Eldritch Horror Theatre

Sure enough, sculpting it myself was the most reliable approach!

The Frost Mirror Dragon’s appearance was, naturally, born of Fu Qian’s own creativity.

With Resplendent Tyrant disabled, he couldn’t transform with a single thought. But to a flesh and blood expert, that was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

Without a ready-made template, he just had to sculpt one himself—not to mention he had the added bonus of the Pope’s Burning Frost Special Effect.

Ultimately, it hadn’t taken much effort. This form, which he had long envisioned during his free time, made a successful, shocking debut.

”Very impressive.”

Although for Brother Sanxun, the shock value didn’t seem quite sufficient.

”But you must know that against the Truth itself, such superficial destruction will have absolutely no effect, right?”

Employing the conversational tactic of praising before criticizing, he quickly pointed out the flaw after his initial admiration. His body, floating in mid-air, didn’t show the slightest intention of dodging.

”Of course.”Though he had the sedatives clamped between his teeth, it didn’t stop Fu Qian from agreeing.

Sanxun was speaking the truth, of course. For all his demolition, this place remained remarkably stable.

In fact, his expanding body seemed to have triggered the penalty for elevation change. Even now, a minor wound was tearing open beneath one of his claws.

And this was undoubtedly exactly what both he and Sha Ming wanted to see: the cage being dyed red with blood.

”That was never the point anyway. It’s just that this form is more convenient to maneuver.”

Without waiting for anyone else to share their thoughts, Fu Qian offered this casual explanation as his coiled body slowly unfurled.

Under their watchful gazes, he took a deep breath and unleashed a wildly powerful roar.

...

Majestic and profound, it swept across the entire area.

But its true deafening force was locked onto a single target: Sha Ming.

Gospel Shockwave.

Although it wasn’t the sole purpose of his transformation, releasing this Voice of Enlightenment in his current form was an undeniably perfect fit.

And under this specialized mental attack, Brother Sha Ming—who had maintained complete control of the situation thus far—finally suffered another change in expression.

”What a bizarre method... It seems ’filthy’ is the only word to describe it...”

His voice wavered along with his body. He even had to reach out and lean against his surroundings to steady himself as he offered his critique.

”You truly hid yourself well... Luckily, I hid myself even better; otherwise, this really would have been quite troublesome... Hehehe...”

”You flatter me.”

Knowing the other party had faintly realized he was beyond the Demigod Realm, Fu Qian didn’t mind offering a modest reply.

He knew perfectly well that Sha Ming wasn’t faking it. The reason was simple—his own head was buzzing right now, too.

Although he had only selected a single target, the existence of the ”fetter” meant the Mental Shock was inevitably mirrored onto everyone present.

In fact, judging by the effects, it once again proved his earlier suspicion: the fetter mirrored the resulting damage, not the attack itself.

As Tier 2 beings, both he and Sha Ming could shrug off a Gospel Shockwave head-on, even with this place’s damage-amplifying effects.

But the fact that Old Man Huang Leji’s group was merely clutching their heads and swaying on their feet spoke volumes.

If the fetter had transmitted the raw shockwave rather than the mitigated damage after Sha Ming’s resistance, given their low resilience, they would be lucky to even be eating dirt face-down right now.

”But that is as far as it goes.”

Remarkably, Sha Ming was looking in the exact same direction as Fu Qian.

”You might be able to inflict a little Mental Shock, but you will never sever my connection to this place, nor will it help you find an opening to escape.”

”Believe it or not, I can tell you with absolute certainty that even if you target them directly, the end result will be nothing more than mutual mental destruction between the two of us. It will not change a thing.”

Sha Ming’s meaning was simple: even if Fu Qian tried to exploit these people as a weakness and blasted them into vegetative states, it would be fundamentally no different from his own earlier threats.

...

”Why wouldn’t I believe you?”

His massive body swayed. At this point, it was hard to say Fu Qian’s face held any expression at all.

Without so much as another glance at Old Man Huang’s group, he stared at a deep crater that had collapsed from the earlier devastation.

”Huang Zhixun is down there?”

”You still care about that at a time like this?”

This question seemed to shock Sha Ming even more than the earlier attack. He asked it in a tone of utter disbelief.

”How should I put it... You could certainly think of it that way... There’s even some good news: escaping this cage and breaking the barrier are one and the same. As long as you can manage it, you’ll definitely find the Blood Lion.”

In the next moment, Sha Ming completely seized upon Fu Qian’s enthusiasm, instantly redirecting the topic back to the jailbreak.

”Understood. Thanks.”

Despite the statement clearly harboring malicious intent deserving of condemnation, Fu Qian offered a mild thanks. His massive head swung around, his gaze falling onto Miranda—the only person who hadn’t been affected, yet who was already so stiff with fear that she couldn’t speak.

Ssss—

Without offering any further comment, Fu Qian took another deep breath.

Amidst a thunderous roar, a second Gospel Shockwave swept across the area.

However, it was once again locked onto a single, specific target: Brother Sanxun, whom only Fu Qian could see.

Buzz—

And the sensation this time, compared to the previous roar, actually held the uncanny parallel of different tunes played with equal skill—a similar shock instantly rebounded into his own brain.

Sure enough, the Third Follower’s usual lethal methods were similarly based on some form of damage mirroring—only they were exclusively targeted at Fu Qian.

Likely due to his unique state of existence, he didn’t seem to have joined the ”fetter” despite his proximity.

Or perhaps, fundamentally, he had never even ”approached”?

Of course, these were just details. The true takeaway was that the SAN Value Fu Qian had just lost had very likely been mirrored onto his opponent as well.

However, for a defecting traitor, Brother Sanxun still hadn’t shown any signs of abnormality from the loss.

His earlier claim of being ”immortal” appeared to be genuine.

Whatever he was relying on was clearly far from simple.

In fact, there was a piece of evidence supporting this conclusion right in front of him: the fully unleashed Gospel Shockwave hadn’t stirred up a single ripple on his body.

”I told you. I am fundamentally different from those opportunists. Do you believe me now?”

And Sanxun didn’t even sound particularly surprised by Fu Qian’s actions.

”Lacking a physical body doesn’t mean I fear Mental Shock.”

”In fact, I can tell you that genuinely sweeping me from your sight is quite simple... Desecrate this Land of Purity and tear apart this cage.”

And in the next moment, he actually followed Sha Ming’s example, giving Fu Qian yet another dose of motivation.

”If you don’t believe it, you can give it a try—”

”I believe you.”

But his final sentence was instantly cut off by Fu Qian.

As though hearing a dragon’s laughter for the very first time, Sha Ming stared in mild astonishment as the frigid body took a third, deep breath.