Chapter 382: 382 Chapter: Prosthetic Eye (15)_1
Fu Qian found himself on a rather secluded street.
Especially under the thunderstorm, the street was even more deserted.
And the person who called out to him was just sitting in a chair in the rain, surrounded by a familiar mist of water.
The rain that fell from the sky merged silently and completely into it, not a single drop landing on her.
“You’re slower than I thought,” she said.
Fu Qian’s calm response seemed somewhat unexpected to the woman.
The next moment, she slowly turned around.
Under the wide brim of her hat was a face that seemed somewhat familiar.
Fu Qian was certain he had seen this face less than a day ago.
The woman was clearly one of the Transcendents, and if he remembered correctly, her name was supposed to be Teresa.
Fu Qian recalled that she seemed quite familiar with Roland, and had even spoken to him before.
Now, Teresa, dressed all in black, was smirking under the mist that made her look like a ghost.
“I was just worried you wouldn’t be able to catch up,” he said nonchalantly.
“You don’t seem very surprised?” she noted.
Teresa paused for a second before she couldn’t help but let out a light laugh at Fu Qian’s reply.
“Surprise doesn’t solve any problems,” Fu Qian huffed.
“Indeed…” Teresa nodded.
“There’s no such thing as luck without reason. They used to say you were just lucky, but I always insisted there must be a special reason. Now it seems, at least in terms of composure, you’re much stronger than Shang Shiming.”
As she spoke, she flicked her finger, and the next moment, the area of the mist expanded several-fold, enveloping Fu Qian within it too.
The scene from the Stone Tower replayed.
Fu Qian shook his head and tried to blow a breath.
It was clear that the binding force of the mist was stronger with the rain enhancing it.
Actually, when he was inside the Stone Tower, he had sensed someone lurking around.
But initially, Fu Qian wasn’t sure what the intentions of this person in hiding were, contemplating the possibility that it was Shang Shiming’s backup plan.
However, as things progressed, it became clear that Shang Shiming was obviously unaware of this person’s presence.
Furthermore, Shang Shiming had made a special effort to investigate the surroundings to ensure that no one was lying in wait.
In fact, even Li Min, superior in strength, hadn’t detected anything amiss.
The reason was actually quite simple: the person in front of him was of a much higher phase than those three.
Teresa, sitting there, showed little sign of aging on her face, but Fu Qian was sure she was not young.
Most importantly, she had the strength of at least the Fifth Phase.
Under the pressure of the hierarchy, it was all too easy to deceive a few lower-phase Transcendents.
The only thing that puzzled him was her motive.
If she really had suspicions about him, she had plenty of opportunities to probe; Fu Qian didn’t believe she was targeting him from the start.
“So it was all your doing just now?” Fu Qian asked Teresa.
“Isn’t it obvious?” she admitted unabashedly.
“May I ask the reason?”
“What do you think?”
“From any angle, what you did earlier was somewhat abnormal. Not only did you disrupt Shang Shiming’s plan, but it could even be said you did it with lethal intent.”
“Considering what you lot normally get up to, could I understand it as having something to do with the ritual?”
“Not bad, not bad, you catch on quick,” Teresa said, her smile more sneer than sincerity.
“So you’re saying you didn’t want Shang Shiming to complete the ritual? But if you really had a grudge against him, your strength should’ve allowed you to easily get rid of him, so why go through all this trouble?”
“I was indeed disrupting his ritual, but it has nothing to do with a grudge,” Teresa said, all smiles.
“I have no enmity with Shang Shiming. The reason I did that is simply because I was doing what I had to do,” she explained.
Doing what she had to do.
Fu Qian frowned, understanding the implication.
“The ritual?”
“Indeed, my ritual.”
“Let me think.”
Fu Qian felt that he suddenly had an answer to his earlier confusion.
“Your ritual, could it be to prevent that Stone Tower from being destroyed? Just so happens to conflict with what Shang Shiming is doing.”
“To be precise, it’s to prevent a significant act of destruction, not limited to that one structure,”
Teresa admitted lightly.
Who knew it could be like this!
“Aren’t you part of the same circle? Just talk it over with Brother Shang and stop it from happening once, and that’s done.”
“This is a genuine act of servitude, is this what you take for playing house?”
Teresa revealed a chilling smile.
“How could deceit, such a foolish act, conform to the requirements of a ritual?”
“So you’ve been waiting for Shang Shiming’s move all along?”
Fu Qian shook his head.
“Regrettably, he looks completely unaware of it.”
“That’s because he fundamentally is a fool who knows nothing, no different from all of you.”
Watching Fu Qian’s face, Teresa’s tone was full of mockery.
“He doesn’t understand what the essence of a ritual is… And do you think, this ritual genuinely originated from an epiphany he chanced upon himself?”
“That means…”
Fu Qian realized something.
“Was it you? Just like how Roland manipulated me?”
“You catch on pretty fast.”
Teresa couldn’t help but look at him with a bit of surprise.
“That’s right, it was indeed me, and considering the other party is a Transcendent, I had to be even more careful not to be discovered.”
“Seeing as you’re so clever, why don’t you guess again, why am I here waiting for you?”
“Isn’t that obvious, your ritual failed, and obviously, it’s because of me.”
“It’s like you painstakingly reared a sheep, and at the time of slaughter, it was suddenly set loose by someone.”
Fu Qian said lazily.
“Given you’re seeking me out so eagerly, you’re probably here to seek retribution, right?”
“If you’re aware of that, it’s for the best.”
Teresa laughed heartily.
“Everyone must pay for their actions, whether intentional or not, so are you prepared?”
“Prepared for death.”
“I’m always well-prepared in that regard, no need for you to worry.”
Facing the threat of death, Fu Qian seemed utterly indifferent, casually waving his hand.
“Considering I’m already a dead man walking, may I ask a few questions?”
…
After Fu Qian finished speaking, even Teresa was momentarily lost in silence.
This guy in front of her seemed truly ignorant of the concept of death.
“Alright, ask away.”
Seconds later, she who had emitted a rather cryptic laugh, gestured for Fu Qian to continue.
“Since Shang Shiming only has a half-baked understanding of the ritual, I’m very curious about what the true nature of the ritual is?”
Fu Qian asked without reservation.
The nature of the ritual…
Teresa looked at Fu Qian.
“On the verge of death, your thirst for knowledge is really strong.”
“If I can hear the Dao in the morning, I can die in the evening.”
Although Fu Qian said this, his face bore no hint of sincerity.
“Actually, there’s no harm in telling you.”
Teresa’s smile was filled with a bone-chilling coldness.
“The essence of a ritual is naturally knowledge.”
“But it’s not human knowledge, but that of Divine Beings.”
“Among the multitude of unimaginable knowledge, it’s a fraction that can be glimpsed.”