Chapter 624: The Final Choice

“Monro!”
Su Che called out the sixth name, finalizing his six collaborators.
“Sigh!”
The remaining unselected elders let out a collective, heavy sigh. Though their voices couldn’t be heard in the starry sky without telepathy, their expressions of utter disappointment clearly conveyed the essence of that sigh.
Yet no matter how much they sighed, no one would pity them. With competition came success and failure—something entirely normal.
The last person Su Che chose, named Monro, had his own uniqueness. He had remained silent throughout, never communicating with Su Che via telepathy. It seemed he viewed this opportunity in the battlefield of immortals and demons as something indifferent—either he could seize the best or not, and he wouldn’t beg anyone for it.
So why did Su Che choose him, knowing so little about him?
It was because Su Che’s shadow determined that this person practiced the Great Illusion Art at a considerable level. Thus, the shadow suggested, “Choose him!”
Su Che’s shadow rarely made requests or suggestions, but once it spoke, Su Che never refused. So, it would be him!
Anyway, since Su Che thought any of the six candidates would be similar, he decided to follow the shadow’s advice.
With all six choices finalized, You Lin said in a deep voice, “The rest of you, disperse immediately. From now on, if I see any of you again, you know what will happen.”
The consequence was simple: death or capture, with no mercy shown. No one was allowed to ruin this opportunity.
The remaining elders could only leave in disappointment. There was no room for leniency in such matters. Even the six slightly possessed elders seemed to regain their clarity under the intimidatory power of the Seal Master.
The wisest among them turned and left, turning into streaks of light that vanished swiftly into the starry sky.
A few reluctant elders hesitated briefly, but a cold snort from You Lin, carrying a strange offensive effect, made them stagger in midair before fleeing in panic.
That cold snort was ineffective against only one person—the one who shouldn’t have stayed but still remained: the Master of Juechen Valley.

A glint appeared in You Lin’s eyes as she realized that this person’s strength was unfathomable—very likely…
“Still not leaving? Looking for death?”
The left deputy envoy glared fiercely at Jue Chen, showing intent to attack.
“I’ve made it clear from the start that I have no connection with the Immortal-Demon Battlefield and won’t participate,” said Jue Chen, the valley master, with his usual calm smile, explaining gently. “I merely need to absorb the Origin Demon Energy to strengthen myself. Tian Yu can testify to this.”
“Regardless of your motives, from this moment on, you must leave immediately, or else…”
The left deputy envoy flipped his wrist, readying a powerful attack.
“Wait!”
But he was stopped by You Lin, the chief envoy.
You Lin turned to Su Che and asked, “Is what he said true?”
“He said that from the beginning,” Su Che nodded, speaking as he truly felt. “At least, on the surface, it seems so.”
“Good.”
You Lin’s gaze returned to Jue Chen’s face as she said in a low voice, “I’ll allow you to stay on Thunder Star to absorb the demon energy, but I hope you behave wisely and don’t do anything foolish.”
“Senior sister…” The left deputy envoy whispered, trying to remind You Lin that having such a person around was clearly a hidden danger, an unknown variable.
You Lin’s left hand, hidden in her sleeve, tapped twice, using a special method to stop the left deputy envoy. Clearly, she too was wary of Jue Chen’s strength and didn’t want to clash with him now.
“Please rest assured, chief envoy. In just over thirty years, I’ll return to the Immortal Realm,” Jue Chen said gently with a smile. “Just joking—by then, even if you try to keep me, I won’t be able to stay.”
You Lin nodded and said, “Then it’s settled. Forty years at most—that’s the day you leave.”
“That’s exactly right,” Jue Chen replied seriously, putting away his smile.
None of the people present were talkative. Once the deal was made, there was no more wasted talk. In just a few breaths, they returned to Thunder Star.
Indeed, through Lao Hei’s detection abilities, Su Che could confirm that the invisible Origin Demon Energy had already spread from the Thunder God Temple. Fortunately, they returned in time before it spread on a large scale.
“You must be the most competent Demon Sealer, chief envoy. You detected the demon energy as soon as it spread,” Jue Chen said jokingly.
“Let’s not beat around the bush. Actually, three months ago, by chance, I noticed something was wrong with Thunder Star in the lower world. I had already made all the necessary preparations.”

You Lin said frankly, “Otherwise, just opening a passage to the lower world would not leave enough time.” Jue Chen, Lian Yi, and the others nodded silently, thinking to themselves: This makes sense! Even if she held an official position, opening a passage to the lower world wasn’t something that could be done just by saying so. Such matters required reporting to her superiors and at least two days of preparation… That was the bare minimum! At that moment, You Lin and her two deputies each took out a bronze-colored metal bottle and said to Su Che and the others, “You go in first. We must clean up all this demonic energy.” Su Che, Jue Chen, Lian Yi, and the other seven nodded and immediately flew into the Thunder God Temple. The Origin Demonic Energy lingering nearby certainly wouldn’t affect them at all. Back by the silver sphere, Su Che sat down without hesitation and began to absorb the denser Origin Demonic Energy with the help of Immortal Prison. The demonic force that others avoided at all costs was actually the more, the better for him. Jue Chen did the same, though his absorption speed was slightly slower than Su Che’s. Lian Yi and the other six could only absorb a small amount of demonic energy, slowly refining it like in cultivation to enhance their resistance to demonic energy. Before long, You Lin and the others reappeared before them. Clearly, these Seal Demons possessed special methods and artifacts to deal with Origin Demonic Energy, or perhaps their resistance to demonic energy was extremely strong. They didn’t need to enhance their resistance by absorbing more demonic energy, but they could only wait patiently here, waiting for that legendary opportunity to arise for Su Che. Unfortunately, no one knew what that opportunity was—not even the Seal Demons. Everything was just rumor; there were no concrete examples in history to verify it. “Could it be that he really is that person?” Noticing Su Che’s astonishing speed in absorbing demonic energy with no effort, You Lin couldn’t help but marvel inwardly, thinking, “Even in this weakened state due to the curse, he can completely ignore the corrupting effects of Origin Demonic Energy… Is he just an ordinary mortal cultivator who will one day become the savior of the Origin Demonic Realm?” It was like seeing a baby and someone saying, “This child will be the one who saves the world in the future!” Unbelievable!

However, constantly waiting and keeping an eye on the birth of this “baby” is also one of the responsibilities of every Demon Sealer. If he truly manages to open the Immortal-Demon Battlefield and come out alive, then his news must be reported back…

This means that You Lin and the others participating in this opportunity are not acting for personal gain, but rather engaging in a legitimate activity that serves both public and personal interests.

Thus, everyone patiently waits for Su Che to absorb enough demonic energy and seize the opportunity, so that the ten-member team can then search for the location of the Immortal-Demon Battlefield.

At present, where the entrance to the Immortal-Demon Battlefield lies remains a mystery.

“No need to rush! Why rush?”

Su Che was fully aware of what the others were thinking. But he still hadn’t absorbed enough Origin Demonic Energy—far from enough. It was too early!

“The original plan was to cultivate here for at least a hundred years. It’s not even ten years yet.”

“Master, do you really intend to spend a hundred years here?” Old Black reminded him, “The Origin Demonic Energy we have stored now is sufficient for you to reach the Mahayana stage. Moreover, the concentration of demonic energy in the Immortal-Demon Battlefield is even higher, so you can continue to absorb more there.”

Old Black was eager to see the legendary Immortal-Demon Battlefield. He felt that staying here any longer was a waste of time.

Furthermore, given Su Che’s natural abilities, even after another hundred years, his combat strength wouldn’t change significantly, no matter how high his cultivation level became.

At this stage, Su Che’s strongest combat ability was his “Mythical-Level Skill.” Such an improvement in combat strength couldn’t come from seclusion and cultivation alone; it required capturing a large number of criminals and extracting enough high-grade divine techniques from them.

“Extreme Fire Cutting” was just the lowest-level divine technique. At the Mythical level, one could easily defeat Mahayana-stage warriors. If advanced techniques like “Heaven-Shattering Slash” were integrated into the Mythical level, it would even be possible for an ordinary person to effortlessly slay immortals like Lord Cloud Fan.

Therefore, Old Black believed that either they should enter the Immortal-Demon Battlefield earlier to gain sufficient benefits and possibly ascend to the immortal realm sooner, or they should continue traveling through the mortal world to cultivate, specifically capturing criminals and extracting high-grade divine techniques from them for integration.

Either way was better than staying here and absorbing demonic energy.

“Haste makes waste.”

Su Che remained as calm and composed as ever: “The key is that, for now, we don’t know what the opportunity to open the Immortal-Demon Battlefield is. Perhaps this opportunity is right here, but it’s just not the right time yet.”