Destroy the Barrier locations and solutions in Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact Destroy the Barriers
(Image credit: MiHoYo)

The ‘Destroy the Barrier’ objective is part of the Genshin Impact Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual (including the World Quests ‘A Strange Story in Konda’ and ‘Sacrificial Offering’). A fair warning; this questline is long, difficult, and possibly the biggest challenge you’ll find in Inazuma. But if you’re brave enough to start it, here’s how you find and destroy the Barriers.

Every ‘Destroy the Barrier’ objective in Genshin Impact 

Genshin Impact Destroy the Barriers

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

The ‘Destroy the Barrier’ objective comes up a few times during the full Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual questline. However, the first Barrier you’ll encounter only has ‘Explore the Bottom of the Well’ as an objective. Although the names are a bit confusing (sometimes you’ll see the ‘Destroy the Barrier’ task, sometimes not), you will encounter eight such puzzles in total.

To make things a bit more comprehensible, this is the chronological order in which you’ll find each ‘Destroy the Barrier’ puzzle. You can destroy the Chinju Forest Barrier, the Araumi Barrier, and the Kamisato Estate Barrier in any order you prefer though.

  • A Strange Story in Konda. Start this quest by talking to the masked lady near the fox statues on the beach northwest of Konda Village. You may have already encountered her when walking from Ritou to Narukami Island for the first time. The first Barrier is at the end of this World Quest, after descending in the Konda Village well.
  • A Sacrificial Offering. This follow-up World Quest will get you the ‘Memento Lens’ (you’ll need this to solve another Destroy the Barrier puzzle later on) and take you inside a hidden cave west of the Abandoned Shrine. The entrance is on the beach; the stones will disappear and you’ll see the Barrier inside.
  • Chinju Forest. This Destroy the Barrier puzzle is part of the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual World Quest. Just enter Chinju Forest and talk to the large stone statue in the north to start. 
  • Araumi. Another Destroy the Barrier puzzle that’s part of the Sacred Sakura Cleansing Ritual questline. It’s inside the stone tower ruin in the Araumi area (light all the surrounding Electro mechanisms to open it).
  • Kamisato Estate. Get a ward from the Kitsune statues near the beach northeast of Kamisato Estate, and then find the Barrier beneath the nearest island (there’s a hole in the rocks).
  • Destroy the Miasmic Tumor. Meet Kazari by going back inside the Konda Village well. The Miasmic Tumor is the final Destroy the Barrier fight; there will be a total of three barriers and phantoms here. Keep using Electrograna to stay alive.

How to Destroy the Barriers in Genshin Impact 

Genshin Impact Destroy the Barriers

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

Now that we know their respective World Quests and order, we still need to complete the Destroy the Barrier objectives. First, purify the shrine by interacting with the first small lantern (the purple pillar) you see. You need a ‘warden’ to do so, but you’ll come across these during the World Quests. A pattern will now light up inside the shrine. This is the Barrier puzzle: each dot in the pattern represents a shrine lantern, and they are connected to each other by the lines.

As you can see, every shrine Barrier is surrounded by several small lanterns similar to the first one. They each have a Sakura leave symbol that can be changed from 1 to 5 Sakura leaves. Look at the connections in the shrine pattern; if a lantern is directly connected to Sakura lantern number 1, it should get 2 leaves. The Sakura lantern connected to lantern number 2 gets 3 Sakura leaves, the one connected to lantern 3 gets 4 leaves, etc. 

If you think you got it right, go back to the first shrine lantern and click ‘pray’. If the order is correct, a Shrine Phantom will appear. You need to defeat him to complete the Destroy the Barrier objective.

Destroy the Barrier solutions in Genshin Impact 

Genshin Impact Destroy the Barriers

(Image credit: MiHoYo)

If you just want the solutions to the Destroy the Barrier puzzles in Genshin Impact, here they are: 

  • A Strange Story in Konda Barrier: going around the shrine and starting on the right, the number of Sakura leaves per lantern is 2-3-5-4.
  • A Sacrificial Offering Barrier: two Sakura leaves on the lantern in the middle, then 3x3 on all ends.
  • Chinju Forest Barrier: the one nearby to the right has four Sakura leaves, the one to the left has three. The other two are higher up, near the shrine. They both have two Sakura leaves.
  • Araumi Barrier: the ones you see right away (on the left and on the right) each have three Sakura leaves. The other two are behind the shrine, hidden by Katsune statues (use the Memento Lens on them). They should both have two Sakura leaves.
  • Kamisato Estate Barrier: the ones along the path (so before you and behind you as you approach the shrine) should get two Sakura leaves. The remaining lanterns further from the path should have three Sakura leaves.
  • Miasmic Tumor Barrier number one. Search for number 1, then put two and then three Sakura leaves on the lanterns to your right. Walk back to number one, then put four Sakura leaves on the nearby lantern to the left, and five on the one behind that.
  • Miasmic Tumor Barrier number two. The exact same as the previous one, but mirrored. Two and thee leaves on the lanterns to your left, then walk back to one and put four and five Sakura leaves on the lanterns to your right.
  • Miasmic Tumor Barrier number three. The ones directly left and right of lantern one should both have two Sakura leaves. The two that are further away both need three Sakura leaves.

And that is all the information you need to successfully solve the Destroy the Barriers puzzles in Inazuma. Good luck!  

Genshin Impact Thunder Sojourn | Genshin Impact 2.0 | Genshin Impact Inazuma region | Genshin Impact Memento Lens | Genshin Impact Sakura Bloom 

Marloes Valentina Stella

I’m a freelance journalist who (surprise!) kind of has a thing for videogames. When I’m not working on guides for GamesRadar, you can probably find me somewhere in Teyvat, Novigrad, or Whiterun. Unless I’m feeling competitive, in which case you should try Erangel. You can also find my words on PCGamesN, Fanbyte, PCGamer, Polygon, Esports Insider, and Game Rant.