Dawnless Sovereign
Chapter 13: Baptism

Chapter 13: Baptism

Fang Che looked up to discover that the five figures were all unmasked as there was simply no need for such precautionary measures.

The One Heart Church was a direct subsidiary entity to the Church of the Self-Righteous, and those who passed this trial would become members of the Church of the Self-Righteous, while those who failed would be killed.

The figure standing at the center of the five-man array was eight feet tall and had an extremely authoritative and imposing presence.

The other three figures outside of Sun Yuan were all elderly men, one of which had a slightly portly build, another one was as thin and wiry as a monkey, and the final one was quite stocky and rotund.

"Save the introductions for later, let's carry out the baptism first," the man at the center said.

The other four men nodded in unison.

"I must say, he's quite a lucky boy. If I recall correctly, he's the first one to have had the five of us carry out his baptism at once since the founding of of our One Heart Church," the man in the center chuckled, and he was quite a pleasant man, completely subverting one's expectations of a member of the One Heart Church's top brass.

The other four men also began chuckling, and Sun Yuan agreed, "Indeed, this is quite the honor."

After that, the man at the center pulled out a stick of green incense before extending a finger.

"Allow me," Sun Yuan volunteered.

"No, it's fine, I'll do it," the man at the center said, then pulled out a knife before slicing open the tip of his own finger, upon which his blood began to drip onto the stick of incense.

The other four men also sliced gashes onto their own fingers with fervent expressions to shed their blood onto the stick of incense.

The incense was set alight by the spirit qi in their blood, and a plume of green smoke rose up into the air before being sucked into the nostrils of the centipede deity on the shrine without even the tiniest bit of smoke seepage.

After around a third of the incense had been incinerated, the centipede deity's eyes abruptly lit up, and Fang Che's entire body was enveloped within a ball of green light.

He knew that the trial had begun, and he could only pray for a favorable outcome.

This trial of the Church of the Self-Righteous was one that had proven completely indecipherable and foolproof to the Guardians for countless years.

Fang Che secretly channeled his Boundless Sutra to relinquish his control over the Five Spirit Parasite in his body.

Over these past few days, the Five Spirit Parasite had been put through the wringer several dozen times a day on average.

Fang Che would use the Boundless Sutra to torment it before feeding it spirit qi to help it recover, and he had repeated the cycle tirelessly over and over again for this very day.

"O' Great Heavenly Centipede Deity, please heed Your disciple's prayers as our church seeks to welcome a new member. We pledge our blood to You and pray that You will examine the heart of this humble boy to determine his worth!" the man at the center chanted, and the rate at which the stick of incense in his hand was burning abruptly sped up drastically, while the centipede deity's eyes also glowed brighter and brighter.

Finally, the entire stick of incense had burned away into nothingness.

"Kneel and raise your head," the man at the center ordered, and Fang Che did as he was told.

The green light shooting out of the centipede deity's eyes instantly pierced into Fang Che's eyes to take over his body, while the Five Spirit Parasite in his dantian was also summoned.

A speck of green light appeared on Fang Che's body, and it began to slowly move, but was accelerating steadily.

It seemed that something was communicating with the Five Spirit Parasite.

Fang Che was completely conscious the entire time, but he had been robbed of control over his own body.

He could sense that the Five Spirit Parasite was communicating something, and it was displaying very vehement emotions in the process.

It was a mix of fear and indignation, as if it were complaining about the horrific treatment it had been subjected to by Fang Che.

The five One Heart Church members were rather surprised to see how lively the Five Spirit Parasite was. It was much more lively than the Five Spirit Parasites in the bodies of anyone that they had baptised in the past, and it was also much stronger as well!

Furthermore, this baptism was taking a very long time.

Normally, the Heavenly Centipede Deity's spirit sense would only linger for a moment before fading away, but on this occasion, it had already been communicating with the Five Spirit Parasite in Fang Che's body for several minutes.

An anxious look appeared on Sun Yuan's face, but he didn't dare to say anything.

Finally, after around fifteen minutes, the green light faded away, and a clear message was communicated directly into everyone's hearts, alongside a sense of approval.

The five church members were ecstatic.

It was extremely rare for the Heavenly Centipede Deity to display such an emotion, even in all of the baptisms performed in the Church of the Self-Righteous, and it was even rarer for this emotion of approval to be so pronounced.

With that, Fang Che had passed the trial by baptism with flying colors.

The green light within the Heavenly Centipede Deity's eyes quickly faded away, while the man at the center of the five-man array was staring intently at Fang Che as if he had found a priceless treasure.

"What do you think of this disciple of mine, Pope Yin?" Sun Yuan asked in a gleeful manner.

Only then did Fang Che come to realize that the man at the center of the array was the pope of the One Heart Church, Yin Shengong, the heinous demon with the nickname of the Blood Spirit Butcher.

In that case, who were the other three?

"I am Pope Yin Shengong of the One Heart Church," Yin Shengong declared with a smile. "This is our first elder, Heart Piercing Sword Mu Linyuan."

Mu Linyuan was the slightly portly old man, and Fang Che immediately extended a respectful bow toward him.

"This is our second elder, Poison Heart Divine Ape Hou Fang."

The second elder was the thin and lanky old man.

"This is our third elder, Ubiquitous God of Wealth, Qian Sanjiang."

Qian Sanjiang was the rotund old man that rounded out the trio.

Fang Che paid his respects to them one by one while feeling rather perplexed.

Was it normal for the pope and the three top elders to personally make an appearance for such a low-level baptism?

With that in mind, he turned to Sun Yuan with an inquisitive gaze.

"Your master is also an elder of our church," Yin Shengong explained with a smile, intentionally neglecting to mention that Sun Yuan was only a third-tier elder, while the other three were all first-tier elders.

Sun Yuan shot the pope a grateful glance for protecting his dignity, then hurriedly put on a sanctimonious expression.

"Wow, I didn't know you were that awesome, Master!" Fang Che praised in a timely fashion, and Sun Yuan was barely able to suppress a wide grin.

Yin Shengong turned to Fang Che with a smile and remarked, "You must be a very wealthy man now after taking over the Su Clan's estate."

"I didn't touch any of it. There were several crates full of things like precious gems and jewellery, and around several tens of millions in gold vouchers, but none of that belongs to me. I'm only safekeeping all of this for Brother Su Yue until he returns," Fang Che replied.

Yin Shengong's eyes narrowed slightly as he asked, "If you encounter a cultivation bottleneck before his return, one that you're unable to overcome without drawing upon those resources, what would you do?"

"Then I'll take what I need and write up a slip detailing what I took, then replenish everything when I can," Fang Che replied without any hesitation.

"What if he gets back before you can replenish everything?"

"Then I'll give everything to him along with the slips," Fang Che replied.

The five men exchanged a glance with one another.

"Not bad. He has principles that he upholds, but he's not stubborn and pedantic about it," Mu Linyuan praised with a smile.

"Still, he's a little naive," Qian Sanjiang remarked.

"How did those people from the Su Clan suddenly disappear?" Yin Shengong asked in a puzzled manner.

No one was able to answer that question.

The disappearance of the Su Clan's members had taken place in an extremely mysterious and abrupt manner, and with no answers available, Yin Shengong quickly turned his attention elsewhere.

"I heard from your master that you possess exceptional aptitude, is that right?" he asked in an intrigued manner.

"No, no, my master has far too high an appraisal of me."

"There's no need to undersell yourself," Yin Shengong said. "How about this? Seeing as we bore witness to your baptism today, we'll present you with another opportunity. As for how much you'll be able to get out of it, that'll be up to you."

A look of excitement appeared on Sun Yuan's face upon hearing this, and Yin Shengong continued, "The four of us will each teach you a set of techniques, but you'll only have two hours to learn as much of the techniques as you can. I heard that you can memorize and execute any technique after seeing it just once, so this will be a test for you as well. What do you say?"

The three elders were also eager to test Fang Che.

In their eyes, Sun Yuan had most likely been exaggerating. How could there possibly exist such an incredibly prodigious talent in this world?

One had to realize that when looking at a sword technique, for example, it was not just a matter of a simple sword technique. Instead, it was the incorporation of a sword technique, sword qi, mental techniques, movement techniques, and footwork. Only with all of those elements mastered could one hope to perform the sword technique to its fullest.

There was no way that anyone could memorize and replicate all of that after just one demonstration!

Sun Yuan was ecstatic, and he hurriedly said, "Che'er, this is a golden opportunity for you!"

"Not necessarily," Hou Fang interjected in a snide manner. "Maybe he won't be able to memorize anything."

Fang Che had already fallen to his knees and said in a grateful manner, "Thank you, Pope Yin and esteemed elders. Regardless of whether I can learn your techniques, I am immensely honored just to be able to receive your instructions, and I will regard you as my masters!"

Yin Shengong and the three elders were very pleased to hear this. Such a strong degree of approval was completely unprecedented from the Heavenly Centipede Deity throughout the past tens of thousands of years, and they were all eager to instruct Fang Che so that they could become honorary masters of his.

As for Fang Che, he felt no shame in kneeling to these people. At this point, all he cared about was progressing up the ranks in the One Heart Church.

The higher he climbed, the more things that he would be able to do, and he was determined to make Yin Shengong and the church elders stepping stones to his ultimate objective.

They could provide much more assistance to him than Sun Yuan ever could.

The tone of Yin Shengong's voice softened a little as he said, "I was only planning to teach you some basic techniques, but seeing as you're so sincere and earnest, I'll teach you my Seven Blood Spirit Swords."

"Thank you, Pope Yin!" Sun Yuan exclaimed in an ecstatic manner, while the three elders exchanged astonished glances with one another.

The Seven Blood Spirit Swords weren't Yin Shengong's most powerful techniques, but they were his signature sword techniques that had made his name known to the cultivation world and also the techniques that had given him the nickname of the Blood Spirit Butcher.

"Pay attention now!"

Yin Shengong drew his sword from his scabbard, then raised it in front of himself as he said, "The Seven Blood Spirit Swords can only be unleashed in conjunction with a special sword mantra, as well as a specific set of mental techniques, movement techniques, and footwork. Even the slightest flaw in any of those elements will prevent you from fully mastering the techniques. I'll only demonstrate them for you once, so don't blink!"