Genshin Impact story teaser tells the tale of Baizhu's pet snake, Changsheng

A new Genshin Impact trailer uploaded by HoYoVerse fleshes out the story of Baizhu, the game's newest playable character. Or rather, it fleshes out Baizhu's story through that of his companion, the white snake Changsheng.

Check it out below.

The Genshin Impact Changsheng story teaser explains that Changsheng was originally a "herblord" residing in Chenyu Vale, who formed a contract with a doctor seeking the secret arts of healing. The contract allowed Changsheng's bearer to trade their own life force to reverse the death of another. After the original doctor passed the contract with Changsheng to his disciple, a tradition built. Over generations, Changsheng's contract - and the power to reverse death itself - would be passed from master to disciple.

Baizhu's own master passed Changsheng down to Baizhu, but challenged him to "remedy the conundrum" of trading lives. As the current holder of the contract, Baizhu plans to take advantage of Changsheng's mystic power should a life "worth saving" appear before him, but has no intention of passing down a power some see as "cursed" and unnatural.

Baizhu himself was first introduced to players early in Genshin Impact's main story. He is the proprietor of Liyue Harbor's Bubu Pharmacy, and has involvement in parts of the story. However, he remained unplayable until earlier this week, when his premium Wish banner went live as part of the 3.6 update.

HoYoVerse also uploaded character trailers for Baizhu himself, as well as a "Collected Miscellany" gameplay guide video describing his playstyle.

Here's Baizhu's character demo.

And his Collected Miscellany feature.

As a Dendro-element Catalyst-wielder, Baizhu sends out snake-like sprites in combat to deal Dendro damage and heal the whole party. His Elemental Burst summons a Dendro shield that heals the active character, while also unleashing Spirit Veins that deal damage.

Genshin Impact is available on PC, mobile devices, PS4, and PS5.