Chapter 20: Stroke of Fortune

"We also have to pay more attention to Fang Che," Fan Tiantiao said. "We initially thought of him as only a low-priority subject, but the fact that he was able to meet with Yin Shengong indicates that there must be something special about him. Otherwise, even if Yin Shengong were here for some other purpose, he wouldn't simply decide to oversee a baptism on a whim."

"Think about it this way: if there were a prodigy undertaking an examination, perhaps we'd be intrigued and go take a look, but would you go and see a mediocre prospect's examination?"

"No."

"Well, there you go!"

***

Several days later.

The Iron Will Fort, which was roughly five hundred kilometers away from Green Wave City, was attacked by the One Heart Church at midnight.

The Iron Will Fort was an ally of the Protectionists, with the two protecting the land from the south and the north.

The One Heart Church had been plotting this attack for a very long time, and it had deployed five Emperors and innumerable Kings among many other powerful warriors, and it was clear that they wanted to eradicate the Iron Will Fort in one fell swoop.

Yin Shengong was personally acting as commander, having secretly assembled a large number of elite One Heart Church warriors from nearby for this very operation.

However, as soon as the attack commenced, Yin Shengong immediately realized that something wasn't right.

With a wave of Yin Shengong's hand, powerful One Heart Church Warriors swarmed the Iron Will Fort from all directions.

The gates of the fort were almost instantly destroyed, while a large section of its walls also collapsed violently.

The masked elite warriors of the One Heart Church rushed in like a pack of wolves, completely shattering the tranquility of the night.

A brutal skirmish instantly commenced, and blood was immediately spilt.

A long siren rang out as countless figures emerged from the Iron Will Fort to meet the enemy, and a chaotic clash ensued.

In the beginning, the Iron Will Fort seemed to have been caught off guard and suffered severe casualties, but the two sides quickly became more evenly matched as the warriors stationed within the Iron Will Fort rose to the occasion.

Almost immediately thereafter, countless elite warriors from the Hall of Protectionists suddenly converged from all directions before entering the fray without any hesitation.

It was an extremely formidable lineup of warriors, and all of a sudden, the One Heart Church's forces were on the back foot!

The Iron Will Fort staged a restoration, surrounding the One Heart Church's forces with the assistance of their comrades from the Hall of Protectionists.

Yin Shengong and the three top elders of the One Heart Church were forced to personally enter the fray, keeping the powerful Protectionists at bay while ordering their subordinates to break out of the encirclement.

Ultimately, they succeeded, but at the cost of four Kings, over ten Generals, and over fifty Great Grandmasters.

It had been a complete and utter defeat from what should've been an easy rout of the Iron Will Fort.

In the wake of this brutal defeat, it was immediately clear that someone had tipped off the Protectionists in advance.

Yin Shengong was furious.

"I want an exhaustive investigation! Someone must've spilled the beans! Otherwise, how did the Protectionists get there in such a timely manner?"

However, the investigation yielded nothing.

Shortly thereafter, a report arrived from a One Heart Church spy that had been planted in the Hall of Protectionists, informing Yin Shengong that this had been a complete coincidence.

Apparently, a legendary demon beast, the Red Blaze Fox, had been pursued into the area, and many powerful Protectionists, including even several hall masters, had been assembled to hunt it.

On that day, it just so happened to have fled to an area near the Iron Will Fort, coinciding with the One Heart Church's attack.

The Protectionists had no choice but to abandon the Red Blaze Fox to reinforce the Iron Will Fort, inadvertently foiling the attack that the One Heart Church had been planning for over half a year, and apparently, even the Protectionists were ecstatic at how things had turned out.

This was a massive victory, the likes of which hadn't been seen in many years, and there was a celebratory banquet currently being held in the Hall of Protectionists.

Even though the Red Blaze Fox had escaped, foiling the One Heart Church's plans and slaying so many of their powerful warriors was a much greater reward.

Yin Shengong had remained fuming in silence for a long while after receiving this report, while all of the high-ranking members of the One Heart Church were left to lament their terrible luck.

This was a significant blow, and it had all come from a... coincidence?

"That still doesn't explain everything!" Mu Linyuan said.

Given his special status, he was masked even during meetings, and there was a furious look on his face as he clasped a hand to a hole on his head.

While breaking out of the encirclement, a hole had been blown into his head by one of the hall masters, and if it weren't for Yin Shengong's timely intervention, he would've perished on that battlefield.

It had been many years since he had been reduced to such a pitiful state, and he was understandably furious.

"The Iron Will Fort was clearly also prepared! All of their most powerful warriors had been assembled from the very beginning! Not even a single one of them was out on missions or anything like that!"

"That's also a coincidence," Yin Shengong said in a grim voice. "We planned to attack on this day precisely because everyone would be there. The son of the Iron Will Fort Master is getting married soon, and we wanted to take advantage of that occasion to assemble all of the Iron Will Fort's best warriors to wipe them out at once, but that's blown up in our faces."

Mu Linyuan was flabbergasted to hear this, while everyone else was looking very deflated.

"The Night Demon Church, the Three Saints Church, the Church of Light, and the Divine Heavenly Church have all sent us their condolences. The other churches still aren't aware of the situation yet, but that's only a matter of time," Yin Shengong said in a grim voice.

"Condolences? Ha!"

Everyone else was even more infuriated upon hearing this.

Those weren't condolences, they were insults and blatant displays of schadenfreude!

"The letter from the Night Demon Church has congratulated me on a triumphant return from a well-earned victory. Never have I been embarrassed like this!" Yin Shengong snapped as he slammed a hand onto the table.

The same embarrassment was felt by everyone, and their fury was only building by the second.

"How dare they!"

Hou Fang was so enraged that his breathing had become quite heavy, causing his mask to billow up and down over his face.

Yin Shengong dismissed everyone aside from the trio of top elders, and once they were left alone, Yin Shengong said, "If I recall correctly, both the Night Demon Church and the Three Saints Church mentioned that they were going to be sending undercover prodigies into the Guardian Warrior Academy, isn't that right?"

"That is correct!" Mu Linyuan said as his eyes lit up.

"What right do they have to mock us?" Yin Shengong grumbled in a cold voice. "In light of our defeat, if one of their seeds secures the top spot, then they'll be two steps ahead of us! Find out the names of their seeds!"

"What do you suggest, Pope Yin?" Qian Sanjiang asked.

"We have a seed of our own, do we not?" Yin Shengong snapped. "Once we find out their names, order Night Demon to prevent them from claiming the top spot at all costs! Tell him that if he can do that, I'll give him two hundred additional merit points!"

"That would bring the total reward for the mission to seven hundred merit points, which, according to the rules, would give him the right to be promoted to the rank of captain."

"So what? Give him the rank of captain then. A prodigy of his caliber deserves certain special privileges. I daresay that in a few decades, we'll all be benefitting from our ties to him."

"In that case, it's decided!"

"Go and find out their names right away, and get Night Demon some cultivation resources and natural treasures to enhance his cultivation base. Tell him that failure to complete this mission is not an option!"

***

Fang Che was diligently training as usual, completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to be rewarded for betraying Yin Shengong.

At the moment, he was dedicating all of his time to cultivation.

On this day, Fang Che paid a visit to the Fang Clan to meet with her brother. In light of Fang Che's grueling training regimen, she was beginning to feel that their courtyard was too small, and she wanted to occupy the three neighboring courtyards as well.

However, those three courtyards were already inhabited, so Fang Qianyi wanted to discuss a plan to provide her son with a better training environment.

As for Ye Meng, she was feeling rather depressed.

Her job was being made extremely simple by Fang Che, allowing her to effortlessly secure intelligence, but the problem was that Fang Che never went out to go anywhere!

Go somewhere! That way, I'll be able to follow you and secure more intelligence! Why aren't you going out?

This afternoon, Sun Yuan returned to the courtyard, having already been absent for close to a week.

He had brought with him a new mission!