"To start, we'll have you swear a vow of exclusive alliance to the Heavenly Centipede Deity. Everyone else we've recruited in here has also sworn the same vow, and if they try to join anyone else after joining us, their Five Spirit Parasites will kill them on the spot. If you've already agreed to forge an alliance with someone else, then you don't have to swear the vow." A wry smile appeared on Fang Che's face as he sighed, "Everyone in here has been trying to kill me, and no one's even spoken to me, so who could I possibly have forged an alliance with?" The six Generals erupted into laughter upon hearing this. Given how badly Fang Che had provoked everyone outside, they had no doubt he was telling the truth. "That's not true, Brother Night Demon, there have been people who've spoken to you in here," Ling Kong guffawed. "I'm sure you've heard phrases like 'Stop!' 'You're dead now!' and other things along those lines." Fang Che feigned an enraged expression as he glowered at everyone in indignation. Clearly, they were making jokes at his expense in an intentional effort to try and lighten the mood and integrate him into their group. "But my current appearance is not my true appearance," Fang Che revealed in a "candid" fashion. "I can't show you what I truly look like because Pope Yin has forbidden me from doing so. Is that alright?" "That's perfectly fine!" Ling Kong said in a carefree manner. "We just need to be able to contact you through our Five Spirit Parasites. We don't care what you look like, it's not like we're looking for a marriage partner!" Fang Che was quite relieved to hear this, but at the same time, it also felt like a waste to be concealing his handsome appearance. Thus, everyone began swearing vows in the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deity. Fang Che didn't know how to swear such vows, but all he had to do was follow their lead. Furthermore, he wasn't scared of the Heavenly Centipede Deity anyway. He had already completely tamed his Five Spirit Parasite into a submissive little bug, so it couldn't kill him even if it tried. After the vows were sworn, the seven of them immediately felt much more comfortable with one another. "How old are you, Brother Night Demon?" Ling Kong asked with a warm smile. A General at that age was already considered to be quite a prodigy, but not quite among the cream of the crop. "That's very impressive!" Ling Kong praised. "I'm also 23, while they're all a little younger than me. Now that you've eaten the Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, your future cultivation progress will surely be elevated." Based on his age, Fang Che naturally became the second brother of the group. With that, Fang Che was fully integrated into the group, and he asked, "That Yan Beihan from earlier, what's she all about?" A combination of fear, veneration, and admiration immediately appeared on the faces of Ling Kong and the others at the mention of Yan Beihan. "She's the top prodigy of our younger generation in the main church," Ling Kong replied. "She would've been completely untouchable among her peers in terms of cultivation base, but she was progressing too quickly, and she was forced to stall her own progress after reaching the ninth-rank General tier last year. “It couldn't be helped as the Parasite Ascension Project is only held once every three years, and anyone that wants to make it up the ranks must take part in the project. Otherwise, given her rate of progression, she would've most likely already reached the Warlord tier by now." "That's insane!" Fang Che exclaimed. It seemed that this Yan Beihan was truly an exceptional prodigy. "That's only a conservative estimate too," Ling Kong said with a wry smile. "Now that you've taken her Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit, make sure to avoid her at all costs. If she comes after you, we'll have no choice but to abandon you. She's not someone we can afford to mess with." Fang Che was very surprised to hear this. "What's her background?" "You've heard of Master Yan Nan, the second-in-line deputy pope of our main church, right?" "I have not," Fang Che replied. That wasn't a lie, he truly hadn't heard of Yan Nan. Even in his past life, he hadn't heard of the pope or any of the deputy popes of the Church of the Self-Righteous. Figures of that status only appeared once in a blue moon, performing some incredible feat of power before disappearing for centuries and millennia at a time, so unless they just so happened to have made a recent public appearance, they were very rarely brought up. An awkward look appeared on Ling Kong's face. Clearly, he hadn't expected Fang Che to be so clueless. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI~Fire.net "Master Yan Nan made some type of breakthrough in his cultivation some years ago, and that somehow inspired him to take a concubine," Ling Kong explained. "How old is he?" Fang Che asked in a stunned manner. "A few thousand years old? Over ten thousand? Who knows?" Ling Kong replied with an awkward expression. "In any case, all of his previous descendants had already passed away up to that point, but he was able to restart his bloodline through this concubine." "Don't laugh!" Ling Kong snapped. "Yan Beihan is the eldest daughter of the eldest son of Master Yan Nan's granddaughter. Even though she's very young, she's an extremely senior figure in our main church. Even my grandpa's grandpa's grandpa's ancestor's ancestor... have to call her Mistress Yan!" Fang Che almost laughed out loud. He was able to suppress his laughter, but only just barely. "Don't laugh! What I'm trying to tell you is that you're in a world of trouble now that you've gotten on her bad side! At the moment, both the pope and the first-in-line deputy pope are constantly cultivating in seclusion, so Deputy Pope Yan is the one currently calling the shots!" "Alright, alright, I won't laugh. How old is she? Fifty? Sixty?" Fang Che asked. "She's only nineteen this year!" Ling Kong snapped with a displeased glare, as if Fang Che had just insulted his goddess. Fang Che was quite taken aback. "She's only nineteen? In that case, that Cloud Water Heavenly Fruit shouldn't be all that appealing to her." "A natural treasure of this caliber is something that can only just barely catch her eye, but that's not the point. The problem is that you took it from her rather than her voluntarily gifting it to you!" "You don't understand women," Ling Kong said in a meaningful and heartfelt voice as he patted Fang Che on the shoulder. "What does that have to do with anything?" "You don't understand how women think. She can not want something, but you can't not offer to give it to her. She can give something to you, but you can't take it without permission. It's all complicated." "Brother Night Demon is at the age where he should be getting familiar with women, so I'm sure he'll learn very quickly once we get out of here," Lu Yuan jibed. Knowing smirks instantly appeared on everyone's faces upon hearing this. "If she's so scary, why are you still forging an alliance with me?" Fang Che asked. "We'll only help you deal with other people. If we run into her, then I'm afraid you're all on your own. Even if she kills you, we can't do anything about it," Ling Kong said in a candid fashion. "In addition to Yan Beihan, there are quite a few others that we also can't afford to mess with, but you most likely won't die if you run into them, and they'll probably try to recruit you as well. Hence, the only one who poses a real threat to you in here is Yan Beihan," Lu Yuan said. "That's Mistress Yan to you!" Ling Kong snapped. "Ah, yes, yes, sorry, I misspoke just now," Lu Yuan hurriedly apologized. "You mentioned just now that I'll be receiving some benefits from our alliance. May I ask what those benefits will be?" Fang Che asked. Ling Kong was quite pleased to hear this question. Even though it was a little self-centered and greedy, only those who were constantly trying to secure benefits for themselves could hope to make it far up the ranks. "So here's my plan: we don't need to kill any more people, while your objective is a top-three finish. Now that we've forged an alliance, the higher the rank that you secure, the useful you'll be to all of us in the future. Hence, we'll help you kill people!" Ling Kong declared, and his five companions nodded in agreement. "You're going to help me kill people?" "That's right. If we encounter any Generals from the subsidiary churches, we'll attack them using hidden weapons, but we won't kill them, and we'll leave them for you to deliver the final blow," Ling Kong replied. "That... sounds too good to be true!" Fang Che exclaimed. "Of course, we're not going to help you for nothing. We get to claim all of the belongings of your victims as our spoils. Deal?" "Sure, but this still sounds too good to be true to me." "That's because you don't know anything about how the Parasite Ascension Project works!" Ling Kong scoffed. "The majority of the past champions and top-ten finishers had the backing and assistance of Generals from the main church." Fang Che was at a loss for words. Never had he imagined that there were all of these secret arrangements being made behind the scenes, but this served to benefit him, so he certainly wasn't going to complain. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Fang Che said in an eager manner. "Before we go, there are some things that we have to lay out in advance. Over a half a month has already passed, and at this point, the Generals left will all be rather difficult to deal with. Among them, there will definitely be people who've already been recruited by other parties. “If we encounter anyone that has the backing of another party, both of our parties will stand by and watch while you two fight on a one-on-one basis. Does that make sense?"