"Ding — Group member [Great Qin Ninth Prince] has joined the chat group."
"Ding — Group member [Third Princess] has joined the chat group."
While everyone was discussing what interesting situations might arise from the collision between Whitebeard's world and the parallel-timeline One Piece world's different eras, the chat group's notification rang in their ears.
The familiar new-member alert drew their attention.
As the group leader, Su Yunqing instinctively and out of habit issued her standard welcome for new members.
**Richest Man:** "Welcome, newbie."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Welcome, new— hmm? You were faster than me again?"
**Richest Man:** "Come on, I was always faster at the start. If it weren't for having stuff on my plate when the last newbie joined, you think you'd ever beat me?"
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Heh. Too fast isn't good, you know."
**Utaha:** "How is this conversation so immature..."
**Umaru Doma:** "Welcome, newbie — and there's childishness mixed in with a bit of driving skill too."
**Umaru Doma:** "When did I start being able to read between the lines on stuff like this?"
**Demon Queen:** "Yo, another from another world joining the group, huh."
**Demon Queen:** "Interested in joining my Demon Civilization? Join now, and you're second-in-command of the Demon Civilization!"
Seeing new members join, Morgana fired off her recruitment pitch directly in the chat group.
Angel Yan had done nothing yet had managed to pull in Toki and Saeko Busujima — two worlds' worth of resources!
Toki was whatever; Morgana had joined later.
But Saeko Busujima — she'd been the first one Morgana contacted.
The terms she'd offered were already excellent!
Not only would she help Saeko Busujima solve the Infected virus, she wouldn't claim her world at all — all Saeko had to do was join the Demon Civilization. She'd even said she'd do her utmost to cultivate her.
And still, with conditions that generous, she'd been rejected.
This was the importance of reputation!
Goddamn it — not just in her world's Earth, but in other worlds' Earths, "evil" and "depraved" were apparently also derogatory terms!
Fuck!
**Sacred Guardian Left Wing:** "You sure about that?"
**Sacred Guardian Left Wing:** "Then what about Rosa?"
Seeing Morgana's invitation, Angel Yan couldn't help but tease.
Second-in-command of the Demon Civilization — what a generous benefit.
So what would happen to Spatial Rosa?
Was Morgana really willing to let her beloved Spatial Rosa be third-in-command?
Or would she step aside herself and let Spatial Rosa be first-in-command?
**Demon Queen:** "...."
**Demon Queen:** "Cough — actually, third-in-command isn't bad either."
**Sacred Guardian Left Wing:** "HAHAHAHAHA."
Angel Yan's mockery made Morgana grit her teeth. Who the hell asked you to run your mouth?
You goddamn bitch!
**Lin Fengjiao:** "The newbie's name... Great Qin Ninth Prince?"
**Lin Fengjiao:** "Is this Great Qin the Qin Dynasty from history?"
The Qin Dynasty — that wasn't the present-day Endless Epoch where cultivation was as difficult as ascending to heaven. In that era, spiritual energy between heaven and earth was extraordinarily abundant, birthing countless qi refiners.
The Hundred Schools of Thought contended, ideas and philosophies clashing in fierce sparks of brilliance.
Nothing like now, where finding a fellow cultivator wasn't easy at all.
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Great Qin Ninth Prince? Ninth Uncle, I hadn't even noticed."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Strange — should the one joining be the Ninth Son of the First Emperor? I thought it would be the First Emperor himself."
She'd seen chat group fan fiction about the Qin era before — aside from the First Emperor, it was always characters like Yan Yilin, Hong Lian, and Nong Yu from Qin Shi Ming Yue.
The First Emperor's son?
Didn't think anyone had written about that before.
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Come to think of it, do you all know who the Ninth Son of Qin Shi Huang is?"
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "For someone like me who doesn't know much history, I only know the eldest son Fusu, the eighteenth son Huhai, and also Prince Gao and Prince Jianglv."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Prince Jianglv probably isn't the Ninth Son... could it be Prince Gao?"
**Child of Nature:** "The new member's world isn't necessarily the Qin Dynasty from our history."
**Child of Nature:** "If it were truly the historical Qin Dynasty, the chat group would only select the First Emperor as a group member."
**Child of Nature:** "Before the First Emperor's death, no one in Qin existed whose fate could compare with his."
**Child of Nature:** "Below the First Emperor, those with the highest fate were Liu Bang and Xiang Yu."
**Child of Nature:** "If anyone were to join the chat group, it would be one of those two."
**Child of Nature:** "Going further down, it would be Fusu, Huhai, or even Zhao Gao."
**Child of Nature:** "Compared to the historical Qin Dynasty, I find it far more likely that the Great Qin the new member is from merely shares the same name as what we know."
The chat group's member-selection conditions meant that whoever could join from the historical river would be someone whose name endured through the ages.
And that person would be among the absolute top tier of whatever era they occupied.
The Qin Dynasty, especially among the First Emperor's sons — those who left a name behind were, aside from Fusu, Huhai, Prince Gao, and Prince Jianglv, no one else.
But their fate was nowhere near what the First Emperor possessed, nor could it compare with Xiang Yu and Liu Bang, who ended the Qin Dynasty.
Rather than guessing the new member's identity belonged to some figure familiar from the history they knew, it was better to let their thinking expand to other worlds.
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "Oh, right."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "The chat group selects members based on fate — either protagonists or supporting characters."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "The protagonist of the Qin Dynasty is the First Emperor; the protagonist of the Han Dynasty is Liu Bang. Xiang Yu is the important male supporting character. It'd never be anyone else."
Reading Baixuan's words, Su Yunqing snapped back to reality. It was almost laughable.
She remembered she was the protagonist of the work — or at least an important female lead or supporting character — yet she kept forgetting the chat group's member-selection rules.
**Child of Nature:** "But it's not entirely impossible either."
**Child of Nature:** "If this historical Qin Dynasty had been altered by outside forces..."
**Ordinary Group Leader:** "A transmigrator?"
...
In the Great Qin, within a section of the Xianyang Palace.
An antique-feeling courtyard stood there.
Carved beams and painted rafters, an extraordinary charm.
Speaking volumes about the courtyard owner's noble identity.
In the courtyard's center, several beautiful serving girls attended a young man, their eyes filled with admiration and worship.
The young man's features were extraordinary — sword-like brows, star-bright eyes, a nose like a suspended gallbladder, a tall and graceful form. He truly deserved the title of "jade tree meets the wind."
Ying Zinian!
The Ninth Son of His Majesty, the First Emperor!
The young man slowly opened his eyes, brow slightly furrowed.
He half-doubted the voice in his ear — but the information in his mind was enough to overturn all his doubts.
"A chat group?"
"I've transmigrated into this body three days ago. I'd already given up on fantasies."
"I never expected that at the moment I resolved to rely on myself, this would appear."
Just when the path seemed blocked by mountains and water, a sudden brightness opened up — another village behind the willow trees.
*(End of Chapter)*
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