CHAPTER 106: SILENCING THE WITNESSES

Fang Che's interest was instantly piqued upon hearing this.

"We approached the leader of the Sun Clan to negotiate a purchase, and we also asked him if he had other pieces of jade that he could sell to us, but he refused, saying that whatever was dug out of their ancestral grave had to be returned there, and that they were going to rebury the piece of jade.

“We waited for a day for the Sun Clan to come here to rebury the piece of jade, but those two bastards from the Divine Heavenly Church were somehow also tipped off! By the time we got here, those two had already killed everyone and were about to leave. We weren't just going to let them get away, so we confronted them, and..."

His voice trailed off into a forlorn sigh.

"The two of us are the only ones left out of a party of fifteen, and if it wasn't for you, the two of us would most likely also be dead by now..."

"I see."

Fang Che began to search through the two bodies, and he quickly dug up bunch of spoils, among which was a piece of ancient jade.

It was roughly the size of a finger, and it was mottled from age.

"Is this it?"

The two men shook their heads in response.

"We never got to see it, but that should be it."

A greedy look surfaced in their eyes as they scanned their gaze over the pills, gold vouchers, spirit crystals, and other items of value that Fang Che had fished out of the pockets of the two Divine Heavenly Church Great Grandmasters.

Fang Che couldn't see anything special about the piece of jade, and he reflexively channeled his Boundless Sutra to examine it as he murmured to himself, "I wonder what we're even supposed to be looking for..."

All of a sudden, he let loose a surprised yelp.

The piece of jade had suddenly begun to glow with white light upon coming into contact with his Boundless Sutra, and all of the dirt and grime on its surface fell away.

Immediately thereafter, a burst of feeble mental power began to rise up and fuse with Fang Che's spirit sense, striking him with a splitting headache that caused his facial features to contort with agony.

However, the pain faded just as quickly as he came, and the piece of jade had also vanished without a trace.

Fang Che stared at his own empty hands for a moment, then turned to look at the two One Heart Church warriors, who were also staring at his hands with stunned expressions.

Holy shit! Was that the piece of jade the main church was looking for?

All of a sudden, a chill ran down their spines, and they looked up to discover that a hint of killing intent had surfaced in Fang Che's eyes.

"We didn't see anything! Please!"

The two of them immediately began begging for their lives, but Fang Che sighed, "It can't be helped. I can only say that luck is not on your side."

"Please spare us! We swear on our lives..."

Their voices were abruptly cut off as their heads were detached from their bodies, and Fang Che's saber had already returned to its scabbard before their headless bodies had a chance to topple to the ground.

Little did they know, Fang Che had never intended to spare them in the first place.

Fang Che quickly looted all of the bodies, then packed up the spoils while using the outer garment of the bodies as a cloth pouch.

The sound of sobbing rang out in the distance, and Fang Che turned to discover a group of people dressed in white mourning clothes approaching the ancestral grave with tears streaming down their faces.

Fang Che heaved a forlorn sigh at the sight of them, then hid a piece of gold under the body of the slain Landlord Sun.

Immediately thereafter, he sprang up into the air, quickly vanishing out of sight.

By the time the mourners arrived at the ancestral grave, Fang Che and Ye Meng were already long gone.

"What's that, Young Master?" Ye Meng asked as she fixed a curious gaze on the cloth pouch that Fang Che had returned with.

"Just a little something that I picked up just now," Fang Che replied in a nonchalant manner.

The two of them made their way to a discreet location several dozen kilometers away, where Ye Meng was tasked with sorting through the spoils inside the cloth pouch.

She was astonished to discover the collection of bloodstained spirit crystals, gold vouchers, cultivation arts, and pills inside, and she quickly deduced that they had to have belonged to at least ten people.

She turned to Fang Che with a flabbergasted expression, and at the same time, a strong sense of disappointment welled up in her heart.

He really is a member of a demonic church. Killing people doesn't weigh on his conscience at all, and he'll rob anyone given the opportunity. No wonder my superiors always warn me to be extra careful around him...

"Did you encounter some robbers, Young Master?" Ye Meng asked in a hopeful manner, trying to justify Fang Che's actions.

"Nope! I saw two groups of people fighting against one another, so I swooped in and killed them all."

The hopeful gleam in Ye Meng's light faded as she said, "I see. Make sure to be safe, Young Master."

"Don't worry about me, those people were no more difficult to kill than some chickens or pigs!" Fang Che replied, keeping up his facade as a demonic church member.

Ye Meng fell silent as she focused on sorting through the spoils.

"There are three hundred thousand taels' worth of gold vouchers, around four million taels' worth of silver vouchers, and..."

After hearing Ye Meng's tally, Fang Che said, "You can keep the cultivation base enhancement pills. If you don't need them, then sell them for money. Let's keep going. The scenery up ahead looks really appealing."

Ye Meng heaved a forlorn internal sigh, wondering how these demonic churches could strip one of their humanity so quickly.

The two of them continued onward, and Fang Che was in very high spirits, while Ye Meng was forcing herself to put on a cheerful front.

They scaled a small mountain, and all of the trees on the summit of the mountain were laden with red autumn leaves, presenting a piece of stunning scenery to behold.

After tethering their two horses to trees, Fang Che laid down onto a bed of lush grass, then closed his eyes as he said, "You can go explore on your own, I'm going to rest here for a bit."

Ye Meng duly obliged, leaving Fang Che on his own as she explored the stunning autumn scenery with a look of blissful serenity in her eyes.

Her hair and her dress were fluttering in the faint breeze, and she was like a celestial maiden that had descended to bless the land with the gift of autumn.

***

Fang Che was completely immersed in his own mind, where a piece of jade had appeared.

The piece of jade was giving off a gentle, white glow in his spirit sense space, nourishing his soul.

However, there was also boundless darkness constantly surging out of it.

Fang Che had been channeling his Cool as Ice mental technique the entire way here while putting on a casual and cheerful front, but he could feel waves of killing intent threatening to drive him over the edge.

Only now, after reaching the mountain summit, did he have a chance to address his internal condition.

He knew that he had just found the piece of jade that the Church of the Self-Righteous was so desperately searching for.

He didn't know how it had ended up in the Sun Clan's ancestral grave, but it was his now.

Inside his spirit sense space, the piece of jade was trying to fuse as one with his soul, but he was keeping it at bay.

He channeled his Boundless Sutra to envelop the piece of jade, and his Boundless Sutra was able to dispel the boundless aura emanating from it.

The boundless aura was being funneled out of his body by the Boundless Sutra, and as he laid a hand down onto the ground, the grass beneath him slowly withered away, while the ground slowly turned black.

Wisps of baleful qi that were invisible to the naked eye were constantly emanating from his body, and he remained completely still for four hours.

The baleful qi had already spread far and wide, and Ye Meng was on a solo sightseeing tour in the distance when she felt a chill in the air.

The autumn leaves of the nearby trees suddenly began to fall, and before long, a thick layer of autumn leaves had accumulated on the ground.

Several trees had even been stripped bare altogether, much to Ye Meng's astonishment.

What's going on? It's only early autumn right now, surely the leaves are only supposed to fall en masse like this in late autumn!

However, the sight of the masses of falling autumn leaves presented a piece of captivating scenery in itself, and Ye Meng found herself lost within it.

The beauty of nature is truly unmatched!

Meanwhile, Fang Che remained laying completely still in the same posture, and it was as if he had fallen asleep.

There was a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, but it was quickly dried by the breeze, only for another layer of sweat to surface, and the cycle repeated itself over and over again.

Inside his spirit sense space, the piece of jade continued to emanate white light to nourish his soul while simultaneously releasing baleful qi to try and contaminate his soul.

It seemed that there was no end to the baleful qi, which was gradually being funneled out of his body bit by bit.

Never had Fang Che imaged that such a tiny piece of jade could contain such a vast amount of baleful qi!