Chapter 203: Hard to Distinguish Truth from Falsehood

Dong, dong!
The drums sounded again, marking the start of the second match.
With the third sound, someone stepped onto the stage. Seeing who it was, Su Che was quite surprised.
It was another late-stage Foundation-builder, and it was even someone he knew—Ning Lu from Xuan Yuan Peak!
Back then, Ning Lu had competed with Su Che in flying speed and lost. She then asked her clan uncle to lift the restriction on Fei Yun’s body…
Su Che and she could be considered friends. Although meeting on the arena was inevitable, she took the initiative to step onto the stage right after the second match. Could it be that she too had some mission?
Noticing Su Che’s unusual expression, Ning Lu said, “Don’t overthink it. I just think that dying early or late is the same. It’s better to finish things quickly and stay out of it, just waiting to watch the excitement. What a comfortable mindset.”
“That makes sense,” Su Che nodded with a smile. “Your mindset is admirable, senior sister.”
“But don’t underestimate me either,” Ning Lu said seriously. “Although your progress is astonishing, I’m not some useless person. For this arena match, I’ll give it my all!”
“That’s what’s expected,” Su Che nodded again.
Only then did the people below realize that Ning Lu was quite familiar with Su Che. Some grew annoyed inwardly: “Since she knows him, why doesn’t Ning Lu reveal some details about Su Che to everyone? She really has no loyalty!”
At that moment, many direct disciples regarded Ning Lu as a traitor and were extremely dissatisfied.
These days, everyone had been searching everywhere for information about Su Che, but with little success. Ning Lu must know a lot about him yet had remained silent…
On the stage, sensing some people’s hostile gazes, Ning Lu paid no attention. With a laugh, she said to Su Che, “See? I’ve never betrayed you. For this, you need to compensate me… Five thousand spirit stones—too much?”
“Not too much.”
Su Che knew she was just joking. But this girl seemed quite greedy, always asking for spirit stones, just like when she lifted the restriction on Fei Yun last time. Was she poor?
“Are you done talking?” The ceremony elder stepped forward and asked the two fighters in a deep voice.
Su Che and Ning Lu exchanged a glance and nodded simultaneously.
“Second match, start!” The ceremony elder stepped back a few feet and shouted loudly.
“I won’t be polite with you!”
Though she said she wouldn’t be polite, Ning Lu took the initiative. With a wave of her hand, several cloth-patterned formation diagrams were scattered, instantly covering most of the arena.
“Formation diagrams?”

Su Che focused intently, determined not to be careless for any reason. He always remembered his master’s words: everything has its counterpart; perhaps you can defeat ninety-nine Golden Core cultivators, only to lose to someone at the Foundation Establishment stage… That was exactly what happened to the former sect leader!

Before those formation diagrams could land, Su Che sent several bursts of sword energy at them. Yet, when the fierce sword energy touched those light formation diagrams, it vanished like mud sinking into the sea, leaving no trace.

Su Che tried using the absorption power of the Immortal Prison to capture these formation diagrams, but to no avail. This meant these patterns were not just ordinary formations but also a special type of magical artifact.

As the formation diagrams settled, the landscape changed drastically. This was the moment of entering the formation.

Through his eyes and spiritual sense, Su Che saw a garden of moderate size, with lush grass, blooming flowers, low shrubs, and over a dozen tall trees. It seemed like an ordinary garden, devoid of any sense of danger. Yet Su Che knew that Ning Lu had a Wood-type Heavenly Spirit Root, so this garden must be a powerful magical artifact transformed from her essence.

Ning Lu’s voice faintly echoed: “These flowers and plants may seem ordinary, but in reality, nurturing them is extremely costly. That’s why I’m so poor I’m bleeding. Remember, five thousand spirit stones—you already agreed to that.”

Swish!

Su Che swung his flying sword, sending out waves of sword energy. “If I destroy this garden, will I have to pay you even more spirit stones?”

“No need. If you can destroy it, it shows your skill. I’ll just consider it bad luck.”

As Ning Lu finished speaking, a series of strange ringing sounds came through…

Su Che listened carefully and immediately realized the sounds originated from a patch of wind chime flowers not far away. Ordinary wind chime flowers, which didn’t even seem like spiritual herbs…

“Lao Hei, do you think this garden is an illusion?” Su Che asked in his mind.

“No,” Lao Hei replied, having used his detection abilities to the fullest. “From what I can tell, they are real flowers and plants. I don’t see anything suspicious for now.”

Ding ding ling ling…

The wind chime flowers moved on their own in the wind, producing wonderful sounds. Soon, Su Che felt tired, his eyelids growing heavy, and he began to feel drowsy.

Undoubtedly, this was a sound wave spell with a strong hypnotic effect.

During a battle, Su Che couldn’t block out his senses, and he knew that blocking them would be useless against sound wave spells.

Airborne pollen, invisible to the naked eye, filled the air. Su Che had already held his breath, and his vital energy had formed a barrier to prevent the pollen from touching his body.

Yet more and more pollen gathered, like highly corrosive venom, rapidly depleting Su Che’s vital energy as if a flood had burst its banks. In such a peculiar environment, Su Che couldn’t recklessly release the little dragon and the snake woman—without understanding the mysteries of this garden, a numerical advantage would be of no use at all. Whoosh! A large tree in the distance swung its branches, and a branch over three feet long shot toward him. Su Che remained clear-headed; his top-tier flying sword flew forward to meet that branch head-on. Bang! A clear crashing sound echoed—indeed, it wasn’t a branch but Ning Lu’s flying sword, also a top-tier spiritual weapon. “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?” At this moment, Ning Lu’s voice was no longer its usual bold tone but gentle and soothing, like a lover’s whisper. Why not sleep? Su Che certainly wouldn’t tell her that the Immortal Prison Pagoda in his mind protected his soul, rendering sound waves, mental attacks, or psychic assaults virtually ineffective against him. “Is that all you’ve got?” Su Che asked loudly, “If that’s all, I’ll destroy it. Don’t feel sorry for it later.” “Dare you!” The one who replied to Su Che wasn’t Ning Lu but a tree man several zhang tall. Its entire body was covered in sharp thorns. It suddenly appeared not far behind Su Che, and with a shake of its body, hundreds of thorns shot out. Su Che knew this area was the enemy’s stronghold; perhaps these wood-based monsters had abilities similar to teleportation. He immediately activated the defensive power of his top-tier Dao robe, with the Dragon Soul Scale ready to be used. The dense thorns attacked from behind like a storm, but they came from all directions—front, back, sides—any part of the body could be pierced. The top-tier spiritual weapon Dao robe Su Che wore was a fire-type defensive artifact. That day, he had obtained over twenty top-tier spiritual weapons from the Golden Core elders of the Taiyi Sect, including eleven different types of robes. Fire overcomes wood, so fire-based power had an advantage against these thorns. Whoosh… Su Che resembled a human made of fire, with flames burning around his body. Hundreds of thorns pierced into the flames but couldn’t penetrate them, burning instantly. He wouldn’t just defend passively. With a wave of his hand, two deep green vines shot out, immediately entangling the tree man. Boom! The two vines, each over thirty zhang long, wrapped around the tree man like giant pythons, binding it and knocking it to the ground.

A dozen or so Witch Tribe vines from the Little Xiyan Realm had been growing near the black boulder for nearly a year, seemingly reaping tremendous benefits from it—becoming thicker and longer, their color darker, and their strength multiplied several times over, even to the point that even top-tier spiritual weapons like flying swords could not cut through them.

“Huh?”

Ning Lu suddenly appeared beside Su Che, looking curiously at the two vines and asking softly, “What kind of vines are these? So strange.”

Su Che frowned and said to her, “This is a competition. You just show up beside me without any defenses. Are we still going to fight?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m doomed to lose anyway,” Ning Lu said nonchalantly, waving her hand dismissively, her attention fully focused on the vines. “Sell me one.”

“You can’t tame these vines.”

As he spoke, Su Che also observed Ning Lu carefully. Although even Lao He had confirmed that she was a real person with a Wood-type Heavenly Spirit Root and at the later stage of the Foundation Establishment cultivation level, Su Che still felt something was off about her, though he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what…

“Never mind!”

With a twist of his wrist, his Witch Tribe battle axe appeared, and from close range, he swung it at her head.

“You…”

Ning Lu was shocked. She never expected him to be so ruthless and suddenly attack her.

Swish!

The axe struck cleanly, splitting the fairy-like Ning Lu in two from head to waist.

“As expected, it’s fake.”

There wasn’t a trace of blood on her body as she fell to the ground, turning into a split tree stump.

Whoosh!

The stump flew back together, reforming into Ning Lu’s appearance, who said with a smile, “You saw through me. That’s quite impressive! But I really want to buy these vines—they’re very important to me.”

“We can discuss the deal after the fight.”

With a cold expression, Su Che immediately took out his bronze treasure gourd and warned again, “If you resist further, I’ll burn this place to the ground.”

There were no second thoughts on the arena—no mercy. Moreover, Su Che believed Ning Lu had such a personality, and her actions now were merely to deceive him. If given the chance, she would strike suddenly.

“Okay!”

Ning Lu before him showed admiration, praising, “I wasn’t wrong about you. You’re truly a man! After this fight, are you interested in becoming my partner?”

“Partner?”

Though unimpressed, Su Che thought to himself: This woman really says whatever comes to mind.

“Two things: sell me a vine and be my companion…” Ning Lu said seriously, “Whether you agree or not, after a hundred battles, you must give me an answer.”
“Now, take my attack!”
Whoosh!
Dozens of large trees shook simultaneously, their countless branches acting like thousands of crossbow arrows, swarming forward in a dense barrage.