Eldritch Horror Theatre

The world-destroyer from nineteen years ago, the Mother of Gospel—she had a hand in this too?

He easily recognized the highly distinctive signatures. In that moment, all the lingering doubts in Fu Qian's mind were thoroughly resolved.

It made sense. To risk everything to help spread the Seed of Ecstasy, the weight on the other side of the scale had to be immense.

So the Warehouse and Old Man Ji's long chain of arrangements had been targeting this relentless world-destroyer all along?

His Excellency Jose wasn't just under the threat of the Seed of Ecstasy; the Mother of Gospel had already planted her methods within him.

That was the only thing that made sense. An entity like the Mother of Gospel would absolutely be working in the shadows at all times—just look at what happened with the Ji Clan's Golden Generation.

With that established, the reason for constantly baiting His Excellency Jose toward pleasure became vividly clear—fighting poison with poison?

So Old Man Ji's suicidal grandstanding had served two purposes all along: to force His Excellency Jose into using that living-flesh detection just now, and to set up this final verification method?

It was a flawless two-birds-with-one-stone stratagem. He could only repeat his earlier thought: the design of this trap was so exquisite it felt like cheating.

"Haven't I been telling you this whole time that I wasn't?"

Faced with His Excellency Jose's astonishment, Old Man Ji looked even more surprised than he was.

A ferocious smile twisted across his ruined face as the tip of the pen he had pressed down actually began to move once again.

Clearly, he had already regained his freedom without asking for permission.

In doing so, he proved that Jose's judgment had indeed been correct.

Carefully pulling back the flames cloaking his body so they wouldn't burn the Marriage Contract, he simply went ahead and wrote down a name.

"It's just a little game. I wish Your Excellency a pleasant day."

When he finished, his gaze swept over the audience, offering them a heartfelt blessing as well.

"After all, today is Your Excellency's big day. Don't forget, this is your name."

Faced with Jose, who was clearly hesitating to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase and hadn't made a move, Old Man Ji kept right on taunting him, not holding back his words in the slightest.

Prompted by his gesture, Camera Position 6 couldn't help but look down at the Marriage Contract. Through that view, Fu Qian managed to catch a glimpse of the name written there: Don Juan.

"Who exactly are you?"

Boom—

Naturally, His Excellency Jose saw it too. Confirming that he had been thoroughly played, he seemed to finally decide it was time to retaliate.

This retaliation manifested as a raging black fire that suddenly erupted from his own body.

"I already told you. I am someone who shouldn't exist in this space and time."

Unfortunately for Jose, Old Man Ji merely smiled at the threat, lazily repeating what he had said before.

Boom—

Another burst of black flame exploded, but this time it ignited over Old Man Ji, completely enveloping his body.

At almost the exact same moment, the black fire burning on Jose rapidly extinguished, perfectly demonstrating a transfer of power.

"Congratulations on finding the self you lost! Enjoy it to the fullest!"

Old Man Ji, who had been intently watching this process the entire time, finally seemed satisfied. He offered a wave of farewell.

Waa—

It was hard to tell if it was an illusion, but the instant he vanished, a faint, ghostly wail echoed through the air. The sound was coming directly from His Excellency Jose's bloody lower abdomen.

When Camera Position 6 couldn't help but look back over, His Excellency Jose's exquisite face in the field of vision had already quietly warped.

The general shape of his features remained the same, yet the transcendent aura belonging to a God-Man was completely gone.

In its place was what seemed to be a countenance overflowing with mundane desire.

...

Was this the legendary id conquering the superego?

Without any further chance to take in the bustling spectacle of the royal wedding, Fu Qian felt the scene blur in the very next moment.

When his vision cleared again, he was staring at a table with a hole stabbed straight through it.

Just as he expected, this cinematic journey had officially ended. He was back in Mister Dancy's Restaurant.

He had to admit, it was truly an illustrious people and blessed land. This grand feast had yielded an enormous harvest.

Rubbing his palms together, Fu Qian recalled that final scene and silently analyzed its implications.

The mouth on his palm used for Insight had vanished, taking the Eye of the Punished Consort with it, and the newly freed skill slot hadn't received any replacements.

It was a shame, really. The price of admission for this movie had been rather steep.

However, considering the sheer quality of the story, Fu Qian figured it was well worth the cost.

Old Man Ji's final stance had looked exactly like someone clocking out after a successful mission, meaning his goal had been achieved.

The two most glaring changes at the end were the collapse of His Excellency Jose's Face of Gods and Men, and the complete transfer of the black flames to the Warehouse Manager.

So his earlier theory had been right—Old Man Ji had come specifically for the Mother of Gospel, and she had been lurking within Jose the entire time?

It was sound logic, but the startling synchronization between the transfer of the flames and His Excellency Jose's secularization made it impossible not to connect the Mother of Gospel to the Face of Gods and Men.

The problem was that face. He had clearly identified its aura as belonging to the Ancient Dark Moon... So what exactly was going on?

Were the Mother of Gospel and the Ancient Dark Moon the same entity?

That felt incredibly unlikely.

Within this barrier-protected world, the Ancient Dark Moon's actions hadn't seemed restricted in the slightest, and their power types were vastly different.

But with the loss of the black flames, the divinity on that face had indeed completely vanished...

As for the final change that had occurred in Ji Feng, Fu Qian felt he had a relatively clear grasp of it.

The old man had clearly been baiting the black flames into burning him. All his previous maneuvers had been designed to force Jose into actively cooperating with that exact outcome.

Once the goal was achieved, the Warehouse could conveniently step in and deal with it, thoroughly eradicating the Mother of Gospel's methods.

He had used a very similar strategy back on Ye Island to deal with the Nameless Frenzied God.

At the same time, there was one more detail that seemed to corroborate this theory—when he first met Old Man Ji Feng at the Unseen Hill, the old man had been deeply plagued by those flames.

It was later proven that the affliction had come directly from the Mother of Gospel.

So was this the source of his mental illness?

He might have completed the mission, but the strategy of acting as a living vessel had still left him with a workplace injury?

If that was truly the case, he had to admit that the Mother of Gospel's schemes were somewhat terrifying in their own right.

The Warehouse in its prime should have been more than capable of helping Ji Feng clear away any lingering mission hazards. So how had she bypassed that to cling to him?

It certainly left much to the imagination.

In addition, some facts were clear now. For instance, the Laria Family's bloodline was undeniably alluring.

The Blood Wedding incident alone had surprisingly drawn the involvement of at least three higher entities.

The father-and-son dynamic between Jose and Don Juan clearly wasn't simple either.

Old Man Ji's parting words had sounded quite specific—'congratulations on finding the self you lost'?

Was Don Juan, bearing the Seed of Ecstasy, originally truly a part of Jose, severed from him through some special method?

Only for Old Man Ji and the Warehouse to shove him right back in, fighting poison with poison to thoroughly scour away the Mother of Gospel's traces?

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