Eldritch Horror Theatre

Absolute dominance—unleashed!

It was often said that one didn’t need perfect clarity to awaken a profound inner reaction—a truth vividly demonstrated right now.

Toolman A Fei remained invisible, his presence only faintly discernible through abstract perception.

Yet in that moment, just looking at his shadow on the ground was enough to sense an aura that looked down upon the world.

His body was horribly mangled, and only a moment ago he had been gripped by uncontrollable frenzy, yet in a single instant, he became an existence no one dared to look at directly.

The execution strike falling from the sky—an attack more than enough to obliterate him completely—had been effortlessly blocked.

His absolutely correct opponent—the Sword Saint Ah Fei who had suppressed him into a dead end—now seemed to exist on an entirely different level. In fact, ”seemed” was unnecessary.

His Vision Radar alone was enough to tell, not to mention his partially recovered Transcendent Perception. At that moment, Fu Qian was absolutely certain: Toolman A Fei had undergone yet another rebirth.

He no longer just possessed a nascent trace of divinity; he had actually touched upon authority.

Or, in the terminology of a cultivation route, had he touched the origin of the sword path?In short, he was now a solid Tier 2 combatant, to the point that the error-corrected copy standing opposite could suddenly no longer be mentioned in the same breath.

Excellent. Crushing the enemy with sheer power was the right way to go, after all.

Toolman A Fei’s continuous, logic-defying progress was undoubtedly throwing a middle finger to concepts like transcendent rituals and Divine Traits, but Fu Qian highly appreciated this method of breaking the deadlock.

Was an opponent who never made a single mistake and executed every aspect perfectly truly without flaws?

Ever since he was a child listening to tales of true martial intent, Fu Qian had pondered this question.

The conclusion was that a flawless defense simply didn’t exist. Strength and weakness were always relative. As long as you could casually smash through a Golden Bell Shield, every inch of your opponent’s body was a fatal weak point.

And that appeared to be the exact situation playing out now. Sword Saint Ah Fei hadn’t made any mistakes; his opponent was simply no longer on the same level.

”Impossible—”

Even His Excellency the Lord of Intellect made a timely appearance to serve as the shocked peanut gallery, once again surrendering whatever cool factor he had painstakingly accumulated.

”See? I told you I had confidence in my toolman.”

There was no way Fu Qian would let such a scene slip by; he immediately chimed in to hype up the atmosphere.

At that exact moment, Sword Saint Ah Fei executed a backflip to open up the distance, while his opponent’s demeanor remained composed, showing no intention of even pursuing.

...

”Absolutely absurd. How did you know he could undergo such a transformation?”

With the situation rapidly reversing, the Lord of Intellect seemed to have simply abandoned his poised posture, continuing to act shocked.

”So you believe this kind of transformation is possible?”

Fu Qian wasn’t in a hurry to answer this time. Instead, he grew curious about the entity’s attitude toward the path of cultivation.

The entity was puzzled about how Fu Qian knew, rather than denying that such spontaneous upgrading could occur at all. That attitude was rather subtle.

He was the Weaver of Wisdom, after all. Getting a chance to discuss high-level academic topics was one of life’s true pleasures.

”This path of theirs is already the ultimate blasphemy against the transcendent sequence. It is sheer opportunism that completely violates the rules.”

He hadn’t actually expected much of an answer, but this topic seemed to strike a nerve for the Lord of Intellect, prompting him to instantly validate Fu Qian’s statement.

Ultimate blasphemy, violating the rules, sheer opportunism... Excellent. It sounded like crimes worthy of immediate execution.

Fu Qian nodded repeatedly.

Even better, this served as a powerful supplement to the Fruit and Sugar Theory—

Did the step-by-step growth of all fruit equate to the original state of the transcendent sequence?

Then the act of extracting the sugar was the ultimate blasphemy.

And subsequently, forgoing the fruit route to directly synthesize artificial sweeteners in cultivation belonged to the deviant path of pure opportunism.

Everything lined up perfectly.

And obviously, to the Lord of Intellect, all of these were fallacies that needed to be corrected.

”I see. But by that logic, wouldn’t he also be a fallacy?”

The logical reasoning of a dedicated academic kicked in once again as Fu Qian pointed at Sword Saint Ah Fei, who was currently on full alert.

”I’ve told you that you fools simply cannot comprehend this. Even fallacies are divided by levels...”

For a moment, the atmosphere felt almost like a graduation defense. After a brief silence, however, the Lord of Intellect still refused to lose the upper hand on this front.

”But it’s quite easy to understand. Starting from the initial origin, every single deviation is a fallacy, and the further along you go, the more unforgivable it becomes. For instance, my relationship with Him.”

Unfortunately, Fu Qian let out a cold scoff, continuing to display the caliber of a leading academic. He even pointed at the True King of the Abandoned Prison as a ready-made example.

”The problem is that by this logic, your so-called absolute correctness is clearly relative. Your earlier phrasing borders on exaggeration.”

He didn’t let the Lord of Intellect off the hook, immediately pointing out his suspected false advertising.

...

”Your level of madness far exceeds that thing...”

Looking very much like he had been argued into speechlessness, but recognizing that graduation was paramount, the Lord of Intellect finally choked out what sounded like flattery.

”I admit you are as powerful as a Divine Entity, but do not forget—that means He is equally as powerful as a Divine Entity. Do you truly not realize the situation you are in right now?”

Oh?

This tone of ”if you fail my defense, I know where you live”—did he really think Professor Fu scared easily?

Getting called out for boasting, only to directly pivot to reminders about personal safety—Fu Qian had seen this exact tactic plenty of times before. He didn’t even cast a glance toward the ”True King of the Abandoned Prison.”

Although the problem did indeed exist.

By this point, the Lord of Intellect’s specific authority had become quite clear. Just as suspected, it was tied to the original transcendent order.

The most easily digestible explanation was this: before the paths of cultivation had even emerged, the various higher entities represented the correct order.

In fact, according to the project conclusions from his previous discussions with Professor Lisa back at the Academy, every higher entity corresponded to an inevitably existing transcendent Divine Path, which together formed the transcendent sequence.

Under this framework, his own existence as a soulless, mechanized remake was undoubtedly an act of blasphemy.

The subsequently extracted Heavenly Dao of cultivation was an even more systematic evil.

For the Lord of Intellect, his authority allowed him to target such evil by projecting a correct version to repair and maintain that original order.

He was practically an extreme reactionary. Perhaps he should be called the God of Conservatism?

Observations aside, just as previously stated, Fu Qian was well aware of how lethal this reactionary authority was to him in his current state.

Rank suppression was a non-factor. That was a theoretically more perfect version of himself, and it would ultimately demand that there could only be one King of the Abandoned Prison.

The Lord of Intellect had personally admitted that Fu Qian was as powerful as a Divine Entity, yet he remained brimming with confidence for precisely this reason.

”Fully grasping one’s own situation is already a difficult thing to do.”

Refusing to be intimidated, Fu Qian simply gestured toward the two A Feis still locked in a standoff.

”Fortunately, I am quite clear on their situation.”