Mistress of Chenyu Vale

The mistress of Chenyu Vale was the unnamed god who once ruled over ancient city of Chizhang in Chenyu Vale in Liyue and the former mistress of Lingyuan, Herblord, and Fujin. However, after the beginning of the Archon War, her desire for power led her to fight against Morax, and she was ultimately defeated and sealed away, with her true name forgotten by the people of Chenyu Vale over time.^[1]

Profile

According to Fujin, her mistress was not evil, as she made many dreams come true.^[1] She ruled the birds and beasts and adepti of wild mountain nature, who controlled the ebb and flow of the Bishui River, who as an arbiter maintained the natural balance between mortals and animals.^[2] However, everything changed with the onset of the Archon War. She became a cruel and ruthless goddess and ceased granting gentle dreams.^[1]

She was heavily associated with jade, and was one of the first gods to be worshipped by the ancient Liyue people, alongside Morax, Havria, and Orobashi.^[3]

Appearance

Very little is known about her appearance, but it is said that she wore a skirt of coagulated jade-blood after she was sealed away.^[2]

Story

With the onset of the Archon War, her obsession with becoming an Archon and her desire for survival drove her into madness. She declared war on Morax and the other gods of the Guili Assembly, and ceased granting dreams.^[1][4]

Over time, she sank even deeper into madness in her attempts to defeat Morax, whose power far surpassed her own. In a final attempt to defeat him, she made a terrible decision: she planned to raise the waters of the Bishui River to wipe out the Guili Assembly, heedless of the fact that the flood would also destroy Chenyu Vale. Realizing that she had gone too far, the three adepti who had once sworn loyalty to her rebelled. While Lingyuan herded the people to shelter, Herblord fought against the goddess, and Fujin climbed Mt. Lingmeng and hurled the Votive Rainjade into the waters in order to quell the Bishui River.^[1][5] Their collective efforts would save Chenyu Vale, but Herblord perished during the battle, and Fujin sank into the sea, losing much of her strength; for thousands of years, Fujin could only reminisce about her memories in Carp's Rest, until the Traveler and Paimon discovered her at the beginning of Chenyu's Blessings of Sunken Jade.

The battle was so violent that the Bishui River turned crimson red, and despite the efforts of the adepti, the Guili Assembly was devastated by the flood^[6] and by the army of the mistress of Chenyu Vale.^[4][5] During this assault, Guizhong lost her life.^[7]

The fate of the mistress after the Archon War is unknown. Once Morax brought peace to Chenyu Vale, the passage of time led the people to forget the ancient goddess they had once worshipped. However, according to local legends, she was ultimately sealed away deep beneath Mt. Lingmeng and plunged into a deathlike, dreaming slumber; it is said that she leaned on the "long-destroyed lunar chariot," submerged and slumbering beneath a black, bottomless pool of water.^[2] The only evidence which supports this tale is a lamentation that the Chenyu Vale locals once sang:

Chinese Transcript	Official English Translation[2]
欲遺君兮杜若，停中洲兮誰留？	"Though I wish to gift you herbs, who shall leave it at the sandbank amidst the waters?"
昔桂旗兮安在？覓食高車兮幽篁。	"Where now fly the godly banners? The chariot is lost in the lightless bamboo wood."
哀哉嘯兮玄文，潭昏黑兮正思。	"How terrible the Xuanwen wail, who think upon the darkened pool."

Trivia

• In the book Glimpses of Mysterious Inazuma, it's mentioned that the baku, youkai who consume dreams and nightmares, are actually a species native from Liyue known as "mo," and that they once served a cruel and ruthless mistress who controlled dreams and nightmares. It's possible that this mistress was originally the Mistress of Chenyu Vale.
• It's said that the Mistress of Chenyu Vale leaned upon the "long-destroyed lunar chariot" before she was sealed away.^[2] Since Zibai, as a Moon Envoy, used a lunar chariot to travel between the Lunar Palace and Lang-Gan,^[8][9] the Mistress of Chenyu Vale's association with the "long-destroyed lunar chariot" may suggest that she was also a Moon Envoy.
• The lamentation poem attributed to her is in the style of Chu Ci, an ancient anthology of poems originating from the kingdom of Chu (c. 1030 BC – 223 BC) in southern China. It is one of the oldest known forms of Chinese poetry.
  • For much of its history, the kingdom of Chu was moderately Sinicized by central Chinese civilizations, yet maintained a strong independent ethnic and cultural identity, not too dissimilar to the relationship between Liyue and Chenyu Vale before the Archon War.

Other Languages

Language	Official Name	Literal Meaning
English	Mistress of Chenyu Vale	—
Chinese (Simplified)	沉玉谷的旧主
Chinese (Traditional)	沉玉谷的舊主
Japanese	沈玉の谷の主
Spanish	Señora del Valle Chenyu

Change History

References