Eldritch Horror Theatre

As it turned out, you could still get caught for plagiarizing yourself.

Ji Liushuang's strange reaction quickly reminded Fu Qian where he had said this before—the last time he sat down to discuss the Dao with the sword heart, he had used similar words to stoke the fire.

But how long ago was that? Even though it had happened in her mind, she hadn't exactly been lucid at the time, had she?

And she still remembered?

Observing Ji Liushuang impassively, Fu Qian marveled to himself.

Was this the Lucent Sword Heart? No wonder Li Weixuan had been so excited back then.

Sometimes, it was simply unreasonable.

He remembered how she had seen through his Perfect Disguise last time, forcing him to sacrifice his own reputation to throw her off.

Of course, if Classmate Liushuang truly possessed such a lucid mind, she should realize the importance of keeping quiet right now, shouldn't she?

...

He wasn't sure if the Lucent Sword Heart was just that clever, or if Ji Liushuang simply understood the art of playing it safe through wise discretion.

After catching a fleeting glimpse, she naturally averted her gaze, handling the situation perfectly.

Casi and the others keenly noticed the exchange, but they clearly misinterpreted it as a young student's admiration for a titan of the sword path. They just saw it as human nature.

"But in the end, we still haven't figured out why this is happening."

Casi didn't bother hiding the disappointment in his tone.

Clearly, as the Dean of the Apocalypse Branch, he shared the same traits as the other professors.

To put it nicely, it was an innate spirit of exploration. To put it bluntly, it was a mindset that viewed everyone as a test subject.

In fact, Fu Qian suspected this was exactly why the dean had volunteered to lead the team here.

Bizarre manifestations of power, bloodline inheritance, and incomprehensible loss of control.

Based on Fu Qian's time at the Academy, he knew those freaks were highly enthusiastic about this kind of incident.

Of course, this wasn't a bad thing for him. After all, his mission was precisely to find out what had gone wrong.

"At the same time, finding a way to sever the connection seems incredibly difficult."

Pretending not to hear Casi's lament, Ah Kai continued his analysis.

"We might be able to figure something out for the short term, but sustaining it long-term is a completely different story."

He undeniably had the authority to speak on this matter, as he was the one who had handled Kamakura Shinji's treatment.

...

"Let's head back and look into it."

Finished with his laments, Casi nodded in agreement and turned his gaze toward Kamakura Ki.

"Family Head Kamakura, we have a few theories, but we need to head back and discuss them in detail."

"Alright..."

The group hadn't deliberately lowered their voices during their discussion, so Kamakura Ki had caught pieces of their conversation.

Hearing a group of outsiders repeatedly dismiss their Cursed Swordsmanship inevitably bred some resentment in his heart.

Yet, in such a desperate situation, the fact that they at least had ideas on how to save them was undeniably good news.

For a moment, Kamakura Ki's demeanor was visibly conflicted.

But as the family head, he quickly adjusted his mindset and turned around to give some instructions.

Kamakura Keiji stepped forward. Someone had already carefully bandaged his right hand. While it was little more than a token effort, the injury was localized enough that it wouldn't pose a major issue in the short term.

"Kamakura Keiji?"

Suddenly, a cold voice rang out, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

Ni Huayuan, who had remained completely silent until now, took a step forward and called out to him.

"Yes? Do you need something, Professor Ni?"

Looking up instinctively, Kamakura Keiji didn't dare to show any disrespect as he answered.

However, an instant later, an unnatural gleam flashed in Ni Huayuan's eyes, startling him.

Before Kamakura Keiji could react, a spike of excruciating pain pierced his skull. It felt as though a red-hot iron rod was scrambling his brain.

His body convulsed violently. Kamakura Keiji reflexively reached to draw his sword, but as he moved, he remembered that his right hand was practically crippled.

Fortunately, he hadn't completely lost his mobility. Twisting his body, he snatched the sword with his left hand and swung it in a clumsy, awkward arc.

"Keiji!"

Cries of alarm erupted around them. Even Kamakura Ki shouted in shock.

After all, from their perspective, Ni Huayuan had simply called out to Kamakura Keiji, only for Keiji to suddenly draw his blade and attack him.

Fortunately, Kamakura Keiji's crooked slash had virtually no chance of harming Ni Huayuan, even without the rest of the Academy intervening.

In fact, before the blade even came close, his body convulsed again, throwing his strike completely off target.

Only then did the Kamakura clansmen finally notice the eerie glint in Ni Huayuan's eyes.

"Stop!"

Realizing something was wrong, Kamakura Ki instinctively tried to stop Kamakura Keiji from throwing his life away.

But the young man acted as if he were possessed. Turning a deaf ear to the shouts, he struggled to launch another slash.

As the blade fell, blood finally splattered—but it was his own.

Kamakura Keiji's entire left arm followed in the footsteps of his right. In the blink of an eye, dozens of lacerations tore open across his flesh, and blood even began to seep from his chest.

Unable to hold his sword any longer, he collapsed heavily to the ground.

Bizarrely, both the man and his blade landed without making a single sound.

"Dean Casi!"

Desperate, Kamakura Ki turned to Casi for help.

However, the dean made no move to intervene; Ni Huayuan had already taken a step back, completely ignoring the heavily wounded Kamakura Keiji.

...

"It seems your theory wasn't all that useful, was it?"

Ni Huayuan turned to look at Casi and Ah Kai.

"I just tried to completely isolate him from the outside world, yet it seems it still triggered the laceration effect."

He pointed at Kamakura Keiji as he spoke in a slow drawl.

Hearing this, Kamakura Ki, who had been struggling to contain his fury, froze instantly.

"Therefore, the way I see it, their problem originates from within themselves."

"Something is causing their power to destabilize."

"And what do you think that something is?"

Despite being proven wrong so abruptly, Casi was in no rush to argue. Instead, he simply humored Ni Huayuan's line of questioning.

"Hard to say. Toxins, curses, mental influence—all of them are possibilities. Unfortunately, it seems none of us possess the means to directly treat it."

Regaining the upper hand, Casi's train of thought flowed even smoother.

"Therefore, the way I see it, we need to find the person responsible for this influence first, so we can prescribe the right cure."

"That doesn't sound very easy, either."

Casi remained expressionless.

Ni Huayuan didn't even bother acknowledging him. He simply turned to face Kamakura Ki and Kamakura Keiji, the latter barely able to stand even with someone supporting him.

"Cursed Swordsmanship. It seems you've fallen victim to the very methods you specialize in."

"...Then who could have done this?"

Unsure whether to feel relief or despair, Kamakura Ki swallowed hard.

The man's methods had been entirely too brutal, making it hard to accept.

But if this theory held true, it meant the Kamakura Family might actually have a chance to return to normal.

"They're your enemies. How should I know who it is?"

Ni Huayuan sneered.

"But we can approach this from a different angle. Instead of asking who, we should ask: what is their goal?"

"Your most renowned identity... seems to be the Tombkeepers."

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