Eldritch Horror Theatre

When it was Feng Yunhong’s turn, his voice was already thick with despair.

The flesh vortex had faded until it was barely visible. Fu Qian had completely drained his decades of accumulation.

And the consciousness of every transcendent trapped within it vanished into ash along with it.

A complete, absolute annihilation.

”What was it you said earlier?”

Fu Qian spoke suddenly, cutting through Feng Yunhong’s defiant roars.

”You said you’ve endured unimaginable pain for years, so I could never defeat you. Was that it?”

”Here, let me show you what true pain is.”

Tracing his connection to the flesh vortex, Fu Qian channeled an endless tide of Mental Shock directly into Feng Yunhong.

”Ahhh!”A beast-like roar erupted as Feng Yunhong’s consciousness violently convulsed.

Half a minute later, he let out a groan, on the verge of total collapse.

”Who... exactly... are... you?”

”Fu Qian.”

Facing a dying man, Fu Qian fully embraced the posture of a victor, enunciating his name with deliberate emphasis.

Following an even more violent surge of emotion, Feng Yunhong could hold on no longer. Frightened out of his wits, his soul completely scattered, leaving behind a deeply resentful final cry that echoed for a long time.

”I have to pay for this, too?”

Human joys and sorrows truly are not connected!

Fu Qian let out a sigh. The man seemed to have misunderstood something.

Still, he couldn’t muster a shred of sympathy for Feng Yunhong.

Leaving aside the fact that this Ruthless Guy had gone on a rampage over a dozen times, hunting down more than twenty lost lambs over the years...

The sheer fact that he had used this Stone Seat as a daily tranquilizer for years without ever discovering its true nature was pathetic enough.

I can only say you were completely useless even when handed an opportunity!

As the final trace of noise faded and the flesh vortex completely merged into his body, Fu Qian opened his eyes and slowly stood up from the Stone Seat.

From the outside, he looked exactly the same as before. Even his power hadn’t noticeably increased.

But he alone knew that he was now entirely different.

Glancing at his hands, he could firmly confirm he was in a delicate state—an existence akin to the invisible barrier.

It was difficult to explain. To some extent, it was like the philosophical concept of ”I think, therefore I am.”

That is, he only existed here when he was actively conscious of himself.

If he let go, his existence would diffuse, merging entirely with the ruins.

Fu Qian glanced back at the Stone Seat.

If his guess was right, this object was fundamentally a manifestation of the Furnace’s rules—a High Tier embodiment of the Anomalous Great Disjunction.

The name ’Furnace’ referred to its function of refining and restructuring the life energy that entered it, achieving a Sublimation of life forms.

Those hand monsters and skull centipedes were just the most rudimentary forms of that restructuring.

He had underestimated it before. Transcendent beings who could not be ”digested”—like Feng Yunhong and himself—were instinctively rejected by the Furnace on one hand, processed much like Ambergris.

On the other hand, the Furnace still retained the potential to digest them.

The prerequisite was a willingness to accept the impact—to sit here, completely relinquish one’s consciousness, and embrace the baptism of that terrifying flood of information.

Just as he had done a moment ago.

At this moment, Fu Qian confirmed that in certain aspects, he now shared a homogeneous existence with the Furnace.

Now, it was time to finish the mission.

Right before he left, a glint of light caught his attention.

It was Feng Yunhong’s Long Halberd.

Fu Qian picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and casually stabbed it into the ground next to the Stone Seat.

He had no interest in polearms.

Emerging from the Underground Church, he found that every monster he passed turned a blind eye to him. They showed absolutely zero reaction, making his journey completely unimpeded.

Relying on his mysterious connection to the Furnace, Fu Qian quickly located Ji Liushuang and the others.

The group was currently feeling their way along the edge of the Furnace, searching for an exit.

The three teams had reconvened, but their numbers were even smaller than before. They must have suffered more casualties.

Broken arrows plummeted from above; Brother Archer was testing the high ground for any possible weak points.

Most of the group, however, was clearly in despair, their eyes filled with helpless hesitation.

Fu Qian kept walking straight toward them. He soon realized that everyone was completely blind to his presence. Their gazes swept right past him, as empty as if they were looking at thin air.

This state was truly peculiar.

The monsters turning a blind eye to him could be explained by his assimilation into the Furnace—they simply saw him as one of their own.

But for this group of people to show the exact same lack of reaction... that was very interesting.

Fu Qian recalled the Furnace’s ability to obliterate external information. Was this a similar property?

Their eyes clearly saw him, but their minds couldn’t process the sight, leaving them unable to react.

To test his theory, Fu Qian casually strolled right through the middle of the group.

Out of the entire team, only Li Weixuan frowned, glancing around with a hint of vigilance.

Sure enough. Unless the gap in their cultivation realms was massive, it was practically impossible for them to notice anything amiss.

The barrier was right in front of him now.

Fu Qian reached out and tapped it.

If he had been squeezed out the last time, this time he was being absorbed.

Fu Qian felt as if he had become a part of the barrier itself, slipping through it as effortlessly as a drop of water merging into the sea.

Looked like it was time to clock out.

”Dean Li, I still think we should explore deeper into the ruins.”

Right then, Fu Qian overheard Ji Liushuang speaking quietly to Li Weixuan.

”Even though I was the one who suggested checking the perimeter for a gap, it’s clearly a wasted effort.”

”Besides, Fu Qian is still inside. We need to confirm his status, whatever it takes.”

”He acted on his own without any regard for everyone else’s safety! I don’t believe we have any obligation to risk our lives for him!”

Voices of opposition flared up, just as expected.

At least the girl had a conscience, even if she had no idea he had just walked right past her face.

Li Weixuan agreed with Ji Liushuang’s assessment, but the vocal opposition from the others left him hesitating.

After all, their current situation was simply too bizarre. Acting rashly would be a massive risk.

Furthermore, based on Ji Liushuang’s description, the behavior of this student named Fu Qian had been extremely eccentric.

Fu Qian had intended to just walk away, but watching this scene unfold made him pause. After a moment of thought, he simply called out to Ji Liushuang.

Ji Liushuang, currently flushed red from arguing with Yuan Xin and the others, suddenly felt a tug in her heart. She looked up toward a specific spot in front of her.

There was clearly nothing there, yet it felt as if something was calling out to her.

Leaving the rest of the group behind, Ji Liushuang walked forward as if possessed. She reached out to touch the empty air, then whipped her head back in disbelief.

”There’s... a hole here?”

Even as the words left her mouth, she could hardly believe it herself.

But her hands were undeniably resting on the smooth edges of a tunnel, just large enough for a person to crouch and pass through.

At her words, the entire group froze for a second before instantly swarming toward her.

There really was a way out!

Once the passage was confirmed, Li Weixuan and Ji Liushuang organized the ecstatic survivors. One by one, they scrambled through the opening, escaping the despair-inducing cage.

Ji Liushuang insisted on being the last to leave.

Right before stepping through, she hastily gathered a few rocks from the ground and piled them into a marker, hoping to leave a sign for Fu Qian, who was still trapped inside.

Yet, merely a few seconds later, she stared at the pile of rocks in confusion, completely unable to remember why she had built it.

Around her, the surviving group was cheering wildly. Li Weixuan called out, leading them rapidly in the opposite direction.

Once the group was far away, Fu Qian stepped lightly out from the barrier.

Utilizing his connection to the barrier, he had just attempted to open a path through it. He hadn’t expected it to actually work.

It was fair to say that Ji Liushuang had won everyone their chance at survival.

[Containment successful.]

Finally, the long-awaited prompt chimed in his mind.