Chapter 405: Refining the Space
Seeing Su Che destroy a mountain outright and countless disciples perish in the process, Lan Ling’s fury surged, and her killing intent grew so intense that she nearly unleashed her most powerful attack to kill Su Che on the spot. Yet, some reservations still lingered in her heart, allowing her to control that overwhelming desire to kill.
“It’s not me forcing you—it’s you forcing me.”
Su Che had no other choice but to resort to this method to deal with her. At this point, both Su Che and Lan Ling were in a desperate situation: if Su Che tried to lead people away from the Illusion Demon Sect, he feared Lan Ling would follow and attack him without hesitation; but staying here meant the risk of being captured alive by her.
Lan Ling was equally conflicted. Killing Su Che could lead to the destruction of the Illusion Demon Sect, while capturing him proved extremely difficult. Yet she also couldn’t allow him to continue destroying the Illusion Demon Sect’s mountain gate…
In the blink of an eye, the Giant Wealth Palace, trailing a golden light tail, charged toward the second mountain.
“Tian Yu!”
Lan Ling roared, using her invisible claws to grasp the Giant Wealth Palace, but she could only slow it down slightly, unable to stop it completely. Even though its speed had decreased, it was still astonishingly fast. When dealing with a mountain, a speed of 100,000 li per hour or 200,000 li per hour made little difference.
Boom…
While the dust from the previous collision hadn’t settled yet, another mountain thousands of feet tall was shattered by the Giant Wealth Palace, as if a meteor had struck the earth, destroying everything in its path. Countless more disciples lost their lives in this disaster…
“Good, Tian Yu! This is your fault!” Lan Ling laughed in fury, determined. She shouted loudly, “Today, I’ll risk even my last trace of immortal soul to refine you alive!”
Su Che didn’t understand the meaning behind her words, but he felt a surge of anxiety, guessing that she was about to use some ultimate tactic.
Whoosh!
With a teleportation spell, Lan Ling suddenly appeared above the Giant Wealth Palace. Pressing her hands downward, she unleashed a strange force that enveloped the entire palace.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
Su Che, protected by the Giant Wealth Palace, seemed to be inside a circular bubble, surrounded by colorful streams of light.
Hiss hiss hiss…
As soon as these streams of light touched the palace’s defensive barrier, they swarmed like flies drawn to food, pouncing on the barrier and beginning to corrode and penetrate it. The sound was like countless sharp-toothed insects gnawing at flesh and bones…
In the blink of an eye, more and more colorful streams of light appeared—no one knew how Lan Ling had created them. Each stream was over ten feet long, resembling slender, colorful centipedes. The more vibrant their colors, the more terrifying they seemed.
Click, click, click… whoosh, whoosh…
Just a few moments later, tens of thousands of these colorful centipedes rushed at the giant rich man’s barrier and began gnawing at it frantically.
What terrified Su Che even more was that, inside this circular bubble, he was completely cut off from the outside world. His mental connection with servants like Tai Xu was also severed. He couldn’t even determine whether the Giant Rich Man’s Palace was still flying or had completely stopped.
“What kind of technique is this?”
Su Che had no idea what was going on. Bai Lao Mo in the Immortal Prison was equally confused; he had never seen such a magical spell before.
“This kind of power, this kind of ability, must surpass the limits of the cultivation world. If she uses it like this, she won’t be able to hold on long before being punished by the laws of heaven and earth…”
Out of fear, such a hope arose in Su Che’s heart.
As if guessing his thoughts, Lan Ling’s clear voice reached his ears: “Tian Yu, are you hoping that heaven will help you? Are you hoping that I will be punished by the laws of heaven and earth?”
Before Su Che could reply, she continued, “It’s useless! This is my own created refinement domain. It can deceive the laws of heaven and earth in the short term, preventing them from sensing what happens within it. With this time, I can thoroughly refine you.”
Su Che replied loudly through telepathy, “Don’t deceive me. If you have such a technique, why didn’t you try it earlier? I guess using it must come at a great cost to you, right?”
“That’s right. You’re smart. I indeed have to pay a price.”
Lan Ling’s voice echoed throughout her refinement domain: “If I use an attack technique that exceeds the limits of the cultivation world, I will be punished by the laws of heaven and earth. It’s very likely that the trace of my immortal soul residing in this avatar will be sent back to the immortal realm, and I may even face other punishments. But right now, using the Soul-Burning Art, I’m willing to sacrifice this trace of my immortal soul just to refine you alive. This self-destructive method means that even if the laws of heaven and earth discover it, they won’t punish me, because I’ve already chosen self-destruction. Why would they go to the trouble of punishing me?”
“Self-destruction?”
Su Che was half confused and half understanding. He then asked, “I don’t believe you’d be willing to self-destruct just for someone like me, to perish together with me.”
Lan Ling smiled arrogantly, “You’re wrong. What will perish with you is just this avatar and a fragment of my immortal soul. Losing an avatar in the mortal world doesn’t bother me; losing a fragment of my immortal soul means my true body in the immortal realm can be restored after just a few decades of cultivation. For an immortal with infinite lifespan, a few decades is but a blink of an eye—this loss is something I can bear.”
As the two conversed, more and more “colored centipedes” kept emerging in her refinement domain, numbering in the tens of thousands. They swarmed over the Wealthy Guardian’s barrier, emitting a creepy gnawing sound that made one’s skin crawl.
“Master, things are bad!” The Wealthy Guardian’s spirit transmitted in a panicked voice. “I can barely hold on any longer.”
“How could you not hold on?” Su Che replied urgently. “We have plenty of spirit stones—there’s no way they’ll run out. As long as the barrier holds, we can keep doing this. Once her immortal soul is completely burned out, everything will be fine.”
“That’s not it, master. Although there are enough spirit stones, her refinement method isn’t really attacking the barrier—it’s refining me!” The Wealthy Guardian’s voice carried a hint of crying. “If this continues, even if the defense barrier remains intact, the Wealthy Guardian artifact will soon be refined by her and become her own. Then, she’ll become my master.”
“What?”
Su Che’s expression changed drastically as he finally understood—Lan Ling was referring to a refinement domain, not an attack domain. After all, his own cultivation level was too low; he was just a mortal and couldn’t comprehend the principles behind such a refinement method. Could simply by gnawing at the defense barrier, she refine the Wealthy Guardian into her own artifact?
What kind of logic was that?
Still, Su Che knew such things couldn’t be judged by “whether it’s possible or not.” Just like his own Great Thunder Technique and Great Plunder Technique, they also seemed utterly unimaginable and almost impossible for mortals to achieve.
“If the Wealthy Guardian is refined by her, that would be terrible.” Hearing this, Su Che naturally became extremely anxious.
At that moment, Lan Ling’s voice came again, “Tian Yu, I’m quite curious about your ability to enslave others. By refining you, I can learn this skill, which will likely be very useful in the immortal realm. That’s why losing a fragment of my immortal soul is still worth it.”
In fact, this was precisely the reason why Lan Ling was willing to sacrifice a bit of her immortal soul to transform Su Che into a human-shaped puppet. She was extremely covetous of Su Che’s remarkable ability to enslave cultivators of the same level. Just imagine—if she could use this technique in the Immortal Realm, she could enslave numerous immortals of the same rank to work for her. Her path forward in the Immortal Realm would surely become far smoother and faster…
“Delusions! You’ll never be able to learn my techniques.”
Su Che roared in anger. Unwilling to sit idly and wait for death, he couldn’t allow her to transform him into a puppet. So, he risked the unknown and sent Xiao Hei outside the barrier, hoping to rely on the power of chaos to counter this transformation realm.
Whoosh!
As soon as Xiao Hei appeared, it indeed had an effect. The colorful centipedes surrounding the giant’s barrier, as if encountering a natural enemy, instinctively fled, clearing a path for Xiao Hei. The more these mindless energy entities were, the more directly they sensed the supreme power of chaos.
Su Che controlled Xiao Hei, trying to devour those colorful transformation energies. Logically, these should also be a type of divine energy, suitable for Xiao Hei’s tastes. Yet, in reality, Xiao Hei refused to eat them. It seemed interested only in the divine talismans created by Su Che himself.
Since it couldn’t be eaten, they could only hope that Xiao Hei’s power to create the world could forcefully break through Lan Ling’s realm.
Swish!
Xiao Hei transformed into a giant over ten zhang tall, raised his battle axe high, and delivered a mighty swing at the edge of that semi-transparent bubble-like space.
Boom…
With one swing, the circular bubble trembled several times. Outside the realm, Lan Ling’s body also shook slightly. Through her own realm, she could clearly sense that overwhelming force of creation.
“The power isn’t very strong—still not at the level of the Transcendent God phase. But that relentless, fierce momentum is truly astonishing,” Lan Ling thought in confusion. “What exactly is this summoning creature of his?”
Lan Ling increasingly felt that this young man, Su Che, hid far too many secrets. A young man under thirty from the mortal cultivation world could arouse so much curiosity among the true immortals of the Immortal Realm—even Lan Ling herself found it hard to believe.
Swish swish swish…
Xiao Hei swung his battle axe several times in a row, but that seemingly thin layer of bubble-like surface turned out to be incredibly tough and elastic. It always managed to dissipate Xiao Hei’s slashing force throughout the entire area by buffering and spreading it, preventing his force from concentrating in one point and thus preventing him from breaking through that confined space.
At this moment, the spirit of the wealthy man’s mind transmitted messages filled with urgency: “Master, I can’t hold on any longer. If this continues, I’ll be completely refined by her. Master, save me…”
Su Che didn’t dare delay. He immediately controlled Xiao Hei to return to the wealthy man’s side and began using his battle axe and left hand to drive away the refining energies—those colored centipedes—that surrounded the barrier.
Swish swish swish…
This driving method did have some effect. Wherever Xiao Hei went, the refining energies fled, just like a swarm of insects gnawing on corpses being driven away, scattering in all directions.