Chapter 466: Holy Shadow City

“What benefits can I gain on Phantom Star?”
With this question in mind, Su Che sent a mental message to Ying Wanqi inside the Immortal Prison and asked, “Ying Wanqi, you mentioned earlier that your Shadow Clan is an anomaly among cultivators. If you ascend to the Spirit Realm too early, you’ll become a delicacy for certain powerful cultivators, right?”
“Master!”
At the sound of Su Che’s voice, Ying Wanqi, his loyal servant, immediately knelt on the ground, bowed with utmost respect before replying, “Master, I indeed said that earlier.”
“Then tell me, what benefits can those powerful cultivators gain by devouring your Shadow Clan?” Su Che asked further.
“As far as I know, the benefits can be seen in three aspects…”
Ying Wanqi replied promptly, “The first method is to destroy our physical bodies, separate our shadow souls, erase our memories, and consume the pure power of those shadow souls to greatly strengthen the primordial spirits of other cultivators. As you surely know, for cultivators above the Divine Transformation stage, their primordial spirit is of utmost importance—the stronger it is, the greater their power.”
Su Che nodded in agreement and told him to continue.
“The second method is to merge our shadow souls into their own shadows, refining them into completely independent external avatars. This is also a highly advanced form of creating duplicates, which can be called shadow bodies.”
“The third method is to refine our shadow souls into secondary yuanlings, which helps accelerate regular cultivation.”
“Of course, although these three methods sound simple, implementing them each requires an extremely complex process. I’m not aware of the specific methods, but it’s certain that the Shadow Clan possesses formidable combat strength, far surpassing their peers. Yet, they also serve as highly coveted nourishment in the eyes of other cultivators—pros and cons alike.”
Ying Wanqi finished his explanation.
Su Che nodded silently and thought to Lao He, “It seems the Shadow Clan truly is a gift from heaven, a precious nourishment in the eyes of other cultivators.”
“Yes, Master,” Lao He said with a sinister smile. “If you capture dozens of Shadow Clan members at the Divine Transformation stage, consume and merge their shadow soul powers to strengthen your own primordial spirit, it will undoubtedly be highly beneficial for advancing to that stage.”
“Eat people?”

Su Che smiled inwardly and thought, “It’s fine to eat people, but one shouldn’t take lives without reason. I believe this is the most basic principle for those who possess the Immortal Prison. These Shadow Clan members live here in seclusion and haven’t provoked anyone on their own—so why treat them as prey? If I do that, what’s the difference between me and those extremely wicked criminals inside the Immortal Prison?”
Yet, despite saying this, Su Che knew that these principles seemed unable to restrain his own shadow. Since it insisted on coming to Shadow Star, it was clearly intent on devouring Hai Se thoroughly.
So, Su Che could only speak to his shadow as if to himself, “If consuming their soul energy is so important to you, I have no way to stop you. But I still hope you can, like that person earlier, take just a portion of their soul energy—please avoid killing indiscriminately.”
From what Ying Wanqi had said earlier, Su Che was sure that his shadow had consumed 70% of his soul energy. Although he was severely weakened, his foundation wasn’t damaged, and his cultivation level remained intact; he could recover after decades of rest.
In short, as long as he was still alive, it was better than dying.
The shadow floating nearby first nodded, seemingly accepting Su Che’s proposal and indicating it wouldn’t kill indiscriminately. But then it shook its head, and it was unclear what that meant.
After pondering for a moment, Su Che asked tentatively, “Do you mean you came to Shadow Star not to devour the soul energy of these cultivators? Or rather, it’s not just for that reason? Or are there some people who must be killed?”
Su Che listed three possibilities, letting the shadow choose.
The shadow raised a hand and stretched out one finger—the answer was clearly the first: it had come to Shadow Star not to devour the Shadow Clan’s soul energy but for another purpose.
“That’s best,” Su Che nodded with a smile. “If that’s the case, I’ll definitely help you wholeheartedly.”
As long as it wasn’t indiscriminate killing, Su Che felt no burden—this was the most fundamental principle.
Su Che always held the belief that those without virtue didn’t deserve a divine artifact like the Immortal Prison, and sooner or later, they would lose it.
That’s why Su Che’s smile at this moment was truly sincere. At least it could be preliminarily determined that his shadow wasn’t some extremely evil creature. The reason it had consumed Ying Wanqi’s soul energy earlier was probably because Ying Wanqi had first shown intent to attack them three—so the shadow simply took a bite as well, right?

As for what the Shadow’s goal was, Su Che didn’t need to ask hard. Since it could detect this Phantom Star even millions of miles away in the starry sky, it meant the Shadow must have some sense of what it needed. By following this sense, all answers would naturally become clear. Next, since a distinct shadow appeared beneath Heng Yi’s feet, making it inconvenient to walk on the Phantom Star, Su Che put him in the Immortal Prison and released Ying Wanqi to take on the role of guide. Ying Wanqi had been infused with some vitality by Lao He, so although still weak, with Su Che’s help, he could still point the way and communicate with other Shadow Clan members without issue. Su Che, the Shadow, and Ying Wanqi—these three shadowless beings took off and did not enter the small town ahead but flew straight in the southeast direction of the Phantom Star. The decision to head southeast was made by the Shadow; wherever it pointed, they flew there. During the flight, Ying Wanqi transmitted a message: “Master, there are six giant cities on the straight line in the southeast direction. From what I can tell, your Shadow is likely heading to ‘Holy Shadow City.’ After all, Holy Shadow City is the pilgrimage site of our Shadow Clan, where our ancestors passed away.” “Oh?” Su Che asked curiously, “So, the immortal who created the Phantom Star is already dead?” “Not exactly,” Ying Wanqi replied. Though he had become Su Che’s servant, he still showed respect when talking about the ancestors of the Shadow Clan. “Our ancestors created the Phantom Star, passed on the teachings, and passed away quietly within less than a hundred years. However, we descendants all believe that they didn’t truly perish but must have reincarnated and returned to the Immortal Realm.” “That’s quite possible,” Su Che nodded. “Since they were true immortals, unless they were killed on the spot by other true immortals, destroying their essence completely, they generally wouldn’t truly perish.” But it had been over a million years since then. Even if they had reincarnated, they should have returned to the Immortal Realm by now and couldn’t still be on the Phantom Star. Su Che thought this matter had little to do with him. Was this thought really correct? Although Su Che didn’t fly using any magical vessel, his speed was still fast. It only took half an hour to cover hundreds of thousands of miles, and they arrived at Holy Shadow City. Ying Wanqi’s guess was correct—indeed, the exact location sensed by Su Che’s Shadow was Holy Shadow City.

Holy Shadow City was built around a mountain, reaching heights of tens of thousands of feet. Countless buildings were arranged in tiers, climbing up the mountain slope. At the very top lay the pilgrimage hall of all the Shadow Clan members—the Holy Shadow Heavenly Palace. However, all the buildings in Holy Shadow City, including the Holy Shadow Heavenly Palace, had pure black exteriors, so dark and gloomy that what should have been magnificent structures became dull and oppressive due to this heavy, monotonous color, losing their awe-inspiring impact. Of course, this was just Su Che’s personal opinion; the Shadow Clan surely had a completely different perspective.

“Master, Holy Shadow City is filled with powerful individuals. Nearly one-third of them are at the Yuan Ying stage, half at the Hua Shen stage, and over half at the Lian Xu stage, all of whom reside here permanently,” Yin Wanqi transmitted via message, warning, “You must be extremely cautious here and take every precaution.”

“I understand,” Su Che nodded lightly.

By this calculation, Holy Shadow City housed over a thousand Yuan Ying-level cultivators, more than a hundred at the Hua Shen stage, and at least thirty at the Lian Xu stage—truly a formidable force. It could be said to be far stronger than the overall strength of the Immortal Prison World.

Su Che believed that even with his three subordinates at the Lian Xu stage, engaging in combat on their territory would be extremely dangerous. He might end up surrounded and unable to escape.

Therefore, before entering the city, Su Che whispered to his shadow, “Be careful. If you alert those skilled members of the Shadow Clan, you’ll really get us into trouble.”

The shadow showed no reaction, and it was unclear whether it understood.

Su Che and the other two disguised themselves as pilgrims and climbed up the mountain stairs at the front of Holy Shadow City, step by step. This was necessary—no matter one’s cultivation level or status, to reach the summit for pilgrimage, one had to climb up this way. No one was allowed to fly above Holy Shadow City.

During the climb, Su Che also communicated with Yin Wanqi via message, gaining more and more knowledge about the Star of Enchanting Shadows…

The Star of Enchanting Shadows was a completely unified society system, ruled by the “Holy Shadow Sect,” which controlled everything. All its citizens were also followers of the Holy Shadow Sect. What was most distinctive was that every citizen, every member of the Shadow Clan, was a cultivator. Starting at the age of five, everyone had to begin practicing the “Way of Shadows.” It was mandatory—refusing to practice was not an option. Those who refused would end up in prison, where jailers would force them to cultivate, even resorting to brutal physical punishment.

That is to say, practicing the Way of Shadows can ignore a person’s innate aptitude—whether they have a spiritual root or not. As long as they are born with shadows, they can practice it.
Nonsense! Which living being in this world is born without shadows?
“This is the most astonishing part!”
Su Che and Lao He were both amazed: “Universal cultivation—what kind of concept is that?”
“Master, I think we should obtain the cultivation methods of the Way of Shadows!” Lao He immediately became envious and exclaimed, “Although we won’t force the beings in the Immortal Prison to cultivate, even if just half of them are willing to do so voluntarily, that would still mean an additional ten billion cultivators.”
Su Che, however, wasn’t so excited. Instead, he felt suspicious: “After all, the Great Shadow Art is also a major art in the Immortal Realm. Even though it was transformed by that exiled immortal into the so-called ‘Way of Shadows,’ how could just any ordinary being practice it?”
“Forced cultivation! Those who refuse to cultivate will be imprisoned, and forced to cultivate there… Why do I feel that there’s a sense of conspiracy behind this?”