Many people had heard of the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, but just as many people were skeptical of its existence. After all, very few people had actually seen any of the exotic items in the Journal of the Exotic, so there were many skeptics who thought of the Journal of the Exotic as nothing more than a work of fiction. However, Fang Che knew that he was currently looking at a Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit with his own two eyes, and clearly, all of the Generals in the basin had managed to identify it as well. Fang Che snuck down into the basin before concealing himself within the tall grass, and he looked up to discover a gorgeous flower silently blooming within the white cloud. The flower didn't have any stunning colors, but it was very elegant and pristine, and every single one of its petals and stamens were teeming with life energy. Fang Che was very relieved to see this. The fruit still hadn't taken shape yet, so he still had time. He remained in hiding as he observed the three factions down below. At the moment, everyone's attention was focused on the flower in the cloud, so he barely even had to hide at all to conceal his own presence. Furthermore, the three factions combined contained a total of over a thousand Generals, and it would truly take someone with a death wish to try and claim the fruit under the direct scrutiny of so many Generals. Furthermore, the flower was situated in the direct center of the basin, not leaning toward any one of the mountain faces, so there was no way anyone would be able to make it out of the basin with the fruit alive. Among the three factions below, one of them was led by a pair of mountainous men who stood at over two meters tall, reminding Fang Che strongly of Mo Ganyun. They were both around twenty centimeters shorter than Mo Ganyun, but that was still enough for them to tower over the rest, and judging from their appearance, it seemed that they were brothers, while their auras indicated that they were eighth or ninth-rank Generals. The second group was led by a thin, middle-aged man who appeared to have been around forty years of age, while the leader of the third group was a familiar face. To Fang Che's astonishment, it was none other than the masked woman that he had fought against the day before, and at this moment, there were around three hundred people assembled behind her. Fang Che's jaw dropped straight to the ground. Hasn't she always been on her own? How are there suddenly so many people with her? Could it be that my proposal to forge an alliance made her realize the importance of having allies? How the hell am I supposed to take her spatial ring now? At this point, the battle in the basin had already concluded. The faction led by the middle-aged man had been defeated, and the Five Spirit Parasite of the victor was eagerly devouring the Five Spirit Parasite of the deceased. The victor returned to the masked woman's camp, clearly a member of her faction. A hint of disappointment appeared in the middle-aged man's eyes upon seeing this, and he declared, "I am Jiang Shangyun, the only son of Pope Jiang Yihe of the Moon Demon Church. I hereby swear on the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deity that I will bestow cultivation resources upon the clan of the brave warrior who just perished in battle on my behalf. “If I am unable to make it out of here alive, then all of my wealth will be given to my surviving comrades of the Moon Demon Church to be split evenly among the clans of those who perish in battle for me here." Fang Che found it absurd that Jiang Shangyun was swearing a vow here to try and win the trust of a bunch of demonic church members, but he was also aware that vows sworn upon the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deities were the most solemn vows that one could swear in the Church of the Self-Righteous. The people behind Jiang Shangyun remained unwavering in their support of him, and it was clear that his status as the only son of Pope Jiang Yihe was coming in very useful here. The two hulking men leading the other faction also stepped forward as they collectively vowed, "We, Lei Jiuxiao and Lei Jiutian, are sons to Pope Lei Mieshi of the Flame Demon Church. We hereby swear on the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deity..." Clearly, the leaders of the two factions were determined to get their hands on the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit at all costs. It was a win-win arrangement for both sides. For those fighting on behalf of the faction leaders, if they could secure victory, then they would be able to devour their opponent's Five Spirit Parasite. Additionally, they would be compensated handsomely for their efforts and curry the favor of their respective faction leaders. If they were defeated, then it would hardly matter, seeing as they come in here to kill or be killed anyway. At the very least, their clans had been promised compensation in the event of their death, so they wouldn't have died for nothing. Risk and reward always came hand in hand, and the latter could not be attained without incurring the former. In response to the solemn vows sworn by the other faction leaders, the masked woman declared, "I am Yan Beihan. I'm sure all of you have heard my name before. I'm not going to bother swearing any vows, but you can rest assured that you won't regret taking my side." A contemplative look appeared in Fang Che's eyes upon hearing the masked woman's name. He recalled that one of the deputy popes of the Church of the Self-Righteous had the Yan surname. At the time, he and his comrades had joked about catching this big bird and eating it someday, [1] but they knew that was nothing more than wishful thinking. For someone like a deputy pope of the Church of the Self-Righteous, even if they were on their last breath, mere Emperors like Fang Che and his comrades in his past life wouldn't have had a chance of laying even a finger on him. Sure enough, Yan Beihan had the unwavering support and trust of everyone behind her, even though she hadn't sworn a vow like the other faction leaders. A wry smile appeared on Lei Jiutian's face as he sighed, "Mistress Yan, there are countless precious natural treasures in the main church, why stoop to fighting with poor subsidiary church wretches like ourselves? Given your status, you could easily have whatever natural treasure you desire." Follow current novels on NoveIＦire.net "You say that as if Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit are just any natural treasure," Yan Beihan harrumphed. "I won't make things difficult for you, Lei Jiutian. As long as you swear a vow on behalf of your father that your Flame Demon Church will give me a Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit after we leave the Parasite Ascension Domain, I'll immediately back out. What do you say?" Lei Jiutian could only shake his head with a wry smile. Of course he didn't dare to make such a promise. He had only ever heard of Cloud Water Heavenly Fruits in the past, and not even his father had ever seen one before. This was most likely going to be the only one he would ever get to see, and he had no idea where he could possibly find another one. "Let's stop wasting time here! We've only had two rounds of the ten agreed-upon rounds of battles so far, so let's continue. Once the ten rounds of battle are over and ownership of the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit has been decided, the Parasite Ascension Project will resume as normal, but if anyone dares to step out of line before that, don't blame me for using the power of my clan against you!" An enlightened look appeared on Fang Che's face upon hearing this. No wonder all of these demonic church members were obediently following rules here, they were only doing so under duress from Yan Beihan! The majority of the new Generals entering the basin were trying to join her faction, but all those who weren't from the main church were turned away. She's setting this up to make it seem like she's competing for the fruit fair and square, but this was never fair to begin with! I thought these demonic church members simply resorted to violence for everything, but it seems like there's corruption everywhere! The next battle had already begun. This one was fought between representatives of the Moon Demon Church and the Flame Demon Church, and the two sides were evenly matched. However, the Moon Demon Church representative was extremely snide and cunning, using poison and hidden weapons to advantage to slay the opposing General. At the moment, Yan Beihan's faction was sitting on two victories, Jiang Shangyun's had a record of one win and one less, while the Lei Brothers' faction was ranked dead last with two losses. It was now the Flame Demon Church faction's turn to challenge Yan Beihan's faction, and Fang Che was watching with keen interest. The floral aroma in the air was becoming more and more fragrant, and everyone in the basin could feel their own mental power being enhanced just from inhaling this aroma alone. Even the little fairy in Fang Che's divine metal was unable to resist the temptation, working up the courage to appear atop Fang Che's head in an invisible and formless state to absorb the floral aroma. Meanwhile, many of the Generals in the basin were conversing with one another and making acquaintances. Even though they were all going to be at each other's throats once normal proceedings resumed, they could still be friends and allies outside of the special environment of the Parasite Ascension Project. All those who could survive the Parasite Ascension Project were going to be top-tier connections, and it was extremely rare to have an opportunity to chat safely in such a large gathering during the Parasite Ascension Project, so everyone was eager to capitalize. The majority of the Generals weren't going to be selected to take part in the battles on behalf of their factions anyway, so they may as well make use of the time they had been given. To everyone's surprise, the Flame Demon Church faction was able to earn its first victory. The General representing the main church had survived, but he had been defeated, and the shame on his face was plain for everyone to see. As a General of the main church, it was downright humiliating to have been defeated by a General of the same cultivation base from a subsidiary church! "Which department are you from?" Yan Beihan asked in a cold voice. "I'm from the Enforcement Altar," the General replied with a shameful expression. "Bei Mingxin taught you well!" Yan Beihan harrumphed coldly. The wounded General could only lower his head in a shameful manner, and he could see that he was no longer welcome here, so he departed from the basin altogether. A few of the other Generals in the valley held a brief discussion, then snuck out of the basin after the wounded General from the main church, and it didn't take long before the sounds of a battle began to ring out. Clearly, they had gone out to prey on the injured General. This served as a spark of inspiration for everyone. It wasn't like they were going to be able to reap any benefits here anyway, so why not go out to rob people? Generals were flocking here from all directions like moths to a flame, so there would be no shortage of targets. Before long, sounds of battle were ringing out from all directions outside the basin, and the numbers of the three factions in the basin were steadily dwindling. The Lei Brothers and Jiang Yunshang looked on in disdain at the people sneaking out of the basin. We gave you a chance, but you chose to pass it up, so don't blame us. 1. Yan (雁) translates to wild goose, hence the joke about Deputy Pope Yan being a big bird. ☜