CHAPTER 111: YOU SHOULD TRY IT FROM TIME TO TIME

"I have full faith in you, Brother Yin!" Guan Shandu said in a relieved manner.

This was the One Heart Church's territory, so he knew Yin Shengong was the only one who could help him.

Bei Mingxin was currently recuperating here, so he would have to make some concessions for Yin Shengong, whether he liked it or not.

Finally, Yin Shengong took some time to read Fang Che's message, and he replied: "Ensure safety above all else!"

Ensure safety? Ensure who's safety?

Yin Shengong didn't elaborate, and Fang Che didn't ask.

He knew what Yin Shengong's response entailed. Essentially, he was being told that Mu Linyuan would have to stay with him for some time, and that even Yin Shengong was powerless to get him out of the White Cloud Prefecture.

Mu Linyuan would have to find an opportunity to leave himself after he recovered from his injuries.

Fang Che heaved a forlorn internal sigh. At this point, he could only pray that the Protectionists didn't make any rash decisions. He was completely at their mercy.

***

Two hours later, Bei Mingxin emerged from his secret chamber with a stormy expression.

He had recovered somewhat from his injuries, but there was still a gaping hole in his chest.

Yin Shengong and Guan Shandu were waiting at the entrance, and they could feel a burst of sharp spear intent surging out of the hole in Bei Mingxin's chest.

For a non-warrior, just the spear intent emanating from the wound alone would be enough to kill them on the spot!

Bei Mingxin's three personal guards were still recuperating in their own secret chambers, so at the moment, he was accompanied by four other warriors from the Enforcement Altar, and Ren Zhongyuan was also by his side.

As soon as Bei Mingxin caught sight of Guan Shandu, a look of cold fury instantly surfaced in his eyes.

Yin Shengong stepped forward as he said, "Please compose yourself, Master Bei. Excessive emotional fluctuations will only place further strain on your injuries. Pope Guan has already been waiting here for quite some time."

Guan Shandu stepped forward and extended a respectful salute as he greeted, "Subordinate Guan Shandu pays his respects to Master Bei."

Bei Mingxin took a glance at Yin Shengong, then returned his gaze to Guan Shandu.

"Guan Shandu, you've done a splendid job managing the Three Saints Church, haven't you?" Bei Mingxin sneered.

Guan Shandu immediately began sweating profusely.

"My sincerest apologies, Master Bei."

"You should turn all of your strongholds and incense halls into honey holes for the Protectionists, then encourage everyone from the main church to give them a visit!"

"I wouldn't dare, Master Bei! I'll be sure to do everything in my power to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again!"

"You wouldn't dare? And yet, you already have! I'm now strongly suspecting that you intentionally did this to orchestrate my demise!"

"I can assure you that's not the case, Master Bei!" Guan Shandu wailed as he immediately fell to his knees.

Yin Shengong heaved a faint sigh, then stepped forward as he said, "Please allow me to say something, Master Bei. I can empathize with Pope Guan, and you've climbed your way up from the bottom as well, so I'm sure you can understand our hardships. Sometimes, it's simply impossible to be aware of such things, particularly when the Protectionists do everything in their power to ensure secrecy.

“This is particularly true for low-level strongholds and incense halls as they often only contain King tier warriors and below, and they're simply not capable of detecting the fact that they're being monitored. Hence, this is all just one massive accident. In fact, I heard that even the Protectionists didn't know Dong Changfeng was staying in that slum.

“In fact, everyone thought he was already dead. The only thing that you can really blame here is your own luck, Master Bei."

Bei Mingxin was even more infuriated upon hearing this.

He knew that Guan Shandu really wasn't to blame for this, but he had to find someone to vent his frustrations on.

There was no way that he would be justified in killing Guan Shandu over something like this, so his original plan was to give Guan Shandu a beating and leave it at that. However, Yin Shengong was making it sound like it was his fault that he had fallen into this trap, that he could only blame himself for this stroke of misfortune, and that left him feeling livid.

He couldn't take his anger out on Yin Shengong as he was recuperating on the One Heart Church's territory, but he had no such qualms with Guan Shandu!

"Guan Shandu! As the pope of the Three Saints Church, you have displayed gross negligence and incompetence, remaining completely oblivious to the fact that a stronghold under your command has been severely compromised.

“Your transgressions have almost resulted in the demise of your superior, and for that, you are to receive a punishment in the form of fifty lashes from the Barbed Dragon Whip! If a repeat offense is committed, you are to be executed on the spot!"

"No! Please spare me, Master Bei!" Guan Shandu implored as he kowtowed to the ground.

The Barbed Dragon Whip was, as the name suggested, a vicious whip that was covered in fine, hooked barbs, making it excel at tearing flesh off the body, and it was the foremost divine weapon of the Enforcement Altar.

After fifty lashes, Guan Shandu would be lucky to have any flesh left on his body.

"Take him away!"

Two of the four Enforcement Altar warriors behind Bei Mingxin stepped forward before forcibly escorting Guan Shandu out of the hall.

Before long, Guan Shandu's agonized howls began ringing out incessantly, interspersed by the gruesome sound of flesh being ripped off bone.

"Yin Shengong! This is your idea of helping me?!"

Bei Mingxin clasped a hand over his chest with a dark look on his face as he called out, "Zhongyuan, come here."

Ren Zhongyuan immediately stepped forward.

"Pope Yin, I entrust Zhongyuan to you. If he commits any offense or transgression, beat him and deride him as you please, just make sure to spare his life."

"I assure you it'll never have to come to that, Master Bei," Yin Shengong chuckled. "Zhongyuan and I have been working together seamlessly for the past three hundred years, and I'm sure that will only continue long into the future. Wouldn't you agree, Zhongyuan?"

"Indeed, Pope Yin. I am honored to have served under you for so long," Ren Zhongyuan replied in a respectful manner.

"In that case, I'll be going back to continue my recuperation now," Bei Mingxin said.

"I'll be taking my leave, Pope Yin," Ren Zhongyuan said with a parting salute.

"No need for formalities," Yin Shengong said in a benevolent manner. "Your only job right now is to tend to Master Bei's needs."

The benevolent smile on Yin Shengong's face remained as he watched Bei Mingxin and his entourage return to the secret chamber, but internally, he was cursing Bei Mingxin and Ren Zhongyuan to the depths of hell!

Shameless old bastard! Why aren't you telling Ren Zhongyuan to spare me?! I have to spare him even though he's blatantly plotting against me? If you were in my position, you would've already killed him ten times over!

***

Several thousand demonic church members had already been detained in the White Cloud Prefecture, and several thousand more had been killed on the spot for resisting arrest.

However, all those who were captured ended up dying anyway, whether it be before or during interrogation.

There were still over two thousand that were awaiting interrogation, but everyone knew that it was going to be a fruitless endeavor, given that all of them had Five Spirit Parasites in their bodies.

Even if they were released, they wouldn't survive for long anyway as they no longer had the trust of their respective demonic churches.

"All we've accomplished is cleanse the White Cloud Prefecture."

Chen Ruhai and the others were a little disappointed.

Countless incidents had taken place in the White Cloud Prefecture of late, so one particular incident that had taken place outside the city was quickly overlooked, deemed to be too trivial to warrant an investigation.

The incident concerned the discovery of a collection of One Heart Church and Divine Heavenly Church bodies in the ancestral grave of a wealthy clan in a rural village, and they seemed to have perished in battle against one another.

This was hardly noteworthy, considering these demonic church members were constantly at each other's throats.

As for the explosion of the Sun Clan's ancestral grave, that wasn't even reported to the higher-ups of the Hall of Protectionists at all.

Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao had been working around the clock of late, and they were feeling both exhausted and dejected. Despite the brevity of the clash between Bei Mingxin and Dong Changfeng, over ten thousand civilians had perished as collateral damage, and that was an incident the severity of which the White Cloud Prefecture hadn't seen in a very long time.

Meanwhile, at the Guardians headquarters.

In contrast with Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao, Dongfang Sansan was very pleased.

"We've detained everyone that we've been monitoring, and most importantly, the Church of the Self-Righteous didn't find what they were looking for!"

"How do you know that?"

"If the Church of the Self-Righteous had found what they were looking for, then Bei Mingxin wouldn't have been exposed."

Dongfang Sansan patted Xue Fuxiao on the shoulder as he jibed, "You know, having critical thinking skills is a really good thing. You should try it from time to time."