Soon, countless Genshin Impact meme edits and fan creations began flooding the internet.
Titles like:
"Qiu Nian to Childe: 'I'm no longer your opponent.'"
"You'll understand when you reach my age."
"The Traveler Is Already a Demon God."
Videos with titles like these were everywhere.
There were also countless videos praising the sheer quality of the battle scene.
And, of course, an endless stream of analysis videos about Qiu Nian.
One of them was titled:
"Qiu Nian / Gui Xu Character Analysis — Part 3."
The uploader's name was Mahāyāna Lore Scholar.
After clicking the video, the voice of a young man began narrating.
"Last episode, we analyzed what exactly Qiu Nian gave to the Traveler."
"And the conclusion we reached was that it was the Divine Core of the Overlord of the Vortex."
"And now, with the new storyline, that theory has basically been confirmed."
As he spoke, the video showed the scene where the God of Obscuration looked toward the Traveler.
"A Demon God's core…"
"No wonder you could ignore my divine pressure."
The God of Obscuration stared at Lumine and spoke.
Because the in-game text about Qiu Nian was extremely limited—
and because he had not yet entered the gacha banner—
most analyses still failed to produce solid conclusions.
Mahāyāna Lore Scholar summarized his findings.
Zhanxi Sword (湛析剑)
"Zhan" implies water.
"Xi" refers to splitting wood with an axe.
Likely a weapon with future story importance.
Qiu Nian's Power and Condition
Qiu Nian himself said:
He had lost most of his power.
He was seriously injured after taking the God of Obscuration's suicide attack.
He even claimed he was no longer stronger than any of the Seven Archons.
However, the uploader expressed doubt about these statements.
"Personally, I'm skeptical."
Why did Qiu Nian give the Traveler a Demon God's core?
No textual evidence.
No conclusion possible.
Qiu Nian's identity
Still confirmed as:
An ancient god from thousands of years ago
Named Gui Xu
At least 6000+ years old
Unfortunately…
That was all.
This man was simply too mysterious.
Why did Qiu Nian kill the Emerald Forest God?
Again—
No clear answer.
But it was certain that it had something to do with "fate."
Where is the "home" mentioned by the Emerald Forest God?
Did the God of Obscuration truly return there with her?
Still no conclusion.
Mahāyāna Lore Scholar then explained the world quest title:
"The Cicada Beneath the Obscuring Leaf."
The phrase refers to a mantis hunting a cicada while hiding behind a leaf—
believing itself invisible.
The cicada cannot see the mantis.
But what excited him the most was the achievement title:
"Autumn of August."
This, he said, perfectly matched his earlier theory about the meaning of Gui Xu's name.
Because:
Autumn is associated with the Metal element.
It symbolizes killing, judgment, and harsh endings.
Which matched the event where Qiu Nian killed the Emerald Forest God.
Unfortunately—
even that still provided no concrete answers.
Mahāyāna Lore Scholar sighed.
He was simply too rigorous.
This was already the maximum conclusion he could draw from the available text.
Everything else would have to wait for future story developments.
Because right now—
there was simply too little information about Qiu Nian.
Finally, he began analyzing the six-star item description.
He first made a disclaimer:
"The following is purely my personal speculation. Consider it guesswork."
"Year of the Ark's Opening…"
He began.
"This clearly refers to a historical era."
"And during that era, certain beings established a sacred plan."
Combined with the text mentioning fate, he theorized:
"This plan may be some kind of fate system."
The text said:
Regardless of environment, all things will ultimately walk the same road.
Gods and humans alike.
Birth leads to destruction.
Destruction leads to birth.
This cycle continues.
Mahāyāna Lore Scholar interpreted it like this:
After the Ark's Opening, the entire world of Teyvat entered a cycle:
Birth → Destruction → Rebirth
However, this did not mean the world itself was destroyed and reborn.
Instead—
from a macro perspective, every civilization on the continent followed the same fate.
Civilizations would arise.
Then they would collapse.
Then new civilizations would emerge.
But now—
the civilization ruled by the Seven Archons might be the final one.
When this civilization ends—
no new civilization will rise.
That is the fate of Teyvat.
He continued:
"Perhaps the Archon civilization is the last."
"And whether it continues or collapses…"
"The world itself may be heading toward destruction."
Fate, after all, cannot be changed.
But the Traveler is different.
They came from outside the world.
Meaning—
they are not bound by Teyvat's fate system.
Perhaps the Traveler is the variable.
The one who might save the world.
But the text also said:
"Beyond the world, there exists an ultimate fate."
Which suggested something even larger.
A destiny that extended beyond Teyvat itself.
A fate capable of destroying multiple worlds.
Meaning—
even someone from outside the world might not be able to stop it.
Finally, he returned to the crystal item itself.
The item was formed from:
Gui Xu's blood
The clash of divine power
The God of Obscuration's power
If gods and humans were both trapped inside this fate system—
then the God of Obscuration likely was too.
Yet when he died, he seemed to become liberated.
He found peace.
He let go.
Perhaps—
Qiu Nian, like the Traveler, existed outside the fate system.
Or perhaps he possessed the ability to free others from it.
Just like the scene where the Emerald Forest God and the God of Obscuration ran together through the forest.
After stacking disclaimer upon disclaimer,
Mahāyāna Lore Scholar finally ended the video.
The top comment below the video read:
"Civilizations being born and destroyed over and over…
Sounds familiar. Honkai Impact 3?"
Someone immediately replied:
"Did you forget what the devs said before launch?
Genshin is a separate universe."
In this parallel world,
the developers had explicitly stated before release that Genshin Impact's lore was independent from Honkai Impact.
Any Honkai references were merely easter eggs.
Trying to analyze Genshin's lore through Honkai's cosmology was considered misguided.
In fact—
content creators who forced Honkai theories into Genshin often got labeled as clueless.
Another player commented:
"Genshin doesn't even have Herrschers."
"Plus the video mentioned that certain beings designed the fate system in the Ark era. That doesn't really match Honkai either."
Another replied:
"True. And the Traveler isn't part of Teyvat's fate system."
"Still, it's just speculation."
"We don't even know if the text really means that."
Someone else wrote:
"Yeah, it's just the uploader's guess."
"But honestly… it feels pretty convincing."
"I'm bookmarking this. If he turns out to be right, I'm coming back to praise him."
Another asked:
"Wait… what does 'macro perspective' mean?"
Someone replied bluntly:
"Read more books."
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