Eldritch Horror Theatre

Was this how it felt to be a Deity?

It truly was intoxicating.

Although he had gained the ability to use Insight to acquire authority after completing the ritual last time, he hadn’t found a suitable opportunity to use it until now.

Now, Fu Qian understood more than ever why so many high-tier transcendents were willing to risk losing control just to take another step forward.

A change in position truly offered an entirely different view of the world.

Of course, this didn’t mean that when he looked out, he saw a world covered in cascading green code.

In fact, his visual perception hadn’t changed at all.

The difference lay within himself. He knew with absolute certainty that he could casually spread Calamity onto any target.

It was like facing the exact same scene with a pen in hand versus a gun; the mentality was completely different.

Especially when the weapon in his hands was practically a fully automatic Barrett.Naturally, when you didn’t actually plan to kill someone, a weapon’s greatest value was being seen.

Fortunately, Old Man Henry’s Rank was high enough, and he was perceptive enough to notice his own abnormality immediately. It saved Fu Qian the effort of explaining.

...

Clang!

Then again, sometimes being too perceptive wasn’t a good thing either.

The next moment, the sedatives in Fu Qian’s hand actually let out a crisp ring.

It wasn’t that the Bell had suddenly been fixed, but rather that the sedatives had been struck by a razor-sharp claw, forcibly ringing them.

The heavy force behind the blow made even Fu Qian’s hand sink. The impact was absurdly massive.

Was this really something a ”cat” could do?

Especially since the old man had clearly looked like a magic caster just a moment ago.

That’s right, the attack came from Old Man Henry, who had realized he was trapped by the Calamity.

He could clearly recognize the danger. Faced with the threat, this retiree proved to be astonishingly decisive and ruthless.

Not only did he refuse to back down, but it only further convinced him of Fu Qian’s guilt, prompting a direct attack.

While marveling internally, Fu Qian spun the sedatives in his hand. The clashing sounds fell like dense rain as he continuously blocked attacks coming from inconceivable angles.

It wasn’t easy. Although the old man’s claws currently gleamed with a silvery-white luster, the Ring of the Fish Market descended once more with his strikes.

As his figure shuttled through it, his attacks became extremely concealed and hard to detect, covered by various twisted rules.

The force behind them was erratic, and their trajectories outright defied the laws of physics.

Most importantly, the old man showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever. Radiating a brilliant silver light, he fought with increasing ferocity, as domineering as a liquid metal Terminator.

Not bad, but unfortunately, I’m a bit busy.

Amidst another internal praise from Fu Qian, the sudden flurry of attacks ceased just as abruptly.

...

When Old Man Henry reappeared, he was diagonally behind, shielding a stunned Yuan Shan.

”Don’t get distracted!”

He coldly warned his student without turning his head.

”What...”

While Yuan Shan looked slightly confused, something was tossed at her feet. Looking closely, it was a copper bullet.

”This Mister Fang shows absolutely no mercy!”

”You flatter me!”

Facing the old man’s unwarranted praise, Fu Qian smiled modestly before Yuan Shan could even voice her thoughts.

At the same time, a slender arm extending from his abdomen slowly holstered Mercy at his side.

What Fu Qian had just done was very simple. He had formed an extra hand, used it to trigger Mercy’s Suffocation effect, and fired a shot at Yuan Shan.

From the current situation, Henry had likely been subtly guided into precisely intercepting him after noticing the ”brightening” anomaly, rather than completely becoming a tool for the Blazing Rainbow.

However, his stance was clearly resolute. Words weren’t going to get through to him.

Therefore, Fu Qian opted for some despicable body language.

And the old man certainly didn’t disappoint. Despite his various taunts and contempt, he was actually quite protective of his student.

Even if that shot had landed, it wouldn’t have amounted to a major injury for a demigod, but it had still instantly provoked a besieging Wei to rescue Zhao maneuver.

His movements were also incredibly domineering; with Fu Qian intentionally slowing his shooting motion by a fraction, Henry had caught the bullet barehanded.

Amidst his reflections, Fu Qian looked down at the weapon in his hand.

The sedatives were shockingly covered in crisscrossing dents.

Old Man Henry’s lethality was simply abnormal. Under that stormy clash, he had actually left dense damage on this transcendent item.

How vicious. After dealing with it for so long, he knew the Blazing Rainbow clearly didn’t use this style of physical lethality. He was growing increasingly curious about what kind of entity the old man’s other covenant was with.

Of course, it didn’t look like he could satisfy that curiosity right now.

If this conflict dragged on, all the active Night Watchers in the city would probably be alarmed.

And considering this place was known as the Northern Headquarters, there was no telling if a Tier 1 or the like was having a meeting here.

”I had no choice but to resort to such underhanded methods, please don’t mind it.”

Fu Qian smiled as he explained to the master and disciple the next moment.

”I really didn’t come here with any ill intent. It was just a technical exchange. Do you truly want to kill me, Old Man?”

As he spoke, he pointed at Yuan Shan, whose expression was complex.

”Favoring sycophants, bringing chaos to Shangjing, and persecuting the loyal—if you fail to kill me and she can’t redeem herself through merit, your student won’t be able to wash her hands of this.”

”Rest assured, I won’t fail to kill you, regardless of who is backing you.”

Unfortunately, faced with this threat, Old Man Henry showed not the slightest hesitation in his predatory stance.

”And no one will ever know.”

Alright then.

Fu Qian sighed inwardly.

First, his killing intent was absolute. Second, it seemed he had no intention of calling for backup.

The old man was somewhat overconfident, which to some extent proved the theory that he was being guided.

Fu Qian didn’t consider his refusal to seek help a good thing at all.

As he had mentioned before, since the trait was already digested, there was actually a rather risky alternative: just let himself be beaten to death, and hope the Warehouse’s failure settlement would lock his status.

Under these circumstances, getting ganged up on and smashed to bits by the righteous Night Watchers wouldn’t be such a bad development.

That was exactly why Fu Qian was acting so arrogantly.

However, just like Fu Qian’s failed attempt to blow his own head off earlier, Henry stubbornly refused to take the most logical course of action against a fellow Tier 2 opponent, insisting on a solo kill.

Fu Qian felt as if he could see a certain higher entity gazing down from above, using exquisite manipulation to slowly seal off every single avenue of survival.

...

As for just giving up resistance and truly letting Old Man Henry kill him in a duel?

Placing his life in the hands of a character whose mind was clearly being influenced by the Blazing Rainbow would be far too naive.

Despite Old Man Henry’s murderous aura right now, Fu Qian could guess with his toes that if he actually let the old man beat him half to death, Henry would likely show mercy after Yuan Shan pleaded for him, dragging him back to be locked up.

Then they would just wait for the Blazing Rainbow to complete its Descent and turn him into an idiot.

”Teacher, I think there might be some misunderstanding.”

As it turned out, Chief Yuan was already starting to plead for him.