"Wow, so this is Changle? It looks just like its name suggests! You can tell it's a great place for a stroll and some shopping!"
Looking at the various shops lining both sides of the street, March 7th exclaimed in admiration.
"But there seem to be very few people here. Is it because of the Stellaron's influence?" Welt mused.
"That should be it. Miss Tingyun told us before that the Stellaron has affected many of the internal trade routes on the Xianzhou. Otherwise, Changle would likely be even more prosperous, right?"
"But, why don't I see many Cloud Knights?" March looked around, puzzled.
"Let's head to the plaza first. We can ask the Master Diviner's messenger what exactly has happened here."
As always, Wende walked at the front of the group.
Staring at Wende's back, Stelle seemed to pause for a moment, but then, as if an idea struck her, she quickly ran to Wende's side to walk in step with him.
Seeing this, March also scurried to Wende's other side, sandwiching him between herself and Stelle.
"It's good to be young," Welt commented from the rear, shaking his head with a sigh.
There was a time when he, too...
..................
Real World
Today was an important day. After enduring the "long" baptism of Seele's banner, Jing Yuan's character banner had finally arrived "as scheduled."
As the one true god of the closed beta, many players had been saving their premium currency for the Divine Foresight since the game launched, all for the sake of giving him the "one-dragon service"—a complete, all-in-one package—the moment he went live.
With ten minutes left until noon, major streamers were already in their live rooms, having prepared all sorts of gags and stunts to welcome their "Jing Yuan-yuan."
[For real, bro, we know you want Jing Yuan, but... isn't this a bit much? My eyes are burning, dude!]
[Yeah, I feel like my eyes have been violated... Waaah...]
[Pretty lewd.]
[That's what you call having a heavy taste.]
[Bro! We're begging you! Please act normal! We don't know what's gotten into you, but we're family here! Family doesn't hurt family!]
[Yeah, if it's really that bad, can't we bros just chip in and buy the currency for you? We really can't take this anymore!]
[Could you at least cover your head? Go borrow a mask from the fierce bandit streamer next door or something!]
Of course... not every streamer's shtick was good. Some were purely competing with their fans to see who had a stronger constitution.
[Sister Guoguo, so cute...]
[Suhasuhasuha! Thirsty! Hungry! Let us bros have a bite!]
[Cream-flavored Häagen-Dazs, or is it fruit-flavored!]
[I give this cosplay full marks! Jing Yuan-yuan will definitely come home!]
In Sister Guoguo's stream, she was already waiting in front of her computer, dressed in a Fu Xuan cosplay outfit! As soon as the clock struck twelve, she would perform a "grand spectacle" of getting three 5-stars in a single ten-pull for her audience!
"Hmph, hmph, just you watch! Three golds from this gacha!"
[Why does your Fu Xuan have a hint of Bailu to her?]
[Probably because Sister Guoguo's own Bailu is already at max Eidolons.]
[Shh, be careful or Sister Guoguo will hunt you down through the internet cable!]
[There's such a good thing!?]
[Hit me! But... can you use your feet to step on me? This is my life's request!]
Ignoring her deranged chat, Sister Guoguo continued to research her pulling location and team composition.
"Okay, first, stand at the main gate of the Divine Foresight Residence in Changle. Then, put only Yanqing in the party... Good! That settles it!"
Sister Guoguo looked at her gacha ritual with satisfaction. With this formation, a mere Jing Yuan would be easy prey!
"It's twelve o'clock! We respectfully welcome the Divine Foresight General!!"
200 pulls later...
"Clara x1, Jing Yuan x1, Himeko x1, Jing Yuan x1, Welt x1"
"?"
[Sister Guoguo, you did great... pfft...]
[Indeed, you did great!]
[GAAAAAH!!!!]
[Is this a Standard Banner reunion party?]
..................
"Here, we'll place the Trailblazer right here first."
A gentle male voice was teaching the viewers in his stream the true posture for summoning Jing Yuan.
[Mother Yue! Hurry up and set it up! The banner is already open!]
[Yeah, the streamer next door has already sunk two top-ups!]
[Nice, nice, I got him in my first ten-pull!]
[Get this guy outta here! The salt!]
"What's the rush? People who get five golds in a ten-pull never complain about when the banner opens. Let's continue."
The streamer, known as "Mother Yue," replied to the bullet comments with a calm voice.
"First, we'll stand in this position. This is the entrance to Jing Yuan's Divine Foresight Residence."
"Next, we'll switch the team to characters related to Jing Yuan. I'm using Yanqing, Wende, Dan Heng, and Tingyun."
"Why this setup? Yanqing is the easiest to explain. As Jing Yuan's disciple and guard, he's currently the closest known person to him, aside from the satellite characters Jingliu and Fu Xuan."
"As for Dan Heng, we know he used to be a Xianzhou native and has deep ties to the Luofu. In a previous CG, we saw that the person in Dan Heng's dream was Blade from the Stellaron Hunters. And Blade said this line, both in the Shackled Prison and in Dan Heng's dream:
There are five people, and three must pay the price.
Jing Yuan is not one of them, but you are.
From this, we can deduce that both Jing Yuan and Dan Heng are part of these 'five people,' so they must have a deep connection."
"So what about Wende? This is my own speculation. Wende's background is incredibly mysterious. Although there was an animated PV, the information within it is very fragmented."
"We can tell from Wende and Dan Heng's voice lines that there's a sense of 'familiarity' between them, yet they didn't recognize each other before joining the Astral Express..."
"Based on information from the previous PV, we know Wende's Master was from the Xianzhou. Although it's unknown why he was wandering outside, he was indeed one of the long-life species. Therefore, I believe there must be some relationship between Wende, Dan Heng, and Jing Yuan."
Mother Yue analyzed seriously, his entire argument well-reasoned. Although it contained much speculation, it sounded incredibly impressive.
[Hiss... As expected of Mother Yue... please accept my knees.]
[So you're saying... all my husbands are one big family???]
[The Xianzhou is truly full of talented people...]
"Alright... let's start pulling now. It's 12:12. We'll start now."
Mother Yue's finger lightly tapped the ten-pull button. A ticket radiated a rainbow-like, illusory, and ethereal glow. The Astral Express descended from the sky, and a brilliant golden light flashed from behind our Conductor, Pom-Pom.
Lightly tapping the skip button, a confident smile bloomed on Mother Yue's face.
[HOLY SHIT! FOUR GOLDS IN THE FIRST TEN-PULL!! FOUR JING YUANS!!!]
[WTF? I'm going to try this right now!]
[MOTHER YUE IS A GOD!!!]