"What's wrong with this child? Xiahou, did you frighten him?"
Noticing how ill at ease Amo was, Wanmeng thought Xiahou had frightened him just now and scolded him.
Xiahou was puzzled too. Could he really have frightened the boy? He had seemed so excited just a moment ago.
Hearing Wanmeng scold Xiahou Chan, Amo instinctively said, "No, I was just too excited."
He scratched his head in embarrassment as he spoke. Beside him, Xiaohe added with a giggle, "Actually, Amo is a fan of the Four Existences Atop Nihility. He has quite a few reports about you all that he recorded from the television at home."
"Xiaohe."
In his haste, Amo reached out and covered Xiaohe's mouth, forcibly cutting her off. All she could do was show her two big eyes and blink playfully at the three of them.
"Oh~ So you're a fan! Hahaha, kid, you've got good taste! See? I'm a general-how could I not have fans? Qingzhu talks nonsense, saying there's no way I could have any. Once this is over, I'll show her that I have fans too!"
Seeing how happy Xiahou Chan looked, Wanmeng and Qi Tianque said nothing. After all, they knew his temperament better than anyone. He usually bickered with Qingzhu and got together for a few drinks with the others, spending most of his remaining time with the army.
"By the way, General Xiahou, when I came over just now, I heard the Alliance's logistics staff say we have a steward named Qingxin who's very pretty. Is that true?"
Amo suddenly leaned forward, looking excited. The three exchanged glances, then looked at Xiaohe behind him.
"That's right. Why? Want to pursue our Qingxin? Aren't you afraid your little girlfriend will get jealous?"
Xiahou Chan teased.
Amo scratched his head, looking embarrassed. Xiaohe answered in his place, "No, I'm looking for Sister Qingxin because we know her. She's the pretty, understanding big sister who lived next door to us. She left our planet a few days ago and said she was coming here. And we heard the Alliance army was preparing to go to all-out war with the Garden, so we thought we'd come and see if we could help."
As she spoke, Xiaohe awkwardly scratched her cheek. "But we didn't expect to get caught when we tried to sneak in and see the generals in person. Hehe."
Xiaohe's words made even Amo's face burn, and his toes curled against the ground in embarrassment.
But Xiahou Chan and the other two showed no reaction. They were holding a conversation in their minds through Qi Tianque's Tuning.
Xiahou: They say they know Qingxin. Is that true? Has Qingxin been to a frontier planet?
Wan: I don't think so. The divination showed that Qingxin came straight to us after leaving Daiyu. She didn't go anywhere else at all.
Xiahou: Could these two kids be lying? But that shouldn't be possible. They don't look like they're lying, and if they were, could they fool me? I'm an Emanator, you know.
Qi: Um, Brother Xiahou, Sister Wanmeng, have you forgotten someone? Oh, no, a god.
Xia and Wan: Could it be... Lady Arbiter of Life?
The three recalled seeing Ayinai before they left Daiyu. The aura around her had indeed weakened a tiny bit, though only a tiny bit, so little that it could be completely disregarded.
At first, they had thought Lady Arbiter of Life was using the power of her Path to nourish the Ambrosial Arbor. Now, it seemed that "Qingxin" was very likely Ayinai in disguise!
Having figured it out, the three of them slapped their foreheads in unison. My Lady Arbiter of Life, couldn't you tell us what you wanted to do? It's not as if we'd disobey you.
"Hm? Who's talking about me?"
On a distant mountain outside the Alliance army's camp, Ayinai was sitting on a tree branch, gazing toward the encampment.
"Looks like they should have arrived. In that case, it's time to return and report to my main body."
The young Ayinai stood up and stretched, then her body turned into specks of golden-green light and vanished.
Inside the tent.
Amo and Xiaohe stared in confusion at the three people who had slapped their foreheads in unison. What was wrong with them?
Wanmeng turned to the two of them and said, "Well, actually, the Qingxin who was with you isn't the Qingxin in our camp."
"Huh? She isn't?"
Amo lowered his head in disappointment. He didn't doubt her for a moment. After all, why would she lie to him? There was no need. He had nothing that could attract them.
It was like an elephant facing an ant. Would you lie to someone far weaker than you, with such a huge gap between you? No, because there was no need.
"Although she isn't Qingxin, you need to prepare yourselves for what we're about to tell you."
Hearing that, Xiaohe immediately asked anxiously, "What happened? Could it be that Sister Qingxin..."
Xiaohe's nose tingled, and she didn't dare continue. Although the way Sister Qingxin usually looked at Amo seemed quite off, she had been truly kind to both of them. Xiaohe didn't want anything to happen to her.
Seeing how anxious Xiaohe and Amo were, Wanmeng couldn't help laughing. Amo and Xiaohe were somewhat bewildered, and seeing their confused expressions, Qi Tianque explained why on behalf of the two.
"The reason we're asking you to prepare yourselves is that this news is so shocking we're afraid you won't be able to take it in all at once.
"The Sister Qingxin you're talking about isn't human. She's a god."
"A god?!"
Amo and Xiaohe cried out in surprise. A god had disguised herself as a human to approach them? What god had that much time on their hands?
The first one Xiaohe thought of was Aha, the Aeon of Elation, who spent all day with nothing to do but wander around looking for fun. She was even calculating how to get back at him, but Qi Tianque's next words left her frozen on the spot.
"The Sister Qingxin you're talking about is the very god we of the Xianzhou Daiyu worship: the Aeon of Existence, Lady Arbiter of True Existence."
The two stood frozen as if struck by lightning. Just two seconds later, Amo cried out, his voice several notches louder.
"Lady Goddess!"
As a follower of the Aeon of Existence under the Garden's jurisdiction, he worshipped the goddess fanatically, and his loyalty to her was unwavering. That was why he had traveled such a great distance to come here. Even knowing how little power he had, he had insisted on coming to join another organization that worshipped the goddess and crush the traitors!
But now they were telling him that the woman he had so affectionately called Sister Qingxin was actually Lady Goddess in disguise! He had called Lady Goddess his sister!
Xiaohe was stunned too. It was Lady Goddess? But why had Lady Goddess hidden her aura?
As a child whom Lady Goddess had personally brought out of the land of Nihility, she had failed to recognize the "mother" who had given her a new life. It left her deeply disappointed in herself.