Eldritch Horror Theatre

The beauty of laws lay in their impartiality.

Since Brother Sanxun had disappeared without a trace, Excellency Sha Ming's dedicated mentor shouldn't be an exception either.

Judging from the man's reaction to a casual question, that was exactly the case.

Not only had a Follower actually been watching him, but that entity was now gone as well.

Once established, this proved two more things.

First, the Followers' mode of existence was incredibly unique. They seemed to retain a fair amount of humanity, but their behavior fundamentally adhered to rather strict rules—for instance, they apparently couldn't gang up on a target.

Second, compared to Sanxun, Sha Ming wasn't actually all that special. He was targeted just like everyone else here, making his "speculator" label entirely well-deserved.

As for his instrument of speculation...

Fu Qian narrowed his eyes at the Golden Codex known as the Record of True Transcription.

It was a contradiction he had vaguely sensed earlier, back when he was visiting Hao Ke and his group of rogue cultivators in West Plain.

Why did that tree distribute large-scale blessings—almost like indiscriminately relieving itself—while simultaneously ensuring those blessings remained difficult to detect?

That wasn't even the only thing.

The final desperate situation from earlier had been true to its name, but it was simply too crude and harsh—ascending was severely punished, and descending was severely punished too.

Honestly, viewed from the perspective of a commandment compiler, Fu Qian's critique was that it completely lacked aesthetic appeal.

His summoned entity's assessment that "things are a bit too messy here" likely stemmed from the same impression.

And now, these abrasive contradictions seemed to have an explanation: there were actually two sources of order influencing West Plain City.

The tree, and the book that transcribed its power.

A change had indeed occurred with the tree, but it chose to hide itself, matching the conclusion drawn by Tan Mingxue's monitoring equipment.

On the other hand, this book was reveling in a drought-ending rain. Piggybacking off the tree's changes, it was desperately recovering its power and acting incredibly high-profile by comparison.

For example, it had created the Mind World Projection from earlier, which became more real the closer one got to it.

And the laws echoing within it likely originated from both sources simultaneously—assuming it wasn't a pure transcription and had instead incorporated a bit of its own operational flair.

Judging by how the Blood Lion Organization's recent operation had actually been exploited by Sha Ming, the latter was highly likely one of the "fanatical idiots" the summoned entity had mentioned.

They knew of the tree's existence and were monitoring it.

And once a specific change occurred, they reacted with considerable speed.

As for the rescue team—and even Fu Qian himself—they were merely tools to accelerate the Record of True Transcription's recovery, not unlike companions assisting in physical therapy.

"Rest assured, I will definitely figure out what happened—and exactly who you are!"

While Fu Qian sorted out his thoughts, Sha Ming finally recovered from the interruption.

Having clearly had a sore spot poked, he completely dropped his pretense, his tone no longer masking his hostility.

"Alright then, be my guest."

True elegance was displayed at this moment as Fu Qian made a casual gesture, waiting to see what he would do.

...

"Stop right there!"

As the saying went, the mid and low tiers only needed to charge headlong, but High-Tier Transcendents had to consider much more.

Despite Fu Qian's invitation, and even though the man remained completely motionless where he stood, Sha Ming still hesitated.

Since straightforward people speak plainly, he wasn't naive enough to pretend he didn't care about the Record of True Transcription.

At the same time, however, he couldn't stop himself from focusing on that incredibly oppressive humanoid figure.

Even if that fake Follower didn't stop him, there was still a great deity right here.

Not to mention, the former's words held almost zero credibility to him.

And just as Sha Ming hesitated, Huang Leji's roar rang out from not far away.

Looking toward the sound, it wasn't the heavily injured Old Man angrily rebuking the schemer to forbid any rash moves. Instead, he was yelling at the few team members standing deepest within the cave.

Happy occasions lift the spirit. When a desperate situation suddenly took a miraculous turn for the better, the resulting wild joy went without saying.

Especially for the few people walking at the very front—the Golden Codex was not far away.

Earlier, it was even one of them who had shouted out Blood Lion's identity.

Not only were they finding a way out of a desperate situation, but their target for this trip was right before their eyes. Fully suppressing their urges would obviously be difficult.

Therefore, when Fu Qian gestured for Sha Ming to do as he pleased, they were actually the first to respond.

However, Huang Leji ultimately carried the demeanor of a family head. Not only did he immediately notice their movements, but he also quickly shouted to stop them.

And while yelling at his people, the corner of his eye clearly never left Fu Qian and Sha Ming.

Self-knowledge—if one wanted to survive in the transcendent realm, this was absolutely indispensable.

Between those two men, one had created the desperate situation, and the other had effortlessly dismantled it.

And right now, both of them appeared completely unharmed.

Regardless of why those two weren't rushing to fight over it, there was no longer any reason to harbor fantasies of taking advantage of the situation.

"Why?"

His long-standing authority as family head still held weight, and that roar successfully halted their impulsive actions.

But as they stopped in place, standing just inches away from that patch of gold, those few people still couldn't help but voice their confusion.

Naturally, they didn't get an answer.

...

"Why?"

Truly worthy of being a fanatical believer in copied power, Sha Ming, who was also observing the advance squad's movements, instantly plagiarized their question.

"I'm still verifying."

Unfortunately, just as only magic could defeat magic, Fu Qian—as the target of Sha Ming's inquiry—didn't hesitate to plagiarize the man's earlier statement.

"...Perhaps I can offer a little help."

Feeling Dayun Mingwang's terrible attitude once again, Excellency Sha Ming, who was at least currently in a high-spirited state, finally refused to endure it any longer.

Replying coldly, he appeared to stop caring about anyone else's reactions and walked step by step straight toward the Golden Codex.

Of course, Fu Qian knew this was merely a superficial posture. The man was at least paying attention to the people who had rushed ahead—after being ordered to halt and standing still, they didn't seem to be experiencing any abnormalities.

It was likely after considering this point that Excellency Sha Ming finally decided to take the initiative to break the stalemate, testing how Fu Qian and his summoned entity would react to such a move.

The result, of course, was that Fu Qian still didn't move, even as Sha Ming deliberately slowed his resolute footsteps.

...

It was just a pity that Sha Ming still seemed to treat this as a contest of willpower.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, his footsteps maintained an astonishing consistency as he continued to stride toward his target.

Thud! Thud!

As the saying went, the painstaking person is not failed by heaven. Just when he was only a few steps away from his goal, this transcendent perseverance finally brought about a change.

Only, it wasn't the flashing of swords and shadows of interception, but the sound of bodies hitting the ground.

Within the rescue team, more than one person had collapsed without any warning.

At the same time, Fu Qian and his summoned entity remained entirely motionless.

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