Chapter 291: Infiltration

Su Che disguised himself as an outer disciple of Di Zheng Mountain and had been in his cultivation cave for three or four hours already. During this time, Lao He had been interrogating Lu Changqing, learning that he possessed a mid-tier spiritual treasure-level soul-calming artifact—a mystical beast talisman from ancient times. This artifact was connected to Lu Changqing’s original spirit, and to retrieve it, Lu Changqing had to be killed. Of course, Lu Changqing had to die, but not now, as Su Che was still deep in enemy territory, with unpredictable dangers. It was not the right time to unlock the third layer of the Immortal Prison. Su Che was worried that if he unlocked the third layer and caused too much commotion, or if he needed to sleep for several days, it would be disastrous. Doing such things at this critical moment would be tantamount to walking into a trap.

At dusk, other disciples came knocking on the door, notifying Su Che to gather at the mountain top square. Undoubtedly, this was the Di Zheng Mountain master planning to examine each of his disciples one by one. Di Zheng Mountain was just one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, and its master only possessed mid-stage Golden Core cultivation. Faced with such an examination, Su Che wasn’t too worried.

Although it was dark, the entrance to Lingyao Mountain was brightly lit, as if it were day. For cultivators, the difference between day and night was minimal. At the mountain top, on the square outside the master’s hall, over a thousand disciples of Di Zheng Mountain gathered, including 1,300 outer disciples and over 100 inner disciples. The higher-ranking ones were the Golden Core elders and the master. The Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends held lower status and did not have the right to train direct disciples. The master and the dozen or so Golden Core elders each took on specific tasks to examine each of the over a thousand disciples in detail, asking questions like: Where were you at noon today? What did you do? Are there any brothers who can vouch for you…?

Su Che could tell that this examination was more of a formality—the questions weren’t very thorough. With such an approach, nothing would likely be uncovered. It seemed the master and the Golden Core elders were also nervous. They were all afraid that if the terrifying murderer was indeed hiding on Di Zheng Mountain, capturing him might result in all of them being killed.

“It’s just one Lu Changqing who died. There’s no need for us to suffer as well.”

It was out of this mindset that the so-called examination became nothing more than a perfunctory act. Even if someone seemed suspicious, they would simply be dealt with quietly.

When it was Su Che’s turn, the same procedure was followed: he showed his identity jade token, stated his name and identity, recited a few lines he had prepared in advance, and then heard the elder in front of him call out, “Next!”
That’s how he got by…
Of course, it was only a temporary solution. After the inspection, no one was allowed to leave the mountain top square; they had to sit down and continue waiting for the next test.
After sitting all night, at dawn, two figures arrived at Di Zheng Mountain—Grandmaster Hong Yun and Grandmaster Chen Xu.
Considering that the murderer might be a Yuan Ying cultivator, the Yuan Ying masters from Ling Yao Mountain had to work in pairs to gain an advantage. Over the course of the night, Hong Yun and Chen Xu inspected twelve mountain peaks, and now it was Di Zheng Mountain’s turn.
“Chen Xu!”
Seeing Grandmaster Chen Xu arrive, Su Che naturally became nervous. This was exactly what he feared the most…
“Di Zheng, how is it?” Hong Yun asked in a deep voice.
“I report to the two uncles…”
Di Zheng reported in detail the results of the inspection, also pointing out a few people he considered suspicious. Fortunately, Su Che wasn’t among them.
Those suspicious individuals were called forward. The two grandmasters remained highly vigilant, using their divine vision to examine them carefully. Finding nothing amiss, they comforted them briefly before sending them back to their seats.
Then, the two grandmasters stood out like eagles among chickens, using their powerful spiritual senses to scan the over a thousand people sitting there. Not even the dozen or so Golden Dan elders escaped their attention.
Su Che tried his best to suppress his nervousness, trying to mimic the expressions of the legitimate disciples around him. If they appeared panicked, he would do the same; if they sweated on their foreheads, he would too…
Whoosh!
Grandmaster Hong Yun raised his hand, scattering a large amount of starlight. Among the over a thousand people present, at least a hundred had small patches of silver-white starlight on the shoulders of their robes, making them stand out sharply.
Su Che’s shoulders also had such patches.
Hong Yun turned to Di Zheng and said, “Send the disciples with starlight on them to the Tian Kui Star Mountain top square.”
“Yes, uncle,” Di Zheng replied with a bow.
Clearly, the over a hundred people with starlight on them were the “suspicious individuals” selected by Grandmaster Hong Yun through some method, and they would go to Tian Kui Star for further inspection.
Su Che certainly didn’t dare touch or remove the starlight on his shoulders in any way.
Because that starlight must be connected to Grandmaster Hong Yun in some way. If he tried to touch it or remove it, it would prove his guilt and trigger Hong Yun’s telepathic sense.

Therefore, no Yuan Ying ancestor should be underestimated; it’s hard to say what kind of supernatural powers or abilities they possess…
It wasn’t until Hong Yun and Chen Xu flew away from Di Zheng Mountain and headed to other peaks that Lao He dared to speak up: “Master, things are bad. Once we go to Tian Kui Mountain, we’ll be in trouble!”
“What should we do?”
Su Che tilted his head, looking at the glowing starlight on his shoulder. He knew well that Tian Kui Mountain was like a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair—once there, it would be difficult to escape.
Tian Kui Mountain was the foremost among the 108 peaks, equivalent in significance to Tian Feng, the leader of Tian Xuan Zong. Usually, the four Yuan Ying ancestors from Ling Yao Mountain resided there.
“Why was this starlight scattered by Hong Yun? What went wrong?”
Curious, Su Che silently examined the over a hundred people with starlight on their shoulders, trying to identify any common traits that might explain why they were chosen by Hong Yun.
All of them were men, not a single woman. This indicated that Hong Yun and his group were certain the killer was male. Other than that, Su Che and Lao He couldn’t find any other patterns.
“Those with starlight on them, follow me.”
By now, Venerable Di Zheng had made all the arrangements and was ready to lead these over a hundred people to Tian Kui Mountain.
Since at least one-third of the disciples were still in the middle stage of Qi Cultivation and lacked the ability to fly, they needed others to assist them by using flying magic artifacts to lift them into the air. This made their flight speed extremely slow—it would take at least half an hour to cover the more than a thousand li to Tian Kui Mountain.
Along the way, Su Che racked his brains for a solution: he must not go to Tian Kui Mountain and fall into danger; he needed to find an opportunity to slip away secretly along the way.
But Venerable Di Zheng was still at the middle stage of Golden Core cultivation, and his spiritual perception covered everyone. No matter what he did, he would surely be detected if he tried to escape…
“Alright, if soft methods won’t work, then we’ll have to use force!”
The outer disciple Su Che was playing the role of at this moment was only at the middle stage of Qi Cultivation and couldn’t fly either. He stood on the flying sword of a disciple in the later stage of Qi Cultivation, the two riding together on the sword.
After flying for about twenty minutes, Lao He in the Immortal Prison had already prepared everything…
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a huge cloud covered the sky, with blue lights flashing rapidly within it. Su Che continuously used Soul Capture to disrupt the minds of four Golden Core cultivators, including Venerable Di Zheng, while releasing thousands of dark spirits at the same time.

Thousands of spirits, including sixteen Ghost Kings in the late Golden Core stage, over two hundred Ghost Generals in the Foundation Establishment stage, and more than seven hundred Ghost Guards in the late Qi Refinement stage. After being tamed by the Netherworld of Ghosts, these spirits could all be considered Su Che’s ghost servants. However, in regular battles, ghost servants at the levels of Ghost Generals and Ghost Guards were hardly needed. But the situation today made them extremely useful. Otherwise, no matter how skilled Su Che was, it would be impossible for him to deal with over a hundred people quickly. Even though most of them were low-level disciples in the Qi Refinement stage, many would still manage to escape.

Whoosh…

A cloud formed by thousands of spirits descended overhead, enveloping all the disciples from Zhengshan Mountain. This cloud, created by the immense ghostly power of the ghost servants, also served as a barrier, preventing their screams from spreading outward. The cloud carried over a hundred humans and slowly descended to the ground silently, in a most eerie manner. Yet inside the cloud, screams and cries of terror echoed incessantly…

After a dozen breaths, the cloud dissipated, and all the thousand ghost servants were brought back to Immortal Prison by Su Che. On the ground lay over a hundred unconscious disciples from Zhengshan Mountain. As for the four Golden Core elders, they were captured by Su Che and taken to Immortal Prison as well. These disciples all had silver starlight on their bodies. Su Che didn’t dare take them to Immortal Prison either, as that would surely trigger some kind of reaction from Patriarch Hongyun. So, he had no choice but to knock them out.

Then, Su Che took off his Taoist robe, with the starlight still clinging to it. He let these people and his robe lie there peacefully and sleep…

Whoosh!

Su Che used his teleportation technique to hide in the shadows of the trees and swiftly vanish into the distance. This shadow teleportation technique wasn’t part of the Five Elements teleportation methods; it was a highly advanced special technique taught to Su Che by Master Muye. By using the shadows on the ground to teleport quickly, it was difficult for cultivators’ spiritual senses to detect his whereabouts. Su Che dared to take the risk of knocking out over a hundred people out of a gamble—he bet that the four Yuan Ying elders from Lingyao Mountain were busy inspecting the 108 peaks and wouldn’t be in the main hall at that moment, thus unable to detect this anomaly through the mountain protection array. By the time they patrolled here and found these unconscious people, he would already have hidden in another safe place. Su Che knew this approach was risky, but he couldn’t just go to Tiankui Mountain and hand himself in. Instead, he had to use his disguise skills inside Lingyao Mountain’s entrance to fight them in a game of cat and mouse.

Hold on!
Hold on for three to five days, and their mountain protection formation will surely return to its first, partially open state, because it’s impossible to maintain the fully closed second state for long. It only takes half a month to deplete all the spirit stones in Spirit Medicine Mountain.
They surely won’t bear to do that!
Hold on for three to five days, and you’ll be free again…