On stage at Wangshu Inn, Li Mo began telling the story of the fifteenth life in his characteristic storyteller's tone.
"In the fourteenth life, Kapatcir the Thunderbird, who was shot down by Raiden Ei, did not enter the underworld after death. Instead, she entered the cycle of reincarnation once more."
"In the fifteenth life, he was reincarnated again in Inazuma, as an oni."
When Li Mo spoke of the fifteenth reincarnation, all the listeners in the inn were startled.
An oni?
In the audience's memory, there were no oni in Liyue.
There were none in Mondstadt either.
Only in Inazuma, across the sea, were there sightings of oni.
For example, the street thug who had just come from Inazuma was one of them.
At that moment, in one corner of the inn, Ei sat steadily in her chair. When she heard that the reincarnation was an oni of Inazuma, her heart jolted.
An oni of Inazuma?
Could it be Chiyo?
One of Ei's former closest companions?
The oni who had gone mad and betrayed Ei, and had been struck down by Ei, losing an arm and a horn?
Thinking of this, Ei's expression immediately turned very grim.
She glared at the storyteller on stage with fierce eyes.
Was this despicable storyteller deliberately targeting her?
Meanwhile, in another corner of the inn, when Hu Tao, Keqing, Xiangling, Lumine, and Paimon heard that the reincarnation was an oni of Inazuma, they were also very surprised.
They all turned their gaze to Arataki Itto.
Hu Tao grinned. "Arataki Itto, the storyteller, said the reincarnation is an oni. Could this story be related to you?"
Paimon: "Ah, so it really is an oni! I hope it doesn't turn out to be an oni like this Cow Herder, who's completely useless!"
Itto, however, didn't care at all.
He laughed loudly. "Hahahaha! Finally, a story about us oni! In ancient times, our oni were a powerful tribe just like the humans!"
"Storyteller, tell us the great history of the oni!"
"Let the Small Lavender Melon see just how powerful we oni really are!"
Itto was not flustered at all.
In fact, hearing that the story was about oni made him a little excited.
This great one was about to become famous across the land!
Beside him, the others all looked at the laughing Itto with sympathetic eyes.
Because they all knew that in the storyteller's tales, there were no grand historical scenes and no great histories.
Only sorrowful stories.
If nothing unexpected happened, this oni story would surely be another sharp blade.
Little Paimon said angrily, "Cow Herder, after the storyteller finishes, you won't be laughing anymore!"
Xiangling: "That's right. Even the Raiden Shogun was moved to tears."
Hu Tao: "Hehe, I really want to see this street thug cry."
Itto said confidently, "Hahahaha! I didn't even cry when I lost a beetle fight. There's no way you can make me cry!"
Just as they were discussing among themselves, on stage, Li Mo paused for a moment before continuing.
"In the fifteenth life, he was reincarnated as an oni."
"More precisely, a blue oni."
...
"A long, long time ago, on a hill in Inazuma, there were two small wooden houses."
"The house on the east side of the hill was red, and the house on the west side was blue."
"Often, when villagers from nearby went up the mountain to chop wood or hunt, they would see these two strange houses. But when they went inside to look, they couldn't find anyone living there."
"The villagers were very puzzled."
"Who would build houses in such a remote place?"
"It couldn't be a hilichurl's home, could it?"
"It couldn't be an oni's home, could it?"
"The villagers didn't see the owners of the wooden houses, and they didn't pay much attention. After resting for a while and saying thank you, they would leave."
"Until one day, when a villager entered the red house to rest, he saw a red oni child drinking afternoon tea."
"The villager was startled."
"He shouted 'An oni!' and quickly ran away."
"After that, the people of several nearby villages all learned that on this hill, there lived a blue oni and a red oni."
"And every time they went up the mountain to chop wood or hunt and passed by the blue and red oni's home, they no longer dared to go inside to rest."
"They didn't even dare to go near it."
"Among these two oni, the blue oni was the reincarnation of the fifteenth life."
...
Li Mo began telling the story of the fifteenth life in his characteristic storyteller's tone.
As he spoke, countless bolts of Electro energy gathered above the inn, forming clear images.
In the images, there was a hill with two small wooden houses.
The red house on the east side of the hill was the red oni's home.
The blue house on the west side was the blue oni's home.
The two young oni had just settled on this hill not long ago and had to go out every day to find materials to repair their houses.
It was only in the past few days, when they had some free time, that they realized people had already "visited" their homes.
The red oni really liked humans. He liked human food and human speech and wanted to be friends with them.
When he saw humans appear in his home, he was overjoyed.
"Please—"
"Please come in and sit down. Have some afternoon tea."
But before the red oni could finish, his oni appearance had already startled the villager who had entered.
The villager shouted that he had seen an oni and fled from the red oni's home.
The little red oni saw the villager run away and didn't realize he had scared him. He thought the villager was in a hurry to get home.
So the red oni was still very happy.
He immediately ran to the other side of the hill to his friend the blue oni's home.
"Blue! Blue!"
"I saw a human!"
"A human came to visit my house! I'm going to be friends with a human!"
The red oni ran excitedly through the forest to the blue oni's home, where he saw the blue oni looking very calm.
The blue oni seemed completely uninterested in humans.
The red oni ran excitedly up to him. "Blue, I saw a human! They really don't have horns on their heads! They look different from us!"
The blue oni said calmly, "I already knew that."
Although the two young oni were both oni and close friends, they were very different in appearance and personality.
The red oni looked like an oni but was as gentle as a human.
He liked making friends with humans, liked human things, liked human tools, and was full of curiosity about humans.