Eldritch Horror Theatre

An underground gathering?

Was it like the Wasteland Tyr Unlicensed Exchange? Or something more like the Dunis Bizarre Faith?

Fu Qian was visibly intrigued by the information Taylor had provided.

The former was somewhat normal, but if it was the latter, then the guy was giving off the distinct vibe of a fallen genius turning to the dark side.

It was a given that Jiang En wouldn’t just sit around waiting to die, considering Fu Qian’s mission was to destroy his advancement ritual.

And from the looks of it, he likely had accomplices helping with the ritual.

”So where is this underground gathering?”

Fu Qian nodded in satisfaction. Despite wearing a mask, his outward demeanor perfectly matched his inner thoughts as he asked with a smile.

’So there are times when you need to ask for favors too...’

It was rare for this guy to lower his posture, and Taylor had initially wanted to string him along a bit. However, remembering his own troubles, he instantly dropped the idea and rattled off an address.”Thanks for the info. I’ll go pay this Jiang En a visit first.”

Fu Qian listened carefully and offered his polite thanks, but then appended another sentence.

”Brother Taylor, this wouldn’t happen to be a stalling tactic, would it? You aren’t lacking the confidence to beat me and just sending me away to prepare your escape, are you?”

’I swear I’ll...’

Murderous intent surged in Taylor’s heart once again, but he quickly reined it in.

After all, as arrogant as this bastard was, judging by his earlier performance, Taylor really wasn’t confident he could win.

”Just who are you? By all rights, gathering so many different types of power should have caused your body to collapse out of control long ago, let alone allow you to wield them so freely.”

Still, refusing to lose face, Taylor asked the question coldly.

”The potential of the human body is limitless. How could the likes of you understand an unparalleled genius of the transcendent realm like me?”

Fu Qian scoffed without an ounce of courtesy.

”Someone who avoids a fight isn’t worthy of knowing my name. Just call me Dayun Mingwang.”

After delivering a speech that made Taylor fume with rage, Fu Qian retracted his hands into his sleeves and turned away with a suave flair.

’Dayun Mingwang.’

Fu Qian departed with a flick of his sleeves, leaving Taylor to grit his teeth as he watched him go.

While Taylor frantically searched his memory for the unfamiliar title, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. He had caught onto something hidden within that hollow mockery.

’The limitless potential of the human body... and those bizarre sleeves—he hasn’t actually mastered these powers! He used limb grafting to forcefully attach them to his body and disguised them to some extent!’

A wave of shock washed over Taylor as the realization set in.

The organization that specialized in such things had been making massive waves recently. How could he not have heard of them?

’Truly astonishing. Has limb grafting, a practice despised by almost all transcendents, already reached such a level?’

...

’A worthwhile trip!’

Moving swiftly through the night, Fu Qian felt extremely satisfied with his harvest.

To even learn this kind of information... as expected, an opponent was always the one who cared about you the most.

Regardless of whether he could catch Jiang En at that address, the gathering was highly likely to be related to his advancement ritual. It was absolutely worth crashing.

’What if it’s some grand assembly of heroes? Wouldn’t my name as Dayun Mingwang become famous across the world?’

...

’A bit impressive!’

The great recluse hides in the market. Secret gatherings often took place in not-so-secret locations.

Using the information Taylor provided, Fu Qian easily found his destination.

Right away, he not only confirmed the gathering’s existence but also discovered its extravagance. The seemingly ordinary civilian house had no less than three hidden sentries stationed outside. All of them were at the Mid Tier level—a far more luxurious lineup than the one watching Taylor.

’If this is an unlicensed exchange, just what kind of things are they trading to warrant a scene like this?’

Amidst his musings, Fu Qian directly activated Blood Crusade.

Because of his rather excessive fleshly strength, this theoretical dash skill had been developed into a multitude of uses.

Infiltration missions like this were now far too easy.

...

He didn’t even bother using the door. Opting for the shortest straight line between two points, Fu Qian drove straight ahead and entered the building’s interior.

Although his vision was blurred in the Crusade state, he could still tell that the interior decor was quite refined, a far cry from the ordinary exterior.

Even the walls seemed to have undergone special treatment to effectively conceal anomalous auras. It could easily be considered a high-end setup for a gathering.

Of course, this was still far from enough to hide from someone in the Demigod Realm. Fu Qian easily locked onto the target’s location.

In truth, even without relying on his Rank suppression, this wouldn’t have been an issue at all. The total area of the building was only so large. How many rooms could hold a group of people?

No matter how well the auras were concealed, a casual glance at the layout was enough to guess the setup pretty close to the mark.

By this point, Fu Qian had already entered the target room.

It was a reasonably spacious living room. Despite it being nighttime, the only windows were obscured by heavy drapes.

There were no lamps lit in the darkness; only a single candle burned at each end of the room.

Between the two candles, over a dozen people were currently seated in a scattered arrangement.

Each person wore a uniform robe with an attached hood that directly covered their face, helping to conceal their identities.

’It already started? Looks like I arrived at the perfect time.’

Seeing this, Fu Qian felt quite pleased.

’But this setup is too much like an evil cult... I feel like if I just snapped a photo and sent it to the Night Watchers, this whole gang would be locked up before dawn.’

Amidst these thoughts, an elderly voice rang out from beside one of the candles.

”Three fully bloomed Phantom Flower Spheres. Only accepting material Items in exchange. Is anyone interested?”

’...A perfectly fine underground trade, and they just had to give it this kind of vibe?’

That sentence was undeniably representative—despite how it looked on the surface, this really was a proper black market!

In fact, right after the host finished introducing the effects of the Phantom Flower Spheres, some of the guests were already offering bids, clearly very interested.

Fu Qian had never paid much attention to transcendent materials. His last encounter with them had been in the Wasteland.

But judging from the Rotten Forest incident, it wasn’t hard to see that the preciousness of certain special materials was enough to trigger a capitalist’s fearlessness toward death.

However, this gathering was quite harmonious. Perhaps to keep their identities hidden as much as possible, no one spoke up lightly. Those who did voice a price only did so after careful consideration, offering bids they felt confident in.

Soon enough, because no one could provide a satisfactory price, the Phantom Flower Spheres went unsold.

”Fifty milliliters of Infant Mermaid Serum.”

The host didn’t look too disappointed. He continued to announce the next item, which, surprisingly, was another type of material.

From his subsequent introduction, one could tell that this substance was beneficial for certain special fleshly powers. Even if it wasn’t a perfect match for one’s path, it could be simply and crudely diluted to help heal wounds.

Unfortunately, it seemed there weren’t many tough guys in the crowd. Although the item could be paid for using any method, no one spoke up for a while.

”Can it be paid in installments?”

In the midst of this awkward silence, Fu Qian looked toward a person in the corner, who then actually raised a hand to signal.

Naturally, it wasn’t that Fu Qian was interested in the item and was preparing to mind-control someone into buying it for him.

The reason he looked at this person was very simple—in the entire room, this person was the only one below the Mid Tier.