Chapter 223: Heavenly Ghosts Gather Souls

It was also the first time Yun Ya had seen such a prison shaped like the character “prison.” He wanted to help, but feared that acting rashly might harm Cang Qiu inside, so he decided to try attacking the prison character above first.
This approach was undoubtedly correct, but Su Che wouldn’t give him such an opportunity easily.
Soul Seizure!
A flash of blue light froze Yun Ya as well.
Su Che knew that the Soul Seizure technique had very limited power against a Yuan Shen at the mid-Jindan stage. He then sent a Prison Demon at Yun Ya, temporarily binding him as well.
Afterward, he dealt another Soul Seizure to Cang Qiu, who was still struggling.
Soul Seizure… Prison Demon… Soul Seizure… Prison Demon…
Su Che risked exhausting a great deal of mental energy by continuously activating these two techniques, just to buy time and allow the Blood and Qi Elixir he had just taken to take effect, replenishing his energy so he could continue using the Destruction Fist.
Under such circumstances, although the Snake Woman and Lao He were extremely anxious, they couldn’t do anything to help. Any attack on them would only damage the prison shape, allowing them to escape. Moreover, their attack power was even more limited—how could they harm two beings at the mid-Jindan stage?
The role of the Immortal Prison Team was merely to deter those cultivators at the Foundation stage from making things worse, which was already quite good…
On the surface, Su Che still held a slight advantage, having trapped them temporarily. But in reality, the situation was extremely critical. If his mental energy ran out and he could no longer use those two techniques, they would eventually escape.
Worse still, if the two lords of the Cave Heaven Realm grew angry and, in a fit of impulse, took risks to attack Su Che, how could he possibly withstand just two or three more blows from the Destruction Fist?
“Hurry! Hurry! Hurry…”
Su Che was also extremely anxious, constantly urging the Bronze Treasure Gourd to quickly suppress that three-legged alchemy furnace. Otherwise, he would really have no other options.
His own mental energy was running low, and he already felt dizzy.
Meanwhile, Cui Lingzi, who was fighting Shui Yue, was also looking for an opportunity to rush over and help Cang Qiu and Yun Ya break free. Fortunately, Shui Yue was performing well—she could not only hold him back but also intercept some of his long-range attack spells, preventing him from interfering with Su Che for now.
How much longer could he hold on?
Su Che himself was almost losing hope.
Could it be that this alchemy furnace really couldn’t be saved?

At this moment, Su Che couldn’t help but hope that if a few streaks of light could appear in the sky, or if reinforcements from Tianxuan Sect arrived in time, how wonderful that would be! Unfortunately, this place was nearly 20,000 miles away from Tianxuan Sect. Aside from some disciples undergoing training, how could there possibly be a Golden Core-level elder passing by by chance? The odds were utterly slim! After another short while, Su Che felt dizzy and his mental energy had reached its limit. His Prison Demon Art was no longer effective; he could only rely on Soul Capture to hold on… Swish! Lao He, controlling his Asura Demon Body, voluntarily returned to the Immortal Prison. He thought to himself: If all else fails, I’ll transform into a Heavenly Demon form and possess one of those mid-stage Golden Core cultivators—maybe that could help my master. “Absolutely not!” Su Che immediately guessed his thoughts and stopped him, saying, “I’d rather give up that pill furnace than let you take such a risk. The spiritual power of a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator could very well turn around and destroy you.” “But master…” Lao He was about to argue when suddenly, he seemed to sense something. In the blink of an eye, he exclaimed in delight, “Master! The Nether Ghost Emperor requests a battle!” Su Che’s thoughts immediately shifted to the Nether Ghost Realm on the second floor of the Immortal Prison. Sure enough, in the grand hall of the ghost realm, the Nether Ghost Emperor was repeatedly sending out battle requests. “Can he also come out to fight?” Su Che was greatly surprised. “I’ve never heard him report having such a ability before!” With no time to ponder further, thinking it was better to try anything, Su Che immediately released the Nether Ghost Emperor from the Immortal Prison. To be completely honest, Su Che was reluctant to let Lao He take risks, but with this so-called Nether Ghost Emperor, he really felt no hesitation. If this ghost emperor happened to die in battle, they could just gather another 3,000 souls and 800 Earth Fiends to create another ghost emperor. Of course, Su Che wouldn’t let the Nether Ghost Emperor know his true feelings, lest it hurt his feelings… “Heavenly Ghosts, gather!” As soon as the ghost emperor appeared, his presence was extraordinary. With a shout of “Heavenly Ghosts, gather!” and a gesture of his hands, he summoned the ten ghost servants surrounding Su Che. These ghost servants were all created by the ghost emperor, and they were even more obedient to him than to Su Che. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh… The ten late-stage Foundation-building ghost servants were successively absorbed by the ghost emperor, causing his power to soar even faster. Boom!

A gust-like shock wave surged out from the Ghost Emperor. Dressed in a deep purple official robe and wearing a black crown, the Ghost Emperor exuded an aura of supreme dominance, rather than a gloomy and eerie presence.
“This is what a ruler of a realm should look like!” Even Su Che, his master, couldn’t help but admire him in secret.
“Hahaha…”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He laughed wildly. “I told you! As the ruler of the second floor of the Immortal Prison, I’m not some useless fool who stays hidden all day long.”
The form of existence of the Ghost Emperor was vastly different from that of ordinary beings in the cultivation world. Although Su Che couldn’t determine his exact strength, he could sense that it was certainly no weaker than that of an ordinary Golden Core expert.
“Master, leave one of them to me,” said the Netherworld Ghost Emperor, bowing to Su Che.
“That one!”
Su Che pointed remotely at Yun Ya.
At that moment, Yun Ya was still inside the Prison-shaped cell, but he was on the verge of breaking free.
“As ordered!”
The Netherworld Ghost Emperor vanished in a flash, as if teleporting, and headed toward Yun Ya.
Whoosh…
The sky suddenly darkened, as if thousands of dark clouds had covered the sunlight. Yun Ya, inside the Prison-shaped cell, looked up in confusion and saw a giant hand descending from above.
Just before it hit him, the giant hand changed its shape—its index and middle fingers formed a sword gesture as it struck down at lightning speed.
First, the Prison-shaped cell shattered. Yun Ya, who had just regained his freedom, didn’t have time to dodge, nor could he gather his vital energy. He was struck in the head by this two-finger sword gesture.
“Ah!”
Yun Ya let out a scream as he fell from great heights.
That strike nearly shattered his head, but since he still had the cultivation level of mid-Golden Core, he survived despite the injury. After falling dozens of feet, he stabilized himself and tried to rise again.
Swish!
The Netherworld Ghost Emperor narrowed his eyes, and two beams of golden light shot out, instantly hitting Yun Ya.
Su Che had seen this kind of golden light many times before—it could freeze the souls that entered the Ghost Realm in place. It seemed it also had some effect on human cultivators.
“Could it be similar to his own Soul-Seizing ability?” Su Che wondered. “After all, the Illusory Mirror was merged with the Netherworld. As the ruler of this realm, the Ghost Emperor might have acquired some ability from it…”
Sure enough, Yun Ya’s movements stalled again. He failed to defend himself in time and was struck once more by another giant hand created by the Ghost Emperor.
“Good!”
Su Che was overjoyed. It seemed unlikely that the Ghost Emperor could kill Yun Ya outright, but restraining him effectively was definitely possible.

“Finally, I have a subordinate at the Golden Core stage. I just didn’t expect it to be the Nether Ghost Emperor!”
With that, dealing with Cangqiu alone shouldn’t be a problem anymore.
Su Che threw a punch.
Cangqiu, who had just escaped from the Prison Cell, was about to activate his defenses when he was struck head-on by the Destruction Punch.
Boom!
Cangqiu tumbled repeatedly, with streams of blood flying into the air.
He was injured—just one punch had dealt him serious harm.
Of course he should be! This punch allowed Su Che to unleash half of his newly replenished life force, turning him back into the Green-Faced Withered Ghost.
The Destruction Punch was a self-harming technique; to kill ten thousand enemies, one would suffer eight thousand losses.
But that was exactly the kind of ruthless approach Su Che favored—hitting the enemy was all that mattered; he didn’t care about his own losses.
The consequence of throwing the punch was consuming a blood-restoring pill. Su Che knew well that Cangqiu was still at the mid-Gold Core stage, and he only had one chance to hurt him—right when he escaped the prison and hadn’t yet had time to defend himself.
That’s why Su Che unleashed half of his life force in one go to land a decisive blow. It would be unlikely to hurt him again.
“Damn it!”
In mid-air, Cangqiu stabilized himself, his eyes red with fury. He had unleashed his true anger and no longer cared about the intimidation of the Tianxuan Sect. At this moment, all he wanted was to kill Su Che and seize the treasures.
“Earthly Emperor’s Annihilation Strike!”
With a roar, Cangqiu prepared to use his second divine technique—the most powerful one he had mastered when reaching the mid-Gold Core stage.
“Shut up!”
Su Che swiftly sent a Soul Capturing Beam. Though it couldn’t shake Cangqiu’s core spirit, it could disrupt his ability to unleash the technique.
Cangqiu was momentarily silenced; to use his technique again, he had to gather his strength once more.
Gathering strength again…
Swish!
Another blue beam was interrupted.
To stay conscious, he had to concentrate his core spirit to resist the Soul Capturing Beam, which meant he couldn’t use his divine techniques at the same time.
It could be said that Su Che’s tactic, though somewhat despicable, was quite effective.
On the other side, the Nether Ghost Emperor and Yunya were locked in a fierce battle. The Ghost Emperor’s attack power wasn’t very strong, but his attack methods were extremely cunning, making them hard to predict. The golden light emitted from his eyes had a similar effect to the Soul Capturing Beam, exerting strong interference on souls and core spirits.
This wasn’t surprising—as the Ghost Emperor, he ruled over countless spirits and needed sufficient control over the souls of all living beings in the world.

The Ghost Emperor’s entry into battle allowed Su Che to quickly reverse the disadvantage; it seems that protecting that furnace should not be a problem.