Chapter 221: Chapter 220: Worm of Erosion (10)_1
In the room, Liang Yuntian was clearly shocked by Fu Qian’s actions.
He had seen self-harm before, but never anything so severe.
And within his incredulous gaze, Fu Qian actually showed a smile.
In his perception, the terrifying acute pain lasted only a moment before it vanished completely.
What came instead was an indescribable sense of relief.
Fu Qian was very sure that this wasn’t what death felt like.
The next moment, his vision dramatically narrowed; everything rapidly receded until it disappeared into a point.
“You’ve arrived~”
An ethereal sigh sounded, seeming as if it were right beside his ear.
“You shouldn’t resist so much.”
…
When his vision returned, Fu Qian found himself in a long hallway, facing a tall figure.
Behind the figure was a red-brown door on the wall, covered top to bottom in mystical patterns.
The door was already open, revealing an almost tangible darkness, within which nothing could be seen.
The tall figure was slowly turning around, and it was clearly the entity that had just spoken.
Whether this being could be defined as human was still up for debate.
Firstly, it had a human head, with the typical appearance of a middle-aged man, and even seemed rather handsome.
But below that head, the body was completely non-human.
Sharp limbs, a grey-white carapace, and hair covering the entire body.
The swollen abdomen dragged along the ground, with colorful iridescent wings on its back.
To be honest, a flea with a human head speaking in such a way still felt inexplicably peculiar.
But Fu Qian, being well-versed in such matters, wasn’t fazed by this small mental contamination and instantly retorted without a change in expression.
“This is the cage of the soul, Nightmare’s Prowl, where distorted dreams intertwine, posing extreme danger to any entity.”
“I see.”
Seeing the solemn face of the figure, Fu Qian nodded earnestly.
“May I inquire as to your distinguished name?”
“I’ve spent far too long here; names have lost their meaning for me. If you just need something to call me by…
you can refer to me as God Eroder, or the Interlocutor, in fact, I prefer the latter.”
“Alright, Interlocutor, can you tell me what all of that before was about?”
“Merely assistance, as a wandering spirit, I simply used a bit of my ability to help you leave this place.”
“It’s been so long since anyone has come here; you can’t imagine how surprised I was to discover an intruder, so I offered a little help.”
“Your way of helping is to obscure my perception and then graft other senses onto me to lead me astray?”
Indeed, that was the issue Fu Qian realized at the last moment.
He could not understand why, unlike others, his consciousness was on the parasite rather than the host.
Given that the level of integration wasn’t high, the simple difference in species was hardly convincing.
“Your acuity exceeded my expectations.”
As Fu Qian finished speaking, for the first time, the Interlocutor’s tone fluctuated.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Guessed.”
Fu Qian very honestly replied.
Indeed, he had guessed.
Because of the feeling at the very start of the mission, for a long time, he had seen himself as an insect, harboring no suspicions.
“Several professors, it really is my grandfather; it seems he has already…”
Just then, the middle-aged man who had knelt down to inspect stood up, his expression sorrowful.
“This is Kamakura Guizhi.”
After being reminded of the urgent matter at hand, President Cass casually introduced him to Fu Qian and then continued to ask.
“Did you inspect it? Are there any other abnormal wounds?”
“No.”
Kamakura Guizhi glanced at Fu Qian and slowly shook his head.
“It looks like Mr. Yun is indeed unrelated to your grandfather’s death.”
The tone of President Cass did not vary.
“And your uncontrolled conditions seem to be more severe than the information previously provided.”
“My grandfather was always the one with the strongest reactions. Starting the day before yesterday, he chose to come down here alone in search of a solution—who would have thought it would come to this so soon…”
As he spoke, Kamakura Guizhi unconsciously surveyed his own body.
The exposed parts of his skin showed bright red marks that looked as if they were about to drip blood, a horrifying sight to behold.
And beneath his feet, the body had already been turned over to face upwards.
From this angle, one could see that it was indeed an elderly man.
On the old man’s face, more exaggerated red marks had all split open; the whole head was cracked and flayed, as if lightly tugged, it might turn into a skeleton.
Facing such a scene, President Cass thought for a moment, then with a flick of his heavy cloak, extended a hand with an eerie appearance.
There were only four fingers, the joints abnormally large, and the size far exceeded that of an average person; at the same time, the skin seemed to be covered with tooth-like scales.
Almost instantly, something seeped out from these scales.
At first glance, it appeared like black mist; gathering together, it turned into leaping flames, which then silently exploded, swooshing through the air.
Standing opposite President Cass, Fu Qian was nearly hit head-on.
Without a hint of heat, an abnormal sensation immediately appeared.
It was as if, where the flames passed, the surface of the body skipped the process of ignition and turned directly into ash.
“There are no signs of struggle; your grandfather’s death is indeed due to his own conditions,” President Cass declared confidently, after snapping his fingers and making the black flames instantly dissipate.
“Take the body back, let those above have a look.”
“Okay.”
Before the judgment of the president of Heaven’s Commencement Institute, Kamakura Guizhi did not dare to show the slightest doubt and promptly obeyed with great respect.
“Mr. Yun, I believe you haven’t done anything, but right now, the Kamakura Family is facing some trouble.”
President Cass turned to Fu Qian again and pointed at Kamakura Guizhi.
“As a family known as cursed swordsmen, it seems their Sword Dao has gone out of control.”
“No doubt you are an expert in this area. Are you interested in having a look and providing some advice?”
Sharp eyesight, after all, I’m someone who once comprehended hundreds and thousands of Sword Intents!
Recalling his past experiences of enlightenment at the Sword Pavilion, Fu Qian nodded amiably.
“Okay.”
The action of President Cass was not beyond his expectations.
Although no longer pursuing the reason for his presence here, there was no doubt that letting him leave now was out of the question.
Fortunately, I had no intention of leaving anyway.
[Current task has been updated, find out the cause of the divine seal’s lack of control]
Because at almost the same time, the task prompt finally appeared.
The divine seal, was undoubtedly something belonging to the Kamakura Family, a ferocious blessing bestowed upon the Tomb Guardians according to legend.
And judging from the content of the task, his own goal was clearly aligned with that of President Cass and his team.
Even such an expert team had proactively invited him to join.
…
Upon exiting the blood-scented chamber, the group ascended along a corridor paved with gigantic rocks.
As he had imagined, this was unmistakably an underground construction with the overall layout of a tomb, cold and grim, void of any sense of the sacred.
Furthermore, its most defining feature was its enormity; the chamber they had just left was but a small corner of the whole.
As they moved along, the grandeur of the architecture was evident despite the traces of destruction, and one could easily envision its former glory.
Given the shattered statue they had seen earlier, it seemed as if deliberate destruction had occurred here, although it was unclear who the unnamed deity had offended.
Kamakura Guizhi clearly knew the route well and, despite carrying a corpse, still led the way.
Before long, the team—which included two demigods—stood before two massive doors.
Sunlight was already seeping through the cracks of the opened doors.
Holding his grandfather’s body, Kamakura Guizhi carefully sidestepped through them.
And almost immediately, uncontrollable wails of mourning came from outside.
Clearly, people had been waiting outside the doors for the trio’s exploration results.
And as he emerged last from the team, gazes converged onto Fu Qian almost instantly, even the sobbing paused momentarily.
Who was he?
Suspicious and uncertain expressions spread across numerous faces.
Only four people had descended, and now three were returning alive, along with one dead and one unfamiliar face, inevitably arousing many suspicions.
After placing his grandfather’s body down, Kamakura Guizhi quickly approached a man whose face was also covered in bloodstains and whispered to him.
“Mr. Yun? He didn’t die?”
And the man, who exuded authority as the head of the Kamakura Family, had a reaction nearly identical to his.
“Not only did he not die, but he has also been promoted to demigod; just now downstairs, President Cass has confirmed that he was not involved in grandfather’s death and even invited him to join the investigation,” Guizhi explained quickly, knowing the power of key messaging.
Not only had he not died, but he had also been promoted to demigod—this news was astonishing indeed.
What exactly was his reason for being down there?
The Kamakura clan leader was clearly full of questions but managed to suppress the urge to interrogate immediately, maintaining composure after taking a deep breath.
“Thank you both for your hard work.”
First, he expressed his gratitude to President Cass and Jian Jingzheng; the next moment, he turned his gaze to Fu Qian.
“Mr. Yun, I am Kamakura Si, and on behalf of the entire Kamakura Family, I thank you for your forthcoming assistance.”
But from another angle, because of the initial feeling and the constant sense of disharmony in his body, he had concluded that he was a parasite. Was it possible that he too had been fooled?
Could it be that the sensation wasn’t his own but was instead conveyed to him, replacing his own perception, making him believe without question?
Once this idea took root in his mind, it grew rapidly, becoming inescapable.
So, at the final moment of fusion, Fu Qian slammed on the brakes and decided to use one opportunity to test his theory.
His initial thought was that the insect might be using this tactic to mislead him, thereby making him wholly accept it without any resistance to its control.
Therefore, Fu Qian’s first action was to pull “it” out to see if anything special would happen.
It turned out that indeed something did happen, and it was even more exaggerated than expected.
He had actually arrived at a completely unfamiliar place and encountered a giant Human-faced Worm.
Guessed…
Fu Qian’s reply left the Interlocutor in front of him silent for a moment.
“Anyway, since I’ve come all this way, could you elaborate on the help that you mentioned?”
Fu Qian pointed to the room behind the Interlocutor.
“What does that mean?”
He had already observed that from here to the corner of the corridor, within his field of vision, there were a total of five rooms, each with a door of different colors and patterns.
“This is the Nightmare Corridor.”
Facing Fu Qian’s question, the Interlocutor finally spoke up.
“You don’t need to know its origin, just understand that it’s very dangerous.”
“As for these rooms… they are the passages to leave this place.”
“There are five doors just from what I can see. Are all of them passages?”
Fu Qian looked at him with a frown.
“Is your cage a little too open?”
“There is no conflict between the two.”
“Behind each door lies a collection of special nightmare entities. Indeed, each contains a way to escape this place.”
“As long as you enter and meet specific conditions, you can find the way out.”
“But since they’re called nightmares, they’re far more distorted and dangerous than you might imagine, and not so easily navigated.”
“And there’s a reason I’m called the God Eroder…”
The Interlocutor stretched out a sharp forelimb, pressing it against the nearby wall.
In the next instant, the smooth wall became chaotic around the point where he touched it, bulging and indents appearing continuously, like a dancing mosaic.
“This is Divine Corrosion; in principle, I can twist anything.”
“You were just in this room, where I did something very simple – I used this ability to bestow upon you a blessing, increasing the likelihood of you finding a way out.”
“As for how Divine Corrosion manifests in Nightmares, that is not something I can control.”
“If you feel displeased about it, I can apologize.”
“But I must say, your behavior was too reckless, making things more complicated.”