Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 119 (1): Wanted Dead Or Alive

Fang Che got up very early in the morning, and he was looking as vibrant and energetic as ever.

The three elders were very relieved to see him looking so exuberant, and they could see that the conversation he had with Yin Shengong the previous night had clearly helped him overcome his mental hurdles.

Yin Shengong was rather taken aback, and he smiled as he remarked, "It looks like you're feeling much better today."

"I am, Master," Fang Che confirmed. "I've come to understand that those people were always my enemies. If I had fallen into their hands, they would've torn me to shreds, so killing them shouldn't weigh on my mind at all."

"Good," Yin Shengong said with a pleased smile.

"I'm still young, so I'm still prone to letting my emotions get the better of me. If I make further missteps in the future, please guide me back to the right path, Master. There's no need to consider my feelings. Some lessons must be learned, whether it be through the hard way or otherwise."

"What lessons are there left for you to learn? You seem to have already figured everything out yourself!" Mu Linyuan chuckled.

"Ah, please wait a moment while I go fetch your gifts, Master," Fang Che said, then hurriedly entered his study.

"What's this about gifts?" Mu Linyuan asked.

"The little rascal extorted his subordinates at the branch helm for a bunch of stuff in order to offer up to us as gifts," Yin Shengong explained with an amused smile, and the three elders instantly burst into laughter.

Before long, Fang Che re-emerged from his study, holding four large bags.

"Please accept these humble gifts," he said with a wide grin.

Yin Shengong and the three elders took the bags without even bothering to inspect their contents. To them, the contents of the bags didn't matter. It was the thought that counted.

"Make sure to keep the branch helm in tip-top condition," Yin Shengong ordered. "There's a very good chance that the inspection team from the main church will arrive this month. Even at the very latest, they should be here within three months, and they could carry out a secret visit without notifying you, so you have to constantly be on your guard."

"You can count on me, Master!"

With that, the four old demons finally departed.

***

It didn't take long for Yin Shengong and the three elders to leave the White Cloud Prefecture, and they were all in very high spirits as they traversed through the wilderness.

"I'm glad things turned out well in the end, but it could've gone really badly," Mu Linyuan sighed.

"Thinking back now, my actions were indeed a little too drastic," Yin Shengong conceded.

"Thank heavens Night Demon managed to come around so quickly. Otherwise, this could've had a very severe psychological impact on him."

"If it was just some other Warlord of our church, it would hardly matter, but right now, Night Demon is like a son to us, so we really should've been a little more delicate with him," Hou Fang said, and Qian Sanjiang immediately nodded in agreement.

"I immediately regretted what I did right after I forced him to kill those people, but they were already dead, so there was no going back," Yin Shengong sighed.

"You can't be so paranoid in the future, Pope Yin. Extreme actions can very easily have lasting consequences," Mu Linyuan said in a concerned manner.

"I wasn't being paranoid!" Yin Shengong protested. "That was a test for Night Demon, one that he would've had to undergo sooner or later. This was a hurdle that he had to cross eventually, and it has nothing to do with paranoia."

The three elders didn't argue with him, but they remained unconvinced.

Would you have done all of this if it wasn't for paranoia? If you didn't suspect him, you would've been in vehement opposition even if the three of us had proposed something like this!

However, they could sense that any lingering suspicions toward Fang Che in Yin Shengong's heart had finally been erased, so they spoke no further on the matter.

"What do the three of you think about what Night Demon said on his wedding night?" Yin Shengong asked.

"I think he was telling the truth," Mu Linyuan replied. "What do you think?"

"I think the same, and that's why I'm a little annoyed," Yin Shengong harrumphed. "If he doesn't want to become pope of the One Heart Church, then who will I make my successor? Is all my hard work going to fall into the hands of someone completely unrelated to me?"

The three elders were struggling not to show their exasperation.

In the past, you pulled all those shenanigans because you were afraid that Night Demon would usurp your position, yet now, you're annoyed that he doesn't want it!

However, this was always an internal conflict that Yin Shengong had to grapple with. He wanted to find a suitable successor, but he also had to worry about that successor taking the position of pope away from him against his will.

"Why aren't any of you saying anything?" Yin Shengong asked in a disgruntled manner.

"Let's just take things one step at a time for now, Pope Yin," Mu Linyuan advised. "Right now, Night Demon is young and ambitious, and he's just made a bunch of connections to the main church, so of course he'll set his sights very high. On top of that, his exceptional aptitude for cultivation only further bolsters his confidence.

“However, no one can predict how the future will turn out, and there's no telling where he'll ultimately end up. If, in spite of his best efforts, he's unable to make it in the main church, then the position of pope of the One Heart Church will always be there as a safety net to catch him when he falls. However, if he manages to stake a foothold in the main church, then the One Heart Church will be a strong driving force behind him.

“If that happens you're going to have to serve as pope of the One Heart Church for a few more years to support your precious disciple's ambitions."

Mu Linyuan's voice trailed off into an amused chuckle, and Yin Shengong was also chuckling along with him.

"Are you saying there will come a day when he becomes my superior? Hopefully, such a day really does come."

Mu Linyuan could see that Yin Shengong was in a very good mood, so he decided to speak candidly straight from the heart as he said, "You may not want to hear this, Pope Yin, but realistically speaking, you've already reached as high a position as you could possibly go.

“At the very most, you can take the One Heart Church to a first-rank church, and that will be your ceiling. If you want to go to the main church, you'll most likely be assigned a position with no real jurisdictive power, so you may as well remain as pope of the One Heart Church instead."

Yin Shengong's expression darkened slightly at Mu Linyuan's assessment, but he didn't rebuke him.

He had considered the same things countless times in the past, and he knew that Mu Linyuan was right.

"To be even more frank, I think it's clear that your connections in the main church don't really think much of you. Through the Ren Zhongyuan incident at the Parasite Ascension Project, I think it's abundantly clear that your connections in the main church view you as completely dispensable, so there's really no use counting on them for anything."

Mu Linyuan nodded in response as a cold gleam appeared in his eyes.

This had been a sore spot for him for quite some time.

Over the past few centuries, he had given his connections in the main church countless gifts, yet he hadn't received any reciprocation. They hadn't even bothered to alert him when he was on the verge of being dethroned!

"However, Night Demon has established ties with the descendants of both Deputy Pope Yan and Deputy Pope Chen, so the sky is the limit for him. I think you should use the resources of our One Heart Church to support Night Demon as much as possible.

“As long as he still has chances of making it in the main church, we can't allow him to settle for the position of pope of the One Heart Church, even if he wanted to! If Night Demon truly manages to reach a high position in the main church, then you'll have a powerful connection that's much more reliable than all of your current ones."

Yin Shengong pondered Mu Linyuan's words for a long while, then said, "Let's take things one step at a time for now."

Mu Linyuan knew that Yin Shengong had already heeded his words, so he was content not to speak any further.

"Let's see what presents Night Demon prepared for us," Yin Shengong said as he picked up his bag, and the three elders did the same, all with eager smiles on their faces.

After inspecting the contents of his bag, Yin Shengong sighed, "Night Demon has clearly put a lot of effort and consideration into these gifts. All of them are resources available only to the clans of the main church. They're not particularly precious, but they're things that we wouldn't normally see in the subsidiary churches."

"Our gifts are much more mundane," Mu Linyuan said with a smile. "It's all stuff like tea leaves, but each of us did get a Cloud Spirit Pill."

Indeed, Qian Sanjiang and Hou Fang had also each received a Cloud Spirit Pill, and there was a mix of shock and elation on their faces. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I didn't get one!" Yin Shengong complained as he feigned a look of sorrow. "It looks like he prefers his uncle-masters to his master!"

The three elders rolled their eyes in exasperation.

His presents were much better than theirs, and as an Overlord, Cloud Spirit Pills would be largely ineffective on him anyway.

"He's essentially given each of us an extra life," Hou Fang mused.

Cloud Spirit Pills had always circulated solely in the main church and were only rewarded to people from subsidiary churches on very rare occasions, so even Yin Shengong didn't have any.

There were higher tier Cloud Spirit Pills suitable for consumption for Overlords, but Yin Shengong had never even seen such a pill before.

Looking at the expressions of satisfaction and elation on the faces of the three elders, Yin Shengong was suddenly feeling a little disgruntled.

These three shameless old farts are benefitting way too much from my disciple!

With that in mind, he harrumphed coldly, "Hurry up and put those things away!"

"Ha! Pope Yin's jealous!"

The three elders erupted into laughter as they stowed their gifts away.