Chapter 137 (1): Master, I Can't Control My Bloodlust

"He's normally very cautious and understated, it's just that he let's himself go a little when talking to me," Yin Shengong explained in a sheepish manner.

Yan Nan was immediately reminded of Yan Beihan upon hearing this. To everyone else, she was very cold and unapproachable, but she always acted like a spoiled little girl around him.

"Looks like your disciple feels a great deal of affection for you," he chuckled.

"Honestly, this disciple of mine is beginning to feel more and more like a son. Whenever he gets up to his shenanigans, I want to beat him, but I can't bring myself to do so. However, at the same time, the more I suppress the urge to beat him, the angrier I become!"

"It really does feel like that sometimes," Yan Nan chuckled, clearly empathizing with the notion.

Thus, he instructed Yin Shengong to send Night Demon a concise message: "You have to be more humble!"

Yan Nan knew that this was a completely pointless message to send. If anything, it would only encourage Night Demon to be even more arrogant, and that played right into his hands because he wanted to see Night Demon show more of his true colors.

Sure enough, Night Demon's next message quickly arrived.

"I'm thinking that if you want me to take part in the friendly matches on behalf of our One Heart Church, then I'll intentionally lose during the selection trials for the Guardians so that I can fight for our One Heart Church. That way, I'll be able to elevate our church's reputation and get the deputy popes to pay more attention to you. I can't believe they still haven't given you a promotion yet! They must be blind!"

Cold sweat was pouring down Yin Shengong's face like a waterfall.

"It looks like I'm blind for not promoting you," Yan Nan remarked in an indifferent voice.

"N... Not at all, Deputy Pope Yan... He's j-just uttering nonsense! I'll go teach him a lesson when I get back!" Yin Shengong stammered with a horrified expression.

"There's no need for that. Tell him 'young people like you need to learn to be more humble. There are countless prodigies in the main church, and many of them are superior to you.'"

Yin Shengong did as he was told, typing out the message while praying to whatever gods would listen that Night Demon wouldn't spew forth any more blasphemous rhetoric.

Unfortunately, Night Demon's reply only knocked more nails into his coffin.

"Honestly, I'm worried that we'll lose if I don't fight for our side. The warriors of the main church are only superior to me in background, but they're all complete trash in battle! In the King tier, no one is a match for me aside from Yan Beihan and Chen Yin. If I don't fight for us, I'd say there's a 99% chance that we lose. This is a golden opportunity for me to crush all of the young prodigies from the main church beneath my feet!"

"He's definitely not lacking in confidence," Yan Nan harrumphed, but despite his cold expression, he was internally quite pleased.

Night Demon was undoubtedly a generational talent, yet even he clearly had a very high opinion of Yan Beihan, and that was very pleasing for Yan Nan to see.

"Is he really unmatched in the King tier? Isn't he only a first-rank King at the moment?" Yan Nan asked.

Yin Shengong dabbed at his sweat-drenched brow with his sleeve as he replied, "He's a little arrogant, but he can definitely put his money where his mouth is. Having said that, he hasn't seen the true prodigies up at the top, so his assessment of himself is most likely a little overinflated."

"Tell him that there's no chance he'll fight on behalf of our church! His mission is to come out on top in the Guardian selection trials and represent the Guardians to the best of his abilities during the friendly matches, even if it comes at the cost of our church!"

"Yes, Deputy Pope Yan!"

Yin Shengong immediately relayed Yan Nan's orders to Fang Che.

"How are things going for you in the main church, Master? If anyone has tried to hurt you, tell me their names! I can't wipe out their clans for now, but if there are any branch lineal descendants of their clans at my branch helm, I'll pluck them out and kill them to send their clans a message!"

Yin Shengong was on the verge of fainting from distress.

If you keep this up, you're going to get me killed before those clans have a chance to get to me!

"You have to learn to rein in your bloodlust! The main church is not to be disrespected like this!"

"The main church can go kick rocks! I still haven't even avenged Master Sun Yuan yet! The Wang Clan and the Li Clan better say their prayers while they still can because neither of them will be around for much longer! At the rate that I'm progressing, it'll only take a few years before I'm ready to wipe them off the face of this world!

"Haven't you always taught me that demonic church members like us shouldn't have so many qualms and reservations? The only things important to me are you and the One Heart Church. As for everyone else, I'll kill them if I don't like the look of them!"

Yin Shengong's face had taken on an ashen complexion, and he didn't even dare to raise his head to gauge Yan Nan's reaction.

Before he could even muster up the courage to look at Yan Nan, he received another message from Night Demon.

"It's been too long since I've killed anyone, I'm starting to get a little antsy. What's the point in fighting in these matches when no killing is allowed? It's not like we're allies with the Guardians, so why is there no killing allowed? I don't get it. And I heard this proposed by Deputy Pope Yan of the main church. Have the deputy popes gone old and senile? Looks like I'm going to have to dismiss a few of them once I become pope of the main church."

Cold sweat was flowing like a river down Yin Shengong's face, and even though Yan Nan was watching from the side, he decided that he had to put an end to this correspondence.

"Shut your mouth! Do not disrespect the deputy popes, and don't message me anymore!"

If he had allowed Night Demon to keep this up, Yan Nan would've put an end to his life before the vengeful clans could get to him!

"My sincerest apologies, Deputy Pope Yan."

"That's a very ambitious disciple you have there," Yan Nan harrumphed.

Yin Shengong immediately fell to his knees, wondering if this was truly the end of the road.

However, Yan Nan didn't seem to be angry as he continued, "I'm glad to see he has such lofty aspirations. Make sure to encourage him to set his sights beyond just the One Heart Church. Someone of his talents can't just spend his entire life in a subsidiary church."

"Yes, Deputy Pope Yan," Yin Shengong answered as he kowtowed repeatedly, leaving a wet imprint on the floor with his forehead each time.

"Go on now. You will have your official audience with me tomorrow."

"Yes, Deputy Pope Yan. I'll be taking my leave now."

Yin Shengong scurried backward to the door on his hands and knees, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him, and he said, "Deputy Pope Yan, I have just suddenly thought of something that could be very detrimental to Night Demon."

"What is it?"

"If Night Demon takes part in the friendly matches for the Guardians, then it will be revealed that he was Sun Yuan's disciple. It's impossible to uncover the connection between the two through investigating Sun Yuan, but one could very easily find out this connection by looking into Fang Che! This is a huge oversight that I only just thought of!"

"Just how incompetent can you be?!" Yan Nan exclaimed. "How many more oversights have you made?"

"My apologies, Deputy Pope Yan. The good thing is that Sun Yuan was considered a vagrant warrior back when he was alive. He has some vague connection to our One Heart Church, but even at the time of his death, the Guardians never found out that he was an elder of our One Heart Church."

"Even so, this is still a cause for concern."

"Also, another potential problem is that once the connection between Sun Yuan and Fang Che is uncovered, the clans of our main church could come to suspect that Fang Che is Night Demon."

"That's not going to happen," Yan Nan said. "As for as everyone else is concerned, Night Demon is your disciple and your disciple only. None of our people are aware that Night Demon was Sun Yuan's disciple. The only ones that we have to be worried about are the Li Clan and the Wang Clan. Those two clans are privy to this secret, and they have a vendetta against Fang Che.

"They may not be able to kill Fang Che, but they could easily wipe out Fang Che's clan if we don't keep an eye on them. Leave it to me. I'll see to it that they don't do anything to foil our plans."

"Yes, Deputy Pope Yan."

"The crux of the problem doesn't lie with the Wang Clan and the Li Clan. Instead, our main concern is the fact that Fang Che was Sun Yuan's disciple. Just because Fang Che was Sun Yuan's disciple doesn't necessarily mean that he's a demonic church member, but if Dongfang Sansan is made aware of this, then there's a very good chance that Night Demon could be exposed."

Yan Nan's brows were tightly furrowed in contemplation, but he was unable to think of any solution to the problem.

The reality of Fang Che's status as Sun Yuan's disciple was set in stone, and Sun Yuan was already dead, so they couldn't even fabricate a story in which Fang Che killed Sun Yuan after finding out that the latter was a demonic church member, thereby vindicating himself!

"How could you have been so careless?" Yan Nan reprimanded. "You've left all these holes that are almost impossible to patch up!"

Yin Shengong didn't even dare to speak.

How could he have ever envisioned that Night Demon would become so important someday?

If he had known this would happen, he would've never allowed Fang Che to touch the Su Clan's estate or to accept Sun Yuan as his master!

Even after some extensive contemplation, Yan Nan wasn't able to think of any solutions to these problems.

"It looks like Night Demon will have to overcome these hurdles himself somehow. You can go now," he sighed in a weary manner.

Yin Shengong bade farewell to Yan Nan as he continued shuffling out of the hall on his hands and knees, but Yan Nan's mind was already elsewhere.

***

Only after the door was closed behind him did Yin Shengong dare to rise to his feet, and he was greeted by the sight of a smiling Aunt Hong and a less-than-pleased Yan Beihan.

"What did you two talk about in there?" Yan Beihan asked.

"N... Nothing of importance, Mistress Yan."

Yin Shengong's mind was completely numb, but he still had the awareness to know that he had to keep the contents of his conversation with Yan Nan confidential.

Yan Beihan gave a displeased harrumph as she re-entered the hall, while Aunt Hong offered to escort him back to the inn.