The mysterious woman in front of ntioned my na even though I hadn’t introduced myself yet.
I briefly recalled, before when she was tailing us, neither Youhun nor Tan Xiang had called out my na. Could it be that during my ti-space communication with Weichi, they shouted my na to "wake" up, and she overheard it? I glanced at the two of them.
Tan Xiang didn’t understand my reaction, while Youhun seed to get it, shook his head, then furrowed his brows as he scrutinized the mysterious woman across from us.
I hadn’t truly demonstrated power at the level of the Great Unpredictable, yet the mysterious woman knew my na and surrendered so easily. It could be seen that she knew my true identity and level, hence decided that continuing the fight was aningless.
The change in her attitude seed to pivot on recognizing my appearance, but since she had observed us secretly for so long and initially questioned who I was, it’s impossible that she only recognized my true identity by seeing now.
The real turning point must have been when I displayed my fla.
Flas, no matter where they are, aren’t sothing rare. Just having the ability to manipulate flas is far from enough to determine my true identity. However, if one recognizes through mana fluctuations, it’s a different story. Any demon hunter who has witnessed my flas once could do that.
But I’ve only been in the Doomsday Era for such a short ti, where would I find familiar faces who can recognize just by mana fluctuations? Even if other doomsday survivors could "recognize" , they would more likely think of the Catastrophe Demon, as the little girl beside the draftsman did last ti.
It’s different for Little Bowl; she has seen my flas and should be able to identify the mana fluctuations within them. Even though she’s never seen my actual appearance, just the information from this fluctuation is enough for her to confirm my true identity. In my plan, I intended to use this thod to recognize her.
In the Doomsday Era, it is possible to encounter your past or future self; similarly, you might et familiar faces from the past or future. Could this mysterious woman actually be "Little Bowl grown up"?
As soon as I thought of this part, I suddenly realized another possibility.
If I rember correctly, besides Little Bowl, I have another "familiar face" in the Doomsday Era, and that’s No. 7.
Yes, No. 7 might also be in the Doomsday Era. This was confird through Weichi’s technology. Weichi had told before, when he attempted to locate Little Bowl using the divine seal fragnts, he was severely hampered by the different era; and when he tried to track No. 7, he encountered similar interference. Despite being at the deduction stage, both Weichi and I believed No. 7 and Little Bowl shared the sa situation.
When the Void Realm was destroyed, No. 7 had also seen my flas, so when I t her in the Doomsday Era, failing to recognize my appearance and recognizing my true identity only through my fla mana fluctuations beca extrely reasonable.
"—Are you No. 7?" I asked outright.
"..."
Upon hearing my address, the mysterious woman didn’t show any surprise or confusion but remained silent, seemingly weighing what response to give. It was difficult to tell if she was tacitly agreeing, evading my question, or planning to deny it.
I reevaluated my reasoning and felt there were other unexplainable contradictions. Firstly, assuming this mysterious woman was No. 7, she should at most identify as No. 3 of the Void Realm. Why could she know my na is Zhuang Cheng?
Weichi and Xu Gou could know "No. 3 is Zhuang Cheng" because they’re from the modern world, where a little investigation could easily narrow down No. 3’s identity to "Luo Mountain’s newly ascended Great Unpredictable, Zhuang Cheng." But No. 7 is not from the modern world, doesn’t have access to modern information channels, and has never interacted with other Void Envoys.
Apart from the possibility that the mysterious woman is No. 7, are there any other explanations for the current situation? It seems there might be.
For instance, the mysterious woman might have t a future version of before encountering the present ; she might not recognize my appearance because of blurred mories in this aspect. Or perhaps she learned sowhere that "the forr Catastrophe Demon was Zhuang Cheng," allowing her, once seeing soone with "Catastrophe Demon’s mana fluctuations" yet looking human, to match this precisely with information she held.
"I’ve rembered."
As the silent standoff between the mysterious woman and continued, Youhun suddenly spoke up, addressing the mysterious woman opposite, "You’re the demigod who has been following Tai Sui closely, Tai Sui’s confidant, the most valued right-hand... aren’t you? So, you’re still alive.
"Although I’ve forgotten your na, I must have seen you more than once in the past. Of course, soone like you probably wouldn’t pay attention to soone as insignificant as ..."
Perhaps the mysterious woman who might be No. 7 glanced at Youhun, and she spoke once more, "I rember you, Youhun. Still the sa bedraggled look... Were you the one who wanted the Three-Life Stone Powder?"
"It was ," Youhun said, in a lowly tone, "You... no, you used to manage Tai Sui Evangelical Institute at a high level. You know this place like the back of your hand. I don’t know why the Three-Life Stone Powder appeared in Tai Sui Evangelical Institute, nor do I know why you are now lingering in a ruined place like this... But if you have any clue..."
The mysterious woman didn’t respond to Youhun, but instead looked at and asked, "Is this your intention? Do you want to find the Three-Life Stone Powder for him?"
"Yes," I replied.
Receiving this answer, the mysterious woman directly took a small item from her bosom and threw it far towards .
I reached out and caught it, lowered my head to look. It was a small paper packet, about half the size of a fist, containing sothing that looked like sand and faintly emitted a sll reminiscent of Chinese dicine.
"This is the thing you’ve been looking for," the mysterious woman said, "It’s only enough for one person. Take it with water."
Could this really be the Three-Life Stone Powder? I sensed a look of astonishnt and joy from Youhun beside . Though I wanted to verify it, not knowing what the Three-Life Stone Powder specifically looked like in the first place, I had no ans of confirmation except by taking it.
"Is this considered a token of surrender, or are you intending to use this item to trade sothing with us?" I asked.
"Consider it a token of surrender, but I do have so matters I wish to discuss with you," the mysterious woman seed to be pondering her words. "Zhuang Cheng, could you tell ... how did you leave your original ti-space and co to this place?"
Her question made almost certain she was No. 7.
"I was banished to the void by Huang Quan, and when I was trying to return to the modern world, sothing went wrong unknowingly, and I accidentally ca to the Doomsday Era," I said.
"Huang Quan? Banishnt? Accident?" The mysterious woman appeared troubled by a strange anxiety, "Weren’t you here on your own initiative for No. 2? I an... don’t you know how you crossed over?"
"I don’t know," I replied.
The mysterious woman took a deep breath, then said, "I understand. Zhuang Cheng, I have another question for you: do you wish to return to your original ti-space?"
I replied ambiguously, "Do you have a way?"
The mysterious woman nodded and continued, "Yes, I have a way. However, I don’t have the necessary strength to achieve the conditions required. I must rely on your power to accomplish this.
"But before that, we’d better find another place to talk. It’s really too dangerous here, especially for you..."
For ? I was baffled.
However, changing places to talk might be best. Assuming the mysterious woman is No. 7, her attitude here seed to not want to delve into any topics related to her Void identity in front of Youhun and Tan Xiang, so I would confirm her identity in private.
And as soon as she finished speaking, an unexpected change intervened and shattered this exchange.
Youhun and I had suspected earlier, based on the mysterious woman’s indifferent attitude, that so sort of dangerous anomaly might exist here. Given the mysterious woman had the capabilities of the Great Success Rank, it was reasonable to judge that any anomaly posing a threat here would be at least beyond the level resolvable by Great Success Rank’s power. I had so psychological preparation for this, yet I did not expect the threat to exceed my expectations so easily the mont it appeared.
The enemy we faced this ti was no re apocalyptic anomaly with special abilities but lacking significantly strong power.
The mana fluctuations of reaching the Divine Domain burst forth from afar, crushing towards us like an overwhelming tsunami.
For a mont, I had a strong illusion, as if the whole world was subrged by dark seawater, and I was soaked in an abyssal depth of ten thousand fathoms.
The mysterious woman seed to experience a similar illusion; she fell to the ground, embracing her body in pain, as if an invisible "water pressure" was squeezing her from outside, inexplicably cracking her body open.
Youhun and Tan Xiang, on the other hand, remained unscathed, clearly feeling nothing.
"How can it be so quick... Xuanwu..." the mysterious woman tried her best to speak, "... Run... The Great Demon Xuanwu is coming—!"
Then, from beneath the ground in the courtyard, an irresistibly powerful force erupted like a volcanic burst.
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