Chapter 42: Old Man Shen's Recovery

Li Changkong fell into a bewildered silence.

Not only were Zuo Guanglie and the others telling the truth, they were clearly extremely grateful to Fang Che, eagerly corroborating his story to ensure that he wasn't falsely accused of deceit.

Since when did divine power essence become so commonplace? There were only a dozen or so Lords from the main church in that branch helm, could one of them really have been in possession of a piece of divine power essence?

It all felt like a dream, but it was all undeniably real!

For further verification, Li Changkong even went to personally examine the spoils, meticulously ticking off the items on the list one by one, and in the end, he returned looking as bewildered as ever.

He lifted Fang Che up by the back of his collar again, then flew him back to the academy, where Old Man Shen was waiting with a grim expression, the piece of divine power essence completely untouched on the table.

"How did it go?" he asked in an urgent manner.

"It looks like Fang Che was telling the truth."

Li Changkong gave Old Man Shen a recount of his investigation, and Old Man Shen's expression began to gradually soften as he listened to Li Changkong's story.

After hearing what Li Changkong had to say, Old Man Shen turned to Fang Che with a benevolent expression and patted him on the head.

"So you were telling the truth all this time."

"Of course I was!" Fang Che complained with tears of indignation swimming in his eyes. "How else could I have gotten my hands on something like this? You think this stuff grows on trees? I can't believe you'd jump straight to accusing me of lying without any evidence!"

"Alright, I was wrong, I apologize," Old Man Shen said with a wide smile on his face. "I can truly recover now. I've been waiting for this day for so many years..."

"Congratulations, Elder Shen. Once you've fully recovered, you'll be sure to surpass your former peak!" Li Changkong said, internally feeling a little envious.

As a seasoned warrior, Li Changkong knew that Old Man Shen's mental state had been condensing over all these years in which his cultivation base had been crippled.

As a result, a recovery would be sure to entail a breakthrough that would take his powers to unprecedented heights!

Tears began to well up in Old Man Shen's eyes as he clasped one of Fang Che's hands in both of his and sighed in an emotional manner, "I shudder to imagine how much hardship and danger you had to endure, all for a useless old man like me."

"Not at all!" Fang Che began with a smile. "I..."

"Don't talk! It's all thanks to you that I have a chance to reprise my warriorhood. Once I'm recovered, I'm going to beat Gao Qingyu to a pulp every single day!"

"Dean Gao didn't want this to happen, either," Li Changkong said in an awkward manner, trying to defend Gao Qingyu.

"I know, but that's what he gets for being the dean! Who else am I supposed to go to for retribution?"

Fang Che didn't say anything.

He also knew that Gao Qingyu wasn't to blame, but the thought of him having to deal with an enraged Old Man Shen that was back to full strength was very amusing to Fang Che.

After Old Man Shen had some time to compose himself, he declared, "I'll make a recovery tonight. This piece of divine power essence is too much for me. At the very most, I'll only require a third of it to make a full recovery, so you come back tomorrow to take back the rest, but if anyone asks, tell them that I used up the entire thing, understood?"

"Understood."

"Alright, you can go now. Take a good rest tonight, and don't go taking so many risks, you hear me?"

"I'll make sure to be safe, Elder Shen."

Old Man Shen was silent for a moment, then heaved an emotional sigh before turning to Li Changkong as he instructed, "Escort him out of the academy. After that, come back here, and we'll have a chat."

***

Li Changkong and Fang Che made their way through the academy in silence, and only upon reaching the entrance did the former pat the latter on the shoulder as he said, "Make sure to be safe out there."

"I will. We don't actually have to deal with any particularly powerful enemies at the Hall of Protectionists, so my Lord tier cultivation base is more than enough to keep me safe."

"Good," Li Changkong replied with a nod, then watched as Fang Che departed.

Only after Fang Che had vanished out of sight did he return to Old Man Shen's residence.

***

That night, a pillar of azure light erupted out of White Cloud Warrior Academy, piercing straight through the clouds!

An almighty aura encompassed the entire surrounding area in a radius of dozens of kilometers, and the pillar of azure light slowly took on the shape of a sword.

All of a sudden, the azure light turned into blinding white radiance before exploding silently in the heavens and falling as countless specks of starlight.

Countless warriors in the area looked up at the breathtaking spectacle with admiration and longing in their eyes, while all of the demonic church members in the area trembled in fear.

A new Overlord had emerged in White Cloud Warrior Academy, and a Sword Overlord, at that!

Who is it? I didn't hear about anyone preparing for a breakthrough to the Overlord tier!

Gao Qingyu was ecstatic as he looked up at the specks of radiant starlight falling from the heavens.

He was just about to leave his office to ask around when a figure descended before him amid a rush of wind.

It was none other than Old Man Shen!

"Old Man Shen?! So it was you..."

Before Gao Qingyu had a chance to finish, he was cut off mid-sentence by a punch straight to the eye socket, and that was only the opening salvo to a ferocious barrage of blows.

"I've been itching to do this for a very long time!" Old Man Shen spat through gritted teeth. "For at least the past few decades, I've been dying to give you a beating! You thought you were doing a good job as dean, did you? If Zhao Shanhe were here, I'd beat the crap out of the two of you together!"

Gao Qingyu was furious, and he was desperately trying to defend himself as he yelled in grief and indignation, "What does Zhao Shanhe have to do with me? Why do I have to suffer for

his

decisions? Ah, not my nose! Please! I'm the dean..."

"Dean, my arse!"

Old Man Shen refused to listen to reason as he continued to rain more blows down upon Gao Qingyu.

By the time he was done, Gao Qingyu's face had already been beaten into a swollen and unrecognizable mess.

"Hold a celebratory event for me tomorrow!" Old Man Shen ordered, then departed without another word.

"How am I supposed to celebrate your breakthrough looking like this?!" Gao Qingyu wailed as he rubbed his own swollen face.

***

The next day, an academy-wide staff meeting was held to celebrate Old Man Shen's breakthrough to the Overlord tier.

Gao Qingyu delivered a rousing and joyful address, but for some reason, he was wearing a veiled hat like a shy young maiden.

As he was delivering his address, Huang Yifan suddenly faked a cough, giving him an excuse to raise a hand to his face, sweeping up a gust of wind with the gesture to blow Gao Qingyu's veiled hat straight off his head.

His swollen and battered face was instantly revealed to everyone, his eyes wide with shock.

A female instructor was unable to suppress the urge to laugh, and she hurriedly lowered her head.

However, her laughter proved to be contagious, and before long, the entire staff body had collectively burst into laughter.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Huang Yifan!" Gao Qingyu roared in an enraged voice.

"This is a very important occasion for our academy, so please continue your address!" Huang Yifan urged in a serious manner.

Gao Qingyu: "......"

He had half a mind to fly out from behind the lectern and beat Huang Yifan until his face matched his own, but he didn't dare to do anything with Old Man Shen watching menacingly from below the stage.

Thus, he could only swallow his rage and continue, but everyone was too busy laughing to hear what he was saying anyway.

***

That afternoon, Fang Che came to visit Old Man Shen, and the latter returned the remaining divine power essence to him, then warned him repeatedly not to reveal it to anyone under any circumstances.

Li Changkong and the others invited Fang Che to attend the celebratory banquet to be held later that night, but Fang Che refused.

Old Man Shen's recovery couldn't be kept a secret from Yin Shengong, so he had to explain himself.

While it was true that he currently had Yin Shengong's full adoration, using divine power essence to help an enemy Overlord return to full strength was a major transgression that he had to think of a proper justification for.

Thus, he had to set aside the entire night in preparation to face Yin Shengong's wrath and suspicion.

***

"Master, I have something to report. Technically, it's a piece of good news, but I'm willing to accept whatever punishment you deem to be appropriate for me."

Yin Shengong was very perplexed.

"What's going on? Why would I punish you if it's good news that you have to report?"

"Do you still recall Old Man Shen, the former warrior from White Cloud Warrior Academy who stood up for me after my official assignment to the Hall of Protectionists?"

Yin Shengong's expression changed slightly at this message, and he could immediately tell where this was going.

"Did you use your divine power essence to help him recover?"

"I did. There were ten colleagues from the Hall of Protectionists with me when I took out the Divine Heavenly Church branch helm yesterday. All ten of them received their merit points right away, but the merits department delayed the bequeathment of my merit points, telling me that it was too large a sum, so they had to report the matter to the hall master. In the end, they still gave me the merit points, but it made me think of what you told me yesterday.

“Without any backers, even if I can earn enough merit points, I won't receive the promotions that I deserve, and I'll continue to be treated unfairly compared with everyone else. It's already been quite some time since I obtained this divine power essence, but I never gave it to Old Man Shen because it felt like a waste.

“However, after this latest instance of unfair treatment and what you said to me yesterday about the importance of finding a powerful backer, I decided that I had to pull the trigger. If I don't receive any opportunities to rise up the ranks, I'm only going to be used by them as a weapon to kill our own people. In that case, what purpose would I even serve as an undercover agent? Hence, I decided that I had to find a backer for myself as soon as possible."