Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2618: Chapter 2613: Heaven Country Sanctuary

So that’s how it is. That really is kind of a coincidence.

In many contexts, the sun and the moon are concepts that tend to be mentioned together.

So from Fu Qian’s perspective, Yuan Shan’s explanation was really quite reasonable.

In fact, from this angle, the way she so quickly accepted the Red Moon’s statement without further questioning also felt more natural.

Getting targeted by a higher power for no reason—how could you not wonder why.

”I can’t quite figure out the exact reason yet, but I keep feeling there’s some connection.”

And the way Yuan Shan looked now clearly showed she was trying to treat the correspondence between sun and moon as a possible cause.

Even though she herself admitted the concrete logical link was rather hard to verify.

”It’s fine. Your place hasn’t exactly been quiet just for a day or two. Tell me what exactly happened.”

Fu Qian, for his part, offered some gentle consolation, saying life is like this, might as well enjoy it.

”It really does seem that way...”

Yuan Shan had obviously had more memories stirred by that one line; recounting all sorts of incidents from this period, she nearly found herself at a loss for words.

Never mind the Red Moon—back when she first faced Ariel, the sun had already descended on this side.

”In fact, the connection isn’t that strong. It’s just that two days ago I learned an internal piece of information, and it reminded me of something I once discussed with you.”

But she still showed gratifying resilience, quickly pulling herself together to share.

”I remember you once asked a question: who is the master of Heaven? It just so happens that according to the information I got, they seem to have recently discovered a ’Kingdom on Earth’.”

...

Oh... Kingdom on Earth?

That did sound like an interesting term.

Given Chief Yuan’s status, the accuracy of internal intel from her side should be beyond doubt.

And as for the conversation she mentioned, Fu Qian naturally remembered it clearly.

He had once asked her about the name Eckhart, and when she later had findings, she’d specifically hurried over to tell him that person had once been a follower of the sun.

From that alone you could tell Chief Yuan really took it to heart. Back then he’d only casually asked about concepts like Heaven and Paradise, hadn’t even clarified what link they had to the sun, yet she still kept it in mind.

”Sounds like a pretty extraordinary place. Did they say what it looks like?”

Nodding slightly, Fu Qian pictured those layered, stacked Paradises in his head, and asked curiously.

”Unfortunately there aren’t many details—just that the place seems to be pure white, with a very unusual feel.”

Yuan Shan shook her head, saying that just having such a name was already good enough.

Pure white... White Head Holy Church?

But that was already enough. A certain excessively vivid trait instantly triggered Fu Qian’s memories, bringing to mind those hanging curtains.

He’d even recommended the visual effect to some bride, stressing how photogenic it was—how could he forget.

It could even make one further associate it with an existence whose surface was veined all over, resembling an inverted Stomach.

So it’s Him? That thing was solidly confirmed to be heavily connected to Lord Stomach’s authority.

It really could be Him... because another person’s behavior immediately lined up with this, namely Lord Aike, a fellow Night Watchman.

Back when he was preparing for the field exam in the Academy, she had been in charge of investigating the Finger Ball project. As a special commissioner she should have stayed longer, yet she’d abruptly rushed over just to take her leave.

He’d already guessed then that the Night Watchman side might have had some major breakthrough, so they’d called her back in a hurry.

Now it seemed that might indeed have been related to the Kingdom on Earth that Yuan Shan mentioned.

”Interesting... In a project I worked on with Lord Aike, there was something similar. But we usually call it the White Head Holy Church.”

Fu Qian didn’t even bother to hide this; he directly brought up content that belonged to another of his identities.

...

”White Head Holy Church?”

Even though they both already tacitly knew about each other’s Academy personas, such a straightforward laying of cards on the table was still a bit bold. Chief Yuan actually looked a little flattered, quietly repeating the other name.

You could tell she wasn’t familiar with it; she probably hadn’t known about this project before.

”Yeah. Everything inside is white, and there’s this very strong sense of contrast.”

Fu Qian casually described the place he had visited with Miss Liushuang, including the accompanying pleasures of restraint and the restraint of pleasure.

”...That doesn’t sound like much of a Heavenly place at all. If anything, it sounds downright creepy.”

The more Yuan Shan listened, the deeper her frown grew, and she ended up echoing her earlier sentiment, declaring it unappealing.

”All I can say is, it depends on who you ask. At least among the victims I’ve seen, most of them couldn’t resist that feeling, and were forever longing to go further.”

Fu Qian recalled Benji and the others, as well as those strange wills in the ”Paradise.”

Heaven, this sort of thing, is inherently very subjective.

”It even sounds like you’re a bit looking forward to it?”

Unfortunately, this kind of objective tone was easy to misinterpret. Yuan Shan immediately furrowed her brows again, stared at Fu Qian, and almost couldn’t help inching away from him.

Mainly it was Fu Qian’s fault for describing it too vividly just now.

What do you mean, looking forward to it? It’s not like he hadn’t experienced it.

Fu Qian just snorted at her reaction and simply switched topics.

”That’s only why you left that letter. So why’d you rush over in person today?”

...

Though it was indeed interesting news, given they couldn’t even confirm it had anything to do with the sun, it didn’t seem weighty enough to make Chief Yuan come in person; it actually matched their earlier judgment about that blank letter.

So on one hand he was satisfied with Chief Yuan’s dedication; on the other, Fu Qian was even more curious about why she’d come today.

”You’re right, that’s not it... It actually has to do with my teacher.”

Sure enough, Yuan Shan let out a long sigh, confirming this.

Old Master Henry? The topic earlier was mutual devotion, wasn’t it?

What she said next made Fu Qian click his tongue in amazement.

Just earlier, to give Yuan Shan some strength, he’d chosen to use the old man as motivation.

Yet it turned out that her hurrying over was also related to him?

”What happened to the old man?”

Given that they’d colluded to some extent, Fu Qian immediately showed some concern.

”...The problem is I don’t know what happened to him.”

Fitting of Chief Yuan, her answer actually had the same style as her earlier self‑evaluation.

”I have an item related to my teacher, and its effect is very simple: it can let me sense his condition to a certain extent, even across great distances.”

Clearly aware of how serious this sounded, Yuan Shan hesitated a moment before continuing.

”But just now, that item suddenly lost its sense of him, and I couldn’t get in touch with my teacher either... My original plan was, if you weren’t here, I’d head straight for the Night Holy City.”