Chapter 122 (1): What is Dongfang Sansan Plotting?

At this point, it had become abundantly clear to everyone that Fang Che was not to be messed with.

He had inflicted severe injuries upon all of his opponents from earlier, with many carrying broken bones, yet he had sent them straight out to work without giving them any time to recover. It was truly a draconian way of leadership, but then again, it was kind of to be expected for someone who dared to directly oppose Zhao Shanhe as a mere administrator.

Given Fang Che's ties to Bing Qianshan, they wouldn't be surprised if he dared to openly defy even their sect leader!

***

Fang Che was leading a team of his own as he scoured through the prefectural city.

Some people from the main church had exposed their locations when they went to the branch helm to seek help, and while Zhao Wushang and the others were discussing how to sell them out the previous night, Fang Che had overheard everything.

He visited the addresses that he had overheard one by one, and before long, he had gone on a killing spree across half the city.

All of the accompanying administrators were astonished by the absurd level of accuracy and precision on display.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Surround this place!"

"Everyone inside, come out at once! We're from the Hall of Protectionists, and we have reason to believe that there are demonic church members residing here!"

"What's your name?"

"Detain him and take him back for interrogation!"

"Anyone who dares to resist arrest is to be killed on the spot!"

Fang Che's team hadn't suffered even a single casualty, yet they were chopping down demonic church members like delicate bamboo shoots!

Fang Che noticed that the people from the Frost Sword Pavilion were particularly eager when it came to killing demonic church members, and they were always leading from the front, their eyes burning with vengeful fury.

"Do you have some type of vendetta against them or something?" Fang Che asked.

"Yes! Over seventeen thousand of us were sent out of our sect, but we were attacked by the Church of the Self-Righteous and over ten thousand of us were killed that day!"

Fang Che was very pleased to hear this.

Sure enough, the people from these reclusive sects only cared about themselves. They had no interest in serving the people and the greater good, but as soon as things became personal, they would suddenly have a cause to fight for.

Fang Che was thinking to himself that he should try and track down more of these reclusive sects before somehow goading the Church of the Self-Righteous into attacking them. That way, all of them would rise up against the Church of the Self-Righteous!

In spite of the devious plan that was taking shape in his mind, he put on a pained expression as he said, "We are the same. I have also lost far too many colleagues, friends, and family members to the demonic churches. Hence, my only objective for joining the Hall of Protectionists is to kill more demonic church members!

“All of them still had glorious lives ahead of them, all prematurely cut short. There was even a young woman among them that I was engaged to, yet she was brutally murdered in cold blood!"

The three Frost Sword Sect disciples were furious to hear this, and two of them had even begun shedding tears as they wept through gritted teeth, "We resent the demonic churches every bit as much as you do, Chief Fang! My junior sister and I were also engaged, but she was killed right before my eyes on that day! I must avenge her! I won't rest until I'm dead, or the Church of the Self-Righteous is completely eradicated!"

"You have my condolences," Fang Che sighed.

The three Frost Sword Sect disciples abruptly burst into tears at once, and one of them threw his arms around Fang Che as he sobbed into his shoulder.

Fang Che had to fight back the urge to push the man away in disgust.

It seemed that his lie about his murdered fiancee had worked a little too well.

In order to extricate himself from this awkward embrace, he declared, "There's another demonic church stronghold up ahead that I've already had my eyes on for quite a few days! Let's go and hunt them down!"

***

Over the course of just a single day, Fang Che was able to uproot twelve strongholds, eradicating ninety-three demonic church members in the process.

During one of the twelve battles, three administrators were poisoned, but thankfully, their lives were not under any serious threat, and they were sent back to the Hall of Protectionists for treatment.

As for the other teams, they had nothing to show for their efforts, and they were astonished to hear about the feats of Fang Che and his team.

All of us didn't even find a single stronghold combined, yet you managed to find twelve?!

All of the incumbent administrators were extremely envious of Fang Che's team. Following Fang Che was always a surefire way to earn merit points.

Somehow, he was always able to spot demonic church members with unerring accuracy where others couldn't.

The only other team to have done anything of note was Cripple Hong's team. He had received a tip, and upon investigation, the tip led him and his team to a Warlord tier demonic church member, whom they were able to slay after an intense battle.

Cripple Hong had received the majority of the merit points for the initial tip and his contributions in the ensuing battle.

Of course, it was a paltry amount of merit points compared with what Fang Che's team had earned, but it wasn't nothing, at least.

That night, the three Frost Sword Sect disciples met up with their peers to tell them about Fang Che's incredible feats and his vendetta against the demonic churches, and everyone immediately felt a sense of belonging, working under a chief administrator who could empathize with their cause.

***

With the injection of new blood from the Frost Sword Pavilion, all of the southeastern Halls of Protectionists had received a major boost, and every single day, demonic church members were being mowed down by the dozens in the southeast, but there were still no leads on the all-important Night Demon.

Thus, the southeast continued to redouble its efforts in hunting down Night Demon, with everyone becoming even more desperate and vigilant.

As a result, more and more demonic church members were being hunted down, and at this point, over 70% of all of the people sent down by the main church to the southeast had already been eradicated.

Some of the mothers had begun kneeling in front of the headquarters of the Church of the Self-Righteous, pleading for the higher-ups to put an end to this nightmarish ordeal and return their children to them. Slowly, more and more people came to join them, and before long, there were tens of thousands of people kneeling in front of the headquarters every single day.

Yan Nan knew that he had to intervene. At this rate, there wasn't going to be anyone left to return from the southeast!

Thus, he decided to end the trial prematurely and send out the assessment teams early.

This order came as a massive relief to all of the families whose children in the southeast were still alive, and they began collectively urging for the assessment teams to be sent out as soon as possible.

Ideally, the assessment teams would be sent out that very same day, and once the assessments were completed, their children would be able to return.

***

At the headquarters, Yan Nan had just received a delivery of Amethyst Ore.

"What's your name?"

"I am Yang Luoyu of the Guardians."

"Oh? You're the one ranked forty-fifth on the Cloud Weapon Archive, are you not?"

"That's correct."

"I've heard much about you," Yan Nan said with a faint smile.

"I am truly honored."

"How much ore do you have for me? This is an ore vein capable of giving rise to an Amethyst Soul, Even if I'm only receiving a 10% cut, it should still be quite a bit, right?"

Yang Luoyu swiped a finger over his spatial ring, and a small mountain of Amethyst Ore instantly appeared.

Yan Nan's brows furrowed slightly in dismay.

This was less than he had expected.

"This is my 10% cut? Only twenty thousand Amethysts?"

Yan Nan was sorely disappointed.

He had plotted and schemed for so long, detonating nine volcanoes, and even now, Flame Demon was still bedridden from his severe injuries, having taken twenty-five blows from Xue Fuxiao's saber, all for a mere twenty thousand Amethysts?

The vast majority of the spoils had been taken by Dongfang Sansan, and Yan Nan felt like he had been played for a fool!

"Here's a tally of the amount of ore we managed to excavate each day. In total, the entire ore vein took us half a month to excavate."

Yang Luoyu produced a piece of paper as he spoke, and it contained clear records of the quantity of ore that was unearthed each day.