Chapter 19: Intelligence

As a spy of the Protectionists, Ye Meng knew what her duty was.

Her parents had both perished on the battlefield against the Church of the Self-Righteous when she was only two years old, and she began undergoing training in the Shadow Hall by two and a half.

There were four hundred children around the same age as her in a secret training facility. Some of them became assassins, some were eliminated altogether, some took on administration roles, and some were sent to certain departments in the Protection Army.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

In the end, only fifteen remained of the initial four hundred.

Three of those fifteen had already perished during missions, and Ye Meng was the brightest prospect of the fifteen, possessing the best aptitude, the best concealment abilities, and the highest degree of proficiency in her role.

She was such an exceptional prospect that she had continued to undergo training, while her peers were already being sent out on missions.

Her appearance was perfect for the role, with her incredibly large eyes and her adorably naive exterior, which completely belied her shrewd and cunning interior.

She always had a knack for getting people to drop their guard around her while simultaneously evoking emotions of sympathy and affection.

With her eyes downcast, she was an alluring seductress, but with her eyes fully open, she instantly transformed into an adorable little angel that struck the beholder with the irrational urge to pinch her delicate cheeks.

All of those qualities, in conjunction with her exceptional aptitude, made her an extremely cherished prospect, and as a result, she had been held back this entire time, with this being her first-ever mission.

According to Fan Tiantiao, Fang Che was just a new inductee into the church, and he was also only a Warrior, thereby making this a very safe mission.

Hence, they had decided to send Ye Meng to his side, almost as a training exercise.

After all, given his young age and lowly cultivation base, they weren't expecting Fang Che to yield any valuable leads.

If they could secure something of value from him, then that would be a bonus, and if they couldn't, then they would just have to call off the mission.

Even though this was meant to be an easy mission, Ye Meng was still stunned by just how smoothly everything was going.

It almost seemed like Fang Che was going out of his way to provide her with the ideal conditions to do her job!

Ye Meng felt as if she were in a dream, and the confounding nature of all of this was exactly why sleep was eluding her.

"I have successfully planted myself by Fang Che's side. He is a fifth-rank Warrior who possesses exceptional aptitude, and at his current rate of progression, he'll be sure to secure a top-ten ranking in the Guardian Warrior Academy entrance examination, perhaps even a top-three ranking. He has expressed a desire for me to train with him so I can be of assistance to him in the future."

The concise report was sent out.

***

With Ye Meng joining him on his training, Fang Che's regimen became even more brutal, and in Ye Meng's eyes, he was like a trainer from hell.

Even the slightest mistake on her part would be met with physical or verbal abuse along the lines of "Trash! You're absolutely useless! What a waste of food and air you are!"

Ye Meng was furious, but she couldn't retaliate, nor could she display her true power, so she could only bear the abuse in silence.

"You can't even hold a sword properly!"

"What the hell are you looking at me for? Hurry up and cultivate!"

"You don't know how to stand, you don't know how to walk, you don't know how to run, what do you know how to do?"

“......”

Whenever Fang Che took a break from his own training, Ye Meng would have to brace herself for a torrent of abuse.

"If you don't improve soon, you'll be good for nothing aside from birthing children!"

"With your bony frame, you won't even feel good to cuddle at night!"

"If you keep this up, I'm selling you back to the brothel!"

Ye Meng was fuming, having to constantly fight back the urge to slap Fang Che to death.

Despite her building fury, she still had to follow Fang Che's instructions, and after a day of training, both her body and her brain were throbbing, with the latter throbbing from all of the verbal abuse.

That night, Ye Meng began reflecting on her training for the day, and a series of movements flashed through her mind before ultimately stopping on a sword-drawing motion.

To her surprise, as she compared her past and current sword-drawing movements, she discovered that her current motion was smoother and more repeatable, while also granting her more destructive power.

If she were to continue improving, just the sword qi released from the draw of her sword would be enough to wound her opponents, something that she would've never been able to accomplish with her past motion.

Even though it was only a single movement, it provided a clear enhancement to her combat prowess.

How is this possible?

Ye Meng was even more perplexed than the night before, and she decided to continue training and observe the outcomes.

Could it be that this is the most correct motion? Maybe I was training flawed techniques in the past?

Meanwhile, Fang Che was feeling very amused as he laid in his bed.

In his eyes, Ye Meng had already exposed herself.

She was supposed to have been an emaciated girl who had never trained in her life, and she had only just recovered from some very severe injuries to boot, yet somehow, she was able to train with a steel sword that weighed in excess of four pounds for an entire afternoon without reaching a breaking point.

It's a good thing I'm the one she's been assigned to. Otherwise, her cover would've already been blown.

The next morning.

As Ye Meng entered Fang Che's room to help him wash up and get dressed, he harrumphed coldly, "What's wrong? Your arm is sore? I knew you were useless! You can barely lift your arm after just a single afternoon of sword training!"

A shiver ran down Ye Meng's spine as she realized her massive oversight, and she hurriedly replied, "I'm sorry, Young Master, it was all so new to me, training with a sword for the first time, that I didn't realize I was overexerting myself."

"I'm going to teach you the accompanying mental techniques today," Fang Che declared. "Those mental techniques were taught to me by my master."

"Your master?"

"That's right!" Fang Che replied in a proud manner. "My master is the Soaring Saber King! I'm sure you have no idea what the word 'king' entails right now, but you'll understand in the future!"

The Soaring Saber King!

A stream of memorized information instantly flooded into Ye Meng's mind.

Soaring Saber King, Sun Yuan, a vagrant cultivator aligned with neither the Guardians nor the Church of the Self-Righteous.

Could it be...

"That's amazing!" Ye Meng praised.

"I'm a prodigy, do you understand?" Fang Che gloated in a proud manner.

"I may not be much older than you, but I've already brushed shoulders with some very important people!"

"Like who?" Ye Meng asked, feigning intrigue and idolization. "You're the most important person I know, Young Master!"

"You wouldn't know who they are even if I told you!" Fang Che harrumphed. "I even met the likes of Yin Shengong just a few days ago, but it's not like that name means anything to you right now. You'll learn who those people are in the future."

Ye Meng was stunned to hear this, but she concealed her astonishment behind an innocent facade, as if she really were as oblivious as Fang Che proclaimed.

"Get out of here, you ignorant wench," Fang Che scoffed with a dismissive wave.

Go and report this information right away! Yin Shengong definitely didn't come here solely for my baptism, so something big must be about to happen in the southeast!

***

Ever since he met Yin Shengong during his baptism, Fang Che had been certain that the One Heart Church was planning something big, so he was eager to offload this information to Ye Meng.

Furthermore, he really wanted Ye Meng to prove her worth to her superiors. Otherwise, if she were to stay by his side, only to secure no useful information and have her espionage mission called off, then he would be losing his only connection to the Protectionists.

***

Over the next day, Fang Che focused solely on his training.

Inspired by his diligence, Fang Qianyi joined him in his training, and as she did so, she smiled and praised, "You know, the stuff that your master has taught you is really useful."

Just like Ye Meng, Fang Qianyi was also beginning to realize the benefits of training with Fang Che, and this was exactly what he wanted.

Both of them were allies, so the more powerful they became, the better, and he was willing to impart everything he knew upon them aside from the Boundless Sutra.

Over these past few days, Fang Che had reached the first level of the Boundless Sutra, and he had grasped the basics of Cool as Ice and the Covert Shapeshifting Technique.

He had also become quite proficient in the Seven Blood Spirit Swords, the Thirteen Divine Ape Heart Gouging Techniques, and all of the saber, movement, and mental techniques taught to him by Sun Yuan.

Of course, he was also diligently practicing the saber, sword, spear, and halberd forms.

***

Meanwhile, the Protectionists were already making some moves.

Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao were the only ones qualified to see the intelligence gathered by Ye Meng, and even though they strongly disliked one another, they had to discuss things together every single day.

"The most important piece of information in this report is that Fang Che has recently met with Yin Shengong, the pope of the One Heart Church," Fan Tiantiao mused. "Even she probably doesn't know just how important this piece of information is."

There was a thoughtful look on Chen Ruhai's face as he nodded and said, "The direct transcription of what Fang Che told her made it sound like he met with more people than just Yin Shengong, and that's quite interesting to me.

“Also, how did he even get to meet with Yin Shengong? He's just a member of the consort kin of a ninth-tier clan. Given his status, he shouldn't even know who Yin Shengong is. For what reason could Yin Shengong have possibly granted him an audience?"

"The biggest possibility is that Yin Shengong has come to the southeast, and the fact that Fang Che met with him recently indicates that could be in Green Wave City or somewhere nearby."

"In what setting would he have met with Yin Shengong though?"

"I think the likeliest possibility is during his baptism. Otherwise, I can't think of any other setting in which both he and Yin Shengong would be present."

"In that case, we can all but confirm that Fang Che has been inducted into the church."

"But why? Yin Shengong is the pope of the One Heart Church, and the church's headquarters definitely aren't here. Surely there's no way that Yin Shengong would've come here just to oversee Fang Che's baptism."

"There must be some other reason, something much more important than this baptism!" Fan Tiantiao concluded, and his usual glum expression had become even more sour.

"Let's think about this. What in or near Green Wave City could possibly warrant a trip from Yin Shengong?"

As the discussion wore on, their logic became clearer and clearer.

"I don't think he would dare to attack the Hall of Protectionists. In that case..."

Chen Ruhai's expression abruptly stiffened as he exclaimed, "He must be after the Iron Will Fort! Report this matter right away!"