The city's residents were many, and their faces were filled with quiet happiness.
Street vendors called out without pause, their cries weaving into a lively backdrop.
Ayaka glanced over the stalls.
The prices were surprisingly low—about one-third of those in Inazuma.
"At such cheap prices, are they really not losing money?" she asked, looking at the goods on display.
It was true that Inazuma's prices had risen under the Sakoku Decree, but even so, things here felt far too affordable.
Ganyu walked over with a smile. "Of course they're not. This place is mainly for retail, a sort of transit hub. Even if their prices seem low, they've cut out a lot of transport costs."
"I see…" Ayaka nodded, understanding.
After wandering around Falcon City for a while, everyone boarded the train and headed toward Mondstadt.
When they passed by Windrise, Ayaka stared in surprise at the massive tree trunk. "Is this the legendary tree planted by the Falcon of the West Wind, Vanessa? I didn't expect it to be so huge."
"Yes," Lisa replied, smiling. "There's also a statue of the Anemo Archon and a shrine to him here. It's also the place couples in Mondstadt visit the most. They say confessing here will earn Lord Barbatos's blessing."
After the rail and canal had opened, Windrise had quickly become a famous lovers' spot.
The reason was simple: Su Han had grown annoyed at a certain someone constantly drinking and neglecting business, and had all the wine at Windrise dug up. Feeling a bit guilty afterward, he organized workers to set up a scenic "check‑in" point.
Unexpectedly, it had become wildly popular overnight.
"So that's how it is…" Ayaka murmured. "Won't the Anemo Archon be angry? With so many people disturbing him every day…"
"Him? He's probably mixed into the crowd somewhere, playing little tunes for those couples," Su Han couldn't help muttering.
They had just passed by, and he'd clearly glimpsed a certain bard, lyre in hand, enjoying himself very much.
The train soon arrived at Mondstadt's station.
Amber was already waiting there.
"Your Holiness, honored guest from Inazuma—welcome," she said brightly. "I'm Amber, captain of the Outrider Squad. I'll be in charge of showing you around Mondstadt this time."
"I'll be in your care, Miss Amber," Ayaka replied politely.
"Hehe, no need to be so formal. Since you're a friend of His Holiness, you're a friend of Mondstadt. Come on, I'll take you to see something fun," Amber grinned, taking Ayaka by the hand.
It was Ayaka's first time in Mondstadt.
Swept up by Amber's enthusiasm, the reserved Shirasagi Himegimi slowly began to relax as well.
Su Han, meanwhile, headed toward the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
Jean lit up the moment she saw him, greeting him with a fierce kiss.
"I thought you weren't coming today. It's already afternoon…" she said, slightly breathless.
"A promise is a promise. How could I forget? Right… where's Tenseiga? Let me have a look," Su Han said.
He was very eager to see what remained of that life‑restoring weapon's power now that it had come to Teyvat.
"It's here. I was worried about accidents, so after I got it yesterday, I sealed it in a box," Jean replied.
She took out Tenseiga and laid it before him.
He drew the blade from its sheath.
Tenseiga appeared before the three of them.
Lisa extended her senses, then frowned. "There's no aura at all… Is this really a sword that can save people?"
To her, it felt no different from an ordinary katana.
Su Han smiled. "In Inuyasha's world, this sword can indeed easily save dead humans—but only in the hands of someone with compassion.
"However, Teyvat has no shinigami. Naturally, it can't work in exactly the same way. But… this blade should still have other powers. Let me feel it more carefully."
In truth, both Tenseiga and Tessusaiga had sword spirits.
Otherwise, why would Tenseiga have protected Sesshomaru back then?
The most direct way to understand a weapon's power was to communicate with its spirit.
Su Han activated his sword‑forging art and began tempering Tenseiga.
Pure solar flame condensed into a great hammer and crashed down on the blade.
Thud.
With the very first strike, countless tiny flecks of ash shook loose and fell away.
Tenseiga itself remained completely intact.
Relieved, Su Han continued hammering in earnest.
Once, then again, then again.
After nine hammerings, his consciousness finally brushed against Tenseiga's.
And at that moment, a change occurred.
More and more ashen fragments flaked off the blade.
The originally white sword turned as black as the night sky—deep, quiet, and mysterious—its surface faintly rippling with spatial distortions.
Lisa drew in a sharp breath. "What… is this? So the sword was sealed all along?"
A weapon imbued with spatial power was exceedingly rare.
That class was properly called a divine armament.
Su Han wrapped his fingers around the Tenseiga now floating in midair and smiled. "Just as I thought. It hadn't lost nearly as much as it looked."
Tenseiga was a blade that sat in judgment over death.
To the living, it did almost no harm. Even to youkai, it could not truly kill.
It was, on the surface, a sword that could not take life.
But to dead beings, it was lethally dangerous.
With a single swing, it could obliterate countless spirits. Its mere presence could make a myriad ghosts bow their heads.
Later, because of the Great Dog Demon's schemes, Tenseiga had devoured the power of the Netherworld, gaining the ability to tear open space.
That technique was called Meidou Zangetsuha—the Netherworld Crescent Wave.
In the original story, it had awakened in response to Mouryomaru's taunts. Now, under the tempering of Su Han's sword‑forging art, it broke through Totosai's seal ahead of time.
The Netherworld power within Tenseiga had finally been released.
At that moment, a faint will stirred within the blade.
"M‑master… I still have… one more… power…" a weak voice murmured.
"Oh? What kind of power?" Su Han asked, surprised.
He hadn't expected the sword spirit, upon awakening, to immediately tell him there was still another ability.
But having just regained its awareness, the spirit's voice came in halting fragments.
"E‑equivalent exchange… that is my power…"
Under Tenseiga's explanation, Su Han's eyes widened.
So this was how its resurrection worked?
The so‑called "cutting down the shinigami to resurrect the dead" was, in truth, a matter of equivalent exchange.
Besides being able to reap souls with ease, Tenseiga could also absorb their strength.
If Tessusaiga drew power from flesh and blood, then Tenseiga fed on souls.
Equivalent exchange was its most unique power.
Cutting down the shinigami only worked because it absorbed the special energy of their souls—energy that could then be used to bring the dead back.
That was the exchange.
But the stronger the person being revived, the greater the price required.
Moreover, Tenseiga told Su Han one more thing: the more souls it devoured, the stronger it became, and the higher the level of equivalent exchange it could perform.
Even so, the exchange had hard limits.
Each soul could only be traded once.
And only people who had just died could be brought back this way.
That condition was harsh.
Su Han let out a low sigh. "So I still can't bring back the Water and Fire Yaksha… or the former Raiden Shogun. I was thinking too much."
In fact, the same constraints had existed in Inuyasha's world.
It was only natural that Tenseiga had kept them here.
Later, Su Han went out into the wilds to test Meidou Zangetsuha's power.
He gave the blade a light swing.
A dark, not‑yet‑perfect orb shot forth.
Within it, there seemed to be a small pocket of stars—beautiful and mysterious.
And the more beautiful something was, the more dangerous it tended to be.
Whoosh.
When the Netherworld sphere struck a boulder, the rock didn't crack.
It simply vanished, swallowed cleanly by spatial force, leaving not the slightest trace behind.
Lisa stared at the Meidou and couldn't help drawing in a breath. "This kind of power… it's too terrifying. Elemental energy can't resist that devouring space at all…"
Ignoring defenses. Ignoring elements. Pure erasure.
It was an utterly dominant force.
After a moment, Jean spoke up from the side. "It feels like the orb isn't perfectly round yet. If it became a true sphere, the power would probably grow even more."
"You guessed right," Su Han said. "Tenseiga still needs to be tempered, and it needs time to be nurtured by me. Give it a while."
With the Netherworld power of Tenseiga in hand, Su Han felt he had one more edge in challenging the Raiden Shogun.
She could seal elemental energy.
But now he possessed several forces outside the elemental system.
When the time came, Ei would definitely be stunned.
An hour later, Meidou Zangetsuha's power had increased steadily, and the spheres it produced were ten times larger than before.
That, however, was its current limit.
Su Han decisively stopped practicing and returned to Mondstadt.
On the way back, Lisa said, "About Dainsleif… do you want to see him? He's connected to the Abyss. Maybe he can be subdued, or at least used."
"Mm. After two days locked up, he should be much more honest. Let's go take a look," Su Han agreed.
They descended into Mondstadt's dungeons.
When Su Han found him, Dainsleif was sitting on a bed of straw, meditating.
At the sound of footsteps, he opened his eyes.
His blue irises glowed faintly in the darkness.
Seeing Su Han, his gaze brightened for a moment.
"Come out. Let's talk," Su Han said.
"Yes, Your Holiness," Dainsleif replied.
After several days of confinement and rough treatment, he had become much more subdued. At the very least, his voice no longer carried the same arrogance.
Right now, he was just a prisoner.
He had no right to be proud.
He also knew that the corrupted North Wind Wolf had been completely defeated—and that the man in front of him had been the one to do it.
The West Wind Pope: Su Han.
"Now, I'll give you two choices," Su Han said calmly. "First: follow me. Second: die here and now. Which do you choose?"