Chapter 642: Chapter 642: Balance is Hard to Achieve_1 Chapter 642: Chapter 642: Balance is Hard to Achieve_1 “Sometimes being too decisive isn’t a good thing either!”
After greeting Yuan Shan, Fu Qian looked at the ground and uttered a heartfelt sigh.
Yuan Shan had clearly also struck with lethal intent. The once invincible Elder Ember was now riddled with holes and bound by black bands into an unrecognizable form.
In fact, if it weren’t for Ember’s remaining status as a demigod, it wouldn’t have been so easy to take him down.
His mistake lay in his decisiveness.
Once Ember detected the rapid decline of his divine status and realized his power was slipping, his first instinct was to flee and try to break out of Yuan Shan’s cage as quickly as possible, even at the expense of sustaining injuries.
This was, in fact, a completely rational response worthy of someone with a millennium of life experience.
Unfortunately for him, he ran into trouble in the form of Su Gao.
With an exceptional speed and devastating power in her assaults, Su Gao added a new ordeal to the old man’s life experiences.
After being struck by Su Gao’s blade, the heavily wounded Ember instinctively used an escape technique of the Bloodline Clan, dispersing his body into a swarm of bats that collided with the slightly slower Chief Yuan.
Though Chief Yuan was not quite the ruthless killer that Su Gao was, her abilities were extremely well-suited for the situation.
In almost an instant, dozens, even hundreds of black spears exploded from all around, skewering the bats in midair.
Despite this, the fragmented bats reassembled quickly, and Ember reappeared, although his form was barely recognizable as human.
Apart from his head, there were only grotesque, deformed bats adhering and entangled together, barely forming a semblance of a torso and limbs. The sight of him could only be described as a mess.
At that moment, Chief Yuan didn’t even give Ember the chance to lament; with a flick of her finger, his head was instantly shattered to pieces.
Amidst the silent screams, a demigod had fallen.
…
Grantham had not expected Yuan Shan to act with such decisive lethality. He found himself frozen in place, his thoughts racing.
Things had changed too drastically; moments ago, Ember had been untouchable, but now he had been exterminated in the blink of an eye. The sudden turn of events was beyond Grantham’s comprehension.
Regardless, it was clear that he had bet wrong based on his earlier stance.
The fate that awaited the Gulad Family was now decidedly uncertain.
On the other hand, the incident had caused little harm to many, and with Ember having paid the ultimate price, one could argue that the Gulads had learned their lesson.
Whether this was acceptable or not depended largely on the Night Watchman.
Right, Ember had just tried to kill Selana. If she could distance herself from him, things might turn out better…
While these thoughts swirled in his mind, Grantham was surprised to see Selana stir and then unsteadily stand up.
Though heavily wounded, with Ember’s suppression gone, her condition was rapidly improving – the vitality of the Bloodline Clan was indeed remarkable.
Grantham watched Selana intently, hoping she would say something.
Unfortunately, Selana was oblivious to Grantham’s eager anticipation.
She first silently observed the fading red moonlight, then turned to look at Fu Qian, remaining quiet for a long time.
Others might not understand, but Fu Qian knew what she was thinking about.
Ember’s abnormal behavior had inevitably reminded her of the Progenitor’s downfall.
Then, without acknowledging Yuan Shan, she directly headed toward the door.
And to that, Yuan Shan seemed to have no intention of stopping her, leaving Grantham in utter despair.
…
“Come to think of it, I really should have listened to you earlier.”
Watching Selana leave, Yuan Shan turned back to the two allies she had invited to assist and was filled with emotion.
“If I had killed this guy right from the start, none of this would have happened.”
“Contrary, contrarie, even if given another chance, you would make the same choice.”
Fu Qian shook his head with a smile, looking all but ready to wave a feather fan in his strategizing pose.
“Every person has their limits. To break through these limits requires the introduction of enough variables.”
“Actually, this is what I’m curious about: what exactly was the variable you mentioned, and why did Ember suddenly lose his divine status?”
Although Fu Qian’s words had silenced her momentarily, Yuan Shan took advantage of the opening since he brought it up.
Despite having used all the methods at her disposal, she had not been overly optimistic about the outcome.
Who could have imagined, at the critical moment, Ember would suddenly show instability in his power and then get struck down by Su Gao.
The development was so bizarrely improbable it was like seeing a puppet master trip over a rock and knock himself silly.
In retrospect, the affair with Ariel had ended quietly in a similarly grave situation.
And that guy was also present at the time.
Yuan Shan’s gaze fixed on Fu Qian for a moment, sharp and piercing.
“Actually, it’s quite simple.”
Fu Qian replied casually, his expression revealing no flaws.
For safety reasons, the ordeal he had just experienced was something he could not disclose.
Even though that ubiquitous whispering had already stopped, Fu Qian was convinced that, due to his earlier response, some special connection had indeed been formed.
As the Night Watchman was clearly harboring many secrets, especially those related to ancient Divine Beings, Fu Qian did not wish to be dragged away for dissection studies or the like.
Fortunately, for Yuan Shan’s question, he had already thought of an answer.
“To summarize, it’s all just the art of language.”
“…You’re not suggesting you were just bluffing him, are you?”
Yuan Shan’s expression clearly showed her disbelief.
“Why not? There’s an old saying that the best strategy is to attack the heart.”
Fu Qian was the picture of innocence.
“In a situation where we clearly couldn’t keep him, why not put on a grand display of intimidation?”
“I didn’t expect it to work so well, though, to the point of actually scaring him off. Maybe he had just leveled up and wasn’t in a stable state yet.”
…
Having finished speaking, Yuan Shan was rendered speechless for a moment, itching to call him out for his outrageous claim.
The problem was, unlike the previous incident with Ariel, this time she had been watching the entire thing, and Fu Qian truly didn’t seem to do much aside from uttering that one sentence.
Could the reason really be attributed to an unstable state?
“It might sound incredible, but have you ever considered that Ember might not have been the only unstable one?”
Catching her reaction in his eyes, Fu Qian pointed out the window at just the right moment.
“Is a Progenitor who hasn’t shown any signs of activity for hundreds of years but suddenly gives a revelation not quite suspicious in itself?”
Although he couldn’t expose himself, as a member of the Night Watchman with access to numerous secrets, it would be a pity not to leverage that.
Fu Qian was greatly looking forward to the Night Watchman’s explanation to Yuan Shan after throwing out that suggestion.
…
The Progenitor of the Blood Clan has a problem…
After grasping Fu Qian’s meaning, Yuan Shan fell silent for a moment.
If the source of power itself was problematic, then that might actually explain things.
More importantly, they finally had a somewhat plausible speculation to include in the report.
Whether or not it was actually the case could be left for those people to slowly discuss.
Thinking this, Yuan Shan exhaled.
“Anyway, I need to thank you for this time. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how much trouble it would have caused. And you too, Su Gao.”
Yuan Shan’s tone was quite sincere as she looked towards Su Gao.
At the moment, the latter had already sheathed his sword and was appearing leisurely, showing no sign of having just chopped down an elderly person of over eighty years old.
In fact, he truly was at ease, having swung his sword only twice.
Like Fu Qian, he had perfectly demonstrated the posture of swooping through the battle.
“It was nothing, I better retire and return to my homeland now,” Fu Qian said, humbly uttering these words, and chosen to leave directly under the bewildered gaze of Yuan Shan.
“Maintaining balance is very difficult,” he even remarked casually as he passed by Grantham, leaving the latter ashen-faced.
Seeing this, Su Gao gave a slight nod to Yuan Shan in courtesy before following Fu Qian.
…
“Chief Yuan!”
As Fu Qian and the other departed, and seeing Yuan Shan’s silent stance, Grantham braced himself and stepped forward in hopes of engaging in some conversation.
Unfortunately, the startled Yuan Shan merely gave him an icy glance that made him shiver inside and, without saying a word, walked away just like that.