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This kind of content surprised everyone in Mondstadt. It actually tells the story of the Old Mondstadt King City, a place with which everyone in the current era is intimately familiar. That ancient site is now nothing more than an abandoned ruin, though travelers and locals alike know it well. In truth, there were relatively complete ruins standing there until recently.
At the very least, there was still a skeletal structure of a majestic building that hadn't yet succumbed to the total dilapidation of time. However, a sudden and mysterious force recently blew much of it into further ruin, and no one quite knows who was responsible for the final collapse.
One can reach this location by traveling through Brightcrown Canyon. Because it serves as a very special ancient relic, it has always been popular with the more daring members of the Adventurers' Guild. Occasionally, a few hopeful souls journey there to try and discover buried treasures from a forgotten age. Even the blacksmith boss, Wagner, makes the trip every now and then to mine the precious crystal ores that grow deep within the stone.
Of course, most ordinary citizens avoid the place entirely. Most of the time, no one cares to venture that far into the wilderness. After all, so many centuries have passed that it seems impossible for any valuable antiques to have survived the elements. Furthermore, the rumors of the recently awakened Stormterror making the area its lair have ensured that, for many, entering those ruins has become a death wish.
However, seeing the original story of these ancient ruins in print gave everyone a burst of novelty. Reading the text allowed the people to understand exactly what kind of living standards and environmental pressures existed in Old Mondstadt.
Although it is technically a fictional novel, the descriptions are strikingly close to the cultural impressions everyone carries in their collective memory. It feels incredibly realistic. As the readers delved deeper into the descriptions, they were introduced to the legendary struggle between the two great demon gods of the north.
The Demon God Andrius once challenged the King of the Gale, but the power of the Tornado Demon God was simply too overwhelming. The massive wind walls and the iron tower Decarabian constructed were indestructible. Even the King of the North Wind, with all his frosty might, could not shake the foundations of that city.
At this point in the narrative, the story evolves into the era when Decarabian, the Demon God of Tornadoes, ruled over Mondstadt with an iron, breezy fist.
"So the King of the North Wind couldn't do anything to stop this tyrant? That's truly amazing," Irene said in surprise as she read the passage. "They were both demon gods, yet the gap between them was that large? It seems the Tornado Demon God was more than a little bit stronger than the North Wind."
The same realization dawned on many readers across the city. They began to understand that even among the divine beings of the ancient world, there was a significant hierarchy of power. At that time, Decarabian was a sure thing. It seemed like only a matter of time before he decided the final outcome of the war and claimed the entire region for himself. But the readers knew that was impossible.
The final victor was Lord Barbatos, the Anemo Archon they worship today. This meant the theme of the story would eventually shift toward the interaction between the Gale Demon God and the future god of wind.
Although Decarabian, the King of Gale Winds, believed that his violent storms had blocked the thousand year blizzard and freed his people from the severe cold, he failed to notice the true cost of his protection. The howling winds covered up all other sounds, including the voices of his subjects. The moment those wind walls appeared, it meant the people would never see the blue sky or a flying bird again.
The tornado only collected carols and left nothing else behind. The harsh ice and snow had been banished, but in exchange, the people were trapped in a permanent, harsh storm. The city didn't become a sanctuary; it became a prison of despair.
When the people trembled in fear of the tornado and were crushed to the ground by the sheer force of the gale, the King only interpreted their movements as signs of love and devotion. He truly believed he loved his people. In reality, he never entered their hearts, nor did he listen to a single wish or request they made. Despair continued to spread like a plague through the concentric rings of the city. Meanwhile, Decarabian remained indulged in his own perceived beauty, satisfied with his work, and continued his dream of an eternal, prosperous kingdom. He was entirely self centered, doing only what he thought was right without ever realizing that his vision was a nightmare for everyone else.
The wind protected them, but it also crushed their spirits and oppressed their very backbone. The Lonely King of the Tower had gradually, perhaps even accidentally, become the ultimate tyrant.
The people living under his rule could only endure the tyranny and the wind because their pleas fell on deaf ears. Eventually, overwhelmed by the hopelessness of their situation, some brave souls escaped the tyrant's control in pursuit of true freedom. For them, if death was the only other option, they would rather die in the frozen wastes where they could at least possess a small sense of self. Among these refugees was the Gunnhildr family, who led their tribe away from the city and out into the unknown blizzard.
In this section of the book, Ye Ruo chose not to focus on other families like the Lawrence clan or the Fahiru family. They were not the main focus of this specific narrative. The Fahiru family had fled to Dragonspine and established the ancient civilization of Sal Vindagnyr, where a silver tree once bloomed.
However, the fate of that kingdom was a tragic one, ended by a pillar from the sky. There was no need to clutter the current story with that tragedy. He wanted to focus on the lineage that still mattered to the people of Mondstadt today.
The readers smiled heartily when they saw the name of the Gunnhildr family appear. This family is Mondstadt's eternal pride. Unlike the tarnished reputation of the Lawrence clan, the Gunnhildr family had taken a sacred oath to protect the city forever and had adhered to that belief through every hardship. Even today, the family continues to produce outstanding talents for the city, including knights and high ranking members of the church. The current Acting Grand Master, Jean, is a contemporary inheritor of this noble line. However, many people were unaware that her family's origins were rooted in such a desperate, ancient struggle.
The story went on to detail the hardships and terrible dangers the Gunnhildr family faced during their exodus. Much of the middle chapters focused on portraying their daily fight for survival. After finally escaping the brutal rule of the tyrant, they found that safety was an illusion.
The ice, snow, and bone chilling cold of the exterior world hit them with full force. Because they had lived their entire lives within the sheltered storm of Old Mondstadt, they had no experience dealing with the natural elements of the permafrost. They had fled without sufficient supplies, tools, or clothing.
The conditions described in the book were so difficult they made the readers' scalps tingle. If a modern citizen were to wander into a blizzard without preparation, they would be lucky to survive an hour. Even seasoned adventurers encounter life threatening danger on the snowy peaks today. Putting those modern dangers into the context of three thousand years ago made for a terrifyingly grim picture.
The readers watched with heavy hearts as the narrative described how most of the refugees perished in the wild. The entire Gunnhildr tribe was on the verge of vanishing forever into the white void of the north. They were cold, starving, and lost, with no god to hear their prayers in the vast, frozen wilderness. This was the darkest hour for the ancestors of Mondstadt, a time when the flame of their civilization was nearly extinguished by the very frost they had tried to escape.
As the blizzard intensified, the surviving members of the tribe huddled together, their hope fading as fast as their warmth. They had traded a prison of wind for a graveyard of ice. The book painted a vivid picture of a mother trying to shield her child from the wind and elders quietly succumbing to the cold so the younger generation might have one more scrap of fur.
It was a visceral, painful look at the cost of seeking freedom when the world itself seems to want you dead. The readers in the taverns and libraries of Mondstadt were silent, moved by the plight of those who had paved the way for their own comfortable lives. They realized that their current freedom was bought with the blood and suffering of people who had nothing but a dream of a better world.
The narrative focused on the young leader of the Gunnhildr tribe, who stood in the center of the storm, his eyes fixed on the horizon even as his strength began to fail. He refused to turn back to the city of the tyrant, choosing instead to face the end with his dignity intact. It was in this moment of absolute desperation, when the tribe had reached its breaking point, that a small change began to occur in the wind. A tiny, insignificant spirit of the breeze began to flutter near the freezing refugees, drawn to their unshakable will. This was the beginning of the meeting that would change the history of Teyvat forever.
The readers leaned in, their hearts racing as the first hints of the Anemo Archon's origin were revealed. They watched as the tiny spirit, far from being a powerful demon god at the time, offered what little warmth and guidance it could to the dying tribe. It was a story of two fragile things—a dying family and a small spirit—finding strength in each other's presence. The atmosphere in Mondstadt was electric with anticipation for what would happen next, as the tragedy of the blizzard began to transform into a tale of hope and divine intervention.
The sheer grit and determination of the Gunnhildr ancestors left a lasting impression on everyone who read the book. They saw where the modern acting grand master's sense of duty and tireless work ethic came from. It was etched into her very bloodline, born from a time when stopping for even a moment meant death for everyone you loved.
The people of Mondstadt looked at their city with new eyes, realizing that every stone and every windmill was a testament to the fact that their ancestors had survived the impossible. The legend was no longer just a distant myth; it was a personal history that made them feel more connected to their home than ever before.
As the chapter drew to a close, the narrative left the Gunnhildr tribe at their lowest point, surrounded by darkness and frost, with only a small glimmer of a breeze to keep them company. The readers were left breathless, already reaching for the next volume, their minds filled with images of ancient storms and the rising hope of the wind. Ye Ruo had successfully captured the soul of the city, and the legend of the Old Mondstadt was now firmly planted in the hearts of its people. The publication had not just been a success; it had been a cultural awakening for the entire nation.