Affectionate Nickname: In her father's letter we see her parents affectionately referred to her as Little Yu.
Girlish Pigtails: To further emphasise her young age, she wears her hair in twin braids.
I Will Wait for You: A familial version. After Yuandai declares she will continue her Adepti training and gain a real human form, Shuyu says she will wait until that day, and asks to become Xianyun's apprentice while she does.
Secret-Keeper: She is one of the few human along with Shenhe, Yaoyao, Ningguang, and the Traveler that knows Xianyun's true identity.
Significant Wardrobe Shift: After being accepted as Cloud Retainer's fourth disciple, she was given a new light teal dress shirt with matching shoes, white tights, a pair of red bow hair ties, a small red cloverleaf knot tassel for her neck and red rope bracelets.
Uneven Hybrid: As the granddaughter of Yuandai, she is 1/4th magical crane. This is something Xianyun acknowledged when taking her on as an apprentice.

Disciples of Madame Ping/Streetward Rambler

In General

Lighter and Softer: Compared to the rest of the playable cast, none of Madame Ping's disciples have traumatic backstories. The worst they get is having a Missing Mom but it doesn't seem like Xiangling angsts about it too much.

Xiangling

Xiangling

Chef of Wanmin Restaurant and one of Madame Ping's disciples.

See her entry here.

Yanfei

Yanfei

Introduced: April 28, 2021 (v1.5 "Beneath the Light of Jadeite" [first half])
Voiced by: Su Ziwu (Chinese), Yumiri Hanamori (Japanese), Jo Kyung-yi (Korean), Lizzie Freeman (English)

Wise Innocence

"If you don't wish to be bound by the rules, you have to first understand them all."

Rarity: 4★
Element: Pyro
Weapon: Catalyst
Constellation: Bestia Iustitia, the Beast of Justice

A half-Illuminated Beast (specifically, half-Xiezhi) born after the Archon War. Yanfei sees no obligation to Rex Lapis and instead chose to pursue being a legal consultant in Liyue Harbor. After a brief first meeting when The Traveler acquires their own Serenitea Pot, they meet her again during a trip to the Chasm, where they, alongside other familiar faces, behold an incident involving one of the five foremost Yakshas.

Yanfei literally stamps her authority on rabble-rousers with her specialization in charged attacks, hurling fireballs that upon contact generate Scarlet Seals, of which she can hold up to three at once and are consumed to increase the damage potency and radius, as well as reduce the stamina cost, of her charged attacks which take the form of stamps made of Pyro energy. Both her Elemental Skill and Burst, respectively Signed Edict and Done Deal, create explosions—on a group of enemies for the former, around Yanfei for the latter—that instantly fill her stacks of Seals should they connect; in addition, the latter puts her in a state of "Brilliance," which periodically replenishes her Seals and increases the potency of her charged attacks. Both Scarlet Seals and Brilliance remain active so long as Yanfei is in the field.^note

Anything but That!: During their trip to the Chasm's Bed, Yanfei reveals that she is always ready to arbitrate almost any case — "almost", for she draws the line at domestic disputes, because no amount of objective analysis can match the emotional investment of the plaintiffs.
Awesomeness by Analysis: During the second Archon Quest Interlude chapter, Yanfei is the one to figure out how the Chasm's Bed works, and even manages to exploit it to the group's advantage several times. She also figures out the activation method for the Fantastic Compass, which ultimately plays a major part in the group's escape.
Barrier Warrior:
- Gameplay-wise, Yanfei's fourth constellation upgrade, Supreme Amnesty, gives her Burst the ability to generate a diamond-shaped shield that absorbs damage up to worth 45% of her Max HP for fifteen seconds, with 250% efficiency against Pyro damage.
- During the second Archon Quest Interlude, she creates a barrier around Shinobu and Itto to keep them safe while she and the others go exploring deeper into the Chasm's Bed after Itto passed out from exhaustion after opening a new passage.
Cloudcuckoolander: She loves the law. In her voice line for sunny days she notes how nice it is and says it makes her feel like reciting laws. And then she does just that.
Cool Teacher: Alongside dealing with legal cases, Yanfei also dispenses lectures in law as a substitute teacher when needed. According to Shinobu, who attended her lectures before returning to Inazuma, she is a very passionate, friendly, and highly appreciated tutor.
"Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Discussed; being an actual lawyer, Yanfei immediately points out upon your first meeting with her that she could have gotten you off on the false charges of being involved in Rex Lapis's death in a day, meaning running around for the Fatui, adepti, and all the other madness that went on before the end of the Liyue main storyline would've been completely unnecessary.
Dowsing Device: Her utility passive, Encyclopedic Expertise, displays the location of nearby resources unique to Liyue on the mini-map.
Dub Name Change: The characters of her name (simplified 烟绯, traditional 煙緋, pinyin "Yānfēi") are read as "Enhi" (via on'yomi, or Chinese-derived, reading; hiragana えんひ) in Japanese and "Yeanbi" (hangul 연비) in Korean.
Elemental Hair Colors: Her pink hair, in addition to her red garb helps illustrate her as a pyro vision user.
Exotic Eye Designs: She has oblong pupils similar to a goat's, to better illustrate her being part Xiezhi, a mythical goat-like creature.
Exposed to the Elements: Yanfei's Stripperiffic outfit is hardly befitting for a practitioner of the law, much less practical for braving the bone-chilling cold of Dragonspine.
"What the... What kind of injurious weather is this!? It's c—cold... Achoo!"
Fashionable Asymmetry: Her shorts have a diagonal cut, so it's longer on one leg than the other. Because of this her official profile art makes it appear like she's wearing a mini-skirt.
The Fettered: The reason she got her Vision. Though she is of Illuminated Beast descent, Yanfei has no contract to Rex Morax, and thus has no obligation to Liyue or its rules. Even so, she loves the law and willingly binds herself to it and Liyue, and believes that peace and harmony will be achieved in the future through the law. To drive this point home, as noted in her character story, Yanfei once tried weighing a Vision (likely her own) with a steelyard balance, but no amount of mora could get the balance to right itself; frustrated, she threw on the (rather hefty) box at her waist filled with handwritten legal notations—a representation of her personal conviction in the law—and the balance immediately evened out.
Foil: To Ganyu as a fellow half-human, half-Illuminated Beast. Ganyu is polite and quiet; Yanfei is perky and energetic. Ganyu has been around for at least two millennia and fought in the Archon War; Yanfei, born after the War, is (comparatively) young and youthful. Ganyu feels her lineage and nature as an adeptus makes it hard for her to connect with people; Yanfei doesn't see being the child of an adeptus as a big deal, especially in comparison to her legal expertise, and happily socializes with others. Ganyu does what she does out of duty; Yanfei is unbound by duty and does what she does because she genuinely enjoys it, something one wouldn't typically expect of someone in a legal profession. She's also a foil when it comes to her bloodline: Yanfei is half-adeptus by way of her father, Ganyu by way of her mother.
Friendly Rival: Ningguang views her as this and a Worthy Opponent, noting that she could never get through as much paperwork and bureaucracy as quickly and efficiently as Yanfei does.
Gathering Steam: Yanfei's entire skillset revolves around obtaining Scarlet Seals, of which she can normally hold up to three at a time, to empower her charged attacks as well as reduce their stamina cost; her normal attacks generate a Seal on hit, her respective Elemental Skill and Burst, Signed Edict and Done Deal, grant the maximum amount of Seals should they connect, and the latter in particular also puts her in the Brilliance state for fifteen seconds, which replenishes one Seal per second and strengthens her charged attacks. Her sixth Constellation upgrade, Extra Clause, allows her to stock up on a fourth Seal.
Glass Cannon: She is easily one of the hardest-hitting 4★ characters, who, with a full Constellation, can launch charged attacks that can match, or even exceed, Klee's. Were it not for her lower Max HP and Defense, she could deal with many hordes of enemies alone.
Half-Human Hybrid: Like Ganyu, she is half-Illuminated Beast, half-human. The former side is a xiezhi, an ox/goat-like creature with a single horn representing law and justice in Chinese Mythology, hence the name (as well as appearance) of her Constellation.
Have We Met?: In her voice lines, she says Zhongli feels familiar to her somehow, but can't place how. Her adeptus father denies feeling the same, though Yanfei notes that his response was dodgy and she suspects that they're both hiding something.
Horned Humanoid: Has two white antlers that point downwards from the sides of her head, as befitting her half-Xiezhi lineage.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: Despite wearing one the most revealing outfits among the entire playable cast, Yanfei does nothing more to intentionally show off her good looks in contrast to, say, Lisa's constant flirting or Eula's graceful dancing. Yanfei just doesn't seem to register how her choice of wardrobe is hardly fitting for her job despite the professionalism it demands.
Insistent Terminology: Yanfei always goes by the title of legal advisor, not lawyer. What that means in practice is that she does everything a lawyer would short of representing a client in court, even though it's implied that she's perfectly able to do so but doesn't for some reason.
Leg Focus: Her Character Demo opens with multiple shots focused solely on her legs.
Little Bit Beastly: She possesses Xiezhi antlers which she partially hides with her hair, and some white markings similiar to scales on the back of her hands and her sides.
Long-Range Fighter: Yanfey can attack enemies from a distance, which is useful for utilizing Overload reactions without knocking herself back.
Magic Staff: Her scale effectively acts like this, and she's able to utilize it as such during her Elemental Burst.
Male Gaze: In cutscenes the camera tends to focus on her rear and legs.
Meaningful Name: Yanfei's name means "scarlet smoke," which reflects both her Pyro Vision and her clothing's visual design resembling red clouds.
Motor Mouth: She's something of a fast talker and has noticeably wordier voice lines compared to other characters. She's aware of it and in one of her stories acknowledges that, after she brings peace to the world through law, those skills would make her a good rapper.
Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed, though despite her lack of fanservice in the story proper, Yanfei's outfit means she still qualifies. She wears a dress small enough to expose her cleavage and midriff, detached sleeves, and shorts that expose her legs and, from certain angles, could be easily mistaken for a miniskirt.
Mundane Made Awesome: Yanfei knows how boring legal documents could be to people, so what does she use them for when not being a legal advisor? As a surefire way to lull people into sleep!
(Good Night voice-over) "Need a cure for insomnia? Let me read you the history of the development of Liyue's legal system! None of my friends have ever lasted longer than 20 minutes... Oh, you want something more fast-acting? Then I'll recite from the legal codices! Let me know in the morning which section I got to before you fell asleep! Okay, here I go..."
Nice Girl: Yanfei is kind, friendly, personable, helpful, and generally relaxed towards the common folk, and also longs for a time where people can live honestly and peacefully, even if it meant she would have to switch careers from being a lawyer.
Not So Above It All: She is an accomplished legal advisor and normally acts the part, but when Madame Ping teases her about cleaning her teapot if she sticks around she makes a hasty exit.
Odd Friendship: In her voice lines, she has one with Eula, who saved her life once. Yanfei likes her since they're both knowledgeable about their nations' legal systems, though she does note that Eula is more lax about it while she herself is a stickler for the rules. Additionally, Eula is the only Mondstadtian character Yanfei has lines for.
Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Per her trailer, she claims she's well versed in every aspect of Liyue's laws. She also mentions in the 'A Teapot To Call Home' quest that she's been branching out into other countries' laws.
Parental Abandonment: Both her parents left for an adventure after she reached adulthood. Despite being gone for a long time and their fate unknown, Yanfei doesn't hold that against them and she still loves them.
Raised by Grandparents: Shortly after Yanfei reached adulthood, her parents left for an adventure, leaving her in the care of Madame Ping (of whom she refers to as "Granny") for the majority of her life.
Reduced Mana Cost: Played with. Each Scarlet Seal consumed for charged attacks reduces its stamina consumption by 15% apiece (for an initial maximum of 45%), apart from its damage boost. Her first Constellation upgrade, The Law Knows No Kindness, shaves off another 10%, while her sixth, Extra Clause, adds a fourth Seal, meaning that with a full Constellation, Yanfei spends no stamina for charged attacks with four Seals on hand.
Situational Damage Attack: Yanfei's fourth-ascension passive, Blazing Eye, increases the damage of her charged attacks whenever they score critical hits by 80% of her Attack Stat, while her second Constellation upgrade, Right of Final Interpretation, boosts her Critical rate by 20% against enemies with less than half their HP.
Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: Yanfei's stated profession as a lawyer is reflected in her charged attack resembling a stamp, like the ones she uses on legal documents.
Status Buff: Her first-ascension passive, Proviso, increases Yanfei's Pyro Damage Bonus by 5% per Scarlet Seal consumed on her charged attacks for six seconds (to a maximum of 15%, or 20% with a fully-upgraded Constellation).
Stripperiffic: Her outfit exposes more of her body than it actually covers—part of her cleavage, shoulders, upper back, midriff, thighs, and most of her calves are bare, so this makes her one of the very few female characters in the game showing the most skin, and isn't remotely how a legal advisor would present themselves on the job. Of the rest of the cast, only Dehya and Candace rival her in terms of how revealing their wardrobes are, and it's justified in their case due to being desert dwellers.
Upgrade Artifact: A variant—her third and fifth Constellation upgrades, Samadhi Fire-Forged and Abiding Affidavit, add three levels to, respectively, her Skill and Burst.
Tareme Eyes: She sports gentle-looking eyes which complement her warm, friendly personality.
Vague Age: Having been born after the Archon Wars rather than having fought in them, she's definitely younger than anyone of Illuminated Beast descent previously introduced, but by how much is uncertain given that even Ganyu, herself a half-human adeptus, is over three millennia old. She mentions her parents as having gone on a long trip when she was young but does not specify the timeframe, with only Morax stating that they haven't yet returned. Given that her human mother is still alive, and she occasionally works as a teacher, she is likely somewhere in her mid-to-late twenties.

Yaoyao

Yaoyao

Madame Ping's youngest Disciple alongside Xiangling and Ganyu's personal assistant.

See her entry here.

Others

Qiqi

Qiqi

A little girl who died in an accident but was subsequently revived by the adepti with an immortal body and given the sacred name of "Fortune Preserver". She now works at Bubu Pharmacy as an apprentice and herb gatherer.

See her entry here.

Guhua

An Adeptus who was ascended into the star at Huanguang Stone Forest. While long gone by now, his claymore, Rainslasher, can be obtained through wishing.

Ironic Name: The Guhua clan named in his honour trains with polearms and swords while Guhua himself primarily used a Claymore.
Stellification: He turned into a star at Huanguang Stone Forest.

Tea Spirits

Tubby, the Tea Spirit / Rain Calmer

Voiced by: Debi Derryberry (English)

A spirit who manages the Traveler's Serenitea Teapot.

Creating Life: Tubby mentions that Tea Spirits like her are artificial lifeforms created by the adepti to maintain their teapot realms.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: An utterly adorable, round, and tubby bird spirit.
Older Than They Look: She in fact has been around for centuries, since Liyue's chaotic period after the Archon Wars, and will tell you about how she had the adeptus name "Rain Calmer" back in those days.

Chubby, the Teapot Traveling Salesman / Jade Seeker

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chubby_8.png

Jade Seeker

Voiced by: Clifford Chapin (English)

A spirit who visits the Traveler's Serenitea Teapot on weekends to sell wares.

Characters / Genshin Impact: Adepti

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Adepti

The Zhenjun / Jueyun adepti

Xianyun / Cloud Retainer, The Perfected Lord Who Retains the Clouds by Borrowing the Wind

Introduced: January 31, 2024 (v.4.4 "Vibrant Harriers Aloft in Spring Breeze" [first half])Voiced by: Qin Ziyi (Chinese), Mana Nakatomi (Japanese), Kang Si-hyeon (Korean), Stephanie Panisello (English)

Moon Carver

Voiced by: Yu Xiaoxu (Chinese), Ryosuke Horiguchi (Japanese), Zach Aguilar (English)

Mountain Shaper

Voiced by: Gan Ziqi (Chinese), Tetsuya Taishiro (Japanese)

Madame Ping / Streetward Rambler

Sea Gazer

Skybracer

Yanfei's Father

Yakshas

Xiao, né Alatus

Introduced: February 3, 2021 (v1.3 "All That Glitters" [first half])Voiced by: kinsen (Chinese), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Jeong Yoo-mi (Korean, pre-update), Shim Gyu-hyuk (Korean, current), Laila Berzins (English)

Bosacius

Indarias

Menogias

Bonanus

Pervases

Chenyu Vale adepti

Fujin

Lingyuan / "Bluey"

Herblord

Disciples

Disciples of Xianyun/Cloud Retainer

Ganyu

Shenhe

Disciples of Madame Ping/Streetward Rambler

Xiangling

Yanfei

Introduced: April 28, 2021 (v1.5 "Beneath the Light of Jadeite" [first half])Voiced by: Su Ziwu (Chinese), Yumiri Hanamori (Japanese), Jo Kyung-yi (Korean), Lizzie Freeman (English)

Yaoyao

Others

Qiqi

Guhua

Tubby, the Tea Spirit / Rain Calmer

Chubby, the Teapot Traveling Salesman / Jade Seeker

Alternative Title(s): Genshin Impact Xiao

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Introduced: January 31, 2024 (v.4.4 "Vibrant Harriers Aloft in Spring Breeze" [first half])
Voiced by: Qin Ziyi (Chinese), Mana Nakatomi (Japanese), Kang Si-hyeon (Korean), Stephanie Panisello (English)

Introduced: February 3, 2021 (v1.3 "All That Glitters" [first half])
Voiced by: kinsen (Chinese), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Jeong Yoo-mi (Korean, pre-update), Shim Gyu-hyuk (Korean, current), Laila Berzins (English)

Introduced: April 28, 2021 (v1.5 "Beneath the Light of Jadeite" [first half])
Voiced by: Su Ziwu (Chinese), Yumiri Hanamori (Japanese), Jo Kyung-yi (Korean), Lizzie Freeman (English)