Novel Full Chapter 339 - The Church
Two months passed since the trio appeared on the eastern continent. They are having a peaceful life.
They don't have to deal with any arrogant young masters or any scheming old men. Sam is still unconscious. But his body showed some changes, the black patches are receding slowly but steadily and his complexion also got a lot better.
They are leading a pretty uneventful life.
The only thing that interested them in this boring routine is that there is a religion that entered the city.
It is called the 'Church of Guide.' There are surprisingly many people that are joining the church and most of them are the cultivators.
The weird thing is, this church appeared out of nowhere, but according to the news they heard from a trading union, this church appeared in all the villages and almost all the major cities in past two weeks.
There are an awful lot of people who joined this church and the number only seemed increasingly high.
There is even a rumor that, in a particular village, every single person became a follower of this church. That included the village-head, the guards, and even the street thugs. they became devout followers overnight.
Every church member wears a white robe and they travel in groups advocating their religion.
There is no certain hierarchy that was known to the public yet, but one thing they do know is that there is not a single person who came to contact with the church and came out like a normal person, every single person who came into contact with them will become a follower.
At first, the authorities didn't take seriously, only after they saw more than half of the villages are under the church's control and the rest are joining at a rapid pace.
The emperor was probably the last person to know about this church.
And there is a reason for that.
The church started as discreetly as possible and the operations of recruiting more people ran even more discreetly.
It all began in villages and soon slowly spread to the small cities and now within two months it already reached the Dukedom capital.
The city suddenly became chaotic. Every commoner in the slums who is supposed to be a non-cultivator has now become a cultivator and all of them became church followers. The only silver lining for the authorities is that being the church follower only seemed symbolic and there is nothing they have to do as a follower.
Every person is carrying on with their same daily routine
The same thing happened in all the empires of the other three continents except there is a small anomaly.
In the western continent. The Church activities are not able to spread at the same pace as the remaining three continents.
Because the people behind the church are having a hard time with the presence of the communication network.
Due to the presence of the communication network, there is nothing that was being hidden. The news is traveling fast and wide, so they cannot take any big movements even within the remote villages.
So, they opted for a different plan. At first, they started making people join individually, there are no mass gatherings or no large rituals. After making every individual within their target group join them, they started forcefully cutting the communication networks off.
Just like that five villages were isolated from the rest of the world in the first week.
In the same week, the other continent's church groups are already done with almost all villages.
But the church didn't give up, they felt that there is nothing wrong and proceeded with the same plan and by the end of two weeks, which is the present-day they are done with another fifteen villages, while the other continent's church spread to the Dukedom capitals.
The difference in progress was huge, but there are some internal reasons for that.
As they were thinking about proceeding further, they didn't know that the emperor of the western continent already started looking for the information regarding those twenty-one villages.
That is also due to the presence of the communication network.
Sam has created two major network hubs and one of them is in Sam's city and another one is in the Imperial Capital.
Both the hubs got a notification as soon as the communication networks are blocked inside these villages, at first, the operators didn't think much. They only felt that there is a problem with the tower and sent the necessary technicians.
But after two weeks the blockages only increased and the people who are sent to repair the problems disappeared with no way to contact.
On this day, while the trio is feeling wary of the church in the eastern continent and Sirona who finished her trip over the western continent is returning to Sam's city, Arc sent troops to the twenty-one villages that have their connections blocked.
There are twenty-one teams led by twenty-one Nascent stage cultivators as each team headed to each village.
While Arc is worrying about the anomaly in the twenty-one villages, there is another problem that knocked on his door and that is the people from the pharmaceutical tower are starting a dispute within Sam's network.
They are suddenly demanding to increase their share in the profits and are claiming that they are being underrated. They brought this issue to the emperor directly, who is waiting for the news from the troops he deployed.
The imperial court.
There are four people who are sitting in the guest seats while the emperor is in his own chair.
The four people are none other than the former tower heads of the four major towers of Orion.
The Pharmaceutical tower head is sitting on one side alone while the other three are sitting opposite him.
"I need the pharmaceutical tower shares in profits to increase by five percent. We are suffering a great loss in the hands of the other three professions."
The Pharmaceutical tower head said in an extremely solemn tone.
"What do you mean loss? The whole network is mainly working based on our three professions, while the pharmaceutical tower is only taking part in the business and administration. Our three professions are overseeing the manufacturing, maintenance, transportation, and all the other services.
Just how do you think you are suffering a loss?"
"What do you mean by saying we are only responsible for business and administration? You seem to have forgotten the employee welfare. We are the ones supplying the necessary pills and potions for all the employees and also, we have to provide rare herbs and medicines in the merit exchange.
Although, we are making money from the things that are selling and getting a fair share from them, everything else that is going for the employee welfare and merit exchange is not fair exchanges at all.
We are losing a lot of money."
The argument went on back and forth and so on, they completely forgot that they are in the emperor's presence.
They completely started hurling curses at each other and the whole thing is almost out of hands.
After more than an hour of chaos, the artisan tower head loudly declared.
"Old man, you can dream about getting a higher share in profits all you want, there is no way we are going to let you take our share of profits."
The pharmaceutical tower head snorted in contempt as he replied.
"If you are not going to give out your share, so be it. There is still Sam's share. We will take it out of that."
The atmosphere turned solemn as soon as he said these words, he is looking at the emperor from the corner of his eyes.
Arc finally understood, what this old fox is up to. His main aim is Sam's share from the start.
He gritted his teeth in anger as he said.
"Sam is currently not here. How can you decide?"
"I think the emperor should ask Sam about this after making a visit to the thunder god temple. Don't worry, our pharmaceutical tower will bear the expenses of the trip."
Arc frowned. He was still thinking about how to handle the situation about Sam's disappearance, but now these guys are in an even more hurry to confirm Sam's disappearance.
Once they confirm his disappearance, there is no way for them to stay amiably in the network. The whole organization is going to be torn apart into pieces.
He thought long and hard for a movement and took a deep breath before saying.
"I will be visiting the thunder god temple. But not right now. I have an issue at hand at the moment and I need to deal with it as soon as I can.
I will inform you back in ten days until them I expect you to maintain the whole organization peacefully.
If you guys are having problems with dealing and another dispute arises, I believe the tower heads of the Imperial Capital, will be more than happy enough to take care of the organization while you guys step down and sort out your issues before taking your positions back."