Facing an Ancient God for a Year

This reaction, ghastly as it was, sufficiently clarified the situation.

Watching the Frenzied Spirit desperately flee, Fu Qian confirmed his own speculation.

This Porcelain Doll was indeed Mr. Luo’s last resort.

With a high probability, after his body was shattered to pieces, Mr. Luo’s will had transferred to the Frenzied Spirit through the full synchronization they had just undergone.

The direction chosen for the escape was likewise quite interesting.

He was actually heading straight for the island, rapidly circumventing the towering Fool’s Tree, heading directly to the center.

...“You… Aren’t you going to chase him?”

One of the two remaining survivors, Archer Brother couldn’t help but ask.

Although Fu Qian looked terrifyingly bizarre, Mr. Luo had just tried to kill them; it was clear who posed the greater threat.

He was still very eager to see Fu Qian cut that one down.

“You guys actually have the leisure to care about this?”

Unexpectedly, in the next moment, the tentacles behind Fu Qian simultaneously turned around, aiming squarely at them.

“You have ten seconds.”

…

Delin and Archer Brother had never expected Fu Qian to turn on them so suddenly, and they were scared out of their wits.

In the next instant, their reactions were identical as they fled for their lives in the direction they had come from.

Only after the two men’s figures had disappeared did the nearby Elder Tree Man Eilay emit a heavy moan, twisting his body.

His only eye, located on the charred half of his face, was now unable to perform this action.

As he twisted, a little girl’s head popped out from above, coughing incessantly as she lay on a branch.

The scene spoke for itself.

He had told her to find a place to hide, and she had chosen to climb up the tree.

Strictly speaking, it was a pretty good idea, but it was her bad luck that this spot was swept into the battlefield.

In fact, Fu Qian had noticed her in the tree earlier, and Mr. Luo most likely did as well but simply couldn’t be bothered to care.

“Not a bad hiding spot, but did you come out too early? Didn’t you see those two just run away?”

…

The girl shook her head, staring at him intently.

“I can feel that you have no malice.”

This appearance hadn’t frightened even a little girl?

Upon hearing this, Fu Qian felt a wave of emotion and slowly retracted his tentacles back into his body.

“Why aren’t you chasing him?”

The girl, her gaze unwavering, watched this scene before pointing toward the distant island.

“I roughly know where he wants to go. Let him run for a while.”

Hmm.

The girl seemed to understand and nodded her head, then pointed at the limbs on the ground.

“You don’t like them?”

“Not familiar with them, but indeed I don’t particularly like them.”

“So that’s why you didn’t save them just now?”

“If I had tried to save anyone just now, you all would have died.”

Fu Qian said lightly.

“Of course, even if it wasn’t me, I wouldn’t have bothered saving them.”

Hmm.

The girl again murmured in agreement, lost in thought.

When she looked up again, Fu Qian’s figure was leaping high into the air, shooting toward the island in the swamp like a meteor.

…

Standing at the center of the island, Fu Qian confirmed that Mr. Luo, who had possessed the Frenzied Spirit, had entered below.

Obviously, he’d known about this place for quite some time.

This was entirely understandable; after all, he had planted the tree right next to it, so the chances he hadn’t been down there were slim.

In fact, Fu Qian strongly suspected that the previous Snake Person and Multi-Brain Sister were connected to him.

Following the spiral staircase downwards, Fu Qian soon saw his target for this excursion.

The bloodied Frenzied Spirit wasn’t trying to hide at all but stood in plain sight at the central platform at the very bottom.

Streams of dark red fog were seeping from every passageway, converging upon it.

“Busy?”

Fu Qian took two steps forward, sounding as if he were greeting a neighbor.

The rolling fog instantly stalled.

“Who exactly are you?”

As expected, Mr. Luo’s voice emanated from the porcelain doll, and it sounded very displeased.

“You’ve ruined my plan.”

“Sorry, but what was your plan exactly?”

Fu Qian still wasn’t in a hurry to act, but instead asked with great interest.

…

Mr. Luo fell into a brief silence.

Any fool could see that he was in a critical stage, yet Fu Qian had no intention of interrupting him, allowing him to continue manipulating.

This led to some very bad associations.

He still remembered, just before, how he had been allowed to synchronize with the porcelain doll and even to kill off the troublesome character, and then…

But no matter what, there was no other choice now.

“In the original plan, the first step was to complete synchronization, and there was no rush to merge.”

Mr. Luo’s voice sounded a bit somber as he once again chose to stall.

“This is a rigorous research project, it shouldn’t be so hastily and recklessly done.”

“Research?”

“Yes, this is research that began many years ago…”

“I first learned of this place from some special records and eventually found it.”

“The ubiquitous strangeness and chaos here delighted me, as any creature that entered would inevitably transform, undergoing mysterious and astonishing mutations.”

“And this is the core of the twisted power.”

“In order to master this power, I conducted many tests.”

“I started with transcendent creatures, later realizing that intelligent humans might be necessary.”

Intelligent humans… Fu Qian’s first thought was of Multi-Brain Sister.

It seemed she truly was abducted for experimentation.

“Pity, humans are not only fragile, but more seriously, they’re not pure enough. The degree of distortion after infusion is even higher than in transcendent beings, and the power obtained cannot be perfectly integrated with the body.”

“Looking at the traces on the ground, you must have seen for yourself, right?”

“So, I had an idea: if integration is impossible, is there a way to separate them outright? Hence, I planted the Fool’s Tree outside.”

“As it turns out, my line of thinking was correct. The twisted transcendent power expressed itself in the form of porcelain dolls outside the body, allowing peaceful coexistence with the host.

And I obtained a more perfect, purer vessel, possibly a true carrier for the infusion…”

So that was it!

With Mr. Luo’s enthusiastic cooperation, Fu Qian had basically clarified the situation.

Clearly, the Snake Person and Multi-Brain Sister, as well as the porcelain people outside, were all his experimental subjects.

Probably overwhelmed with workload, he had also enlisted the family of Miyamoto, using their momentum to operate.

And all of this was for the sake of what was buried underneath – which was exactly what he had merged with.

“Of all the selections so far, this one is the most perfect, the most special. Do you know how I feel after merging with it?”

“You can’t imagine. You don’t even have to try; you can feel the attention of various higher powers wanting to infuse into your body.”

I can very well imagine.

Fu Qian thought to himself, this undoubtedly was very similar to his own Whiteboard Demigod state.

Mr. Luo had one thing right, these porcelain dolls were of a fairly high rank.

“No matter what your purpose is, I can feel that you’re like me, those laughable morals and justices cannot possibly bind you…”

Seeing Fu Qian remain silent, Mr. Luo continued to earnestly persuade.

“Why not cooperate with me? Eventually, you too will have such an opportunity.”

“I can’t think of a reason it has to be a life-or-death situation between us.”

“There wasn’t one originally.”

Confronted with Mr. Luo’s gentle prodding, Fu Qian sighed and glanced at his mission tab.

“But now there is.”