The Story of Xiao

Xiao is a playable Anemo character. As far as we know, he is an adeptus and is the only surviving member of the five foremost Yakshas. At present, he stays at Wangshu Inn and mostly restrains himself from large crowds and social interactions. But what really happened to him? Let's figure it out together.

In order to make the timeline more clear, the story will be divided into three parts.

The first part is the period before the Archon War when Xiao was younger and more naive. Xiao was forced to perform cruel and violent acts at that time because an evil god had gotten a hold of his weakness. He had killed many people and crushed many hopes, and he was even forced into devouring his victims' dreams. Although he was in pain because of what he did, he was helpless to resist at that time. Such experience eventually rid Xiao of his innocence and gentleness, and what remained within him was the means to kill and the weight of his sins. It was not until Rex Lapis won the Archon War did Xiao finally regained his freedom.

The second period is after the Archon War, when Xiao took the responsibility to protect Liyue and its people for thousands of years, in order to repay his debt of gratitude to the Geo Archon, Rex Lapis, Zhongli. The question is, from whose hand has Xiao been protecting Liyue? What exactly is Xiao wrestling with? According to those in Liyue's corridors of power, Xiao's battle is against the evil manifestations produced by the remnants of defeated gods from the Archon War. Such things exist because gods are immortal, their consciousness may diminish but their power and hatred will always remain and spread like poison, relentlessly stirring up chaos for the world as well as its inhabitants.

However, the evil gods' power is immense, and their lust for revenge can be deeper than mere mortals. When Xiao was relentlessly slaughtering the endless, impure manifestations of their vengeful souls, they turned into fractures and eventually tainted Xiao's own soul. That is also the reason for the other four Yakshas' deaths, which has always been reminding Xiao of his future, but he has been fighting, for his battles have never been in vain, and because ultimately Xiao will be wrestling with himself.

Once, Xiao spent most of his strength fighting from dusk till dawn, which made him feel the divine hatred that tainted his body take effect, and he fell to the ground in agony. However, at that moment the pain vanished without warning, because of the sound of a flute. The one who plays the flute is also one of the Seven Archons, the Anemo Archon, Venti.

The third part is from the moment Venti saved Xiao to now. Xiao is still fighting against his enemies, but he has no idea when the divine hatred will take effect again, or whether it will harm the people he was supposed to protect. Therefore, he chose to stay away from the crowd, with the intention of continuing his responsibility and his promise to Zhongli.

This is the brief story of Xiao's past experience.