Chapter 655: The Gate of Pills

Seeing Su Che heading toward the Gate of Pills, Lin Jiu and Guang Qi immediately followed. For them, choosing which gate didn’t matter—staying close to Su Che was what truly counted.
Noticing this, Lian Yi and Monro also set off together, heading toward the Gate of Pills as well. Lian Yi did so to protect Su Che; she was even willing to give up her own ideal choice for his sake. Monro, on the other hand, seemed indifferent, showing no particular interest in any gate, with the same intention of staying close to Su Che.
“Lian Yi is really loyal—such dedication from a woman is truly rare!”
Old Hei’s comment carried no mockery, but pure sincerity. His earlier talk about romantic feelings between men and women had been just a joke. Of course, Old Hei knew that no matter how charming Su Che might be, it was impossible for him to bewitch a female immortal like Lian Yi who had lived for millions of years—such a thing was utterly unrealistic. There might be some fondness or admiration, but definitely not the kind of affection between the sexes.
“Yes, Lian Yi has a sense of justice and knows how to be grateful—she’s far better than most men,” Su Che said, moved in his heart. Yet he could only stop in his tracks and send her a message: “Sis Lian Yi, don’t worry about me. Choose the gate you desire from these five.”
“That won’t do!” Lian Yi replied through the message. “Without your help, how could I have gotten here? And I certainly can’t abandon my companions at the last moment… Those two bastards, Lin Jiu and the others, are persistently pestering me. I’m worried.”
“Look, with Monro around, nothing will go wrong,” Su Che replied with a smile. “Besides, the guardian generals here just said that private fights are forbidden inside the Magic Sealing Array. They won’t dare use force against me. As long as it’s not force, I’m not afraid of any other tactics.”
“I know I can’t be of much help. I might even become a burden to you. But abandoning my companions at a time like this makes me feel guilty,” Lian Yi said softly. “Do you really think I’m an ungrateful wretch?”
“What if we do this instead…” Su Che changed his tone. “Tell me which gate you’ve chosen. I’ll enter it with you. Honestly, for me, it doesn’t really matter which gate I enter.”
“No!” Lian Yi shook her head firmly. “That’s even worse!”

Ripple knew that her own meager fortune was nowhere near comparable to the great fortune tied to Su Che. How could she allow her own circumstances to influence his choice? Although they were communicating through telepathy, Monro, who stood quietly nearby, could roughly guess what they were talking about, and at this moment, he stepped in just in time. Monro sent messages to both Su Che and Ripple at the same time. This time, his tone lacked its usual numbness and indifference, showing genuine sincerity: “Ripple, don’t worry. With me here, Su Che will be fine. It’s better for you to follow your own feelings in making your choice.” “Okay!” Unexpectedly, Ripple agreed readily, smiling with a hint of cunning in her expression. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! With your assurance, I can rest easy now.” Monro nodded, managing a rare smile. Ripple then said to Su Che, “Dear brother, I’ve chosen the Gate of Law. So, wish me good luck!” “Good luck, Sister Ripple.” Su Che said seriously, “I can also guarantee that once you enter that gate, you will gain a great deal! Everything you hope for will be achieved.” “I believe you!” Ripple smiled sweetly, said no more, and turned to leave without hesitation. Her colorful dress fluttered as she disappeared into the Gate of Law in the blink of an eye, becoming the first of the twelve to enter. The others were still hesitating, weighing their options carefully… “This woman is quite nice!” Monro turned to Su Che and muttered. It seemed his highest praise for anyone was just “quite nice.” Of course, it wasn’t easy to get him to say those three words either… Su Che nodded silently first, then his expression changed instantly as he said to Lin Jiu and Guang Qi, “I can predict that entering this gate with me will be the most regrettable thing you do in your lives.” Guang Qi merely smiled faintly, while Lin Jiu said coldly, “Your predictions are nonsense!” Whoosh! Whoosh! Su Che had no intention of listening to their retorts. He flew up with Monro and disappeared into the Gate of Dan in an instant. Lin Jiu felt as if he had swung a punch into thin air and could only curse under his breath before hurriedly following Guang Qi in. Passing through the gate, there was no teleportation sensation as expected. It was as if they had pierced through a barrier and entered a formation space or a special realm.

It turned out to be a picturesque valley here, lush with flowers and plants, full of vitality. A gentle fragrance filled the air, and even bright light akin to sunlight shone down from above.
Su Che wasn’t surprised at all. Not to mention the techniques of immortals, he himself could create such a scene with ease. This was nothing!
In the center of the valley stood a giant furnace, dozens of zhang tall, which could also be called an alchemy furnace. Undoubtedly, the opportunities related to elixirs would come from this furnace.
Su Che, Meng Luo, Lin Jiu, and Guang Qi all approached the furnace silently without saying a word, examining it carefully.
The furnace, dozens of zhang tall, resembled a building with dozens of floors. On it, countless windows could be seen, looking more like small drawers.
“Master, I can sense that this furnace is a high-grade immortal artifact,” Lao He said immediately. “However, since we know very little about immortal artifacts, I can’t determine its exact grade yet.”
As soon as Lao He finished speaking, Guang Qi said in a deep voice, “This is a top-grade immortal artifact.”
A top-grade immortal artifact?
Su Che had heard that in the immortal realm, immortal artifacts were divided into five grades: lower grade, middle grade, top grade, supreme grade, and ultimate grade.
Above immortal artifacts seemed to be even more supreme treasures such as innate divine objects and primordial treasures. The “Creation Divine Stone” he had obtained before was an innate divine object.
Guang Qi could determine at once that this furnace was a top-grade immortal artifact because, as a Xuanxian and also holding the position of Demon Sealer, he already possessed a top-grade immortal artifact himself, so he surely wouldn’t be wrong.
“Just a top-grade immortal artifact?”
Lin Jiu’s tone revealed obvious disappointment. It was just a top-grade immortal artifact. Even Demon Sealers in the immortal realm each had one—how could this be considered a great opportunity?
Not to mention the two great Xuanxians, Lin Jiu and Guang Qi, even Su Che, a mere mortal, wasn’t excited by encountering a top-grade immortal artifact.
Su Che merely guessed in his heart, “This alchemy furnace must not be here for someone to take it. Could it be that it’s meant to test our alchemy skills, requiring us to use it to brew elixirs on the spot?”
“If we use this furnace to brew elixirs, Master, you won’t have an advantage,” Lao He analyzed. “We don’t know anything about alchemy. We just throw various materials into the third layer of the fire realm and let the Immortal Prison’s third layer handle the production…”

Su Che nodded silently. He was well aware of his own alchemy skills—far inferior even to those of ordinary alchemists, let alone comparable to the immortals who had lived for millions of years. As Su Che was still puzzled, Monro beside him spoke calmly, “This furnace is not just an ordinary alchemy furnace. To be precise, it’s a fire-receiving furnace designed to hold various kinds of spiritual flames… Look, those small drawers all over the furnace are used to store the spiritual flames.” Hearing this, Su Che suddenly understood and asked, “So, to achieve something here, I first need to provide it with various spiritual flames?” “That’s likely,” Monro replied with a nod. “I guess if you can supply it with extremely rare spiritual flames—the more varieties, the greater the results.” At this point, he switched to a private message, as if giving Su Che some advice: “Once you’re here, you must fully demonstrate your abilities to prove that you’re the one destined for this role. Su Che, use all your skills—there’s no need to hold back any longer…” Su Che nodded slowly, seemingly having understood. Although Lin Jiu and Guang Qi couldn’t hear Monro’s subsequent private message to Su Che, they had heard his earlier words and also agreed that Monro’s judgment made perfect sense. So, Lin Jiu and Guang Qi took out hundreds of kinds of spiritual flames from their personal spaces—none of which were ordinary flames but rather rare, high-quality spiritual flames from the immortal realm. Colorful spiritual flames were taken out from the storage devices and floated quietly in the air, waiting to be tested by the furnace before them. Seeing these flames, Su Che couldn’t help but worry, “These are all high-quality spiritual flames—far superior to my ordinary ones. They’re not on the same level…” “Not necessarily, master,” Lao He said optimistically, immediately reminding him, “The various spiritual flames in the third layer of the Immortal Prison may not be of very high quality, but in terms of rarity, many are unique to the Immortal Prison world—unavailable elsewhere!” Of the tens of millions of spiritual flames existing in the third layer of the Fire Realm, two-thirds were mutated flames that had evolved on their own. Most of these could not even be identified by the great masters in the Immortal Prison as to their names or origins. This proved that such mutated flames probably did not exist in the ordinary cultivation world. Whether they existed in the immortal realm was still uncertain.

However, Su Che and Lao He agreed that the power of these spiritual flames still fell short of that of immortal-grade spiritual flames, and it was highly likely that such flames did not exist in the immortal realm either. Since there were no such “strange” spiritual flames in the mortal world, and it was impossible for such “inferior” spiritual flames to exist in the immortal realm, their rarity was self-evident.