Dawnless Sovereign

Yin Shengong took a condescending glance at Hai Wuliang out of the corner of his eye as he scoffed internally, "Know your place and kneel to me, Night Demon!"

Hai Wuliang was even more infuriated at the sight of Yin Shengong's provocative gaze.

"I agree with Pope Yin on this matter," the inspector said. "All operations against Fang Che must temporarily cease. We must look at the bigger picture. Right now, the main church has only just founded a nation, and everything is in a very unstable state.

“All of the high-ranking church members are gathered in the New Chu Nation right now, so they have no time to oversee proceedings in your churches, but do not take this newfound freedom for granted! Just because we have achieved the monumental feat of founding a nation doesn't mean it will all be smooth sailing from here.

“On the contrary, this is going to be a very difficult transition period for all of us. We have established a foundation and are busy fortifying it, so all of you have to fend for yourselves."

Solemn looks appeared on the faces of the five popes upon hearing this.

"I came here on this occasion to address the recent string of suspicious setbacks that we've suffered, as well as to bring to all of you three missions. These three missions will be key to stamping the mark of our main church on the entire southeast!"

All of the popes' eyes lit up in unison.

"All of this infighting is not conducive to positive outcomes for the main church, so one of you must rise to the fore and take on a leadership position!" the inspector continued.

The five popes unconsciously sat up a little straighter in anticipation.

They had been waiting for this day for far too long!

The five popes exchanged competitive glances with one another, and there were practically sparks flying through the air.

At the moment, the five churches were all on equal footing, and whichever one was selected as leader would officially rise above the other four.

The inspector heaved a faint sigh, then continued, "I know the five of you have constantly been competing with one another in secret. This is not an uncommon occurrence among our churches, but do not take it too far. Otherwise, you will be punished by the main church, and trust me when I tell you that's something you don't want! I know that all of you have connections in high-up places, but that's not going to save you here, so watch yourselves!"

There was no way for the inspector to completely defuse the tension between the five popes. Even if all five churches were disbanded, the five of them would most likely still be competing against one another.

What made things even more difficult for the inspector was, just as he had said, all five popes had connections in high-up places.

Even if they were to go too far, they would be protected by those powerful connections.

The inspector also had connections, but that didn't make his job much easier.

"Rest assured, esteemed inspector, I, for one, will make an effort to get along with my peers," Yin Shengong declared. "As a matter of fact, I helped out the Divine Heavenly Church a few times recently, so I can assure you that our One Heart Church won't engage in any infighting."

The inspector's interest was instantly piqued, and he turned to Kou Yifang as he asked, "Is that true?"

A glum look appeared on Kou Yifang's face.

By choosing to bring up this matter to the inspector, Yin Shengong had placed his One Heart Church firmly above the Divine Heavenly Church, meaning that the latter essentially had no chance of competing against the former.

"It's true. Brother Yin helped me on more than one occasion, and I owe him favors for his help."

Kou Yifang couldn't deny that, but thankfully, there were still three other churches that he could get ahead of on the pecking order.

"You've really outdone yourself, Pope Yin!" the inspector said, clearly very impressed.

"You're far too kind, esteemed inspector," Yin Shengong said with a modest smile. "It's only to be expected that we help one another out. If the Three Saints Church, the Church of Light, or the Night Demon is ever in need of my help, they can also come to me at any time."

Hai Wuliang rolled his eyes internally, while the other two popes remained silent.

In the wake of this revelation, Yin Shengong was suddenly standing on the moral high ground over the other popes, and on top of that, Kou Yifang's admission indicated that his Divine Heavenly Church had forged an alliance with the One Heart Church.

The other three popes briefly considered forging an alliance of their own, but as they exchanged glances with one another in non-verbal communication, all of them could see their own disdain mirrored in each other's eyes.

There was simply no chance that they could set aside their past differences to become allies!

***

"What are the three missions, esteemed inspector?"

The question had been raised by Yin Shengong, who seemed to have leapfrogged the other four popes to become the leader of the five.

The other four popes turned to him in silence, indicating that they were happy, or at least resigned to follow his lead, and that was a great feeling for Yin Shengong.

He was struck by the urge to immediately pull out his communication jade and return Night Demon's message.

You really are my lucky star! Our One Heart Church has firmly established itself over all of the other churches, and it's all thanks to you!

"The first mission will be carried out in the Myriad Spirit Forest. At the center of the mountain range on the only route between Green Wave City and the White Cloud Prefecture is a forest that's around 650 kilometers in diameter. Do all of you know the place I'm referring to?" the inspector asked.

"Yes."

"That forest needs to be nurtured by the blood of a million living beings."

The five popes were flabbergasted to hear this.

The forest needs nurturing? What are we, farmers now?

"This is a very important mission, and whoever completes it best and in the shortest amount of time will be rewarded!"

"Yes, esteemed inspector! We won't let you down!"

"Ideally, the blood should come from spirit beasts and demon beasts. The blood of human warriors will also suffice, but not the blood of ordinary people."

This additional clause didn't make much of a difference to the five popes. They were accustomed to slaughtering tens, even hundreds of thousands of warriors at a time, so in their eyes, it was no different from killing pigs at an abbattoir.

"The second mission is to wreak as much havoc and slaughter across the land, particularly the central regions of major cities. We must create distractions for the Guardians and the Protectionists so the main church has time to stabilize the New Chu Nation."

"Are there any specific requirements?" Yin Shengong asked.

"No, just create as much chaos as possible, but do not leave behind any evidence that you are the ones behind this. Otherwise, that would give them an excuse to declare war on us. Remember that we're trying to create a distraction, not provoke the enemy."

"Understood."

"The third mission is... The triennial Parasite Ascension Project will commence on the first day of the following year, and it will span a period of six months. However, that's only the official story. Only popes like yourselves are entitled to the knowledge that the effective period will only actually be a month."

A much more solemn tone had entered the inspector's voice as he divulged the third mission.

"As usual, only those below the ninth-rank General tier and below thirty years of age are to be considered. The main church and all of its subordinate powers will be taking part in this project, and secrecy must be ensured on top of securing good results.

“All five of you rose to the fore from the Parasite Ascension Project, so I'm sure you're aware of how cruel the project can be, but also the opportunities that it presents. It has already been thirty consecutive periods without a top three finish for our southeastern path, and in thirteen of them, all of our candidates were completely decimated without a single survivor!

“I can't imagine how you went about selecting them! Surely at least one of them should've been able to make it back alive, not to mention it's happened thirteen times! For this period, you must secure a top three spot for me! Otherwise, our southeastern path will be made the laughing stock of the entire main church!

“Also, ideally, kill all of the candidates of the southwestern path! This mission concerns not just the future of your churches, but also my reputation, so don't let me down!"

A hint of anger had entered the inspector's voice by the end.

Even though this didn't really have anything to do with him, the southeastern path's terrible track record over the past thirty periods had made him the target of constant harassment and ridicule for his fellow inspectors.

In particular, the inspector of the southwestern path was going out of his way to constantly provoke him, and earlier in the year, a major conflict had erupted between the two of them.

They had even made a bet with very high stakes on the line, so failure was unacceptable!

"If we still can't secure a top three finish this time, then some of you may have to be replaced," the inspector threatened in a cold voice.

The five popes fell into a solemn silence upon hearing this.