Chapter 122 (3): What is Dongfang Sansan Plotting?

Yan Nan began to massage his own glabella with a weary expression.

Ever since Xiang Beidou's failed plan at dethroning Yin Shengong of the One Heart Church, Yu Hanyan's faction had suddenly risen up in full force to oppose Xiang Beidou's faction for some reason.

Yu Hanyan had displayed no ambitions for a very long time, and he had virtually been in a state of semi-retirement, but for some reason, he had recently become very interested in the internal affairs of the main church, and in particular, he and Xiang Beidou were always at each other's throats!

Essentially, no matter what one of them said, the other was sure to speak up in opposition, raising objections just for the sake of it!

"Here we go again!" Bi Changhong sighed in exasperation. "Why are you always arguing with Hanyan? You've already been bickering your entire lives! Have you not grown sick of it by now?"

Clearly, Bi Changhong was taking Yu Hanyan's side here.

"You're the elder brother, Hanyan. Why can't you be a bit more patient with Beidou?"

Chen Gu was taking Xiang Beidou's side.

Before long, everyone had begun taking sides, and it looked as if the meeting were about to devolve into a chaotic argument.

Yan Nan slammed a palm down onto the table as he stood up with a furious expression and yelled, "All of you, shut up! We're having a meeting here, not a bickering match! Since when did things become like this between all of you?"

All of the deputy popes instantly fell silent.

Duan Xiyang stood up to leave.

"Where do you think you're going? Sit down!" Yan Nan snapped.

"I have no interest in watching a bunch of old farts bickering and insulting each other. I'm gonna go take a nap," Duan Xiyang said in a cold voice, then departed without another word!

"Get back here!" Bi Changhong yelled, only to be completely ignored.

Yan Nan was absolutely livid.

"All of you have lived for tens of thousands of years, yet whenever you get together, you immediately begin bickering like a bunch of children! What the hell is wrong with all of you?!"

"Fine! If you wanna talk about this, then let's lay everything out in the open!" Yu Hanyan snapped. "All of us can tell that Beidou wants to become the seventh-in-line deputy pope! That's fine! I'm already semi-retired anyway, so I don't care at all!

“If you want to climb a rung up the ladder, then just tell me, and I'd gladly step down, but don't go pulling a bunch of shady maneuvers behind my back! I can concede my position to you, but I refuse to be removed by force! It's as simple as that!"

"That's utter nonsense!" Xiang Beidou yelled. "When have I ever wanted to become seventh in line? What difference does it even make? Seventh, eighth, we're both near the bottom anyway!"

"Oh, so you think you're ranked too low?" Bi Changhong sneered. "You wanna be first in line, is that it?"

Yan Nan slammed his palm down onto the table again with a deafening thump, and everyone instantly fell silent.

"Get out!" he yelled. "Come back after you've finished bickering! If you can't reach an agreement through words, then fight! Ideally, a few of you end up dead, and the rest of you can come back and continue the meeting!"

"You're lucky that the pope isn't here! If he was here to see this, you know what he would do! I'm sure everyone would love to see a bunch of deputy popes hung up from a tree and flogged!"

A loud slap rang out as he slammed a leather whip onto the table, and the spirit wood table audibly creaked, indicating that the whip was far heavier than it looked.

All of the deputy popes instantly sat up ramrod straight as fearful looks appeared in their eyes.

"I'm sure all of you recognize this whip," Yan Nan with a menacing look on his face. "The pope left this whip to me precisely for situations like this! If you keep this up, then you'll have to answer to this whip instead of me! Don't say I didn't warn you!"

The other deputy popes instantly extended apologetic bows in unison. "We're sorry, Brother Yan! It won't happen again!"

Bi Changhong picked up Dongfang Sansan's letter, then analyzed with an earnest expression, "Dongfang Sansan is a very shady character, so Brother Yan is right, we can't let our guard down."

"Indeed," the other deputy popes instantly agreed.

Yan Nan heaved a weary sigh as he waved a dismissive hand.

"I'm the one at fault here. I shouldn't have expected any of you to be of any help in the first place."

"You can't blame us for this, Brother Yan!" Chen Gu protested. "None of us have ever been able to preemptively figure out what Dongfang Sansan is thinking, what makes you think things are going to be different this time? Besides, we're completely out of our depth here!

“The Emperor, King, and Warlord tier juniors of our main church are simply too far below us, so none of us are familiar with them! How could we possibly know what Dongfang Sansan is planning to do if we don't even know our own young prodigies?"

A thoughtful look appeared on Yan Nan's face upon hearing this.

"You're right. Round up all of the most prominent prodigies of those three tiers tonight. I'll take a look at them myself. I want to see their true colors, not some facade that they choose to present to me."

"That's a good idea, Brother Yan. The rest of us should also take this opportunity to familiarize ourselves with our juniors."

"Alright, all of you can piss off now!"

***

That night, all of the most prominent young prodigies of the main church were gathered in the main hall of the Yan Clan's manor.

Yan Beihan and Chen Yin were naturally among them.

Among all of the prodigies present, those who were direct lineal descendants of the deputy popes clearly stood out above the rest.

No one had been informed of why they had been summoned here, so they were all rather perplexed.

Upon entering the main hall, they discovered that there was a chair placed at the very center, around which was a massive circle of tables and chairs, enough to seat six hundred people.

There were precisely six hundred people that had been summoned here, so those tables and chairs had clearly been prepared for them.

Outside of this circle of tables was a raised platform that was around three feet tall, and situated upon it was another table and chair.

The delectable fragrance of food and wine wafted into the hall from the kitchen, and it was clear that there was a feast being prepared.

This circle of tables was a test in itself.

All of the tables and chairs were identical in appearance, and it seemed like everyone would be equal no matter where they sat, but that was far from the case.

Everyone began searching for their own seats in silence, and they were all taking extra care not to sit anywhere aside from their rightful place.

Yan Beihan naturally assumed the head position, while her two closest friends sat down on either side of her. To her was Bi Yunyan, a descendant of Bi Changhong, while to her right was Chen Xue, Chen Yin's older sister.

After that came Feng Yun, Feng Xue, Feng Xing, and Feng Yue of the Feng Clan, followed by Chen Yun, who was Chen Yin's older brother, then Bi Feng of the Bi Clan, Bai Ye of the Bai Clan, Yu Cheng of the Yu Clan, Wu Di of the Wu Clan, Xiang Xin of the Xiang Clan, and Xiong Ying of the Xiong Clan.

Chen Yin had occupied the nineteenth seat, which was already a very lofty berth.

As for the six young men who had forged an alliance with Night Demon during the Parasite Ascension Project, only two of them had been invited, namely Ling Kong and Xi Yun, and they were seated somewhere around the 220th position.

Before long, various dishes were brought out into the hall, accompanied by jars of delectable wine, but no one dared to touch the feast laid out before them.

They didn't dare to eat or drink before they were informed of the reason why they had all been gathered here.

Despite the pervasive air of anxiety and confusion in the hall, everyone mostly appeared relaxed and composed on the surface.

Finally, after a tense wait, Feng Yun finally spoke up.

"What's going on today, Beihan? Surely we haven't all been gathered here just for a meal."

Feng Yun was a descendant of Feng Du, the first-in-line deputy pope of the main church, and he was the undisputed leader and figurehead of the younger generation, having already the Sage tier at below thirty-five years of age.

"Who're you calling Beihan? That's Great Aunt Yan to you!" Yan Beihan scoffed with a roll of her eyes, and everyone instantly erupted into laughter at their leader's expense.

Indeed, Yan Beihan was Yan Nan's granddaughter, so in terms of seniority, everyone had to refer to her as great aunt. In fact, a prefix of dozens of "greats" were necessary when referring to her.

"Alright. If you don't mind sounding like an old woman, then great aunt it is!" Feng Yun chuckled.