Chapter 128: Counting the Gains

Su Che smiled and said, “It’s okay, Senior Zheng. You have your secrets, and I have mine. Let’s keep them to ourselves. We’ll still meet friendly faces in the cultivation world in the future.”
Su Che’s words undoubtedly carried a hint of warning: If you don’t reveal my secrets, I won’t reveal yours. Everyone stays silent—this is fair.
During the twenty days Zheng Rong was in a coma, it was as if he were constantly dreaming, yet his mind remained highly active. As long as he was in the Immortal Prison, all his thoughts could not escape Lao Hei’s supernatural mind-reading skill. Thus, Su Che knew all of his secrets.
After initial shock, Zheng Rong calmed himself down and realized Su Che’s good intentions. He bowed deeply and expressed his sincere gratitude, “Brother Su, I am extremely grateful and admire your character and integrity… As the saying goes, great kindness should not be thanked. I will repay you tenfold or a hundredfold in the future.”
Zheng Rong said this because he understood that Su Che didn’t want him to reveal the secret of coexisting peacefully with the killing vines in the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm without killing him to silence him—that was the first act of kindness. Additionally, even though he knew about Zheng Rong’s fortune, Su Che didn’t exploit him or kill him to seize it—that was the second act of kindness. On top of that, Su Che had saved him by bringing him out of the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm safely. Zheng Rong felt that even if he were to die, it would be impossible to repay such a debt…
In short, Su Che was deeply engraved in his heart.
Fei Yun, who stood quietly aside, had understood quite a bit. She admired and loved Su Che’s character even more. At that moment, she felt that even without the effect of the affection seed, this man was still worth her…
After saying goodbye, Zheng Rong turned and walked away for dozens of steps before turning back and bowing deeply to Su Che from afar. Su Che returned the bow and watched him go, then asked Fei Yun, “What are you planning to do?”
“I?”
Fei Yun shook her head gently, her eyes filled with confusion. “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
Through Lao Hei, Su Che also learned about her predicament—she had been subjected to a restriction imposed by the Illusion Demon Sect. If it wasn’t lifted within a year, she would die. That’s why she had no choice but to enter the Xiao Mi Immortal Realm.
“Go back to your sect,” Su Che sighed. “The elders there might have a way to lift the Illusion Demon Sect’s restriction.”

“How did you know?”
Fei Yun was initially stunned, but soon realized that her ‘beloved’ was an extraordinary person—nothing related to Zheng Rong’s blessings could escape him, and the same applied to her own situation.
Still, she shook her head and said, “I dare not return to my sect. I’m afraid I won’t be able to hide those things from my master.”
These words moved Su Che deeply. “Indeed, if those things about me are revealed through Fei Yun’s mouth to that hypocrite, the Heavenly Venerable, it’s hard to say whether he might target me…”
“But Fei Yun is willing to give up the chance to be saved by her sect just to keep my secret. She would rather die than betray me… That’s really…”
Although he knew her loyalty was driven by affection, Su Che still couldn’t ignore her life and let her fade away sadly.
After a brief thought, Su Che took out a Qi Bag and handed it to her. “Inside are some things I don’t need, worth about fifty thousand spirit stones…”
Fei Yun stared at Su Che in confusion, unable to understand why he would give her these things when she only had another year to live.
Su Che continued, “Find a cultivation market nearby. Change your name and open a shop there to sell these items. When they’re sold out, I can deliver more. I need to enter seclusion for a while and won’t have time to sell them, so please do me this favor.”
“Oh.”
Fei Yun obediently took it, but still felt a pang of sadness. “I’m about to die, yet all he thinks of is using my last days to help him run a shop. What a heartless man…”
But Su Che’s next words brought her great surprise…
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything. No matter what, I won’t let you die.”
Su Che’s calm tone made Fei Yun fully believe him, filling her heart with endless hope and joy.
Without further ado, Su Che and Fei Yun decided to open a shop in the distant ‘Feiyun Lake’ cultivation market, selling the low-grade specialties he had obtained in the Yinfeng Gorge.
Low-grade spiritual herbs and minerals generally didn’t attract much attention. Even if sales volume were higher, no one would stay outside the shop all day watching and keeping track.

Moreover, it was only a thousand li away, and Feiyun Lake was also under the jurisdiction of Tianxuan Sect. The Golden Pill Elder could fly there in less than fifteen minutes, so it was rare for anyone to recklessly cause trouble there. With Feiyun’s mastery at the highest level of Qi cultivation, managing such a small shop should not be a problem.

Su Che naturally trusted her completely—a woman who would even risk her life for him would never embezzle his spirit stones.

Furthermore, Su Che felt it was not yet the time to remove the “Emotion Thread,” because once it was removed, she might become heartless. To protect his secrets, he might even have to kill her to silence her…

No, it was better to wait until a year later, when he removed the restrictions in her body, to deal with the Emotion Thread as well.

With everything settled, Feiyun left without looking back. After she had gone more than fifty zhang away, Lao He muttered, “Master, the girl is very sad—tears streaming down, yet she dares not turn around, afraid you’ll see her.”

Su Che remained silent, mounted his flying sword, and returned to the mountain gate.

The jade dish magic artifact bestowed by Venerable Xuanji could not be controlled yet; it could only be manipulated skillfully after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

In the residential area for inner sect disciples on Xuanji Peak, Su Che chose a cave at random, planning to rest for the night before beginning his seclusion to reach Foundation Establishment the next day.

All his tasks were done, and only now did Su Che have time to calm down and review with Lao He all the gains from this trip to the Xiaomi Immortal Realm.

He gave one of the five immortal crystals to his master, leaving four. He would surely need them when he reached the Golden Pill stage.

The dozen or so top-tier ancient materials were kept untouched for now, to be dealt with once he had sufficient strength.

The magic box that allowed planting spirit herbs was also not used yet; he would visit the secret herb garden after reaching Foundation Establishment to transplant the advanced spirit herbs there.

Additionally, the three items Su Che valued most were, besides the supreme cultivation technique jade slip given by his master, the two magic artifacts obtained from the forest in the Xiaomi Immortal Realm: the bronze gourd and the purple jade faceless statue. These two artifacts, having been exposed to the elements for millions of years, were still intact—at least at the level of magic treasures. Su Che was undoubtedly very eager to use them.

“Master, I’ve studied this bronze gourd thoroughly,” Lao He reported. “It seems to be a fire-type spiritual treasure, but whether it’s a lower-grade or higher-grade one remains uncertain for now. This is because although the spirit within the gourd is still alive, it has been trapped there for millions of years, its intelligence having degenerated to its lowest level, leaving only some basic survival instincts.”
“In other words, that spirit inside is basically useless?” Su Che asked.
“Yes, it’s almost as good as non-existent. We need to cultivate a new spirit,” Lao He said, scratching his head with a grin. “Just like in our case, the original spirit of the Immortal Prison Pagoda must have long been useless, which is why someone as exceptional as me, Lao He, came into being.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” Su Che retorted, unable to resist teasing him. “Maybe the Immortal Prison Pagoda doesn’t even need a spirit at all. You’re just something it created for fun.”
“That’s too harsh! My heart’s broken,” Lao He said, holding his face in despair.
After the joke, the master and servant returned to the serious topic. Su Che asked again, “So, can you determine whether this gourd is an offensive magic weapon or a special type of magic weapon?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s a versatile magic weapon,” Lao He replied. “It can store virtually unlimited amounts of various true flames, exotic flames, and spiritual flames. It can be used to emit fire for alchemy and weapon crafting, as well as to attack enemies in battle. The stronger the fire sources we can gather, the greater its offensive power will be.”
“I see.”
Su Che also understood that the more advanced a magic weapon, the harder it is to assess its power, as such weapons often have great potential for growth and improvement, with many factors determining their strength.
Thinking of this, Su Che’s gaze fell on someone in the Immortal Prison. He murmured, “If we want to cultivate a new spirit for it, we do have one available at home…”
In the Immortal Prison’s fire pool, the humanoid flame monster ‘Spirit of Earthfire,’ originating from the underground fire veins of the Yin Wind Gorge, lay motionless in the magma all day long, appearing listless.
Su Che and Lao He already knew it was feeling aggrieved and depressed, as it understood it had lost its freedom and was trapped in a ‘bathtub’-like pool.
“Lao He, go talk to it and see if it’s willing.”
“Sure.”

Lao Hei ran over to the fire pool, waved his hand, and with a swirl, pulled out the Spirit of Earth Fire from the magma. Then, the two non-human creatures chatted noisily for a while, their words unknown…
Finally, Lao Hei sent back a reply: “Master, it agrees!”
“Oh?” Su Che asked curiously, “Was it that easy?”
“It’s not difficult. If it were me, I’d agree too,” said Lao Hei. “A Spirit Treasure-level magical artifact has such a vast internal space—many times larger than its current bathtub, and even bigger than the underground fire vein it originally inhabited. Living there would be incredibly comfortable. Besides, here it’s just a prisoner, but in that Spirit Treasure space, it would be the ruler of that world of fire—a completely different concept.”
“That makes sense,” Su Che nodded. “Then let it move into the magical artifact.”