Chapter 196: If I Were the Demon

Inside the Mysterious Golden Hall, Su Che and Venerable Mysterious Mystery stood twenty zhang apart, facing each other as if ready to engage in a duel.
“Master, why are the Supreme Patriarch and the Elders so kind to me?” Su Che still had doubts.
“Nonsense! Even Haoyuan from the Taiyi Sect regards you as a treasure, not to mention how sharp the Supreme Patriarch’s judgment is. It’s just that they disdain to speak openly about certain things or delve too deeply into them.”
Venerable Mysterious Mystery replied in a deep voice, “Besides, they haven’t already elevated you. They’ve merely given you a chance. Whether you can become the chief disciple still depends on your own efforts. The Hundred Battles Arena is also a test from the Supreme Patriarch. Achieving victory in a hundred battles is extremely difficult. Don’t think that just because you possess two divine powers, you’re invincible. Don’t underestimate the other disciple-heroes.”
“Yes, Master. I don’t look down on others,” Su Che replied humbly.
“Come, let me test your two divine powers!” Venerable Mysterious Mystery waved his hand.
Soul Seizure!
A blue light flashed as Su Che first unleashed his Soul Seizure power. He knew full well that his cultivation level was too low, so his soul-seizing power would have no effect on his master.
Venerable Mysterious Mystery neither dodged nor defended himself; he simply experienced it silently before shouting, “Next!”
Demon Prison!
Another large character for “prison” appeared above Venerable Mysterious Mystery’s head.
A few moments later, with a casual wave of his hand, he erased the character above his head.
“That’s enough.”
The master and disciple sat face to face. Venerable Mysterious Mystery said, “Your Soul Seizure power is quite good, but due to your limited cultivation, its strength is far inferior to the Illusory Mirror used by that Ghost Lady back then.”
Su Che nodded slightly, agreeing with his master’s assessment. Although the divine powers were now his own, they surely couldn’t compare to the power generated by a top-grade spiritual treasure controlled by a cultivator at the late stage of the Golden Core realm.
“There’s a simple way to counter your Soul Seizure power—just a magical artifact designed to suppress souls can resist it. Or special techniques to strengthen the original spirit can achieve the same effect.”
Venerable Mysterious Mystery analyzed carefully, “As for your Demon Prison power, there’s also a way to deal with it. For example, a self-attacking magical artifact can break free from the trap.”
“A self-attacking magical artifact?”
After a brief thought, Su Che understood. His Demon Prison power restrained the enemy’s vital energy, dantian, or Golden Core, rendering them unable to struggle, but it couldn’t trap their magical artifacts.

As the master said, if the opponent possesses a special magical artifact with an inherent spirit, the spirit within will launch an autonomous attack without him needing to do anything, flying out to break through the Prison Character prison from the outside. The weakness of the Prison Character prison is its extremely strong restraining force inward, but weak defense outward. That was the case with those Taiyi Gate elders from the day before—they could rescue their companions from within the prison with just a single strike. “This means your two supernatural abilities are not invincible. You can bully those who are unprepared, but if the opponent is prepared in advance, they can come up with many ways to counter them,” guessed Venerable Mysterious Insight. “In the hundred-battles arena, the first few matches will surely not be difficult, as most of the true disciples are not even at the later stages of the Foundation Establishment phase, so it’s easy to defeat them. Later on, you’ll face outstanding disciples at the Golden Core phase or above. For example, your senior brother Duan Tianya—his Heavenly Wood Extreme Sword is a top-grade magical weapon with autonomous attack capabilities. Moreover, your own attacking power will find it hard to break through his defenses.” “Yes, insufficient attacking power is indeed my biggest weakness,” Su Che nodded in agreement. “You’re currently in this awkward phase, but it’s not hopeless. I can teach you a way to spend money…” Venerable Mysterious Insight smiled mysteriously. “A way to spend money?” Su Che immediately became interested. Next, Venerable Mysterious Insight gave him personal guidance, spending over an hour teaching Su Che various strategies to deal with opponents… Three days later, a message came from the Foreign Affairs Hall, saying that the Taiyi Gate negotiation team intended to leave but specifically wanted to meet Su Che. Fine, let them meet him—how could the Tianxuan Sect be afraid of them inside its own gates! Accompanied by Venerable Mysterious Insight, Su Che returned to the Foreign Affairs Hall and met two Taiyi Gate elders at the mid-Gold Core phase. After introducing themselves, the two elders were named ‘Zhe Qiu’ and ‘Zhe Feng’. “I know this Zhe Qiu…” Venerable Mysterious Insight whispered to Su Che, “He’s one of Hao Yuan’s men in charge of gathering intelligence.” Only then did Su Che realize that all the information about him must have been gathered by this guy. “What do you two want from me?” Su Che’s tone was rather rude; he didn’t even address them as elders or uncles. Since they were clearly enemies, he didn’t bother with pretenses. “Su Che, how about you come as a guest to our Taiyi Gate?” Zhe Qiu laughed heartily. “Why should I go and die for you?” Su Che replied coldly.

“Exaggerating!” Zheqiu waved his hand. “There’s no such thing as seeking death. It’s just that some matters require your help.”
Seeing his confident expression, Su Che grew worried: Could it be…
Sure enough, Zheqiu said with a smile, “Your family, the Su family by the Su River, has already been invited to settle within the Taiyi Gate. It’s easy to imagine that with the strong support of Taiyi Gate, the Su family will surely rise again and thrive immensely.”
Put another way, these words were a blatant threat—if Su Che refused their demands, the Su family would suffer greatly.
“The worst fear has indeed come true!” Su Che’s expression darkened instantly.
Although the Su family wasn’t his real kin, for Su Che, if they were harmed because of him, the guilt he would feel would never vanish…
He had considered this possibility before, but his strength was too weak—he couldn’t prevent it in advance nor rescue them afterward. He could only…
Smack!
Xuanji Zunzhe, sitting nearby, flew into a rage. He smashed the sandalwood table beside him with one palm and shouted, “Taiyi Gate, one of the top ten sects in the cultivation world—since when has it become so despicable? Doing such things is no different from the demonic path!”
“Senior Xuanji.”
Zheqiu remained calm and bowed. “During the chaos in the cultivation world, there’s no longer a distinction between immortals and demons. But once peace returns, Taiyi Gate will revert to its true nature and restore the prestige of the immortal path.”
“Scoundrels!”
Xuanji Zunzhe stood up abruptly, his eyes blazing. “Very well! Then I’ll capture all of you and exchange them for my disciple’s family.”
“Senior,” Zheqiu said fearlessly, “in warfare, envoys are not killed. If your method gains the approval of our master from Tianxuan Sect, we have nothing to say.”
“Bullshit envoys! Just a bunch of liars!”
Xuanji Zunzhe was utterly enraged. His powerful aura pushed the tables, chairs, and benches around him scattering everywhere as he prepared to strike.
“Master, don’t get angry. It’s not worth getting upset over them.”
Unexpectedly, Su Che himself spoke calmly, his eyes slightly closed as he murmured, “I intended to bring good fortune to the Su family, but instead, I’ve brought them disaster…”

“In life, it’s impossible to avoid regrets or remorse… I take on this karma; I bear this inner demon…”
At these words, Su Che turned his gaze toward Zhe Qiu, his expression cold as he said, “For now, I indeed lack the ability to resolve this ordeal. But I also can’t go to Taiyi Gate and throw myself into danger. Leave the Su family in your care.”
His tone hardened as he added, “Go back and tell Great Master Haoyuan that if even one person from the Su family suffers harm, the day I, Su Che, look down on you all, I will become the demon in your hearts!”
With that, he turned and left, leaving behind these words that echoed endlessly:
“If I become a demon, you shall be barred from the path to immortality in this life and beyond, trapped in eternal suffering, becoming ghosts or slaves, without sight of sky or earth, serving to atone in the depths of hell…”
Inside the grand hall, Zhe Qiu’s expression changed slightly, his heart sinking for no apparent reason. It seemed these words were not a threat, but rather…
That day, the so-called negotiation team from Taiyi Gate, numbering twenty-two in total, left Tianxuan Sect. Thirty had come, twenty-two left—eight fewer, and the actual mission hadn’t been completed. Zhe Qiu, the leader of this operation, felt heavy-hearted, unsure how to report back to the Great Master or what to do next.
Su Che was now under the special protection of Tianxuan Sect. If he wasn’t allowed to perish, he would one day become a major threat to Taiyi Gate. This Su Che was truly extraordinary…
On Xuanji Peak, Su Che’s training area had been moved from the inner disciples’ residence to the top of Xuanji Peak. His nearest neighbor was none other than his master, Venerable Xuanji. Such favor and honor were unmatched, sparking discussions among the disciples and jealousy from a few. Among them were naturally the ten core disciples of Xuanji Peak.
In the residence area for the core disciples, inside the training cave of the eldest brother, Duan Tianya, were his third-ranked sister-in-training, Ruyi, fourth-ranked brother-in-training, Fengjun, seventh-ranked brother-in-training, Songtao, and eighth-ranked brother-in-training, Lingyun. These five belonged to the same faction, naturally led by Duan Tianya.
Duan Tianya asked in a grave voice, “Have you heard about the Hundred Battles Arena?”
The other four nodded, their expressions grim. Songtao, in particular, was furious, shouting, “Once the Hundred Battles Arena is established, we’re forced to compete—even if we don’t want to! It’s obvious they want to climb by trampling on our faces!”
The Hundred Battles Arena was meant for all core disciples, who were required to fight—one after another. This was the rule of Tianxuan Sect.

Song Tao knew well that Su Che was already in the later stage of the Foundation Establishment phase. With his own level, he would surely lose if he stepped onto the stage—it would only be a loss of face for himself and an increase in Su Che’s prestige.
“Four hundred years…”
Duan Tianya sighed softly, “In our sect, there hasn’t been a Hundred Battles Arena competition for four hundred years. This shows that in the eyes of the Supreme Sect Leader and the four Great Elders, Su Che’s importance far exceeds that of us.”
“I’m not jealous; I’m curious. How did he earn such honor?”