Eldritch Horror Theatre

You mean to shave your head and renounce the world, but I advise you to embrace the vulgar.

Inside Mister Dancy’s Restaurant, amid the lingering scent of herbal tea, Fu Qian quickly sorted through his viewing experience and arrived at a highly concise summary.

Though he couldn’t be entirely certain yet, Fu Qian felt his train of thought aligned fairly well with that of the Warehouse and Old Man Ji.

The entire Blood Wedding incident was indeed targeted at His Excellency Jose; calling it a coordinated hunt wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

Because of the Mother of Gospel’s Imprint on his body, the Warehouse had deemed him a target for elimination.

Everything revolved around this, including but not limited to Old Man Ji impersonating the groom, professing his true feelings in the secret room, and refusing to sign at the altar...

All of this was simply to maximize the resonance of pleasure, thereby making it difficult for His Excellency Jose to resist the temptation of such vulgar tastes.

Then why, on such a perfectly good day of celebration, would such vulgar things run rampant?

Simple. The polluter pays for the cleanup—this mess was originally caused by His Excellency Jose himself.

His relationship with Don Juan was likely far more complicated than that of an ordinary father and son.Just as Old Man Ji had said earlier, it was a continuation of his true will.

Don Juan’s intimacy with the numerous noblewomen was just like His Excellency Jose personally enjoying their favors.

Because the young man was an extension of himself.

Fu Qian wasn’t sure how Father’s Amnion had corrupted His Excellency Jose, but it seemed the latter hadn’t entirely shut out the Seed of Ecstasy as initially appeared.

It looked more like he had already fallen victim to it and was using this method to try and eradicate it completely.

It was the ultimate, enhanced version of the action he had seen in the Small Prayer Room.

But even if the corruption was transferred to his Offspring, it seemed the psychological addiction remained, and the hidden danger had never been resolved.

It seemed this grand wedding had become a ritual of sorts. As long as Don Juan signed the Marriage Contract, it meant His Excellency Jose completely severed ties with that name.

As for what would happen once the severance was complete?

Considering how promptly the Warehouse had arrived, the hidden danger of the Mother of Gospel inside Jose would likely lose all restraint, becoming yet another world-ending disaster.

So, theoretically, Old Man Ji was also here to save the world?

Fu Qian mostly agreed with this, though he was far more interested in why the Mother of Gospel would likely lose Her restraints once the severance was complete.

What exactly was the relationship between the Mother of Gospel and Dark Moon?

...

As a Divine Human Family, their power came from a ”password” matching that face—this was currently a well-accepted conclusion.

And during the earlier ritual, Jose had even provided a special title for this—the White King.

Obviously, to the Laria Family, this was the higher entity they believed bestowed power upon them.

But at the same time, the White King was also the Holy Spirit of a Thousand Faces. In other words, while they believed every face corresponded to the White King, the Laria Family possessed far more than one Face of Gods and Men.

Meaning that as long as any one face matched, the White King’s power would Descend, differing at most in its manifestation.

Following this logic, it was easy to arrive at the simplest conclusion—the Laria Family had actually misunderstood the situation themselves.

The White King in their imagination was not a single higher entity, but a collective of many higher entities.

Behind every face lay a different portion of Transcendent Tier power that had bestowed its favor upon them.

And the essence of their bloodline was simply to serve as professional vessels.

Put into the Mother of Gospel’s perspective, the thought process became: If Dark Moon can do it, why can’t I? Let me have a turn at bestowing my favor.

And Laria, these natural-born vessels, were even better suited than the Ji Clan to serve as a loophole in the barrier.

Just as the saying went, a single thought broadens heaven and earth; his train of thought instantly smoothed out.

That core issue still didn’t seem resolved, though: since it was clearly the Mother of Gospel, why did it manifest as Dark Moon’s face?

Actually, if he kept an open mind, it wasn’t that hard to understand.

The Mother of Gospel was outside the barrier, after all. How could She so casually Descend upon a vessel?

And as a famous figure in the Laria Family’s history, Jose’s Rank in Transcendent Tier power was rock solid.

A simple infiltration of a little power would not easily achieve this.

So, was it possible the Mother of Gospel had pulled a reverse takeover?

Jose’s Face of Gods and Men truly did correspond to Dark Moon’s power. It was just that the source of this power had long since vanished, resulting in a chimera cobbled together from a chaotic mess of remnants.

The reason he guessed this was because he had seen a similar example before—the Tree of Corruption in West Plain.

In the absence of a core Law, the compensatory mending of the entire Transcendent Tier system had still managed to churn out a pile of specious Pseudo-Laws.

In short, the Mother of Gospel had exploited a loophole. Jose’s innate vessel, combined with its unclean contents, had allowed Her to successfully breach the barrier and seep Her Imprint inside, thread by thread.

However, while this initial process might have been smooth, She still encountered trouble later on.

Because the filth attracted by the unclean vessel was unexpectedly not limited to Her alone; there was also a certain exceptionally vulgar power.

The other party even held a home-field advantage. Suspected to be situated inside the barrier, it had become a massive obstacle to the continued expansion of this Anchor Point.

Fortunately, this opponent didn’t seem to have very high intelligence, leaving room to maneuver—such as guiding it step by step, forcing Jose to completely sever ties with it...

Then came Don Juan’s birth, the debauchery in the court, and eventually the grand wedding...

Even the selection of the bride might have involved the discerning eye of Her Excellency the Mother of Gospel—or perhaps the bride had been specially cultivated just for this?

Recalling Consort Xing’s expression of having married for love, Fu Qian thought of an even more sorrowful possibility.

...

The Seed of Ecstasy wasn’t exactly common cabbage; how could it be so easy to find, let alone a special variety?

And from the bride’s own account, it was clear she hadn’t had much contact with Don Juan prior to the wedding.

So, could it be that Old Master Jose didn’t just help Don Juan with his romance, but that the romantic interest herself had been specially cultivated?

Find an exceptionally talented candidate, plant the Seed of Ecstasy inside her, and then carefully nurture it until it bloomed into a uniquely bizarre flower?

If that were truly the case, Consort Xing’s plight was enough to make listeners weep.

Not only was her imagined romance fake, but even her very yearning for love had been manufactured.

With an experience like that, the dense, unresolvable resentment she felt the moment she learned the truth became completely understandable.

There was even a rather hellish twist: while the resentment in her heart couldn’t be broken down, her physical body certainly could be.

According to Excellency Nepheli, Consort Xing’s final fate had seemingly been dismemberment.

And coincidentally, he really had seen an artwork crafted from human tissue—the Bronze Madam.

Could the materials for it have come from her?

After all, although what he had seen upon wearing it was a surreal, magical version of the scene, it still carried a strong sense of déjà vu reminiscent of the Blood Wedding.

The giant brain, for example, was His Excellency Jose, achieving a mental resonance with the many maidens and noblewomen amidst his pleasure.

Shaking his head with a sigh, Fu Qian picked up the tea leaves beside him, stood up, and walked toward the main doors not far away.