CHAPTER 72: DEDUCTION

A calm and measured smile appeared on Yin Shengong's face, and if to say: "That's right! I orchestrated all of this from the very beginning!"

His smile widened even further as he thought of Huo Churan and Ximen Xuri's demise at Night Demon's hands, as well as Ding Jieran, who was being played for a fool.

"You two are quite smart in your own right, but you're lacking just a little bit of foresight to be on my level."

At this point, Yin Shengong had all but forgotten that he had stumbled into this situation purely through dumb luck.

"Let's go, this is not a safe place for us to stay."

With that, Yin Shengong sped away like a shooting star, followed closely by Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang.

***

Fang Che took a moment to stare at the pills, as if he were enamored with them, then put them away.

They should be gone now.

Fang Che sat in his chair as he fell into deep thought.

Why does Yin Shengong need me to reach the General tier in four months? And why does it have to be me? The One Heart Church is full of warriors more powerful than myself, why can't he choose one of them? And he was also saying things like "I don't trust anyone else," almost as if he's been driven into a corner and has no other choice. Why is that?

If I were Yin Shengong, in what scenario would I possibly need a Lesser Grandmaster to reach the General tier in such a short timeframe? In what situation would I be unable to entrust this task to anyone else?

Fang Che felt like he was on the verge of uncovering the truth, but it remained just out of reach.

A General is nothing more than a mere ant for Yin Shengong, yet he seems to be in desperate need for one right now. Could it be the Myriad General Trials of the Church of the Self-Righteous that I heard of in my past life?

All of the higher-ups of the Church of the Self-Righteous were aware of the Parasite Ascension Project, but this was one of the church's core secrets, so the Guardians only had a vague idea that such an event existed and had assigned it some different names of their own.

Every once in a while, many of the Generals of the demonic churches would suddenly disappear, and when they reemerged onto the scene several years later, they were always far more powerful than before, while the rest disappeared permanently.

This led to speculation about whether those who had permanently vanished had failed some type of selection process, thereby giving rise to the theory of the Myriad General Trials.

That seemed like the likeliest possibility to Fang Che.

But even so, that doesn't explain why he has to rely on me in particular. Why is it that he can't trust anyone else? Surely the One Heart Church must have plenty of capable Generals to choose from...

All of a sudden, a bold theory began to take shape in Fang Che's mind.

Could it be that Yin Shengong's position has been undermined? Could that be why he can't trust the One Heart Church's existing Generals?

Fang Che immediately sprang to his feet at this thought.

He carefully recalled the entire conversation between himself and Yin Shengong, as well as the expressions and body language that the latter had displayed, and the more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that he was at least close to the truth.

But given how careful and ruthless he is, how could he possibly have been undermined?

He then thought of the three sparring matches that he had just fought.

Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang have already assessed my abilities, yet Yin Shengong still felt the need to personally spar with me. That means that he's taking this matter extremely seriously, and he's not allowing any chance for things to go wrong.

On top of that, aside from suppressing his cultivation base, he wasn't holding back at all, and he was truly striking to kill, which means that whatever he needs me to do, I'll definitely be thrust into life and death situations.

Fang Che sat back down, suppressing the habitual urge to pace as he pondered.

That was a very old-man thing to do, and he had to avoid such mannerisms if he wanted to maintain his facade as an eighteen-year-old young man.

The more he thought about it, the more he saw the desperation in Yin Shengong's words and actions in retrospect. It was as if he had been backed into a corner and was forced to place his trust solely in a new church inductee that he had only known for several months.

If he were correct in his assessment of the situation, then he had just made a massive revelation!

It seemed that Yin Shengong's position in the One Heart Church had been so severely undermined that he was truly grasping at straws.

He required further confirmation before he could be certain, but this confirmation could only come through speculation.

The opportunity was a fleeting one, and he had to grab it before it passed him by.

If Yin Shengong really has been undermined, then who could possibly be the one to have undermined him? In other words, who would be capable of seizing control of all of the One Heart Church's Generals without Yin Shengong's detection? It must be someone capable of taking his place! Who is the likeliest person to replace Yin Shengong as pope right now?

Unbeknownst to Fang Che, he was the one who had tipped Yin Shengong off to the impending crisis.

The most reasonable guess would be the foremost deputy pope. If it were someone from the main church, then Yin Shengong wouldn't have to worry about them as they most likely wouldn't be interested in his position anyway. Hence, it can only be one of the deputy popes! How many deputy popes does the One Heart Church have?

Compared with the Protectionists and the Guardians, Fang Che was far less knowledgeable on these matters.

He didn't know how many deputy popes the One Heart Church had, and he didn't even know any of their names.

Given his current status, this information was completely beyond him, but he was confident that his theory was correct.

The One Heart Church was about to enter a period of immense turmoil, one that could see Yin Shengong's position as pope usurped!

No, that's not right! The fact that Yin Shengong still has the spare time to make a trip to the White Cloud Prefecture indicates that the situation is still largely under control, so does that mean he's only lost control over a certain part of the church? Alternatively, he must be very confident in his ability to weather the coming storm!

However, the Generals that he's lost control of must be very important to his immediate plans, and that's why he's come to me. In other words, the internal state of the One Heart Church most likely isn't as terrible as I first imagined, but there's definitely some trouble afoot, it's just a matter of how much trouble there is.

After combing through all of these thoughts, Fang Che felt like the situation had clarified considerably for him.

He looked up to discover that the sun was already beginning to rise in the east, and before long, he heard the sound of footsteps in the courtyard outside.

Ye Meng was back.

Perfect timing!

***

Just like Fang Che, Ye Meng had stayed up the entire night.

All of the tailors at the shop had also worked throughout the night to finally finish the first set of clothes for Fang Che under Ye Meng's watchful eye.

To her surprise, Fang Che was still sitting in the courtyard, drinking tea by himself.

She immediately realized that he had indeed intentionally diverted him away, and that he had most likely done something during her absence.

This was something that had never happened before, and it immediately aroused her suspicions.

"I've brought the clothes back for you, Young Master. Would you like to give them a try?"

"I'll try them on later," Fang Che replied in a distracted manner.

Ye Meng situated herself behind him and began gently massaging his temples.

"Why have you still not gone to bed? You're going to get a headache soon."

Fang Che heaved a faint sigh as he closed his eyes.

"I heard that the academy examinations are about to commence soon, is that what you're worried about? Should I cook up some congee for you?"

"The examinations are nothing to worry about for me," Fang Che replied, then heaved another forlorn sigh.

"I hate to see you like this, Young Master. I wish I could help you."

"What could you possibly do to help? It's all internal church affairs, stuff that you wouldn't even be able to understand!" Fang Che harrumphed.

"My apologies for not knowing my place, Young Master."

Fang Che rolled his eyes as he sighed, "I call you useless, but it's not like I can do anything about the situation myself..."

Ye Meng didn't dare to pry any further, instead focusing her efforts on massaging Fang Che's temples in silence.

"You must be close to a breakthrough, right?" Fang Che asked.

"That's right."

"You're still too weak to be of any use. Maybe when you reach the General tier or the Lord tier, you'll be able to... Forget it. Even then, you'll still be far off from being able to make a difference."

Ye Meng's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this. It seemed that the situation was quite dire indeed.

"Don't worry, Young Master. Where there's a will, there's a way. I'm sure you'll be able to get through whatever troubles lie ahead," she consoled.

"Things would be much easier if this were a personal affair. Unfortunately, this is something that concerns the entire church," Fang Che sighed.

He brushed Ye Meng's hands aside, then rose to his feet with tightly furrowed brows as he mused, "I can only hope that my backer isn't toppled. Otherwise, I'll be in a very awkward situation, and I could be targeted by others at any time."