Eldritch Horror Theatre

Close combat was exactly what Fu Qian had been hoping for, but seeing Feng Yunhong’s current movements, he had absolutely no intention of meeting him head-on. Instead, he turned tail and ran.

A bizarre spectacle unfolded. Earlier, Fu Qian had been chasing Feng Yunhong down for close-quarters combat, but now the roles were completely reversed. Feng Yunhong chased him with bloodshot eyes while Fu Qian ran a marathon ahead of him, occasionally turning back to crack his whip.

”Bastard!”

With a despairing roar, Feng Yunhong stalled.

The next moment, a muffled explosion rang out. His entire body blew apart from head to toe, forming an unstoppable storm.

However, this terrifying strike fell just short, ultimately failing to reach Fu Qian.

I knew you were going to use this move.

Fu Qian snorted.

You’re thinking too much. When I was kiting people at eight yards, you were probably still playing in the mud!

...Just a single step away, Feng Yunhong’s self-destruction was filled with grief and despair.

With his body pulverized, the storm of flesh and blood that had previously swallowed Li Weixuan and the others appeared once again.

Blood Faces roared from within the maelstrom, brimming with manic fury.

By the time the storm subsided, the area around the Stone Seat was drenched in blood.

Soon, the blood covering the ground slowly began to pool together once more.

”Your methods are truly impressive.”

”It’s a pity that as long as I am here, I will absolutely never die.”

Feng Yunhong’s voice rang out, devoid of its previous mania.

His self-destruction had failed to harm Fu Qian, but the strike had successfully broken him free of his abnormal mental state.

These lines are completely devoid of originality!

Fu Qian shook his head. He was certain he had already heard that exact sentence once before.

”I will never let you ruin my decades of hard work!”

And that one too!

”Once I recover, I’ll make you experience the ultimate agony!”

Sigh!

Fu Qian didn’t even have the energy to retort.

Ignoring the recovering Feng Yunhong, he walked straight toward the Stone Seat.

”What are you trying to do?”

Feng Yunhong’s confused voice rang out.

He had thought this guy would desperately try to interfere with his rebirth, but to his surprise, Fu Qian didn’t seem to care at all.

”I’m a little tired. Just taking a break.”

Fu Qian looked at the Stone Seat in front of him and casually spouted nonsense.

Its shape was extremely simple, its craftsmanship incredibly crude. The back of the chair was covered in a large swath of dark red blood; aside from that, there was nothing distinctive about it.

Fu Qian sat down without hesitation.

His brain jolted violently as if it had taken a heavy punch. A truly splitting headache followed, and indescribable noises filled his ears.

His head throbbed like a heartbeat, constantly expanding and contracting.

A massive stream of information washed over his consciousness. Fu Qian felt his sanity shattering inch by inch, an overwhelming urge to simply pass out washing over him.

No wonder Feng Yunhong uses this thing to suppress the consciousness of the other transcendents!

He probably comes here periodically. Whenever he notices the consciousness of the other cultivators waking up, he puts them through this to force them back into slumber.

Having confirmed his theory, Fu Qian struggled to his feet and rubbed his head.

”Hahaha!”

Feng Yunhong’s manic laughter rang out from the side.

”Are you surprised?”

”Did you think sitting on that would grant you some miraculous blessing? Hahahaha!”

”Do you know that since the day I discovered this place, I have endured this pain countless times over the decades? That is why you will never beat me!”

”I know.”

Fu Qian glanced at the crazed Old Man; the other party’s body had already formed a rough outline.

”Is it true that even if I swallowed you to become the dominant consciousness, you would still seize back control of the body unless I endured to the very end on this Stone Seat every single time?”

”How do you know...”

Feng Yunhong’s voice completely froze. Every single thing Fu Qian had mentioned was his most core secret.

”I know far more than that. And honestly, this little bit of pain is nothing.”

Fu Qian smiled at Feng Yunhong and actually sat back down on the Stone Seat.

”Even though it’s my first time sitting here, I still can’t comprehend it. You actually use this thing as a sedative?”

”No wonder you’re an idiot who couldn’t escape after decades!”

Earlier, Fu Qian had a faint feeling that the Stone Seat seemed to share a mystical connection with the essence of this Furnace.

The mental torment that left Feng Yunhong in endless agony wasn’t the main point at all.

With a resounding boom, the agony returned.

Fu Qian remained perfectly still, allowing the terrifying stream of information to wash over his mind.

He tried to follow the ethereal, illusory voices, no longer resisting.

At a certain moment, Fu Qian felt as if he could see his own body disintegrating, his flesh and bones stripping away.

But the next moment, they converged once more, fusing back together in a bizarre fashion.

His spirit seemed to merge with the entire ruins. His perception blanketed the area, allowing him to overlook the whole domain from a high altitude; he could even see Ji Liushuang and the others currently under attack.

And right now, there was also Feng Yunhong, standing before him with a solemn face.

His body had completely formed, and he had even retrieved his discarded Long Halberd.

Not only that, but the discordant noise emanating from his body had also vanished.

His aura was just a bit weaker than before; self-destruction clearly took a heavy toll on one’s vitality.

Feng Yunhong stared dead-on at Fu Qian on the Stone Seat. He suddenly let out a laugh and leveled his Long Halberd at him, tracing a streak of light through the air.

”Thank you for the reminder. It helped me discover something new.”

”Your willpower is admirable, and your intuition is quite sharp. Your only mistake was not killing me before doing all this...”

Watching the charging Feng Yunhong, Fu Qian remained expressionless.

Just as the Long Halberd was about to strike Fu Qian, an invisible vortex appeared, seizing the weapon in an iron grip.

”What’s going on...”

Feng Yunhong only got halfway through his sentence before he realized he couldn’t move his body.

The next moment, he was horrified to discover his body beginning to disintegrate. Clusters of Blood Faces mixed with flesh and blood escaped from within him, forming a vortex around the Stone Seat.

”Thank you!”

Fu Qian blinked at Feng Yunhong.

In truth, he hadn’t been able to keep going just now.

Even if his willpower was as solid as a boulder, the physical body still had its limits. His body was bearing an unimaginable burden.

Under the powerful effects of the Stone Seat, his sanity had been frantically scoured. He even felt as though his brain was boiling, threatening to burst free from the confines of his skull at any second.

With my current realm, touching this thing is still pushing it too far.

The only way I could possibly hold on was to drag Feng Yunhong into this, using the flesh and blood of the many transcendents he gathered to offset the toll taken by the Stone Seat.

Fortunately, my words had the desired effect. Seeing me sit on the Stone Seat for so long without incident, Feng Yunhong was clearly worried that I was gaining some benefit, and he truly couldn’t resist making a move.

Enveloped in the vortex, Fu Qian could feel the wails of the numerous transcendents’ consciousnesses.

But having established a mystical connection with the Furnace, he seemed to have become fundamentally different from them, no longer affected in the slightest.

Quickly, the swirling vortex of flesh and blood replenished his physical exhaustion, fending off the devastation brought by the Mental Shock.

Now this is the proper sequence of events!