Chapter 2992: Madness in Motion

There was no feeling more refreshing than this.

His departure went smoothly. All the way down, right until he opened the Tower's doors again, the Old Lady didn't say a word to hold him back.

Meanwhile, on every layer he passed, the Black Banners fluttered without a breeze, casting shadows too dense for words.

The atmosphere was a bit eerie, but to Fu Qian, it was all perfectly understandable.

The Old Lady didn't give him a grand singing farewell, naturally because he, her junior, had been truly dreadful. Not only had he refused to cooperate with her meticulously prepared "cultivation" program, he had even outright failed its defense—

Not only had he failed it, he had completely repudiated all her hard work—

Not only had he repudiated it, he had used her own cultivation philosophy to do so, making her look like an absolute clown—

And to help her quantify exactly what a clown she was, he had even specifically found an Anchor Point, comparing her to Claudora—who hadn't even been a High-Tier Transcendent in her era.

Although Fu Qian's motivation for actively bringing up that name hadn't really been to infuriate her to death—at least, that was only a small part of it.

This was the Birthday Party, the absolute nerve center of the Night Watchers.

As a transcendent organization that dominated an era, one could never overestimate their control over this place.

Therefore, just as he had realized early on, no matter where a conversation took place here, it was best not to consider it private. He had to assume there were always other listeners.

So, assuming there were indeed other listeners, what would they think when they heard the name Claudora fall from Professor Fu's lips?

Yes, perhaps he kept calling it a Hongmen banquet, but for Professor Fu, the goal of this trip had never been just to retreat in one piece.

No matter how much it sounded like a superficial excuse, Professor Fu always remembered that Excellency Stoss had invited him under the guise of an academic exchange.

And it was just like his critique of the Old Lady at the meeting earlier.

No matter how vulgar the world might be, or how fraught with calculations of profit and loss, academic figures like himself must always possess the vision of seeking clarity amidst turbidity—such as taking the opportunity to grasp more transcendent secrets.

The unity of knowledge and action was never a simple matter.

And specifically here, the Night Watchers would have to consider just how much Professor Fu knew about that old public case.

Especially a Professor Fu who was highly likely to be moonlighting as the Warehouse Manager.

And consequently, make some highly anticipated reactions.

As for the fluttering banners, that was even simpler. There might not be any wind here, but there was a madman.

As the saying goes, a severed head is hard to take back. Reattaching this head of his was far from a simple return to normal.

And inner demons were hard to eradicate. After manifesting one in that manner just now, it was equivalent to attaching the source of corruption right onto his neck, carrying it with him the entire time.

Then, throughout the journey down, Professor Fu had been constantly experimenting, repeatedly switching between his sense of self and the inner demon.

The final result was that the Black Banners fluttered continuously with his switching, vividly proving that the Old Lady was indeed burning zithers and cooking cranes.

This special arrangement inside the Tower actually seemed to have some connection to cultivation, as it could be influenced by the thoughts of Master Yuhun, the grandmaster of Zen Dao.

He could only say that this small building was incredibly rich in elements, practically a living fossil of the transcendent realm.

In short, during the brief trip down the stairs, Professor Fu had gone mad many times over, and felt quite good about it.

He had even resolved the famous debate of "is it the wind moving or the banner moving?" The answer was madness moving.

Upon opening the door and stepping outside, he found the sunlight was still intense; not much time had passed.

"How are you feeling?"

Fu Qian took a breath of fresh air and glanced at Su Gao to check on her condition.

"I'm fine."

Su Gao merely shook her head. Then, her Curved Sword finally left its sheath, slashing toward the empty space behind her.

"It's already been resolved."

She retracted the strike instantly. The moment the sword returned to its sheath, it was as if fine threads shattered across her body, vanishing into nothingness.

Not bad. She had quite the style of a Tier 2.

People often spoke of severing worldly ties with a single sword strike, and Professor Fu could now say he had seen it with his own eyes.

Classmate Su Gao certainly wasn't playing around. The purpose of that sword strike was very simple: to prove to him that she was indeed fine.

The lingering adverse effects of the Fungal Emperor had been directly purged with that strike.

Of course, strictly speaking, this should be called severing an immortal destiny with a sword.

If one truly didn't want to put in the effort anymore, theoretically, accepting those fungal threads really could help one achieve Transcendence—just in a rather alternative way—

"Mine is fine too."

While admiring Classmate Su Gao's heroic posture, Fu Qian didn't forget to emphasize his own state, signaling that she didn't need to worry about him.

To prove this point, he even reached a hand behind his back in the next moment.

Following this motion, a cluster of far more conspicuous long threads erupted from his wrist, sticking to the door behind him.

Closing the door behind oneself was a virtue. With a creak, the long threads pulled the door shut, completely restoring the Tower to its previous state.

Hmph, the Power of Echo might be stunning, but his Zen Dao was no weaker than anyone else's.

Having done all this, Professor Fu wore a look of utter arrogance.

That's right. What he had just shot out was certainly not spider silk, but fungal threads.

As for how he did it, that was also very simple. A realm higher than severing an immortal destiny with a sword was refining that immortal destiny.

And as a mighty figure of the Zen Dao, what couldn't he refine?

Although his true body was the Mechanical King of the Abandoned Prison, he had only maintained a Tier 2 state while inside the Tower, and hadn't displayed his Mechanical essence.

Therefore, the Fungal Emperor's efforts had still left a few traces.

Unlike Classmate Su Gao, Fu Qian chose to directly refine this corruption, ultimately producing this effect.

Of course, it was easy to say, but achieving this step involved unknown perils.

For example, it had to be done in the form of an inner demon. Not only was switching back from the inner demon's perspective a painful and dangerous process every time, but doing more things from that perspective would further exacerbate the danger.

It was hard to say whether Classmate Su Gao sensed the subtleties behind this, or how much she sensed. In that moment, facing Professor Fu's civilized and polite act of casually closing the door, she merely watched quietly without making a sound.

"What are you two doing?"

However, someone else did speak up in the next moment. Along the path they had just taken, a familiar voice drifted over.

"Excellency Kelin."

That's right, the newcomer was none other than the card dealer who had helped Professor Fu confirm the name Guansi.

Just like her previous disappearances, she appeared almost out of thin air, looking over with a Burlap Doll cradled in her hands.

This doll looked exactly like the one they had seen before, with a relatively simpler color scheme and rough craftsmanship.

Combined with the spatial specialties he had heard about earlier, it seemed Excellency Kelin wasn't willing to walk even a single step. Even within the Night Watchers Headquarters, she relied entirely on direct targeting and teleportation.

But it was precisely this laziness that made one wonder why she was the one coming to find them.

"Just visiting an elder from the Work Unit."

Of course, this curiosity didn't delay Fu Qian from offering a greeting and a polite response.