Eldritch Horror Theatre

”What did you say?”

Lanaya’s head snapped up toward the Treetop as she tried to discern the woman’s original appearance through the distorted, swollen limbs.

”No need to look. This is obviously Old Man Qiao’s new wife,”

Fu Qian said from beside her.

”Lily?”

Lanaya stared at the monster before her in disbelief. Its head had already swollen completely out of shape, the face entirely obscured by a tangled mass of uneven hair.

”You tortured her like this, and you still dare call her your lover?”

Lanaya was trembling with absolute fury.

”Of course Lily is my lover.”

That bizarre smile remained on Yi’an’s face as he spoke, tears even streaming from his eyes.”I love her more than I could love anyone. If she weren’t my lover, my ritual would not have succeeded.”

”Let me guess. Because Ecstasy needs to be transferred?”

Fu Qian recalled Jia Yi’s gruesome death and the woman who had been on top of him—her physical mutation had been weaker than Jia Yi’s.

Fu Qian had suspected even then that it might involve animated desire—what Yi’an called Ecstasy.

For some reason, the Ecstasy had transferred between the two of them.

”Exactly.”

Yi’an confirmed his guess.

”Ecstasy is an extremely complex thing. The moment it is severed and animated, it merely plants a seed.”

”Its growth requires soil, and that soil is human cognition.”

Yi’an continued.

”To give the simplest example, depravity alone doesn’t cause desire to evolve. You must be consciously aware that you are sinking into depravity. Otherwise, wouldn’t a few animals in heat work better than anything else?”

”At the same time, the construction of human cognition is a complex process, and every mind has its limits.”

”This means there is a limit to the level of Ecstasy a person can cultivate. Ultimately, driven by this ever-growing Ecstasy, their ravenous thirst forces them to repeatedly break through their own moral bottom line, absorbing every last drop of cognitive nourishment until they completely collapse.”

”That collapsed morality is the nourishment it needs to grow.”

”I get that. It’s commonly known as a flesh-puppet collapse!”

Fu Qian nodded, drawing a sideways glance from Lanaya.

He ignored her, looking instead at Lily, whose body had swollen to several times its normal size.

From the moment they walked in, she had only been able to force out a few depraved roars from her throat.

Obviously, she had reached the absolute limit of what her cognition could cultivate. This was the remaining Residue.

”So why wouldn’t your ritual have succeeded if she weren’t your lover?”

”The essence of Ecstasy is evolution and expansion. From the moment it is drawn out, it serves only that purpose. The key to my ritual is gathering enough Ecstasy to complete my own transformation.”

”But this process is far more difficult to control than the advancement of transcendent power.”

”What I can confirm is that Ecstasy transfers between different individuals in incomprehensible ways.”

”I’ve tried it before. Killing the host is one method; the Ecstasy will automatically reappear on someone nearby who can continue to support its growth, but a massive amount is lost in the process. It’s practically unfeasible.”

”After exploring numerous methods, I eventually developed a few special guiding techniques.”

”After that, I chose Lily and made myself fall in love with her.”

It wasn’t surprising that someone so skilled at manipulating minds could accomplish such a thing.

Fu Qian nodded.

”Did she know about this?”

”Of course Lily knew. And she loved me madly in return, willing to give everything she had to help me.”

”Then you found Old Man Qiao. You activated the Ecstasy in his heart first, then had him marry Lily?”

”Yes. That status was highly beneficial for the growth of the Ecstasy.”

”And then came the Masquerade, where you made your lover the most popular one there?”

”Exactly.”

”Don’t tell me you were standing right there while she was getting intimate with others.”

Fu Qian frowned.

”That was the key.”

Yi’an didn’t deny it in the slightest.

”Through this wondrous psychological cognition, witnessing my beloved plunge into depraved desire caused the Ecstasy to gather within my own heart instead.”

What kind of Minotaur ritual was this!

Fu Qian marveled inwardly as he listened, finally understanding the significance of the scene before him.

She had endured the complete collapse of her cognition, using her final ripples to elevate her ”lover” to the Demigod Realm.

”In short, Lily made a great sacrifice for my plan. She is my unchanging lover in this life.”

Yi’an continued, speaking as if reciting a poem.

”Enough! You’re nothing but a beast!”

Lanaya couldn’t listen to another word. With a howling gust of wind, she attacked in a fit of rage.

However, her mind blurred the very next moment. A wave of lust ten times stronger than before washed over her, allowing Yi’an to easily dodge her strike.

”I have to say, it really is an interesting idea.”

At the same time, a voice rang out from behind her.

Lanaya looked back in shock, only to find that Fu Qian—who had followed her all the way here—not only hadn’t joined the attack, but was actually stroking his chin in thought.

”An angle that can blur the line between a transcendent and an ordinary person. And the effects seem quite good.”

”Have you gone crazy too?”

Lanaya couldn’t help but roar.

”Professor Fu Qian is simply able to recognize the value of Ecstasy. This is a grand discovery, one that could completely change the landscape of transcendent power.”

Yi’an let out a low chuckle.

”Yeah. When many great discoveries are first born, they evoke fear and incomprehension, even drawing attacks upon themselves. Like how the world is round, or how the sun doesn’t revolve around us, and so on.”

Fu Qian nodded in agreement.

”Thank you for understanding.”

”When you’re too far ahead of the curve, a genius just looks like a madman.”

”Right, exactly. Professor Fu, you truly understand.”

”But does Brother Yi’an know what else these great discoveries have in common?”

”What is it?”

”Their discoverers all died for upholding the Truth.”

As he spoke, Fu Qian raised his hand and aimed right at Yi’an’s head.

”...Sigh.”

Yi’an’s expression initially registered shock before he let out a disappointed sigh.

”I thought you would be different from them.”

Before his voice could even fade, Fu Qian felt a stir in his mind, as if something were growing inside him.

However, this didn’t delay his movements in the slightest. In the next moment, an Air Bullet whistled out.

Boom!

Blood sprayed.

From the neck up, Yi’an’s head simply exploded into a mist of red and white, yet his body remained standing tall.

”He’s dead?”

Never expecting Fu Qian to be so decisive, Lanaya watched with a mix of shock and joy.

Thank God she didn’t have to face two perverted Demigod Realm experts at once.

”Not even close!”

Fu Qian stared at the blood-spurting neck and gently shook his head.

Starting from the chest, Yi’an’s body was slowly becoming swollen and thick, as if something were squeezing its way out from his esophagus.

A few seconds later, with a squirming motion, a fleshy tendril the thickness of an arm slowly drilled its way out through the wound.

The surface of the fleshy tendril was not smooth. Yellow, white, green—various colored reticular fascias wrapped around it layer by layer, overlapping to form a bizarre texture.