Chapter 15: Night Demon

Fang Che carefully memorized the mantra imparted upon him.

Mu Linyuan's Cool as Ice was undoubtedly going to be an extremely valuable asset to him.

The cultivation art served no other purpose than to maintain the composure and sanctity of one's mind, but it was unmatched in what it did, even superior to the Ice Heart Mantra that he had cultivated in his previous life.

After that, Hou Fang taught him the Thirteen Divine Ape Heart Gouging Techniques, while Qian Sanjiang taught him the Covert Shapeshifting Technique, a disguise technique capable of altering every single aspect of his physical appearance, including even his stature, build, and skeletal age.

"The world is a perilous place, and sometimes, a fine disguise will do more to save your life than any powerful battle technique. This cultivation art is extremely profound, consisting of a total of seven levels, and even I've only reached the second level. Make sure to cultivate it diligently, and once you've fully mastered it, you will be able to disguise yourself as virtually anyone and anything that you please."

Fang Che was aware of just how useful this cultivation art was, and he was determined to cultivate it to the seventh level given the opportunity.

At the same time, it occurred to him that this was most likely not Qian Sanjiang's true appearance, and he could only presume that Qian Sanjiang had managed to slip away from the Protectionists on countless occasions using this disguise technique.

Finally, after two hours, the six men emerged from the secret chamber into a remote village.

"The Protectionists are almost here," Yin Shengong said with a cold expression. "The Protectionists are always able to track us down at every baptism by tracing the divine intent of the Heavenly Centipede Deity. I've already reported this matter to the higher-ups on many occasions, but it's never been taken seriously, and it's constantly placing us in compromising positions!"

He drew his sword from his scabbard before slashing it through the air, unleashing a streak of sword qi that swept through the entire village like lightning.

All of the dozens of households in the village were instantly destroyed, while all of its residents were slain with no exceptions.

A pungent, bloody odor began to permeate through the air, while the secret underground baptism chamber collapsed violently, erasing all residual traces of the Heavenly Centipede Deity's divine intent.

Contained within a spatial ring that Yin Shengong was wearing was the statue of the Heavenly Centipede Deity.

"We should be fine now."

Yin Shengong and the elders didn't even bat an eyelid at the hundreds of innocent lives that they had just taken, clearly already accustomed to such acts of slaughter.

Fang Che also remained completely expressionless, but his hands had balled up into tight fists within his sleeves.

All of those innocent lives had been lost just because Yin Shengong wanted to erase the residual divine intent of the Heavenly Centipede Deity.

He could've easily accomplished the same objective without slaughtering all of the village's residents, so why had he done that?

Amid the wreckage, Fang Che spotted a young woman with blood trickling out of her orifices and an infant held in her arms. Both of them were dead.

The infant's face was deathly pale, and his pure and innocent eyes were still open.

He didn't know why his life had been taken from him before he had even learned how to speak, and his eyes had turned as lifeless as those of a dead fish.

Yin Shengong turned to the expressionless Fang Che as he asked, "What do you think?"

"We could've erased our tracks even without killing them, could we not?" Fang Che asked.

Such a reaction was one that was befitting of a young man his age, so he had directly articulated his thoughts without any qualms.

"There's always a possibility, no matter how slim, that leaving survivors behind could prove to be a liability," Yin Shengong said in a cold voice. "Also, we're sending a message to the Protectionists not to try and track us in the future. Otherwise, more lives will be lost! We don't care how many people die, but the Protectionists do.

“All they do is uphold their foolish justice and cling to their naive principles! You're still young, and you've only just been inducted into our church, so I'll let you off the hook this time, but if you say something like that again even after you've been in our church for some time, then I'll kill you myself!

“Our One Heart Church faces opposition from the entire world, and even the slightest oversight could bring about our demise. We didn't see anyone when we came here, but who's to say that no one snuck a glimpse at us through a window as we were passing by? What if that one seemingly insignificant witness brings about our downfall in the future?

“Anyone who has any chance of exposing us must be eliminated. Let me ask you this: whose life is most important in this world?"

Fang Che offered no response.

"Raise your head and look at me!" Yin Shengong snapped.

Fang Che looked up to see a pair of cold and emotionless eyes, like the eyes of a vulture.

"In this world, our own lives are more important than anyone else's, understood?" Yin Shengong asked.

Fang Che nodded in response.

"Good. Make sure to remember that at all times," Yin Shengong said as he turned to depart.

The six of them quickly made their way out of the village, arriving on the summit of a small mountain nearby.

Right at this moment, a roar of fury and grief rang out from the direction of the small village.

"The Protectionists are here, but they're too late. What a pity," Yin Shengong sneered.

He then turned to Fang Che as he asked, "I heard that you want the Blood Incineration Technique, is that right?"

"Yes."

Yin Shengong clasped his hands behind his back as he said, "If you can enter the Guardian Warrior Academy as the first-ranked prodigy of the southeast, then I'll make the executive decision to give you five hundred merit points on top of the Blood Incineration Technique."

"Thank you, Pope Yin," Sun Yuan hurriedly said in an ecstatic manner.

"Thank you, Pope Yin," Fang Che echoed.

"Now that you're a member of the church, you're going to need a codename. You can't just go around doing missions with your real name," Yin Shengong said. "What codename would you like?"

Fang Che's head was lowered as he suppressed the fury in his heart, using the Cool as Ice cultivation art that he had just learned to stifle his own killing intent.

"I've never thought about it."

"In that case, your codename from now on will be Night Demon," Yin Shengong delegated, and a peculiar look appeared on the faces of the church elders upon hearing this.

"Night Demon?" Fang Che murmured to himself.

"That's right. I want you to understand that being a demon is much better than being a human. Think long and hard about the word 'demon,' and only when you truly understand its true meaning will you be worthy of this codename."

In the blink of an eye, he was already hundreds of feet away, and he continued in a cold voice, "Only after you secure the top rank in the entrance examinations and obtain the Blood Incineration Technique can you adopt the Night Demon codename. Prior to that or if you are unable to secure the top rank, you are unworthy of the codename."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Yin Shengong was already nowhere to be seen, and the three elders had disappeared as well, leaving only Fang Che and Sun Yuan on the mountain summit.

Sun Yuan finally allowed himself a sigh of relief, then turned to Fang Che with a wide smile as he said, "You've really hit the jackpot this time, Che'er! Not only have you been taught all those top-tier techniques, even more importantly, you've earned yourself the approval of the pope and the top three elders, which will have an immense positive impact on your future!"

"Master, are you also fine with all of the innocent lives they just took?" Fang Che asked.

Sun Yuan was silent for a moment, then replied, "I know what you're thinking. I thought the same way as you did when I was young, but at this point, I don't think they're doing anything wrong. You have to understand the pervasive law of survival of the fittest in this world. If you don't want to be rotting away like the bodies here, then someday, you'll also grow accustomed to this."

Fang Che nodded in response, lowering his head as he vowed to himself,

I'll never grow accustomed to this! All of you are demons and this organization is a blight on this world! No wonder your forces have become so powerful, yet you still have to scurry around like rats in a sewer. The world would never embrace something so foul and heinous! None of you deserve to live under the sun!

Someday, I will make all of you pay! Someday, I will uproot your entire organization, and no one in this world will ever have to live under the constant fear of your heinous shadow! You want to desensitize me to death and slaughter by showing me this, but you've only strengthened my resolve and conviction to put an end to all of you once and for all!

He turned to cast his gaze back toward the small village in the distance, silently vowing to avenge all of its deceased residents.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Sun Yuan led Fang Che back to the Fang Clan's estate, and the latter remained silent for almost the entire trip back before asking, "Master, what are the cultivation bases of the pope and the elders?"

A wry smile appeared on Sun Yuan's face as he replied, "You can ask me that question, but this is a strictly taboo subject, so make sure you don't ask anyone else the same question! Even I can only tell you that their cultivation bases far exceed my own."

Fang Che nodded in response.

"You did very well today," Sun Yuan continued, trying to alleviate Fang Che's foul mood. "The pope was very happy with you. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the time to instruct you, and he certainly wouldn't have given you the codename of Night Demon. This is your first time witnessing death in person, right?

“It's very impressive that you were able to remain so composed after witnessing what you just did, especially considering you're only seventeen years of age. There are many others who were so shaken after their baptisms that they threw up, or fell unconscious, or were catatonic for days, or even drew their swords to try and cut us down. Hence, the pope is very pleased with how you've handled yourself."

Sun Yuan was clearly also very pleased.

"Were those who tried to fight back killed on the spot?" Fang Che asked.

"No. There was no need to kill them because it never took long for them to embrace the church's ways. They quickly came to understand the ultimate truth, which is that all of the lives in the world combined are not as important as their own life."

A sense of disgust welled up in Fang Che's heart.

The ultimate truth? Ha!

"Your composure and adaptability throughout this process is almost as remarkable as your aptitude!" Sun Yuan praised in a gleeful manner, and Fang Che was able to muster up a smile, seemingly having already completely recovered from the trauma of the atrocities that he had just witnessed.

Of course, he had never been traumatized in the first place. He had witnessed much more death and slaughter than even Sun Yuan had in his previous life, so this was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

On the way back to the Fang Clan's estate, Sun Yuan was already trying to think of an excuse to slip away again.

He had nothing to teach Fang Che, and the techniques and cultivation arts that he had been taught by the pope and the top elders would be sufficient for him to focus on for some time.

Sun Yuan felt like his time would be much better spent going out in search of some natural treasures, and he would return every ten days to half a month or so to examine his disciple's progress.

Meanwhile, Fang Che was still seething with rage. He didn't want to have to see another member of the One Heart Church for even a moment longer, so he would be more than happy to see Sun Yuan leave.

It was extremely frustrating to have had those members of the One Heart Church's top brass standing before him, only for him to lack the power to cut them down.

Right at this moment, a piercing shriek rang out as a petite figure fell out of a nearby brothel before crashing down onto the ground in front of Fang Che.

It was a young woman, and she instantly threw up a mouthful of blood upon her violent landing, following which she fell unconscious, with blood flowing out of all of her orifices.