Chapter 78: Imminent Catastrophe

"Like I said, I just wanted to pay you a visit," Fang Che replied with a smile, then put on a serious expression as he said, "To start, I would like to apologize to you. I still haven't asked your name yet, and that's very rude on my part."

"It's fine, I barely even remember my own name. My surname is Shen, Shen as in god.[1] You can just call me Old Man Shen. As for my name, I'll keep that to myself. In my current state, I would only be dishonoring my ancestors by telling you my name."

"That's a rather uncommon surname," Fang Che remarked.

Old Man Shen took a large swig of wine, then praised, "This is some exceptional wine!"

The mention of his own surname had caused a torrent of past memories to rise to the surface, memories that he quickly drowned under his swig of wine.

"A cripple like me is unworthy of mentioning my past," he sighed in a self-deprecating manner.

"Are your injuries that severe, Elder Shen? Is there no hope for recovery at all?"

"There is some hope. There were three others who faced the same crisis that I did. Among those three, one is dead, one's cultivation base fell by three tiers, but he could still recover through diligent cultivation. As for the third one, he bore the brunt of some extremely potent corpse poison in order to protect us.

“I heard that a high-ranking figure in the Guardians managed to secure a corpse king inner core to help him suppress the poison and relegate it to one of his feet. To this day, he still has to take pills to stave off the corpse poison. All he has to do to permanently rid himself of the poison is to amputate that foot, but he refuses to do so.

“As for myself, I possessed the highest cultivation base of the four of us at the time, but I lost it all, and my cultivation foundation was completely destroyed. The higher-ups of the academy went to Master Nine for a remedy, but even Master Nine, for all of his brilliance, was unable to help me.

“However, he did grant me an Eternal Life Pill, which can extend anyone's lifespan by a thousand years. Hence, I can't even die if I wanted to. I can only cling to this pathetic existence in the hopes that a miracle cure will find me someday. Master Nine said that if he could find a remedy to my condition, then he would send it to me right away so I can recover my lost essential power.

“However, none of us are in possession of such a remedy because there is no longer any divine power in this world. Divine power essence that's capable of restoring one's essential power can only be found in the headquarters of the Church of the Self-Righteous, so it's completely beyond my reach.

“Besides, even if that divine power essence could be secured, who would think of an old cripple like me? There are so many powerful warriors across the continent with destroyed or compromised essential power waiting for the exact same thing! I've already been blessed with an Eternal Life Pill, what more could I ask for? It's already been so many years, it's about time I laid the past to rest and moved on with my life."

Fang Che nodded in response as he committed the term "divine power essence" to memory.

After finishing his third bowl of wine, Old Man Shen said, "I can tell you have something to ask me. Go ahead."

Seeing as Fang Che was observing immaculate etiquette, Old Man Shen had decided to do the same.

Whenever something was to be discussed over a drink, it was customary to wait until after the third drink before bringing up the topic of discussion.

"I've recently observed a strange phenomenon in another student, one that's both confused and unsettled me a little," Fang Che said.

"Go on," Old Man Shen prompted in a nonchalant manner.

With that, Fang Che gave Old Man Shen a recount of events, from the confrontation outside the Myriad Spirit Forest to the discovery of the Blood Spirit Ginseng.

"You really are a nasty piece of work!" Old Man Shen chortled with mirth.

"After we arrived at the academy, I noticed that he suddenly turned really dark and thin. In particular, the change in his complexion felt really unnatural, so I decided to confront him and beat him up a few times to see what's going on with him.

“Each time, I feel as if he's grown a little darker than before, and last time, the darkness on his face was able to rise up like mist and take on the form of a face. However, instead of his face, it was another face, and it was a very unsettling sight..."

Fang Che's voice abruptly trailed off here as Old Man Shen had risen to his feet with such force that his chair had been sent flying, and his bowl of wine had been tipped over.

At the same time, he was staring at Fang Che with shock and horror in his eyes, as if he had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" Fang Che asked in a startled manner.

Cold sweat was beginning to pour down from Old Man Shen's forehead, and Fang Che could clearly see a spreading puddle of perspiration soaking through the front of his robes.

Old Man Shen grabbed onto Fang Che's collar, then asked in an urgent voice, "Are you sure? Are you sure that's what you saw?"

"I'm certain!"

"How many times have you gone to beat him up?"

"Maybe about ten times?"

"And the darkness has become more pronounced each time?"

"That's right."

"How come you're the only one that's noticed this?"

"I don't know. The darkness doesn't seem to reveal itself to anyone else. It seems like... it only appears when he's experiencing some type of emotion, but I don't know exactly what triggers its emergence. Is there a problem?"

"Is there a problem? There's a huge problem! This is... This is terrible!" Old Man Shen exclaimed as his breathing began to accelerate. "Who's your instructor? No, your instructor can't handle something like this..."

He immediately tried to limp back into his bedroom, but he tripped over his own feet in his haste and fell to the ground.

Fang Che hurriedly helped him to his feet, and he frantically urged, "Take me to my bed! Quick!"

His voice was filled with urgency and more than a hint of fear.

There was a line beside Old Man Shen's bed, and he virtually collapsed onto it as he grabbed it and gave it a forceful tug.

A faint bell chime rang out, following which Old Man Shen made his way back out of his bedroom while leaning on Fang Che for support.

He sat back down at the table, and the wine and food that had been so appetizing just a moment ago had suddenly completely lost their appeal.

"I'm giving you one last chance, Fang Che. If this is a prank, and you're just playing a joke at my expense, this is your last chance to admit it!"

"Of course this isn't a prank, Elder Shen! Tell me what's wrong!"

Right at this moment, three people suddenly appeared in the room.

To Fang Che's astonishment, the trio consisted of none other than Huang Yifan, Gao Qingyu, and Meng Hejun, the three most powerful figures in the academy, both in terms of cultivation base and jurisdictive power!

If the sky were to fall upon the academy, these three would be the ones to hold it up!

"Mistress Meng, I didn't know you were also here," Old Man Shen said in a surprised manner.

There was a warm smile on Meng Hejun's face as she said, "I only came back last night, just in time to hear you chime that bell of yours for the first time in two hundred years."

"Did you summon all of us here for a meal, Old Man Shen? This is a lavish feast!" Huang Yifan exclaimed.

He dragged over two chairs, one for himself, and one for Meng Hejun, then swept a sleeve through the air to send several bowls flying onto the table, one of which he filled with wine for himself.

He was completely ignoring Gao Qingyu, who was technically his direct superior, but Gao Qingyu wasn't in the mood to sit down for a meal anyway.

At this moment, he was staring at Old Man Shen, and he asked, "Is that sweat I see? What happened?"

The trio then turned to Fang Che in unison.

"Does it have something to do with him?"

"I'm afraid so," Old Man Shen confirmed with a wry smile. "Let's all sit down first."

Before long, the five people in the room were all gathered around the small table, and it suddenly felt a little cramped.

"What's he doing here?" Huang Yifan asked as he gestured to Fang Che, who remained standing even as everyone else sat down.

Never had he imagined that this discovery of his would draw in the three figureheads of the academy.

"You can go now," Huang Yifan said to Fang Che with a dismissive wave.

Huang Yifan was aware of Fang Che's identity as a One Heart Church spy, and as a result, he was understandably rather wary of Fang Che.

In particular, Fang Che's recent actions seemed to have only been serving as further confirmation that he was a member of the One Heart Church, and that left Huang Yifan rather unsure of what to think.

In particular, after receiving that warning from Dongfang Sansan, he had already done away with all thoughts and assumptions about Fang Che being a good person.

Huang Yifan firmly believed that anyone in the world could be wrong, but Dongfang Sansan was an exception.

Hence, he was becoming more and more convinced that Fang Che was indeed a One Heart Church spy.

At the moment, he was terrified that Old Man Shen had uncovered Fang Che's secret, and that was why he was sending Fang Che away. Otherwise, if he were exposed on the spot, then they would be losing a valuable source of future intelligence.

"He has to stay!" Old Man Shen objected. "All the leads stem from him, so he can't leave now!"

Huang Yifan immediately began sweating profusely.

I knew it! He really has found out Fang Che's identity! Is he stupid? Don't expose him to his face!

Huang Yifan hurriedly began giving Old Man Shen subtle looks as he argued, "What use could a new student like him possibly serve in this situation? He needs to get back to his cultivation!"

"The hell are you squinting at me for?" Old Man Shen snapped. "I say he needs to stay, and that's that!"

Huang Yifan was sweating even more profusely now.

What's gotten into this old idiot?!

1. His surname 神 is the same character for god/deity. ☜