Eldritch Horror Theatre

Someone winning the prize meant there was still a residual influence.

But the winner couldn’t utter the title ”Master Yuhun,” offering another strange name instead...

This could seemingly be understood as an act of self-preservation, hiding the relevant information.

But a moment’s thought revealed the flaw in that logic. If he truly possessed such subjective agency, why not simply prevent anyone from winning in the first place?

Not to mention, Fu Qian was still alive. Wouldn’t such a cover-up be a bit too feeble?

In Fu Qian’s estimation, a lack of results from the previous test meant one of two things. First, Master Yuhun’s body died and his Dao dissipated completely, his Chan path vanished, and Linghui Courtyard had returned to its former peace.

Second, and entirely to the contrary, Master Yuhun was in such good condition that he could freely control his boundaries, hiding himself perfectly so that Fu Qian couldn’t trace him back.

In either case, from Linghui Courtyard’s perspective, these suspicions couldn’t be verified, and Apocalypse simply lost a chandelier for nothing.

As for there being a reaction, there were many more possibilities, such as the most ideal one—

[The King of the Abandoned Prison stepped into the courtyard, only to see Weilong and Professor Yang bow under the Grand Inner Demon Oath, willing to lead the entirety of Linghui to serve like dogs and horses, their livers and brains smeared on the ground!]As for the situation right in front of him, he could only call it very subtle.

This posture didn’t mean much to anyone else, but it could specifically be understood as a misdirection aimed at himself.

That is, Master Yuhun was pretending to have lost his subjective agency, when in reality, he was hiding his true state to confuse Fu Qian.

Aside from this complicated interpretation, there was a more straightforward one—his problems were genuinely so severe that he couldn’t perform any additional operations.

Yet at the same time, his influence remained. His body had not died and his Dao had not dissipated completely, allowing his past delusions to trigger an unconditioned reflex to a certain extent—much like a Miracle.

Fu Qian thought back to his recent gains from cooperating with the Benevolent Curse Institute.

Put that way, it really was somewhat similar, even though that person seemed to be walking the cultivation path.

So, ”Sugar” could actually be the object of supplication for a Miracle?

Moreover, judging from past experience, the higher entities behind Miracles had to be quite dead to achieve that kind of effect.

But it was just an Inner Demon Mark. Did Master Yuhun really suffer such heavy damage?

...

Although the path of cultivation boasted astonishing efficiency, its ultimate destination truly left one deep in thought...

The value of his previous warning to Classmate Liushuang seemed to be rising.

For a moment, Fu Qian recalled a certain scene he had encountered in the inner demon gladiator arena—

The Sword Saint split in two. Each possessed power no weaker than the main body, and their genders were entirely different.

If that was a special cloning technique mastered upon reaching the peak of the sword path, wasn’t molding an extra appearance a bit superfluous?

Or perhaps, both that man and woman were actually at the peak of the sword path?

Unlike the traditional path to becoming a God, did this path’s endpoint allow for the existence of multiple people?

Much like the relationship between the title ”Impermanence” and Master Yuhun?

But he had always felt that Yuhun was still entangled in obsessions, looking far from achieving perfection.

It couldn’t be a blessing in disguise that helped him finally attain the Dao, could it?

It was hard to say. There were simply too many possibilities.

For instance, maybe he was overcomplicating things. Perhaps these were just different titles for the exact same person—the courtesy name ”Impermanence,” the pseudonym ”Master Yuhun,” the posthumous title ”Inner Demon,” and so on.

Should he just test it out directly?

Unfortunately, since they were acting as a bunch of oscilloscopes, even if he could punch someone through the screen, the effect wouldn’t be any more significant than taking out that group of Tier 2s earlier.

Not to mention, the Calamity Eyes above Silei’s head hadn’t changed much compared to the beginning.

Bathing Linghui in blood just for this was far too unworthy. It would be better to keep an eye on what Weilong and the others discovered.

Beyond that, there was another way to verify things from a different angle—the academy where Master Yuhun taught, which Old Man Stoss had mentioned.

Even if he didn’t go looking for it himself, given the recent consecutive anomalies of the Flame of Frenzy, there was a very high probability that the Night Watchers would pay attention to it.

”Alright, Impermanence. Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

As a series of thoughts flashed through his mind, Fu Qian actually addressed Silei as he requested and pressed him with a question.

...

”It’s regrettable, but I’ve lost interest in communicating. This meaningless fallacy only makes me feel filthy...”

Just as expected, the other party had started speaking nonsense.

”The only thing I want to do now is achieve complete Transcendence from all of this—”

A loud smack interrupted Silei’s speech, which sounded like he was about to undergo a transformation.

Amid the flying splinters, the group stared blankly at the broken half of a tabletop in Fu Qian’s hand.

”No need to thank me.”

Fu Qian called out to the person who had been slapped flying.

Although there was no need to damage the instrument, it was still worth trying out the legendary grandmaster-level repair technique: giving a malfunctioning device a good smack.

And the latter truly lived up to the physique of a Psychic Type; his resistance to getting hit was genuinely quite poor.

While Silei was in the air, blood sprayed from at least double-digit spots on his body, rendering his struggles upon landing rather unimpressive.

Fortunately, he still had a pupillary response. First, they underwent the legendary earthquake-style dilation. After subconsciously looking over, he involuntarily looked away.

It seemed Fu Qian had successfully helped him reconsider the true weight of the word ”Transcendence.”

It was somewhat a pity that the ”Sugar” behind him ultimately didn’t show any extra reaction.

”Fortunately, I didn’t fail my mission. You shouldn’t need our involvement going forward, right?”

Without waiting for Silei to thank him, Fu Qian turned to look at Weilong and the others.

”...That should be fine. If we make any new discoveries later, I’ll contact you at any time.”

Professor Fu’s efficiency was breathtaking. As Weilong and his colleague exchanged complicated looks, they didn’t insist on keeping him.

”Anyway, thank you very much. Before everything is handled, could Wen Li stay with Professor Fu for a while longer?”

He even offered a rare expression of gratitude and confirmed Wen Li’s arrangement.

”This thing is quite special. It can almost be seen as a kind of divinity that feeds on the ’ego’. After dealing with Silei’s situation, we still need to run more tests. If she stays here, she might be unnecessarily affected.”

”No problem. Besides, I feel the same.”

Giving a slight nod, Fu Qian agreed to this perfectly reasonable request.

”Although I don’t really approve of its taste.”

...

The sharp criticism Professor Fu added in passing was truly suffocating. Left speechless, Weilong and his colleague looked toward Cass beside them, only to realize that Professor Fu was also using his gaze to seek an opinion.

”Even I gained a lot today. Linghui’s achievements during this time are astonishing. As for the hidden dangers... they can’t be ignored, but there’s no need to needlessly belittle yourselves.”

The latter chuckled, clearly feeling that the welcome ceremony for returning from the scientific expedition was spectacular. He even remembered to acknowledge Linghui’s incredible results, aligning with Professor Fu’s earlier statements.

”I’ll arrange for someone to handle the compensation for the chandelier.”

After specially emphasizing the matter of paying the bill, he directly took the lead.