Chapter 189: Seclusion in the Deep Sea

Su Che remained invisible, swimming slowly beneath the sea.
In the Immortal Prison, Lao He interrogated the soul of the Golden Core cultivator ‘Zhe Hua,’ and only then did Su Che learn that he had been targeted by Hao Yuan Da Zun, the head of the Battle Hall of the Tai Yi Sect.
Hao Yuan Da Zun, at the peak stage of the Golden Core cultivation, was regarded as the greatest figure after the Yuan Ying cultivators of the Tai Yi Sect. His actual age was less than 150 years, and his future seemed boundless; he was said to be a candidate for the next sect leader.
“That scattered cultivator Ying Lian was turned into a fool by his soul-searching technique—Hao Yuan is truly ruthless,” Su Che thought with alarm.
“Of course. Without ruthlessness, how could he be the head of the Battle Hall?” Lao He replied.
“Soul-searching technique!”
Su Che felt a chill in his heart. “This is exactly what I fear the most. I wonder which despicable wretch invented such a technique.”
After complaining, Su Che continued to think, “Now that I know the Tai Yi Sect will encircle the Arctic Sea area tightly, I can’t keep going like this. If necessary, I need to find a place to hide and wait out this storm.”
Su Che knew that despite possessing two supernatural abilities, he would be no match against an early Golden Core cultivator from the Tai Yi Sect in a direct confrontation. Even if he trapped them with his powers, he wouldn’t have enough offensive strength to kill them instantly. The talisman given by his master left only one sword aura, which he couldn’t waste recklessly.
Lao He agreed, “Hide completely and don’t show up for three months! I doubt the Tai Yi Sect will go to such lengths to seal off the Arctic Sea for you alone.”
“Surely not,” Su Che thought with a smile. “My appeal isn’t that great.”
“Exactly,” Lao He nodded. “Good thing there’s an extra spiritual vein in the Immortal Prison, enough for your cultivation. Master, just hide and meditate—let those bastards wait outside.”
“Meditate and cultivate?” Su Che’s mind stirred. “That’s actually a good idea.”
With enough pills and spiritual energy, it didn’t matter where he meditated—as long as he hid well and stayed away from sea monsters.
Of course, he needed to carefully choose a place for seclusion. This area wouldn’t do, as there were two Golden Core cultivators searching for him nearby.
So, Su Che chose a random direction, sped up slightly, and continued diving forward.
The sea monsters couldn’t detect Su Che’s invisibility, but they could cause some disruption to the Golden Core cultivators of the Tai Yi Sect.

Although Elder Jin Dan’s cultivation level was so high that he couldn’t possibly be hurt by any beast, once he used his powers, the intense fluctuations would erase all traces, completely hiding Su Che’s location. Half an hour later, the two Jin Dan elders from Tai Yi Gate flew back above the sea, forced to give up for now. “It seems Zhe Hua really encountered misfortune—no trace has been left at all,” said the monk with a square face, sighing sadly. “Send a message to the Great Lord. Send more people here as soon as possible to thoroughly search this sea area. That kid dares not fly out; he’s just swimming in the sea, so he can’t have gone far.” “Alright!” The other man inputted a message into the communication jade talisman. Once activated, the talisman turned into a beam of white light and vanished in an instant. Half an hour later, over a dozen streaks of light rushed over. Even the weakest among them was at the early Jin Dan stage. “Each of you is responsible for a hundred-mile area—search carefully and don’t overlook any clue,” shouted an elder at the middle Jin Dan stage through telepathy. “This person is only at the Foundation stage. Even if he took the Earth Escape Pill, he would still leave obvious traces of earth movement. Don’t overlook those.” Everyone replied in unison and quickly dispersed. Yet, after searching all day, they found no trace of Su Che. Even with various tracking artifacts, they couldn’t detect any signs left by human cultivators in the deep sea. Unbeknownst to them, Su Che had already fled to another sea area thousands of miles away. He could swim so fast because he had released the little dragon, which helped him move swiftly. Su Che himself had disguised himself as the spiritual energy fluctuations of a snake woman, eliminating any trace of humanity. It was impossible for the Jin Dan elders from Tai Yi Gate to detect any residual spiritual energy left by human cultivators underwater. Dragons, being beasts that live in water all year round, swim at speeds not much slower than flying, and they had already taken Su Che far beyond their search range. Moreover, the Silver Beard Dragon had noble bloodline and innate dominance over other beasts. Generally, deep-sea beasts wouldn’t attack dragons on their own. Even if they knew the Silver Beard Dragon was still young, they wouldn’t provoke it recklessly. Beasts also have wisdom—they understand that bullying the weak might attract the strong. If an adult Silver Beard Dragon launched a fierce retaliation, all the beasts in that sea area would be destroyed. At a depth of five hundred feet underwater, Su Che chose a huge rock. Since it was difficult for him to act directly, he asked the little dragon to dig out a narrow stone cave.

As a demonic beast, the little dragon could keenly sense that there were no highly powerful deep-sea demonic beasts in the vicinity, so meditating here would pose no trouble. Demonic beasts all have their own territories and set various signs to warn intruders. Of course, generally only other demonic beasts can understand these signs. After preparing the cave, Su Che went in first, followed by the little dragon. It made some adjustments at the cave entrance, leaving enough dragon aura before Su Che confined it in the Immortal Prison. The dragon aura left at the entrance was not to deceive the pursuers from the Taiyi Sect but to prevent other demonic beasts from sneaking in and disturbing Su Che’s meditation. Deep within the cave, Su Che remained invisible and took three Earth Spirit Pills in succession, immediately beginning his intense cultivation. Nowadays, three fifth-grade Earth Spirit Pills must be taken at once to sustain a day of cultivation, and as his strength increased, the consumption of these pills would inevitably grow. The need for spiritual energy was no longer a problem. To avoid being detected by the Taiyi Sect’s people who could sense fluctuations in the natural spiritual energy, Su Che simply closed several of his vital energy points, stopping the absorption of external spiritual energy—relying solely on the miniature spiritual vein in the Immortal Prison was sufficient. Even for his own cultivation, it was estimated that the reserves would last for decades. Thus began his deep-sea meditation period… Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. In the main hall of the Taiyi Sect’s combat hall, six mid-stage Golden Pill elders appeared before the “Venerable Haoyuan” and apologized together. More than thirty Golden Pill elders and nearly a thousand Foundation Establishment disciples had been sent, yet they failed to capture even one rogue at the Foundation Establishment stage… The six deputy hall masters present naturally felt extremely ashamed. “It’s not your fault!” Unexpectedly, the Venerable Haoyuan did not scold them but said in a deep voice, “This person still has some luck. It’s not surprising that you couldn’t catch him. Back then, even right under the nose of Feng Sha, the chief elder of the Seal Demon Hall, he managed to escape.” “Feng Sha from the Seal Demon Hall?” The six deputy hall masters were stunned. Of course, they were all aware of Feng Sha’s fame—he was also an ally in their camp. “Zheqiu, explain it to them,” the Venerable Haoyuan said calmly. Inside the hall, Zheqiu, the elder in charge of intelligence, stepped out from the shadows and said to everyone, “A few days ago, Feng Sha led people to create chaos in the markets of Qinglan Continent, deliberately distracting the Tianxuan Sect… During that time, he encountered a young disciple from the Tianxuan Sect who used the same kind of supernatural ability that could shake a cultivator’s original spirit.”

“Feng Sha, the junior disciple in charge of sealing sand, who was at the early Jin Dan stage, went to pursue this person and never returned; his whereabouts are unknown. This is very similar to the disappearance of my disciple Zhe Hua from our sect.”
“From this, we can infer that this young disciple of Tian Xuan Zong possesses three key traits: First, at the middle stage of the Zhu Ji phase, he already had two supernatural abilities. It is estimated that, with the ability to launch surprise attacks, he could even kill an elder from our sect who was at the early Jin Dan stage.”
“Second, he has extremely advanced disguise skills—capable not only of changing his appearance but also altering the fluctuations of his spiritual energy. Despite being at the middle stage of Zhu Ji, he can disguise himself as a cultivator at the later stage of Zhu Ji.”
“Third, he possesses an incredible ability to extract the supernatural powers originally belonging to magical artifacts and convert them into his own powers.”
“Oh?”
The six vice sect leaders were all deeply moved. This last ability was truly astonishing and unheard of.
Zhe Qiu continued, “His ‘Prison’ ability originates from an ancient talisman, a fact that has been confirmed by the Great-> Great Zun
Great-> Great Zun. As for another ability that can shake one’s spiritual core, I believe it is similar to the Illusory Mirror of You Lan Gui Ji from the Wan Gui Zong. I have already sent people to investigate this matter at Wan Gui Zong, and we should hear back within a few days.”
Hao Yuan Da Zun chuckled, “That blue light indeed resembles the Illusory Mirror of that ghost woman. Many people have experienced that mirror’s power, and I have experienced it once as well…”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Since even the Great-> Great Zun
Great-> Great Zun said so, it was almost certain to be true.
Hao Yuan Da Zun continued, “What impresses me the most is precisely this ability of his. It’s unimaginable how he manages to transform the power of magical artifacts into his own abilities. What a remarkable skill!”
“Yes, indeed…”
Everyone agreed. After all, they were all at the Jin Dan stage and understood how extraordinary it was to be able to extract the powers from magical artifacts and turn them into one’s own abilities.
Especially for those at the Jin Dan stage, this ability was even more tempting than having a Dao artifact right before their eyes.
After all, supernatural abilities were crucial for Jin Dan cultivators—having more such abilities increased the chances of achieving the Ning Ying stage.

Explained in the simplest way: A cultivator at the peak stage of the Golden Core realm who wishes to form a fetal stage embryo, if they possess three divine powers, it increases their success rate by 30%; with five divine powers, it doubles the success rate; and if they have ten divine powers, although the success rate isn’t 100%, it’s very close. Only those who are extremely unlucky would fail to form a fetal stage embryo even with ten divine powers.
With the formation of his fetal stage embryo approaching, Hao Yuan the Great Venerable was naturally extremely eager for such ability—indeed, he was determined to obtain it at all costs!
“So!”
Hao Yuan the Great Venerable suddenly stood up, his deep voice shaking the entire hall: “Use every possible method to bring him before me. If it can’t be done in ten days, then one year; if not one year, then ten years! I still have over three hundred years of life left—I can wait!”
“Yes, Great Venerable!”
Everyone replied in unison.
At this moment, Su Che, who was in seclusion deep in the sea, still thought his appeal wasn’t that great, not realizing that he had already become the most delicious prey in the eyes of those hungry wolves!