It really was a heinous crime.
From what Old Master Li had said, there seemed to be something subtle behind why he and Lady Jining, two high-ranking Transcendents, had agreed to appear at the banquet after receiving an invitation.
This was probably one of the few chances he'd have to meet her openly and legitimately.
Yet it looked like even this rare opportunity had been ruined by Lui's excessive behavior—and whatever unknown thing was behind him.
Of course, the most excessive one was himself. Lady Jining's blood was still on his hands.
Though this was only an eerie predicament, not reality, his earlier mental death had still failed to get him out. In that moment, the terror of death that erupted from Jining was almost undiminished, allowing her to successfully complete the relay with Aiko.
Fu Qian was absolutely certain that, at this moment, he was surveying everything around him from a higher plane.
Even the mark of the Blood Order on his body had vanished with it.
Fear, anger, worry, despair.
The purest, most direct will unleashed by the two high-ranking Transcendents as they faced death had, in the blink of an eye, pushed the consensus about him to a new level.
As he'd said before, the window of opportunity was extremely brief. It could vanish in an instant.
Whether it was Aiko or Lady Jining, the reason he'd struck them down was that this generated the greatest consensus per unit of time.
Of course, Fu Qian admitted that wasn't his only motive.
Everyone was out here making their way in the world. As everyone knew, using a ladder to climb higher than your rivals was only the first step toward winning a competition.
The second was to learn to think in reverse—for example, burn the ladder and cut