Eldritch Horror Theatre

”So determined?”

Faced with Serana’s posture of placing life and death outside consideration, Fu Qian let out a soft ”oh.”

”Not afraid of dying?”

The words carried a clear threat, the subtext obvious: ’You’re following me inside while in a weakened state. Aren’t you afraid I’ll casually finish you off?’

”Only if you don’t want to make it back out.”

Serana scoffed, completely unfazed.

”Got it.”

Fu Qian wore a look of sudden realization.

”The method you taught me last time was a fake... Were you hoping I’d trap myself inside one day so you could seize the opportunity to deal with me?”

”It was merely incomplete. I was under no obligation to tell you everything, was I?”Serana cast a sidelong glance at Fu Qian, a cold sneer on her lips.

”What a pity you never used it even once.”

That was a blatant admission. The woman certainly had some nerve.

In truth, Fu Qian’s reason for never using Ancient Reminiscence was much the same as his reason for accepting it in the first place—he had never intended to use the artifact as a trap. What truly interested him was the moon in the sky.

The obvious suppression from such a high Rank had left a profound impression on him.

Over the course of his journey, he had dealt with all sorts of moons far too often, so he naturally paid extra attention to it.

Coupled with Serana’s insistence, which made it difficult to refuse, he had simply played along and accepted it.

Fu Qian’s original plan had been to stow it away, waiting until he found some interesting clues before entering it for comparative research.

To his surprise, Serana had delivered the clues right to his doorstep.

Of course, he certainly wasn’t going to tell Serana that.

”How could your petty little schemes ever deceive this consultant?”

Fu Qian let out a cold laugh of his own.

”If I had done that, would you still have told me your secrets today, let alone brought me here?”

Since there was no way to prove it false anyway, anyone could play the game of infinite reversals!

...

It was obvious that Serana, already under immense pressure, had still suffered a bit of Mental Shock from his words.

She froze for a moment and lowered her head, clearly genuinely considering the possibility that she had been baited.

”Are you bluffing?”

But with centuries of life experience under her belt, she obviously wasn’t going to be fooled so easily. She soon ground her teeth and spoke.

”I am.”

Fu Qian wore an incredibly punchable expression.

”There’s a very high probability that I am bluffing, yes. But the problem is, even if there’s only a one percent chance, can you bear the thought of your Progenitor being plotted against and profaned?”

When it came to the talent for striking at the heart, he had always maxed out that skill tree.

...

Staring daggers at Fu Qian, Serana’s expression morphed several times in a matter of seconds. She even looked like she was debating whether to just turn and run.

”If your Progenitor saw you acting like this, do you think They would feel respected or disrespected?”

Seeing that Serana was on the verge of a mental crash, Fu Qian smiled slightly and continued.

”You may seem reverent, yet you let yourself be casually manipulated using Their name. If I were Her, I’d most likely classify you as an unworthy Offspring.”

...

”Let’s go. There might be a very long road ahead of us.”

When Serana spoke again, her demeanor was visibly subdued.

Her legs barely even trembled as she stepped over the severed head by the door.

Excellent!

Fu Qian was highly satisfied with this outcome.

They were about to explore the mysteries of a Deity, after all. Having a timid teammate tagging along simply wouldn’t do.

He was confident that after that verbal beating, the woman’s mind had been suitably desensitized. She wouldn’t be as prone to letting her imagination run wild anymore.

”It is indeed the Progenitor. This is Their Emblem.”

The interior of the building wasn’t very large. A few seconds later, facing the Statue, Serana backed step by step into a corner where a downward passage lay hidden.

Staring at the markings on the side of the passage, Serana spoke with absolute certainty.

”So the Blood Clan has temples like this too? I thought you preferred Underground structures.”

Fu Qian surveyed their surroundings, speaking in a casual, conversational tone.

The effects of being forced to pass through that beam of light earlier were even more drastic than he had imagined.

He could clearly feel the suppression now; his movements were noticeably sluggish, and irregular black swirled patterns had begun to appear on his body.

Because he had moved quickly this time, his body bore no Shadow from the boundary between light and dark, but the confinement still manifested itself in this manner.

As for Serana, who had just defied the Progenitor’s will, her state was even worse. The most direct manifestation was that the marks on her body were much heavier than his own.

”It is indeed rare. That is exactly why I feel this place is so special.”

Still, she mustered her strength, offering her commentary as she descended the stairs.

Is that so.

Fu Qian nodded and followed right behind her.

Unfortunately, the inner walls of this spiraling downward passage were also severely decayed. Aside from a few simple markings, there was nothing else to see.

Amid his musings, Fu Qian noticed that Serana had suddenly stopped ahead of him. He could even sense the violent fluctuations in her emotions.

Did she find something?

Fu Qian quickened his pace and soon caught up with her.

She was staring blankly at a pile of fine sand at her feet.

It turned out she hadn’t found something—she had found that there was nothing left to find.

Instantly grasping the situation, Fu Qian let out a sigh, fully understanding Serana’s reaction.

”There’s no path forward.”

Serana was clearly aware of his approach. A moment later, she turned around stiffly, her voice sounding like a sleepwalker’s murmur.

”To be more precise, we should call this exploration complete.”

Fu Qian corrected her overly tactful phrasing.

The path being blocked was a trivial difficulty—how could it possibly cause a Demigod to lose her composure?

The real problem was that this supposedly buried building was nothing more than an illusion.

At its core, this place was merely the leftover fragment of a structure that had fallen atop a sand dune.

Naturally, it was quite visually deceptive from the outside, but from their current position inside, the truth was laid bare by numerous clues.

And this meant that the expedition Serana had pinned such immense hope on, the one she had struggled so long to finally commit to, had ended in a mere thirty seconds.

Their harvest was absolutely nothing.

”If we dig down, might we be able to see the rest of the building?”

Looking at Fu Qian, she asked tentatively.

”You could try, but theoretically speaking, the odds of that are only marginally higher here than they’d be anywhere else.”

Fu Qian naturally felt no obligation to humor her attempts at self-comfort. He merely gestured for her to go ahead.

Serana clearly wasn’t so far gone that she couldn’t accept reality. After scooping up a handful of sand and clutching it tightly, she ultimately didn’t actually dig down.

”Why is it like this? It shouldn’t be...”

However, judging by her muttering, the blow of having her hopes crushed was still quite heavy.

”Why were you so certain that information about your Progenitor would be in here?”

Fu Qian asked from the side.

”I naturally have my reasons...”

Serana didn’t say more, but she was clearly very insistent on this point.

”Understood.”

Fu Qian didn’t pry any further into her secrets.

”And this Moonlight Glade is the most suspicious location you’ve narrowed it down to over the years?”

”Not the most suspicious. The only one.”

Serana gritted her teeth, her tone brimming with absolute certainty.

”I see. Then our current problem is actually quite simple.”

Fu Qian gave a faint nod.