Dawnless Sovereign
Chapter 11: Chen Ruhai

Chapter 11: Chen Ruhai

Several members of the One Heart Church's top brass were gathered together, and all of them were bewildered by the crisis that had befallen the Su Clan out of nowhere.

"The Hall of Protectionists has already been monitoring the Su Clan for some time, so our One Heart Church would be playing with fire if we tried to claim the Su Clan's estate."

"If we don't do anything, the estate will be split among the other prominent clans of the city, or it would fall into the hands of the other members of the Su Clan."

"With that in mind, it seems that the plan proposed by Elder Sun's disciple is a feasible one."

"That's right. If he takes ownership of the estate, then it'll have essentially fallen into our hands anyway, and regardless of how he uses this newfound wealth to benefit himself, he'll be benefitting our church by extension!"

"Should we approve the plan then?"

"I have no objections."

From that night forth, stories of Fang Che and Su Yue's close friendship suddenly began to make the rounds in Green Wave City.

Apparently, they were sworn brothers who were even closer than any blood brothers, and they had stuck by each other through the hardest of hardships.

Most of the stories were embellished retellings or outright lies about what Fang Che had done for Su Yue. For example, Su Yue contracted an illness one time, and Fang Che trudged through the wilderness for days without sleep in search of medicinal ingredients, then delivered said ingredients to the Su Clan before departing without asking for any gratitude or repayment.

Prior to his departure, he declared, "Your health is more important than my own! I would've gladly trekked to hell and back to deliver this medicine to you!"

When Su Yue was short on money, Fang Che had immediately given him financial aid, even at the cost of incurring debts of his own.

"Money is nothing in the face of our brotherly bond!"

When Su Yue was picked on, Fang Che had rushed to his aid without any hesitation, pitting himself against an opponent far more powerful than himself.

"No one touches my brother!"

Both of his legs were broken by the assailant, but he still put on a strong front as he smiled and said, "No brother of mine will be harmed on my watch, even if I have to lay down my life to protect them!"

Recently, Su Yue set off for a significant undertaking, and prior to his departure, he had visited Fang Chan and said, "This is going to be a perilous trip, and I don't know when I'll be back, so I'll entrust everything in my clan to you."

This was accompanied by a written statement that was left with Fang Che as concrete proof.

"You can count on me, Brother Su," Fang Che declared. "So long as I still draw breath, I will protect the Su Clan's estate for you with my life!"

In the wake of Su Yue's disappearance, Fang Che fell heavily ill, and even on his sickbed, he was pleading to the gods in grief and desperation, "Heavens above, please give my brother back! I'm willing to offer up my own life in exchange for his!"

Countless people were praising Fang Che as the living embodiment of friendship and brotherhood.

Countless people envied Su Yue for having a friend like Fang Che.

A poet was so moved by these stories that he had written a poem too.

Who says there are no true brothers in life? United as one through prosperity and strife.

Be at ease as you tread down that faraway trail, for brotherly love will always prevail.

The young master of the Fang Clan possesses a noble heart, moral and strong in equal parts.

He shall defend his brother's estate, for a reunion that will come no matter how late!

Of course, the members of the Su Clan vehemently denied such stories.

"Those two were never that close!"

"Our clansmen have only gone on an extended outing, they're not dead!"

"There are many people who go out on missions for months at a time, why is this being drummed up into such a big deal?"

"What right does Fang Che have to seize our Su Clan's estate?"

"This is absolutely unacceptable!"

A traveling hero had been infuriated by the Su Clan's denial, descending upon their estate with indignant rage.

"How dare you tarnish the bond between Fang Che and Su Yue with your nefarious lies!"

The members of the Su Clan were just as infuriated, and they banded together to try and beat this traveling hero to death.

However, to their shock and horror, the traveling hero was an almighty warrior, and he bellowed to the heavens, "I, Wang Laosan, refuse to stand by and watch as these scoundrels desecrate the brotherly bond of these two upstanding young men! The day of retribution has come for all of you!"

With that, he slew all of his assailants, then massacred the rest of the Su Clan's members as well, sparing only the servants, all of whom fled in a panic.

After that, he sprang up into the heavens and yelled in a rousing voice, "In times of injustice, a hero must rise to make things right! If anyone wishes to seek vengeance for the Su Clan, then come and find me! I am Wang Laosan of Flat Lake!"

By the time the Protectionists arrived on the scene, Wang Laosan was already nowhere to be seen, having only taken a few minutes to slaughter the entire Su Clan.

Everyone was completely flabbergasted by how things had turned out, and the Protectionists naturally launched an investigation into the Fang Clan, seeing as Fang Che was the sole beneficiary of the Su Clan's demise.

Through their investigation, they discovered that Fang Che and Su Yue really did share an extremely close bond, with Su Yue often visiting the Fang Clan's estate to chat with Fang Che.

In fact, the other members of the Fang Clan all suspected Su Yue of ulterior motives, but Fang Che had never caved to such suspicions, firm in his belief that Su Yue had nothing but his best interests in mind, and he had gotten into countless altercations with his grandfather, his uncle, and his mother over this matter.

Fang Che was convinced beyond all doubt that Su Yue was his best friend, and there were many people in Green Wave City that could vouch for this.

These people proclaimed that Fang Che was just an idiot that was being used by Su Yue, and there were all types of different notions being espoused.

The longer the investigation dragged on, the murkier the situation became.

All the way, Fang Che played the role of an ignorant and hotblooded young boy to perfection, convinced that Su Yue would return someday, and that he had to fulfill the obligation of keeping Su Yue's estate intact until the day of his return.

At this point, there wasn't even a single member of the Su Clan left to inherit the estate.

As for Wang Laosan of Flat Lake, he had seemingly vanished into thin air after slaughtering the entire clan.

The Fang Clan hadn't done anything, but the One Heart Church was flexing all of its muscles to pull the strings behind the scenes and ensure Fang Che's complete takeover of the Su Clan's estate.

"Even if Su Yue really is dead, he can pass on content in the knowledge that he had such a good friend!"

"My thoughts and prayers go to all of the missing members of the Su Clan."

"The members of the Su Clan are only missing, they haven't been confirmed to have died, so the Protectionists have no right to seize the Su Clan's estate! They worked for dozens of generations for this estate!"

"Why are the law enforcers trying to get in the way of their brotherly agreement? Is there some type of conspiracy afoot?"

All the while, the One Heart Church was hunting down all of the surviving members of the Su Clan that were out on missions, ensuring that not a single one of them would be able to return to Green Wave City.

A secret meeting was held in the Hall of Protectionists specifically for this matter.

Hall Master Chen Ruhai was seated at the head of the table with his cheek resting on his hand, looking very weary and defeated.

He had no idea why he had suddenly been pulled back from the front lines and appointed hall master in such a godforsaken place.

What a terrible city this was! Could it be that something of significance was about to take place here?

The discussion on the Su Clan's case had already dragged on for two hours, with no consensus even close to being reached.

In Chen Ruhai's eyes, this wasn't even a matter worth discussing.

Chen Ruhai rolled his eyes without making effort to disguise his boredom and exasperation, and he draped a leg onto the armrest of his chair, upon which his boot slipped off his foot and fell onto the floor, instantly releasing a foul stench.

Everyone at the meeting instantly fell silent, and several of the female warriors present hurriedly pinched their noses in a visceral reaction to the foul stench.

"Is there really a need to discuss such an open-and-shut case for so long?" Chen Ruhai scoffed. "The verdict should be very obvious, is it not?"

"Please enlighten us, Hall Master."

"You need to be enlightened on this? Have you all suffered strokes?" Chen Ruhai harrumphed in disdain.

"I've only been here for three days, so my knowledge of the city is limited. I can only provide my conclusions based on what I know. Firstly, all of you suspect that the Su Clan has already secretly pledged itself to the One Heart Church, thereby making it an enemy clan. Secondly, the Su Clan has already fallen, but it's still technically a ninth-tier clan, so the Su Clan's businesses must be consolidated in order to minimize economic impact.

“Thirdly, even if the Fang, Lü, Zhang, and Wei Clans were to split the Su Clan's estate evenly among them, they would still remain ninth-tier clans, so the change would be negligible. Fourthly, the One Heart Church's forces are quite prevalent in Green Wave City. Fifthly, Fang Che's actions have clearly been orchestrated by someone seeking to seize the Su Clan's wealth.

“Sixthly, the Fang Clan has already reported the matter of Fang Che taking on a master in secret on his own, so that has nothing to do with the Fang Clan, and the results of your investigations have also indicated that the Fang Clan isn't behind all of this. Seventhly, it's clear that the people behind Fang Che want him to seize the Su Clan's wealth as they can't do so themselves, which means that Fang Che is very likely already allied with them or will be in the future.

“Eighthly, if the Fang Clan isn't suspicious, then why is it that only Fang Che is on our radar? This tells me that the point of suspicion lies with Fang Che's master, so we should begin strictly monitoring him from now on. Ninthly, the one who slaughtered the entire Su Clan was clearly also from the One Heart Church, which tells us that there are at least three Kings of the One Heart Church in Green Wave City.

“How did I arrive at that number? Let's presume that Fang Che's master is one of them, as is the one who massacred the Su Clan. Given how the One Heart Church likes to do things, they'll definitely have at least one or two agents assisting from the shadows, and a minimum of three Kings is already quite a formidable force.

“Tenthly, seeing as Fang Che is suspicious, he should be monitored as well. However, he's nothing more than a small fry with no value, and it would be a waste to apprehend or kill him now, so we may as well let him be to see if we can lure out some big fish. So what if he seizes the Fang Clan's entire wealth? He remains in our sights, and it's not like he can get away.

“Eleventhly, Fang Che or the One Heart Church is definitely plotting something. Apparently, he's an exceptional prodigy, but he's still yet to enroll in a warrior academy, so he'll surely enroll this year. Clearly, the One Heart Church is granting him such immense benefits because they hope that he will secure the top rank or something close to that and enter the warrior academy as a top-tier prodigy.

“If that were the case, then even if we know that he's suspicious, we still have to give him his just rewards, given the lack of evidence, and that would undoubtedly sow dissension and distaste among his fellow students. Hence, our mission should be to prevent Fang Che from claiming the top spot in the entrance examination at all costs.

“Twelfthly, I was sent here because we've received word that the One Heart Church is plotting something in this area, and the Su Clan's demise may not necessarily be a coincidence, so make sure to be on your guard."

Chen Ruhai was still looking as casual and lackadaisical as ever, but he had spoken with immense conviction and watertight logic, stripping down the complex case into a series of concise conclusions.

"Hence, there's no need for all of you to discuss this case any longer. All you have to do from now on are four things, and if you can do those four things, then all will be well."