Eldritch Horror Theatre

Huang Yuanchang’s flashy entrance instantly ignited the transcendents’ fury.

Snatched from the comfort of their homes and dragged here into captivity, the crowd was already seething.

And now some arrogant fool was trying to turn their imprisonment into a death sentence?

Many of the transcendents in West Plain City recognized Huang Yuanchang and knew his background.

Even those who didn’t recognize him had eyes. They were all veterans of the extraordinary world.

Despite his bizarre appearance, the aura Huang Yuanchang displayed was Tier 7 at most.

That was miles beneath the two killers standing nearby!

’I might not be able to beat the Night Watchers, but I can certainly beat you!’

A torrent of insults flooded the hall.

”What the hell are you? You dare spout nonsense here!””Has the Huang Clan gone mad? Even if Huang Leji were here, he wouldn’t dare boast like this!”

”Do you know where you are? Throwing your weight around without knowing your place!”

...

Ill Omen was actually him?

The three Night Watchers shared complicated looks, Captain Qiao most of all.

He naturally knew Huang Yuanchang, and he couldn’t accept that the legendary Ill Omen hailed from West Plain City.

He really was here!

Su Gao’s eyes, however, flashed with a sharp light.

Having pursued him all this way, she was intimately familiar with Ill Omen’s aura. She confirmed almost instantly that Huang Yuanchang was indeed Ill Omen.

Murderous intent spiking, Su Gao subconsciously reached for her sword hilt, but Fu Qian grabbed her arm.

”Wait!”

Fu Qian spoke without taking his eyes off Huang Yuanchang.

Su Gao didn’t understand, but she instinctively followed his advice.

She suppressed the urge to strike and slipped her arm free from his grip.

Heh heh!

Facing Universal Condemnation, Huang Yuanchang showed no fear. Instead, he let out a string of mocking laughter.

That laughter was the final straw. Several figures couldn’t hold back and lunged forward.

Leading the charge was a beautiful woman in her thirties, elegantly dressed but wearing no makeup.

Fu Qian vaguely remembered her. If memory served, the last time he had seen her corpse, she had been wearing a sheet mask.

Now moving like lightning, Mask Lady’s Rapier struck with the agility of a viper, aiming straight for Huang Yuanchang’s lower body.

The viciousness of her strike carried all the fury of a woman forced to leave her house bare-faced.

”I am God’s favored one, and the Sacred Law protects me.”

Facing this fierce strike, Huang Yuanchang made no move to dodge. He simply raised his hands and spoke in a trance-like murmur.

Mask Lady’s Rapier was inches from severing his manhood.

”All offenders shall be subjected to the Punishment of Decapitation.”

As Huang Yuanchang’s chant reached a fevered crescendo, Mask Lady jolted mid-lunge, her expression twisting in terror.

A bloody line appeared across her neck.

The next moment, Mask Lady’s delicate head slid smoothly from her neck and rolled away, terror permanently etched onto her features.

Carried by momentum, her headless corpse stumbled forward, missing Huang Yuanchang by a hair before driving her Rapier deep into the floorboards.

Thud! Thud!

The two transcendents trailing right behind her paled at the sight, but they were unable to halt their momentum. Without exception, they met the exact same fate.

In an instant, three headless corpses littered the hall.

Deathly silence.

The room full of transcendents froze, staring at this unbelievable scene in a daze.

’Interesting. I couldn’t even see how he did it!’

Witnessing this, Fu Qian analyzed the situation silently.

He was certain that Huang Yuanchang hadn’t moved a muscle other than to act like a lunatic. He wasn’t even holding a weapon.

The wounds on the three victims’ necks looked as if they had simply bloomed into existence.

’Perhaps he wasn’t the one who did it?’

The image of that bizarre giant tree surfaced in Fu Qian’s mind.

’Is this your countermeasure?’

’All offenders face the Punishment of Decapitation?’

’Does that mean anyone who gets too close to Huang Yuanchang will have their head chopped off by this so-called Sacred Law?’

’If he had a move this strong, why didn’t I see it before?’

Looking at the increasingly bright Mercury-colored veins on Huang Yuanchang’s body, Fu Qian guessed that pulling this off came at a heavy price.

’Perhaps that High Tier entity realized that under the current circumstances, Destined Death alone wouldn’t be enough for Huang Yuanchang to complete the sacrifice, so it granted him this buff.’

”You... all must die!”

Huang Yuanchang’s expression grew even more savage as he stepped over the corpses.

”Die!”

Easily dodging several incoming ranged attacks, Huang Yuanchang let out a low roar.

The transcendent closest to him instantly froze, then collapsed limply to the ground as his head rolled away.

’Every person killed was within a certain radius of him. It seems the decapitation trigger is tied to distance.’

’I have to admit, this decapitation technique paired with the god-like evasion of Destined Death makes for a brutally sharp combo.’

Fu Qian’s brain whirred into high gear as a plan formed in his mind.

...

Su Gao finally realized why Fu Qian had told her to wait.

The bizarre scene before her was entirely beyond her understanding as well.

But watching Ill Omen steadily close in, absolute resolve hardened in her eyes.

Yet before she could strike, Fu Qian bolted out from beside her.

Wind howling, several Air Bullets paved the way as Fu Qian blurred into a phantom, aiming straight for Huang Yuanchang’s head.

Facing this fierce assault, Huang Yuanchang wore a savage grin. Without breaking his stride, he swiftly evaded the Air Bullets’ range.

At that exact moment, blood sprayed from the neck of the fast-approaching Fu Qian. His head tumbled through the air.

Su Gao jolted, staring at the sight in sheer disbelief as her face drained of all color.

But the very next moment, a scene that shocked everyone to their core unfolded.

Fu Qian’s headless body didn’t fall. Instead, it accelerated, instantly closing the gap to Huang Yuanchang.

His raised right hand swelled into a massive claw, locking into a death grip around the other man’s head.

”You—”

Huang Yuanchang cried out, his earlier madness shattering entirely.

”Wondering why I’m not dead?”

Fu Qian’s voice rumbled from within his chest.

”The Punishment of Decapitation—you have to actually sever my real head for it to work.”

Under the terrified gazes of a room looking at him like he was a monster, a new head slowly breached from the stump of Fu Qian’s neck.

”Can you see your Destined Death now?”

Crack!

Amidst Huang Yuanchang’s absolute despair, Fu Qian clenched his right hand. Red and white matter splattered.

The man’s body convulsed. The Mercury-colored veins across his skin twisted and flashed erratically, countless bizarre patterns manifesting and shattering before finally fading into stillness.

’Done!’

Fu Qian surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction.

’Of course, the thing that fell off just now wasn’t my real head!’

’Even with my absurdly tenacious vitality, I’d still die if I actually got decapitated.’

’So after confirming the effects of that decapitation Law, I had a sudden stroke of genius. I retracted my real head into my chest cavity and just left a dummy on top.’

’As it turns out, this so-called Law is far too rigid to make such a precise distinction.’

’Feast is just that useful!’

[Thug digestion progress: 3/3]

Right then, Fu Qian felt a surging, ocean-like power well up inside him.

[Congratulations. You have perfectly digested the Brawler Form.]

[In the face of violence, there is neither destiny nor Law.]

Along with the prompts, Fu Qian felt every part of his body undergo an incredible cleansing and strengthening. Furious power and killing intent were injected into every cell, thoroughly transforming him into an avatar of destruction.

Once his aura gradually stabilized, Fu Qian took a deep breath, confirming that his body had undergone a qualitative transformation.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at his sheer life force, he was at least Tier 4 now.

’This trip wasn’t a waste of time after all.’

[Mission complete. Containment successful.]

At the same time, a long-absent chime rang in his ears.