Chapter 13: Have A Child

Chapter 13: Have A Child

Tears began to well up in Fang Che's eyes.

"I never thought I would shed tears for a demonic church member like you. What a fucking waste of my tears!"

Fang Che sat in silence on a chair in front of the reclining chair for a while, then continued, "All you know is that your disciple came out on top in the Parasite Ascension Project, but you died before you even had a chance to see your disciple rise to the top.

“You finally made a breakthrough to the Emperor tier after your divine power injection, but you died before you even had a chance to display your newfound power. What a pathetic life you've led! You didn't get to do anything before you ended up dead!"

The reclining chair continued to gently rock back and forth, as if Sun Yuan were still sitting upon it, silently listening to Fang Che.

Fang Che smiled as he continued, "Rest assured, I'll keep your clan safe as long as they stick to the straight and narrow. You once asked me to look after your clan if something were to ever happen to you, but you probably didn't think such a day would come so soon."

Fang Che sat there for a long time.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The reclining chair eventually fell still, so he nudged it so that it began rocking again.

"You can rest on this reclining chair for a few days. I'll find a frost jade box to preserve your head, and I'll give you a proper burial at your clan's ancestral grave as soon as I can."

With that, Fang Che rose to his feet and made his way out into the courtyard.

Ye Meng had already cleared all of the snow in a section of the courtyard, and Fang Che stood in that cleared section as he drew his saber from its scabbard.

He sprang up into the air as he unleashed Sun Yuan's Soaring Saber Techniques, instilling all of his grief, sorrow, and myriad other indescribable emotions into his execution of the saber techniques, as if he wanted to show Sun Yuan in the afterlife that he had left his signature saber techniques in good hands.

He was completely calm, almost numb as he performed the saber techniques with not a single thought in his mind, only burning resentment toward those who had dared to desecrate Sun Yuan's body, even in death.

All of a sudden, a burst of incredibly potent baleful qi erupted out of the saber mid-swing without any warning.

Ye Meng was clearing the snow in the rest of the courtyard some distance away, yet even she couldn't help but shudder at the eruption of baleful qi.

Fang Che could clearly sense that the boundless baleful qi in the Formless Divine Jade had somehow been channeled by these saber techniques.

As a result, that one saber strike had been several dozen more times more formidable than normal!

Furthermore, the baleful qi on this occasion didn't dissipate as it normally did.

Instead, it returned on its own as Fang Che withdrew his saber, and he was astonished by this phenomenon.

How could this be? Is there something special about these saber techniques?

He recalled that Sun Yuan had once told him about the origins of these saber techniques.

"This set of saber techniques came from a saber manual that's been passed down in my clan for generations. I don't know what the saber manual is made from, but it seems to be indestructible, and it contains no text. I was playing with it as a child once, and I threw it into a fire for fun. When I did so, a bunch of tiny figures appeared on the manual along with a cultivation art.

“I practiced the cultivation art as I saw it, and that's how I became the Soaring Saber King. Whenever I think back on that, I can't help but feel as if I was like a chosen one or something. I tried burning the manual a few more times after that, but the final few dozen pages were stuck together, and I wasn't able to separate them no matter what I did, so I just gave up in the end. To this day, I still don't know what the contents of those pages are.

“Eventually, I memorized all the saber techniques, and I left the saber manual on top of a beam in my study. To be honest, it's pretty extraordinary that a King like me came out of a clan as ordinary as our Sun Clan. I'll bring the saber manual to show you once I'm back."

A wry smile appeared on Fang Che's face as he pondered the Soaring Saber Techniques.

I'm sorry to tell you, Master, but you're really not the chosen one. You basically stumbled upon a mountain of a treasure, but only ended up leaving with a single silver ingot. I'll make sure to pick up that saber manual after I've buried you in your clan's ancestral grave. Perhaps I'll be able to uncover the secrets hidden on those stuck pages.

***

Meanwhile, Dongfang Sansan had also been informed of Sun Yuan's death.

Sun Yuan's death was a little premature. He had hoped that Sun Yuan would return to the One Heart Church and help Fang Che establish some forces in the White Cloud Prefecture, but that plan clearly had to be scrapped.

He stared at the report for a while, trying to see if he could somehow use it to his benefit, but ultimately came up with nothing.

I'm sure he'll be able to take care of everything just fine on his own. If I plan out everything and spoon-feed him all the time, that would only have a detrimental effect.

***

After a night of rest, Fang Che went to White Cloud Warrior Academy.

Upon his arrival, Li Changkong and the others were all looking at him with rather peculiar expressions.

Virtually everyone in the entire prefecture had heard about Sun Yuan's head being nailed to the city wall, but Li Changkong and others also knew that Sun Yuan was Fang Che's master.

In fact, much of the suspicion surrounding Fang Che came from his connection to Sun Yuan.

Now that Sun Yuan was dead, what would Fang Che's reaction be?

The situation left Li Changkong and the others both concerned and relieved, relieved that Sun Yuan would no longer be able to exert his negative influence on Fang Che, but also concerned that this could be too heavy a blow for Fang Che to bear.

There was also one thing that the instructors were very perplexed about.

On the surface, no one knew that Sun Yuan was a demonic church member, so how had his killer been so confident?

It was only after White Cloud Warrior Academy launched an exhaustive investigation into Fang Che's that suspicions surrounding Sun Yuan began to arise, and his status as a demonic church member was only confirmed after extensive digging from the entire southeastern Protectionist headquarters.

However, the information wasn't leaked, nor was he captured because he was still useful.

With that in mind, one couldn't help but wonder if Sun Yuan's killer really was a Protectionist or Guardian.

At the very least, Li Changkong was highly skeptical.

However, the white banner left below his head clearly indicated that he had been killed by a figure of justice, and that only made the situation all the more suspicious.

"Are you alright, Fang Che?" Li Changkong asked. "Why didn't you stay home for a few more days?"

"I'm fine. I told my family that I'd been inducted into the Hall of Protectionists, and they were ecstatic and insisted that I came back to report for duty as early as possible."

Fang Che's reply had been accompanied by a wide grin, but the hearts of the instructors twinged at his cheerful demeanor.

Fang Che's family didn't know the truth, but they did.

"Your official assignment from the Hall of Protectionists had already arrived," Bing Shangxue said with a forced smile, even as tears began to swim in her eyes. "You're going to be a third-rank administrator. That's a very good starting point."

"Doesn't that mean everyone will have to refer to me as Administrator Fang from now on?" Fang Che chuckled, but the instructors couldn't bring themselves to laugh with him.

Of course, many of his fellow students were extremely envious of him.

Not only had he entered the Hall of Protectionists as a first-year student, he had been made a third-rank administrator right away! This was completely unheard of!

However, Mo Ganyun and the others knew that Fang Che's position was far from enviable.

Li Changkong called Fang Che to the side, then asked, "You already know about what happened to your master, right?"

"I do," Fang Che confirmed with a nod.

"I understand that you must be mourning for him, and I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but he's been confirmed to be a demonic church member, so... I hope this won't weigh too heavily on you."

"I'm fine, Instructor Li. I know what kind of person my master was, and you can rest assured that I won't seek vengeance against the Protectionists or the Guardians."

"Good," Li Changkong replied with a relieved nod, and Bing Shangxue also gave Fang Che a tearful smile.

She was not a skeptic like Li Changkong. In her mind, there was no doubt that Sun Yuan had been killed by a figure of justice.

It was rather cruel to display his head like this, but it was not often that a demonic church member of Sun Yuan's caliber was killed, and his head would certainly serve as a fine warning against potential evildoers.

It seemed that Fang Che had truly matured and had no intention of seeking out the Guardians for revenge. He knew to separate matters of morality from interpersonal relationships, and his instructors were very pleased to see this.

"We've bought you four days of time. After that, you'll have to report for duty at the White Cloud Prefecture Hall of Protectionists. During these four days, the four of us will take turns giving you private lessons. Remember as much as you can, and make sure to come back to the academy to learn whenever you get the chance."

"I will. Thank you, instructors."

***

After parting ways with the instructors, Fang Che paid a visit to Old Man Shen.

"Where's the girl?" Old Man Shen immediately asked with an angry expression.

"What girl?"

Fang Che had already forgotten all about their conversation from last time.

"The girl I told you to bring to see me!" Old Man Shen fumed.

"Oh, uh, she's already my concubine, so I didn't bring her around to see you," Fang Che lied.

"Really? You're not lying to me, are you?"

"Of course not!"

"Alright, then your next top priority is to have a child with her! It's vital that you leave behind your seed!"