Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 569: Chapter 569 Deception Ceremony_1 Chapter 569: Chapter 569 Deception Ceremony_1 “`

As the only contestant, the end condition Fu Qian set for Suzune Ayane in the dream was, in fact, to drink the bowl of carefully prepared brain flower soup.

That was also the source of Suzune Ayane’s intense hunger, what she didn’t know was that the discomfort she was strongly resisting was actually the guidance of the task.

It turns out that the Night Watchman was quite resilient, spending a considerable amount of time in the dream before she decided to follow the guidance of her fallen desires.

By now, I believe that after a series of maneuvers, she has already become ptsd from tasting her own kind.

Under the psychological effects, she would probably do everything in her power to stop her hidden Man-Eater Demon from consuming Kagetsu Kana.

With such a dedicated official Transcendent watching over her, there’s no doubt my observational sample has obtained a safe environment to grow.

Of course, if the recent stimulation had gone too far, causing Suzune to develop some sort of addiction and eventually betray her charge, that would indeed be regrettable.

The next step is to pick an appropriate time to observe the results, hoping that the harvest won’t simply be a +1 in sociology.

As thoughts swirled, the scene in front of me changed rapidly, and soon the dining table was empty.

…

Not long after Fu Qian disappeared, the young man Brother Zetian appeared in the living room.

Looking at the blood splattered everywhere and the head with the mask lifted, he was speechless for a long time.

The development of the situation was completely different from what he had expected, clearly a bit beyond his comprehension.

Beyond the blood and the head, he also noticed a bowl of soup on the table that was almost finished.

So someone was dissatisfied with the taste of the soup and, in a fit of anger, chopped off the chef’s head?

Zetian’s mind was muddled, especially since Darcy seemed to have completely lost contact up to now.

But in the next moment, his eyes sharpened as he picked up a shiny object from the ground.

It was a very sharp knife blade, clearly of high-quality material.

Vaguely guessing to whom this object might belong, his breathing became heavy, realizing that the situation was serious.

…

[Task Evaluation: Human-Demon]

Back in the warehouse, Fu Qian listened to the task summary ringing in his ears.

I must say, this task was quite relaxed and leisurely, almost like a vacation, truly reflecting the warehouse’s compensatory nature.

It even appears that I’ve gained an interesting new cover.

[After losing his wife, Kisaragi Iketa put all his energy into his daughter and found solace in her growth.

Until one day, he suddenly noticed a discrepancy between the daughter in his memory and the person before his eyes that he couldn’t ignore.

While at first comforting himself with the idea that people inevitably grow up, the discrepancy was so significant that it eventually caused him great distress.

Even more upsetting was that his daughter had far surpassed him in many aspects.

Seeing high and mighty figures infatuated by his daughter, he found it difficult to describe his feelings.

That sense of helplessness eroded his will to live but also solidified his determination to protect his daughter one last time.

And after the drug test ended, a disillusioned Kana moved out of the cursed house, joining her sister to officially live together as her assistant soothsayer.]

[Kill Reward: Darcy Crawford, Kunio]

[Reward: SAN Points +21]

[Special Reward: Deception Ritual Elixir]

[Current SAN Points: 77, Current Inspiration: 99]

[Play event recap?]

This task summary doesn’t mention a word about the abnormalities on Kagetsu Kana.

“`

Against such a result, Fu Qian was surprisingly not very amazed.

Although the task was simple, the warehouse was obviously a bit secretive about certain information.

But the more it was like this, the more it sparked one’s curiosity; fortunately, he had kept a backup plan.

Also, Inspiration 99 really stopped increasing, didn’t it? I thought it would go through some kind of upgrade process.

Fu Qian shook his head as he flipped to his special reward.

[Name: Deception Ritual Elixir]

[Type: Consumable]

[Description: Scalding wax, an anomaly that should not exist. Once smeared over the eyes, it can temporarily evade the promotion bottleneck, allowing a ritual normally ineffective for the user to be completed for ascension. Only applicable to Middle Tier and below.]

[Note: A cut above the demigods]

God damn, a cut above the demigods!

Grumbling about this nonsensical note, Fu Qian examined the reward that appeared in his hand.

It was a miniature transparent bottle, no bigger than a thumb, filled with a thick liquid that felt alarmingly hot to the touch.

Wax?

Although smearing this on one’s eyes would probably be quite a sensation, I must say, this reward is much more interesting than I imagined.

And it’s clear from the item description that it doesn’t directly cause one to level up. It simply allows a Transcendent who has no hope of advancing to use a ritual that would otherwise be ineffective for them.

How to put it, in certain situations, it indeed seemed to be miraculously effective, and being limited to the Middle Tier and below is also somewhat understandable.

But to encounter a bottleneck below Middle Tier, are there really such unlucky folks?

Fu Qian toyed with the small bottle, allowing the seemingly everlasting hot wax to swirl within.

At first glance, of course, it was of no use to him, but the capabilities of this thing were undoubtedly interesting.

Considering that previous rewards were more or less related to the task, could this one share some similarity with Kagetsu Kana’s special condition?

A perfectly reasonable conjecture, but lacking a way to verify it, I’ll wait until my project is concluded.

…

“What, Old Master Wen has invited me over?”

In a highly praised side-street eatery, Fu Qian frowned slightly as he looked at the middle-aged man outside the counter.

He certainly recognized this man—as Wen Li’s butler in Shangjing, Miss Wen mentioned in her message when she left that he could seek this man’s help if needed.

The problem now was that he hadn’t sought him out, yet the other party had come looking for him.

Just after the task ended, Fu Qian thought having nothing better to do, he might as well roll up his sleeves for work and simply put on his mask.

And not even half an hour into opening, this man showed up in the store, his efficiency making Fu Qian quite suspicious of whether someone had been staked out to wait for him.

And the message Brother Butler brought was quite unexpected.

It was not surprising that Wen Li’s father had come to Shangjing—it was likely he had come along with Wen Li, and so it seemed her journey of returning as the Dragon King had ended.

The issue was that he didn’t have much of a relationship with the man, and such a formal invitation felt a bit odd. Could it be—had he heard about his daughter’s unscrupulous action of taking advantage of a demigod without compensation and, with both conscience and guts tested, decided to offer a substantial one-time indemnity?

Truly befitting of a business magnate; they’re indeed meticulous in their dealings!

“What is it about?”

Clearing his throat, Fu Qian inquired with evident pleasure.

Uh…

To his surprise, Brother Butler’s face visibly contorted with conflict, and after hesitating for a while, he finally spoke.

“I’m not quite certain about the details, but it seems to be related to your possible marriage proposal to Miss Wen…”