Chapter 65: News From All Directions

"Night Demon has wiped out the Fierce Tiger Guild's branch helm, including five people that were from the main church, three of whom were from the Li Clan, while the other two were from the Wang Clan!"

"Night Demon's been dormant for so long, why has he suddenly made such a big move? What has the Fierce Tiger Guild done to make an enemy out of him?"

In the blink of an eye, news of Night Demon's appearance in the White Cloud Prefecture began spreading like wildfire, and many of the people that had been sent down from the main church to the other neighboring prefectures immediately converged toward the White Cloud Prefecture.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

At this point, Li Mengyun and her entourage were already almost back to the New Chu Nation, but after hearing this piece of news, they immediately turned tail and set off back to the White Cloud Prefecture.

***

The news of Night Demon's reemergence had also reached the southeastern headquarters of the Protectionists.

"Send people to protect him!" Zhao Shanhe ordered.

At the moment, Night Demon was like a priceless treasure for the Protectionists, a piece of top-quality bait capable of luring countless people from the Church of the Self-Righteous to their deaths!

Fang Che was casually drinking tea in his Virtue Manor.

He had eradicated the Fierce Tiger Guild branch helm as Night Demon purely on a whim. Ever since he adopted the identity of Starlight, Night Demon had completely faded into the background, and that didn't sit right with him.

If Night Demon were to remain dormant for too long, suspicions were definitely going to be roused.

Hence, Night Demon had to make a return from time to time to give off the appearance that he was a separate entity from Starlight.

***

At the Unmatched Escort Agency, all of the armed escorts were gathered around Starlight with looks of idolization in their eyes, frantically asking him questions about Night Demon.

"Did you hear, Helmsmaster? Master Night Demon has made a return!"

"I have! All of you have already told me eight hundred times!"

"What does Master Night Demon look like?"

"He's alright in the looks department, nothing special."

"Is Master Night Demon a member of our branch helm?"

Zhao Wubai was the one who had posed the question, and he was given a vicious beating by Starlight in response.

"He's the direct disciple of the pope! How could he possibly be serving in the White Cloud Prefecture branch helm under me?"

"Do you keep in contact at all with Master Night Demon?"

"No. Night Demon looks down on me and never contacts me! Even when I try to message him, I just get ignored!" Starlight complained in an indignant manner.

"Can you beat him in a fight, Helmsmaster?"

That question had been raised by Zhao Wushang, and he was given an even more brutal beating than his brother.

It immediately became clear to everyone that Starlight was no match for Night Demon.

In the wake of Night Demon's reemergence, hundreds of messages had flooded into Fang Che's communication jade.

Yan Beihan: "I heard you took out an entire branch helm. What's your cultivation base right now? I'm already a ninth-rank Lord."

After scrolling up, he discovered some more messages from Yan Beihan.

"I'm at the third-rank Lord tier now, have you reached the Lord tier yet?"

"I'm a seventh-rank Lord now. It's such a pain having to make so many breakthroughs all the time. What rank are you right now?"

"I've reached the eighth rank. You took my Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, so you should be progressing faster than me, right?"

Fang Che couldn't help but feel a little speechless at how petty this woman was.

Ever since he shut her down during their previous conversation, she had turned goading him into a hobby.

She clearly knew that his rate of progression couldn't possibly match hers, so she was gloating to him about every single breakthrough.

"If I had a deputy pope for a grandfather, I would already be an Emperor by now."

Yan Beihan's reply was instant.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"I can report to you that my cultivation base hasn't actually been progressing all that quickly after consuming the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit. However, my skin has become much smoother and fairer, and it's been a real pain in the backside! Everyone's joking that I've become a pretty boy!"

"Night Demon! I'm going to kill you!"

Yan Beihan threw her communication jade against the wall in fury after sending through that death threat.

The beautification effects of the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit were meant for her!

She hurriedly retrieved her communication, then threatened once again: "Just you wait, Night Demon!"

"Yes, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to steal a second Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit from you!"

The communication jade was dashed against the wall once again.

Yan Beihan had come to realize that Night Demon was intentionally provoking her, but she couldn't help but fall for it!

I'm going to shred him to ribbons the next time I see him!

***

After his brief exchange of messages with Yan Beihan, he checked the messages from his band of brothers from the Parasite Ascension Project.

Ling Kong: "Settle down, Brother Night Demon! There are countless people after your head right now, so don't go making any big moves."

Lu Yuan: "That was really badass, Brother Night Demon, but you should probably go back into hiding for now."

There were also countless more messages of praise and admiration from the other survivors of the Parasite Ascension Project.

"Are you in the White Cloud Prefecture right now? To my knowledge, tons of people have been sent down to the White Cloud Prefecture from our main church to kill you, so you better be on your guard."

There was also one particular message that caught Fang Che's attention.

The message had come from someone that Fang Che had encountered many times in the Parasite Ascension Project, but he never attacked the individual in question because he knew that he would be no match.

It was a man with the codename of Obsidian, someone that Fang Che had deemed to not be inferior to Yan Beihan in terms of combat prowess.

Obsidian: "Are you planning to lure everyone to the White Cloud Prefecture and kill them in order to further your own cultivation base? If you're resorting to something like that, then I presume that you must be making some rather slow progress of late. Do you need me to send someone to deliver you some resources? By the way, I'm a ninth-rank General now. How about you?"

"I'm a first-rank Lord! What of it?"

"Haha, I thought so. Subsidiary churches don't have enough resources to help you grow. I'll send someone to deliver some stuff to you. Trust me, I won't screw you over."

"Fine. I'll tell you how to find me once your people have arrived in the White Cloud Prefecture."

"Sounds good! Honestly, you're already progressing quite quickly, it's just that the people from the main church like us have a massive resource advantage over you. As an aside, I can tell you that I'm from the Chen Clan. I'll send someone out tomorrow, I'll let you know once he gets to the White Cloud Prefecture."

"Thanks. If we ever get into a fight, I'll spare your life."

"Alright, I'll be thanking you in advance then."

Fang Che set down his communication jade with a pleased smile. He naturally wasn't going to turn down free resources.

Later that night, close to dawn, he suddenly received another message from Yan Beihan.

"You pissed me off so much that I made a breakthrough to the Warlord tier. Have you made a breakthrough?"

Fang Che's mouth was agape in exasperation.

Stop showing off to me! I don't want to hear about your stupid breakthroughs!

He threw his communication jade down and immediately began cultivating, choosing not to respond to Yan Beihan's message.

Not only was Yan Beihan not bothered by the lack of a response, a triumphant smile appeared on her face, as if she had scored a moral victory.

***

In the snowy mountains, Yu Zhongge was the first to awaken from a long stint of cultivation, and he felt as light as a feather, having just made a breakthrough to the Lord tier.

Mo Ganyun and the others also awakened one after another, having all also reached the Lord tier.

At this point, they had already ventured deep into the Myriad Beast Forest, and it had been a journey fraught with peril and opportunity alike.

Just the day before, they had come across several Earth Root Fruits, which they had consumed to enhance their cultivation aptitude, allowing them to reach the Lord tier.

"I've brought some cultivation base enhancement pills from my clan."

"Me, too."

The four of them exchanged a hesitant glance with one another.

"We're at the Lord tier now, should we begin taking the pills?"

"Technically, our clans only forbade us from taking pills of this nature before reaching the Great Grandmaster, and we've already gone above and beyond that, abstaining all the way up to this point because Boss never took any pills to enhance his cultivation base," Yu Zhongge mused. "At this point, I think our foundations are sufficiently stable for us to begin taking the pills. What do you all think?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They had been constantly coming across natural treasures up to this point, and as a result, their cultivation foundations had become far more solid than even the seniors of their clans had hoped for.

"We can begin taking the pills, but before that, we have to cleanse our bodies of impurities," Jing Shuanggao said. "I've brought a Marrow Cleansing Pill with me, how about you guys?"

Only after cleansing one's body of impurities could one ensure an ideal physical state, thereby allowing one to take maximal advantage of pills that enhanced cultivation base.

"Of course!" Yu Zhongge scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "I've prepared ten premium Marrow Cleansing Pills for this exact scenario. You can all just take one from me."

"As expected of the Yu Clan."

Even as the heir-apparent of a third-tier clan, Jing Shuanggao couldn't help but feel a little envious of Yu Zhongge.