Chapter 24: Yan Nans Response

Chapter 24: Yan Nan's Response

"There's no need to thank me, Uncle-master Mu. I only did what was to be expected of me," Fang Che said. "What kind of disciple would I be if I held onto all of those pills for myself while you were still plagued by your injuries?"

"You really know how to make an old man happy, don't you?"

After an exchange of pleasantries, Mu Linyuan said, "I can't stay for long. The envoy from the main church is still at our headquarters, so I have to get back before he notices my absence. I've brought you some cultivation resources and the files on the original branch helm and your new identity that I was telling you about."

Mu Linyuan was clearly in a hurry, and after dropping off everything, he immediately stood up to leave.

"Can't you stay a little longer, Uncle-master Mu? I feel really lost and unconfident without any of you here to guide me."

"Have faith in yourself!" Mu Linyuan said with a warm smile. "You've grown up into a perfectly capable young man, and you must walk your own path. Soon, you'll outgrow our protection, and eventually, you have to begin making your own decisions. Even if you make the wrong decisions, it'll still be a valuable learning experience.

“In fact, you can call all the shots on the reconstruction of the branch helm. It'll be like a training assignment for you. In all honesty, Pope Yin doesn't have very high hopes that you'll be successful in this endeavor. Otherwise, he would've at least sent you a deputy to assist you. Having said that, don't let that discourage you. Make sure to still treat this task with your full attention and effort. I have to go now."

As Mu Linyuan vanished into the darkness, Fang Che sat down at his desk and fell into deep thought.

He put away everything that Mu Linyuan had delivered to him, then began reading through the file containing his new identity.

"Starlight, 27, muscular build, square face with no facial hair, first-rank Lord and helmsmaster of the One Heart Church's White Cloud Prefecture branch helm."

What followed was an extremely detailed life story, containing all manners of details including the identities of his parents, their times of death, his nickname as a child, his physical constitution, his reaction to the Five Spirit Parasite, and much more.

For this new identity, his real name was Yin Xiu, and the file on him was so detailed that no one would suspect him of being a fictional character.

Yin Shengong doesn't have very high hopes that I'll be able to successfully reconstruct the White Cloud Prefecture branch helm? Well, he's about to be in for a surprise then! I'm getting this done no matter what!

***

Meanwhile, an order was passed down from the southeastern headquarters of the Church of the Self-Righteous: Infiltrate all areas still free from the church's presence.

The objective was to ensure that there were church members in every single city, and the mission was to be carried out by the five churches, three guilds, and two gangs of the southeastern path.

Merit points would be awarded for progress made in the mission, and these merit points would count toward church promotion.

An incense hall was worth ten points, while a branch helm was worth a hundred.

If a third-rank church didn't have even a single incense hall in a certain place, they would be deducted fifty points, and a second-rank church that didn't have at least one branch helm in a certain place would be deducted five hundred points.

Once a branch helm or incense hall was successfully constructed, the churches would receive additional merit points, with the exact amount awarded dependent on factors like the size and location of said entities.

The ten subsidiary organizations immediately sprang into action, ecstatic for this opportunity.

In the wake of the jade search incident, all of the One Heart Church's forces in the White Cloud Prefecture had been completely decimated, and the same applied for the other churches.

As a second-rank church, the One Heart Church currently had precisely twenty thousand church merit points.

The mission stipulated a minimum of five branch helms, which meant that Yin Shengong only managed to construct four branch helms, the church would earn four hundred merit points, but be deducted five hundred for failing to meet the minimum requirement, thereby resulting in a net loss of one hundred merit points.

In that case, it would drop back down to the third rank, and if that were to happen, then Yin Shengong would be utterly distraught!

The One Heart Church had only just been promoted. If it were to drop back down so soon, then he would be made the laughing stock of the entire southeastern path!

However, if he could complete the mission to a high standard, then the maximum possible reward was five thousand merit points, which would take the church's total to twenty-five thousand!

In that scenario, it would be virtually impossible for it to drop back down to the third rank, and it could begin making a push for the first rank.

With so much at stake, Yin Shengong was under more pressure than everyone else, and he immediately began sending out his best subordinates to carry out the mission at all cost.

The same orders were also being made by the other popes, gang leaders, and guildmasters.

Missions that could contribute to promotion were extremely rare.

The gangs and guilds were fourth-rank organizations, below the five churches, which were all third-rank organizations with the exception of the One Heart Church.

The other four churches all had enough merit points that they were within five thousand points of a promotion to the second tier, so they saw this as a perfect opportunity to send Yin Shengong toppling back down to earth.

The main church didn't want to assign such an extreme mission, but its hand had been forced.

Ever since the founding of its nation, the main church had gone through an extremely tumultuous period, one in which everyone was at each other's throats, feeling as if they had been hard done by and hadn't received just reward for their contributions.

Somehow, Dongfang Sansan had managed to do an exceptional job at sowing dissension, and the main church was in a state of internal turmoil.

As a result, there was no time for the main church to oversee its subsidiary churches.

However, they couldn't just be left to do nothing.

Yan Nan knew that Dongfang Sansan had done this in order to goad him into responding, but he had no choice but to play right into Dongfang Sansan's hands for the sake of the peace of the main church.

This was the first step of his plan.

He was tossing down some benefits for the subsidiary churches to fight over.

Yin Shengong had sent out his most capable subordinates in fifteen different groups to carry out the mission.

Given their powers and capabilities, Yin Shengong was confident that constructing branch helms for them would be little more than a walk in the park.

However, to the surprise of the entire southeastern path, Yan Nan simultaneously unveiled the second step of his plan.

Thousands of people were suddenly sent down from the main church for "work experience" in the subsidiary churches.

However, none of them went to the One Heart Church. Instead, they all went to the other four churches, as well as the three guilds and two gangs.

All of them were Lords and Warlords, and they had all come from prominent clans of the main church.

All of them declared that: "We can help you construct branch helms. We don't need repayment, the work experience that we accumulate here will suffice as reimbursement."

There were many cases of people being sent down from the main churches to work in the subsidiary churches every year, but never had there been so many sent down at once.

Furthermore, it was targeted deployment of personnel that was focused solely in the southeastern path, with none of the other seven paths getting in on any of the action.

All of the people sent down were between the first-rank Lord and the seventh-rank Warlord tier, and there wasn't even a single King among them, but their sheer numbers meant that this was still a significant injection of power for the nine subsidiary organizations.

The vast majority of them volunteered to go out and assist those assigned with the constructing branch helms, while only a tiny minority remained in the headquarters of the subsidiary organizations.

For example, if, say, the Night Demon Church sent out a Lord and two Generals to construct a branch helm, they would find themselves accompanied by around a dozen people from the main church!

Essentially, one or two dozen Lords were being sent out just to construct a single branch helm!

Such a formidable lineup would more than suffice to construct even a branch hall!

The popes of the fourth churches were ecstatic. They knew that the main church was doing this to target the One Heart Church and kill Night Demon.

Yin Shengong and Night Demon only had themselves to blame for turning everyone against them.

***

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Of course, the actions of the main church quickly attracted the attention of the Guardians.

A faint smile appeared on Dongfang Sansan's face as he read through the report that he had just been delivered.

So you've finally succumbed to the pressure, Yan Nan. The collective wrath of all of those clans was too much to bear, so you've sent down all of those people to target the One Heart Church with the objective of killing Night Demon. But all of these people are so weak, how many of them could possibly make it back alive even if I don't do anything?

After some contemplation, Dongfang Sansan finally arrived at a decision.

Fine, I'll play your little game. Hopefully, Night Demon can grow a little more through this ordeal.

Having made up his mind, Dongfang Sansan immediately issued an order: "Let them in and keep a close eye on them. Take out all the ones that step out of line and leave the others alone."

He cast his gaze toward the White Cloud Prefecture as he smiled and mused, "I'm confident you can take full advantage of this opportunity."

Xue Fuxiao just so happened to enter the room at this moment, and he asked in a perplexed manner, "What opportunity?"

Dongfang Sansan turned to him with a bright smile as he answered, "The opportunity to grow some brains!"

Xue Fuxiao: "???"