Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What is Ambergris?”

Fu Qian’s question caught Ji Liushuang completely off guard.

”Of course I know what Ambergris is, but I don’t understand what you mean...” Ji Liushuang muttered.

Fu Qian hadn’t expected her to understand anyway.

An indigestible foreign object encased in secretions isn’t true Ambergris yet. Only after the whale vomits it out and it spends centuries being washed and soaked by the sea does it become a real treasure.

The most crucial part of the process is that the foreign object gets expelled.

Since the Furnace’s barrier couldn’t be broken, he would just have to make it vomit him out like an indigestible foreign object.

This might be the only way out of this desperate situation.

But if the Furnace was the whale, getting expelled meant he couldn’t just be indigestible—he also needed to be large enough.

Fu Qian strongly suspected this was exactly what Feng Yunhong had been doing all these years.Slowly devouring the transcendents who came after him, accumulating mass as a foreign object to make the Furnace’s indigestion increasingly severe.

Until, one day, he passed the breaking point...

”Not understanding isn’t a problem. As the old saying goes, weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival; arrogance is. Just don’t do things you don’t understand.”

Fu Qian winked at Ji Liushuang.

”You’ll help us, right?”

Unable to grasp what Fu Qian meant, Ji Liushuang swallowed hard and spoke rapidly.

”Even if you don’t really fit in with the rest of us, I know you aren’t a bad person.

”If there’s a way out, please tell me. I’m willing to pay any price.”

Fu Qian looked at Ji Liushuang’s serious face, then at the other five people.

Aside from her, no one else even dared to meet his eyes, though they were clearly hanging on his every word.

”Sorry, you aren’t getting out.”

Fu Qian ruthlessly shattered everyone’s hopes.

”Because you’re too weak.”

”Besides, maybe I’m not a bad person, but I am a task runner.”

Flashing Ji Liushuang a smile, Fu Qian leapt into the air and landed directly in the center of the pool of blood—right where Feng Yunhong had originally stood.

The blood instantly surged around him.

Fu Qian could vividly feel the frantic scouring against his body as the blood tried to force its way inside and assimilate him.

”How about this?”

Without hesitation, Fu Qian plunged his right hand into the pool.

The wound where his pinky had been severed immediately served as an open channel, and a mad rush of blood surged into his body through the gap.

”You dare!”

A frenzied howl echoed across the expanse, and a figure rose from the pool of blood.

Calling it a person was a generous embellishment. It was merely a humanoid monster with a torso and limbs, its face a completely blank slate devoid of features.

”Do you know what you’re doing?”

It was unmistakably Feng Yunhong’s voice.

”Of course I do. Why else would I be going at it so enthusiastically?”

Fu Qian gave him a cheeky response. Then, under the horrified gazes of Ji Liushuang and the others, he grabbed his own right arm and ripped the whole thing off.

The speed of the inflowing blood instantly multiplied.

He immediately felt his body swell, bloated by the surging torrent of blood and vitality.

”Stop!”

Feng Yunhong’s voice turned more frantic.

”Do you know how many years I’ve prepared for this?”

”Seems you’re well aware of your situation, huh?”

Fu Qian’s suspicions were confirmed.

He had indeed come up with the exact same plan.

Transform himself into an indigestible mass so the Furnace would actively expel him.

”I will absolutely not let you ruin my decades of effort!”

Seeing Fu Qian not only refuse to stop but actually double down, a frantic Feng Yunhong accelerated his own absorption.

But the earlier self-detonation had clearly inflicted massive trauma on him, and he was still in the middle of recovering.

Pushing his absorption speed immediately threw his form into instability. He nearly lost his human shape altogether and was forced to slow down again.

Even so, relying on his years of accumulation and familiarity with the process, his intake still far outpaced Fu Qian’s.

His body gradually began to take shape as internal organs, muscles, and other anatomical details materialized.

Confident that Fu Qian couldn’t pose a genuine threat, Feng Yunhong breathed a sigh of relief.

”You arrogant fool. I let you escape earlier, but I never expected you to march right back into the net.”

He glared venomously at Fu Qian.

”Soon, I will personally send you on your way, and you will learn the true meaning of absolute agony.”

”Hmph!”

Facing Feng Yunhong’s threats, Fu Qian merely grunted, completely unfazed.

”That reminds me. Shouldn’t I strike first?”

Fu Qian stepped forward, marching right up to Feng Yunhong.

The man had absolutely no skin. The striations of his muscles were clearly visible, and even his internal organs were exposed.

Having already absorbed more than half the blood in the pool, Feng Yunhong towered even larger than before.

”You dare!”

Amidst Feng Yunhong’s furious roar, Fu Qian took another step forward. He let the man seize him by the throat, using his own fingers like a blade to carve a deep wound into his opponent’s flesh.

A split second later, blood surged into the wound, knitting the flesh back together at a visible rate.

”Stop wasting your energy.”

Feng Yunhong cackled like a madman.

”My movements may be hindered right now, but as long as I stand in this pool, I absolutely will not die.

”No matter the injury, I will heal instantly!”

”Is that right? What about this?”

Fu Qian blinked. He shoved his hand right through the partially healed wound and activated Visceral Attack.

The pool of blood beneath their feet shuddered violently as Feng Yunhong’s agonizing scream tore through the air.

As Fu Qian ripped his hand out, a torrent of blood gushed from the wound.

”Stop!”

The man didn’t even have skin. Theoretically, his entire body was an open wound—he was the absolute perfect target for a kidney strike!

Turning a deaf ear to Feng Yunhong’s shrieks, Fu Qian reached in and gouged him again.

The six people on the shore were watching in dumbfounded shock.

When Fu Qian had first leapt into the pool of blood, they had assumed he’d gone mad and was trying to commit suicide.

But looking at the situation now, he clearly came prepared. He was beating Feng Yunhong to death.

Just as Fu Qian’s horrifying attacks wrenched shriek after shriek from Feng Yunhong, a figure suddenly charged to the edge of the pool.

”Huang Zhaoyan!”

The group stared at him in shock.

”Idiots.”

Huang Zhaoyan sneered coldly at the group and leapt into the pool without a second thought.

The bastard wanted a piece of the pie!

The insulted group instantly realized what Huang Zhaoyan was trying to do.

Absorbing the blood clearly boosted one’s strength. Feng Yunhong and Fu Qian were currently locked in a desperate deathmatch over it, leaving them with no time to pay attention to anyone else.

Huang Zhaoyan wanted to swoop in and reap the benefits.

It was dangerous, but in a place like this, every ounce of power was another guarantee of survival. It was well worth the risk.

And the reason he’d called them idiots was simple.

If they just stood there and let those two fight it out, regardless of who actually won, the rest of them would end up as nothing more than lambs to the slaughter.

A sudden restlessness rippled through the group. One after another, figures leapt into the air, charging toward the center of the blood pool.