"A perch? I think I've heard them talk about it." Balladeer looked at the man and woman still conversing not far away.
"That's Sister Muli and Brother Yibu. They are responsible for observing the perches. There are many perches on the island, and they are very busy!" Ruu enthusiastically explained to everyone.
"Ah? There's more than one perch?" Childe was startled by the news.
He had just taken a look, and the perch in question was located within the range of the previous dense fog.
Although the fog had dissipated a lot now, Childe still didn't want to go there if it wasn't necessary.
"Of course, and those who worship the perches need to be sensitive enough to elemental power. There are too few such people on Tsurumi Island, which is why we need to trouble all of you."
"Having said so much, let me take you to see the perch!" Ruu said, and was about to head in the direction of the distant perch.
"This fog..."
"This fog has already dispersed a lot; you won't get lost walking in it now."
Ruu's words immediately dispelled everyone's doubts. Seeing this, they followed him towards the perch.
Leaving the main road again, everyone couldn't help but shiver. The experience of getting lost in the dense fog before was too memorable, making them fearful.
However, it was a good thing that the fog had indeed dissipated a lot, just as Ruu had said, and it no longer hindered their progress.
Arriving in front of a low cliff, a thick, gnarled tree, as if dead, appeared before everyone.
"This is the perch where Thunderbird once landed!" Ruu's excited expression immediately subsided a lot when he saw the twisted perch. Not only that, but his voice also lowered.
"worship, where are the offerings?" Ember looked around and found that Ruu didn't seem to have brought any offerings.
So he took out a few fruits from a Fatui's backpack behind him and arranged them in a 'pin' character (Product) in front of the perch.
"We have the offerings. What next?"
"..."
Ember clapped his hands and asked Ruu, who had fallen silent.
"This... this, the worship of the perch isn't done like this." Ruu struggled for a long time before managing to blurt out this sentence.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Ember picked up the fruits from the ground and stuffed them back into Ruu's arms.
"These are from outside; they certainly don't have them here."
Ember's words made Ruu, who was about to throw away the fruits, stop. He looked down at the fruits in his hands; they were unlike anything he had ever seen.
Thinking that he hadn't tasted anything in thousands of years, Ruu silently accepted the fruits in his arms.
"The offering for the perch is the power of Thunderbird that remains within the perch." Ruu held the fruits in one hand and placed the other on the perch.
"There is a lot of defilement here on Tsurumi Island, which will pollute Thunderbird's power. So, to purify it, we need to activate it."
"The fog permeating Tsurumi Island will purify the defilement in the power. At that time, we will retrieve it and offer it to the perch."
As he spoke, the perch began to change.
"Sizzle!"
Purple lightning bloomed from the seemingly dead perch, almost making Ember lose control.
"Hey! My temper is flaring up. Watch me uproot this rotten tree."
After many days, Ember saw purple again in Inazuma, a color he hadn't seen in a long time. And this time, it predictably represented trouble.
"Calm down! Calm down! There are children present; mind your image!" Childe hugged Ember. He was truly afraid that Ember would follow through on his words.
This hard-won clue couldn't be wasted like this.
"What's wrong with Ember?" Ruu, seeing Ember's outburst, shrank his head back in fear.
When they were chatting on the way, he thought Ember was the easiest to talk to among the group, but he unexpectedly became like this for no reason.
The people who came to Tsurumi Island this time seem to be a bit different from before.
"I'm allergic to purple. You guys hurry up." Ember turned his back, no longer looking at the purple on the perch.
"No problem!" Childe immediately nodded, then asked Ruu, "After activating it with elemental power, what then?"
"After that is the most troublesome part. The activated power will scatter everywhere. Once purified, they will turn into... purple feathers."
Ruu secretly glanced at Ember, and seeing no reaction from him, he breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "The trouble is that the landing spots of the feathers are not fixed; this can only be searched for manually. Generally, the power of one perch will transform into at most three feathers. Find all of them and offer them, and one perch is dealt with!"
"One? Let me ask, how many places do you actually need to worship?" Balladeer suddenly had a bad premonition upon hearing this.
Ruu extended his palm, making a 'three' gesture. He secretly glanced at the crowd around him and said softly, a little embarrassed, "There are three more."
"Three?" Balladeer raised an eyebrow. "Alright, only three; not as many as I expected."
"Why is it 'three' again?" Childe muttered to himself when he saw Ruu's gesture.
There are three feathers, and three perches. 'Three' seems a bit too much, doesn't it?
"After all, everything comes in threes!" Ruu scratched the back of his head and chuckled.
Then, as if sensing something, he reined in his smile and turned to face the perch.
"Everyone, pay attention! The feathers are about to fly out!"
No sooner had Ruu finished speaking than the purple on the perch suddenly intensified. In the somewhat blinding purple light, three feathers shot out and flew into the hazy fog.
And after the light flew out, the perch completely dimmed, just like a truly dead tree.
Childe's gaze had been fixed on the feathers ever since they flew out. As soon as the feathers flew into the mist, he quickly pointed in three directions.
"Here! Here! And here!"
"If you go look, search in the vicinity of these three directions; it shouldn't be too far off."
After Childe gave a few simple instructions, some of the Fatui behind him ran into the mist.
"Multitasking? Pretty impressive!" Ember patted Childe's shoulder. Childe had just fully demonstrated what it means to multitask.
With two eyeballs, he was actually able to keep a close track of three feathers. It truly was quite impressive.
"What's this? I can see all the trajectories in a hail of bullets, let alone just three feathers." Childe crossed his arms, almost turning up his nose to the sky.
"Since you're so capable, then do more. Ruu, tell us the locations of the other perches."
Seeing Childe's smug look, Ember changed the subject and asked Ruu where the other perches were.
"Oh, no, my eyes are actually killing me right now! Look, they're all red." Childe pulled down his eyelid, and his big face immediately leaned over.
"Stay away. If you don't want to do it, just have your subordinates do it, right?" Ember pushed Childe far away with a shove of his palm.
He was just joking; someone of Childe's combat power should, of course, be doing other, more important work.
Like taking a tour of Tsurumi Island while the fog gradually dissipates.
"The perches are easy to find. If you see a place with such dense fog, it's 100% where a perch is located!" Ruu raised his arm, looked around, and said to everyone.
"Dense? This is already much better than before." Childe also observed the nearby fog. Although it was thick, it was much better than when they first landed on the island.
"You definitely didn't land on Tsurumi Island via the main road before."
"But it's fine now; you've already landed, and this fog won't trouble you anymore." Ruu immediately knew that everyone had snuck onto Tsurumi Island from some unknown nook or cranny.
There used to be people like that, but they all got lost in the dense fog later.
Only by reaching the main road in the center of Tsurumi Island was it considered an official landing, and the dense fog on the island wouldn't be so thick then.
"You have such customs here?"
"Yes, but unfortunately, only we locals know about it." Ruu nodded regretfully.
If more people knew about this, surely more people would come to Tsurumi Island!
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