Dawnless Sovereign
Chapter 5: Brothers for Life

Chapter 5: Brothers for Life

After hearing what Su Yue had to say, Fang Che finally understood the situation, and he was left feeling a little speechless.

This wasn't exactly a complex matter as it was merely a case of two clans plotting against one another, but at the same time, there was also a great deal of complexity in the specific details involved.

"Your Su Clan really did have it all figured out," Fang Che praised. "You would've succeeded if it hadn’t been for me. How unfortunate. By the way, what's the name of the One Heart Church envoy using the Five Spirit Parasites? What does he look like, and what's his cultivation base?" Su Yue answered his questions, and a contemplative look appeared on his face as he mulled over the answers.

The envoy's name was Sun Yuan, and according to Su Yue, he was beyond the Great Grandmaster Tier.

He liked to dress in white and had a thin and lanky build with a sharp chin and a mole above his upper lip.

"He must be using a decent disguise if he's able to act so blatantly," Fang Che harrumphed coldly.

As a subsidiary entity to the Church of the Self-Righteous, the One Heart Church was definitely not an above ground organization, and the fact that Sun Yuan was able to travel the continent in such an open and unconcealed fashion indicated that this had to have been a false identity, perhaps even one that had a positive reputation attached to it.

"It's time to say goodbye, Brother Su," Fang Che sighed in a wistful manner.

"Don't kill me! Please..." Su Yue implored desperately as tears streamed down his face.

"Don't you worry, Brother Su. As your closest friend, I'll be sure to take good care of the Su Clan's estate in the wake of your passing. A man needs to know when to let go. Everyone dies eventually, so what real difference is there between dying a little earlier and and a little later?" Fang Che preached in a meaningful and heartfelt manner as he drove his saber into Su Yue's heart before twisting it around to shred Su Yue's heart.

Su Yue's eyes bulged outward as he glowered intently at Fang Che, and even as blood gushed out of his mouth, he forced out the words: "Even as a ghost, I won't..."

He took his final breath before he could finish his parting threat.

"What makes you think you'll have a chance to become a ghost?" Fang Che asked as the soul of the Golden Horn Flood Dragon appeared beside him before devouring all of the soul energy particles of the Su Clan's search party.

This type of soul power on the verge of dissipating was inaccessible to humans, but it was incredibly nourishing to special soul bodies like the Golden Horn Flood Dragon.

"Is that all of them?" Fang Che asked. "You're certain that there are no survivors, right? This is very important."

The Golden Horn Flood Dragon hurriedly nodded in response, eager to appease Fang Che, and it was still trembling slightly from fear.

Even back at the peak of its powers, this man had been able to squash it to death like a bug, and he remained just as terrifying as ever, even after six hundred years since their previous encounter!

"Check again," Fang Che instructed. "In particular, the soul that belongs to Su Yue has to be completely gone. We may have been the best of friends, but I don't want him coming back to visit me from the afterlife."

After that, he began packing away his spoils. The gold and silver vouchers were set aside, while the demon beast spirit cores were also stored independently. As for all of the weapons and anything that could be used to identify the search party members, those were all buried, following which the bodies were disposed of.

"This is some back-breaking work!" Fang Che complained as he piled one final shovelful of dirt onto the grave, then jumped up and down on it a few times to compact the soil.

"All of you should feel honored to have me personally serving as your undertaker! If I were to die someday, not only would none of you be there to bury me, you wouldn't even be able to send over a funeral wreath or two! Whatever happened to equal reciprocation? Besides, not everyone gets to be buried with their entire clan, so all of you should really count yourselves fortunate."

After that, Fang Che examined the entirety of the Thousand Poison Scourge's wealth in his cave abode with the help of the Golden Horn Flood Dragon.

There was a bunch of spirit crystals used for cultivation art, all types of secret scriptures and natural treasures, as well as various types of exotic metals.

It was just a pity that at his current cultivation base, he wouldn't be able to make use of any of the spirit crystals aside from the ones of the lowest caliber. In fact, even those ones were a bit of a stretch for him to use, but there were more surprises to come.

Fang Che discovered a spirit spring in the Thousand Poison Scourge's cave abode.

The spirit spring was nothing special, but it was sufficient for his current requirements, and to further sweeten the deal, there was a bunch of Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruits growing inside the spring.

The fruits were already a little too ripe, and it was riddled with veins.

It had to have been at least a thousand years old, and it was perfect for the current Fang Che as the fruit possessed the ability to cleanse one's body of impurities and improve one's aptitude.

It was most likely the case that the Thousand Poison Scourge had prepared this for a descendant or disciple of his.

I really made the correct decision in killing you, Thousand Poison. Otherwise, there's no way I would've been able to get my hands on these fruits.

With that in mind, he plucked off three fruits at once.

Just a single Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruit could improve one's aptitude, but only with the assistance of someone with a loftier cultivation base than the consumer.

Not only did Fang Che not have that luxury, he had eaten three at once, which was the upper limit for how many one could consume.

Beyond that, further consumption would have no additional effect.

There were still six fruits left on the tree.

He began devouring the fruits as he channeled his Boundless Sutra.

With one fruit devoured, his entire body began to itch as impurities were expelled from the inside.

With the second fruit devoured, his bodily secretions had become as thick as paste.

With the third and final fruit devoured, the secretions had become so thick that they had virtually congealed, and they were giving off an incredibly foul stench.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Fang Che took a bath in the pond outside the cave, while the Golden Horn Flood Dragon looked on with mixed emotions in its eyes.

To Fang Che's surprise, he had progressed into a third-rank warrior.

Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruits weren't even meant to be able to elevate one's cultivation base, but his current cultivation base was so pathetic that just about anything could trigger a breakthrough.

Despite this, even he couldn't help but be stunned by his own aptitude.

The Boundless Sutra had enhanced the effects of the Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruit by severalfold, granting him immense benefits.

Surely my current aptitude should be enough to convince Sun Yuan to take me in. Not only do I possess exceptional aptitude, I was also able to survive their Five Spirit Parasite trial. In the eyes of the One Heart Church, I must be a godsend!

Fang Che returned to work, concealing the cave entrance.

It had been damaged by the Su Clan's search party, and there were too many spoils for him to take away at once, so he had to hide them here.

If only I had a spatial ring. Unfortunately, I don't have one in this lifetime. Then again, I never managed to get my hands on one in my previous life, either.

With Fang Che set to depart, the Golden Horn Flood Dragon was feeling a little forlorn.

Even though it was terrified of Fang Che, he was the first human that it had interacted with since attaining this spirit body, and prior to that, it had been lonely for far too long.

"I can't take you back with me to Green Wave City right now. Spirit bodies are considered to be anomalies, so you'll immediately be captured by the Protectionists. Stay here and continue to cultivate, and look after our home while you're at it.

“Once you've reached a point where you're able to perfectly conceal your soul, I'll find a weapon or something like that to serve as a vessel for you, and you'll be able to accompany me then, so make sure to reach a formless state as soon as possible."

When it came to the cultivation of spirit bodies, the first step was to attain a spirit form, but after that, the spirit body had to revert back to a formless state, and only then would they be able to somewhat ensure their own safety.

A spirit body that was yet to return to formlessness was far too vulnerable and easy to discover.

The Golden Horn Flood Dragon was ecstatic to hear this.

I have a master again, and this one is even more powerful than the previous one!

"Also, make sure to raise as many of those poisonous critters as possible to ensure that our home isn't taken over by someone else."

The Golden Horn Flood Dragon hurriedly nodded in response. This was something that it excelled at.

***

Fang Che descended the mountain with a deer dragged along behind him.

The deer's innards had all been dug out, and its abdominal cavity currently contained the spoils of this trip, including six Heaven Vein Vermilion Fruits, a full pouch of low-grade spirit crystals, a pouch of low-grade demon beast spirit cores, and some gold and silver vouchers.

There were many high and mid-grade spirit crystals in the cave, but there were too many of them, and at his current cultivation base, his meridians wouldn't be able to withstand the volume of essential spirit qi within them, and the same applied to the demon beast spirit cores.

Hence, if he were to take those things back with him, they would only bring him trouble for no benefit, whereas by stashing them away here, he would be able to avoid such trouble, and he could return for them at any time.

Even if someone were to discover this treasure trove and take it for themselves, that would be a much better outcome than playing with fire by taking everything back with him.

***

Sure enough, by the time he reached the foot of the mountain, the horse had already vanished without a trace.

He took a moment to pray for the horse, hoping that it hadn't been eaten by a predator, then stole another one, but this time, he left behind a voucher for one hundred taels of silver along with a note that read: "Thank you for lending me your horse."

***

By the time returned to Green Wave City, it was already afternoon, and he swaggered through the city gate on horseback with the disemboweled deer in tow.

The rotund military official stationed at the city gate was clearly familiar with Fang Che, and he smiled as he greeted, "I see you're back from deer-hunting, Young Master Fang. Which mountain is this deer from? It certainly is quite a fat deer."

"Fat?" Fang Che repeated as he took a meaningful glance at the military official's bulging belly, and the latter's expression instantly darkened as he granted Fang Che passage into the city.

As Fang Che raced away into the distance, the military official spat onto the ground as he grumbled, "What a nasty piece of work he is!"

***

Upon his return to his small courtyard in the Fang Clan's estate, Fang Che was met with the guard at the entrance, who put on a wide smile as he said, "Looks like everyone will be having venison tonight! Where did you go these past few days, Young Master? I was..."

Before he had a chance to finish, Fang Che interrupted, "I was the one who caught this deer, what makes you think you'll be treated to some venison? Did I say you could have some?"

This man was the reason why Su Yue was always able to sneak into his courtyard undetected.

Fang Che's former self had felt himself very fortunate to have had someone willing to help grant Su Yue free passage, but the current Fang Che wanted nothing more than to have this bastard killed.

The guard was going to ask what Fang Che had been up to the past few days so that he could report Fang Che's activities to the clan leader, but he was left embarrassed and speechless by Fang Che's abrasive retort.

"All you think about all day is how to get free food from others! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Fang Che scoffed before departing with his deer.

As his door slammed shut, the guard was left standing outside, feeling as if he were about to explode with rage.

In contrast, that had been a very cathartic exchange for Fang Che.

The benefit of taking over the body of someone with a foul temper was that he could allow his temper to flare over whenever he pleased.

***

After entering the courtyard, Fang Chen promptly transferred all of his spoils into his room.

The gold and silver vouchers were placed under his pillow, the spirit crystals were tossed into the shoe cabinet, while the six vermilion fruits were placed onto the fruit bowl on the table, buried under a bunch of apples.

As for the demon beast spirit cores, those were placed in the wardrobe. They could be submitted to the Hall of Protectionists for warrior clan missions, so he would just have to find an opportunity to do so.

After changing into a fresh set of clothes, he began to butcher the deer, hanging it up in the yard to slice off strips of venison for a roast.

He had brought the deer back, so he had to at least pretend to cook and eat it to avoid arousing suspicions.

While butchering the deer, Fang Che was lamenting to himself that he had to do this on his own.

Of course, he had been assigned with maidservants, but both of them were subordinates of Fang Qianyi.

With Fang Qianyi out on a mission, Fang Che's previous incarnation had sent them away back home, unable to bear their constant attempts at appeasement and disingenuous praise.

With both his mother and the maidservants absent, he was forced to do everything himself.

Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

"Do you need a hand?"

Fang Che turned around to discover that it was a white-robed, middle-aged man with a sharp chin, a thin and lanky build, and a mole above his upper lip.

It was none other than the One Heart Church envoy that Su Yue had spoken of!