Chapter 565: Princess Aoxing

After the girl left, Su Che spent some time in the tavern talking with the two bodyguards assigned to supervise him. He learned that the girl was the granddaughter of the Left Prime Minister, but because her mother was the emperor’s own sister, she carried royal blood and thus held the status of a princess, enjoying great favor in the Prime Minister’s household.
Princess Aoxing, the emperor’s niece, was showered with endless affection.
Yet even so, her fate was fraught with misfortune. Ten years after her birth, her mother entered seclusion to attempt to reach the Huashen stage. With the vast wealth of the Middle Tang Dynasty at her back, a princess’s chances of succeeding in this attempt were at least 80%.
But luck is unpredictable, and she encountered those 20% of failure rates.
Reaching the Huashen stage was extremely dangerous; failure meant death and the destruction of one’s soul. Thus, the naturally lively Princess Aoxing lost her mother six years ago…
From these details, Su Che inferred that deep within Princess Aoxing might lie some pain she couldn’t share with others, perhaps a misconception that her mother had failed to advance and died because of giving birth to her.
Due to this psychological shadow, her personality had changed somewhat—she needed fun games every day to distract herself from the pain of losing her mother.
Fortunately, she was kind by nature and had not done anything extreme to date; she was just more mischievous than girls of her age and prone to causing trouble.
The two bodyguards shared so much information with Su Che so that he would understand Princess Aoxing wasn’t bad, and even if the so-called theft mission failed, no one would really be punished. In doing so, they were also hinting at Su Che: Please do not harm our princess.
With the Witch Clan invading the Spirit Realm, all the powerful cultivators of the Middle Tang Dynasty hid, including those in the Left Prime Minister’s household. Only those at the Huashen stage remained to maintain appearances.
As a result, even the usually arrogant offspring of officials became much more low-key and humble, fearing they might provoke fearless Lianxu cultivators or even Witch Clan members disguised as humans, leading to catastrophic disasters.
After that, Su Che returned to the inn and patiently waited for the shadow to return.

“Stealing just a mirror placed on the dressing table shouldn’t be too difficult,” Su Che thought to himself. “But if that magical artifact is stored in someone’s storage space, it would be a bit more challenging.”
Lao He said, “Master, Princess Aoqing is Hengyun’s niece. You should use your charm as an invincible romantic hero and spend more time getting close to her. Then, have her go to the Zhongtang Imperial Palace and ask her uncle for that Grafting Divine Stone. It’s just a stone you don’t need for now. The emperor of Zhongtang, who possesses endless wealth, surely won’t be stingy.”
Lao He’s words left Su Che feeling both amused and annoyed. He thought, “I originally thought the same way, but after hearing you say that, I feel like I’m some extremely despicable scoundrel who exploits girls’ emotions. You really are…”
Actually, Su Che had also thought of asking Princess Aoqing to help him get the Grafting Divine Stone, but not by using some romantic tactics as Lao He suggested. Su Che had no such intention and didn’t think he had the skills or ability for that. At most, he would tell Princess Aoqing straight up that the Grafting Divine Stone was extremely useful to him and ask if she could do him a favor by buying it from Emperor Hengyun. Or, if Princess Aoqing had any personal requests, he would do his best to help her fulfill them. In short, it would be best if it was a fair deal where everyone could benefit and no one would suffer a loss. But unexpectedly, Lao He’s words completely changed things.
“Haha…”
Every time he saw his master in trouble, Lao He would rejoice as if enjoying others’ misfortunes. Anyway, his master couldn’t enter the Immortal Prison, so his wish to beat him up would remain unfulfilled forever. What was there to fear!
While waiting for Shadow to return at the inn, Su Che was initially relaxed, but after two hours with no sign of Shadow, he began to feel a bit anxious. Three hours passed without any return, and Su Che muttered, “That’s not right. In the Prime Minister’s residence, there are only a group of Divine Transformation cultivators. There shouldn’t be anything that could trouble Shadow.”
After all, during the thousand years of the Time Wheel, Shadow hadn’t wasted his time. He had refined a vast amount of Shadow Soul energy for Su Che, transforming it into the purest Essence Spirit energy, from which he himself also reaped great benefits.

For now, relying on his unpredictable special abilities, he can easily face several beings in the Tribulation stage alone. Although Shadow’s lethal powers are not as strong as Su Che’s Destruction Force and Purple Crystal Blade Light, when it comes to ambushes and sneak attacks, he is absolutely unpredictable.
“Could it be that there’s a peak Great Vehicle stage warrior hiding in the Left Prime Minister’s residence, posing some kind of challenge to Shadow, which is why he’s still not back?”
Those in a state of waiting love to wander in speculation, and Su Che is no exception.
Fortunately, this anxiety didn’t last long. About four hours later, as night fell completely, Shadow appeared at Su Che’s feet.
“You’re finally back. Did you encounter any trouble?” Su Che asked anxiously. To his surprise, the answer was…
“Don’t even mention it. I met a woman with mental issues who kept talking nonstop in front of that mirror for half a day!” Shadow replied helplessly. “I hid in her shadow, almost falling asleep from boredom—it was extremely tedious and painful. Su Che, women are truly terrifying. Thankfully, your Heavenly Sound doesn’t have such problems. One Heavenly Sound is enough; don’t create extra trouble for yourself…” Shadow advised.
Su Che smiled silently. Though he didn’t give a clear reply to this issue, he had never imagined a life with multiple wives and concubines either.
It wasn’t that Su Che pretended to be pure and free from male desires; rather, cultivators can find countless ways to enjoy the highest pleasures on a spiritual and even soul level. Without exaggeration, these pleasures surpass mere physical intimacy—except, of course, for true love.
That’s why many cultivators live alone without seeking partners. It’s not because they are indifferent to pleasure, but because they have long surpassed ordinary people’s understanding and perception of what “pleasure” means.
Su Che dismissed this topic with a smile and asked the main question: “Did you get that mirror?”
“I did!” Shadow replied immediately. “That mirror is quite strange. It took me a lot of effort to obtain it. It can’t be stored in normal storage spaces or most magic weapon compartments, nor can its size be changed at will, making it inconvenient to carry. That’s why that woman kept it on her dressing table. Luckily, my own domain is special, so I was able to swallow it and bring it back.”
“Oh?”

Su Che felt a hint of curiosity. After all, something that couldn’t be stored in the storage space or the magic artifact space meant its properties were extremely unusual. Moreover, the fact that it couldn’t change size indicated that it was either the lowest-grade magic artifact or an extremely top-tier treasure. Some naturally formed divine objects simply had a fixed shape and couldn’t change size. However, as it had already been agreed that this mirror should be handed over to Princess Ao Qing, Su Che didn’t want to know too much about it to avoid unnecessary greed or regret. But the next words spoken by the shadow put Su Che in a difficult position. “Su Che, I want this mirror. It’s useful to me!” The shadow’s telepathic message carried a serious tone.