When Third Dragonborn’s message appeared in the group chat, everyone fell silent for quite some time.
Stranger?
Who was he?
Remember, every last member of their alliance had joined the group already. Could this be someone from Chao Feng’s faction? But no, when Great Emperor Chao Feng went out, he generally only took Ye Rong with him. They rarely saw him with other star bearers at his side.
The great emperors were lost in thought, but the Great Sage, Pu Jingwan, and Yang Jian were far more hospitable.
Monkey King: Welcome, welcome! (Flower petals)
Erlang Shen: Are you a boy or a girl?
Invincible Adorable Beauty: Newbies have to post pics! (wicked smile)
Third Dragonborn: @Stranger, this is the war prep chat group we prepared. Welcome to our meeting hall.
Third Dragonborn: Do you need me to introduce you to everyone?
Stranger: No need. I can roughly guess who everyone is!
Monkey King: You even know who I am? That’s awesome! Well, go on! Tell me, who am I?
Stranger: Hm, I know the others, but I’m not sure about you.
Monkey King: ……
“Hahaha….” This laughter emanated from the banks of the River Styx. They looked over and saw Yang Jian, clutching his phone and guffawing.
The Great Sage glared at him. “My son, you want to try laughing one more time?”
“Don’t you have any shame? They know everyone but you? I’m dying of laughter here!” He smirke. “Watch this!”
Erlang Shen: But you definitely know me, right?
Stranger: ……I don’t know you either.
“Hahaha…..” This time, the Great Sage was the one to clutch his sides and burst into laughter. Yang Jian, who’d only just finished laughing at him, stared at the message on screen. He felt as if he’d been slapped in the face, especially since he’d been so confident mere moments before. The insult stung more than it would otherwise.
“Blasted monkey. You’re asking for a beating!”
“My son, you can’t outtalk me, so you’re immediately resorting to violence? Fine then, come on! Surely you don’t think I’m afraid of you?”
The two clowns were immediately at each other’s throats. Quite a few members of the Upheaval Alliance and Profound Pavilion couldn’t help but facepalm.
How many times had the two of them fought? One wrong word was enough to set them off!
In comparison, Ye Zichen and the others had already gotten used to it. No matter how much of a commotion they caused, they remained focused on this mysterious Stranger.
“This ‘Stranger’ person is rather interesting,” said Pu Jingwan.
“But who exactly is she?”
Ye Zichen had scrolled through Stranger’s friend list. It was completely empty. On her profile, however, it did list her sex as female.
This was the only thing he could find out about her.
Lady Providence: @Third Dragonborn, Aren’t you going to introduce us?
Jade Pool Palace Master: Yeah, aren’t you?
But before Great Emperor Chao Feng could respond, the mysterious Stranger sent everyone a greeting.
Stranger: Lady Providence, Jade Pool Palace Master, Ocean Emperor, Hermit Emperor, Great Emperor Bi’an, Empress, Lord of the Big Dipper, greetings!
Jade Pool Palace Master: So, she really does know who we are!
Hermit Emperor: (smiling emoji)
Fox Empress: Hello.
“Auntie, this person is definitely someone with a position comparable to yours, right?” Ye Zichen suddenly asked.
“What makes you say that?” Xuan Ji glanced at him.
“I can tell from her greeting,” said Ye Zichen. “If she were of a lower rank, she would have greeted you all individually out of respect, but here she just went ahead and greeted you all in one fell swoop. After that, she just added a simple ‘greetings.’ If she weren’t an expert on your level, heck, even if she were ‘just’ a Divine General, seeing so many great emperors in one place would terrify her; she wouldn’t dare address you all so casually.”
“That actually makes a bit of sense.” Xuan Ji nodded.
“But there’s another, more direct method to check, too!” said Ye Zichen. Then, he tapped out a line of characters.
Only Idealism: Hello. Do you perhaps know who I am?
Stranger: Alliance Head Ye? Of course I recognize you.
“Look!” Ye Zichen turned to Xuan Ji. “She even recognizes a trivial little figure like me. She’s got to be at your level. Word of my identity has only circulated amongst experts at your level.”
Even as he explained his reasoning to Xuan Ji, Ye Zichen kept chatting in the group.
Only Idealism: I’m surprised you recognize me. It seems I’m getting a little famous!
Stranger: What do you mean, a little famous? Lately, hasn’t everyone been talking about you? I don’t just recognize you, either. You were the one who opened their imperial celestial eye, right? Xue Tie is just there to divert attention from you.
Suddenly, everyone in the group chat felt their nerves go taut.
Anything related to the Emperor Star was a secret. But now, this Stranger Chao Feng had invented was saying something like this?
The room instantly went dead. Not a single one of them made any further attempts at conversation. The great emperors were trying to figure out her identity. Some were even directly messaging Great Emperor Chao Feng.
Including Xuan Ji.
Third Dragonborn: Cough cough cough, @Stranger, please don’t make trouble for me. My inbox has practically exploded!
Third Dragonborn: @Everyone, I can’t reveal Stranger’s identity right now, since I already promised her absolute secrecy.
Stranger: Don’t worry, everyone. I won’t tell anyone that Ye Zichen’s the Emperor Star.
Stranger: I’m here because I want to understand the situation on your Divine Mountains, as well as at the River Styx.
No one spoke for a long time. Finally, Xuan Ji broke the silence.
Lady Providence: Can we trust her? @ Third Dragonborn
Third Dragonborn: You can absolutely trust her. She’s actually always been one of mine, and we’ve been in close contact all this time. I can’t tell you her identity now, but she’s absolutely worthy of trust. I can vouch for her. I swear on my integrity.
Only Idealism: If you say that, then I’ll trust her!
After that, Ye Zichen went ahead and described the situation at the river, and the various great emperors shared word of the situation at their divine mountain, albeit to varying degrees.
No one knew who Stranger was, but since Chao Feng said all that, they were willing to trust her.
Stranger: I’m glad nothing’s gone terribly wrong, but I humbly suggest that you proceed with caution. There is no way Zhou Wu is sending any of you any reinforcements. The god race will need your protection in the days to come.
Stranger: Also, there’s one thing I especially want to know. That’s….
Stranger: Has Emperor Hades really fallen?
Lady Providence: I’m ninety percent sure, yes.
Stranger: Alright.
Stranger: I won’t stick around to chat any longer, but if I discover anything you should know about it, I’ll share it in the group right away. If anything important happens on the Divine Mountains, or if you find out more about Emperor Hades, I hope you’ll let me know.
Stranger: Before I go, there’s something I’d like to say to Alliance Head Ye.
Only Idealism: What is it?
Stranger: Zhou Wu’s recently brushed right up against the door to transcendence. All he needs now is imperial celestial fate. Be careful!
