Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Unglean Ecstasy (19)_1
“What did you say?”
Lanaia jerked her head up to look at the tree canopy, trying to discern her original appearance from the grotesquely swollen limbs.
“No need to look anymore, this one clearly is Old Master Qiao’s new bride,”
said Fu Qian from the side.
“Lily?”
Lanaia looked incredulously at the monster before her. Unfortunately, its head had swelled to the point that its shape was indiscernible, and the thick, unevenly distributed hair completely covered its face.
...
“You torture her into this state, yet you dare to say she is your lover?”
Enraged, Lanaia’s body was nearly trembling.
“Of course Lily is my lover,”
said Ian, his face still wearing that eerie smile, and even tears began to flow from his eyes.
“I must love her more than anyone else, and if she were not my lover, my ritual wouldn’t even be successful.”
“Let me guess, because Ecstasy needs to be transferred?”
Fu Qian recalled Jia Yi’s death scene and the woman that had been on him, whose bodily mutations were weaker than Jia Yi’s.
At that time, Fu Qian had his suspicions, thinking it might be related to the activation of desire, or what Ian referred to as Ecstasy.
For some reason, Ecstasy had transferred between two people.
“That’s correct,”
confirmed Ian.
“Ecstasy is an extremely complex thing. At the moment it’s activated and divided, it’s merely akin to planting a seed.”
“Its growth requires soil, and this soil is human cognition,”
continued Ian.
“Take the simplest example, falling into depravity itself doesn’t evolve desire; you must realize that you are falling for it to happen. Otherwise, wouldn’t a few animals in heat be much more effective than anything else?”
“At the same time, the construction of human cognition is a complex process, and comes with its own boundaries.”
“This means that the level of Ecstasy it can cultivate has a limit. Ultimately, under the influence of growing Ecstasy, thirst will drive a person to keep breaking boundaries, to absorb the last ounce of nourishment from cognition, until a complete collapse.”
“A collapsing morality is the nourishment for its growth.”
“I get it, commonly known as a fleshly breakdown!”
While saying this, Fu Qian nodded, drawing a sidelong glance from Lanaia.
However, he ignored it and kept looking at Lily, whose figure had swollen several times over.
From the time he had entered until now, she had been able only to emit fall-from-grace growls from her throat.
Clearly, she had reached the limit of what her cognition could nurture. What remained were the dregs.
“So why wouldn’t your ritual be successful if she wasn’t your lover?”
“The essence of Ecstasy is evolution and expansion. From the moment it is guided out, it serves only that purpose. The key to my ritual is to gather enough Ecstasy to aid my own transformation,”
“but this process is much harder to control than ascending transcendental powers.”
“What can be confirmed is that Ecstasy will transfer in incomprehensible ways between individuals.”
“I’ve tried before; killing is one method. Ecstasy would automatically reappear in those around me who could continue to nurture it, but with substantial loss, it was almost unviable.”
“After exploring many methods, I somewhat concluded some special guiding techniques.”
“After that, I chose Lily and made myself fall in love with her.”
This being who was adept at manipulating minds, accomplishing such a feat was not surprising.
Fu Qian nodded.
“Did she know this?”
“Of course Lily knew, and she also loved me madly, willing to use everything she had to help me.”
“Then you found Old Master Qiao, first activating the Ecstasy in his heart, and then had him marry Lily?”
“Yes, this status was quite beneficial for the growth of Ecstasy.”
“And then there was the Masked Ball, where your lover became the most popular one?”
“Exactly,”
“It can’t be that when she was intimate with others, you were just sitting there watching?”
Fu Qian frowned.
“This is the key.”
Ian did not deny it at all.
“By leveraging this marvelous cognitive perception, when witnessing the beloved fall into corrupt desires, ecstasy would instead converge within my heart.”
What kind of minotaur ritual is this!
Fu Qian listened with a sigh yet understood the significance of the scene before him.
This person, risking complete cognitive collapse, used the last of his ripple to elevate his “lover” to the status of a demigod.
“Anyway, Lily made a great sacrifice for my plan; she is my unchanging love in this life.”
Ian continued as if reciting poetry.
“Enough! You are nothing but a beast!”
Lanaia could not bear to listen any longer and, with the howling of a strong wind, she struck out in anger.
However, the next moment, her mind blurred, assaulted by whimsy ten times stronger than before, and her attack was easily dodged by the other party.
“I have to say, it’s indeed an interesting idea.”
As he spoke, a voice came from behind.
Shocked, Lanaia turned to look and found Fu Qian, whom she had searched for all this way, not only did not join her in the attack but was instead stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“An angle that can blur the line between Transcendents and regular people, and it seems to be quite effective too.”
“You’re crazy too?”
Lanaia couldn’t help but shout.
“Professor Fu Qian is simply able to recognize the value of ecstasy. It’s a great discovery, one that could completely change the power dynamics of Transcendent forces.”
Ian let out a low chuckle.
“Yes, many great discoveries at their inception have caused fear and misunderstanding and even led to attacks—like the idea that the world is round, or that the sun does not revolve around us, and so on.”
Fu Qian nodded as well.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“When you’re too far ahead, genius turns into madness.”
“Right, right, right, Professor Fu truly understands.”
“However, Ian, do you know what else these great discoveries have in common?”
“What’s that?”
“Their discoverers all died for insisting on the truth.”
As he spoke, Fu Qian raised his hand, aiming at Ian’s head.
“…Ah.”
The latter first showed a look of astonishment, followed by a disappointed sigh.
“I thought you would be different from them.”
Before the words fell, Fu Qian felt his thoughts stir as though something was growing within him.
Yet this didn’t cause the slightest delay in his actions, and the next moment, the Air Bullet whistled out.
Boom!
Blood sprayed.
From the neck up, Ian’s head exploded into a mist of red and white, yet his body remained standing erect.
“Dead?”
Lanaia was both shocked and delighted at Fu Qian’s decisiveness.
Thank the heavens she didn’t have to face two deranged demigods at once.
“It’s too soon to tell!”
Fu Qian, staring at the bloody neck, shook his head slightly.
From the chest up, the other party’s body was slowly swelling and enlarging as though something was squeezing itself out from the esophagus.
Seconds later, along with squirming motions, a piece of flesh as thick as an arm slowly protruded from the wound.
The surface of the flesh was not smooth, wrapped layer upon layer with yellow, white, and green connective tissue, forming grotesque patterns in the overlapping folds.