Chapter 240: The Third Fusion

“Swallowing as many Heavenly Demons as you want won’t cause any problems…”
As Su Che gave this answer, he was still wondering whether the Black Old Demon would get angry over this. To his surprise, his reply was…
“Very good, very good.”
The Black Old Demon chuckled, seemingly pleased by this outcome. “If you need more, you can come here often. You can swallow as many as you want.”
Huh?
Hearing this, both Su Che and Zi Xiao found it strange. What were the intentions of this ancient demon god?
For Su Che, this was actually a good thing, as his path of cultivation surely required endless vitality. To obtain vitality, he had to draw on the life force of creatures in the Immortal Prison—a rather cruel method in some regards.
But creating vitality by refining Heavenly Demons was a virtuous act. Outer World Heavenly Demons were enemies of all things; killing them not only carried no guilt but also brought merit.
Regardless of the Black Old Demon’s motives, Su Che wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of any opportunity. He said, “I need a Demon King right now. Would you be willing to give it to me?”
“No problem at all.”
The Black Old Demon agreed readily. Instantly, a large mass of dark gray demonic energy drifted out from the Seal Demon Star.
This demonic energy contained the essence of true demons in sufficient quantity. It wouldn’t take long for it to naturally evolve into an Outer World Heavenly Demon of Demon King level.
The Seal Demon Star was meant to seal the Black Old Demon’s true form as a demon god but wouldn’t prevent him from releasing demonic energy. For the Tianxuan Sect, the more demonic energy he released, the better—it would weaken his true form and strengthen the seal.
In front of the Black Old Demon, Su Che couldn’t simply take in this mass of demonic energy into the Immortal Prison, as he feared some kind of connection between the Black Old Demon and his split forms might reveal the secrets of the Immortal Prison.
Once this demonic energy evolved into a Heavenly Demon with completely independent thoughts, there would be no need to worry.
So, Zi Xiao took out a high-grade Seal Demon Token and suppressed this mass of demonic energy, allowing it to evolve within the token.
The Black Old Demon said gently, “Young Tian Yu, feel free to visit the Seal Demon Realm often. You may take any Heavenly Demons you desire here.”
“Okay,” Su Che nodded in agreement. He knew well that the Black Old Demon was a primordial-level Heavenly Demon, the ultimate demon, and could hardly have any good intentions. His so-called “welcome” must have some ulterior motive.
Speaking too much could lead to mistakes. Su Che didn’t want to say too much to such an ancient demon and then left with his master Zi Xiao.

When they were far away, the Great Demon King of Chi Luo Tian asked in the language of demons, “Father God, why treat him in this way?”
“I was sealed by Tian Xuan Zong for thousands of years…” The old black demon replied in a deep voice, “The chance to break free lies with him.”
“Huh?”
The three great demon kings were shocked upon hearing this and wanted to ask more, but the old black demon merely snorted coldly, “If he comes to devour the demons in the future, you’d better stay far away. If he swallows you up, I won’t interfere.”
“Yes, Father God.”
“Go.”
The three great demon kings knelt and bowed before retreating quietly.
“Stay away from that Tian Yu as well…”
They firmly remembered these words. From then on, in their eyes, Su Che became ten thousand times more terrifying than those Yuan Ying ancestors of Tian Xuan Zong.
Because those Yuan Ying ancestors of Tian Xuan Zong had many concerns and would not kill them, but Su Che was clearly different.
Although the three great demon kings were derived from the split of the old black demon, they had already developed independent thoughts and demonic natures, equivalent to sons of demons, rather than puppet servants without any self-awareness.
If the old black demon ordered them to die, they would not willingly comply but would resist and try to escape.
Outer realm demons have no gender, so reproduction does not exist. There are two ways they are born: naturally or through splitting.
Outer realm demons are extremely selfish and evil, completely detached from virtues such as filial piety, loyalty, honesty, propriety, and integrity. But if given the chance, they would even devour their so-called father god who split from them…
Su Che did not leave the Sealing Demon Realm immediately. Instead, accompanied by Zi Xiao, he began capturing demons of all levels on a large scale.
This was not out of Su Che’s greed but at Zi Xiao’s instruction, to test the old black demon’s tolerance limit.
Even Zi Xiao would use his great powers to capture all the nearby demons and hand them over to Su Che for him to devour frantically.
In the Immortal Prison, the old black demon cheered excitedly—this was truly a huge fortune!
In just half a day, over forty demon generals, hundreds of demon lords, and more than twenty thousand lower-level demons were captured…
So many demons could generate countless life forces—truly a vast fortune!
The result of the test showed that the old black demon remained completely indifferent, showing no reaction.
When leaving the Sealing Demon Realm, even Zi Xiao was deeply moved: “Su Che, you are the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met. I look forward to seeing you create even more miracles.”
Su Che smiled shamelessly and said, “If Master Zi Xiao is willing to help more, there will be even more miracles, and faster!”

Zixiao took such a joke seriously and replied, “Of course. I’ve already staked a lot on you. It’s just that you’re still at the stage of a foolish boy and haven’t realized it yet.”
“I can’t say I’m completely unaware,” Su Che said with a smile. “I’m aware of the care shown by our several ancestral masters.”
Zixiao let out a somewhat peculiar hum before changing the subject and saying, “You still need the soul or essence of an alchemy master, right?”
“Yes.”
Su Che nodded. “I think this is the most difficult task of all.”
“It’s quite challenging; even I might not be able to do it.”
Zixiao said in a low voice, “But don’t you have the innate ability to change the fluctuations of your own spiritual energy? You can disguise yourself as a disciple of different ranks at the Spirit Medicine Mountain and gradually infiltrate its core area… At least half of the alchemy masters in the entire cultivation world gather there, where the opportunities are greatest.”
“The Spirit Medicine Mountain?”
Su Che’s eyes lit up. He thought to himself, “That’s right. The Spirit Medicine Mountain is the foremost alchemy sect in the cultivation world. Not only are there the most opportunities there, but you can also always find those extremely wicked scoundrels…”
“But this is too dangerous. Before reaching the middle stage of the Golden Core phase, none of us old folks will risk sending you on such an adventure.”
Zixiao said solemnly, “I estimate that by the middle stage of the Golden Core phase, you’ll have the strength to defeat those at the later stage. That bastard from Tianwu Peak shouldn’t be a match for you either.”
Su Che couldn’t help but laugh. Of course he knew that “that bastard from Tianwu Peak” referred to Venerable Tianwu.
Over seventy years ago, Venerable Tianwu was still Zixiao’s senior brother. It was likely that there had been some conflicts between them.
Often, Su Che felt that Zixiao had a very childlike nature and lacked the demeanor of an elder, acting more like a senior brother than an ancestral master. Among the several ancient masters, he got along most easily with Zixiao.
But seriously speaking, Su Che also believed that if he reached the middle stage of the Golden Core phase, he could defeat Venerable Tianwu completely. With so many advantages, it should be possible for him to win despite being at a lower level.
“The middle stage of the Golden Core phase…” Su Che murmured. “I estimate it will take another two or three years to reach that stage. Two or three years… that’s too long.”
Bang!
He got a slap on the forehead.
Zixiao glanced at him and scolded, “That’s about enough. If you say such things, be careful or you might get struck by lightning.”
Many people, even if they’re fortunate enough to enter the Golden Core phase, might never advance to the middle stage of it in their entire lives. Because after the Golden Core phase, each advancement becomes incredibly difficult. There are countless such examples within the Tianxuan Sect.

Su Che was confident that he could reach the middle stage of the Golden Core realm within two or three years. To still not be satisfied was truly excessive. Of course, only Su Che himself knew that it wasn’t because of his cultivation level but because he was eager to unlock the third layer of the Immortal Prison. The soul or primordial spirit of an alchemy master was what the Immortal Prison required. After leaving Demon Subduing Peak, the two should part ways and return to their respective peaks. Su Che asked loudly, “Ancestor, then what about the ninth-level Yin Fire and the tenth-level Yang Fire I need?” “It’s none of my business!” Zi Xiao walked away. Though he said that, he would still find a way to help Su Che gather information on it. Back at Mysterious Prison Peak, Su Che finally sent the Demon Sealing Order into the Immortal Prison. The mass of demonic energy was released, and after half an hour, it naturally transformed into a demon king. With the demon king and the rat in hand, who was the human cultivator at the Golden Core stage? There was only one living human cultivator at that stage in the Immortal Prison—Cang Qiu, the former lord of Cave Heaven Palace, who was now a cripple. Although Cang Qiu could no longer control his primordial energy and was useless, his Golden Core still remained in his body, so he could still be considered a Golden Core cultivator. Using him for fusion would be making the most of a waste. “Master, can we start now?” Old Black asked cheerfully. “Don’t rush!” Su Che thought to himself. “I’m wondering what it will look like this time when you fuse with a golden-haired rat.” “There’s nothing to think about,” Old Black replied, scratching the black fur on his head. “It’ll either be all golden hair or a mix of black and golden hair… But I hope it turns completely golden, so it looks more splendid and luxurious. After all, white can cover ten uglinesses—shouldn’t gold cover a hundred?” “Pure gold is a bit dazzling…” Su Che muttered before saying, “Let’s start, let’s start.” Whoosh! Old Black summoned the three Golden Core creatures—human, demon, and beast—to his presence and roared at the sky, “Before the third fusion begins, I want to pray loudly: Great Immortal Prison, if there’s another fusion, please stop using rats. Cats or dogs would work too.” “Stop talking nonsense!” Su Che thought angrily. “If the next fusion requires a Cat Demon at the Nascent Soul stage, it’ll be a nightmare!” Cat demons were extremely weak and almost never reached the Nascent Soul stage. As far as Su Che knew, there were no Cat Demons at that stage in the cultivation world nowadays—though there were indeed a few Rat Demon ancestors. As for Dog Demons? Pfft! Too much nonsense—it could make one spit blood… Fusion!

It was still the same procedure as the previous two times: the three creatures turned into amethyst statues simultaneously, then melted into a liquid state and merged into Lao Hei’s body.
Huhuhu!
Lao Hei’s body swelled dramatically, rapidly growing to a height of two zhang…
It turned out that both Su Che and Lao Hei were wrong—his fur wasn’t pure gold nor a mix of black and gold; it was a very deep dark gold color.
“Not bad, really not bad!”
Su Che praised loudly.
With its entire body covered in dark gold, towering horns reaching the sky, a massive and robust frame, and an imposing, solemn presence—this was what a true demon king should look like!
Though ugly, it was an ugly beauty of great presence and grandeur! Only such a being deserved to be the spirit of a celestial prison artifact!