Eldritch Horror Theatre

Though their facial features were identical, their expressions and tone made it completely clear they were two different people.

The giant from before might not have possessed much sanity, but even while roaring and smashing people with a stone stele, he still exuded a thick domineering aura.

The suddenly appearing Liang Shangjun was the exact opposite. His gaze was astonishingly lively, yet even with his entire face hanging there like a chandelier, he still gave off the creepy vibe of a peeping tom.

In fact, that was exactly what he had been doing.

Ever since the two of them entered, this guy had obviously been hiding in the shadows of the hall's domed ceiling, eavesdropping on their academic secrets.

If that assessment felt a bit too subjective, a far more intuitive detail backed up his creepiness—there was a reason he could play the gentleman on the roof beam.

Unlike the Giant King's burly limbs, while this fellow also possessed all four, his were literally as thin as hemp stalks.

His torso followed the same style. At a glance, he looked like a spider hanging from the ceiling.

Unpleasant appearance aside, his previous sentence carried a massive amount of information that could not be ignored.

First, he knew about the sea. Second, he also wanted to find it. Finally, he found the two of them—fellow seekers—highly interesting and intended to cooperate, though that hardly meant he would share information unconditionally.

After dropping that line, Liang Shangjun watched them in silence, looking as though he awaited their plea for guidance.

"Anyway, that seems to be the conclusion for now. After reaching a certain Rank, one's will faces a natural rejection from the Mind World."

Unfortunately for him, Fu Qian spared him only a single glance before looking away, turning back to the Witch to summarize their previous conversation.

She was even more extreme. She hadn't so much as blinked at the newcomer; her gaze remained fixed entirely on her Knight, taking the act of ignoring everyone else to its absolute limit.

...

"But that doesn't mean it's impossible to exert any influence. I've personally seen a higher entity forge a cage out of the Mind World during a moment known as the apocalypse."

Utterly ignored, Liang Shangjun froze for a moment, but he ultimately chose to keep his cool and listen in.

Fu Qian still paid him no mind, continuing to mention his clash with the Mother of Gospel during the recreated apocalypse.

"Are you saying this place might have evolved from the sea of mind? Because it was influenced by a higher entity during that apocalypse?"

The Witch wasn't just pretending to listen. She soon nodded slightly, grasping Fu Qian's point.

"Yeah. With those previous examples, it's easy to fall into a habitual thought process, assuming this place is just another passage piercing the barrier."

Some of these thoughts had been circling in Fu Qian's head for a long time, and now he was speaking freely.

"But if we assume they aren't the cause of the apocalypse but the result, it becomes much easier to explain why my fire has such a special effect."

He wasn't talking nonsense. Fu Qian completely trusted what the Witch had said earlier.

But whether as a transcendent or a leading academic, Fu Qian found it incredibly reasonable for some symbol of the Mind World to exist in a reality shaped by traversing authority.

Conversely, if there wasn't one, there had to be some kind of explanation.

Was it destroyed?

This was a world that had experienced a true apocalypse, so that would be a logical development.

Or was it taken away?

Were they just looking at a bit of leftover Residue, much like the previous Existence Core of the Law?

Given their prior experiences, this possibility couldn't be ruled out either.

...

"I hadn't thought that deeply about it before, but my personal experience exploring those dreams was not pleasant. Thinking about it now, that might be the reason."

Although this was merely Fu Qian's side of the story, the Dark Night Pope was clearly biased toward believing him.

The Witch frowned slightly, already trying to use this theory to explain her own experiences.

"In the midst of total collapse, it's hard to imagine the spiritual world remaining unscathed, especially when the vast majority of life has already died... In that case, this place is definitely worth exploring thoroughly. Let's keep heading up and take a look."

At this moment, her pragmatic side showed. The Witch clearly leaned toward the idea that the sea of mind had been destroyed during the apocalypse, rather than the more complicated conspiracy theory that it had traveled to another world like the Core of Law.

She decisively ordered the Knight to continue leading the way and explore deeper.

"Hey—you two."

Fu Qian naturally followed the Pope's orders without hesitation, stepping right across the rolling red sand to the other side.

The scene beyond the exit was even more absurd. Not only did the slope become drastically steeper, but the red sand filling its end cascaded down like a rushing waterfall.

In fact, this waterfall was literally moving.

Approaching it, Fu Qian soon realized that the surface of the red sand was continuously bulging like goosebumps in a freezing wind, and the bulges were heading right toward them.

That was right—it was entirely made up of those bugs from before.

They were densely packed, leaving almost no gaps between them.

However, just as Fu Qian was about to step inside without a second thought, a long, thin arm suddenly blocked his path.

By comparison, its joints were abnormally thick and far more numerous than a normal human's, while the surface was almost entirely keratinized.

The one blocking the way was naturally Liang Shangjun. After silently observing and evaluating the arm, Fu Qian actually stopped in his tracks, studying the face that had lowered itself a few more meters.

"Speak."

...

'If I just speak because you tell me to, I'll lose a lot of face.'

There was no sound at that moment, but one could almost feel his wave of resentment.

"You're looking for the sea, right?"

However, their previous encounter had seemingly given Liang Shangjun a clear understanding that he had no room to vent his personal feelings. In the end, he kept his pride buried and chose to get straight to business.

...

Unfortunately, he still received no response. The Knight walking in front merely stared coldly in his direction, showing absolutely no intention of cooperating.

The only bit of progress was that the other person finally shot him a glance as well, though she naturally had even less intention of speaking up.

"...I don't know how you got into this place, but you really did find the right spot. The sea is right behind there."

He realized that unless he offered something substantial, meaningless opening remarks would completely fail to move the two people in front of him.

It was also obvious that these two were impolite to the extreme and had absolutely no intention of showing goodwill to a stranger.

Consequently, Liang Shangjun abandoned the formalities and cut straight to the point.

And the direction he pointed in was none other than the tunnel swarming with red sand and bugs.

"Thanks for the directions."

Fu Qian's response was a completely insincere smile as he offered his thanks, before staring directly at the man's hand.

"Then why are you blocking us?"

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