Chapter 136 (2): Yan Nan’s Questioning

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but Night Demon has already entered Dongfang Sansan's line of sight."

"I am aware, Deputy Pope Yan. Chief Strategist Dongfang has already issued a continent-wide order to have Night Demon killed."

"That's nothing more than a red herring. Given the confidential nature of Night Demon's identity, the Guardians don't know anything about him, so any order to hunt him down is entirely pointless and futile. He's only using that as a justification to kill the people that our main church has sent to the southeast."

A stunned look of realization appeared on Yin Shengong's face.

Such a possibility had never even occurred to him before, but now that he thought about it, this did seem to fit Dongfang Sansan's style.

"I'm very interested in this young man that even Dongfang Sansan is unable to track down. How has he managed to remain elusive all this time?"

Yan Nan's intrigue was genuine. Not only was Dongfang Sansan unable to track down Night Demon, the same applied to all of the clans of the main church as well! It was incredible to think that a young warrior below the Emperor tier could be so elusive.

"It's a long story, Deputy Pope Yan. There are many coincidental factors that have contributed to Night Demon's current situation."

"Let's hear the full story. I have plenty of time."

Yan Nan closed his eyes as he reclined against the back of his chair.

Yin Shengong remained standing in a respectful posture as he recounted, "In the beginning, Night Demon was actually discovered by an elder of our church responsible for seeking out bright prospects. Only those with superb aptitude can survive after ingesting the Five Spirit Parasites that haven't been specially treated by our church, so we knew that any survivors would be diamonds in the rough that would be worth recruiting."

"The elder's name was Sun Yuan, and Night Demon first caught my interest when Sun Yuan came bragging to me about how he had unearthed a generational talent. At the time, our One Heart Church was about to launch an attack against the Iron Will Fort, so I went to the southeast with several other elders and discovered that Night Demon really was every bit the generational talent that Sun Yuan had proclaimed him to be. Most importantly, during his indoctrination baptism, the will of the Heavenly Centipede Deity displayed a very clear sense of approval toward him."

"What did you just say?" Yan Nan abruptly interrupted as his eyes sprang open, and his almighty aura instantly swept through the entire hall in a formidable wave.

Yin Shengong collapsed to the ground under the weight of the almighty aura, his forehead pressed against the ground as he repeated, "The will of the Heavenly Centipede Deity displayed a clear sense of approval toward Night Demon during his indoctrination baptism?"

Yan Nan took a deep breath to compose himself, then prompted, "Continue."

"After I realized Night Demon's talents, I taught him my Seven Blood Spirit Swords, and after just one viewing, he was able to execute all seven sword techniques to near-perfection!"

"From there..."

"After he became a student of White Cloud Warrior Academy..."

"After that came the Parasite Ascension Project. Due to Ren Zhongyuan's plot to overthrow me, I had no one I could rely on aside from Night Demon..."

Yin Shengong gave an extremely comprehensive recount of Night Demon's history, adopting a policy of full honesty and transparency, even when it came to admitting the mistakes he had made in Night Demon's development.

"At the time, Night Demon was only a Great Grandmaster, but he was my only hope..."

"Finally, he reached the General, and during the Parasite Ascension Project..."

"After the Parasite Ascension Project, he was able to become an administrator at the Hall of Protectionists, and at this point, he's already earned himself a promotion to chief administrator. In light of all of the enemies that he made during the Parasite Ascension Project, his identity as Night Demon had to be kept secret, and that's why we fabricated him a new identity of Starlight so he could take on the role of helmsmaster of the White Cloud Prefecture branch helm.

"Hence, in reality, Night Demon was the one who single-handedly created this branch helm and made it into what it is today."

"Even this branch helm was created by Night Demon?" Yan Nan exclaimed. "It sounds like his competencies lie far beyond just the battlefield."

"Certainly! He is a very talented and well-rounded young man! This entire time, I didn't send a single person to help him, so he did everything himself!"

Yin Shengong was eager to praise Night Demon as much as possible, much like a proud father trying to earn an opportunity for his son.

"Tell me how he did it."

Yin Shengong was more than happy to oblige, going back to the very beginning of Night Demon's tenure as helmsmaster, describing how he had recruited subordinates one by one and employed various plots to help the branch helm go from strength to strength.

Yan Nan was very intrigued by the story, and it quickly became abundantly clear to him that Night Demon was paving the path for his own future.

This is a young man with very lofty ambitions.

Finally, after detailing all of Starlight's feats, Yin Shengong went back to talking about Night Demon's past, and he didn't conceal or lie about any details.

Yin Shengong felt much the same in the presence of Yan Nan as Fang Che did when facing Dongfang Sansan. If he couldn't even trust Yan Nan, then there was no one in this world that he could trust!

Thus, deception or withholding any information wasn't even a consideration for Yin Shengong.

The more Yan Nan heard, the more intrigued he became.

"I see. This is indeed a very special set of circumstances."

Over the course of many convenient accidents and coincidences, Night Demon's identity has become an extremely well-kept secret, and for all of Dongfang Sansan's wisdom, even he was being kept in the dark.

The Night Demon that he was so eager to kill was working under him as a Protectionist, and as a mere administrator, at that!

Even if Yan Nan had done everything in his power to try and manufacture something like this, there was no way that he could've arranged everything so perfectly.

"Night Demon is truly a fine talent!" Yan Nan praised.

Yin Shengong didn't dare to say anything, but internally, his heart was brimming with pride and excitement.

"So he became Sun Yuan's disciple as a third-rank Warrior, and exactly a year has passed since then, right?"

"That's right."

"What's his cultivation base right now?"

"He just made a breakthrough to the King tier!"

"So in one year, he progressed from a third-rank Warrior to a Warrior Master, then Lesser Grandmaster, then Great Grandmaster, General, Lord, Warlord, and he's now a King... In a single year, he has progressed through over sixty cultivation ranks, which amounts to about six days per rank, and he hasn't taken any pills or consumed any natural treasures to enhance his cultivation base this entire time..."

"Well... That's not entirely true," Yin Shengong carefully interjected. "He did steal Mistress Yan Beihan's Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit during the Parasite Ascension Project."

"A single Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit cannot explain the rapid progress he has made. He came from a tiny clan with next to no foundation to speak of, so he's made it to this point purely thanks to his own aptitude. How much stuff have you given him to help him consolidate his foundation?"

"A lot! In total, I would say that I've given him more than enough to fill three horse-drawn carriages."

"That's not that much. This is an extremely bright prospect who's found himself in a very special position, so he must not be squandered. The main concern surrounding him is his history in Green Wave City, right?"

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"That's right. Because of what he did back in Green Wave City, he has never been able to fully gain the trust of the other side. However, only a handful of people in the Hall of Protectionists are privy to this information, and they want to use him to try and gather intelligence on us. Having said that, I can assure you that all they know is that there's a possible connection between Fang Che and the One Heart Church, but they do not know that he's Night Demon."

"This problem has to be addressed. Otherwise, he won't be able to progress very far up the ranks at all in the Hall of Protectionists."

"But that entire clan in Green Wave City has already been wiped out, so there's no way to smooth things over."

Yin Shengong wanted more than anyone to erase this dark chapter in Fang Che's history, but it was simply beyond his means.

"You were far too rash in your handling of this matter," Yan Nan reprimanded.

"Indeed. Looking back now, this is the thing that I regret the most. At the time, Fang Che was a complete nobody, so I simply let him do as he pleased with the Su Clan, not realizing that he would become so important. By the time I realized how much value he presented, it was already too late to go back and try to smooth things over."

Yin Shengong was telling the truth. This was indeed something that he sorely regretted, and Yan Nan was clearly not very pleased, either.

Indeed, who could've envisioned something like this? If someone had tried to convince Yan Nan to invest in a mere Warrior and that in just one year, this Warrior would become a thorn in Dongfang Sansan's side, he would've swatted them out of the headquarters!

With that in mind, a hint of glee arose in Yan Nan's heart.

What's wrong, Dongfang Sansan? Aren't you supposed to be the smartest man on the entire continent? How come you didn't envision this?

It was no wonder that Yin Shengong had displayed so much resolve when it came to keeping Night Demon's identity a secret. This was splendid news as far as Yan Nan was concerned!

The only problem was that Fang Che's handling of the Su Clan had left a blotch on his resume.

It wasn't a major blotch, but the higher he progressed up the enemy ranks, the more it was going to be magnified.

There was no way that anyone suspected of having ties with the demonic churches would be able to earn the full trust of the Guardians, and if Dongfang Sansan were made aware of this someday, then the consequences would be catastrophic.

How likely is it for Dongfang Sansan to be informed of something like this?

After some contemplation, Yan Nan decided that it was highly unlikely.

This would be like a county magistrate reporting a minor incident that had taken place in his territory of jurisdiction to the highest-ranking supervisor in the land. However, it was still a possibility that couldn't be neglected, and this blotch in Night Demon's history had to be erased at all costs.

Yan Nan fell into deep thought as he pondered this matter, while Yin Shengong continued to stand uneasily before him.

"Can he make amends by making contributions to the Hall of Protectionists?" Yan Nan suggested.

"This is a ploy that we've been using this entire time. However, right now, Night Demon's cultivation base is still rather lackluster, so it wouldn't make sense for him to make any significant contributions. In any case, I don't have any significant contributions to arrange for him anyway, so he's only been able to slowly accumulate minor contributions."

"You knew this, yet you still forced him to kill those ten subordinates of his?! You're a fool!"