Chapter 402: Ancestor Lan Ling

Who exactly was this “ancestor” summoned by the Demon Cult’s leader? Why did Su Che know her?
After all, Su Che was not even thirty years old—how could he possibly know an old woman who was called the Ancestor of the Demon Cult and must be thousands of years old?
Yet, Su Che indeed recognized her—not only that, but he knew her very well.
Fei Yun!
That’s right; her appearance was identical to Fei Yun’s, and her figure as well was exactly the same…
But Su Che dared not be certain that she was Fei Yun. After all, back then, Fei Yun and Zhen Zhen had been captured by the Witch Meng Liu and taken to the Demon Cult, where they were forced to completely change their appearances. Although they became much prettier, they were no longer their original selves.
“Could it be that the Witch Meng Liu changed Fei Yun’s appearance based on the likeness of some ancestor of the Demon Cult?”
Thinking of this, Su Che immediately ordered Lao He to interrogate her right away.
Swish!
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He summoned the Witch Meng Liu before him. With just one question, he obtained the answer from her mind.
No!
The Witch Meng Liu simply thought that Fei Yun’s facial structure and features could be made more beautiful. Out of mere curiosity, she casually changed her appearance, without copying anyone’s look, let alone daring to mock the appearance of some Ancestor of the Demon Cult.
“So, it’s possible that this Ancestor of the Demon Cult before us is really Fei Yun?”
But Su Che couldn’t figure it out. How could Fei Yun, who was so obedient and gentle in front of him, become the ancestor of the Demon Cult, with even the current leader of the cult showing her utmost respect?
Moreover, although he thought she was Fei Yun, it seemed she didn’t recognize him…
The woman’s gaze swept coldly over Su Che and the others before she asked in a cold tone, “Are these the ones who want to destroy my sect?”
“Yes, Ancestor Lan Ling,” replied the Demon Cult’s leader respectfully. “They are numerous and all at the Yuan Ying stage. No matter what we try, we cannot stop them.”
“Hmm. The gap in strength is too great; it’s not your fault,” said the Ancestor Lan Ling in a soft voice. Her calm demeanor showed that she didn’t take these over forty opponents at the Yuan Ying stage seriously at all.
“Lan Ling?”

Upon hearing this title, Tai Xu recalled and his expression changed drastically. He quickly sent a message to Su Che: “Master, I remember the name Lan Ling. She was once an Yuan Ying elder of the Illusion Demon Sect. She disappeared mysteriously and is said to have become the new sect leader, or some say she ascended to the Spirit Realm. But that was over twenty thousand years ago. If she had survived until now, she should have already achieved immortality!”
“Yes, a mortal’s lifespan cannot reach twenty thousand years unless they ascend to the Immortal Realm and become true immortals,” Su Che thought, yet more doubts arose in his mind. “If she has already become an immortal, why can she still appear in the mortal world? Moreover, she looks very much like Fei Yun I know…”
At this moment, the experienced White Old Demon thought of a possibility and said, “Master, many years ago, I saw a similar scenario called the ‘Great Clone Technique,’ which is also one of the three thousand great paths in the Immortal Realm.”
Hearing him mention the “Great Clone Technique,” Su Che suddenly understood something.
The Great Clone Technique ranked quite low among the three thousand great paths, probably around the thousandth place. Creating a clone even for an immortal was not easy, as it required meeting many extremely strict conditions.
The White Old Demon’s mental voice continued, “The Great Clone Technique is also a systematic great path technique. There are many methods and forms to create clones. The scenario I saw involved an immortal leaving a clone in the mortal world, whose strength was terrifying—far beyond what we ordinary people could match.”
“So, it’s possible that Fei Yun has been transformed into a clone of Lan Ling, an immortal’s clone?”
Su Che frowned. Not only did he find this situation bizarre, but he also worried deeply about Fei Yun’s fate. If she had been turned into a clone, did Fei Yun still exist? Had her soul been destroyed?
Now that he suspected the Fei Yun before him might be Lan Ling’s immortal clone, Su Che became highly vigilant. He immediately issued a mental command to spread his subordinates out, ensuring each kept a distance of over a hundred feet to avoid being wiped out by her ultimate attack.
“You ignorant youngsters, daring to try to destroy the teachings of our Illusion Demon Sect! How bold of you,” said Lan Ling, the sect founder, as she glanced at Su Che and the others with a cold voice. “I’ll give you three breaths to flee before I take action. Those who stay after three breaths will be killed on the spot without mercy!”
As she spoke, her aura grew stronger by the moment, giving people an overwhelming sense of vastness and profundity.

This sense of profundity doesn’t overwhelm people with overwhelming force, but rather remains unfathomable—making it impossible to determine just how strong she really is. It’s as if a cultivator at the foundation stage stands before one at the Yuan Ying stage, utterly unable to judge the latter’s cultivation level; all they can sense is that this senior’s strength is extremely, extremely terrifying.
“Another character similar to the Master of Juechen Valley.”
Su Che sighed inwardly. “They say the peak cultivation level in the realm of cultivation is the late Yuan Ying stage, but little do they know that the world is full of wonders, always hiding some special existences. There’s a Master of Juechen Valley on Mulan Star who’s been possessed, and now on Qiyuan Star, there’s a seemingly modified immortal clone…”
Still, given this, Su Che wasn’t too afraid. He felt confident and said aloud, “May I ask this Senior Lan Ling—this is probably an immortal clone from the mortal world, right?”
“Mm.” Lan Ling turned her gaze to Su Che and said indifferently, “You young man have quite good insight. To know about the Great Clone Technique, an immortal art, shows you have some discernment.”
The Demon Illusion Sect’s leader, standing nearby, immediately sent a message to Lan Ling, briefly summarizing Su Che’s characteristics in just a few words.
Lan Ling remained calm, her gaze toward Su Che unchanged.
“May I ask again, Senior? Your clone seems to have been created using my friend, a woman named ‘Fei Yun’…” Su Che continued, “So, is my friend’s soul dead, leaving only this body?”
“Fei Yun?”
Lan Ling’s expression shifted slightly, but suddenly her tone turned stern. “You all should leave quickly if you want to save your lives. Otherwise, by the time I act, it will be too late to escape.”
Su Che chuckled, seemingly unafraid, and said, “As far as I know, no matter how strong this clone of yours is, it’s still bound by the laws of heaven and earth. I guess you can only unleash power capable of killing us once or twice before facing punishment from those laws. But just one or two moves—how many of us can they kill? Even if half of us are killed, the remaining half can still eradicate the Demon Illusion Sect completely.”
Su Che had experience dealing with the Master of Juechen Valley and knew that these special existences, who surpassed the cultivation levels of the realm of cultivation, also had to be cautious and couldn’t act recklessly here.

“It seems you do know quite a bit.” Lan Ling spoke in a cold tone, a hint of murderous intent in her eyes. “You must be the leader of these people. I’m curious—after I kill you, will your so-called subordinates still remain loyal and continue to serve you, even though you’re dead?”
Having just heard the Demon Illusion Sect’s leader’s account, Lan Ling could guess that Tai Xu and the others must have had their minds altered by Su Che through some special method, turning them into his loyal followers. In such master-slave relationships, once the master dies, the servants usually revert to their original thoughts, identities, and positions, and all constraints vanish.
Of course, this isn’t absolute—no one can claim there aren’t more sophisticated methods of enslavement in this world. That’s why Lan Ling was cautious, hoping to scare Su Che and his men away and avoid a situation where both sides were destroyed.
Indeed, her caution was justified, because what had been altered in Tai Xu and the others wasn’t their thoughts but their souls. Deep down, they already regarded Su Che as their true master and would never change that view under any circumstances.
If Su Che really died here today, and Lan Ling, after revealing her strength, was punished by the laws of the universe, then Tai Xu and the others would surely go all out to wipe out the Demon Illusion Sect completely, leaving no survivors. No one could stop them…
Therefore, Su Che was fearless and smiled calmly. “You can definitely give it a try. Stake the survival of the Demon Illusion Sect in a gamble against me. Dare you, Senior Lan Ling?”
Lan Ling was momentarily speechless. It wasn’t that she didn’t dare to accept the gamble, but that she didn’t want to. In her eyes, the life of a young cultivator like Su Che, who was still in the Yuan Ying stage, was insignificant compared to the legacy of the Demon Illusion Sect. It wasn’t worth destroying the entire sect just to kill one person.
Today, her responsibility was to protect her sect; whether she could kill Su Che was secondary.
“Tian Yu, is that you?” Lan Ling’s tone softened as she asked, “What makes you willing to risk destruction just to destroy my sect?”
“Ask her!”
Su Che pointed remotely at the Demon Illusion Sect’s leader. “She wants to destroy me. How can I accept such fate? Even if I die, I’ll drag your Demon Illusion Sect down into the abyss.”
“Oh?”
Lan Ling, who was in the Immortal Realm, really didn’t know much about what was happening in the cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star. She turned to ask the Demon Illusion Sect’s leader, “What exactly is the reason?”

The Demon Lord of Illusions used telepathy to recount the whole story of how some people in the Spirit Realm sought to open a passage to the lower world in order to find a special treasure. The Tianxuan Sect belonged to the defensive faction, while the Demon Lord’s Sect was part of the chaotic faction. And this Tian Yu was the number one enemy of the seven major sects in the chaotic faction.
There were even suspicions that the treasure the Spirit Realm was looking for was on Tian Yu’s person, which explained why he could become the greatest genius in the cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star, creating the myth of ascending to the Yuan Ying stage before the age of thirty.
In fact, the Demon Lord suspected that Su Che possessed that treasure due to his abnormally rapid growth rate, as well as his relentless efforts to obstruct the chaotic faction from completing the mission assigned by the Spirit Realm—among many other factors—that led to such suspicions.
Of course, it was just suspicion; there was no absolute certainty.