CHAPTER 185: HE NEEDS TO BE PUT BACK IN HIS PLACE

"All he cares about is Sun Yuan! He doesn't give a shit about me!" Yin Shengong grumbled in a displeased manner.

"Sun Yuan is his initial master, so it's only right that he has Sun Yuan on his mind," Mu Linyuan chuckled in amusement.

"Why doesn't he have me on his mind?!" Yin Shengong snapped.

Clearly, Yin Shengong was jealous.

"Why didn't he ask me about my health or my progress in eradicating the traitors of our church? He only cares about Sun Yuan!"

"I'll send a message to reprimand him right away!" Mu Linyuan offered.

"Don't bother!" Yin Shengong snapped. "I'm going to wait and see when he finally asks about me!"

The three elders lowered their heads in an amused silence.

They waited all the way until the early hours of the morning, yet there were no further messages from Night Demon.

Yin Shengong was livid!

"He has no regard for me at all! He must've turned traitor! He must've defected to the Guardians!"

The three elders remained silent.

Yin Shengong periodically picked up his communication jade to check his messages, but all of them were congratulatory messages from other popes!

Normally, he would've been stoked, but the message that he was waiting for still hadn't arrived!

What the hell is he doing?! Has he fallen asleep?

Sure enough, Fang Che had fallen sound asleep long ago.

He hadn't even considered the possibility that Yin Shengong could get jealous.

***

Over the past few days, Dongfang Sansan had been keeping a close eye on the One Heart Church.

"Master Nine, Yin Shengong is in the process of eradicating all traitors, and he appears to be abandoning the current headquarters. In Ren Zhongyuan's absence, none of his subordinates are able to put up any effective resistance, and they're being cut down in swathes. At this point, even if Ren Zhongyuan comes back, it's already too late. Yin Shengong has already exerted his dominance."

Dongfang Sansan read through the succinct report, then replied: "Continue observing for now. Make a list of all members of the One Heart Church at and above the King tier to have perished during this time, then send the list to the southeastern headquarters."

Everything was going according to plan.

"As expected of a seasoned pope like Yin Shengong. Ren Zhongyuan's been plotting against him for such a long time, but his foundation hasn't been shaken at all, and there's been no opportunity at all for us to intervene."

"Didn't you already anticipate this? You told me last time that our chances are quite slim," Xue Fuxiao said.

"Slim chances don't equate to no chances," Dongfang Sansan said. "However, the fact that Yin Shengong has already begun the cleansing process even before Ren Zhongyuan's return means that we truly no longer have any chances. I knew Ren Zhongyuan was lacking in courage, but I didn't think he was this much of a coward. He didn't even dare to return and face Yin Shengong directly!

“Then again, I suppose that's only to be expected. His plans had been exposed, and Night Demon has shattered his hopes. Coming back would spell inevitable death, so the correct course of action is to remain in the main church and find a path to survival. With so many traitors in the One Heart Church, the headquarters has become a very dangerous place, so it makes sense that Yin Shengong would abandon it.

“However, the swiftness and decisiveness with which he's carrying this out is quite impressive. If it wasn't for Fang Che, our best option would've been to help Ren Zhongyuan usurp Yin Shengong's position. The former is far easier to deal with than the latter."

"You're giving up on Ren Zhongyuan?" Xue Fuxiao asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Ren Zhongyuan is already a dead man. His fate is sealed no matter where he hides. If Yin Shengong can't even ensure that, then he may as well resign from his position of pope!"

Dongfang Sansan heaved a faint sigh, then picked up his communication jade to send out another instruction: "Make sure to search carefully for Ren Zhongyuan's remains, and as soon as they're discovered, immediately do as I say. Don't give them a chance to pin Ren Zhongyuan's death on us and use that as an excuse to slaughter innocent civilians."

"It's been a long time since I've seen you pay this much attention to a subsidiary church. Looks like you have a lot of mental energy to spare, after all," Xue Fuxiao jibed.

Dongfang Sansan raised an eyebrow.

Is he teasing me? Looks like he needs to be put back in his place!

"I heard that someone from your clan was intimidated into shitting himself in front of hundreds of thousands of people, and he even became a king! Should we have a drink to celebrate that?"

Xue Fuxiao instantly vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a string of disgruntled profanities.

Dongfang Sansan erupted into laughter.

"That's what you get for trying to tease me! You've never been able to get one over me, yet you still provoke me over and over again like a fool!"

***

Several days later, a battle took place in the night. There were around a dozen combatants involved, all of whom were at least at the Sovereign tier.

In the end, a three-man team was annihilated, while several of their assailants had suffered severe injuries.

One of the deceased individuals was later confirmed to be Ren Zhongyuan.

His remains were immediately buried after being discovered by several Guardians, following which a piece of news began to spread over the entire continent.

Apparently, Ren Zhongyuan had been plotting for centuries to usurp Yin Shengong's position as pope of the One Heart Church, only for his plan to fail, and he was personally slain by Yin Shengong himself.

Concrete evidence was presented to support these claims, and the names of several important figures that were involved were mentioned, including the likes of Bei Mingxin and even a few deputy popes of the main church.

The demonic churches couldn't deny the story.

Even though some of the information had been extrapolated by Dongfang Sansan, his recount of events was extremely accurate, making the news irrefutable.

The news sent massive waves sweeping through the Church of the Self-Righteous.

The recount of events was incredibly thorough, laying out all of Ren Zhongyuan's machinations and what had happened during the Parasite Ascension Project with incredible detail.

Church of the Self-Righteous headquarters.

Yan Nan slammed a pile of reports down in front of Chen Gu and Xiang Beidou, the fourth and eighth-in-line deputy popes, respectively.

Papers were sent flying in all directions as he asked in a cold voice, "Is this true?"

Yan Nan's voice was completely neutral, yet it carried immense pressure.

"I don't know anything about this," Chen Gu said.

Xiang Beidou cleared his throat, then said, "Let me explain, Brother Five..."

Among the dozen or so brothers that founded the Church of the Self-Righteous, Yan Nan was ranked fifth, and he was currently the second-in-line deputy pope.

The leader of the band of brothers was Zheng Yuandong, the pope of the Church of the Self-Righteous, while the third brother, Feng Du, was the first-in-line deputy pope.

The second and fourth brothers had both perished in battle.

With the pope nowhere to be seen and Feng Du constantly in seclusion, Yan Nan was left to oversee the Church of the Self-Righteous.

"I don't want to hear an explanation," Yan Nan interjected. "Just tell me how much truth there is in these reports?"

"60, 70... Maybe 80%," Xiang Beidou said in a sullen manner.

"Brother Seven is in your way, is he?" Yan Nan asked in a cold voice.

"No! Let me explain!"

"I don't want to hear any explanation!" Yan Nan repeated in a forceful voice. "I don't want to hear any more about this farce, so take care of it! Just how incompetent are these subordinates of yours? How've they made a power struggle in a mere subsidiary church known to the entire world? And they still failed, even after all that?"

Chen Gu gave a cold chuckle, seemingly reveling in Xiang Beidou's distress.

Yan Nan turned to him with a stern glare and interrogated, "Chen Gu, you're seriously telling me you have nothing to do with this?"

Chen Gu immediately fell silent.

"What a complete and utter embarrassment! Make sure this matter is taken care of, and get out of my sight!" Yan Nan snapped.

Xiang Beidou and Chen Gu could only scurry away with their tails tucked between their legs, while Yan Nan looked on with tightly furrowed brows.

Given his tremendous spirit sense, he could hear everything going on in the entire city if he wanted to, and recently, he had been hearing a lot of dissenting voices.

Too many people have died in the Parasite Ascension Project, leading to widespread dissatisfaction from all of the affected clans. I have to think of a way to console them.

The city that was home to the main church headquarters had quite a large population, but the major clans didn't actually constitute a very high percentage of that population. Hence, it was an incredible statistic that there were over a thousand major clans mourning losses from the recently concluded Parasite Ascension Project.

Furthermore, his own granddaughter had been the leader of the main church Generals.

Even though no one dared to confront him directly, he was certain that there had to be many people voicing their complaints behind his back. So many people had died, yet Yan Beihan had remained completely unscathed, and all of her lackeys had also returned safe and sound. What were the clans of the deceased supposed to think?

This was a very significant problem, and something had to be done.

However, regardless of what he did to address this matter, he couldn't help but feel as if he were playing right into Dongfang Sansan's hands.