Chapter 188: Cutting Down Another Person

Based on the map of the Arctic Sea, Su Che determined what he believed to be the most reasonable route. At present, after traveling another ten thousand li, they would be able to leave the sea area and return to the inland.
Prolonged flight could cause a sense of numbness in one’s mind, especially when the surroundings remained unchanged—no matter how one flew, it was always just sea and sky…
Su Che was even feeling drowsy when suddenly he heard Lao He warning him again, “Master, there’s something behind us.”
Turning his head, Su Che saw three small black dots appearing on the distant horizon. They were too far away to make out clearly at first…
But their flying speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, they became visible—three people!
“With such speed, they must be Golden Core cultivators!”
Without hesitation, Su Che immediately changed course to a vertical dive, plunging headfirst into the sea.
Even though he hadn’t yet seen their clothing or determined whether they were from the Taiyi Sect, Su Che had long planned how to handle such situations and never relied on luck.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A few moments later, the three Golden Core cultivators arrived. One of them asked, “Can you see him clearly? Is it him?”
The other two shook their heads, “They’re too far away. We can’t make out his appearance.”
When Su Che entered the water, they were still ten li away, and it was indeed difficult to see clearly with the naked eye.
The person who had been using a tracking compass scanned the area carefully before saying, “There are no signs of anyone else flying at high speed within a hundred li. It’s probably him!”
“I’ll go down and pull him out. You stay in the air and keep watch.”
With that, he also dived into the sea.
On the deep sea floor, Su Che hid in a crack between huge rocks, activating the Hidden Spirit Pearl to become invisible.
“Master, one has come down. He’s at the early stage of the Golden Core realm and is indeed from the Taiyi Sect.”
In the deep sea, Lao He’s detection ability wasn’t greatly affected, still covering a radius of two hundred zhang.
“He’s only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm. He probably can’t detect the Hidden Spirit Pearl’s invisibility effect.” Su Che felt slightly relieved. “It seems they’re coming for me. Why are they targeting me? What went wrong?”
After some thought, Su Che realized, “Could it be that when leaving the island, I used two supernatural techniques in an ambush, which piqued someone’s interest?”
“Possible,” Lao He also pondered.

“That’s troublesome!” Su Che thought to himself. “In this vast ocean, once these Golden Core elders lock onto me, even if I use up all my Aurora Talismans, I won’t be able to escape far— they’ll always catch up to me…” At this thought, a fierce determination surged in him: “Fine, I’ll fight them to the death!”
“Alright!”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He bared his fangs, confident in Su Che’s newly mastered Demon Prisoning Art.
Whoosh!
A spiritual sense swept past him—the Golden Core cultivator had already submerged himself and was carefully searching the seabed.
Su Che decided to launch a surprise attack, but he wasn’t entirely sure if his two special arts would work.
On Aurora Island, although he had successfully attacked Wu Li and Wan Hai, they were both scattered cultivators at the Golden Core stage, far inferior in ability to these Golden Core elders from the Taiyi Sect.
Even at the early Golden Core stage, the Taiyi Sect’s elders could easily defeat Wu Li and Wan Hai, one against two.
“If I don’t fight, how will I find out? I’ve had enough!”
Su Che gritted his teeth, anger boiling inside him. Being chased by these guys over and over—would it ever end…
He was determined to fight because he knew that although the Hidden Spirit Pearl provided excellent invisibility, moving underwater still caused ripples in the water, preventing him from escaping their spiritual sensing. He had to eliminate them first to escape underwater.
At this moment, the Golden Core elder was gradually approaching Su Che. In deep water, the range of a Golden Core cultivator’s spiritual sense was over a hundred zhang, so his search speed was fast.
On Aurora Island, he had seen Su Che’s footage and knew that this Foundation-building stage scattered cultivator possessed two special arts that could pose a threat to Golden Core cultivators. So he didn’t take it lightly and immediately summoned defensive talismans upon entering the sea.
Though he didn’t think Su Che would dare attack him, he still wouldn’t be careless.
The distance kept shrinking: fifty zhang… forty zhang… thirty zhang…
When it reached twenty zhang, whoosh! A blue light shot out from the right.
Even underwater, the speed of light was unavoidable. But the Golden Core elder reacted quickly, slightly adjusting his magic shield to block it in time.
Yet he didn’t realize that the Soul Capturing Art, though appearing to be a light attack, wasn’t real light at all.
It couldn’t be blocked—the power of soul capture ignored defenses!
Turning the impossible into possible—that was true artistry!
Vum…

Although the Golden Core elder had been on guard against this for a long time, he still underestimated the power of Soul Seizure. After all, he had never encountered such a supernatural ability before.
His vital spirit trembled, causing his mind to shake, and darkness instantly covered his vision.
Though it was only for a moment, it was extremely valuable for Su Che. The second supernatural ability was then unleashed—Prison Demon!
A dark gray character for “prison” appeared above his head. Even though they were in the deep sea, the character was barely visible to the naked eye, but that did not diminish its power.
Before the Golden Core elder could fully regain his consciousness, his vital energy and the Golden Core in his dantian were sealed by the power of Prison Demon.
As if under a paralyzing spell, he continued to swim forward, floating motionless in the water.
Whoosh!
A top-tier spiritual weapon, a flying sword, was activated by Su Che. It instantly covered twenty zhang in distance, drawing a perfect arc, bypassing the magic shield, and piercing the Golden Core elder’s neck from the side.
The highest realm of sword mastery lies in being able to sever an enemy’s head from a distance of a thousand li.
The power of this top-tier spiritual weapon was sufficient to penetrate the protective energy field of a beginner Golden Core cultivator. This sword had originally belonged to Feng Huo, a Golden Core cultivator who had been killed by Su Che.
Chih!
However, Su Che also underestimated the strength of the Golden Core elder from the Taiyi Sect. Although the flying sword did penetrate his protective energy field and strike his neck, it slipped away like hitting slick jade, failing to pierce through but merely cutting his throat.
“Damn it!”
Su Che’s expression changed drastically. He knew full well that such injuries could be fatal to an ordinary person, but for a Golden Core cultivator, they were merely superficial wounds.
“Ahh!”
The Golden Core elder woke up from the pain in his neck, fully regaining his consciousness. He immediately struggled to break free from the grip of Prison Demon’s power.
The character for “prison” above his head flickered weakly, on the verge of disappearing.
“The power of this top-tier spiritual weapon isn’t enough!”
Su Che resolved to act boldly and took out another golden talisman bestowed by his master.
When the time comes, it must be used! Hesitation will only make it fall into the enemy’s hands.
Swish!
A golden sword beam flashed by, equivalent to the full-power strike of Venerable Xuanji—its power was terrifying.
Still trapped by Prison Demon’s power, the Golden Core elder’s eyes bulged, but he could not dodge. He could only watch as the sword beam rushed toward him.
Chih!
From his forehead to his hips, he was split in two by the sword beam, becoming two separate bodies.
Soul Seizure!

This time, Su Che already had experience. Before the cultivator’s vital spirit could escape his body, he immediately used his Soul Seizing technique.
Swish!
The Golden Core elder’s vital spirit was drawn into the Immortal Prison, disappearing completely from the world.
Su Che dashed forward, remaining invisible, and gathered both the corpse and personal belongings into the Immortal Prison. Without pause, he dived deeper into the ocean.
Of course, he could also choose to sink to the seabed and swallow the Earth-Diving Pill to escape underground. But Su Che was worried that his fake Earth-Diving technique might leave obvious traces, allowing other Golden Core elders to follow him.
It was better to stay invisible and move stealthily through the ocean. After all, the turbulent undercurrents there could destroy any traces he left behind.
As he fled, Su Che was extremely excited. He had just killed a Golden Core cultivator so easily. Besides relying on the talisman bestowed by his master, it was the Power of Binding Demons that had proven its effectiveness.
No wonder Grandmaster Zi Xiao once said that an ancient talisman was worth several spiritual treasures—extremely precious.
It seemed that combining Soul Seizing with the Power of Binding Demons was far more than just adding them together; his overall strength had increased by many times. Enemies at the early Golden Core stage were no longer so terrifying to him.
On the surface of the sea, the other two Golden Core elders of the Taiyi Sect waited for a full fifteen minutes without hearing any movement below.
“Is that kid that cunning?” one middle-aged cultivator with a square face muttered. “Zhe Hua has been down there for so long yet still can’t force him out.”
“How about you stay here while I go down and check?” the other asked.
“Okay. If anything happens, come and inform me immediately,” the square-faced cultivator instructed.
The man nodded and plunged into the sea.
After a dozen breaths, he emerged, frowning. “There’s nothing down there, and Zhe Hua is also missing.”
“How is that possible?” the square-faced cultivator was shocked. “Even if that kid hid in the seabed rocks, Zhe Hua would have sent us a signal.”
“Could it be…” the other guessed in a low voice, “that Zhe Hua has encountered trouble?”
“Impossible!”
The square-faced cultivator waved his hand. “That kid is only at the Foundation Establishment stage. No matter how strong he is, he can’t have taken down Zhe Hua silently. There should be some signs somehow.”
Golden Core cultivators had extremely keen senses. Even a fierce battle hundreds of feet deep in the ocean couldn’t escape their detection.

They believed that unless that boy was a top-tier expert in the later stage of the Golden Core phase, he wouldn’t have the ability to silently kill an elder from the Taiyi Sect in the early stage of the Golden Core phase. If he were indeed in the later stage of the Golden Core phase, would he still need to be scared enough to hide in the sea? No matter how they thought about it, it made no sense. So, the two of them had no choice but to dive underwater together to search for the whereabouts of their junior brother Zhe Hua and Su Che.