Chapter 11: Enemies at Every Turn

Chapter 11: Enemies at Every Turn

Yin Shengong's mood began to lighten a little, and he chuckled as he scoffed, "Night Demon is

my

disciple, how does he have anything to do with any of you?"

"In that case, we'll rise to the top thanks to our association with you, Pope Yin!"

The three elders burst into laughter.

Right at this moment, Yin Shengong received another message. After reading its contents, his mood immediately took a turn for the worse again, and it was reflected in his expression.

"What's wrong?"

"According to my sources, Sun Yuan's head has been pierced into the city wall of the White Cloud Prefecture using his own Soaring Saber," Yin Shengong replied with a grim expression. "There's also a banner under his head that reads: 'Scourge of the demonic church, Sun Yuan.'"

Qian Sanjiang's trio was very alarmed to hear this.

All four of them could easily anticipate Night Demon's reaction to such a heinous act of provocation.

His master had sacrificed himself in order to cover for his escape, only for his head to be chopped off and nailed to the city wall.

It was the most vicious form of humiliation conceivable!

Yin Shengong had clearly also been stunned by this piece of news, and he cast a forlorn gaze toward the falling snow outside the window as he sighed, "The vendetta between Night Demon and the two clans is now set in stone. Either the Wang Clan and the Li Clan are completely erased from the face of the continent, or Night Demon meets his demise. There is no third possible outcome."

The three elders nodded in agreement.

"If only we could leave the headquarters to at least remove Sun Yuan's head from the city wall. This is undoubtedly going to be another heavy blow for Night Demon once he returns ot the White Cloud Prefecture."

Mu Linyuan was seriously considering sneaking out and hoping that he wouldn't get caught.

"This is a hurdle that Night Demon must overcome by himself," Yin Shengong said in a cold voice. "I'm going to use all of my connections to find out as much as I can about these two clans. I'm going to find out all of their connections, both above and below, the populations of the two clans, everything!"

"What are you planning to do, Pope Yin?" the three elders asked in an alarmed manner.

"I'm just preparing for the future," Yin Shengong replied. "Right now, vengeance is beyond Night Demon's capabilities, but there will come a day when he feels like he's ready. When that day comes, we have to at least be able to present all of this information to him."

Right at this moment, Yin Shengong received another message on his communication jade, this one from the mole in White Cloud Warrior Academy.

"We have trouble, Pope Yin. As you're already aware, Night Demon is being forced to join the Hall of Protectionists early. White Cloud Warrior Academy's protests have been somewhat effective, but Night Demon's official assignment remains unchanged. Just now, the southeastern headquarters has issued an order for Night Demon to go and report to the Hall of Protectionists as soon as possible. Clearly..."

Yin Shengong smashed a table to bits as he erupted into a furious diatribe.

So fierce was his wrath that even all of the nearby snow had been dashed to smithereens.

Yin Shengong was beyond enraged at this point.

He felt like his plans had been completely spoiled, and his child was being endlessly persecuted!

Mu Linyuan and the others also exchanged concerned glances after learning the contents of the message.

It seemed like trouble and misfortune followed Night Demon wherever he went.

All of a sudden, it was as if the entire world were against him, and they didn't know if he would be able to endure these tribulations.

"There's nothing we can do but accept this outcome, Pope Yin. Wasn't it always a long-term objective for Night Demon to enter the Hall of Protectionists? The only difference now is that our plans are being realized early. This may not necessarily be a bad thing for us or Night Demon," Mu Linyuan consoled.

In the past, Yin Shengong would've agreed, but at the moment, Night Demon was his pride and joy, and his outlook had completely changed.

"But Night Demon is missing out on four and a half years of tutelage at the academy!" he raged. "This is an irreplaceable experience that they're robbing him of, and his growth is going to be stunted as a result!"

The three elders had no response for this, and they were all at a loss for what to do.

At the moment, Night Demon was most likely still hiding somewhere in the wilderness. Once he returned to the White Cloud Prefecture, the first thing that he saw would be his master's head, following which he would be immediately forced to take up his official post.

Even the three elders were beginning to feel enraged at the thought of the unfair treatment that Night Demon had been subjected to from all sides.

"It feels like the main church and the Guardians are both targeting him at once! Even the average Sovereign wouldn't receive this level of treatment, yet they're doing this while Night Demon is still only a General!" Qian Sanjiang exclaimed.

The situation felt utterly absurd to him.

"The entire world is against him!" Yin Shengong yelled in frustration as he sat down to sulk.

***

Fang Che was laying silently in the cave, running through the names of his enemies in his mind one by one.

At this point, he had already completely composed himself.

He began to cultivate while listening to the soothing sound of snowfall outside the cave. Yin Shengong was right about one thing: only with sufficient power was vengeance a feasible option.

He channeled his Boundless Sutra, and his spirit power abruptly began to rampage through his dantian.

There was still some residual medicinal effect from the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit lingering in his body, and he had already reached the pinnacle of the ninth-rank General tier, but he had refrained from making a breakthrough.

Amid the falling snow, all of the spirit qi in the surrounding environment had been essentially purified, and there was no one else aside from him cultivating in this stretch of wilderness, thereby making the spirit qi more abundant.

As he channeled his Boundless Sutra, spirit qi came gushing into his meridians, and he fought to suppress a breakthrough while inspecting his own internal condition.

His dantian was already filled with thin mist, and the mist was becoming denser and denser with the influx of spirit qi.

The bottleneck to the Lord tier could easily be broken, but he was holding back with all his might.

Whenever his spirit qi threatened to force its way through his Lord tier bottleneck, he would send it circling back into his dantian, forcing the spirit qi to become denser and denser.

After several hundred repetitions of this, the pressure was finally too much to bear, and he felt as if his dantian were about to explode if he didn't release the pressure soon.

Despite his best efforts at containment, the bottleneck was breached, and he set foot into a brand new world.

His breakthrough to the Lord tier was complete, and the spirit qi in his dantian instantly settled into a tranquil state.

However, he could easily stir up his peaceful spirit qi into turbulent waves on a whim.

He continued to cultivate and take in more spirit qi from the environment, and the spirit qi in the cave was becoming more and more abundant.

Ye Meng knew that this opportunity was not to be passed up, and she hurriedly sat down to cultivate herself. This type of second-hand spirit qi from someone who had just completed a breakthrough was particularly precious, and she was determined to harness as much of it for herself as possible.

Some time later, Ye Meng shuddered, and she was unable to suppress a moan as she made a breakthrough to the eighth-rank General tier.

Fang Che didn't seem to have noticed, and Ye Meng continued to cultivate, working to consolidate her cultivation base.

Right at this moment, Fang Che's voice rang out beside her.

"Did you make a breakthrough?"

"... I did."

"I believe you have some explaining to do."

Fang Che couldn't just pretend to be oblivious to Ye Meng's abrupt jump to the General tier, so the matter had to be addressed.

He had to somehow allow Ye Meng to pull the wool over his eyes, but the question had to be raised.

"I'm sorry, Young Master, I didn't mean to keep secrets from you. After I ate that fruit you gave me, I felt like everything just came so easily to me. I was scared that I would arouse suspicion if I progressed too quickly in my cultivation, so I tried to hide my true cultivation base..."

"I knew it! I was wondering how your progress was still so slow even after eating such a premium spirit fruit. I thought it was because your aptitude for cultivation was utter trash, but you've been playing me for a fool all along!" Fang Che harrumphed.

"I'm sorry," Ye Meng apologized again, extremely relieved that Fang Che bought her story. "I was worried that you would be unhappy if I progressed too quickly, so..."

"You were worried that I'd be envious of you?" Fang Che scoffed. "Is that what you think of me?"

"I'm sorry."

"Your progress is still too slow!" Fang Che snapped. "I can't believe you felt the need to hide such slow progress! From now on, we cultivate and spar together! Master died for us, and from now on, we're going to be facing some very formidable enemies. No one is going to help us, we have only ourselves to rely on."

Ye Meng nodded in response.

This was indeed the case.

Even though she had been hiding under that cliff, those people would've undoubtedly found her had they not been stalled by Sun Yuan.

Now that Sun Yuan was dead, they were all on their own.

"Hence, you need to progress even faster," Fang Che continued. "Otherwise, you won't be of any help to me."