Chapter 167: Soul Capture

Su Che paid no attention to the cryptic conversation between Ghost Princess Youlan and Venerable Mysterious Insight. At this point, the only thing that mattered to him was what benefits he could gain by offering a single immortal lotus seed.

After that, Venerable Mysterious Insight spoke plainly: “Crazy woman, I’m not opposed to selling you a lotus seed. My disciple is magnanimous enough to overlook the past incidents; in return, you should also show some effort. I hope the terms you propose will demonstrate sufficient sincerity.”

“A spiritual treasure!”
Ghost Princess Youlan’s reply was straightforward: “I’m willing to give up the only spiritual treasure I possess to exchange for my life.”

With that, she promptly displayed the treasure. A palm-sized mirror floated in front of her—its surface made of pale blue gemstone, framed with dark golden intricate patterns, exquisitely beautiful and eerily vibrant.

“The Azure Illusion Mirror!”
Upon seeing the mirror, Venerable Mysterious Insight whispered to Su Che, explaining, “This is an ancient spiritual treasure. Its original name has long been lost to history. When it fell into Ghost Princess’s hands, she named it the Azure Illusion Mirror.”

“The mirror creates its own space inside, allowing it to imprison spirits, demons, and other supernatural beings. In battle, it can emit blue light to forcibly absorb the opponent’s soul. Even if the opponent is highly skilled and unable to directly devour their soul, the mirror’s power is strong enough to disrupt their essence, causing them to lose their composure and be unable to fight further.”

“At first, I fought her three times. I lost the first battle because I was caught off guard by this mirror. In the following two battles, I had strategies to counter it and won.”

After finishing his explanation, Venerable Mysterious Insight added his own opinion: “Che, this item is incredibly powerful. Its value surely exceeds that of a single immortal lotus seed. Only someone like that dying woman would be willing to give it up in exchange for you.”

Su Che nodded silently, agreeing that this deal was a good one. A hundred years of life was undoubtedly invaluable to Ghost Princess, but if both the immortal lotus seed and the Azure Illusion Mirror were put up for auction, the latter’s price would surely be several times higher than the former’s…

“What do you think?”
Ghost Princess knew that Venerable Mysterious Insight must be communicating with Su Che. Feeling confident, she said self-mockingly, “In this world, aside from this death-fearing fool of mine, who else could afford such a price?”

Although Su Che was satisfied, he still had additional requests. He said, “Elder, I’m naturally willing to engage in a simple exchange of benefits. Moreover, I can’t bear to take away your hope of survival…” He started by saying something pleasant, but then added, “However, your actions recently have put me in desperate situations several times. If not for a bit of luck, I wouldn’t even have had a hundred days to enjoy life. So, I have one more small request—sort of as compensation from you.” Hearing this, Venerable Mysterious Insight smiled secretly, thinking, “This kid is good at speaking. He’s clearly bargaining, yet his words don’t evoke any negative feelings.” The Ghost Princess across from him also nodded gently. “Go ahead and say it. As long as I can do it, it won’t be a problem.” “It’s like this…” Su Che said, “I have a magical artifact that requires a large number of souls to be refined in order to reach its full power. That day, I went to the territory of the Clan of Ten Thousand Ghosts precisely for this purpose…” The Ghost Princess immediately agreed, “Just souls? That’s no problem at all. I have plenty of them.” Of course! As a senior elder at the late Golden Core stage of the Clan of Ten Thousand Ghosts, she was undoubtedly a master at manipulating souls. “I want a hundred Ghost Guards and ten Ghost Generals,” Su Che said, not asking for too much, coming up with a number that wasn’t excessive. On the day in the Valley of the Wasteland God, Su Che had seen many of the Ghost Princess’s ghost servants, including two Ghost Kings and over a dozen Ghost Generals. However, adhering to the principle of not being too extreme and always leaving room for negotiation, Su Che couldn’t ask for those two Ghost Kings. Even if she agreed now, it would be like offending her severely, leading to endless troubles in the future. Besides, Su Che wasn’t entirely confident in the Netherworld Ghost Realm he had established. He wasn’t sure what kind of chaos two Ghost Kings at the Golden Core stage might cause once they entered the second layer of the Immortal Prison. It was even possible they might overthrow the monarchy just established by the “Netherworld Ghost Emperor”… “It’s fine!” The Ghost Princess agreed promptly. For her, as long as the two Ghost Kings remained, her strength wouldn’t weaken. The other lesser ghosts were merely for entertainment. At the late Golden Core combat level, souls at the Ghost General stage were completely useless. “Very well,” Venerable Mysterious Insight stood up and said, “Crazy woman, sit here for a while while I go get the lotus seeds.” The Ghost Princess nodded in agreement.

Elder Mysterious Mystery took Su Che to another room and set up a barrier to isolate them before taking a lotus seed from him. In the Immortal Prison, another lotus seed was harvested from the Black Realm Immortal Lotus, causing its stems and leaves to tremble and suffer intense pain. Fortunately, the warm currents of the Immortal Prison promptly restored its vitality. The transaction was completed successfully, and the Illusory Mirror fell into Elder Mysterious Mystery’s hands. “Over two hundred ghost guards and sixteen ghost generals are all inside the mirror. Thank you, Mysterious Mystery. Once I return, I will lift the bounty on Su Che…” The black veil swayed as the Ghost Princess of the Dark Corridor vanished. Elder Mysterious Mystery nodded in satisfaction and handed the mirror to Su Che. “That crazy woman gave you almost twice as many souls—she did show some sense of being an elder.” But Su Che said, “Master, my cultivation level is too low to control such a precious artifact. Please use it first.” In truth, Su Che wanted to give this artifact to his master, as after helping him deal with such a troublesome issue as the Black Realm Immortal Lotus, he felt he owed his master some gratitude. “I don’t need it!” Elder Mysterious Mystery waved his hand. “I’m rather averse to soul-related things; they’re not suitable for me. Besides, it’s not very impressive for a man to keep pulling out a mirror to look at it constantly.” Su Che knew that his master’s words were just an excuse; he still didn’t want to take advantage of his disciple… With this precious artifact in hand, he wasn’t even tempted at all. Su Che truly admired his master’s character. The moment he put away the Illusory Mirror, he made up his mind: one day, he would give his master the most suitable magical artifact, one that he couldn’t find any flaws in or any reason to refuse… Back in his cultivation cave on Mysterious Mystery Peak, Su Che placed the Illusory Mirror inside the Immortal Prison. The Illusory Mirror was an offensive artifact without an artifact spirit, which meant that without its active cooperation, Su Che’s cultivation level couldn’t activate its attacking functions; he could only use it for its ability to imprison souls. But with the Immortal Prison at his disposal, the imprisonment function of the Illusory Mirror became useless. Su Che thought that until he reached the Golden Core stage, this precious artifact could only be stored away, essentially useless. Unexpectedly, just a dozen breaths after being placed in the Immortal Prison, it suddenly disappeared on its own. “No! It didn’t disappear—it went to the second floor of the Immortal Prison.” Su Che and Old Black were shocked. They didn’t know whether this was the work of the Illusory Mirror or the Immortal Prison Pagoda… Whoosh!

Su Che’s consciousness, together with Lao Hei, immediately entered the Netherworld of the second floor of the Immortal Prison. There, they saw that the Illusory Mirror had already flown into the palace and was floating in front of the Netherworld Ghost Emperor.
“Master, this object matches the attributes of the Netherworld. Shall we merge it?” the Netherworld Ghost Emperor asked, standing up and bowing.
“Can it be merged?” Su Che asked doubtfully. “What’s the advantage?”
“I don’t know,” the Ghost Emperor replied respectfully. “Its effects can only be revealed after merging it.”
“Then…”
After a brief hesitation, Su Che made his decision immediately: “Merge it!”
“As ordered.”
The Netherworld Ghost Emperor faced the Illusory Mirror and muttered something. Soon, he raised his hand and pointed at its surface.
Bang!
Such a precious artifact as the Illusory Mirror shattered instantly, turning into countless fragments that spread everywhere.
Whoosh! The more than 200 ghost guards and 16 ghost generals trapped inside fell out and gathered below the platform. They were about to howl in rage, but the Ghost Emperor’s angry shout silenced them, preventing them from moving again.
At that moment, the Netherworld was merging with the Illusory Mirror, so the Ghost Emperor couldn’t focus on judging these souls for now.
A few moments later, ripples arose in the endless void of the Netherworld. As its ruler, Su Che immediately understood what was happening.
“Open!”
Outside the Immortal Prison, Su Che pointed at his own forehead like a sword. Immediately, a vertical eye appeared there.
“Soul Capture!”
Swish! A blue light shot out from the vertical eye in his forehead.
This was the original Soul Capture function of the Illusory Mirror, now transformed into one of Su Che’s divine powers. Being a powerful ability originally from a precious artifact, it was undoubtedly more formidable than the spells and techniques possessed by most Golden Core cultivators!
“I finally…”
The vertical eye in his forehead slowly closed, and Su Che’s forehead returned to its normal state. “I now have my own divine power.”
Soul Capture!
“Congratulations, Master! Even before reaching the Golden Core stage, you’ve already mastered such a powerful ability.”
Lao Hei was also extremely excited. “The internal space of the Illusory Mirror was originally meant for imprisoning souls. This matches the attributes of our Netherworld, which is why we can merge it. This shows that our Immortal Prison is far superior to precious artifacts!”
“Nonsense!”
Su Che’s consciousness turned into an invisible finger and struck Lao Hei’s forehead hard.
“The Immortal Prison is supreme—none of the most powerful immortal artifacts in the Immortal Realm can compare, let alone these mortal treasures!”

Su Che’s words were indeed a bit presumptuous, as he had no idea what level of treasure the Immortal Prison was, nor did he know how powerful a true immortal artifact really was… In any case, in his own mind, the Immortal Prison was the supreme treasure, equivalent to his own life.