Chapter 101: The Golden Banner

Su Che returned to the Spirit Herb Garden unharmed, much to the delight of Linglong and Yu Qing.
“The pure remain pure; I haven’t done anything wrong. My master will surely stand by me.”
That was Su Che’s explanation. He didn’t mention his intention to enter the Little Mi Immortal Realm, so as not to worry Yu Qing and Linglong prematurely.
In the days that followed, Su Che spent most of his time in the Knowledge Pavilion reading extensively, using the rest of his time to practice magic. As for cultivation, he replaced normal sleep with meditation at night. During meditation, he didn’t take any pills—just remaining calm, unhurried, and letting things take their natural course.
Rather than saying this phase was about practicing skills, it was more about cultivating the mind. This state of tranquility and detachment could better be called “cultivating the Dao” rather than simply practicing immortality for its own sake.
His progress in cultivation slowed down significantly, but Su Che regretted nothing. This state wasn’t a waste of time at all—he could clearly feel that his mind had become much clearer and purer…
In this way, without deliberately striving for a certain realm, he somehow crossed the barrier between the ninth level of Qi Cultivation and Perfect Mastery quietly and unnoticed. He himself couldn’t explain exactly how he did it.
In response, Venerable Mysterious Truth simply smiled and said, “That’s right. It’s quite normal.”
So, with still over half a year left before the opening of the Little Mi Immortal Realm, Su Che quietly entered the stage of Perfect Mastery in Qi Cultivation.
Of course, during this period of cultivating his mind, his trade in spirit herbs with the Lei family continued unabated. He would regularly go to Wuhua Peak to sell goods and buy pills, accumulating enough spiritual pills for his future seclusion and hard work.
That day was the first day of the month. Su Che went to the Mysterious Truth Golden Palace to see Venerable Mysterious Truth—this was probably the eleventh time he had listened to him teach and answer his questions in person.
After an hour of lessons, Venerable Mysterious Truth suddenly said, “The disappearance of ‘Zhenzhen’ from Tianwu Peak has been investigated. The two were taken away by a Golden Pill cultivator from the Illusion Demon Sect. However, since the opening of the Little Mi Immortal Realm is approaching, the major sects of both the immortal and demon realms don’t want to create conflicts at this critical moment. So, Zhenzhen’s case can only be resolved after some time.”
“I understand, master.”
Su Che remained calm, unshaken. To be honest, he had no interest in learning why Zhenzhen and the others disappeared, nor did he care whether they could be rescued or return to their sect.

That afternoon, Su Che disguised himself and returned to the Windy Gorge. Of course, this time it wasn’t for seclusion and cultivation, but rather…
“At the highest level of Qi Cultivation, one can control lower-grade spiritual weapons. Defeating that red-tailed fox should be no problem. It’s time to retrieve that golden flag.”
Su Che disguised himself as an outer disciple at the third level of Qi Cultivation and entered the Windy Gorge.
“Master, what if, after retrieving that flag, we find it has nothing to do with the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm at all…” At the last moment, Lao He grew anxious: “Or maybe we simply don’t have the ability to retrieve it… Will you still keep your promise and enter the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm as planned in half a year?”
“Of course!” Su Che replied without hesitation. “Anyway, once I make a promise, I must keep it. Besides, I’ve already accepted this master.”
Over nearly a year, Su Che had met with Venerable Mysterious Mechanism more than a dozen times and learned many useful things from him, reaping great benefits. Although he knew that Venerable Mysterious Mechanism’s kindness and generosity were mostly out of self-interest—aimed at getting him to enter the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm to fetch the treasures he needed—Su Che still recognized him as his master.
Once a teacher, always a father. As long as Venerable Mysterious Mechanism didn’t deliberately harm him, Su Che was willing to treat him like a close family elder.
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He sighed softly, speechless. As the person who knew Su Che best in this world, he understood that his master had a very stubborn personality. Once he decided on something, no amount of persuasion could change his mind.
This time, at the lava lake in the underground magma veins, Su Che certainly didn’t need to swim in the magma. He floated in the air on a top-grade magic sword, surrounded by an elite spiritual weapon—the Red Flame Dharma Wheel—and holding a small, delicate, and crystal-clear spiritual sword in his hand.
“Yiya!”
The red-tailed fox, perched on an island in the lake, immediately noticed the intruder. It stood up abruptly and let out a shrill cry at Su Che.
Seeing that Su Che could fly using his weapon, the red-tailed fox realized right away that the intruder meant no good. Moreover, the spiritual energy emanating from the Red Flame Dharma Wheel and the spiritual sword made it feel an extreme danger.
Su Che flew closer slowly, saying, “I’m here to retrieve that flag. It won’t affect you. From now on, you can still stay on this island and live your peaceful life. But if you’re stubborn enough to try to stop me, don’t blame me if I become ruthless.”
“Yiya!”

The red-tailed fox’s fur stood on end, making it appear much larger. Yet, it posed no threat at all to Su Che.
Boom!
With a thought from Su Che, the Red Flame Wheel spun out and plunged into the magma below, creating a towering orange-red heat wave that blasted a human-shaped flame monster out of the magma with a loud bang.
Whenever outsiders appeared, this flame monster would hide in the magma, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Unfortunately, it was no match for the red-tailed fox, let alone Su Che’s current level of power.
Slap! Slap! Slap…
Before the flame monster could land, it was repeatedly struck by the Red Flame Wheel, tumbling in the air like a ball, unable to find a chance to return to the magma.
Su Che didn’t intend to kill it, so he merely kept striking it with the Red Flame Wheel without cutting it apart—otherwise, the flame monster would have been torn to pieces long ago.
Slap! Slap! Slap…
Under continuous attacks, the flame monster had no chance to resist. It was merely an energy-based creature with low intelligence, unaware of complex spells or capable of wielding magical artifacts. It was never a match for human cultivators of its level, let alone one whose cultivation was so far superior to its own. The gap in overall strength was enormous.
“Yiya!”
Suddenly, the red-tailed fox on the island let out a scream, flattened its body, and used its special flying technique to dash over ten zhang in distance, fleeing along the downstream direction of the underground fire veins.
It had been terrified by one of Su Che’s actions, completely lost its fighting spirit, and immediately chose to flee for its life.
Su Che thought to himself, “Foxes are cowardly, cunning, and lack fighting spirit—pretty much like rats…”
Earlier, Su Che had reached out and used his internal energy to capture the defenseless flame monster, throwing it into the Immortal Prison. To the red-tailed fox, this seemed like Su Che having strangled the flame monster into nothingness, killing it completely and utterly.
In these underground fire veins, the flame monster and the red-tailed fox had fought for countless years, with neither able to defeat the other. The red-tailed fox knew better than anyone just how tough the flame monster was—no matter how hard they fought, it couldn’t be killed. But today, it had been killed in one grab by this human cultivator, so it was naturally terrified and fled without hesitation.
Inside the Immortal Prison, with just a thought from Lao Hei, an artificial pond over ten zhang deep appeared on the land of the prison world. Immediately afterward, he threw the flame monster into the pond.

Subsequently, Su Che drew enough magma from the underground lava lake and quickly filled the artificial ponds in the Immortal Prison. This added another fire pool there, which could be used for alchemy and weapon crafting.

During the early stages, Su Che had read extensively in the Transmission Pavilion on Mysterious Peak. By chance, he found a description of flame monsters in one of the books, learning that they were natural “spirits of underground fire.” Generally, places where such spirits emerged not only had essential underground fire veins but also other precious treasures.

The explanations in the book matched exactly what Su Che had observed: the spirits of underground fire were born within these veins, and such places also contained magical treasures like “black giant stones.”

Luo Lianqiao, the alchemist of the Immortal Prison, had been complaining about a lack of true fire and unstable heat, resulting in extremely low success rates in alchemy. Today, that problem was finally solved. With the spirits of underground fire, the magma in the artificial fire pools would never solidify, allowing for a continuous supply of underground fire—more than enough to meet the current needs of alchemy and weapon crafting.

After getting rid of all the obtrusive elements, it was time to try retrieving that golden flag.

Su Che carefully landed on the island in the lake—the very black giant stone that assisted his cultivation. Naturally, he felt an immense sense of familiarity toward it.

“How should I retrieve it?”

He had read many books on acquiring magical treasures and had identified several methods he thought would suit this situation.

Filling his right hand with true energy, Su Che cautiously reached out toward the golden flag. This was the most direct and gentle approach—first making contact to see if the treasure would reject a human cultivator’s true energy.

Snap!

Before even touching the flag, just over three feet away, Su Che was struck as if by lightning and stumbled back several steps.

The answer was: rejection, intense rejection!

Though surprised by the rejection, Su Che wasn’t puzzled. After all, it was likely a witch tribe’s treasure, and it was normal for it to reject human-created cultivation energy.

This time, Su Che released all his true energy and reached out with empty hands, like an ordinary person.

Snap!

Still rejection!

An inexplicable rebound force struck his right hand like a sledgehammer. Without the protection of true energy, the pain was excruciating—almost breaking his fingers.

If soft methods didn’t work, then force it!

Su Che gathered his vital energy and swung his fist, attempting to force his way through the protective layer of the command flag, seize it, and subdue it with his own energy.
Boom!
To his surprise, the greater the force, the stronger the rebound. With just one punch, Su Che was hit hard by an unexpected counterattack, flying several yards away and nearly falling into the lava lake.
“Damn, it’s so fierce!”
Su Che shook his arms repeatedly; his arms were numb from the impact.