Chapter 243: The Snake Woman’s Ascension

Level 10 Yang Fire—absolutely necessary!
“What risks or competition? None of that matters,” Su Che thought to himself. “Not to mention her accompanying me to that ruins—even if it’s just a vague rumor, I must go and verify its truth. If there’s the slightest chance, I must seize it!”
Su Che wasn’t someone who hesitated. Once he made up his mind, he wouldn’t waver. He immediately nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll take on this task. Sister, when do you think we should set off?”
Su Che was eager to unlock the third layer of the Immortal Prison, so the sooner, the better.
“The unlocking of the ruins is tied to the tides. The best day to do it is on the tenth day of each month,” Shui Yue replied. “Let’s depart two days early. One day for travel, one day to survey the surroundings.”
That meant setting off on the eighth day of the next month…
Su Che calculated silently: “There are nearly twenty days left. By then, the Snake Woman’s ascension should have an outcome. If she succeeds, we’ll have an extra helper and greater confidence.”
They finally agreed to meet outside Xuanji City on the seventh day of the next month.
Shui Yue took her leave.
Her departure reminded Su Che of another woman—Fei Yun.
“The few spirit stones she sells in the market now mean nothing. With the cultivation world in chaos, it’s safer for her to return to the sect.”
Having made up his mind, Su Che set off immediately. In just fifteen minutes, he flew nearly two thousand li to reach the Feiyun Lake market.
“You…”
Every time she saw Su Che, Fei Yun was utterly astonished. His progress was too fast—simply incredible!
Last time they met, he was still in the later stages of the Foundation Building phase. Just a few days later, he was already at the Golden Core stage.
“He seems to be only twenty years old in terms of bone age,” Fei Yun thought sadly. “A Golden Core cultivator at twenty is even more outstanding than Tian Yin from the Wuji Sect. What kind of woman could be worthy of him…”
“Fei Yun, close the shop. I’ll take you back to the sect. You can settle on Xuanji Peak or my Immortal Prison Peak, as an inner sect disciple,” Su Che said.
“Your Immortal Prison Peak?” Fei Yun was shocked and quickly asked, “So, are you that Senior Brother Tian Yu?”
Feiyun Lake was very close to Tianxuan Sect. Over these days, she had occasionally heard people talk about the sect’s top disciple, but only the name Tian Yu was mentioned. She had no idea that Tian Yu was Su Che’s dao name.

Su Che nodded and continued, “There are still four months left until the internal sect competition. You’ve already established your foundation, and your aptitude is quite good. If you want to compete for the position of a true disciple, I can help you.”
The internal sect competition in four months would be presided over by Su Che, the top true disciple, who also had the authority to appoint internal sect disciples. It wouldn’t be too difficult for him to help Fei Yun become a true disciple through various means.
Back then, Su Che’s first goal had been to become a true disciple through the internal sect competition; just five years after joining the sect, he had already become the most outstanding senior disciple.
Even when recalling this journey, Su Che felt it was like a dream.
Fei Yun’s gaze was distant, struggling to process such drastic changes. After a long while, she lowered her head again, silent and lost in thought…
Su Che couldn’t guess what she was thinking, but he didn’t press her. Instead, he patiently waited for her to make a decision.
“Can I still call you Su Che?” Fei Yun asked softly, lifting her head.
“Of course,” Su Che replied with a nod. He had an intuition that she might make another choice if she said so…
Sure enough, he heard Fei Yun say in a low voice, “For now, I don’t want to return to the sect. I think… I still have some things to do on my own.”
“Alright.”
Su Che respected her choice and didn’t ask further or try to persuade her. He simply said, “From now on, the cultivation world will become increasingly chaotic. The sect leader said it might last for decades. So, be careful when you’re out there.”
“Mm,” Fei Yun replied softly, nodding gently. Yet, a feeling of heartache surged within her…
“How many spirit stones do you have left? I can give you some more,” Su Che asked.
“I have enough,” Fei Yun said, trying hard to stabilize her emotions. “I’m fine. You should go back now.”
At that moment, she just wanted to cry, but she didn’t want Su Che to see her.
Su Che sensed that her mood was off, but he didn’t want to say more. He said goodbye once more and turned to leave.
As he turned into a streak of light and flew away in an instant, Fei Yun’s face lost all color. But the urge to cry loudly strangely disappeared as well.
Only an indescribable determination remained in her eyes—though perhaps “determination” wasn’t the right word.
“I don’t need your pity. I just hope you can keep me in your heart… For that, I’d rather fall into the path of darkness!”
“Meeting you in person will also surprise you greatly.”
“Su Che…”

That day, the shop in Feiyun Lake Market closed its doors, and its beautiful female owner disappeared without a trace, leaving many admirers in the market deeply saddened.
…
At the end of that month, the “Dragon and Snake Lake” on the first floor of the Immortal Prison was filled with demonic energy. It was the final moment for the Snake Woman to advance, and also the most critical stage.
Su Che and Lao He were both worried secretly. Though they knew she wouldn’t die, they still feared she might fail to advance.
The thick demonic energy that had lingered over the lake for three days suddenly contracted and sank beneath the water’s surface…
Su Che realized that for the Snake Woman to succeed in her advancement, she needed to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy.
Without Su Che giving any orders, Lao He immediately controlled the liquid spiritual vein hidden underground to reach the lake bottom, releasing abundant spiritual energy for her to absorb freely—however much she wanted.
The more she absorbed, the higher her achievement would be.
As the ruler of the Immortal Prison, Su Che’s mental vision could penetrate every corner of the prison, so he naturally kept an eye on the Snake Woman’s advancement at the lake bottom.
But after watching for a while, he couldn’t bear to look any longer.
Because she had already begun to transform, her long snake tail was changing into a graceful human figure…
Though she was a demon, she was still a woman, so he couldn’t watch any further.
A few hours later, when she finished transforming and emerged from the lake, she was dressed in a colorful dress, looking like a beautiful fairy, utterly stunning.
“She’s indeed become even more beautiful. This is what a true demon woman should look like,” Lao He muttered softly.
To be honest, Lao He was just an artifact spirit and didn’t have a true gender, so he didn’t harbor any lustful thoughts toward any woman. It was precisely because of his innocence that he spoke without restraint.
The Snake Woman floated across the lake and stepped onto the grass. Since she had just grown two legs, she walked very slowly. Though she didn’t stumble, her movements were clearly unsteady and awkward.
“Congratulations,” Su Che’s voice echoed in her ears. “But you’ve advanced by three levels, which is equivalent to the human Dan stage. Don’t you need to go through a tribulation?”
“No need,” the Snake Woman replied softly. “Our Beauty Snake clan only needs to go through a tribulation when we advance by five levels.”
A fifth-level demon beast was equivalent to the human Hua Shen stage, allowing it to ascend to the spiritual realm. Su Che thought to himself, “Sure enough, as descendants of ancient gods, they possess many innate advantages.”
Su Che knew that the Dragon clan also gained the ability to transform at the fourth level, but they still needed to go through a tribulation.

Generally speaking, the timing of undergoing the tribulation can indicate the rank of the demon race’s lineage. The truly pure True Dragon clan never faces celestial tribulations in their lives; once they reach a certain level of strength, they can ascend to the immortal realm smoothly. This is because True Dragons are divinely ordained sacred beasts, and their growth follows the will of heaven rather than defying it, so they do not need to endure celestial tribulations. From this perspective, the lineage of the Snake Beauty is far superior to that of the Jiaolong. After ascending three levels, the Snake Beauty gained the ability to control precious artifacts. Su Che currently has ten artifact-grade magical treasures, all obtained from the Golden Pill elders of the Taiyi Sect. These artifacts come from top immortal sects and are extremely powerful. In future battles, depending on the enemy, the Snake Beauty can choose different magical treasures to help Su Che defeat his opponents. At this moment, Lao He said, “Now that you’ve taken on a completely human appearance, shouldn’t you pick a human name?” “From now on, you can call me Ye Lan.” The Snake Beauty waved her hand and cast a spell, causing the characters ‘Ye Lan’ to appear in the air. “Ye Lan?” Lao He asked curiously, “Is there any special meaning to this name?” “There’s no special meaning,” replied Ye Lan softly. “It was my mother’s name. Since she’s gone, I can still use it…” Only then did Su Che and Lao He realize that this was also a way to cherish their loved ones. A few days later, the appointed day arrived. Outside Xuanji City, Su Che met up with Shui Yue. “The ruins of Tianya Hai Ge are located within the Hunyuan Sword Sect, 50,000 miles away. It will take a whole day to fly there,” Shui Yue transmitted through telepathy. “Just 50,000 miles?” Su Che nodded. “It doesn’t take a whole day; half a day is enough.” As they spoke, the Star Emperor Compass was summoned and hovered at their feet, its diameter expanding to over ten feet. In this way, even though the two rode on it together, they could maintain enough distance to avoid feeling awkward from being too close. “A spiritual treasure?” Shui Yue was secretly surprised and puzzled. “With such a treasure, why didn’t he use it when stealing from Jinwu Mountain? Could it be…” Su Che guessed her thoughts and explained, “That furnace has already been sent to Tianlu Peak. This is one of the magical treasures given to me by our sect.” Only then did Shui Yue understand. The Star Emperor Compass is a top-grade spiritual treasure used for traveling through the galaxy. Thanks to its flying ability, it’s more than ten times faster than the other flying treasures Su Che used. It should only take less than four hours to cover 50,000 miles.

When the Star Emperor Compass sliced through the sky, Shui Yue, sitting on it, exclaimed in amazement, “Such incredible speed! It can compare to those at the later stages of the Golden Core realm. Truly a spiritual treasure.” She wasn’t the only one to think this way; along the way, they had overtaken countless cultivators flying on their own vehicles. A blue light vanished in an instant, and everyone guessed in silence, “Such fast speed… at least at the later stages of the Golden Core realm…”