Chapter 157: Confrontation

Although the situation was unfavorable, the chief manager was still at the late Foundation Establishment stage. Even facing three opponents at once, he shouldn’t have been defeated quickly. Unless things became even more critical.

Buzz…

A crystal-clear white jade ring flew into the air above the secret chamber, instantly creating a restraining force akin to a cage.

The chief manager felt his body grow heavy, as if burdened by a mountain, and his body was also entangled by countless ropes. Every movement now required hundreds of times more effort to achieve normal speed.

This top-tier jade ring had formidable restraining power, but against a cultivator at the late Foundation Establishment stage, its effectiveness was somewhat limited.

Yet in this confined space, it still posed a huge obstacle to the chief manager, adding insult to injury.

Seizing this opportunity, Lao Hei, the Snake Woman, and the Little Dragon struck again, each using their own tactics. In the blink of an eye, the chief manager’s fiery momentum began to waver and fade.

Although humans were certainly inferior to demons and monsters in close combat, being battered by three such creatures was unbearable for him, a cultivator at the late Foundation Establishment stage.

“Damn it!”

The chief manager endured their attacks, preferring to get injured rather than fail to use his Fire Phoenix Treasure Fan to reduce them to ashes.

Whoosh~~~

His vital energy was activated, and an orange-yellow flame shot out from the fan, filling the entire secret chamber in an instant. Protected by his Wind-Fire Dao robe and being a alchemist who specialized in fire-based vital energy, he was the least afraid of being burned by fire.

Swish, swish, swish…

But to his surprise, instead of spreading out, the flame from the fan turned into a thin streak that traced a semicircular arc through the air before flying backward…

The chief manager turned sharply and was shocked to see the boy under the table holding a gourd, smiling sinisterly at him.

The triple flame emitted by the Fire Phoenix Treasure Fan had been completely absorbed by that small gourd.

Not only that—his own Wind-Fire aura also dimmed, losing all its power.

“A fire-type spiritual treasure?”

The chief manager’s eyes widened in disbelief.

With the gourd appearing, there was no fire left in the surroundings.

Being an expert in recognizing treasures, he immediately saw that the bronze gourd in Su Che’s hands was a mysterious and powerful spiritual treasure.

Bang!

In shock, the shopkeeper was struck in the chest by a thick, long snake tail. With his Wind-Fire Dao robe losing all its power, the blow sent him flying, and he spat blood, severely injured. It should be noted that the Snake Woman had the highest cultivation level, making her attack the greatest threat to the shopkeeper.
Crack!
Another bolt of lightning struck him as he was still in mid-air.
Thwack!
Lao He delivered another devastating punch to the back of his head. The reason they didn’t use an axe was because Su Che had sent a mental message, wanting to capture this sixth-grade alchemist alive for future use. Yet they underestimated this late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator—such a fierce punch still failed to knock him out.
“Ah!”
The shopkeeper roared in anger, his vital energy erupting like a volcanic eruption, blasting out in all directions.
Boom!
Not only was the barrier isolating the secret room completely shattered, but the entire Linghu Xuan Dan Pharmacy also collapsed. The wrathful strike of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was indeed formidable!
Of course, Su Che and the others weren’t useless either. They promptly released their vital energy to push aside the falling bricks and tiles, ensuring they wouldn’t be buried alive by such debris.
“You old bastard!”
Bang! Lao He rushed forward and punched the shopkeeper’s forehead again, finally knocking him out.
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
With a thought, Su Che immediately summoned his three helpers into the Immortal Prison. Of course, he didn’t forget the unconscious shopkeeper either.
Yet, no matter how fast they moved, they were still detected by a powerful divine sense. Just as the barrier shattered and the shop collapsed, a Golden Core cultivator in a building a hundred feet away immediately sensed the upheaval, and his powerful divine sense quickly enveloped the area.
Su Che knew that there were two Golden Core elders from the Wuji Sect in this market district. He would have to face their questioning soon. Escape was out of the question.
As soon as Su Che emerged from the ruins of the shop, a Golden Core cultivator appeared before him. Before the other could ask questions, Su Che took the initiative to greet him, saying, “I am Su Che, a disciple of Xuanji Peak of Tianxuan Sect. I greet my uncle.”
He called him uncle because the Golden Core cultivator appeared very young, only in his twenties, with a handsome appearance, indicating he was someone who paid great attention to his image. Calling him uncle would make him seem older, unnecessarily arousing his displeasure.

Some cultivators who care deeply about their appearance and youth would do whatever it took in their youth to obtain an elixir of eternal youth, so as to preserve the brightest phase of their lives forever.
“Are you a disciple from another sect?” asked the Golden Core cultivator.
“Yes,” Su Che replied truthfully. “But I was supposed to go to Taiyi Sect. Due to some chance, I ended up here instead.”
The Golden Core cultivator nodded slightly and asked, “How did that happen?”
“Master, it’s like this…” Su Che then recounted how he entered the pharmacy to buy elixirs but was tricked by the shop owner’s scheme, without mentioning anything about the Black Realm Immortal Lotus.
While he was speaking, some employees from the Linghu Xuan Dan Pharmacy also emerged from the ruins. Although they had been buried unexpectedly, since they were all cultivators, a few bricks and tiles surely couldn’t kill them.
At the same time, many onlookers gathered around. A shop collapsing was quite rare in Xinghuang Mountain’s market.
“Could Master Chao really be such a person?”
The Golden Core cultivator didn’t believe Su Che’s story and asked again, “So, where is Master Chao?”
“He fled!” Su Che lied boldly. “He realized my scheme and knew he couldn’t defeat me. The moment the building collapsed, he used his underground escape technique to hide underground.”
“You’re lying!”
The voice didn’t come from the Golden Core cultivator in front of him but from behind Su Che.
Su Che slowly turned and saw a middle-aged man at the early Foundation stage, staring at him angrily.
“Who are you?” Su Che asked calmly.
“I’m the second manager of Linghu Xuan Dan,” the man replied angrily.
Through his spiritual sense, Su Che already knew that this man hadn’t come out of the ruins of the shop but had arrived from another direction. If he really was the second manager, it meant he hadn’t been inside the shop earlier.
So, Su Che retorted, “You weren’t in the shop just now, were you? So you have no right to speak.”
“Whether I was in the shop or not, my master can’t be the kind of person you describe. You’re spreading slander!” The man, enraged, pointed at Su Che and shouted, “Where is my master? You thief must have killed him!”

At these words, he rushed forward a few steps and knelt down in front of the Golden Core cultivator with a thud, crying out in despair, “Elder Jin Ming, please intervene for us! I know private fights are not allowed in the market. In front of you, I dare not fight to the death with him… So, you must stand up for us and make this thief hand over our master!”
The second manager of the pharmacy had no idea that his master had been captured by Su Che and thrown into the Immortal Prison. He instinctively assumed that his master’s disappearance must be caused by Su Che—perhaps even that his master had already been killed…
“Don’t panic. I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly.”
The Golden Core cultivator, Elder Jin Ming, emitted a burst of energy to help the second manager up. Then he turned to Su Che and asked, “Do you have any evidence for what you just said?”
“Yes!”
Su Che nodded and raised his right hand. A dark green mist gradually formed in his palm, swirling continuously, as if countless tiny insects were buzzing together.
“Poisonous Dan?” Elder Jin Ming, being highly experienced, immediately recognized the nature of the mist.
Su Che said loudly, “This kind of Poisonous Dan can instantly shut down the mind and consciousness of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. It also rapidly corrodes the meridians and dantian throughout the body. Even if the victim doesn’t die, they will become completely useless.”
Hearing Su Che’s explanation, the onlookers began to whisper among themselves. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, becoming useless was worse than dying immediately.
Something that could make life worse than death—truly a vicious substance!
At that time, Su Che really didn’t expect that Manager Chao was someone who appeared kind-hearted but was actually extremely malicious. He had been poisoned without any warning while copying the secret techniques.
Fortunately, the Poisonous Dan entered his body from Su Che’s brain. Before its toxicity could take effect, the Immortal Prison absorbed it. However, the remaining toxins still knocked Su Che to the ground, causing signs of poisoning.
Thankfully, Lao He promptly supplied a unique energy formed by combining the warm currents of the Immortal Prison and the pure streams of Black Stone, which once again demonstrated another powerful effect: it could quickly dispel toxins.
Thus, Su Che managed to retain his sanity. He freed Lao He, the Snake Woman, and the Little Dragon from the Immortal Prison to fight against Manager Chao. He lay on the ground, waiting for the toxins to dissipate, before joining the battle…

Seeing the type of erysipelas that Su Che had brought out, the second owner of the pharmacy first showed a slight change in expression, then shouted loudly, “How can you claim that this erysipelas was released by my master? In my opinion, you thief can control this kind of erysipelas—it’s clearly your own evil trick!”
“I don’t want to argue with you.”
Su Che gave him a cold glance first, then pointed at the ruins of the pharmacy and said, “I guess there must be a secret alchemy chamber beneath the pharmacy, along with the ingredients and utensils needed to create this erysipelas. Anyone with even a little experience in alchemy can identify such things. Let’s stick to facts.”
Su Che’s confident tone stemmed from the fact that Lao He was currently interrogating Owner Chao in the Immortal Prison. Using the skill of reading minds through heavenly demons, he didn’t need Chao to answer—just by asking questions, he could detect Chao’s thoughts. Lao He could provide Su Che with all the answers he needed in a timely manner.