Eldritch Horror Theatre

As it turned out, the Sin Seeker wasn't very persistent.

When Fu Qian stood beneath the slanted wall once more, there was nothing behind him.

Faced with a fleeing target, the creature hadn't bothered to give relentless chase.

Which just made it even more abnormal!

Fu Qian furrowed his brow.

He had kept a close eye behind him the entire way. The Sin Seeker had taken barely a few steps before grinding to a halt.

If the thing had kept hounding him, it could be explained away as a sudden shift in its priorities—choosing to attack whatever target was closest.

Yet it had simply given up, clean and decisive.

It obviously wasn't just sitting around; chances were, it had gone to find trouble with someone else.

Truly, a case of declining public morals!

Lamenting this, Fu Qian looked up and gauged the angle.

A moment later, he crouched and pushed off hard, launching his body from the ground like a cannonball.

Reaching the apex of his jump, he pushed lightly off the rock wall and landed softly on the platform housing the Statue.

Instantly, two pairs of shocked, uncertain eyes shot his way.

Elena and Cross.

The two of them hadn't left yet.

Fu Qian swept his gaze over them and immediately saw the problem. Cross was slumped against the wall with a massive gash extending from his shoulder all the way to his waist.

Had the cut been any deeper, the man would have been split cleanly in two.

Even as it was, Cross was on his last breath, completely stripped of his mobility.

Wisps of dark shadow were seeping from Elena's hands, gathering tightly around the wound.

However, they were barely managing to stem the bleeding. The wound's healing speed left much to be desired.

The reason they hadn't left was obvious.

Cross was gravely wounded and immobilized, while Elena, having recently gone dark, couldn't tap into her normal healing abilities on such short notice. She could only manage a makeshift patch-up.

Elena and Cross were visibly astonished by Fu Qian's return.

But a split second later, they both instinctively looked to the side—

In front of the Goddess of Sins' Statue, a figure stood with his back to them. Beside him, a sharp Long Blade was thrust into the ground.

It was a familiar back!

Fu Qian sighed in realization.

Swordsman Yun. The man had actually come here.

In truth, the reason he had run back this way was to see if something had happened by the Statue.

After all, the Sin Seeker's sudden surge in prowess had been distinctly abnormal.

Looking at the scene now, it seemed Yun had not only found his way to the Statue, but he was also highly likely the one responsible for the gash on Cross.

And right now, Yun seemed entirely oblivious to Fu Qian's arrival.

He stood motionless, gazing deeply at the Statue.

Naturally, the most striking thing was his aura.

The Fire of Sin that had previously raged around him to the extreme was entirely gone, without a single trace left behind.

Clearly, the man had just communed with the Goddess of Sins, and the Sin Fire on his body had been purified.

"Mr. Fu!"

Elena finally snapped out of her daze and whispered to Fu Qian.

"He just accepted redemption and purified the Sin Fire on his body..."

She left the thought unfinished, but Fu Qian understood her implication perfectly.

Her reminder was just a roundabout way of saying that with Yun's Sin Fire gone, he was severely weakened compared to before.

It was a prime opportunity to strike and kill him.

But it was also a testament to the massive psychological shadow Yun had cast over her.

Cross had likely been cut down before Yun purified his Sin Fire. Yet now, facing a character who had laid down his Butcher's Cleaver—and whose back was fully exposed—she still hadn't dared to make a move herself, pinning her hopes on Fu Qian instead.

What a shame. He hadn't come all the way back here just to murder someone.

Fu Qian stood off to the side, closely observing Yun's silent communion with the Goddess of Sins, refusing to miss a single detail.

As for Elena's suggestion, he ignored it entirely.

Seeing this, Elena stared in blank incomprehension, failing to grasp why Fu Qian wouldn't seize the opening.

But the psychological shadow Fu Qian had left on her was no smaller than Yun's.

So, while her expression was fraught with conflict, she didn't dare press the issue.

"The simple accumulation of power will never ascend to the Hall of Great Elegance."

After a long while, Swordsman Yun let out a soft sigh, exhaled deeply, and slowly turned around.

His gaze swept past Elena and Cross before finally locking onto Fu Qian's face.

Stripped of his Sin Fire, his eyes were calm and clear. Not a trace of his former ferocity remained.

What a picture of shattering the void!

Fu Qian marveled internally.

"You're truly something else."

Swordsman Yun stared at Fu Qian and offered the slow, measured praise.

"I can now confirm that you are leagues above them."

"If I hadn't borrowed the power of the Sin Fire earlier, I would have certainly died against you!"

"It looks like you're feeling pretty good about yourself right now?"

Fu Qian didn't comment on the praise, but instead fired back a question.

"More than pretty good."

Yun's demeanor was perfectly at ease.

"I've found the true answer."

"In all my years, my heart has never felt as free of hindrances and attachments as it does now."

"It's true; one can only achieve Sublimation by letting go of their obsessions."

"I was truly blind before, shrouded by too many things! Fortunately—"

Clang!

Yun reached to his side as he spoke and pulled his Long Blade from the ground.

A moment later, the blade hummed, and he launched a sudden slash at Elena in the corner.

The strike came without warning, as fast as a flash of lightning.

Fortunately, Elena had been staring at him with total concentration from the second he turned around. She reacted almost on sheer reflex.

A thick mass of black swiftly manifested, forming a shield in front of her.

However, the barrier clearly lacked resistance. It managed to block for only a split second before the Long Blade cleaved it apart.

Fortunately, that brief delay was just enough. Elena narrowly evaded the strike, her face deathly pale as she leapt a safe distance away.

"Today, I have finally delivered this strike."

To their relief, Yun didn't press the attack. Instead, he sheathed his blade, turned back, and fixed his gaze on Fu Qian.

"Could you understand it?"

"I think I get the gist."

Fu Qian replied lackadaisically.

"It's that 'heart free of hindrances and attachments' bit, right?"

"Exactly! You truly haven't disappointed me."

Yun let out a long sigh.

"For years, I have pursued it bitterly, yet the method always eluded me. Even just now, when my power surged under the blessing of the Sin Fire, my heart was still weighed down by attachments."

"It wasn't until I realized that path was still wrong—and decisively discarded everything—that I finally grasped a sliver of the opportunity."

"At this very moment, I have undergone a qualitative transformation. I have truly achieved Transcendence over myself."

"That strike just now embodied focused spirit and Ultimate Intent, yet my heart remained as tranquil as still water."

"Someone who has never experienced it could never imagine the feeling."

'What a shame. I can imagine it just fine, and I can even guess the exact reason.'

Fu Qian looked at Yun, whose face looked like he was about to achieve shattering the void, and then glanced at the Statue behind him. He let out a long sigh.

'It's just that the reason might be completely different from what you think.'

'It isn't a heart free of hindrances and attachments. It's just that the sins went to her, while the power stayed with you.'

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