Chapter 499: Sealed Away

It wasn’t long before the number of people in the valley exceeded a thousand. Heng Yi, Lin Feng, Miao Li, and the Desert God Rat were among them, and they all gathered around Su Che immediately.
For now, no one dared to trouble Su Che, as they were still unsure whether this anomaly was caused by the Witch God. If it indeed was the Witch God, anyone who touched Su Che would meet a terrible death.
At least that’s what everyone thought.
Only Su Che and Tian Yin knew that the Witch God always acted directly; even when scheming against others, she lacked the leisure to invent complicated, obscure tactics. Especially after that journey through endless darkness, the Witch God surely wouldn’t bother with such things.
Everyone stood still, not daring to move, waiting silently for the next development.
After another while, no one appeared anymore. The number of people in the valley was now less than twelve hundred, all of whom, aside from Su Che and a few others, were enemies.
Yet even so, the numbers still didn’t add up. The people from the Spirit Realm should have numbered nearly two thousand, but now there were clearly over seven hundred missing.
Where were the other seven hundred?
Had they been transported elsewhere?
Everyone in the valley, including Su Che and Tian Yin, had no idea. Not to mention the nearly two thousand from the Spirit Realm—even the millions in the Red Refining Palace and the sacred mountain areas spanning thousands of miles had all been uprooted by the mysterious dark clouds and taken away.
At this moment, it had already traveled millions of light-years away from the Forging Star, turning into a small black sphere that sped through the vast starry sky, its purpose unknown…
The valley was dead silent. No one dared to speak; at most, they exchanged glances to communicate.
To everyone’s horror, it seemed as though everyone’s spiritual senses had failed, sealed within their bodies, unable to be projected outward. They could only rely on their basic senses of sight and sound to perceive their surroundings. This made the powerful cultivators, accustomed to using their spiritual senses, extremely uncomfortable and filled with dread: What kind of force could silently seal the powerful spiritual senses of a Great Perfection cultivator?
And that wasn’t all—something even more terrifying suddenly struck!
Boom!
A light gray, unknown energy descended from above, like a heavy hammer striking everyone’s forehead. No one could dodge it, no one could resist it.
A brutal blow!
Even cultivators at the Great Perfection stage like the Snow Jade Fairy and Li Jiu bent their knees and crouched down, barely avoiding collapsing to the ground under the force of that devastating strike.

What a terrifying, what a powerful force!
For now, no one knows where this force comes from, but it’s certain it’s not of this world—it’s more like it originates from the realm of immortals.
But that alone isn’t the worst; something even more frightening happened next…
“My primordial spirit power… how could this happen…?”
“Oh, my primordial spirit power has been destroyed!”
“Me too! My primordial spirit… no! Even my vital energy—what’s going on?”
“My vital energy has also been destroyed!”
Boom!
The valley instantly turned into chaos. Everyone was filled with terror, realizing that their primordial spirit power, vital energy, and all aspects related to their cultivation level had been severely damaged for unknown reasons—leaving them with not even one percent of their original strength.
Not only those from the Spirit Realm but even Su Che felt clearly that his primordial spirit power, vital energy, and cultivation level had been weakened by at least ten times. He had been at the early stage of the Divine Transformation phase just now, but now he could barely reach the late stage of the Yuan Ying phase.
“Destroyed?”
“It was destroyed this quickly?”
Su Che also looked grim and immediately asked Tian Yin, “How about you?”
“I don’t feel anything,” Tian Yin replied through telepathy. “My cultivation level remains at the middle stage of Yuan Ying—no change at all.”
Su Che frowned and then used his soul connection to ask Heng Yi and the others. Their answers were even worse—their cultivation levels had been weakened by over a hundred times, leaving them at most at the late stage of Yuan Ying.
Not only human cultivators but even the Desert God Rats were no exception; their levels were roughly equivalent to the late stage of Yuan Ying.
“Everyone has dropped to the late stage of Yuan Ying… Could it be…?”
Su Che began to suspect something.
In that valley, everyone was in extreme fear, terrified that their cultivation levels had been destroyed. For these cultivators who had strived for thousands of years, this felt even worse than death itself.
“What’s going on?”
“What exactly happened?”
“What place is this?”
“What kind of force was that just now? Why destroy us?”
Chaos and cries filled the air.
After a while, a clear and pleasant voice suddenly shouted, “Everyone, don’t panic! Our situation seems like our cultivation levels have been destroyed, but in reality, we’ve likely been sealed by some force. This state is only temporary…”

The one who spoke was naturally the Snow Jade Immortal. This woman always seemed more sober and wiser than others. Despite also being sealed, she remained extremely calm and composed.
“Just sealed, not their cultivation ruined?”
The Snow Jade Immortal’s authority was once again proven. Upon hearing her words, the fear among the people in the valley diminished significantly. Immediately, many gathered around her, eager to learn more about the specifics of their own sealing.
These powerful cultivators at the Refining Void stage or even the Tribulation Crossing stage were usually as steady as mountains and as magnanimous as the sea, maintaining an unshaken composure even in the face of crises. But now, when it came to their own cultivation, all such grace and composure vanished, leaving them extremely anxious.
It was no wonder—for them, having years of effort rendered useless in an instant was equivalent to being thrown straight into the eighteenth layer of hell.
Taking advantage of this, Su Che, Tian Yin, Heng Yi, and the others quietly retreated to a corner and began discussing via telepathy based on what the Snow Jade Immortal had said about being sealed.
“If everyone has been sealed and can only exert the power of the late Yuan Ying stage, this situation is clearly in our favor!” Heng Yi said with hidden joy.
Having their cultivation sealed at the late Yuan Ying stage meant that some of their divine spells and techniques would no longer be usable or would be significantly weakened. Moreover, the top-tier and supreme Dao artifacts they could control before would now be unusable, even less effective than an upper-tier Dao artifact.
A greater drawback was that they had long since left the Yuan Ying era thousands of years ago and had grown accustomed to their own strength. Being suddenly dropped back to that level would surely cause many discomforts.
The three of Heng Yi were a clear example—even standing still, they felt awkward and uneasy. To put it bluntly, it was as if they had suddenly been crippled, unable to stand straight or walk steadily…
In response to Heng Yi’s enthusiasm, Su Che nodded slightly before saying via telepathy, “For now, we can’t be sure that everyone in the valley has been sealed to the Yuan Ying stage…”
“But if that’s indeed the case, it would indeed be extremely advantageous for us.” As he spoke, Su Che glanced around. “Besides, in this mysterious place full of unknowns, more unexpected things will surely happen…”

That sudden surge of light gray energy had instantly sealed everyone’s cultivation levels. Su Che believed this was by no means a pointless act, and more severe situations were bound to arise soon. Still, as always, a new crisis meant a great opportunity for him—this mysterious place filled with irresistible forces was precisely his chance!

On the other side, Princess Xueyu and the others had confirmed that among the over a thousand people present, regardless of their original cultivation level, they could only exert the strength of late Yuan Ying stage after being sealed. At that moment, Princess Xueyu’s gaze swept over the crowd, spanning nearly a hundred zhang, and landed on Su Che. She whispered to those around her, “I don’t know if this situation was created by the Witch God, but one thing is certain—it must be helping Tian Yu… What do you think?”

Li Jiu and the others nodded in agreement. First, that strange dark cloud appeared above the Chilian Palace, right at the critical moment when Tian Yu was besieged and faced a grave crisis. With just that, the crisis Tian Yu was facing was resolved. Now, trapped in this valley with their cultivation suppressed to late Yuan Ying stage by some mysterious force, it was clearly advantageous for Tian Yu as well. As Princess Xueyu said, the situation clearly favored Tian Yu.

Yet, Li Jiu and the others couldn’t help but wonder, “If the one behind this is helping Tian Yu, or rather, trying to save him, and possesses such irresistible power, then why go to the trouble of sealing our cultivation? Why not simply kill us all?” Of course, such doubts were best kept to oneself—no one would be foolish enough to voice them and invite death. It was precisely because of these doubts and concerns that, despite their numerical advantage, Li Jiu and the others dared not attack Su Che rashly, fearing they might anger the unseen force and incur even worse punishment.

Before long, everyone in the valley calmed down, temporarily accepting their sealed cultivation status, and anxiously awaited what would happen next. Everyone knew there was a reason for being here and for being sealed—more events were bound to occur…

Sure enough, after about another fifteen minutes, a voice filled with authority and an air of age suddenly rang out in the sky.

“Within the realm of cultivation, the late Yuan Ying stage represents the peak of cultivation. Since you have come to this realm, you must abide by this law!”
At these words, everyone looked up and saw a giant old man’s head appearing in the sky.
There was only a head, no body, and it did not seem like a phantom but rather a tangible form.