Guizhong

Guizhong is another name for Haagentus, the God of Dust. She is one of the many gods who roamed Liyue before the Archon War. She was extroverted in nature, and adored social gatherings. She is known for her superior talent in the mechanical arts and inventions alike. When the Guili Plains was a prosperous assembly, Guizhong would often invite her friends to visit her home, reserving seats around the largest stone table. She always sought to make everyone happy and was said to have quite the gift for it. She always made sure to find topics for continuing conversation, filling the table with humor and laughter. At the end of these visits,would often remain to admire the flowers with Guizhong before returning to her abode. Before Guizhong's death, the Glaze Lilies were far more abundant than they are at present day. Entire fields would be covered, creating an appearance similar to a sea of flowers.

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Guili Assembly

In the beginning, people assembled to farm the land. Guizhong descended with dominion over Dust, and her reach shrouded the skies for thousands of miles around. She laid down four commandments for the people, "Teach with wisdom, be bound by virtue, fortify the bones, and unite in ambition." Then another god descended, whose dominion was over Geo, and he brought the people of Liyue. Since there was such a gulf between them in strength, she used her technique and wisdom to make a pact with the God of Geo. She offered him a stone dumbbell to mark their pledge which also served as a challenge to him since all her wisdom was locked inside it. With his brawn and her brains, she believed their land would surely become a great one. Jointly, the God of Geo and Guizhong shepherded the people for their protection and the assembly was named Guili after the names of the two gods. The convergence of Guizhong's four commandments was known as the "Guili Assembly." The Guili assembly also had support from another God, Marchosius, the God of the Stove.

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View on Humans

During her pact with the Lord of Geo, Guizhong described humans as small and fragile as dust because they were so small, they knew not when they would lose their lives to disaster or strife, and so they were afraid. She wished to protect humans with her wisdom and believed their fear to be the motivation in their pursuit for intelligence. As Guizhong interacted more and more with humans, her opinions of them began to change. She marveled at the beautiful complexity of their spirits and the sheer splendor of all they could accomplish through their hard work and intelligence. She believed to underestimate human potential would be to make a grave mistake as just with the smallest amount of guidance, enormous power can be unleashed within humans. To Guizhong, a human who has reached their full potential could be her equal; someone who could have as much to teach an Adeptus as to learn from them.

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Mechanical Arts

Guizhong acquired several ancient and evil artifacts during her research into mechanics. With the aid of an Adepti, she built the Guizhong Ballista, a crossbow turret that would automatically fire at large monsters as a defense for Liyue. The Adepti created the Realm of Clouds to contain the artifacts she had collected, giving Guizhong the name "Ruler of the Realm of Clouds."

Guizhong and Cloud Retainer often quarreled over mechanical principles, with neither yielding even under the pretext of a social gathering. Cloud Retainer once invited Rex Lapis to judge the quality of their creations due to his impartial nature. Rex Lapis declared that Guizhong's Obscuro Vulpes Mechanism was superior, and although Cloud Retainer was too proud to acknowledge it, in her heart, she knew that Guizhong was indeed the superior talent in the mechanical arts.

Guizhong held a contrasting view on the use of mechanisms in music compared to Streetward Rambler. Guizhong believed that while mechanisms were no substitute for human composers, they were yet capable of producing simple but fine melodies. Streetward Rambler believed music to be an expression of the soul with an emotional enterprise that could never hope to be replicated by machinery. During this time Guizhong created the Cleansing Bell which is said to be one of her proudest works; having the ability to both compose and perform. The Cleansing Bell is powered by a mechanical art and has been used on numerous occasions during rites of parting. The Cleansing Bell became designated for ceremonial use by the Geo Archon due to Guizhong's and Streetward Rambler's continuous arguing over mechanisms and music.

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Archon War

Guizhong was quite the visionary but tragically passed before her time. It later came to pass that an all-consuming war erupted between the gods, whose reach none in Teyvat could escape. Soon, the Guili Plains had become engulfed in war. Thereupon the Guili Plains did the gods do battle, black dust choked the heavens and a thousand rocks splintered. Though the Adepti fought to protect the Guili Plains, they could not stop the tide of war, which ravaged the plains. Guizhong was overpowered by the enemy and fell in battle. Guizhong asked the Geo Archon to forget about the challenge she left for him in the stone dumbbell.

Before her return to the elements, the Yakshas and Adepti worked together to contain the residual energy expelled by the departed deity. The Geo Archon still made attempts to unlock the stone dumbbell but was unable to do so even after many years. It is said that her final smile was a lonely one, even as her form dissolved into the finest dust. After Guizhong's death, the Geo Archon took his people south of Mt. Tianheng. Thus the people departed from the Guili Plains for good, never to return, and it was left to become a wilderness. As for the Cleansing Bell, the Geo Archon granted it to Streetward Rambler for safekeeping to honor Guizhong's memory. Each time Streetward Rambler rang the Cleansing Bell, it was to play the tune that Guizhong composed on it. Guizhong's manuscripts still lie unfinished in the Realm of Clouds. The blank pages give Cloud Retainer cause for contemplation on what might have been. Over the years, the wild Glaze Lilies dwindled till at last they were no more.

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