You're standing in front of that glowing, purple-tinted wall in Konda Village or deep under the roots of Mt. Yougou, and honestly, it’s frustrating. You’ve got the Memento Lens, you’ve been scanning stone foxes like a maniac, but the game doesn't just hand you the solution. To destroy the barrier Genshin Impact players often find themselves stuck on, you have to understand that this isn't just one fight; it's a massive, multi-step ritual called the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual.
It starts simple. Then it gets weird.
Most people get stuck because they think they can just brute-force it with a high-DPS Raiden Shogun or Neuvillette. Nope. This is a puzzle-heavy questline that demands you pay attention to the environment, specifically the order of the "prayers" at the shrines. If you mess up the sequence, you're just going to keep fighting phantom samurai forever without making any actual progress on the barrier itself.
The Abandoned Shrine and the Memento Lens
Before you can even think about the main barrier, you need the Memento Lens. You get this from the Inazuma City shrine maiden, Inagi Hotomi, after you finish the first part of the Konda Village quest. If you don't have this lens, you're basically blind. You’ll see these small "Earth Kitsune" statues glowing with a faint blue light. Using the lens on them reveals ghosts, hidden mechanisms, or clues about how to move forward.
The real headache starts at the abandoned shrine northeast of Konda Village. You’ll see three mysterious shadows. You have to lead them to three fox statues that are standing in a circle. It’s like herding cats, but the cats are translucent Japanese spirits. Once you get them all there, a book appears, and you eventually get the "ward" needed to start the barrier destruction process.
How the Puzzle Mechanics Actually Work
Once you find the actual barrier—usually hidden behind a secret wall or down a deep well—you’ll see a large torii gate with five small lanterns around it. This is where the "destroy the barrier Genshin" search usually leads people.
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Look at the pattern in the center of the gate.
That floating constellation is your map. Each lantern corresponds to a number from 1 to 5. The starting lantern, the one you interact with to "Pray," is always Number 1. From there, you have to change the number of "symbols" appearing above the other lanterns to match the lines in the constellation.
If the line goes from lantern 1 to lantern 2, then to lantern 3, you set them in that order. But it’s rarely a straight line. Often, lantern 1 will connect to three different lanterns at once. In that case, all three of those lanterns need to be set to "2." If those "2s" then connect to a final lantern, that final one must be set to "3." It’s basic logic, but when you’re being attacked by Electro-charged water or wandering around in the dark, it’s easy to misclick.
The Konda Village Barrier
This is the one that introduces the mechanic. You go down the well behind the village chief’s house.
- The first one is 1.
- The one directly under the gate is 2.
- The ones in the far corners are 3.
Once you hit "Pray" at the first lantern, an Ochimusha (a ghostly samurai) will spawn. Kill him, and the barrier shatters. Easy, right? It gets harder.
The Worst One: The Chinju Forest Barrier
This part of the quest is called "Tanuki-Bayashi in the Forest." Honestly, the Tanuki are adorable but incredibly annoying. You have to follow a stone cat-like creature named Ioroi. He makes you play hide and seek with three smaller Tanuki. One is disguised as a torch you have to light. Another is a barrel surrounded by Hilichurls. The last one is just a literal ball of light hopping around.
Once you finish their game, they lead you to the barrier. This one is tricky because the lanterns aren't on a flat plane. Some are high up on rocks.
- The main lantern is 1.
- Two lanterns are tucked away high up; these are 2.
- One is further back, set to 3.
- Another is set to 4.
If you don't look up, you will miss the ones on the cliffs, and you'll spend thirty minutes wondering why the "Pray" action keeps failing.
Araumi: The Underwater Nightmare
This is probably where 80% of players give up and look for a guide. To destroy the barrier Genshin provides in Araumi, you first have to solve a series of Electro cube puzzles just to get the water level to drop.
You’ll find a stone tower that’s broken at the top. Jump inside. Use your Memento Lens on the fox statues inside to reveal switches. This opens a path deep underground. There’s a barrier here that requires you to find more fox statues.
The pattern here is even more complex. You have two lanterns behind a hidden wall that you can only see through—you guessed it—the Memento Lens. The setup involves setting the middle ones to 3 and the side ones to 2, while the starter stays at 1. It’s a mess. But once it’s done, you unlock the Perpetual Mechanical Array boss area and a teleport waypoint that makes life much easier.
The Final Cleansing at Mt. Yougou
After you’ve cleared all the smaller barriers, you head back to the Grand Narukami Shrine to talk to Kazari. She reveals she’s actually made of "filth" (essentially the accumulated corruption of the Sacred Sakura) and needs you to perform one last ritual at the roots of the mountain.
This isn't just one puzzle. It’s three puzzles in a row while fighting a giant, pulsating heart called the Miasmic Tumor.
The tumor will hover at the top of the cave and spit out samurai. You kill them, solve the lantern puzzle that appears on the ground, and then the tumor falls so you can hit it. You do this three times. The puzzles get progressively more convoluted with each phase.
One thing people often miss: during the final phase, the tumor stays up for a very long time. If you don't solve the puzzle quickly, the "filth" in the air starts ticking away at your health. Bringing a healer like Kokomi or even Barbara is almost mandatory here if you aren't a dodge-master.
Common Mistakes and Misconceptions
People think you can skip the Memento Lens. You can't. It’s a key item for a reason.
Another big mistake is ignoring the "Ward" items. Each barrier requires a specific Ward—a scroll, a comb, or a charm—that you find earlier in the quest. If you get to a barrier and can't interact with the first lantern, it means you haven't actually found the Ward for that specific location yet.
Also, the "Electroculus" in these areas are often trapped behind Level 2 or Level 3 Electro Granum barriers. If your Sacred Sakura Tree level isn't high enough, you won't be able to walk through certain purple "static" walls to reach the puzzles. This means you might have to go explore the rest of Inazuma to collect enough Electro Sigils before you can even finish the Cleansing Ritual.
Why This Quest Matters for Your Account
Completing the "Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual" and destroying all the barriers isn't just for the Primogems—though you do get a decent amount.
- The Hakushin Ring: You get a blueprint for a 4-star catalyst. It’s actually quite good for Electro-related team comps.
- The Mask: At the end, you get Kazari’s mask. Most players accidentally "consume" it from their inventory to get the catalyst blueprint. If you want to keep the mask as a souvenir, don't use it. In later updates, HoYoverse added a way to get the mask as a furniture item for your Teapot from an NPC at the shrine, but the original inventory item is gone once used.
- Map Unlocks: You literally cannot access a large portion of the Inazuma underground without doing this. If you want to farm materials for characters like Ayaka or Raiden, you need these areas open.
Troubleshooting the "Pray" Action
If you’ve set all the lanterns to the right numbers and the "Pray" action doesn't trigger a cutscene or a boss spawn, check these things:
- Is there a lantern hidden behind a bush? (Happens in Chinju Forest).
- Did you accidentally set two lanterns to 2 when one should be 3?
- Is there a small Earth Kitsune nearby you haven't scanned yet? Sometimes scanning a statue "activates" one of the lanterns.
The game is picky. If the lines of light that connect the lanterns don't match the diagram exactly, nothing happens. It's a binary state: it's either perfect or it's a failure.
Final Steps for Success
To get through this without losing your mind, follow this specific order:
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- Finish the Konda Village well first.
- Go to the Abandoned Shrine and get the Memento Lens from the ritual.
- Complete the three separate barrier locations: Chinju Forest, Araumi, and the Tidal Flats near the Kamisato Estate.
- Return to the well in Konda Village to talk to Kazari.
- Dive into the hole at the base of Mt. Yougou for the final boss fight.
Bring a team that can handle multiple elements. While Electro is the theme of Inazuma, having a Cryo or Pyro character to deal with the samurai shields and the "filth" enemies is a lifesaver. Once the Miasmic Tumor is destroyed, the barrier is gone for good, and you’ll have finished one of the longest, most lore-heavy world quests in Genshin Impact history.
Now, go talk to the NPC Hanachirusato (the woman formerly known as Kazari) at the very end to wrap up the story and claim your rewards. Just remember to grab the mask off the ground after the cutscene finishes, or you might have to teleport back later to find it.