Chapter 66: Meeting of Popes

Qian Sanjiang didn't dare to respond to Yin Shengong's message.

He knew that he had misspoken.

Yin Shengong gave a cold harrumph.

Ever since Fang Che invoked Su Yue's name while eradicating that Divine Heavenly Church stronghold, Yin Shengong knew for certain that Su Yue had to have been dead.

There was no way Fang Che would dare to use Su Yue's name if the latter were still alive, and it also told him that what Fang Che had said about safekeeping Su Yue's estate had been a complete lie.

Yin Shengong made no comment on this.

In his eyes, Night Demon had done everything right.

And so what if he used the name of the dead to accomplish his own objectives? Su Yue should be honored beyond the grave!

How are we supposed to get anything done if we're constantly bound by morals and ethics? This is the only way to get ahead in life! As for consideration of the bigger picture, that's only something for people in high-up places to worry about. I don't even worry about that stuff, and I'm the pope of the One Heart Church!

At the moment, he had no time to respond to Fang Che as he was in a meeting.

Seated across from him were Pope Kou Yifang of the Divine Heavenly Church, Pope Guan Shandu of the Three Saints Church, Pope Gu Shanfeng of the Church of Light, and Pope Hai Wuliang of the Night Demon Church.

The southeastern inspector of the Church of the Self-Righteous had gathered the five popes for a meeting in light of some of the peculiar events that had taken place of late.

It had all started with the One Heart Church's inexplicably foiled attack on the Iron Will Fort, and that had been followed by the exposure of the Three Saints Church and the Divine Heavenly Church's seeded prodigies and their clans.

This was a very abnormal sequence of events, and a meeting had to be arranged.

Hence, the five popes had been gathered to think about what potential reasons for this sequence of setbacks.

Right as a discussion was taking place, Yin Shengong had received a message. Not only that, but he had taken out his communication jade to read the message.

"Is something the matter, Pope Yin? If you're busy, you're free to leave," Hai Wuliang said in a snide voice.

He had always been on bad standings with Yin Shengong, and the Night Demon and the One Heart Church were each other's fiercest competitors.

Hence, Hai Wuliang was naturally going to say something about this blatant act of disrespect toward the inspector.

Yin Shengong was feeling a little sheepish, but he put on a hostile facade to hide it as he scoffed, "I'm just checking a message. Is there a need for you to get so worked up, Pope Hai?"

"How dare you just casually check your messages in the presence of the inspector? You clearly have no respect for him at all! Esteemed inspector, this is quite frankly unacceptable behavior, and it must not go unpunished!"

"What the hell's your problem, Hai Wuliang?!"

"I'm just pointing out your clear disdain for authority!"

The inspector knew that these two had always been at each other's throats, and they were clearly about to begin bickering again.

"That's enough!" he hurriedly interjected. "Save the bickering for later. Right now, we need to work out a plan of action. Everything was going so smoothly for all five of your churches in the past, but there have been frequent incidents of late, and there must be a reason for that. What do you all think we should do on the White Cloud Warrior Academy front?"

"Regardless of what happens, Fang Che has to die!" Kou Yifang said with a vicious gleam in his eyes.

"I agree. Fang Che must die," Guan Shandu chimed in with a nod.

Gu Shanfeng and Hai Wuliang were merely looking on with schadenfreude in their eyes, seeing as this had nothing to do with them.

"What do you think, Pope Yin?" the inspector asked.

Yin Shengong was silent for a moment, then replied, "My opinion is that the two popes have been diverted a little off-track. I think it's a good idea to abandon the White Cloud Warrior Academy front for now."

"Why?"

Both Kou Yifang and Guan Shandu were perplexed.

"Given how bright a prodigy Fang Che is, it's very suspicious that he's living outside of the protection of the academy, and I don't think it's a coincidence that both your church's plans were foiled by him. Not only were all of the people sent to assassinate him caught and killed, even those two subsidiary clans have been exposed, and that's quite bizarre.

“I'm almost certain that the Protectionists and the academy are intentionally dangling him out as bait. Otherwise, how could they possibly have allowed such a prodigy to live outside the academy? It's obvious, is it not?"

The two popes could only nod in agreement with grim expressions.

This was very sound analysis from Yin Shengong.

"I believe that they're using Fang Che to lure in our people on suicide missions. He's under the protection of both the Protectionists and the academy, so no matter how many people we send to kill him, it's simply going to backfire on us.

“It's a simple trap that they can use to goad us over and over again, and I don't think even a Sovereign would be able to fare any better, so my opinion is that it would be best for your two churches to cut their losses now.

“Our One Heart Church has killed many Protectionist prodigies in the past, but we're not going to get involved on this occasion. It's simply a waste of time, resources, and personnel!"

Kou Yifang and Guan Shandu's expressions changed drastically upon hearing this.

"That makes a lot of sense, Brother Yin."

The inspector was also clearly impressed, and he prompted, "Indeed, this is some fine foresight. Continue."

"Thank you, esteemed inspector," Yin Shengong said with a modest salute. "At the moment, Fang Che is only a Lesser Grandmaster, so he poses no threat to us in the short term. At the very least, it would surely take him several centuries to make it onto the Cloud Weapon Archive, if he even gets there at all, so why bother with him?

“It's downright foolish to be walking into the same trap over and over again just to kill a Lesser Grandmaster. Let's leave him for, say, five years. By then, he'll have graduated, and we'll be able to crush him with ease once he's out of the academy's protection. How much could he possibly grow in five years?

“Even if he manages to become an Emperor, we can still crush him like an ant just the same, so why insist on targeting him now? After all, is revenge not a dish best served cold? I implore the two popes to reconsider."

The two popes nodded in silence.

"If you'll recall, our One Heart Church's attack on the Iron Will Fort was also thwarted," Yin Shengong continued. "The circumstances were a little suspicious, but is there only one Iron Will Fort under the heavens? Why be overly fixated on one place at one point in time? There will be plenty of future opportunities for us to take down ten Iron Will Forts, a hundred Iron Will Forts!

“Even now, Pope Hai Wuliang is targeting me with envious personal attacks, but that doesn't mean I have to retaliate. Why should I pay any heed to the barking of a mad dog? Over the years, I've been frequently thinking about why our church has been making such slow progress, and I've come to realize it's exactly because of people like Hai Wuliang.

“All they do is think about how to plot against their own allies all day, and their impact on our church is solely a detrimental one. Hence, I suggest we execute him to set an example for the rest of the church and let everyone know that this type of behavior is not to be tolerated!"

"Yin Shengong! What a load of utter nonsense!" Hai Wuliang protested in an enraged manner.

"Nonsense? I think not! You proved my point just now when you tried to throw me under the carriage! Do you think the inspector doesn't see your sinister intentions? The only reason you're not met with any resistance is because you're like a putrid pile of dog shit that none of us want to step on for fear of dirtying our shoes!"

Hai Wuliang was fuming, but he couldn't argue with that!

He had indeed been intentionally nitpicking Yin Shengong just now.

"You're the pile dog shit! You're the mad dog! Your entire family are all mad dogs! Fuck you, Yin Shengong! You..."

His voice abruptly cut off there as the inspector had already turned a displeased gaze upon him.

Hence, he could only swallow his resentment.

"Are you that eager for internal conflict, Pope Hai? You couldn't even wait until after the meeting?" the inspector scoffed.

Hai Wuliang gritted his teeth momentarily to suppress his fury, then replied, "My apologies, esteemed inspector."

Meanwhile, Yin Shengong was over the moon.

Not only had he managed to ensure Night Demon's safety, he had simultaneously managed to knock Hai Wuliang down a peg and gain favor with the inspector.

On top of that, both Kou Yifang and Guan Shandu were also looking at him with newfound admiration, and in light of these developments, the One Heart Church was subtly rising to the forefront as the leader of the five southeastern churches.

Of course, what he was most pleased about was that he had left the inspector with a positive impression of himself while simultaneously souring his image of Hai Wuliang.

Things couldn't be going any better for him!