Dawnless Sovereign

As Yin Shengong's trio descended from the heavens, they were very pleased to see Fang Che so hard at work.

Even Yin Shengong's terrible mood had been lifted slightly, and he said to Mu Linyuan through voice transmission, "I bet you that he slacked off the entire day, only to put on this show now for us to see. I have to say, he's putting in quite a bit of effort to sucking up to us."

"Should we stay quiet for now and watch him train himself to exhaustion?" Mu Linyuan chuckled.

An amused smile appeared on Yin Shengong's face upon hearing this. "He's already seen us. If I had known he was doing this, I would've arrived more discreetly to avoid his detection."

In his eyes, it was very apparent that Fang Che was doing his very best to impress him.

It was quite amusing, but it was also a clear reflection of Fang Che's respect for him.

"Uncle-master Yin! Uncle-master Mu! Uncle-master Hou! This is a true honor!" Fang Che exclaimed through voice transmission.

Yin Shengong gave a pleased nod.

Fang Che had been sufficiently alert to refer to him as uncle-master rather than pope.

In a sensitive setting like this, the word "pope" absolutely could not be uttered.

"Alright, you can drop the act and come in now. How's your cultivation been going?"

Yin Shengong made his way into the room, and Fang Che followed him inside, still dripping with sweat.

"It's going alright. I feel like progress isn't too difficult to make, but I'm feeling a little antsy because I don't have any opportunities for real battles."

"You want opportunities for real battles at your current cultivation base? You should be careful what you ask for, boy!" Mu Linyuan scoffed, then sat down with Yin Shengong.

"I may be getting ahead of myself a little bit. Ever since I reached the Lesser Grandmaster tier, I've been feeling invincible!" Fang Che chuckled.

This was understandable to Yin Shengong's trio. After all, the three of them were very familiar with the sense of overinflated confidence that came with a major breakthrough.

"That's an illusion, you silly boy!" Hou Fang reprimanded.

"I know, but I just can't help but feel really badass," Fang Che replied with a bashful grin.

Yin Shengong had already noticed the clothes on the table, and he asked, "Why do you have so many sets of clothes here? Are you going to open a shop?"

Fang Che carefully closed the door, then explained, "I knew you were coming, so I had to find an excuse to send my maidservant away. She's my personal maidservant, but I feel like there are some things that she should be kept in the dark about."

“You did well," Yin Shengong praised with a pleased nod, then picked up the receipt on the table. "So this is what you came up with to send her away? It works, but it's also quite a costly distraction."

"I still have some money at my disposal. If you want it, I'm willing to offer it up with no compensation!"

"I don't need your pocket money! How downtrodden would I have to be to resort to taking your money?" Yin Shengong scoffed, while Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang chuckled in amusement.

Yin Shengong then asked for some further elaboration about how Fang Che intended to use these clothes, as well as how he had sent his maidservant away, and all of Fang Che's response proved more than satisfactory.

"Well done!"

Even though it seemed a little unnecessary to send his maidservant away, it was a clear reflection of his caution and vigilance, and this was how things should be.

True secrets were to be kept only to oneself.

The more people that knew, the more danger there would be, particularly seeing as Yin Shengong's trio had ventured deep into enemy territory.

Essentially, Night Demon had done all of this out of consideration for his safety, and with that in mind, Yin Shengong's demeanor instantly softened a little.

"How is your cultivation base progressing at the moment?" he asked.

Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang's eyes immediately lit up with keen interest at this question.

"Right now, I'm at the mid second-rank Lesser Grandmaster tier," Fang Che replied while brewing some tea. "My combat prowess should be a little higher than my cultivator base. I should be able to take on a third or fourth-rank Lesser Grandmaster just fine."

"Oh? You sound very confident," Yin Shengong remarked as he gave Mu Linyuan a subtle look.

Mu Linyuan immediately understood what he wanted, and he challenged, "Sounds like he's just bragging to me! I'll suppress my cultivation base, let's have a sparring match right now to see if you can put your money where your mouth is!"

Mu Linyuan suppressed his own cultivation base to match Fang Che's, only to instantly be forced onto the back foot, forcing him to hurriedly elevate his cultivation base.

Mu Linyuan elevated his own cultivation base bit by bit throughout the sparring match, only stopping when it finally became too much for Fang Che.

Upon returning to Yin Shengong's side, he reported, "He should be able to hold his own against a fifth-rank Lesser Grandmaster. If he goes all-out, he should even be able to kill a fifth-rank Lesser Grandmaster, but he's definitely going to sustain injuries in the process."

Yin Shengong had already formed his own judgment after witnessing the sparring match, and he knew that Mu Linyuan wasn't exaggerating.

Even so, he still had Hou Fang test out Fang Che's abilities as well.

Up against Hou Fang, Fang Che was naturally going to use the Thirteen Divine Ape Heart Gouging Techniques taught to him by the former, and after the sparring match, Hou Fang couldn't be more pleased.

"His execution of the Thirteen Divine Ape Heart Gouging Techniques is even better than my own!" he exclaimed to Yin Shengong through voice transmission.

"Quit trying to make him look good!" Yin Shengong harrumphed, and Hou Fang could only stand down with a sheepish smile.

"I'll give it a go as well," Yin Shengong said as he rose to his feet.

"I wouldn't dare to battle against you, Po... Uncle-master Yin!" Fang Che exclaimed in horror.

"You think this is going to be a battle? Looks like you really do have an overinflated sense of confidence after your breakthrough," Yin Shengong scoffed, while Hou Fang and Mu Linyuan erupted into laughter.

"My apologies, Uncle-master Yin, I misspoke," Fang Che replied in a sheepish manner.

"Just treat this like a battle of life and death. There's no need to hold back at all," Yin Shengong harrumphed.

Fang Che immediately adopted the stance for the Seven Blood Spirit Swords. "Please pardon my intrusion, Uncle-master Yin."

"Don't apologize to me! You must regard me as an enemy! All of the opponents that you will face in the future will want you dead, so you need more than just sparring matches!"

"Yes, Uncle-master Yin!"

Even though Yin Shengong suppressed his cultivation base, he didn't hold back in any other regard, striking to kill just as he had instructed Fang Che to do.

If Fang Che had failed to defend himself from any of Yin Shengong's attacks, then he would've been killed on the spot.

Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang were looking on with anxious expressions, but their anxiety soon turned to shock as they watched Fang Che hold his own against Yin Shengong using the Seven Blood Spirit Swords.

There were even several points in the battle where he claimed the upper hand over Yin Shengong, much to their astonishment.

Yin Shengong had always been a prodigy himself, one capable of besting opponents with cultivation bases superior to his own.

Hence, even though he had suppressed his cultivation base to the second-rank Lesser Grandmaster tier, the combat prowess that he displayed was actually on par with or even superior to a fourth-rank Lesser Grandmaster.

Hence, the fact that Fang Che was still able to gain the upper hand over him was very telling.

Fang Che continued to unleash the Seven Blood Spirit Swords, constantly mixing and matching the techniques seamlessly. For example, he would unleash the first half of the first technique, only to abruptly switch to the second half of the fifth technique before concluding with the final killing blow of the seventh technique.

Yin Shengong raised his cultivation base to the third rank, and the battle continued.

In response to the increased pressure exerted upon him, Fang Che rose to the challenge, displaying even greater combat prowess to keep up.

"You were still holding back this entire time?" Yin Shengong exclaimed with a delighted expression.

"Just a little," Fang Che replied.

"Good. Continue!"

This time, Yin Shengong elevated his cultivation base to the fourth rank, and once again, he was not holding back.

Before long, Fang Che was being tossed around like a small boat on a turbulent sea, constantly on the verge of capsizing, yet his defenses remained solid.

After being backed into a corner, he let loose a loud roar and staged an all-out counterattack, disregarding his own defenses as he lashed out with true killing intent.

Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang were looking on with bated breath as the battle reached a state of white-hot intensity.

All of a sudden, a resounding clang rang out as Fang Che was sent flying back over twenty feet before falling onto his backside, only to instantly spring back to his feet to continue the battle.

"That's enough!"

Yin Shengong burst into elated laughter. "You've already shown me more than enough!"

"Thank you for holding back, Uncle-master Yin," Fang Che said as he cupped his fist in a salute.

"I didn't hold back at all, aside from suppressing my cultivation base, of course. You have truly impressed me!" Yin Shengong declared with an overjoyed smile as he sat back down.

He took a glance at the tea leaves on the table, then smiled as he asked, "You bought this for me, did you?"

"I did. I wasn't able to prepare anything better on such short notice. I invite you to try those fruits as well. They're not spirit fruits or anything of that caliber, but they make for a crisp and appetizing snack."

"In that case, I'll be taking all of your gifts!"

Yin Shengong couldn't be more pleased as he swept a sleeve through the air, stowing everything away into his spatial ring.

Mu Linyuan and Hou Fang exchanged an astonished glance upon seeing this.

The fact that Yin Shengong was accepting a gift from a lowly seeded prodigy was a clear indication of just how impressed he was with Fang Che.

"Through our battle just now, I could sense that your cultivation base is at the high second rank, and you should be able to make a breakthrough to the third rank soon. In terms of combat prowess, you should be able to hold your own against or even kill a fifth-rank Lesser Grandmaster.

“You should at least be able to ensure self-preservation against a sixth-rank opponent, but an adversary at or above the seventh rank would be too much for you to handle. How much progress have you made with the Blood Incineration Technique?"

"I've made a decent amount of progress."

"Elaborate."

"If I were to use it now, I should be able to enhance my speed by about five to sixfold," Fang Che replied in a truthful manner.

"That's great!" Yin Shengong praised.

He then fell silent for a moment before asking, "Can you reach the Great Grandmaster tier in a month?"