Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sword Pavilion Fourth Floor.

"How did you end up here? Didn't I tell you that you could only move around on the bottom three floors?"

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Qian opened his eyes to find the middle-aged Sword Pavilion guard standing in front of him.

The man was glaring at him, voice stern and expression fierce.

"Come down with me immediately. And take out your student card—you haven't registered yet."

Sure thing!

Fu Qian casually pulled out the card and handed it over, watching the guard's expression freeze.

"...This is yours?"

"Yeah!"

"I could be."

"This is an Apocalypse Branch card, and for an instructor, no less... Why did you come up here, and why are you wearing a Sword Comprehension Institute uniform?"

"Care to explain?"

Just like last time, the middle-aged man's face grew cold.

But unlike last time, Fu Qian already had an answer prepared.

"Standing in the darkness, my heart yearned for the light. I have merely recognized my true self."

Fu Qian extended his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together.

Under the guard's bewildered gaze, a sweeping surge of sword qi tore through the air, bringing a chilling aura of death.

"I've been feeling faintly inspired lately. I originally just wanted to look around outside, but I didn't expect such a gracious invitation from you."

"Now, I am ready to abandon the darkness for the light and join the Sword Comprehension Institute."

...

Was this... sword intent?

It wasn't just the middle-aged man—even Ji Liushuang, who had been zoning out to the side, was utterly dumbfounded.

The sword intent that countless people in the Sword Comprehension Institute dreamed of, obsessing over day and night... this guy had comprehended it within minutes of coming up here?

How were the hard-working students downstairs supposed to feel about this?

"Hear the Dao in the morning and die content in the evening!"

Fu Qian let out a long, heartfelt sigh.

"If not for your invitation, how could I have comprehended such true intent? I am truly indebted to you!"

"In any case... let's head outside first."

Seeing Fu Qian's enraptured expression, the middle-aged man's face twisted in sheer awkwardness, completely at a loss for words.

"Sure, lead the way."

Fu Qian replied with total ease.

"Oh, right!"

Just as he was about to leave, he turned back to look at Ji Liushuang.

"More haste, less speed. You'd be better off going out for a walk."

"Uh... okay."

Ji Liushuang replied instinctively, feeling as though Fu Qian's words carried a strange persuasiveness.

...

"Regardless, the Sword Pavilion is only open to members of the Sword Comprehension Institute..."

Arriving at the entrance, the middle-aged man looked at the information swiped from Fu Qian's card, grimacing in sheer dilemma.

"Say no more. I understand what you mean."

Fu Qian looked completely serious.

"I'll go back and process the paperwork right now."

...

'That wasn't what I meant!'

The middle-aged guard didn't know what to say.

"Don't worry, it'll be fast. Over in the Apocalypse Branch, my desire to abandon the darkness for the light is known to everyone."

'What kind of nonsense are you spouting!'

This time, it wasn't just the middle-aged guard—even Ji Liushuang, who had come down with them, was left staring blankly.

"Fu Qian!"

In the midst of the awkward silence, a call rang out from nearby as the tall, slender Lanaya arrived right on time.

"I went looking for you earlier but couldn't find you. I guessed you'd be here."

Her lines were exactly the same as last time.

"Don't tell me you still want to go inside—"

"I've already been inside."

Lanaya only managed half her sentence before Fu Qian ruthlessly cut her off.

"What?"

Lanaya stared at Fu Qian in utter confusion, failing to grasp his meaning.

'Did this guy really barge into the Sword Comprehension Institute's forbidden grounds?'

"I just achieved enlightenment on the sword platform. I've now laid down the Butcher's Cleaver and become a Buddha on the spot. Didn't you see I even changed my clothes?"

As Fu Qian spouted his nonsense, he pressed his index and middle fingers together once again.

Unlike before, this time a bloody crescent moon howled through the air.

Two types of sword intent?

The scene unfolding before him forced the middle-aged guard to swallow his words. He felt as though decades of his worldview had been completely overturned.

He had never heard of anyone comprehending two types of sword intent at the same time, and doing so within five minutes was even more absurd!

'Is this guy even human!'

However, what he didn't know was that the sword intent currently surging within Fu Qian amounted to far more than just two types.

After sitting down earlier, fueled by intense obsession and stimulation, Fu Qian had quickly sensed something amiss, realizing that a peculiar kind of thought was being forcefully injected into his mind.

Facts proved his guess had been right on the money. "It" really was handing out sword intent by the bucketload; there was absolutely no need for any so-called comprehension of the sword path.

And less than a second after joining the Swarm, Fu Qian had been drowned in an endless, surging tide of sword intent.

Various kinds of sword intent—differing in form and even violently conflicting in nature—were frantically shoved into his mind, completely disregarding whether he could actually digest them.

Even now, the relentless, unending barrage of sword intent left his thoughts in chaos, as if tens of thousands of steel needles were tearing apart his nerves.

It turned out that "It" was far more sensitive than he'd imagined, having immediately detected a blasphemer like him.

And "Its" method of eliminating him was to pour in sword intent at any cost, in an attempt to burn out his brain.

That was exactly why, within the span of just a few minutes, Fu Qian's two strikes possessed entirely different types of sword intent.

Sword intent?

Lanaya also knew her stuff. Even though she hadn't seen his previous display, watching Fu Qian—an instructor of the Apocalypse Branch—casually unleash a signature technique of the Sword Comprehension Institute made her rub her eyes, wondering if she was still asleep.

"What did you need me for?"

Having shocked all three of them, Fu Qian lowered his stance. Resisting the ongoing mental assault, he asked with a smile.

This had been a crazy gamble to begin with, and Fu Qian had prepared plenty of contingency plans for how "It" might react upon discovering him.

The current situation wasn't too terrible.

Next came a battle of willpower.

He had to look on the bright side. While "Its" current actions were certainly aimed at frying his brain with an influx of information, fundamentally, it was still pouring the True Intent of the Sword Dao into him.

If he could withstand the onslaught and rein in the sword intent, wouldn't he then master all techniques and become the Sword God reincarnate?

"I do have business with you. Come with me, we'll talk on the way."

By now, Lanaya had finally snapped back to her senses.

Remembering her reason for coming here, she didn't stand on ceremony, simply grabbing Fu Qian and pulling him along.

The middle-aged man to the side still hadn't recovered from his shock. His mind was a chaotic mess, and he had completely forgotten about penalizing Fu Qian for his rule violations.

...

Quickly pulling Fu Qian into her car, Lanaya drove him straight out of the Academy while briefing him on the gruesome tragedy that had occurred not long ago.

"Does the Yuan Clan have any other Warehouses nearby?"

This time, Fu Qian didn't ask why the Night Watchers weren't intervening.

Judging by the timeline, Ruan Shuo should have left the Sword Pavilion ages ago and already set up his ambush outside the second Warehouse. It wouldn't be long before he made his move.

In other words, if the timing was right, they would catch him in the act the moment they arrived.

Crashing a crime scene in progress would make things a whole lot easier to handle.

The problem of Ruan Shuo needed to be resolved as soon as possible. He still had a lot of things to do.

The frenzied bombardment of sword intent was merely an appetizer. The invisible struggle—known only to him and "It"—had just begun.

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