A few seconds later, the endless light dissipated, and the silhouette from moments ago vanished without a trace.
He had finally found his true target.
Fu Qian was quite satisfied with this.
From the very beginning, his goal had been crystal clear: find this potentially terrifying entity.
His only clue was that Kelsen might have encountered it. So, when Fu Qian retreated earlier, he headed straight for the exact spot where Kelsen had lost his mind.
Since Kelsen was the only one affected while Sybil remained perfectly fine, it was reasonable to assume that 'salvation' had been triggered by Kelsen's erratic behavior.
In other words, the entity reacted to large-scale area-of-effect attacks. He could use that to flush her out.
However, considering how dangerous she was, finding a proxy to launch the attack was the perfect solution.
That was why his every move from the beginning was designed to bait Ji Yicheng into striking.
August Heaven does not disappoint the dedicated. After leading the two killers on a chase that practically plowed the entire room—just as Fu Qian was about to move to the next area—it finally reacted.
As for how he pinpointed the location so accurately, it came down to a specific detail Fu Qian remembered.
Back in the hall filled with glowing insects, even after the swarm was wiped out, he still felt a relentless, unending purification washing over him.
He hadn't understood why at the time, and the sensation was gone when he returned.
Now, Fu Qian strongly suspected the entity had been hiding nearby back then. While it hadn't actively attacked, it was constantly purifying the 'corruption' around it.
When he left, she must have wandered away too, which explained why the feeling hadn't returned.
Therefore, Fu Qian used that unique sensation as a tracking beacon.
He was proven right. It really was her, and using someone else as a probe had been an incredibly wise decision.
Despite his caution and the considerable distance between them, Ji Yicheng collapsed instantly, and the mummified corpse was reduced straight to ash. The entity's power was extraordinary.
Right now, beneath the crossbeam, dark green slop churned with rising bubbles.
As a majestic Angel, Brother Yicheng wouldn't die quite that easily.
A moment later, a pair of tattered wings burst from the muck. Flapping frantically, they hauled a massive body out of the foul water.
His consciousness was clearly still scrambled, however. He immediately smashed headfirst into the crossbeam, lost his balance, and plummeted back down with a massive splash.
It took a second attempt for Ji Yicheng to finally free himself. He landed unsteadily out in the Corridor, his dazed eyes reflecting Fu Qian's figure.
...
"What was that?"
Clearly still reeling from the encounter, he asked the question instinctively.
"Hard to say. Besides, you should have felt it more clearly than I did," Fu Qian replied.
"I think I offended something... but that power was beyond imagination!"
"I couldn't even sense any emotion from it. Just an indescribable purity."
"She felt like a king of Angels. No, more than that. She is a gestating angel."
Ji Yicheng's awe was completely genuine.
It matched his own judgment. First, the power undeniably shared the same origin as the man in front of him, but it belonged to a significantly higher tier of existence.
An entity higher than a covenant angel... Could this be an avatar of the covenant's target? Just like the Goddess of Sins.
If that were true, things were going to get brutal.
Before Sir William died, the Goddess of Sins had merely exerted her power to empower him; she hadn't shown her face at all.
Was there an imperceptible, wandering God here?
That shouldn't be the case. He had caught a glimpse of it just now without taking a hit to his sanity. A True God wouldn't be nearly that gentle.
So, just like Sir William, was that gestating angel simply an empowered Covenanter?
That seemed a bit more reasonable, though mere empowerment shouldn't have caused such a drastic anomaly.
"Have you ever heard of a woman going missing in the swamp?"
Fu Qian asked directly, cutting his thoughts short.
The Ji Clan had to be well-informed. Before exploring such a strange place, they would have undoubtedly conducted a comprehensive investigation.
They could be useful in uncovering that woman's identity.
"There are... too many. People die in the Wasteland every day, both men and women, let alone in a place like the swamp."
"Recently. And pregnant."
Fu Qian coldly tacked on the two modifiers.
Pregnant...
Ji Yicheng muttered to himself before realization dawned on his face.
"Actually, yes. There was a woman named Lorraine. She believed her lover had gone missing in the swamp, so she came here looking for him despite warnings. She ended up disappearing too. Word was she was pregnant at the time."
Lorraine?
Fu Qian recalled that humanoid silhouette and let out a sigh.
If that really was Lorraine, it meant she had accidentally stumbled into these Underground Ruins and, just like Ji Yicheng, inadvertently formed a covenant.
So, how exactly was a covenant formed?
A sinner's covenant was extremely simple: one only needed to carry Sin Fire and strike a specific pose in front of the Goddess's statue.
But between Ji Yicheng and the pregnant woman named Lorraine, it was incredibly hard to imagine any shared action they might have taken.
Wait a minute!
The next second, a realization hit Fu Qian.
Setting Lorraine aside for a moment, and assuming he wasn't just a Chosen One, what specific thing had Ji Yicheng done to make himself stand out?
Fu Qian studied the man in front of him, recalling what he had said before.
The power of Ash Descent allowed one to transform into a spirit-like state, granting immunity to various negative effects and making it easier to explore unknown areas.
Could a spirit body be the requirement? Could standing in front of the Mirror in that state seal the covenant?
But Lorraine was an unaffiliated Transcendent Tier. It was incredibly hard to link her to the Ji Clan's ancestral bloodline.
"Don't kill me!"
As Fu Qian pondered, Ji Yicheng finally seemed to snap back to reality, letting out a sudden, desperate shout.
His mental state wasn't half bad, considering he was still brimming with the will to live.
It seemed his inherent constitution provided strong resistance against the shock from earlier.
Fu Qian nodded, looking at the Fallen Angel before him.
"Can't you teleport?"
...
Ji Yicheng froze, seemingly just remembering that fact. A spark of hope lit up his eyes.
Half a minute later, however, that spark rapidly died out.
"I can't."
"Why?"
...
Ji Yicheng stayed silent for a long time before suddenly thinking of something.
"Elena!"
"What?"
Ji Yicheng had suddenly blurted out the name of the corrupted girl. It was quite a massive leap in logic.
"Mr. Fu, you don't want Elena to die either, right?"
Classmate Ji, has porn rotted your brain?
Spitting out a line like that at a time like this.
"I can tell. Even though you two don't talk, you're definitely old acquaintances."
"You're quite observant."
Fu Qian nodded, his tone flat.
"As for our relationship... there is a little something between us, I suppose. Just enough that I wouldn't mind collecting her corpse while I'm at it."
...
"So, your reasoning isn't good enough."
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