Chapter 31: Pleased to Meet You, Academy Idol Fang

Fang Che snuck his way into the crowd of bystanders, then began scouring his surroundings with his spirit sense.

The Golden Horn Flood Dragon was also carefully sifting through the crowd, but to no avail.

Unless the demonic church members did something to expose themselves, it was impossible to pick them out.

Fang Che was scanning his gaze through the crowd in a subtle fashion, trying to see if he could identify any potential demonic church members based on circumstantial evidence.

According to what he had heard from the Hall of Protectionists and Yin Shengong, all of the people that had been sent down from the main church on this occasion were quite young, so that already narrowed down the scope of his search significantly.

Furthermore, given that all of them had come from affluent clans, their attire would be sure to differ from that of the average person.

Additionally, their demeanors would also surely be different from those around them. The casual disregard for human life present in all demonic church members was unmistakable, and that, coupled with the natural air of arrogance of those from the main church should theoretically have made Fang Che's targets stick out like sore thumbs.

There were also other general traits that he was looking out for. For example, there were certain telltale signs of warriorhood, as well as physical traits to indicate that one was using certain demonic cultivation arts, such as discoloration of the pupils, blackness of the nails, and unnatural darkening of the complexion.

These were traits that all Protectionists had committed to memory, but theory and practice were often entirely different things, and there had been no shortage of Protectionists that had failed to identify these traits even up to the moment of their death!

Fang Che put on a curious and fearful facade as he scanned his gaze through the crowd, observing everyone around him.

Finally, he spotted two people of interest.

It was a pair of handsome young men dressed in expensive attire, and the coordination controlled strength in their movements clearly indicated that they were warriors.

The two men were also observing the scene from the crowd with fearful looks on their faces, and Fang Che snuck over to them before asking in a timid voice, "Which clans were they from?"

"Who knows? They don't even have their heads anymore!"

"Hold on a second, who're you?"

"I'm from the Si Clan," Fang Che declared.

He had already learned from the reactions of the trio from earlier that the Si Clan was a very powerful clan.

Hence, he put on an arrogant and condescending display as he asked, "What about you two?"

"What are you talking about? Who are you?"

Meanwhile, the two of them were communicating with each other in private using their Five Spirit Parasites.

"He's from the Si Clan? I didn't think such a powerful clan would bother sending anyone to the White Cloud Prefecture! Could this be a different Si Clan?"

"I don't know, the Si surname is pretty uncommon..."

"Come on, you can drop the act now," Fang Che said with a faint smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The two young men refused to budge.

"Fine, fine, you don't know what I'm talking about. I'll leave you to it then," Fang Che chuckled before turning to depart.

Before long, he had made his way out of the crowd, and he was about to round a corner that would take him out of sight.

The two young men exchanged a hesitant glance with one another, unsure of how to proceed.

Right as Fang Che was about to disappear around the corner, they hurriedly caught up to him.

How did he identify us? Do the people of the Si Clan have some type of secret technique that allows them to identify other church members?

"Please wait, Brother Si!"

However, Fang Che continued onward without pause, merely giving the two young men a wave as he made his way onto another street.

The two men hurriedly sped up in pursuit.

As the two young men caught up to Fang Che, he finally stopped in his tracks before turning around with an exasperated expression.

"Why're you following me? Didn't you just say you have no idea what I was talking about back there?"

"Our apologies, Brother Si. We didn't know if we could trust you, so we decided to err on the side of caution."

"That's understandable," Fang Che said in a quiet voice. "So many of us have already died in such a short time, it's definitely better to be safe than sorry."

"Indeed, Brother Si. My name is Lu Zijia, may I ask which branch of the Si Clan you're from?"

"I'd prefer you don't pry into my background," Fang Che sighed with a wry smile. "It's already embarrassing enough that I was sent down to this godforsaken place, even though no member of the Si Clan should have any business here."

A look of understanding appeared in the two young men's eyes, and sure enough, they didn't ask any further questions.

"Let's find some other place to talk," Fang Che said. "Those three were just killed nearby, so this is clearly not a safe place."

***

Shortly thereafter, Fang Che emerged from an alley in a wraith-like manner, holding a cloth pouch that was dripping blood.

"Tang Zheng, take these two heads to the merits department for me!"

Upon returning to the Hall of Protectionists, Fang Che had reverted back to his true appearance, and he immediately reported the location of the two bodies.

Tang Zheng was completely bewildered.

How is he doing this so easily? It's like he's plucking demonic church members out of thin air!

Two Protectionists were immediately sent out from the merits department to search for the two bodies at the location specified by Fang Che.

Zhao Ying'er just so happened to also return to the administration hall with a weary expression, and an elated smile instantly appeared on her face at the sight of Fang Che.

"What are you doing back so early?" she asked.

"I killed some demonic church members, so I came back to redeem their heads," Fang Che replied with a smile.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Zhao Ying'er asked in an anxious manner.

"Of course not! Those pieces of trash couldn't even touch me!" Fang Che replied with a smile.

"Make sure to be careful," Zhao Ying'er said in a concerned voice. "We've already lost four colleagues today."

"This is only the beginning," Fang Che sighed. "The more impatient demonic church members will continue to lash out, but they'll be eradicated soon. The ones that we have to truly worry about are those who settle down to play the long game. Those are the ones that present the most potent long-term threat."

"You're right," Zhao Ying'er sighed. "Once they've established themselves here, it'll be even more difficult to find them, and they could come out to wreak havoc at any time..."

***

In the afternoon, Fang Che was out strolling on the streets again, repeating his tactic of searching for potential targets before approaching them to ask which clans they were from.

He had already failed eight times thus far, but he wasn't discouraged, and he currently had his sights set on a pair of young men walking along up ahead.

Fang Che strode over to them with his usual arrogant and condescending facade, then asked in a quiet voice, "Which clans are you from?"

The two young men exchanged an amused glance with one another, and one of them smiled as he replied, "We're from White Cloud Warrior Academy. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Academy Idol Fang."

Fang Che immediately fled in embarrassment.

He had just encountered two of his fifth-year upperclassmen, and he felt like he could die of embarrassment!

***

After a few more attempts, Fang Che finally gave up on this fishing method.

Perhaps there really had been demonic church members among the dozen or so groups of people that he had approached, but as long as they didn't take the bait, there was nothing that he could do.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Thus, he began punishing his Five Spirit Parasite again.

How are you not even able to identify your own kind? Useless!

The Five Spirit Parasite had already resigned itself to its fate, and it was beginning to treat its torture sessions as a form of exercise.

***

"There goes another day."

Later that afternoon, Ren Chang uttered his signature phrase before heaving a long sigh.

Even though it was the same phrase as always, it had been spoken with a different set of emotions.

Normally, the words were uttered with a sense of relief, the type that said: "I can finally go home, have a rest, drink some wine, and enjoy life."

However, over these past few days, his signature phrase had been uttered with a sense of jubilation at having survived the day, as if every single day were seen as an ordeal of life and death.

He bade everyone farewell as he stood up to depart, and as he passed Fang Che by, he asked, "You're not leaving yet, Administrator Fang?"

"I'll go soon."

"Alright, I'll wait for you."

Ren Chang was in his sixties, and apparently, he had suffered qi deviation in his cultivation as a young man, depriving him of any chance of reaching the Lord tier, so he was still stuck at the ninth-rank General tier.

There were plenty of Protectionists around his age who possessed far superior cultivation bases to his, and many of them looked to be in their twenties.

Ren Chang was by far the oldest-looking administrator in the Hall of Protectionists.

Fang Che was tallying up his merit points.

With the latest addition of five hundred merit points, his total had been taken to 5,400.

Pleased with his progress, he stood up to leave with Ren Chang.

The administrators that had been assigned the night shift looked on with envious expressions as the two of them departed. The night shift was always much more dangerous than the day shift, particularly at such a sensitive time.

Upon arriving at the entrance, Fang Che and Ren Chang bade farewell to each other and prepared to part ways.

"Administrator Fang."

"What is it, Senior Ren?"

"A flower is best picked at full bloom. Don't leave any regrets."

Fang Che was silent for a moment, then replied, "Very wise words, Senior Ren. I'll be sure to keep them in mind."