The Formation of the Twelve Heavenly Generals!
Early the next morning
Childish shouts echoed from behind the Grand Narukami Shrine.
The twang of bowstrings followed, crisp and rhythmic.
Lounging casually against a tree trunk, Luo Li instructed in an unhurried voice:
"Raise your arm a little.
Don't let your gaze wander—good, release.
Feet farther apart. Keep your stance steady."
…
Thus passed Hibiki's entire morning—
under strict supervision, drenched in sweat, her little head spinning.
Only after picking up the bow did she truly understand just how difficult archery was.
She wanted to give up more than once, but under Luo Li's sharp eyes, she didn't dare.
Many shrine maidens passed by, noticing the lesson, yet none interrupted.
Everyone recognized the scene and stayed respectfully out of the way.
At last, when her trembling arms could no longer draw the bowstring, Luo Li declared:
"That's enough for today. Return this afternoon for spell training."
His tone was flat, detached.
Whenever he was in teaching mode, he discarded gentleness entirely—
a strict instructor through and through.
Hibiki lowered her head, feeling wronged.
Yesterday she had been bursting with joy… If she'd known it would be this exhausting, she would've thought twice before agreeing.
As she collected the scattered arrows, Luo Li watched from the branches of the cherry tree, amused. His tone softened slightly.
"Rest for now. I'll come find you after midday."
"O-okay…"
Once his voice faded and his silhouette vanished from the tree, Hibiki waited a few moments. Only when she was sure he had truly left did she hurry back to quietly reposition the training arrows where they belonged.
She remembered Kouyoi saying she had hit the target perfectly on her very first day of training. Hibiki didn't have that talent—but diligence could compensate.
"If I don't dare refuse Lord Luo Li… then I just have to do my best!"
The little shrine maiden clenched her tiny fists, cheering herself on.
Meanwhile—
Having left Hibiki, Luo Li descended alone to the base of Mt. Yougou.
With Saiguu away, this was the perfect time to set up a little "insurance."
Since Raiden Makoto was still alive, there was no Sacred Sakura yet—no giant divine tree to purify the land or defend Inazuma from calamity. Without Makoto's death, Ei would never plant the seed.
History itself would change.
But without the Sacred Sakura, Inazuma would be defenseless during the coming Abyssal disaster. Countless lives would be lost.
Which was why Luo Li intended to weave a massive barrier in its place—
a temporary replacement for the divine tree's protection.
"Troublesome, but I know more than enough formations to manage."
He gazed up the fog-shrouded mountain, then slipped with ease into the untouched depths below.
He remembered—
In the future, the faux-Saiguu entity "Hanasari" would guide the Traveler into these caverns to purify the roots of the corrupted Sacred Sakura.
Now, in that same subterranean chamber, Luo Li stepped onto the space where the Sacred Sakura's roots should have been.
In his hand materialized an ancient, intricate 式盘 — a divination disk.
The base was a square plate; the top, a rotating celestial wheel.
A Polaris sigil lay at its center; around it, the Twelve Month Deities.
The square plate below represented the earth, etched with the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions.
"With astrology and onmyō arts as the foundation—
let the Twelve Heavenly Generals take their positions."
Luo Li's onmyō arts were not the modern sort known in the Eleven Islands of his past life.
His craft derived from the ancient onmyō tradition—
a discipline of astronomy, calendars, water clocks, and rituals of divination and exorcism.
He chose this spot because the cavern beneath Mt. Yougou lay closest to the ley lines—
the strongest nexus on Narukami Island.
A formation relying only on his personal power wouldn't last centuries.
But one anchored into the ley lines…
would endure for a thousand years.
Closing his eyes, he sensed the flow beneath him.
Then he flicked the divination disk into the air and fixed it in place with a tap.
The式盘 burst into six colors—gold, violet, red, azure, viridian, ochre—
illuminating every corner of the cavern.
The ley lines stirred.
Normally, such a formation required aligning with starlight and the Twenty-Eight Mansions.
But the sky above Teyvat was false—an artificial dome.
Trying to divine real star positions would be pointless.
Instead, Luo Li used Teyvat's own ley lines as the anchor.
With the power of the Twelve Herrscher Authorities—
and the Ninth Authority, the Herrscher of Geo—
he easily located the ley line's thinnest point.
But drawing it forth required something more.
After half an hour of chanting, swirling strokes of golden script filled the cavern—hundreds of shimmering onmyō characters floating in the air.
The ground trembled.
The ley lines surged restlessly.
Before the vibrations grew dangerous, Luo Li flicked several mountain-binding talismans against the stone walls.
Then he reached into empty air—
and pulled out a massive, crystalline chunk of pure jade essence the size of a small hill.
He didn't bother with tools.
A single motion of his hand split the jade into exactly twelve equal blocks.
"Twelve generals, twelve vessels."
Though Yougou's jade essence was not a sacred treasure, it was pure enough for a formation base.
He lifted the first block.
With his palm as a blade, he began to carve.
Shards of jade showered down.
Within moments, a magnificent jade dragon hovered before him—every scale shimmering, mist swirling within its translucent body as though it were alive.
Without emotion, Luo Li pressed his fingertip to the dragon's eyes.
A deep, resonant dragon's cry reverberated through the cavern.
The air turned frigid, and the nearby Naku Weed grew a thin lace of frost.
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