CHAPTER 119: A MISTAKE?

Yin Shengong was so enraged that his hands were going numb.

How did this happen? Wasn't everything going very smoothly? How have things taken such a drastic turn all of a sudden? White Cloud Warrior Academy should've been aware of Night Demon's identity all along, so why are they suddenly making a move on him now? And they're putting him through the Path of Self-Inquisition? This is absurd!

"Who reported him?"

A response from the mole instantly arrived.

"From what I was able to find out, it was apparently the clan of a prodigy from the academy, but I haven't been able to find out exactly which clan it was. All I know is that it's a very powerful clan, and that's why even Zhao Shanhe had to take the report very seriously."

Yin Shengong was furious.

"This is clearly just a case of blatant envy! They can't beat him, so they're trying to make use of higher powers to get rid of him! Night Demon has been framed! I thought I was dealing with at least some semi-competent people, but they're complete fools! Night Demon is a precious resource for them to use, yet they're getting rid of him for no reason! How stupid can they get?!"

Once again, the mole from White Cloud Warrior Academy responded right away.

"This is all very perplexing to me as well. Right now, I'm certain that Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao of the Hall of Protectionists know something. As for White Cloud Warrior Academy, they only have some suspicions about Night Demon, but very few people are aware of his ties to our church.

“Meng Hejun and Gao Qingyu are definitely in the dark, but Huang Yifan seems to know, given how he's been intentionally targeting Night Demon. As for everyone else, they seem to only be suspicious of him in light of what happened with the Su Clan, but I can assure you that they don't know anything concrete, and that's what's most perplexing to me."

Yin Shengong was also perplexed.

No matter how he thought about it, the situation simply didn't make sense to him.

Furthermore, it was rather unexpected to him that even Gao Qingyu and Meng Hejun were in the dark about Night Demon's identity.

"One more thing that I found very strange was that Night Demon insulted the Heavenly Centipede Deity to their faces in order to prove his innocence, but his Five Spirit Parasite didn't react," the mole continued.

"Night Demon has cultivated both the Seven Blood Spirit Swords and Cool as Ice, so of course he's capable of such a feat."

"I see."

The mole was enlightened, but Yin Shengong was still feeling very puzzled.

He had thought that Night Demon had already been exposed, and that both sides were aware of his identity, but it seemed that he had managed to infiltrate enemy ranks more successfully than expected.

"Are there any other leads?"

"Yes. I've discovered that Chen Ruhai was a former subordinate to Huang Yifan, while the latter had been transferred to White Cloud Warrior Academy from the Guardians. Chen Ruhai and Fan Tiantiao are both from the Hall of Protectionists, which is directly connected to the Guardians, and I'm wondering if that's the reason why Huang Yifan seems to be the only one in the academy aware of Night Demon's identity."

A contemplative look appeared on Yin Shengong's face upon hearing this.

"So you're speculating that only the people connected to the Hall of Protectionists are aware of Night Demon's identity, while no one from White Cloud Warrior Academy is in the know?

“Technically, the Hall of Protectionists has informed White Cloud Warrior Academy of the situation by notifying Huang Yifan, so they've done their due diligence, but in reality, the information is still in a closed loop among the Protectionists as Huang Yifan hasn't shared it with anyone else in the academy!"

The more he thought about it, the more sense it made to him.

It would be immensely beneficial to the Hall of Protectionists if they were the only ones aware of Night Demon's identity. That way, they would be able to lay sole claim to all of the useful intelligence gathered through Night Demon, without having to share any of the credit with White Cloud Warrior Academy!

Yin Shengong had immediately jumped to this conclusion because this was exactly how things were done among the demonic churches. Everyone was trying to get ahead of everyone else by selfishly keeping useful resources to themselves.

Eventually, he was going to graduate, and the Hall of Protectionists would immediately swoop in to recruit him, giving him some minor official position to integrate him into their management system.

Furthermore, once he graduated, he would have nothing to do with White Cloud Warrior Academy, so there was no point in tipping the academy off to his secret identity.

But this lack of information transparency has landed Night Demon in a really bad situation!

Yin Shengong was left feeling completely speechless.

It seemed that no matter how meticulous one's plans were, they could never be perfect.

Never had Yin Shengong anticipated that the Hall of Protectionists would be so selfish, just like the demonic churches! If White Cloud Warrior Academy had been aware of Night Demon's identity, they would've done everything in their power to protect him as they would be aware of just how useful he was.

However, because they had been kept in the dark, they could only follow official procedure and hand over Night Demon to their higher-ups as demanded.

As a result of all of this, Night Demon had been sent to the Path of Self-Inquisition.

With that in mind, Yin Shengong was struck by the urge to curse at the heavens!

He's the one person I need right now, and these bastards are sending him into the Path of Self-Inquisition! Is he going to come out braindead?

Yin Shengong was extremely concerned.

Night Demon was instrumental to his plans surrounding the Parasite Ascension Project, so his importance could not be understated.

If you have to send him to the Path of Self-Inquisition, at least wait until after he's become a General and come back from the Parasite Ascension Project before you do it!

In the end, he could only muster a resigned sigh as he sent one final message.

"Make sure to keep me updated!"

"Yes, Pope Yin!"

With that, Yin Shengong tossed his communication jade aside, then slumped back in his chair to look up at the ceiling in a depressed manner.

He wanted to discuss this matter with Mu Linyuan, but the latter was still stuck in Night Demon's manor, and that made him even more frustrated.

If Night Demon dies in the Path of Self-Inquisition, then Mu Linyuan is already as good as dead. There will be no one to look after him, and he'll be caught as soon as he comes out, so he's either going to be killed by the Protectionists or starve to death! I'd be losing two of my best subordinates then!

His frustration quickly turned to rage, and he dashed a teacup to the ground as he cursed the Protectionists with seething fury.

However, that did nothing to assuage his frustrations, and after taking some time to compose himself, he summoned Hou Fang to come and see him.

At the moment, Mu Linyuan was stuck in the White Cloud Prefecture, while Qian Sanjiang had been in the White Cloud Prefecture this entire time, and Sun Yuan had gone to Xuanwu City, so Hou Fang was the only one left by Yin Shengong's side.

Upon his arrival, a sense of unease instantly welled up in Hou Fang's heart at the sight of Yin Shengong's stormy expression.

"What can I do for you, Pope Yin?"

Yin Shengong was silent for a long while, then asked, "What do you think of the strength of Night Demon's soul?"

Hou Fang was very much taken aback by this question.

He had considered many possibilities, but he had failed to anticipate that Yin Shengong would summon him here in order to ask him questions about Night Demon.

"That's... a difficult question to answer."

"Just tell me what you think!" Yin Shengong snapped, and he was missing Mu Linyuan more than ever.

In contrast, Hou Fang was as dense as a brick!

"Night Demon possesses exceptional aptitude and learns things extremely fast, which indicates that his spirit sense is far superior to that of the average person. As we all know, the strength of one's spirit sense determines the ceiling of their aptitude."

Yin Shengong nodded in response. He was thinking along similar lines.

"The true reason why Night Demon is able to punch above his own weight isn't because he's so much more proficient in his battle techniques than everyone else. After all, everyone works hard and trains diligently every single day, so there can't be that much of a disparity in that regard.

“The real difference lies in spirit sense. At a conservative estimate, I would say that Night Demon's spirit sense can at least match a warrior three cultivation ranks above him."

Yin Shengong nodded once again.

That was his guess as well.

"Right now, Night Demon is at the pinnacle of the fifth-rank Great Grandmaster tier. Do you think his spirit sense can compare with a General's?"

This was the question that Yin Shengong was most concerned about.

Generally speaking, the minimum cultivation base required to safely cross the Path of Self-Inquisition was the General tier, and even then, one had to possess a very powerful soul.

As for the Lord tier, and above, Yin Shengong didn't even dare to consider such a possibility.

How could Fang Che's soul possibly match a Lord in power? It was clearly impossible!

"That's... unlikely in my opinion," Hou Fang said. "At the very most, perhaps the strength of his soul is only slightly on the cusp of the General tier."

In reality, his honest answer was a resounding no.

Power wasn't the only thing that determined the caliber of one's soul, there was also a distinction in cultivation base as well, so how could Night Demon's soul possibly be at the General tier?

In his mind, Yin Shengong was downright delusional for even entertaining such a possibility!

"Night Demon has been apprehended. Apparently, he was reported by a major clan. He was able to make it through the interrogation, but they're going to put him through the Path of Self-Inquisition. Do you think he'll be able to come out the other side?"

"If he's unable to withstand the pressure and confesses everything in there, then he should be able to come out unscathed," Hou Fang said with a wry smile.

"No shit!" Yin Shengong snapped in a disgruntled manner. "What if he tries to endure it?"

"In that case, he's... most likely not going to be able to avoid at least some damage to his soul."

This was already a very optimistic response from Hou Fang.

Yin Shengong's expression darkened even further as he fell into a brooding silence.

Finally, he sighed, "You can go now. I don't want to have to take care of anything today, so make sure no one comes to disturb me!"

***

Fang Che was led by Zhao Shanhe into a secret chamber.

"You can go now," Zhao Shanhe said to Xiang Xinghe.

"Please go easy on him," Xiang Xinghe implored.

"How am I supposed to do anything? Have you forgotten how the Path of Self-Inquisition works? Get out of here!" Zhao Shanhe harrumphed.