Eldritch Horror Theatre

Those with impure thoughts rarely dared to meet the gaze of a true idealist.

For a moment, a purer, more profound silence settled over the Small Chapel.

Working with painstaking effort reaching alone into untrodden realms, unafraid of misunderstanding, he had sat withering away in this silent place for nearly two and a half years. The sheer resolve of it—even a passing thought of that blazing spirit felt enough to burn someone.

The reason his mere words carried such weight—even though he had yet to reveal what this path of redemption actually was—was simple.

He had just killed someone for the gang, right in front of them.

Judging by his words and actions, given the severity of such a deed in the Realm of Bliss, his motives no longer even mattered.

Whether he was deliberately trying to shock them, whitewashing his past, actively mocking the gang's ideology, or just plain insane... none of it mattered.

He had committed murder just to have this conversation.

When faced with an act like that, all words and probing tests instantly felt pale and powerless.

Brother Thick Eyebrows, who was always the first to break the silence, proved this point perfectly.

Under the subconscious stares of the others, he had ultimately been the first to break the silence.

But his words ultimately lacked any real weight. Fu Qian completely lost interest in responding; he simply gave a cold sneer, turned around, and crouched down.

Crimson blood coated the floor, painting a gruesome scene that would normally be too horrific to look at.

Yet paired with Fu Qian's movements and the un-wiped blood on his face, an eerie, almost sacred aura took hold of the moment. It was so potent that even the Old Man Priest hesitated and held his tongue, allowing him to carry out an act that closely bordered on desecrating a corpse.

In truth, Fu Qian's actions in that moment were more than a little bizarre.

As he crouched, he leaned his face incredibly close to the still-bleeding wound and took a deep, lingering sniff.

Just like the previous victim, Brother Macho, a faint, sweet fragrance was already rising from the body. Death was descending rapidly.

Even though the blooming flowers had yet to sprout from the corpse, the fragrance was identical—a beautiful scent that seemed to pierce straight to the soul.

It looked just like another innocent victim, slaughtered by a true villain who had invaded the Realm of Bliss.

Fu Qian had openly confessed to his own actions without the slightest attempt to sugarcoat them. The only issue was—this victim was anything but innocent.

...

This blade was truly excellent.

Beneath the crowd's watchful stares, cold steel flashed in Fu Qian's hand. The freshly wiped murder weapon glinted sharply once more, drawing every eye in the room before finally resting against the dead youth's face.

Blood welled up as he made the first cut straight across the corpse's forehead.

It was true. Fu Qian was entirely convinced there was a hidden motive behind the earlier attack by this young senior named Holun.

No matter how natural his emotions had seemed, how logical his motives were, or even how wildly unprofessional his attempted stab had been, Fu Qian remained steadfast in his judgment.

His entire string of actions up to this point had been designed to force exactly this kind of result.

The First Step of his current mission was complete. His next objective was to find his target, the "Ancient One."

But considering this entity was ultimately marked for death by his own hands, would it really give him the time and leisure to search for it?

He couldn't afford to be that optimistic.

Just as he had suspected from the start, Fu Qian operated on the assumption that his every word and action was being watched, and that his true intentions might have already been noticed.

Because of that, from the very second the mission updated, Fu Qian had essentially been waiting for the enemy to come knocking on his door first.

The words and actions of the people in the Realm of Bliss might be incredibly complex and difficult to read, but there was one benchmark that remained absolutely reliable—murder.

An act of genuine murder carried extraordinary significance within the Realm of Bliss.

No matter how natural the attempt appeared, Fu Qian chose to view it as a personal "welcome."

Knowing his target likely wanted to stay hidden, the entire core of Fu Qian's earlier act had been to ruthlessly provoke the crowd and make himself as utterly detestable as possible.

It was a two-way pursuit.

And the end result had undeniably yielded a substantial harvest.

First, his worst-case scenario had been confirmed—he was indeed being watched the entire time, and his motives were already under suspicion.

Their mutual pursuit had been underway the entire time, and the enemy was taking him seriously enough to strike the moment an opportunity presented itself.

Another equally grim piece of information was that the mastermind behind the scenes could, to some extent, drive the actions of the members within the Realm of Bliss.

Fu Qian certainly didn't think the miserable corpse lying at his feet was the Ancient One residing at the peak of the Ninth Heaven.

At least up to this point, he appeared to be nothing more than ordinary mortal flesh and blood.

After a flurry of work, Fu Qian finally stood up, silently inspecting the complete, freshly flayed face in his hands.

...

Although he hadn't done this sort of thing often, and his current physique was merely mortal, the task had still been relatively easy for him to pull off.

The shape was perfectly intact, the thickness expertly even, and he hadn't even made much of a bloody mess.

And just as he finished this act and held up the result, the corpse on the floor finally broke down into a bloom of colorful flowers amid the rich fragrance.

Perhaps because it was already a reprocessed item, the flayed face actually remained intact and did not transform along with the rest of the body.

At the same time, he could completely feel that, in the face of Fu Qian raising his hand to gaze at it, the morale of the Brotherhood plunged into an incredibly bizarre state.

Even within the City of Bliss, the sheer impact of the scene unfolding before them was undoubtedly massive.

What a pity.

As the one involved, Fu Qian simply shook his head after inspecting it, verifying his earlier judgment.

He had truly been an ordinary human being. Not only was he devoid of Transcendent Tier power, but his flesh and blood held no hidden divine properties whatsoever.

While cutting away the face just now, he had even taken the opportunity to inspect the scalp, and likewise found absolutely no mysterious labyrinth maps or hidden secrets.

At this point, it seemed two conclusions could be drawn from the current situation.

The pessimistic conclusion was just as he had noted earlier: the dead youth's impulsive attack had actually been driven by someone else, and very likely by the very target he was trying to hunt down.

And the entity might not yet be able to confirm his motives, but it was still preparing to eliminate the hidden threat in a covert manner.

As for the optimistic conclusion, it was natural to look on the bright side first: no matter the difficulty, someone constantly preparing to kill him and cause trouble also provided a reverse trail to track them down.

Furthermore... why would an "Ancient One"—an entity theoretically eight dimensions above him—actually need to arrange a dedicated assassination on the current map, rather than using a more exaggerated dimensional strike?

Given this situation, while it was undoubtedly a good thing on one hand, the state and relationships within the Nine Heavens of Bliss felt rather delicate, warranting the greatest extent of his imagination.

"Now, let's go pay a visit to that gentleman who is so reluctant to pay up."

As he pondered this, Fu Qian incredibly naturally slapped the thing in his hand onto his face. Then, speaking with the tone of a leader, he brought up the matter Brother Thick Eyebrows had mentioned earlier.

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