Chapter 140: Flee for Your Life

Su Che dared to walk among the myriad ghosts not only because he had certain advantages and was not afraid of being possessed by spirits, but also because the dense crowd of ghosts obscured sight and perception from those in the distance, allowing him to avoid being noticed by those Golden Core cultivators.
As for the surviving Foundation Establishment cultivators nearby, it didn’t matter if they saw him—they were already on the verge of death and wouldn’t last long; their belongings would become his loot.
The gloomy wind howled, and the ghosts screamed…
Bang!
A few dozen feet away, another cultivator collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony—the torment of his soul being torn apart was unimaginable.
Before he could die completely, Su Che passed by and took his Qi Bag and fallen magical artifacts.
The man’s eyes widened, filled with pleading, as his remaining consciousness tried to send silent cries for help to Su Che.
“I’m sorry, but in such circumstances, I can only think of myself,” Su Che said softly.
Those eyes slowly closed…
“One must have a heart of stone on the path of cultivation,” Su Che sighed inwardly, forcing himself not to show unnecessary mercy.
“Master, this is a demonic cultivator—there’s no need to pity him,” Lao He, who was busy capturing spirits, reminded him.
“Yes, compared to ordinary people, cultivators are already very lucky—no need for pity,” Su Che said, looking up at the exit of the market hundreds of feet away before slowly heading that way.
Although he wasn’t entirely afraid of these lower-level spirits, the massive array of ghosts created immense pressure, preventing Su Che from moving quickly. Every step felt like carrying an enormous burden, as if stuck in mud, forcing him to advance slowly.
Bang! Bang! Bang…
As Su Che moved slowly, more cultivators collapsed, as if his aura of death stripped away their last glimmer of hope.
In truth, these cultivators’ deaths were somewhat related to Su Che—after all, they were already struggling, their defenses on the verge of collapse. Seeing such an unusual monster like Su Che surely shook their minds. That slight shock became the final straw that brought them down…

To get rid of this massive array as soon as possible, Su Che couldn’t go around collecting others’ belongings; he could only pick them up along the way whenever he encountered them, never wasting time for wealth. Because if he didn’t escape now, once everyone was dead and the myriad ghosts disappeared, he would surely be discovered by those two Golden Core cultivators who committed the crime. Remember, they weren’t just two people—they had a hundred subordinates at the Foundation Establishment stage.
“A hundred subordinates at the Foundation Establishment stage?”
Realizing this, Su Che finally understood just how formidable this force was! If there were a few more Golden Core cultivators and even an Origin Soul stage ancestor leading them, they could immediately form a large sect in the cultivation world.
Was such a powerful force undertaking this action just to take revenge on others?
Su Che believed the truth couldn’t be that simple—there must be some huge conspiracy or plan behind it. He absolutely couldn’t get entangled in this mess without reason; he had to get out quickly to save his life.
Moving slowly and occasionally collecting others’ belongings, Su Che also took the time to communicate with Lao He: “Lao He, I feel my luck isn’t very good. No matter where I go, I either encounter great fortune or great disaster—it’s hard to have a peaceful moment…”
“Master, this is your fate,” Lao He replied. “Turning misfortune into good fortune, turning disasters into blessings… these are all signs of fate, indicating that you are someone with great fortune.”
“If fate really exists in this world, it must be something given to me by the Immortal Prison…”
Su Che thought to himself, “Originally, I was just an ordinary person. It was because of a catastrophic disaster that I obtained the Immortal Prison Pagoda, and since then, I’ve had fate?”
Before Lao He could answer, there was a cry, “Two ghost guards have entered! I need to focus on capturing them—I can’t talk anymore…”
Bang! Bang! Bang…
Su Che’s footsteps sounded as heavy as those of ancient beasts, but fortunately, they were completely drowned out by the noise of the myriad ghosts roaring. Step by step, he got closer to the exit of the market.
Bang! Bang! Bang…
With less than fifty zhang left to the exit, Su Che suddenly collapsed to the ground with a thud and then remained motionless, completely lifeless.
This was because, just then, the roar of the myriad ghosts suddenly ceased, and the crushing pressure vanished. Su Che realized the massive array had stopped rotating, so he immediately lay down and pretended to be dead.
Whoosh…

Thousands of ghosts rose into the air, leaving only corpses scattered across the market. Everyone except Su Che was dead.
After a few breaths, someone reported loudly, “Reporting to the Demon Master: Out of seventy thousand evil spirits, over thirty thousand remain; all living beings in the market are dead!”
“These worthless cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage are even worse than I thought. More than four hundred of them were killed by seventy thousand low-level evil spirits, yet still over thirty thousand remain,” came the deep voice of the Black Fiend from afar.
“Black Fiend, I don’t like hearing that,” said the red-bearded old man. “You don’t praise my Great Heaven-Shielding Formation but call them worthless. Are you implying I’m also worthless?”
“Haha, Brother Red Beard, no need to be so sensitive,” replied the Black Fiend with a laugh. “I was just talking casually; I didn’t consider all this at all.”
The red-bearded old man grunted in response and said nothing more.
The fact that these two were still alive meant that the three Golden Core cultivators guarding the market were either dead or had escaped. It also showed that this group had planned this for a long time, launching a devastating attack that left no chance for the “Jinghun Ridge Market” to recover.
At this moment, Su Che, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead, had already noticed that hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators had landed and were collecting the belongings of the dead. Along the way, Su Che had gathered the belongings of at least dozens of people. Such obvious anomalies couldn’t be hidden from them, so he prepared to break through.
Sure enough, soon after, several people reported loudly, “Reporting to the Demon Master: The belongings of several dead people here have disappeared completely, as if someone else picked them up first.”
“Reporting to the Demon Master, the same thing here…”
The Black Fiend hovered high in the air. Based on the positions of his subordinates, he quickly mapped out a route in his mind, then silently flew toward the exit.
“That old fellow is really cunning!” Lao He guessed his intentions and warned in time, “Master, let’s break through! We can’t hide any longer.”
“The moment to test our fate has arrived!”
Su Che had no confidence in escaping under the watchful eyes of a Golden Core cultivator. But even without confidence, he had to try—he couldn’t just surrender.
Whoosh!
Like an arrow released from a bow, Su Che shot upward, raised the jade dish mid-air, and dashed out of the market’s exit.
“Good kid, quite slick—you managed to survive this.”

Watching his back, Hei Sha Lao Gui smiled faintly and called out, “Brother Chi Xu, I’ll go after him. You lead the others to clean up the scene and withdraw as soon as possible.” The old man with red beard, whose whereabouts were unknown, replied faintly, and then Hei Sha Lao Gui calmly chased in the direction Su Che had left. Earlier, Hei Sha Lao Gui had already seen clearly that Su Che was just a young man in the early stages of the Foundation Establishment phase. With such cultivation level, it was impossible for him to escape his pursuit. That’s why Hei Sha Lao Gui hadn’t used any flying magic artifacts from the start, relying instead on his own cultivation to fly quickly. However, after flying for a while, he realized that the boy’s flying speed was quite extraordinary—even among cultivators in the later stages of Foundation Establishment, it could be considered top-tier. Recalling the jade disc the boy used to fly on, Hei Sha Lao Gui muttered, “Not bad magic artifact…” Of course, this “not bad” was only in comparison to cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage. As a Golden Core cultivator like himself, he could already control magic artifacts at the “treasure” level, so he certainly wouldn’t be envious of Su Che’s jade disc. Thus, Hei Sha Lao Gui took out a black, leaf-shaped flying magic artifact and accelerated it sharply, doubling his speed. Ahead, Su Che pushed the jade disc to its limit, using all his speed. Although he couldn’t see Hei Sha Lao Gui behind him yet, he knew that with the other’s cultivation level, it would only take a blink for him to catch up. “That old fellow is at least at the middle stage of Golden Core. This time, things are really troublesome.” In the Immortal Prison, Lao Hei was also at a loss but dared not speak casually and disturb his master. Last time in the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm, he was able to kill a Asura at the Golden Core stage thanks to the special effect of the Mi Immortal Flag, which summoned the immense power of the entire realm to instantly kill that Asura. But today, in this normal world, the Mi Immortal Flag was just a useless flag—less effective even than a sixth-grade pill. Therefore, both Lao Hei and Su Che were equally anxious: “How can we resolve this crisis? Could it be that we can only rely on that elusive concept of fate?” Initially, Su Che planned to use the power of the Earth-Diving Pill to escape underground, but then he realized that Hei Sha Lao Gui, being a Golden Core cultivator, must also know the art of earth diving. After all, the earth diving skills of Golden Core cultivators are genuine divine arts, far beyond something as inferior as the Earth-Diving Pill. It was better to rely on flying, as it would allow him to fly farther and perhaps encounter other chances to escape.

Su Che chose to flee towards the remote areas under the jurisdiction of the Wan Gui Sect. He believed that since the Black Fiend was an enemy of the Wan Gui Sect, the closer he was to the sect, the greater his chances of escaping. After all, the spiritual energy fluctuations he created were indistinguishable from those of the Wan Gui Sect’s disciples, so it was possible for him to pretend to be one of them for a short time…