"I have to say, the process was even more interesting than I'd imagined."
In the darkness, Lord Stos's sigh sounded genuinely heartfelt.
"He was forthcoming about his identity right from the start, and said he'd often wandered around like this for many years.
"And given his philosophy, I even demonstrated a few tricks on the spot to see how he'd react."
The old man seemed remarkably relaxed. Maybe his recent promotion had put him in high spirits.
"But he didn't react?"
As the other man went into such detail, Fu Qian commented inwardly and offered a friendly prompt.
"Exactly. He wasn't particularly surprised. I didn't find it strange, either—after all, it's quite normal for ordinary people to feign disdain for the supernatural."
Though he stood above others, Lord Stos still understood people well. The next moment, he finally got to the point.
"But when I demonstrated my newly acquired ability at the end, he made a particularly interesting comment. He told me it was an ill-omened fire, burning in a place where the self had been forsaken... He said he'd seen it during meditation."
"I wondered how it could be such a coincidence. He explained that he'd seen far too many things during meditation, and they were all just illusions."
A philosophical master who drifted through the world, and who'd seen Madness Fire in meditation?
It sounded like the old man had really met a fascinating character.
Lord Stos's account had come to an end, but Fu Qian's thoughts were racing.
Now he could fully understand why it supposedly wasn't a secret.
In short, it was merely an ordinary human whose claims had been personally verified by a Second Order transcendent, and who had an interesting philosophy of his own.
Perhaps it was highly effective at helping ordinary people