Chapter 34: Fang Che's Contribution

This was a test.

Yin Shengong already had a vague plan in mind, but he wanted to see how well this kid could adapt to changing circumstances.

Fang Che’s reply arrived almost immediately: "In this subordinate's humble opinion, the Cult Master can contact the Heavenly God Cult and tell them that because the Ximen family reached out to the Heavenly God Cult seeking to retaliate against that student from White Cloud Martial Academy, they ended up being counter-killed by their target. As a result, the identities of the Ximen family and Ximen Xuri were exposed, drawing the attention of White Cloud Martial Academy. Now, White Cloud Martial Academy has sealed off this news and is setting a trap to catch a bigger fish. We should advise the Heavenly God Cult to take precautions immediately to prevent further losses. This way, we can make the Master of the Heavenly God Cult owe us a massive favor."

Yin Shengong stared at the words until his eyes went blank: What a talent!

A truly fucking talented individual!

We kill your people, sell you out, and then make you owe us a tremendous favor.

This move... this way of handling things is far superior to my original idea.

However...

Doesn't this seem to have a slight discrepancy in the timeline?

Yin Shengong quickly snapped out of his daze and asked, "Has this incident involving the Ximen family contacting the Heavenly God Cult to retaliate against you already happened?"

Fang Che’s reply came instantly: "It hasn't happened yet. But we can target two hidden operatives of the Heavenly God Cult stationed in White Cloud Prefecture. My master can personally eliminate them and frame the Ximen family. Afterward, this subordinate can take those two heads to White Cloud Martial Academy to exchange for merits and gain the martial academy's trust, which will facilitate my further advancement in the future. As for the timing of the Cult Master's discussion with the Heavenly God Cult, it can simply be delayed by a day or two after this event."

"…………"

Yin Shengong fell into a prolonged silence of shock.

Utterly and viciously ruthless!

Not only did you kill their seed prodigy and sell out an entire family of theirs, but you also want to take out two more people from the Heavenly God Cult?

Yet, this proposal sounded incredibly tempting.

Because once this was done, the Heavenly God Cult would undoubtedly owe the One Heart Cult a massive favor!

And it would be an enormous debt!

I fucking helped you avert losses across an entire operational line!

That old bastard should have some self-awareness about how to thank me, right?

Yin Shengong pondered quietly.

He transmitted his message: "If you do this, your situation will become even more dangerous. The Heavenly God Cult will not let you off."

Fang Che replied: "As it should be. If this subordinate dies because of this, it is simply my fate. If I manage to survive against the odds, I will step over their corpses and rise to great prominence."

Yin Shengong fell silent.

Gazing at the final four words—"rise to great prominence"—he felt a subtle stirring in his heart, and a plan seemed to be fully taking shape.

His gaze gradually turned cold and sharp.

He did not reply to Fang Che anymore.

The communication fell completely silent.

...

Late in the night, around the Hour of Chou.

Sun Yuan suddenly received a message from Yin Shengong.

"Contact Qian Sanjiang, take Night Demon with you, and execute a mission at a certain location in White Cloud Prefecture. Do it like this..."

Sun Yuan snapped awake, and just as he was about to contact Qian Sanjiang, Qian Sanjiang's message had already arrived: "Sun Yuan, there's a mission!"

Sun Yuan leaped to his feet.

He headed straight for Fang Che's mansion.

Vaulting directly over the wall, he entered.

Fang Che instantly woke up: "Master? What brings you..."

"There's a mission! Ten cult contribution points!"

"Understood!"

Sun Yuan took Fang Che and quietly slipped out of the courtyard.

Sun Yuan's cultivation was far superior to Ye Meng's, who remained completely unaware.

After running through the night for a while, Qian Sanjiang leaped out from the densest foliage of a large tree.

"Follow me."

On a bustling street.

The golden-lettered signboard of a pawnshop named "Lü's Pawnshop" gleamed in the dark.

"This is one of the Heavenly God Cult's hidden outposts in White Cloud Prefecture. There are three members of the Heavenly God Cult here, including one at the General Realm and two at the Grandmaster Realm. The rest of the clerks are disciples of these three," Qian Sanjiang explained.

"Is the intelligence reliable?" Sun Yuan asked.

"Can checking on our own people be unreliable?" Qian Sanjiang said, beaming with smug satisfaction.

"Exquisite," Fang Che muttered, dumbfounded from the side.

Is this even possible?

He had merely suggested dealing with two operatives, yet Yin Shengong directly handed over an entire stronghold of the Heavenly God Cult?

Qian Sanjiang put on a mask and immediately activated his "Bone-Shifting Art," forcefully transforming himself into a tall, thin man with a square face.

Sun Yuan was dressed entirely in black.

Fang Che was also dressed in black, but wearing his signature black dark-gold-patterned cloak.

He didn't even bother to wear a mask.

"Strike!"

Qian Sanjiang leaped forward and charged into the pawnshop.

Sun Yuan followed closely behind.

Fang Che waited up in the tree.

With his low cultivation, all he had to do was wait to collect the heads and take them to claim credit.

As for the rest, Qian Sanjiang and Sun Yuan would take care of everything!

With a loud crash.

The front doors of Lü's Pawnshop shattered into pieces, and Qian Sanjiang charged in like a demon god.

Shouts of surprise and anger echoed from within.

"Who goes there?"

"Enemy attack!"

Qian Sanjiang's eerie, cold laughter immediately followed: "Hehehehe..."

"Ah..." A miserable scream rang out.

Sun Yuan's sword had already tasted blood.

To conceal his identity, Sun Yuan could not use his saber.

However, he was at the King Realm, while the people in the pawnshop were at best at the General Realm—the gap in power was simply too vast.

Furthermore, with Qian Sanjiang—an Elder of the One Heart Cult whose cultivation far surpassed Sun Yuan's—participating, this battle was nothing short of a one-sided massacre!

Bang, bang, bang...

Crack, crack...

All eight people inside the pawnshop were killed almost simultaneously.

Then, Qian Sanjiang and Sun Yuan began to skillfully search for identifying items. Every single piece of evidence bearing the symbols of the Heavenly God Cult, as well as the unique identity tokens of these operatives, was thoroughly collected without omission.

All eight of them, not a single one missing.

The evidence was conclusive; they were indeed wicked members of the Heavenly God Cult.

After matching each person with their respective evidence, they gathered all the items related to the Heavenly God Cult. Finally, they forced open a secret room and dragged out the divine statue worshipped by the Heavenly God Cult, tossing it outside.

Afterward, Sun Yuan and Qian Sanjiang began looting the valuables and money.

Qian Sanjiang used his spatial ring to sweep away the mountains of accumulated wealth.

At last, Sun Yuan bade farewell to Fang Che. Standing atop the treetop, he spoke in a loud voice according to Fang Che's instructions:

"Brother Fang, I leave this place to you. As my elder brother, I have a secret mission to execute and cannot afford to show my face. Thank you for securing the Su family's assets. We brothers shall meet again!"

With that, the two leaped onto the treetops and vanished in a flash.

Meanwhile, Fang Che climbed down from the tree.

Quite calmly, he pulled two carriages out from the pawnshop.

He began loading the corpses, the evidence, and the divine statue onto the carts.

By the time the experts from the local Garrison Hall arrived, they only found Fang Che working alone with bloodstained hands.

"Stop right there!"

"Put your hands up! Don't move!"

"Who are you?"

"What is going on here?!"

An inexplicable, heavy atmosphere suddenly spread through the air.

It was Deputy Hall Master Chen Ruhai of the White Cloud Prefecture Garrison Hall, accompanied by Deputy Hall Master Fan Tiaotiao, whose face wore an expression as bitter as a squeezed gourd.

Fan Tiaotiao had truly had a streak of bad luck.

He originally lived right next door to Fang Che, but suddenly he received a work transfer, moving from Bibo City to White Cloud Prefecture.

Although he was demoted from a Hall Master to a Deputy Hall Master, the jurisdiction of White Cloud Prefecture was vastly larger than Bibo City's.

Therefore, this was actually a promotion.

Thus, Fan Tiaotiao happily went through the administrative procedures, overjoyed that he would finally be free of that filthy wretch Chen Ruhai, whose smelly feet had driven him completely insane over the past few years.

Yet, when he arrived at his new post and looked around, Chen Ruhai was also unpacking his luggage there.

Upon asking, it turned out they were assigned to the exact same department.

Their destination was identical, and their superiors had explicitly arranged: "You two will continue working together."

Fan Tiaotiao fell into an instant state of autistic despair.

The joyous occasion of a promotion couldn't salvage his ruined mood.

On his very first night there, before he had even unrolled his bedding, a major mass murder case had broken out in the area.

Adding insult to injury for his already terrible mood.

And upon arriving at the crime scene, he was paired up with Chen Ruhai once again.

Fan Tiaotiao felt an almost irresistible urge to commit suicide.

What was the concept of piling three extra stories of misery on top of an already ruined mood?

And upon arriving and taking a look...

"Isn't that fucking Fang Che?!"

Chen Ruhai was also dumbfounded: Why is this kid here?

"What is going on here?"

Fang Che had prepared in advance and smiled with a somewhat shy demeanor: "Greetings, Lords. How辛苦 for you both to be out on a mission so late at night."

The two of them rolled their eyes in unison.

You have the nerve to talk about hardship? If you hadn't pulled off such a massive stunt, would we be suffering like this?

"What on earth is going on?" Chen Ruhai asked in a very grim tone.

"This is a long story," Fang Che said. "Might we step aside to speak?"

Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiaotiao exchanged glances and followed Fang Che a few steps away: "Speak."

Fan Tiaotiao immediately stepped a few more paces away from Chen Ruhai's feet and stood on Fang Che's other side.

Fang Che looked over in bewilderment, wondering why these two clearly important figures were standing on either side of him.

Like a pair of bodyguards.

So he began: "A while ago during the martial academy tournament, I accidentally killed Ximen Xuri. But what I never expected was that Ximen Xuri's family actually belonged to the Heavenly God Cult."

"......What? What?!"

Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiaotiao were somewhat dazed: "What kind of situation is this?"

"That's just the way it is," Fang Che spread his hands. "Fortunately, my Big Brother Su Yue..."

"What, what? Your Big Brother Su Yue?"

Chen Ruhai was instantly shocked.

What the hell, why is another dead person's name popping up?

Wasn't Su Yue's entire family wiped out?

"My Big Brother Su Yue, yes. Is there a problem?" Fang Che asked with a blank expression.

"Nothing, continue," Chen Ruhai massaged his brow with a hand that still carried a certain lingering fragrance.

Then he lifted his hand and sniffed it near his nose.

"Damn your eyes!"

Fan Tiaotiao suddenly erupted, cursing a foul word in a complete breakdown.

Fang Che looked utterly bewildered: "？？？？"

Fan Tiaotiao forcibly suppressed his emotions: "It's nothing, I wasn't talking about you. Please continue."

Fang Che: "......"

Damn your eyes indeed!

"......Yes, my Big Brother Su Yue timely discovered during a mission that the Ximen family was communicating with members of the Heavenly God Cult to assassinate me. My Big Brother Su Yue, being a man of deep loyalty, rushed here from thousands of miles away along with his master and martial uncle. With a thunderous strike, they eliminated the hidden danger and wiped out all these impending operatives of the Heavenly God Cult."

"That is simply the result of this whole affair."

"Everyone, do not touch the scene yet," Fan Tiaotiao immediately issued an order.

Then he and Chen Ruhai walked over to the carriages to inspect the various items of evidence.

As old veterans who had fought against the demonic cult for many years, they could tell at a glance that these individuals were genuine, orthodox members of the demonic cult.

Most of these items were things that could not be forged even if someone wanted to.

These people were indeed members of the Heavenly God Cult.

In other words, Fang Che had genuinely performed a service!

A massive service!