Chapter 104 (2): Hai Wuliang's Wrath

Yang Luoyu and a group of other powerful warriors had already been sent here to monitor the area for quite some time under Dongfang Sansan's orders, but for the first few days, nothing happened.

They had been searching for the headquarters of the Night Demon Church to no avail, and it was as if the Night Demon Church had no presence here at all.

However, on the previous night, eight people had attempted to escape from eight different directions, and all of them had been Sovereigns.

Yang Luoyu and his comrades were able to intercept and kill seven of them, but the final one managed to escape, much to his frustration and chagrin.

However, he had no time to wallow in his frustration as he had to consider why the Night Demon Church had suddenly sent out eight Sovereigns to try and break out of the encirclement.

Surely those were the most powerful warriors that the Night Demon Church had to offer, so why had they all been sacrificed? Had Hai Wuliang gone insane?

The more Yang Luoyu pondered this matter, the more agitated he became.

"Are we still unable to break the illusory array up ahead?"

"I'm afraid not, Master Yang. This is a very advanced array that's been set up in nine different locations. At this point, we can be certain that the headquarters of the Night Demon Church is in this general area, but we can't pinpoint exactly where it is."

"Keep searching! We must find their headquarters today! Otherwise..."

Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out, and the incredibly convincing illusions up ahead abruptly disintegrated to reveal nine concealed valleys.

"The array has been broken!"

Everyone let loose a collective cheer, but Yang Luoyu was in no mood for celebration as he instantly shot forth in a certain direction.

Far in the distance in the direction that Yang Luoyu was traveling toward was a barely visible figure that was racing away at an astonishing speed.

Yang Luoyu pursued the fleeing figure at full speed, but found himself being completely outsped!

Even though he couldn't see the fleeing figure's face, Yang Luoyu knew that it had to have been Hai Wuliang, and it was also abundantly clear to him that Hai Wuliang had already resorted to using the Blood Incineration Technique.

Yang Luoyu hurled his Yama Flute forward mid-pursuit, sending it hurtling through the air like a shooting star.

Around twenty thousand feet away, Hai Wuliang shuddered as the Yama Flute pierced into his back, then emerged out the front of his body, leaving a hole in the right side of his chest!

Even after piercing through his chest, the Yama Flute continued to fly onward for several hundred feet before returning to Yang Luoyu like a boomerang.

In spite of the severe injury that he had just suffered, Hai Wuliang wasn't slowed down in the slightest. Instead, he threw up another mouthful of blood as he channeled the Blood Incineration Technique again.

In the blink of an eye, he had already vanished without a trace, leaving only a trail of taunting cackling behind him.

By the time the Yama Flute returned to Yang Luoyu's grasp, Hai Wuliang was already nowhere to be seen.

Yang Luoyu could only heave a resigned sigh.

Hai Wuliang was already an Overlord, and quite a high-ranking one, at that. With his speed enhanced by over tenfold thanks to the Blood Incineration Technique, it was simply impossible for Yang Luoyu to catch him, despite possessing a far superior cultivation base.

Meanwhile, the others had already found the Night Demon Church headquarters, and they were stunned by the harrowing scenes that awaited them inside.

There was not a single living creature left in the entire headquarters.

The entire valley was littered with countless bodies of all ages, and those bodies were rapidly decomposing.

After a quick count, it was determined that over seventeen thousand people had been killed.

Even though all of them were demonic church members who were very much deserving of such a horrific death, it was still a very chilling sight to see so many of them perish in such a gruesome fashion.

"How did they all die?"

"They were poisoned!"

"Have you searched the entire place?"

"We have."

"Did you find anything of value?"

"We did. In fact, all of the valuables in the entire headquarters appear to have been left behind, but they're all tainted by lethal poison. Even a single silver voucher is laden with enough poison to kill many people on contact. We'll have to leave them here for now and slowly cleanse everything over time before we take any of this stuff back.

“Otherwise, if these silver vouchers enter circulation, it's going to be a disaster. However, there are massive quantities of wealth and spirit crystals here, and if we can cleanse everything, then it'll all be extremely useful to the masses and to our comrades, so we'll just have to take a slow and steady approach."

"This Hai Wuliang really is a nasty piece of work!" Yang Luoyu snapped, stunned by Hai Wuliang's ruthlessness and cruelty.

"Master Yang, I feel like Hai Wuliang intentionally left everything behind for us. It feels like he really wants us to stay here for some reason."

"I have the same feeling. There's no way Hai Wuliang did this for no reason!"

"What could he be trying to achieve with this?"

Right at this moment, a thunderous voice rang out in the distance.

"Pope Hai Wuliang of the Night Demon Church, we have come to apprehend you under orders from the southeastern headquarters!"

"Shit!" Yang Luoyu cursed. "It looks like Hai Wuliang wanted to keep us here to deal with these people for him!"

Trapped in the valley, Yang Luoyu and his comrades had no choice but to directly face the enforcement team from the southeastern headquarters.

A battle quickly ensued, and Yang Luoyu and his comrades were able to completely eradicate the team of six formidable warriors from the southeastern headquarters of the Church of the Self-Righteous.

"Why has the southeastern headquarters sent people to capture Hai Wuliang? I can't make sense of this situation at all!"

Yang Luoyu was feeling very perplexed.

"I'm sure Master Nine knows everything. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sent us here. Let's ask him once we get back."

"Clean up this place as soon as possible. Get a few carts as well. There's too much stuff here to fit in my spatial ring."

***

News of the Night Demon Church's fall quickly began to spread like wildfire, to the collective astonishment of all seventeen southeastern prefectures.

The entire headquarters had been annihilated with no survivors, while Hai Wuliang's whereabouts were unknown.

Even the headquarters of the Church of the Self-Righteous was shaken by this news, and after extensive investigation, it was finally determined that Hai Wuliang had annihilated the entire Night Demon Church headquarters himself!

It was a classic case of "if I can't have it, no one can!"

Deputy Pope Yan Nan was furious.

"Put out a reward for Hai Wuliang's capture! Ten thousand merit points for capturing him alive, and five thousand for turning in his dead body!"

All of the clans of the main church immediately sent out their most capable warriors to search for Hai Wuliang, both for the reward on offer and to exact their own vengeance.

At the same time, the Guardian headquarters also released an order for Hai Wuliang's capture, and all of a sudden, the entire world was against him!

In the past ten thousand years, Hai Wuliang was the only one to receive this treatment from both the Guardians and the Church of the Self-Righteous!

Dongfang Sansan had played an important role in Hai Wuliang's downfall, but even he was astonished by how rapidly the entire incident had escalated.

This doesn't make sense... Could it be that someone was helping us? Was he backstabbed, or was it someone from our side?

At the same time, he was considering what the best course of action was to adopt in the wake of the Night Demon Church's demise.

Right now, the clans of the main church have formed one united front. Is it more beneficial for us to maintain the status quo, or shatter them into fragmented factions again? The fall of the Night Demon Church is definitely a good thing, but will it have an impact on Fang Che? Yin Shengong and Hai Wuliang were equals not long ago, how is he going to feel now that Hai Wuliang is gone? Would he become wary of Fang Che?

Dongfang Sansan's mind was racing as he considered a million things all at once, trying to find the best path forward.

***

"The Night Demon Church is gone?"

Zhao Wushang and the others were completely flabbergasted by this news.

They had only intended for Hai Wuliang to serve as a scapegoat for them, never had they imagined that the Night Demon Church would be uprooted altogether!

Did we do this?

In the wake of this incident, everyone was brimming with confidence. Never had they imagined that they would be able to amount to anything so significant.

Together, we can also accomplish great things! Our combined power is enough to topple even an entire church!

"Helmsmaster Starlight really is an amazing man!" Zheng Yunqi praised, his voice full of admiration. "He's managed to use the power of all of the clans of the main church to topple the Night Demon Church, and he's also cleared us of all wrongdoing in the process!

“From now on, we no longer have to worry about the reports that we made coming back to bite us, and if anyone tries to levy any accusations against us, we can just blame everything in Hai Wuliang and the Night Demon Church!"

Everyone was ecstatic at the way that things had turned out, and at the same time, they were also astonished by Starlight's brilliance.

"I wonder what we can achieve if we can continue to benefit from Helmsmaster Starlight's leadership," Zhou Mei'er mused, her eyes bright with anticipation for the future.

"Helmsmaster Starlight truly understands our abilities and the power behind us, as well as what we can achieve with our collective power. He's able to make full use of every resource at his disposal, practically squeezing water out of stone! I think we'd have much brighter futures continuing to serve him than if we returned home.

“Individually, it's very difficult for us to amount to anything, and only when our powers are combined can we really accomplish anything. If we go back to our own clans, we can still remain in touch and try to stay close, but we won't have any freedom, and we'll be back to living our oppressed lives of old."

Zhou Mei'er heaved a forlorn sigh.