Chapter 2942: Watch Your Status

She didn't look too thrilled.

For someone who had just completed her advancement, Serana's expression lacked any real excitement.

But looking on the bright side, at least she still had an expression.

It was no wonder Chief Yuan was surprised. Serana had returned far too quickly—so fast they hadn't even found the tea leaves yet.

Still, she looked thoroughly intact. Not only was her flesh completely restored, she hadn't sprouted any extra body parts either.

She had even taken the time to find some clothes to drape over herself before hurrying over to report her results.

"I'm fine. Thank you very much."

She wasn't ungrateful. Faced with Yuan Shan's concern, even with her solemn expression, Serana didn't put on the airs of a Tier 2 being. Instead, she earnestly thanked the two special guests.

"Why... I..."

This was where the difference in treatment became obvious. Without waiting for Chief Yuan to exchange pleasantries, Serana turned to Fu Qian, hesitating to speak.

"You can't sense the Progenitor's presence anymore?" Fu Qian asked. "What's so strange about that? Didn't we already confirm it in the notebook?"

He obviously knew why. After marveling at her filial piety for a millisecond, he ruthlessly punctured her fragile, illusory hopes.

"But I really did feel it before..." Serana said.

She didn't seem surprised that Fu Qian could follow her train of thought, but his fatal strike made her pale face turn even whiter as she stubbornly tried to argue her case.

'Felt it? You have the nerve to use such an illusory excuse? You didn't even get the object of your worship right.'

Seeing Serana still relying on this stream-of-consciousness nonsense, Fu Qian silently mocked her.

Of course it wasn't strange to feel something. There had been so many Annalises crawling on the ground.

Even a mere cenotaph would reflect a fraction of the ancestor's former glory.

But Serana's reaction right now truly proved the worth of her advancement to Tier 2.

The fact that she couldn't sense the Progenitor's traces proved she wasn't being deceived. Annalise's essence had been entirely excised from this Divine Path, reduced to the level of just another one of Tilanqi's aliases.

It might have sounded like forced praise, but there was a clear comparison to be made.

A certain older Excellency Ambor had not only failed to distinguish the truth behind the name Annalise, but couldn't even tell whether his own Tier 2 status was real or fake.

Fu Qian was quite certain that Ambor never had the chance to squat in the Full Moon Garden and catch werewolves back in his day. This was also what he meant by worshipping the wrong entity: during the entire ritual, Serana had spent most of her time gazing up at the primordial moon.

"As you heard earlier, it's a shame she committed a grave sin," Fu Qian said.

He couldn't be bothered to repeat himself.

"But you neutralized it..."

Unsurprisingly, Serana hadn't missed such a sensitive topic, catching even the finest details.

"That's right. I neutralized it," Fu Qian said.

He nodded, echoing her exact phrasing.

...

Everything else went without saying.

No matter how outrageous it sounded, the bloody track record was laid out right in front of them.

"I order you to advance to Tier 2..."

"I order you to advance to Tier 2 tonight..." And then she actually advanced...

If the Night Watchers had witnessed such a feat, they would have found it hard to stay calm—and as it turned out, one of them actually had.

This man hadn't just pulled off something so absurd; he had even gone out of his way to invite a law enforcer to spectate.

To take it a step further, he had even manipulated that same law enforcer into contributing her own strength to the process.

In short, now that the dust had settled and they could take stock of the situation, it became glaringly obvious just how absurd the events of the night had been.

And when facing a man capable of pulling off such madness, even someone as filial as Serana clearly had no grounds to question him.

"Neutralizing" the grave sin committed by the Progenitor of the Blood Clan—given Professor Fu's usual style, the true meaning behind that verb was painfully obvious.

You...

Of course, for someone as determined to fulfill her filial duties as Serana, the realization that her earnest efforts had essentially resulted in honoring the Progenitor to death was a bit too much to swallow.

At that moment, she didn't say a word. She simply stared intently at Fu Qian.

Seemingly familiar patterns began to spread outward, originating from her blood-red eyes.

A clash between High-Tier Transcendents was on the verge of breaking out.

"Mind your status," Fu Qian warned. "You're at Tier 2 now."

Naturally, Fu Qian couldn't simply ignore this kind of oppressive aura.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, reminding her to remember her station.

Even taken at face value, his logic seemed flawless—she was already a Tier 2 being, so starting a fight right here would be bullying the weak and entirely beneath her dignity.

Unfortunately, no one actually believed that this theoretical demigod standing before them would feel the slightest hesitation about butchering a Tier 2 being.

Furthermore, when Fu Qian said those words, he conspicuously signaled toward Yuan Shan with his eyes, making the whole situation feel even more bizarre.

"You already made Chief Yuan throw up once," Fu Qian added. "Are you really going to make her clean up your corpse, too?"

Seeing that Serana's brain clearly hadn't advanced alongside her Rank, Fu Qian didn't bother speaking in riddles. He directly reminded her that the corpse of a Tier 2 being would carry a considerable amount of pollution.

...

So that was what he meant by "minding her status"?

Like telling someone on the heavier side to take care of their health so they wouldn't inconvenience the crematorium?

At that moment, not only Serana but even Yuan Shan—the butt of the joke—wore an extremely strange expression.

Strangely enough, everyone present was in complete agreement. Not a single person in the room doubted that this newly advanced Tier 2 would be swatted to death—not even the victim herself.

"I'm very sorry. It was difficult to control myself at the time," Serana said.

After a long silence, Serana let out a deep breath and chose to offer a dedicated apology to Yuan Shan.

"Thank you..."

At first glance, her behavior looked exactly like someone who, after struggling with a mortal threat, had finally chosen to compromise on her filial piety.

However, before Yuan Shan could reply, Serana turned back to Fu Qian and thanked him in the exact same sincere tone.

"Don't mention it," Fu Qian replied. "She passed away quite peacefully. She didn't suffer too much."

He waved a hand, signaling her not to take it to heart.

Serana obviously possessed a strong will to live, but expecting her to put up a fake front in a situation like this was asking a bit too much.

Her reaction was actually perfectly normal. The initial shock had simply been too massive for her to accept.

In truth, she had probably imagined the Progenitor's fate millions of times, envisioning every ominous possibility. Having someone step in to perform euthanasia wasn't a bad ending at all.

"Tell me what you gained," Fu Qian said. "There's no need to go into minute details; you can just focus on how it felt."

Naturally, Fu Qian had no intention of letting her off the hook to quietly process her emotions. He continued to express a deep interest in the Divine Emissary of the Blood Clan.

"I'm absolutely certain that this is a complete Tier 2 state. It's pure and stable, which is exactly why I was able to come over so quickly..." Serana explained. "It's just slightly different from what the family legends describe."

Given such lenient terms, Serana clearly had no reason to refuse, so she immediately began to share.

"Oh? What's different?"

Fu Qian's interest was instantly piqued.