Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 2379: Chapter 2374: Leaf-Twisting Fingers

"You’ve worked hard."

The third unfamiliar face came running towards them, also the only woman Fu Qian had seen from the Benevolence Institute so far.

Just from appearances, she seemed even more mature than Nepheli.

The expression looking over carried a sense of uncertainty; she must have been acting separately just now, realizing the commotion here a bit late and rushing over.

Fu Qian merely nodded slightly at this and then passed by.

"Let the snow continue."

He simultaneously called out to the people behind him.

...

The snow indeed did not cease.

The mentioned demigod prestige was once again evident; all the way to Professor Ah Kai’s office, the coldness of the falling snow was still palpable.

Even the trainers who followed along did not object to the request throughout.

"We tried to maintain everything as it was but truly found nothing."

When Fu Qian stood again at the marks left by Ah Kai, Boyd then gently explained in the role of the technician.

"Including that special contaminating effect, there is no abnormal manifestation here?"

One couldn’t say it was completely unchanged, such as the spider webs mentioned earlier which appeared to have encountered scorching, slightly charred.

But considering the intensity of the trainers’ testing, this was already commendable. Fu Qian merely nodded slightly and continued to ask.

"Yes, to be precise, this place has no difference compared to other locations in the Academy."

Boyd’s tone instantly became certain, and he offered an even more pessimistic viewpoint.

"We can’t even determine if Ah Kai had issues during the Miracle test or encountered something afterward, including these manuscripts... His Talent is astonishing, but unfortunately, we can’t interpret anything immediately."

He paused, looking around, and finally sighed heavily.

"Understood, thank you for sharing."

Sweeping his gaze across others, several trainers appeared ashamed and had no objections to Boyd’s statement.

As the expert lineup recommended by Lanaia, perhaps these individuals did not rank high, but they were reliable figures within Benevolence.

Indeed, talents are dwindling, meaning if this incident were to be investigated internally by the Academy, it would almost reach a similar conclusion.

However, it was hard to blame these individuals in front of him; despite the peculiar power forms, their rankings were evident.

What Professor Ah Kai recklessly touched seemed especially peculiar...

At one moment, Fu Qian reached out, attracting everyone’s attention instantly.

When he withdrew his hand, it sparked a legendary pupil earthquake.

In that seemingly empty hand, there was surprisingly a fresh green leaf.

...

No tricks, just a long reach.

Full of vitality, the leaf that Fu Qian grasped was naturally from the snow tree, which remained lush in winter; even the gentle pinching gesture was identical to that of Jade Soul Master back then.

How it was achieved was quite simple: If Luo Bu stood in the same position, he could see through the edge of the window that from a branch of the snow tree outside was missing its plumpest leaf.

Indeed, it was just reached out and taken.

The ability to do so unhindered, even across space, was because in the current perspective, these concepts no longer seemed so absolute.

Reenacting Jade Soul Master’s motion was just superficial; the essence was from the shared abstract perspective, interpreting the world via the Zen Path.

Layered and chaotic, time and space’s concepts were no longer clear, various elements amassed in a more abstract manner, even the boundary between reality and fantasy blurred.

After opening the Burial Scroll, Fu Qian’s connection with his "Heart Demon" was reestablished.

With the Heart Demon at the core, he effortlessly brought in this alternate perspective, beginning to scrutinize the Abandonment King and everything around him.

Truly a special sensation, especially with limited Extraordinary Perception.

Even from the initial glance, it was different; abstract and chaotic remained, but those interwoven elements were apparently limited to within view, causing certain positions to seemingly manifest voids of absence.

Luckily, there was a snow tree within sight, or posing like this wouldn’t be easy.

As for the purpose...

At that moment, Luo Bu’s group faced each other in silence, ultimately holding their breath, daring not to question.

In the hush, Fu Qian’s hand-held leaf had already begun transforming to snow white in more than one place.

...

Indeed, encountering snow makes it change color, even invisible snow.

The snow tree earned its name due to its special reaction upon snowflake contact.

This cultural insight Miss Liushuang had introduced Fu Qian to, was remembered clearly.

There were even more details limited to the Academy’s boundaries.

Ultimately, combining various pieces of information, step by step they dubbed Melia as the Snow Tree Goddess, such leaves became her symbol.

Technically, now it is his symbol.

Were it not for the guise once displayed by Jade Soul Master, Melia itself shouldn’t have a clearly defined gender; otherwise, it would feel odd.

Fu Qian continued silently, pinching that leaf until it became completely transparent.

He didn’t change his appearance, to make himself resemble Melia either.

Such superficial transformation held no meaning; the core idea of this maneuver was that Jade Soul Master had already assimilated Melia.

According to the understanding of Jade Soul Master’s "Zen Path," it implied the concept of Melia now fundamentally pointed thoroughly to him.

Given the recordable achievements on one hand and the extremely idealistic nature on the other, it followed that for Jade Soul Master, this point should be flawless, or else refining completion wouldn’t be possible.

To sum up, Fu Qian’s purpose for opening the Burial Scroll this time was simple: to inspect everything around using Melia’s identity and unravel Professor Ah Kai’s whereabouts and potential encounter.

Unfortunately, the search remains fruitless.

Indeed, even with the abstract "Zen Path" perspective, not a trace of Ah Kai could be seen.

As Professor Boyd had mentioned, it wasn’t even certain if he had left this spot.

Previously, it was speculated that Ah Kai suffered a mishap due to the Miracle’s relation to Melia, entering this peculiar state of disappearance, yet this has not been corroborated.

But no matter, true experts never envision only favorable outcomes.

Fu Qian was currently focusing on excluding possible causes for such undesirable situations.

Due to the absence of Extraordinary Perception, this undoubtedly necessitated an approach from a logical perspective.

Such as seeking other Melia-related elements and attempting to correlate, proving he truly is "Her"—truly.

At a certain point, within Fu Qian’s unique view, an incredibly distinct conceptual link formed between himself and the leaf in front.