Eldritch Horror Theatre

Domineering.

The banquet wasn't large, but it painted a perfect portrait of Shangjing's high society.

There was no shortage of individuals here who had grasped divinity. Given the short distance, it wouldn't be difficult for them to overhear this conversation.

Yet Yuan Shan made no attempt to lower her voice. Her calm tone brimmed with absolute dominance—unless she sought someone out first, no one would dare disturb their peace without reason.

This was the true meaning of the great recluse hiding in the market.

It didn't mean avoiding public appearances. It meant: until I acknowledge you, you must pretend you don't see me.

He had to admit, he could genuinely feel the sincerity behind today's free meal.

In fact, Yuan Shan's conduct seemed like a far more reasonable stance in Fu Qian's eyes.

Strength did the talking here; the current order was forcibly maintained through violence.

Strength was one thing, but at its core, this peace was maintained solely by the anomalous motives of the Night Watchers, who willingly bound their own hands to forcefully suppress the era.

That didn't mean Fu Qian disbelieved in their potential desire to protect the common people.

But from a purely sociological perspective, the current system was far from an equilibrium reached through sufficient compromise.

In other words, if the Night Watchers' motives ever soured, or if their strength fell short, the current order would instantly lose its foundation and rapidly slide into a bloody nightmare.

Under such circumstances, beyond upholding the Night Watchers' basic principles, there was little point in being overly particular about mingling joyfully with the masses.

The framework was already riddled with holes. Did they really expect to cobble together a perfectly functioning system?

Yes, he was directly criticizing a certain chief of Ye Island, Gin Kazuhiro.

The idea looked beautiful on paper, but it ultimately led to the Night Watchers tying their own hands. They were taken advantage of step by step until things spiraled out of control, culminating in the mess with Yasui Tokiyuki.

In contrast, Yuan Shan's seemingly unprofessional stance actually yielded better results for short-term stability.

For example, while her current behavior might invite criticism, the core message it conveyed was explicitly clear: I take responsibility for the things I lead.

By not setting rules, she couldn't hide behind them.

I backed the new city official, and I'm not going to be hypocritical about it now. I'm stepping up directly to hold the fort.

Rule by man certainly didn't sound very advanced, but its execution simply came down to residing in a single mind.

Of course, even though he clearly understood Yuan Shan's motives for coming here, there was still one small loophole—he was also one of the people holding the fort.

Fu Qian noted that although he was enjoying the food, simply standing next to Yuan Shan made it impossible to keep a low profile.

He didn't even need to look up to know that a hale and hearty old man not far away was staring daggers at him, his fierce eyes harboring hidden resentment.

More importantly, while the face looked faintly familiar, Fu Qian was certain they had never dealt with each other before.

"Who's that?"

Considering it was such a relaxed evening, Fu Qian didn't even bother expending the brain cells to jog his memory. He simply gestured openly toward the man and asked Yuan Shan.

...

"Chen Pingxian. You don't know him?"

In a conversation that truly ignored everyone else in the room, Yuan Shan casually dropped the name without hiding her surprise.

"A little familiar... I remember now."

In response, Fu Qian finally ran a mental search and successfully pinpointed the source of that familiarity.

Chen Xing, Chen Mingda, Chen Mingfei... and so on.

They were the targets of his task when he first arrived in Shangjing—the faces of the Chen Clan, who had received technical support from the Origin Council.

In fact, the reason the name sounded familiar was the exact same reason Yuan Shan was surprised—

"Weren't you planning to visit him before?"

Sure enough, Yuan Shan's next words confirmed his memory.

Chen Pingxian. After Chen Xing used an unconventional method to break into the Demigod Realm and was forcibly thwarted by Fu Qian, the Chen Clan had suffered heavy losses and pushed this man forward as their new leader.

At the time, to mislead Ariel and stabilize the situation in Shangjing while they waited for reinforcements, Fu Qian had posed as a terrorist at Yuan Shan's request.

To make the act more convincing, he had volunteered to truly embrace the terrorist role by taking this old man out.

It was just a pity that the plan was never executed, meaning he never actually met the man in person.

Though by the looks of it, that hadn't stopped the man from forming a strong opinion of him.

During the Chen Clan incident, Fu Qian had shown his face directly, and had even taken action against them.

Hiding behind the scenes as the Bookstore Owner was one thing, but appearing so openly now—it was perfectly normal for the man to be a little emotional upon seeing him.

Of course, now that Yuan Shan had spoken those words out in the open, that emotion was likely rapidly turning into a cold sweat.

"Yeah. I'm actually quite interested in their Mechanism Guiding Art."

Having always been quite skilled at rubbing salt into wounds, how could Fu Qian let this opportunity pass? He admitted it on the spot.

...

As expected, he had been impolitely eavesdropping.

From the corner of his eye, Fu Qian could clearly sense old Mr. Chen Pingxian's crumbling composure.

If the first sentence had left the man frantically pondering why Fu Qian would want to visit him, the follow-up would undoubtedly be taken as the answer.

Eldest Miss Wen had once provided intelligence that the Chen Clan possessed a secret family technique known as the Mechanism Guiding Art, which could help talented clan youths embark on a predetermined transcendent path.

Even though the subsequent bottlenecks were quite obvious—so much so that the late old man Chen Xing had lost faith in it.

But in this transcendent world where the Mid Tier was already highly impressive, it was undoubtedly the foundation of the Chen Clan—

And now, some lackey of the Night Watchers was actually scheming for their ancestors' secret technique? What were they supposed to do!

Skillfully placing himself in the man's shoes, Fu Qian empathized with the turbulent emotions surging beneath that face.

"Are you sure?"

This time, it was Yuan Shan who looked surprised.

He couldn't blame her. After all, as one of the few people who knew the man before her was already at Tier 2, and given her understanding of the Chen Clan's situation, it was genuinely difficult to connect the two.

Never mind the difference in their paths. It couldn't even produce a demigod; what use would a Tier 2 have for it?

"I'm sure."

Yet Fu Qian genuinely nodded.

Sincerity was always misunderstood.

When it came to advancing his rank, this cultivation method naturally held no meaning, but he hadn't forgotten his identity as an academic researcher.

As he increasingly glimpsed the bizarre nature of the path to Deity, the true essence of this cultivation journey inevitably made him more curious.

Aside from the reference subjects at the Sword Comprehension Institute, this special case of a clan's secret technique was undeniably excellent research material.

Of course, this level of attention carried far too much weight. It looked like the man in question already wanted to pack up and go home—oh?

At the same time, another figure who had been carefully watching them slowly approached.

Excellency Grantham, it seemed, had finally made some sort of decision.

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