Chapter 147: The Deep Pit

When Su Che regained consciousness from that state of unity with nature, he found that the thunderstorms above had ceased—though they still rumbled in the distance behind him.
“Is it coming already?”
Su Che turned around and, through the gaps in the stormy veil, glanced at the Wild God Rat dozens of feet away, murmuring, “I haven’t jumped enough yet…”
“Ouch, master.”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He sat on the ground, holding his head. “You still haven’t had enough fun? I’m almost scared to death!”
Su Che took a deep breath, a sense of pride welling up in him.
“It’s coming, really coming. Relying solely on my own senses, I’ve made progress step by step!”
Of course, this pride was relative. Su Che was fully aware that without the Immortal Prison, he would be nothing; without it and Lao He simulating the spiritual energy fluctuations of the Wild God Rat, how could he have accomplished what even those Yuan Ying ancestors couldn’t?
What truly filled Su Che with pride was the precious state of unity with nature he had just experienced—where he ignored life and death, forgot everything, and simply merged with his surroundings in the purest way…
It was an extremely valuable experience. Su Che felt his spiritual realm had risen significantly. Likely, his advancement to the middle stage of Foundation Building would go much smoother in the future.
While still savoring the aftereffects, Lao He was secretly worried. “It’s true we’ve entered, but I’m afraid we won’t be able to find that state again when we try to leave. What should we do?”
Of course, he didn’t dare say this aloud, fearing it might give his master a psychological hint that could disrupt his state of mind.
Though Lao He didn’t voice his concerns, Su Che himself thought of this possibility and asked inwardly, “Lao He, what if we can’t find that state of unity when we leave? Won’t we be trapped here forever?”
“Huh?” Lao He panicked. “Don’t think like that. If there’s one, there’ll be two, then three, four, five, six… Just take it one step at a time, master. Don’t force anything—good luck will come naturally.”
“Don’t force anything, good luck will come naturally…” Su Che smiled inwardly. “You’re quite good at making things up. But I think that state is extremely rare. It’s unlikely we’ll be able to find it again in the short term.”
“Uh…” Lao He couldn’t think of suitable words to comfort him and could only mumble, “Anyway, you’re a blessed person. You won’t die trapped here.”
“Exactly!”

Su Che waved his arm in self-encouragement.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning struck nearby, as if warning Su Che that in this realm of divine punishment, he shouldn’t make too much of a fuss.
Su Che simply smiled silently. After all, after the storm, it was harvest time—there was still a sacred herb waiting for him to pick.
The location of the Black Realm Immortal Lotus could not be seen with the naked eye, as it grew deep underground.
In the central area of the Eye of Wind and Thunder, there was an abyss so deep it seemed bottomless. According to Ghost Princess, this pit was over two hundred zhang deep, and the Black Realm Immortal Lotus grew in a pool at the very bottom.
Those cultivators who discovered the Black Realm Immortal Lotus relied on their divine senses, which covered a range of over five hundred zhang, and they must have reached at least the late Golden Core stage.
Yet, both Su Che and Old Black’s detection abilities were less than two hundred zhang, so they had to be extra cautious when facing such a deep pit.
Su Che used a lightness spell to jump into the pit, descending slowly like a falling leaf. He dropped over a hundred zhang without encountering any danger, allowing Old Black’s detection ability to reach the bottom of the pit as well.
“Master, it’s fine. There’s no danger down there.”
Confident, Su Che continued descending. When he was about thirty zhang away, his divine senses also spotted the immortal lotus.
Indeed, it had nine petals and nine pistils, its entire body dark in color with restrained spiritual energy. At first glance, it was hard to believe it was a sacred spiritual herb.
The highest-grade spiritual herbs in the cultivation world were only considered “exquisite,” while herbs like this, of the sacred category, seemed to have originated from the Immortal Realm through some kind of coincidence, similar to the five Immortal Crystals Su Che had once obtained.
At the bottom of the pit, there was a pool of black water—so dark as ink and thick in consistency. It was unclear what kind of liquid it was, but it was capable of nurturing a wonder like the Black Realm Immortal Lotus.
Su Che didn’t plan to pick this lotus; instead…
He wanted to transplant it!
Plant it in the Immortal Prison and keep it there. Perhaps it could be further cultivated to produce a second one, or even more…
So, Su Che took out his top-grade spiritual weapon, a flying sword. With a surge of his vital energy, a fierce sword aura over ten zhang long emerged from the blade. With this sword aura, he could carve out a huge flower pot at the bottom of the pit, along with the pool of black water, and transport everything into the Immortal Prison.
Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss…
The razor-sharp sword aura cut swiftly around the pool of black water, creating a circular flower pot over two zhang in diameter.
Once this “flower pot” was completely separated from the ground, Su Che thought, “Collect!”

In a flash, the huge flower pot disappeared from the ground, revealing a large pit at the bottom—this was the pit within a pit dug by Su Che.
“I’ve got the Black Domain Immortal Lotus!”
Su Che let out a long sigh, feeling that everything had gone extremely smoothly. It seemed his luck…
Just as he was thinking this, a sudden change occurred!
Boom!
The soil and rocks collapsed, and the bottom of the pit gave way. It seemed Su Che’s digging had disrupted some structure, triggering a chain reaction.
Su Che’s feet lost support, and he quickly used his flying technique. At his current cultivation level, he could ascend without any flying artifacts. Yet, an irresistible force of immense suction pulled him downward violently.
The sentence he hadn’t finished earlier now came to mind: “My luck really isn’t great!”
Boom…
The terrifying suction force from deep underground caused even greater collapses. Even the Eye of Storm above the pit was sucked away without a trace. The Wild God Rat waiting on the surface instinctively tried to turn and flee, but after just a few steps, it turned back. After hesitating for a moment, it leaped bravely toward the rapidly expanding and collapsing pit bottom.
“Squeak squeak squeak!”
It seemed, after jumping, it regretted it and struggled desperately in midair, its four tiny paws scrabbling, its long tail flailing around.
“Squeak squeak squeak squeak…”
At that moment, its cries were extremely shrill, clearly calling out to Su Che—save me, save me…
Su Che was also falling vertically out of control. Even though he used the Jade Plate to ascend, he still couldn’t resist the terrifying suction force from deep underground. His descent was just slightly slower than that of the Wild God Rat.
Thus, the rapidly falling Wild God Rat quickly caught up with Su Che.
The faint sound of its squeaking could be heard, and Su Che and Lao He exclaimed in surprise, “That rat was also sucked down!”
As the fat belly of the large rat grew closer from above, Su Che emitted a gentle energy wave and slowly caught it, eventually holding it in his arms.
He had originally planned to put it in the Immortal Prison, thinking it would be safer for it. But suddenly, for some unclear reason, he changed his mind. With a giant rat in his arms, he continued to fall deeper into the unfathomable depths.
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He kept silently calculating the depth of their descent: five thousand zhang… ten thousand zhang… twenty thousand zhang… thirty thousand…

Having descended by more than fifty thousand zhang, with a pop, it seemed as if they had pierced through a thin membrane. Su Che immediately felt that the powerful pulling force had vanished. Of course, the scenery before them also changed abruptly…

Above the surface, the recent ground collapse had created intense vibrations akin to an earthquake, so much so that even Gui Ji and the others outside the Desolate Land could clearly sense this sudden change.

Whoosh! Whoosh…

Several figures rushed out of their small wooden huts and gathered at the entrance to the Desolate Land, looking inside.

Normally, the best way to see what was far away would be to fly high and observe from above. However, the sky above the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land was always shrouded in gray mist, making it impossible to see anything inside.

Moreover, the mist contained various thunderstorms, and even the powerful spiritual senses of Yuan Ying cultivators could be damaged if they penetrated it. Thus, no one dared to enter the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land from the air.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

Several late-stage Golden Core cultivators gathered at the entrance to the Desolate Land, all equally confused.

A Golden Core cultivator dressed like a scholar said gravely, “I’ve been here for over a decade, and nothing major has ever happened. Gui Ji, your disciple has only been in there for a few days, yet he’s caused such a big disturbance…”

Bearded men also turned to look at Gui Ji.

These people had been watching day and night. They knew very well whether anyone else had entered the Desolate Land. Recently, only Su Che had gone in, and today’s sudden changes must be related to him.

Gui Ji slightly lowered her head. The long black veil covering her conical hat almost touched the ground, so no one could see her expression or know what she was thinking.

After a long while, she replied in a hoarse voice, “If anyone is curious, they can go in and take a look. It’s better than guessing here.”

With that, she turned and left, once again proving that, for whatever reason, she was unwilling to step into the Desolate Land even half a step. The more desperate one is, the more afraid they are of death, making them value their lives even more than others.

The bearded men exchanged glances. In the end, the middle-aged scholar and the bearded cultivator nodded to each other and entered the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land together.

They had explored this place for over a decade. Though they didn’t dare go too deep, they still had the courage to check the general situation in the outer areas.

In less than fifteen minutes, the two of them rushed out, their clothes torn and their appearances disheveled.

The bearded man shouted loudly, “You wretched ghost woman! I’m sure it was that kid who caused today’s upheaval!”
The ghost maiden floated over and asked coldly, “Why are you so certain?”
“Hmph!” The bearded man adjusted his robes and replied with a sneer, “A huge crater has appeared in the area where the Black Realm Immortal Lotus lies, nearly a thousand zhang wide. Your Immortal Lotus that prolongs life is probably already buried deep underground.”
“What did you say?”
The ghost maiden cried out in shock. Her black veil trembled violently as she cried inwardly, “Is this heaven trying to destroy me?”