Chapter 77: Preparations for Battle

After agreeing with Lei Xiao to retrieve the Earth Spirit Pill in the evening, Su Che returned to the Spirit Herb Garden. As he passed by Manager Chen’s courtyard, he happened to see Manager Chen coming out along with a disciple. Upon spotting Su Che, Manager Chen was clearly stunned for a moment before forcing a smile.
“Manager Chen,” Su Che greeted him casually.
“Su Che, back from your training?”
“Yes, Manager Chen.”
“Was everything smooth?”
“Pretty much.”
After a few polite exchanges, Su Che took his leave. Manager Chen’s expression darkened as he stared at Su Che’s retreating figure, muttering to himself, “He returned unharmed. Could it be that Zheng Jun didn’t find him?”
Manager Chen hadn’t expected Zheng Jun, who was already at the later stage of Qi Cultivation, to be defeated by Su Che, who was only at the early stage. In the world of cultivation, battles between such vastly different levels basically had no chance of the weaker side winning…
Su Che entered his thatched cottage, sighing inwardly, “Zheng Jun’s disappearance can’t be hidden for long. Conflict with the Chen family is inevitable. How annoying.”
Lao He reassured him, “Unless you’re willing to be an unremarkable person and stay low-key your whole life, troubles will always find you.”
To avoid envy meant being mediocre—a point Su Che agreed with. He thought further, “Just now, it seems Manager Chen didn’t recognize my true cultivation level. This means our Spirit Concealment technique can fool cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage.”
“Yes, I felt the same,” Lao He replied. “It would be even better if it could deceive cultivators at the Golden Core stage as well.”
Hiding his true cultivation level to deceive opponents was undoubtedly advantageous for Su Che. It was still uncertain, however, just how effective the Spirit Concealment technique created by Lao He and Xianyu was…
After taking a short rest, Su Che went to the second-floor herb garden to fulfill his duties as a Spirit Herb Physician, using Xianyu’s warm energy to treat several sick herbs.
Artificially cultivated herbs were prone to illness because the human-created living environment altered their natural survival patterns. Even subtle factors could cause individual herbs or entire groups of them to fall ill or die.
Previously, only the garden elders could handle such treatments, but with Su Che around, their workload was reduced. As a result, most of the garden’s disciple managers respected Su Che, the Spirit Herb Physician, greatly.

Of course, such a peculiar ability could also arouse the greed of some people. Manager Chen was a perfect example; for him, replacing Su Che as the Herbal Physician meant his status at Mysterious Peak would rise further, earning him more attention from the sect, and it could even play a crucial role in his future advancement to the Golden Core stage.

By the time night fell, Su Che still hadn’t seen Linglong in the herb garden and didn’t know where she had gone. But it didn’t really matter. If he saw her, it would just be a matter of reporting, “I’m back. I’ll be going out again in a few days…”

That night, he went to Lei Xiao and successfully obtained 85 Earth Spirit Pills. However, Su Che felt this amount was far from enough for his own consumption. The intense training in the underground fire veins of the Yin Wind Gorge had led to remarkable progress in his cultivation, but the cost was four Earth Spirit Pills per day. If he went into seclusion for half a year, he would need at least 700 pills—a huge sum that the Lei family surely couldn’t afford.

More importantly, trading herbs with the Lei family couldn’t be too frequent; going overboard could easily lead to unforeseen problems.

So, how could he obtain hundreds of Earth Spirit Pills while staying low-key and unnoticed?

This question really stumped Su Che, as he couldn’t come up with any good solution.

Another day passed, and Lei Xiao sent a message token to arrange a meeting with Su Che. As soon as they met, Lei Xiao blurted out, “Someone has set up a betting pool with a 2-to-1 payout. I’ve bet 300 spirit stones on you. If you win, I can get back 600 spirit stones… My friend, tell me the truth—can I really get back 600 spirit stones, right?”

“A 2-to-1 payout?” Su Che murmured. “So most people don’t think I have a chance?”

“Of course not,” Lei Xiao nodded. “Many people still don’t know you’ve already reached the third level of Qi Cultivation. Besides, Fat Song is a veteran at that level, with strong support from Zhen Lan of Mysterious Peak. It’s more likely he’ll win.”

Su Che nodded and then took out a bag of spirit stones, stuffing it into Lei Xiao’s hands. “This is 1,000 spirit stones. Bet on me winning. You handle the bet for me.”

“1,000? You kid really knows how to play!” Lei Xiao grinned. “Now I’m confident. Since you’re willing to bet 1,000, I’ll… add another 200!”

Su Che smiled. He wasn’t too concerned about such a small-scale bet. Of course, with his and Fat Song’s low cultivation levels and their status as unknown figures in the Tianxuan Sect, it was impossible for them to attract big bets.

However, if it were possible to make those guys from Tianwu Peak lose both battles and money, it would indeed be quite satisfying.
Lei Xiao grabbed his bag of spirit stones and vanished in a flash, leaving no trace of where he went to place his bets. Su Che thought to himself, “In this duel, the loser will have to automatically give up their status as outer sect disciples and leave Tianxuan Sect. Then, the debt Jiang Chen owes can be repaid to me.”
What debt? A debt of life!
“Hahaha…” Lao He laughed. “This is a fight with no suspense at all. But master, don’t rush to kill Jiang Chen. First, send him to the Immortal Prison so that I, Lao He, can take good care of him. He needs to suffer through all three thousand tortures several times.”
“No suspense?”
Su Che smiled slightly. “There’s no suspense for us, but for them, I want to make certain people’s eyes go blind and their jaws drop in shock. I don’t want to handle this lightly.”
Since it involved Jiang Chen, Su Che believed that only through drastic measures could he live up to the name ‘Su Che’ and honor the lingering spirit of the previous owner of this body.
Cultivators place great emphasis on karma and inner demons, especially in matters like reincarnation through a borrowed body. This meant owing a significant debt to that ‘Su Che’—things that needed to be done for him had to be taken seriously.
Karma was not some abstract concept; Su Che clearly felt that his resentment toward Jiang Chen was rather abnormal. To be precise, he only felt aversion and hostility toward Jiang Chen mentally, yet his body was filled with intense resentment—what people call deep-seated hatred.
Only by avenging his life-threatening grievance could this deep-seated resentment be completely dispelled, according to Su Che.
That afternoon, Yu Qing found Su Che and examined him carefully before nodding and saying, “No signs of pre-battle tension. You seem in good form.”
Su Che prepared tea for Yu Qing, his expression calm. “They’re not worth making me nervous.”
“Is that confidence or underestimating them?” Yu Qing asked with a smile. In fact, he was also curious about Su Che’s rapid progress, rising to the third level of Qi Cultivation in less than half a year.
“Not underestimating them, I hope?” Su Che’s smile was bright. “I really can’t imagine what kind of difficulties they could pose to me.”
As they spoke, Su Che and Lao He also confirmed that Senior Brother Yu Qing couldn’t discern their true cultivation level either.

Yu Qing nodded and still reminded him, “Because of me, Zhen Lan attaches great importance to this duel, and it has also dragged you into this… As far as I know, she will definitely provide Song the Fat and his companion with some special items, so you need to stay vigilant.”
“Okay,” Su Che nodded calmly.
“If you need anything, just tell me,” Yu Qing said seriously. “Actually, I don’t care about the outcome of this fight. Even if you lose, I don’t think it will cause any loss of face for me. But the stakes you’ve set are too high—the loser will have to leave the sect. I must consider your future.”
“Thank you, senior brother,” Su Che felt warmth in his heart and thanked him sincerely. “Please rest assured, senior brother. I’m well-prepared and confident in handling any unexpected situations.”
“That’s good.”
Yu Qing nodded, fell silent for a while, looking quite thoughtful. After finishing his tea, he got up and left.
“Master, your senior brother Yu Qing seems to be burdened with many worries,” Lao He warned in a deep voice. “I can sense that the power hidden within him has shown some fluctuations—something unusual.”
“Yes, I also feel something off,” Su Che agreed. “The Yu Qing I saw today seemed to be enveloped in a heavy burden…”