Dawnless Sovereign-Chapter 74: Collective Admiration

"There's a bright side to all of this?" Zhao Wushang asked with a puzzled expression.

"Of course there is, you idiot!" Starlight snapped. "Even if we're going to kill our own people, we don't have to kill everyone! There are always going to be some who are useful to us or useful to your clans, or are acquaintances and friends of yours. We can't just kill them as well! Those people have to be preserved, both to vouch for us and to bolster our forces in the future. Is that not a bright side to look at?"

Everyone's eyes lit up with renewed hope.

Indeed, not all of the people that were going to be sent after them were necessarily enemies. Some of them could be allies as well!

"I can't believe I'm standing here thinking for your sake after all of you have just screwed me over like this! I must either be a saint, or I was indebted to all of you in my past life!" Starlight sighed.

Everyone's faces became flushed with embarrassment, and they were eager to hear what else Starlight had to say.

"So what should we do from here, Helmsmaster?"

"All of you need to go out and scout for allies. If you see someone that you don't want to kill for whatever reason, whether it be that they come from a powerful clan, or are acquaintances of yours, or whatever... Recruit them to our side! Arrange them an identity in the Mountain Moving Sect and have them become an armed escort at our agency. That way, they'll be in the same boat as us."

Everyone's eyes instantly lit up once again.

"That's genius! You're a genius, Helmsmaster!"

"Don't start celebrating too soon!" Starlight scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not just going to accept anyone into my branch helm. All of them have to swear the same vows of loyalty to me in the name of the Heavenly Centipede Deity as all of you did.

“Otherwise, I have no qualms about killing them, especially now that I'm going to be labeled a traitor of the main church anyway! If you recruit someone that's too powerful for me to kill and refuses to swear a vow of loyalty to me, then I'm just going to abandon this branch helm and leave it to all of you."

"That's definitely not going to happen, Helmsmaster! We wouldn't recruit someone like that to our branch helm!" everyone promised.

"Additionally, I need to report to Pope Yin that this was a collective decision made by all of us with the objective of infiltrating the Hall of Protectionists. The goal is to give our branch helm a veneer of legitimacy and heroism so that it can firmly establish itself in the White Cloud Prefecture.

“Once that happens, we'll be able to shelter our own people from the Hall of Protectionists. Not only should we not be punished, we deserve to be rewarded for such a courageous undertaking!"

"That's brilliant!" everyone praised in unison.

Somehow, Starlight had just turned a dire situation into one with a multitude of benefits!

"However, let me make this clear in advance: everyone that you recruit into our branch helm has to follow the law. If even one of them breaks the law and is exposed to be a demonic church member, the entire branch helm will go down with them!"

"You can leave that to us, Helmsmaster!" Zheng Yunqi assured with a determined look in his eyes. "We'll ensure that everyone we recruit swears upon the Heavenly Centipede Deity to follow the laws of the White Cloud Prefecture, and we'll make them memorize the legal code just as we did! We'll test them every single day, and anyone who fails will be hung upside-down and whipped!

“We can't allow those law-breakers and troublemakers to ruin our branch helm! Everyone who comes to our branch helm will have to stick to the straight and narrow and earn money through carrying out escort assignments. If anyone dares to step out of line, we'll make sure to teach them a lesson that they won't forget anytime soon!"

Everyone was brimming with determination and resolve.

"Good," Starlight praised. "Once our branch helm is firmly established as a positive role model for the entire prefecture, even if any of you decide to leave, you can come back anytime. If you're ever in any trouble, just come here, and we'll send you out on an escort assignment. No one will be able to catch you then!"

At this point, everyone was positively buzzing with excitement.

In their eyes, Starlight had just performed a miracle, transforming a hopeless situation into one of immense benefit to everyone!

"Now that I've gotten all of the positives out of the way, we have to face some of the harsher realities of our situation," Starlight continued. "If the Hall of Protectionists is going to forcibly make us a positive role model, then we have to live up to that status, and some people must die! Otherwise, why would the Hall of Protectionists trust us?

“If the Hall of Protectionists discovers that we're intentionally being uncooperative or even sheltering people from the main church, then we're going to be attacked from both sides, and if that happens, even the gods won't be able to save us!"

"We understand, Helmsmaster!"

"If it comes down to it, we'll sacrifice even ourselves for the greater good of the branch helm!"

"You've already done us a massive kindness, thinking of all of these ideas for us after we caused so much trouble for you! It's only right that we reciprocate you with everything that we have!"

"So what if we have to kill a few people? All of them are heinous bastards anyway! If we're going to be a positive role model for the Hall of Protectionists, then it's only right that we kill them!"

Everyone had already stood up from their chairs in celebration, but Starlight was still pacing back and forth with his brows tightly furrowed in contemplation.

Everyone watched as he paced back and forth with puzzled expressions.

Isn't the problem resolved now? What else is there to think about?

"It feels like I've covered all my bases, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm forgetting something," Starlight mused with tightly furrowed brows.

Everyone became even more perplexed.

Forgetting something? What? Isn't this already a perfect plan?

However, Starlight was still in deep thought, and he was clearly very agitated.

Zhao Wushang and the others also began thinking about what he could've possibly missed.

They were all determined to think of what Starlight had missed in order to assuage his unease. He had already thought of everything else for them, and if they couldn't even help him here, then they would truly be useless.\

Some time later, Zheng Yunqi's eyes abruptly lit up as he exclaimed, "I've got it!"

"What is it?" everyone asked as they turned to him with excited expressions.

"The only loose end that we haven't accounted for are the branch helms of the other factions!" Zheng Yunqi declared.

Starlight's eyes also lit up with realization upon hearing this.

"You're right!"

"Right now, the Hall of Protectionists thinks that we're on their side, and the new people that we recruit into our escort agency in the future will be aware that we're a One Heart Church branch helm, but they'll all swear vows of secrecy in the Heavenly Centipede Deity, so we don't have to worry about them betraying us," Zheng Yunqi analyzed. "Hence, the only people who could potentially betray us are the helmsmasters and their subordinates that came with us on that night. As our branch helm expands, their territory and status will inevitably be negatively impacted, so there's a very good chance that they could report us to the Hall of Protectionists. "

Everyone collectively shuddered at this chilling thought.

"Surely the other helmsmasters wouldn't dare to report us," Starlight mused. "Given those letters that you sent back to your clans, if anything happens to any of you, the helmsmasters will immediately become the prime suspects."

"Be that as it may, but it's never a good idea to leave one's fate in the hands of others," Zheng Yunqi countered. "Even if they're wary of retaliation from our clans, we can't just rely on that to keep ourselves safe. The fact of the matter is that they're potential threats, and potential threats must be eliminated!"

"Brother Zheng is right, Helmsmaster!" Zhao Wushang chimed in in support. "Those branch helms pose far too much of a risk for all of us!"

Having been brought up in the Church of the Self-Righteous, they had all been taught from a young age that any potential threats to their own safety had to be eliminated as soon as possible.

Hence, it was absolutely unacceptable to them that they were at the mercy of a bunch of lowly helmsmasters from the main church's subsidiary factions!

The more hesitant Starlight appeared, the more agitated everyone became.

"This is no time for hesitation, Helmsmaster! We have to act now!"

"I have to consult with Pope Yin about this," Starlight said with tightly furrowed brows. "Blatantly lashing out at allied branch helms is a major transgression. If the southeastern headquarters finds out..."

"You can't report something like this, Helmsmaster! You have to act first, then report after the event!" Zhao Wushang yelled in an urgent manner.