Chapter 18: Night Demons Tantrum

Chapter 18: Night Demon's Tantrum

"Let's set Night Demon a mission quota of five hundred thousand taels of silver a month for now. Each month that he completes the quota will count as a completed mission."

"That's absurd, Pope Yin!" Mu Linyuan protested. "If we set a quota of only five hundred thousand taels of silver a month, then Night Demon has enough money in his personal wealth alone to fulfill a hundred years' worth of quotas! You're basically giving him free mission completions! You're going to spoil him like this!"

Even though Mu Linyuan was also on Fang Che's side, this felt a little excessive.

"Can't you tell? Night Demon blames us for Sun Yuan's death," Yin Shengong sighed. "We have to do something for him at a time like this to cheer him up."

"That's definitely a problem," Mu Linyuan sighed.

"In the past, I would be lucky to have a day go by without receiving a message from Night Demon, and it was a huge pain in the backside, but ever since Sun Yuan's death, he hasn't messaged me even once in the past eight days!"

"He must be sulking," Mu Linyuan chuckled.

"That's why I have to do something for him," Yin Shengong sighed in a resigned manner. "Now that Sun Yuan's dead, I am Night Demon's sole master. He's the only disciple I've ever had, so I have to treat him well."

"Yes, yes, you're his sole master now," Mu Linyuan scoffed. "The three of us will just have to settle for the title of mentor or unofficial master or something like that."

Clearly, the three elders were rather disgruntled by Yin Shengong's sole claim over Night Demon.

"You should be content with what you have!" Yin Shengong snapped. "We can't all be his master!"

"I understand, but it still just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Please forgive me for my outburst, Pope Yin," Mu Linyuan said. "I'm truly fond of this boy."

"It's all the same," Yin Shengong consoled. "It's not like Night Demon will be any less devoted to the three of you just because you're not officially his master. Make sure to assign the mission to Night Demon later."

"Let's make it an internal mission," Mu Linyuan suggested.

"Of course! Night Demon doesn't have to answer to anyone in his construction of the secret branch helm. He needs to make his mark, but the main church can't be allowed to find out. If they find out that he's appointed a branch helmsmaster of our One Heart Church, he'll be dead within three days! The pressure from up top is only increasing.

“The Li Clan has made such a severe transgression, and I've reported them with accompanying irrefutable evidence, yet they've only been made to pay a fine! It's nothing more than a slap on the wrist!"

"I suppose this was only to be expected, given how many people Night Demon killed during the Parasite Ascension Project. On the surface, it's just the Li Clan, but we're facing the wrath of much more than just the Li Clan."

"Indeed" Yin Shengong sighed. "Thankfully, Night Demon didn't kill any Generals from any of the superpower clans. For now, our One Heart Church can still protect him."

"I don't think that was ever a concern. All of the prodigies from the superpower clans have very powerful trump cards up their sleeves, so if Night Demon had run into them, he would've likely been the one much more likely to lose his life," Mu Linyuan said.

Yin Shengong shook his head in disagreement.

"Deputy Pope Yan's granddaughter is as prodigious as they come, yet Night Demon still stole a Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit from right under her nose. It's like there's nothing he doesn't dare to do!"

"As expected of your disciple! He's exactly like you were at his age!" Mu Linyuan praised, and Yin Shengong burst into laughter, clearly very pleased with the comparison.

"These next few years will be a major hurdle for Night Demon. If he can overcome all of the obstacles in his path, then he'll soar to dizzying heights!"

Mu Linyuan nodded in agreement.

"Alright, you can go now. I'll have a chat with Night Demon tonight," Yin Shengong said.

"It's like you're looking after a child!" Mu Linyuan chuckled.

***

That night, Fang Che was in the midst of cultivating when he suddenly received a message from Yin Shengong.

"I heard you removed Sun Yuan's head on your first day on the job."

It seemed like Yin Shengong was blaming him for being too hasty, but the fact that Yin Shengong had taken the initiative to contact him indicated that appeasement was his true intention.

Why is he trying to appease me?

After some thought, Fang Che quickly deduced Yin Shengong's frame of mind.

Fang Che had been extremely busy over the past few days, having made a breakthrough to the Lord Tier, then traveled back to the White Cloud Prefecture before undergoing four day and four nights of intensive lessons from the four instructors, all in the span of just over a week.

Before he knew it, it had already been eight days since he last messaged Yin Shengong.

He must be panicking a little because he thinks I'm giving him the cold shoulder.

With that in mind, he decided that this was a fine opportunity for him to take advantage of.

Thus, he responded: "I couldn't just leave my master's head hanging up there."

Yin Shengong was not very pleased with this response.

What do you mean your master's head? I'm also your master, and my head wasn't the one hanging up there!

"Still, that was a little rash of you. The safer approach would've been to wait for a few days before removing the head."

"It doesn't really matter. They already know that Sun Yuan was my master, so they'll continue to be suspicious of me either way."

I suppose that's true.

Yin Shengong promptly changed the subject, asking, "Why haven't you made any reports to me over the past few days?"

"My apologies, Pope Yin. You already have so much on your plate, I didn't want to further add to your burden with my trivial ramblings."

He's definitely mad at me! He's even gone back to calling me Pope Yin rather than master!

Yin Shengong began scratching his own head with his brows tightly furrowed, unsure of how to proceed.

He had never had to appease anyone like this aside from his superiors, so he had next to no experience in this regard.

"What's this Pope Yin nonsense?! Call me master!"

He then waited anxiously for a response, feeling much like an old father trying to cheer up his angry son.

Fang Che felt like he had spent enough time beating around the bush, so he finally cut to the point. "Master, I just can't get over what happened to Master Sun Yuan!"

Yin Shengong was very relieved that Night Demon was finally opening up to him, and he replied: "You have to get over it at some point. Some painful experiences are inevitable on your way to the top."

"Master, you knew those people had nefarious intentions for Master Sun Yuan, so why didn't you do anything?"

"You know that I'm Night Demon and Master Sun Yuan's disciple, yet you still allowed them to follow him!"

"You knew Master Sun Yuan was in danger, so why didn't you tell him to get away?"

"You know who killed Master Sun Yuan, so why are you pretending as if nothing happened instead of avenging him? I just don't understand!"

The messages were coming in rapidly one after another, clearly indicating that Night Demon had already been sitting on these gripes for quite some time.

"It's a long story. The situation is very complex and difficult to explain."

"I want to hear it!"

"Fine. For starters, you have to understand that they're from the main church, while we're only a subsidiary church. There is simply a gap between us that cannot be bridged. I may be the pope of the One Heart Church, but I have next to no power in the main church. I'm sure you saw just how many subsidiary churches there are during the Parasite Ascension Project.

“The total number is somewhere between five hundred to six hundred, and in the eyes of the main church, the pope of a subsidiary church like me is nothing. Given their superior status, I wouldn't have been able to do anything even if they killed Sun Yuan right in front of me. That is simply the nature of the official hierarchy.

“Subsidiary churches like ours are at a natural disadvantage, and we have to bow down to even the small clans of the main church that are nowhere near as powerful as us. Why? Because all of them have powerful connections that they could use to make life utterly miserable for us! Perhaps those clans don't have anyone with even an outside chance of becoming the pope of a subsidiary church, but that doesn't mean they don't have power over us.

“This is the reality that you have to accept as a member of a subsidiary church. In all honesty, I'm not all that saddened by Sun Yuan's death because he was just a subordinate of mine, but that doesn't mean I'm furious! They've essentially killed a subordinate of mine right under my nose! But what can I do?

“Yes, I also have connections in the main church, but over the past few centuries, all of the gifts that I've presented to them can pile up to form a huge mountain, yet even after all this time, I'm still just the pope of a subsidiary church. What does that tell me? It tells me that my connections don't think highly of me at all, so they're not willing to help me. If I cause trouble now, they'll only blame me for causing them trouble rather than make any effort to help me.

“If I were an Overlord or even a Sage and displayed limitless potential, then they would be willing to take care of any trouble that I cause. In fact, they may have already smoothed things over before I even had a chance to ask for help! How much respect and backing you're entitled to is tied directly to your worth.

“They're not willing to help us because I'm not worth it in their eyes. Similarly, blatant retaliatory measures are being taken against you, even though it's clearly against the rules, because you haven't displayed enough worth to warrant protection! If you're not worth a damn, it doesn't matter even if you direct connections to the pope of the main church himself!"