Chapter 156: Records of the Spirit Vessel Elixirs

After that, Su Che began a casual conversation with the shop’s manager about the immortal lotus. Su Che really didn’t care why the manager knew about it—after all, the immortal lotus was already in his hands, and no one could take it away. What concerned Su Che most was whether, as a sixth-grade alchemist, he knew how to consume the Black Realm Immortal Lotus.

Perhaps because of old age and talkativeness, it took the manager half an hour to finish telling his story. Su Che remained extremely patient, occasionally responding with a word or two to keep the old man satisfied.

After the story was over, Su Che cautiously asked, “I heard that the Black Realm Immortal Lotus can not only prolong life but also enhance a cultivator’s spiritual root potential. Is that true?”

“That’s indeed the case,” the manager nodded, stroking his beard.

“Is it consumed directly, or must it be turned into an elixir first?” Su Che continued to ask.

The manager replied casually, “To enhance spiritual root potential, there’s no need to make an elixir. But if you want to prolong your life, you must take its…”

At this point, he seemed to notice something and immediately asked, “Young man, why do you ask these questions? Could it be that you’re also interested in this immortal lotus?”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Su Che said with a sigh. “I’ve long thought about it. My aptitude is only average. Even if I manage to reach the Golden Core stage thanks to my family’s advantages, I’ll never be able to reach the Yuan Ying stage in this lifetime. So, when my natural life is about to end, I’ll take a risk to see if I can obtain that immortal lotus. Even if I fail and die, at least I’ll have tried before dying.”

The manager shook his head with a bitter smile. “Twenty years ago, I thought the same way and went there too. But as soon as I entered the Stormy Desolation, I was driven back by the thunder and fierce winds. To this day, I can only sit here, waiting for death day by day…”

Feeling the timing was right, Su Che asked, “If you know how to consume the immortal lotus, could you give me some guidance? I’d like to remember it so that when my natural life is near its end…”

The manager stared at Su Che with his slightly cloudy eyes for a long time before saying, “I know both the method of consumption and the method of making elixirs. But these techniques are also a kind of wealth. I can’t just give them to you for free.”

Su Che immediately understood and said with a smile, “Of course. Just tell me how many spirit stones you need.”

“Not many!”

The shopkeeper raised two fingers. “Given that you’ve helped our shop’s business and spent so much time with an old man like me, I’ll teach you these secrets for just 2,000 spirit stones. Moreover, I guarantee with our shop’s reputation that everything contained herein is absolutely true!”
Su Che pretended to hesitate, but in reality, he thought, “It’s not expensive at all!”
As the saying goes, knowledge has no price—spending whatever it takes is justified when it’s needed. Besides, this involved matters related to immortals, so 2,000 spirit stones was indeed not much.
Of course, that was on the condition that the secrets he was told were genuine.
Su Che wasn’t one to dawdle. He immediately took out 2,000 spirit stones, placed them in a spirit stone bag, and set it on the table. “Elder, I trust your shop’s reputation. I can pay right away.”
“Good! I like young people like you who are so decisive, just like I was in my youth…”
But the shopkeeper didn’t take the spirit stone bag. Instead, he stood up and left the VIP room, saying, “Young man, wait a moment. I’ll get something for you.”
Su Che responded, and after a short while, he saw the shopkeeper return with a thick book.
It was an ancient text titled *The Record of Spirit Vessel Elixirs*, clearly old. Though made from special paper used in the cultivation world, it already showed signs of wear from years of use.
“This is a family heirloom that has been passed down for over seventy generations…”
The shopkeeper gently stroked the cover of the book with emotion, then with a slight motion of his wrist, flipped to the exact page Su Che needed.
On that page was indeed a diagram of the Black Domain Immortal Lotus. Su Che believed that a book passed down for over seventy generations surely contained no falsehoods.
At that moment, Su Che couldn’t help but feel excited. An opportunity to improve his innate aptitude was truly right before him.
Such a rare and precious chance—how many people in the entire cultivation world could ever get one?
The shopkeeper pushed the book toward him and then took out pen, ink, and paper from his bag, handing them over as well. He said gently, “Young man, start copying it right away, but don’t flip to other pages.”
“Okay.”
Su Che took the pen and ink and began copying from the book.
After writing about dozens of characters…
Bang!
The brush in Su Che’s hand suddenly exploded. A thick cloud of dark green smoke instantly covered his head and seeped into his seven orifices.
“You!”
Su Che was shocked. Pointing at the shopkeeper in horror, he said, “Poisonous toxin…”
Boom!

Before he could finish speaking, he immediately collapsed to the ground. What a powerful poisonous mist—capable of instantly poisoning a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage.
“Hmph.”
The shopkeeper’s originally kind face had turned into a cold, sinister grin. Watching Su Che fall unconscious, he said in a slightly smug voice, “Kid, it’s your fault for coming to the wrong place. In our Chao family, this generation is best at killing, not saving lives.”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He cursed angrily, “Nonsense! It’s not killing—you old scoundrel are best at scheming against others!”
At this moment, the shopkeeper didn’t touch Su Che. Instead, he walked over to the corner, found a hidden mechanism, and activated it. A completely transparent, invisible barrier enveloped the entire VIP room.
With such a barrier, even the powerful mental senses of the two Golden Core-stage cultivators guarding the market couldn’t penetrate it. Undoubtedly, now the shopkeeper could act against Su Che without any restraint.
According to the rules of the market, shops were allowed to have secret rooms and isolation barriers, as every shop dealt in very important deals. It made sense to have such rooms to prevent eavesdropping.
Su Che lay curled up on the ground, motionless, his skin turned a dark green, looking terrifying.
The shopkeeper still didn’t touch him, seemingly waiting for the poison to take full effect. First, he put the Linghu Dan Lu back into his Qiankun Bag, then sat down, took out a wine pot, and began drinking leisurely.
At this moment, his cloudy old eyes became clear, and he seemed much more energetic.
Leaning back with his legs crossed, humming a strange tune, he tilted his head back and took a gulp of the fine wine from the pot.
Boom!
A Asura appeared, swinging an axe!
Lao He suddenly appeared behind him.
“Asura?”
The shopkeeper, with the strength of the late Foundation Establishment stage, had mental senses sharper than sight. Before the Witch Tribe’s battle axe could hit him, he still maintained his drinking posture, swiftly moving more than ten feet away to narrowly avoid Lao He’s furious axe swing.
“How could an Asura be here?”
Only then did the shopkeeper show a look of shock. But in an instant, he realized that this so-called Asura was just an illusion, with combat strength at most at the mid Foundation Establishment stage.
Swish!
Although Lao He couldn’t cast spells, his physical agility far exceeded that of humans. Like the strongest warrior in the world, he leaped forward and swung his axe again.

The shopkeeper swayed suddenly and teleported to the other end of the table. In this cramped secret room, fighting up close with the Asura demon body, he was clearly at a disadvantage.
“Even if you’re an Asura puppet, I’ll still refine you!”
The shopkeeper flipped his wrist and pulled out a fan, which he opened with a whoosh. The fan was embroidered with fire phoenix patterns, clearly a fire-type magical artifact.
But before he could activate it, another giant snake tail lashed out from behind.
The snake woman also emerged from the prison realm.
With limited space in the secret room, the shopkeeper no longer had enough room to use teleportation spells and could only rely on his defensive energy to withstand the snake woman’s attack.
After all, the snake woman also possessed strength at the late Foundation Establishment stage, and her snake tail carried immense demonic power, striking the shopkeeper’s back like a heavy hammer.
Boom!
The shopkeeper staggered, struggling to control his body. As he twisted, he cleverly avoided Lao Hei’s another slash. At the same time, he activated another defensive magical artifact.
This defensive artifact didn’t need to be taken out of his bag—it was already worn on his body: a top-grade spiritual weapon, a Wind-Fire Dao robe.
Robe-type magical artifacts were more valuable than other types. Such a top-grade spiritual weapon robe was worth as much as an elite spiritual weapon and could never be bought in the market.
Whoosh…
A swirl of wind and fire flames protected him. Realizing something was wrong and unwilling to fight these two demonic creatures, the shopkeeper channeled his vital energy and tried to rush out through the roof. Even if the Golden Core cultivators in the market noticed the battle here, it wouldn’t matter.
After all, with demonic creatures appearing in the market under the Wuji Gate, he could find any excuse to justify himself and wasn’t worried that Su Che would accuse him after being rescued.
But before he could reach the roof, crack! Another bolt of lightning struck him.
Boom!
Although the Wind-Fire Dao robe mitigated the power of the lightning, the shopkeeper was still knocked to the ground by the intense force.
Bang! Bang!
After landing, he endured another slash from Lao Hei and an energy attack from the snake woman. The Wind-Fire Dao robe was indeed a rare defensive treasure—Lao Hei only had his beard tremble and wasn’t injured.
However, Lao Hei’s battle axe managed to penetrate the wind and fire flames and nearly struck his chest, which really scared the shopkeeper to death.
“What kind of weapon is this, capable of breaking through my Wind-Fire flames?”

In his shock, he also saw with his spiritual sense a thick and long dragon circling above his head. Just from those two silver whiskers, he could tell that the lightning strike earlier had been sent by it. One dragon, one snake, and one demon—all massive creatures. These three alone filled the secret room completely. As a result, the gray-haired shopkeeper had no room to move at all.