Eldritch Horror Theatre

Failures... They truly were orthodox practitioners, seeing their own circumstances far more clearly than Brother Assassin did.

Fu Qian was now fairly certain that the names and posthumous titles carved into the container holding the Eyeball Carpet belonged to the long-defunct Holy Grail Cult, a branch of the Blind Eye Society.

The Parchment in his hand bore a striking resemblance to the one found in the Underground of the Fenghou Monastery.

It lacked the cult designation Brother Yuer had marked, however, and the drawn patterns filled the page a bit too completely.

There was a reason he had asked the Pope to help him find the Parchment or the cup.

Although Brother Zhao Ran's resolve to keep secrets was incredibly firm, thanks to good habits, Fu Qian had already thoroughly explored the concept of "patterns representing the essence of certain powers" long before revisiting this place.

The most classic example was none other than a Deity Emblem. During the mission, he had proven that the marks shared the same fundamental power as the Furnace.

An unavoidable question remained, however: these marks hadn't been carved into the Church's spirit temple, but were instead piled together from its debris and fragments.

It was hard to imagine any religious group being so perfunctory.

His earlier guess had been right. Carving a bloody path inside and causing such a massive commotion was entirely meant to draw him out.

From Old Man Feng's behavior, it was evident that even someone like him, who merely sat on the Stone Seat, would be hyper-sensitive to any disturbances within the Furnace.

Although he hadn't been sure if the assassin was still alive before entering, Fu Qian had operated under the assumption that he was being watched from the very start. This method had been the most efficient way to draw the man out.

That included deliberately suppressing his Rank before walking through the door. While part of the reason was to avoid startling the Furnace into a glitch, the other was simply to avoid scaring Zhao Ran away.

Otherwise, it was hard to imagine that if he had entered as a High-Tier Transcendent, Zhao Ran would still have orchestrated such an elaborate theatrical display instead of carefully hiding away.

In short, after a brief review of the results, Fu Qian leaned far more toward the idea that the emblem's origins involved significant human intervention.

Meaning it wasn't an inherent feature of these ancient structures, but something left behind by later visitors.

And the moment symbol exploration was mentioned, a certain professional team instantly came to mind.

While exploring the Blind Eye Society Underground Ruins, the Saint mentor, Sage, had mentioned that the Holy Grail Cult, one of the Blind Eye Society's branches, advocated for binding the Transcendent Tier with Gold and knowledge.

It was still uncertain exactly how they perceived and deduced the symbols of a Deity's power, however.

But given that the suddenly Descended Pope exhibited an astonishing degree of control over this place through subtle shifts, it was now possible to verify this hypothesis.

Besides the documents in his hands, there was another glaring piece of evidence: the mangled corpses in the blood pool.

They were undeniably twisted, but the one barely recognizable head among them sported a distinct chunk missing from it.

At first glance, it just looked like a missing piece, but Fu Qian was someone who had personally sliced open his own skull. It wasn't hard for him to recognize the traces of an intentional "mind-opening" procedure.

His harvest could now be considered quite bountiful. It almost perfectly proved his hypothesis that Zhao Ran had indeed inherited the legacy of the Holy Grail Cult.

Through the traces left on the Parchment, he could even faintly glean the process of their deductions.

And a final point: the method by which Zhao Ran had completely merged with the Other Shore also seemed to have been found.

Fu Qian's gaze fell upon the final version of the Holy Grail.

...

Compared to the previous ones, the four-handed pattern honestly didn't differ much. The biggest distinction was actually the vessel itself—it still held the silhouette of a cup, but its two side handles were formed by bent human arms.

Looking further down the body of the cup, various other human body parts could also be found.

It was undoubtedly formed from a curled-up human body of flesh and blood, easily bringing to mind the "Holy Grail" that the Blind Eye Society's pioneer, Laurence, had transformed into.

A Holy Grail brimming with curses, yet symbolizing omniscience.

And on the body of this flesh-and-blood cup, the final version of the four-handed mark was carved all over.

A place like this, littered with religious architecture, couldn't possibly lack Gold. Even if the people who came here hadn't brought any, sourcing materials locally to craft a cup was entirely feasible.

Yet, over at the House of Graffiti, there wasn't a single finished or even semi-finished product to be seen. Not even the Witch had found anything.

Regarding this anomaly, one of Fu Qian's theories was that the explorers, after exhausting their minds and efforts to create various finished products, had found them useless against this place, subsequently destroying and discarding them.

Driven to despair, was the Holy Grail Cult's final survival plan to directly attempt transforming their own flesh and blood bodies into the Holy Grail?

This had to be the true hidden legacy.

And while Zhao Ran had treated it as a peerless divine art, the pioneers of the Holy Grail Cult had left behind the self-proclaimed title of "failures."

"They used this method to merge with this place? Quite creative. But even if they hadn't run into a corpse like this, they almost certainly would have lost their autonomy."

As Fu Qian explained the background of that special group, the Witch also looked at the item in his hands, easily grasping its implications.

"That's why they called themselves failures. The moment they chose to kneel rather than master it, they had already lost."

With a sigh, Fu Qian casually described the names carved into the stone.

"Over there."

The Witch's control was once again on full display. Even as she listened to his description, she gestured toward a specific direction, evidently having located the place.

Before her words even faded, a pathway opened up in response.

"Exactly."

Without needing her reminder, Fu Qian had already taken the lead.

...

"It's related to them. They probably wanted to leave a bit of revelation for those who came after."

Stepping into the House of Graffiti once more, the Witch studied the patterns one by one, confirming it directly without waiting for Fu Qian to ask.

"These things were indeed drawn on. However, it's more like they were infused with lingering obsessions, which allowed them to remain without being erased."

Just as he thought. Then it went without saying that the giant emblem inside the Church was also the handiwork of the Holy Grail Cult.

With the Witch's verification, Fu Qian could almost see scenes from the past—the final struggles of each individual will.

Searching for answers within this space, only to step onto their final Road of No Return at the nearby Church.

"This one is quite interesting."

By now, the Witch beside him had found the hidden room behind the window. She commented with great interest, clearly recalling a similar location.

The next moment, she beckoned with her hand. The heavily cracked window, looking as if it could crumble at any second, opened on its own.

The stone container revealed behind it sported more than a few cracks of its own, and an eye was already peering through a fissure, staring back at them.

"The eyeballs inside should be the result of a special aggregation effect. They weren't deliberately transported here."

With just a single glance, the Witch delivered her assessment before turning to study the names and the self-proclaimed title of "failures" inscribed above.

"These people discovered this place and, one after another, abandoned their hopes here. The process was quite lengthy... but it seems that over such a long period, their organization's convictions never changed."

"Yeah."

Fu Qian had no objections to the Witch's judgment.

"And so, this place buried batch after batch of people. Even though, right up until their utter annihilation, they might never have realized it."

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