Chapter 46: The Dumbstruck Pope Yin

"I'm doing alright. My mind is clear, and several of my broken bones are yet to fully heal, but they should be all patched up by tomorrow morning, so there's no need to worry about me, Master."

"Good. The people who came after you are Warlords, so you're no match for them right now. Once you find them, leave them to me, and I'll tear those little bastards to shreds!"

Yin Shengong was about to be driven mad with rage and frustration!

His tenure as the pope of the One Heart Church had been very tumultuous of late.

He had only just survived the Ren Zhongyuan crisis, yet before he even had a chance to catch his breath, he was being held prisoner in the headquarters of his own church!

The inspection team from the main church was questioning everyone in the headquarters at a snail's pace, and it was clear that their primary objective was to stall for time for the people on the outside to kill Night Demon.

However, Yin Shengong couldn't go against them as doing so would be seen as an act of insubordination toward the main church.

He had no way of knowing what was happening in the outside world aside from through two sources of information, namely Night Demon and the mole in White Cloud Warrior Academy.

The mole in White Cloud Warrior Academy had full freedom, but his intelligence was useless because Night Demon wasn't even there anymore!

As for the branch helms outside of the White Cloud Prefecture, all of them had been completely silent and unresponsive of late.

Actually, that wasn't entirely true. Not long ago, Yin Shengong had received a message from the White Apple Prefecture branch helm, reporting that they were being targeted by the people sent down from the main church, and they were in a dire situation.

Just a few days after that, they also became completely unresponsive. Clearly, the branch helm had been eradicated.

At the moment, Night Demon was the only one still reporting to him, but it was all terrible news, and it was as if the entire world were against the One Heart Church!

So many people were out for Night Demon's blood, yet as Night Demon's master, he was unable to do anything!

This unprecedented combination of frustration and powerlessness had Yin Shengong on the verge of a mental breakdown.

He had sent countless messages to his connections in the main church, imploring them to lift the lockdown, telling them that the One Heart Church would be completely wiped out at this rate, but they were also powerless to help him.

The inspection team would only leave once they received orders to do so from the main church, and Yin Shengong's connections in the main church weren't powerful enough to order the return of the inspection team.

To further compound Yin Shengong's woes, he had recently found out that one of his connections in the main church had also lost a son during the Parasite Ascension Project, so they were never going to help him no matter how desperately he pleaded and begged!

That revelation was almost the final straw that broke the camel's back.

I've been the pope of the One Heart Church for centuries, and I've been a church member for several centuries more, and I've never seen anything like this! This is downright absurd!

"Thank you, Master," Fang Che responded. "There's also something else I must apologize for."

"What is it this time?"

"It's still about my decision to give Old Man Shen the divine power essence. I shouldn't have done that, and you were right to scold me. Everyone is aware that Night Demon obtained divine power essence from the Parasite Ascension Project, and now that Administrator Fang has also shown himself to be in possession of divine power essence, people could easily draw a connection between Administrator Fang and Night Demon."

Yin Shengong instantly broke into a cold sweat, but he remained calm as he asked, "How did you resolve this problem?"

"After realizing my mistake, I immediately went back to White Cloud Warrior Academy to see Old Man Shen, and together, we came up with the idea to attribute the divine power essence to Dongfang Sansan. Dongfang Sansan once promised Old Man Shen to find him a piece of divine power essence, so the story is believable.

“Right now, everyone thinks that Old Man Shen was able to make a full recovery thanks to Dongfang Sansan. Even though things turned out well in the end, I admit that I acted too rashly and without sufficient foresight, so I fully deserved the scolding that you gave me."

Yin Shengong was very relieved to hear about Night Demon's handling of the situation.

"It sounds like you have it all sorted out. You only gave Old Man Shen the divine power essence due to pressure from my end, so I really have no right to scold you for your actions. You did well in thinking of the loose ends that you left behind and tying them up before they could come back to bite you."

"No, no, it was your scolding that saved me, Master. I wouldn't have realized my mistake had you not scolded me."

Yin Shengong didn't want to dwell on this topic any longer, so he changed the subject.

"What do you want to learn?"

"I'll learn whatever you decide to teach me, Master."

"You tell me what you want to learn! You need to think for yourself!"

A look of realization appeared on Fang Che's face upon seeing this message.

It looks like Yin Shengong doesn't even know what to teach me!

Then again, this was no surprise, considering his complete lack of experience in mentoring a disciple.

"I want to learn saber, sword, spear, and halberd techniques."

Yin Shengong was instantly flabbergasted by the request.

You sure know how to pick them! That's all of the Four Kingly Arms at the top of the Cloud Weapon Archive!

Unwilling to admit his ineptitude in those areas, Yin Shengong dodged the request, declaring: "Weapons training should only be conducted on an in-person basis, so maybe another time. How about cultivation arts?"

"I need cultivation arts as well. Do you have any cultivation arts that come with unique symbolism? The type that's really distinctive and immediately makes it clear that someone was killed by me?"

Yin Shengong: "......"

Not only are you going to kill people, you're going to leave your mark on them as well?!

Having said that, he really did have a cultivation art that met this requirement.

"One of the top-tier cultivation arts of our church just so happens to fit your needs, but its barrier to entry is very high, requiring tremendous baleful qi, killing intent, and natural aptitude. I never cultivated it myself because I knew that I wouldn't be able to fully master it, and it's also too distinctive, even more so than my Seven Blood Spirit Swords.

“Furthermore, when unleashing the cultivation art, the user becomes enveloped in a vast cloud of blood mist, so it's not exactly the most discreet thing. It's an extremely powerful cultivation art, but it's next to useless in the initial stages and only displays its full power upon full mastery.

“It actually suits your situation perfectly because you won't get to use it for a long time anyway, seeing as you're going to be a long-term mole in the Hall of Protectionists, but it's up to you whether you want to pursue it."

"Will using the cultivation art be harmful to the body at all, or will it require things like consumption of human blood or something like that?"

"No! What the hell are you thinking?! I'm not going to teach you some vampiric cultivation art! I'll send it to you, and you can take a look at it on your own."

"Thank you, Master."

With nothing better to do anyway, Yin Shengong immediately sprang into action, searching through his study for the cultivation art in question.

However, upon finding it, he was instantly rooted to the spot.

The cultivation art was contained in a book!

It wasn't a particularly thick book, but it was still a book, and its pages were covered in dense passages of text, all of which he would have to transcribe and send through to Night Demon via communication jade!

After rapidly going through the five stages of grief, Yin Shengong finally accepted his fate and began typing away.

As he did so, he had to resist the urge to tear his own hair out as he roared, "I should've known Mu Linyuan's always full of terrible ideas! Night Demon's doing just fine on his own, why did I offer to teach him something?!"

Despite his complaints, he still dutifully sent through the passages of text in the book one by one.

***

Before long, Yin Shengong's Five Spirit Parasite was utterly exhausted.

What the hell is he doing?! If you have so much stuff to say, then just go and speak to him! Why are you sending an entire thesis through text?!

Yin Shengong typed diligently all the way until the sun came up, and he still wasn't even done!

Fang Che had just woken up after a night of sleep, and he was shocked to discover that messages were still flowing in incessantly from Yin Shengong's end.

Clearly, Yin Shengong still wasn't done yet, so Fang Che could only put away his communication jade and emerge from his room for breakfast.

"Good morning, Elder Shen. I didn't think you'd still be here."

"I'm not going anywhere until you're fully healed!"

"I'm all healed up now," Fang Che declared in a smug manner. "I have some miraculous life-saving pills at my disposal!"

"Wipe that smug smile off your face! You almost died, do you understand? Why can't you settle down and stop biting off more than you can chew? Also, you better not lie to me again, or I'll make sure you're bedridden far longer than you were this time!"

Fang Che was rather perplexed by Old Man Shen's furious tirade.

"When did I lie to you?"

"Quit playing dumb, you little shit!" Old Man Shen snarled in a low voice. "You told me you already made that young lady your concubine, and because of that, I made a complete fool out of myself just now!"

Fang Che was rendered speechless upon hearing this. He had truly forgotten all about his flippant lie. At the time, he had only made a passing remark to placate Old Man Shen, and he never expected Old Man Shen to come to his home for verification!

As it turned out, Old Man Shen had been chatting with Ye Meng just now.

"Now that you're Fang Che's concubine, you should relieve yourself of these menial chores. Just buy a maidservant to do everything in your stead. It won't cost much, and you'll be providing a home to some impoverished girl."

Ye Meng instantly turned as red as a beetroot as she stammered out a response: "I... I... I'm not..."