Chapter 235: Heavenly Obstacles

Within half an hour, two Golden Core elders from the Tianxuan Sect arrived at this place. Both had been drawn here by this extraordinary celestial phenomenon while passing through the outer regions of the Blood Curtain Mountains.

The elder from Xuan Yuan Peak, after hearing Su Che’s explanation, left immediately. However, the Golden Core elder from Xuan Yao Peak remained skeptical and stayed on a nearby mountain, clearly intending to observe the situation.

This man’s alias was Yuan Ze; he was at the middle stage of the Golden Core cultivation phase, with an actual age of over 200 years, yet he still appeared to be in middle age. Through their earlier conversation, Su Che already knew his true identity. Since he refused to leave and it would be inappropriate to use force to drive him away, Su Che decided to leave things as they were for now.

He thought to himself, “I guess even Senior Yu Qing didn’t expect his cultivation process to trigger such a celestial phenomenon. If I had known, I should have chosen a more remote place to cultivate…”

After a while, a figure flying in from afar made Su Che frown. He thought, “What bad luck—it’s him!”

This man was the Venerable Tianwu from Tianwu Peak. In Su Che’s eyes, he had long been labeled as a hypocrite. Last time when the Little Mi Immortal Realm opened, he had used despicable tactics to force his disciple Zheng Rong to enter the realm at great risk in order to search for treasures for him…

When the Venerable Tianwu saw Su Che from afar, he was momentarily stunned, thinking some precious treasure must have appeared here and been snatched by Su Che first. He cursed inwardly, “This thief has stolen some kind of fortune—why does he get all the good things?”

Though he thought this in his heart, he wore a kind smile on the surface and stepped forward, asking, “Young Master Tianyu, what brings you here?”

“Uncle Tianwu.”

Given Su Che’s current status, he only needed to show normal respect when meeting him, without going overboard.

“I have a friend here who is cultivating his core, and a heavenly calamity is about to strike. I’m here to protect him,” Su Che explained calmly.

“Oh?”

The Venerable Tianwu carefully observed the celestial phenomena and nodded. “Your friend must be quite extraordinary—such a massive cultivation phenomenon… truly…”

At that moment, his expression changed, as his spiritual sense had penetrated deep into the mountain, detecting an extremely strong demonic aura inside.

“What heavy demonic aura!” the Venerable Tianwu said insinuatingly. “Your friend must be a demon cultivator, right?”

“He’s not a demon cultivator. His situation is just special—he’s facing a demonic calamity, so he plans to use the heavenly calamity to counter it…”

Before Su Che could finish speaking, a sound was heard…
Boom!
With a thunderous explosion, the mountain where Yu Qing was located shattered violently. The upper part of the mountain exploded into countless huge rocks, flying everywhere.
Bang! Bang! Bang…
Some of the rocks that flew closer were instantly pushed aside by Su Che and the Venerable Tianwu using their qi strength. Even the largest rocks couldn’t reach a Golden Core cultivator.
Whoosh!
From within the mountain, a black figure soared into the sky—it was Yu Qing, with a Golden Core forming above his head. He was about to manifest his Golden Core and trigger a heavenly calamity.
“He’s…”
The Venerable Tianwu’s expression changed again. He recognized that this person was also a disciple of Mysterious Insight Peak, seemingly the nephew of the Elder of the Medicine Garden, ‘Xuan Chong’.
“What so-called demonic calamity? He’s already possessed by evil, which explains such fierce demonic flames.”
The Venerable Tianwu’s expression turned cold, and his tone became grave: “Young Master Tianyu, how can we allow someone possessed by evil to succeed in forming a core? We must capture him immediately and send him to the punishment hall for thorough interrogation.”
A possessed person is countless times more terrifying than a normal cultivator of evil. Having lost their sanity, their minds are filled only with killing and destruction, making them comparable to extraterrestrial demons. Generally, once such individuals are encountered, the realms of immortals, demons, and monsters in the cultivation world will eliminate them to prevent future disasters.
The Venerable Tianwu’s reaction seemed normal, but in reality, he had other plans. At this moment, he was merely using this as an excuse.
Now, it was widely recognized within the sect that the fortune of the main peak had shifted to Mysterious Insight Peak. The first to benefit would surely be the Venerable Mysterious Insight, who was about to form an infant core. Thinking of this, the Venerable Tianwu felt extremely frustrated and unbalanced.
Why should Mysterious Insight succeed in forming an infant core? Why should I call him my uncle? Why has the fortune of the main peak shifted to Mysterious Insight Peak instead of Heaven Peak?
The Venerable Tianwu was also at the late stage of the Golden Core realm, having yet to find the opportunity to form an infant core. His chronological age was nearly four hundred years, much older than the Venerable Mysterious Insight. His obsession with forming an infant core was stronger than most others.
Today, he discovered that a disciple of Mysterious Insight Peak had been possessed by evil and was facing a minor Golden Core heavenly calamity. For the Venerable Tianwu, this was a rare opportunity to strike at Mysterious Insight Peak.
Such a good chance shouldn’t be missed. Sometimes, one must seize fortune from others!
So, without hesitation, the Venerable Tianwu moved and rushed toward Yu Qing.
“Uncle Tianwu, please stop!”
Su Che, who had been prepared, stepped forward first to block his path.

Senior Brother Yuqing has done me a favor, so I must ensure he gets through this calamity safely!
“Junior Tianyu, what do you mean by this? Do you intend to protect someone who has fallen under the influence of demons?”
The Venerable Tianwu’s expression turned cold, and his tone was unfriendly. He had always held resentment toward Su Che—both because Zhen Zhen’s tragic fate was related to Su Che and because Su Che’s arrival caused Xuanji Peak to lose its fortune as the main peak.
Zhen Zhen was both his disciple and his granddaughter, yet now she was trapped in the Illusion Demon Sect, never rescued, and had even been temporarily stripped of her status as a legitimate disciple.
The number of legitimate disciples in the Tianxuan Sect could not exceed or fall below one hundred, and any vacancies had to be filled immediately; moreover, it was a last-place elimination system, with the worst-performing disciples potentially having their status revoked at any time.
This was an eternal sect rule that could not be violated.
Thus, this resentment had always remained against Su Che.
“Uncle Tianwu, I still need to explain—Senior Brother Yuqing hasn’t fallen under the influence of demons. He just faces a severe calamity. He wants to use the calamity itself to overcome it, leveraging the power of the heavenly calamity to break free from the demonic influence. If he fails and truly falls under demons, I will surely help you capture him and bring him back to the sect for proper handling.”
Su Che’s tone was calm, but the determination on his face made it clear that his words could not be ignored.
“Use the calamity to overcome the calamity?”
The Venerable Tianwu laughed skyward. “Trying to use the power of the heavenly calamity to dispel demonic influence? That’s just daydreaming—utterly ridiculous! Do you know that once someone who has fallen under demons succeeds in overcoming the calamity, they’ll unleash ten times their potential? Even if there are a few at the later stages of the Golden Core stage, they might still escape. If we don’t act now, it will be too late to regret it!”
As he spoke, the Venerable Tianwu appeared righteous, but in truth, he was secretly delighted. He thought he had caught Su Che in a bind—by interfering with Yuqing’s calamity, Su Che would likely attack him first.
Even if he was the top legitimate disciple, violating the sect rules would still result in punishment.
Not to mention a disciple—even if the sect leader violated the rules, the elders had the power to impeach him.
Using the sect rules to harm others was something the Venerable Tianwu was extremely good at. That was exactly how he had pushed Zheng Rong into a corner back then.
Su Che wasn’t a fool either. At this point, how could he not see that the Venerable Tianwu was using this as an excuse to pursue his own agenda?
So, Su Che sneered, “Uncle Tianwu, I have a feeling that the one who’s truly fallen under demons is someone else.”
The Venerable Tianwu’s gaze turned icy. Of course, he understood—Su Che was accusing him of having demonic tendencies.
“Hmph.”

He snorted twice, moved swiftly, and tried to bypass Su Che to head toward Yu Qing. Su Che guessed that he wanted to force himself to strike first, to be the one in the right. “If you want to fight, then fight! I’m not afraid of you!” Su Che, who dared to challenge even heavenly calamities, surely wouldn’t fear such schemes. Boom! Without hesitation, he delivered a devastating punch. To stop someone at the peak of the Golden Core stage, one had to go all out without reservation. Thus, for this first strike, Su Che unleashed two-thirds of his vital energy. Amplified by the Sumi Divine Seal, his Destruction Fist became incredibly powerful. Tianwu Zunzhe didn’t know that Su Che possessed a top-tier offensive spiritual treasure. He originally thought that after reaching the Core stage, the power of this so-called Destruction Fist would be only two or three times stronger than on the Battle Arena—nothing extraordinary. He hadn’t taken Su Che’s strength seriously. But now, as Su Che threw his punch, Tianwu Zunzhe was shocked, sensing an extremely powerful destructive force capable of harming him. “This kid…” Initially, he only tried to block casually, but alert now, he promptly increased his defensive strength, countering with a palm strike, raising his force from three parts to six. Destruction! This punch, delivered at close range, was Su Che’s strongest attack. The more close the distance, the greater its power. The grayish-black destructive force twisted in spirals around Su Che’s fist; on the other side, Tianwu Zunzhe’s hastily raised palm emitted a yellowish-brown illusion of a towering mountain, vaguely resembling a giant peak. Boom! A massive explosion, as if thousands of thunderbolts struck a giant peak, shattered Su Che’s Destruction Fist, and Tianwu Zunzhe’s mountain-like palm strike was also reduced to dust. Both of them were sent flying more than ten zhang back, ending in a draw. Of course, Su Che knew he was still far from reaching the peak of the Golden Core stage. This punch could push him back only because he had underestimated himself. Moreover, he had not only used his most powerful offensive technique but also leveraged the enhancement of a top-tier spiritual treasure, resulting in over 200% power output. Meanwhile, Tianwu Zunzhe had only managed a hasty defense, using at most 50-60% of his strength, and he hadn’t even used any spiritual treasures. Stopping him would be extremely difficult, almost impossible. “I’ll do my best,” Su Che thought to himself. “Senior Yu Qing’s calamities are truly absurd—not only is he beset by demonic calamities, but now he’s also facing the calamity of a despicable person.”

On the other side, Yu Qing hovered in mid-air, with a circular black hole forming above her head as the power of the heavenly calamity accumulated… Seeing the difficulties Su Che was facing at that moment, Yu Qing actually grinned. With her black hair and robe fluttering in the wind, Yu Qing spoke in a deep voice, her pale face bearing a sinister smile: “Who among you is interested in accompanying me through this calamity?”