Chapter 208: Magic Artifacts in Conflict

Wushuang controlled the Four Seas Pearl to rotate in reverse, causing the forces of the four seas to change once again. A massive wave instantly transformed into a terrifying spiral vortex, unleashing immense tearing forces. This was the Great Tidal Power that Wushuang had mastered after reaching the Golden Elixir stage—using the Four Seas Pearl, he could simulate all the natural forces of the ocean. The power of heaven and earth was vast; even the boundless sea was beyond the strength of a mortal body to withstand.

The Dragon Soul protecting Su Che had originally been swirling in a clockwise direction, but now, under the assault of the reverse-spinning vortex, it felt as if it were being thrown into a meat grinder. With a mournful cry, the Dragon Soul shattered into pieces, reverting to a black scale that adhered to Su Che’s chest.

“The Dragon Soul is severely damaged and cannot be used for several days,” Su Che sighed inwardly. He immediately took out an elite spirit talisman called “Ice Seal for a Thousand Miles” and activated it above his head. Crack, crack, crack… The freezing power instantly froze the waves and the vortex, creating a huge ice sculpture of a swirling vortex on the arena—like an upside-down iceberg that could fall at any moment.

However, a mere spirit talisman couldn’t seal off Wushuang’s Tidal Power.

Whoosh! Wushuang blew gently on the Four Seas Pearl, and crack, crack, crack… The frozen vortex sculpture developed countless cracks, on the verge of collapsing and turning back into a massive vortex that would tear Su Che to pieces. A spirit talisman could only buy a little time. Seizing this opportunity, Su Che quickly took out the Bronze Treasure Gourd, opened its mouth, and shouted at the ice sculpture above him, which was about to shatter, “Recover!”

Recover? Everyone in the arena, including Wushuang, was secretly astonished. Could that small gourd really contain such a huge ice sculpture?

As it turned out, it couldn’t! The ice sculpture remained in place.

“Just a trick,” Wushuang said lightly, activating the Four Seas Pearl to intensify the tidal force even more. He could shatter the ice sculpture in an instant and turn it back into a sea vortex.

“It doesn’t work?” Su Che was also slightly stunned. He really didn’t know how to use this precious artifact, the Bronze Treasure Gourd. Before, to collect flames, he only needed to think about it and give orders to the spirit within the gourd—even a raging fire could be instantly contained. But this time, it didn’t work!

Inside the gourd’s fire world, the spirit born from the earth fire was spinning frantically in panic. This simple-minded, almost idiotic spirit didn’t know how to handle various situations without Su Che’s commands.

The five Yuan Ying ancestors watching from the side shook their heads secretly, thinking, “He’s still too young, with too little experience. How foolish of him to try to use a fire-type spiritual treasure to capture water-type source energy. That’s not how it works, you fool! Fire and water are incompatible; spiritual treasures can only suppress each other!”
“Go!”
Su Che issued a mental command, ordering the six ghost servants armed with ghostly weapons to rush toward Wu Shuang and launch harassing attacks on her, preventing her from diverting energy to cast other divine spells against him.
The other four ghost servants continued to jointly hold up the swirling ice sculpture above, preventing it from falling.
Seizing this opportunity, Su Che dashed forward dozens of feet, temporarily taking cover in a safe position. He aimed the bronze gourd at the Four Seas Pearl from afar and issued another command: “Recover!”
This time, it seemed he had found the right approach. The Four Seas Pearl, floating above Wu Shuang’s forehead, which had been rotating slowly in reverse, suddenly stopped spinning. The vast amount of water energy surrounding it lost its stability and began to fluctuate chaotically.
“A spiritual treasure?”
Wu Shuang was shocked. She immediately felt that the mental connection between her and the Four Seas Pearl was being pulled forcefully by some unknown force, as if a thin thread was about to snap.
Only then did she realize that the small bronze gourd Su Che had taken out was at least a lower-grade spiritual treasure. After all, her Four Seas Pearl had already reached the level of a high-grade treasure and was her life spiritual treasure. Even if it encountered an extremely rare treasure, it wouldn’t be suppressed instantly.
Thus, in order to protect her Four Seas Pearl, Wu Shuang had to exert all her strength to maintain the mental connection, leaving her no time to deal with Su Che.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom…
The six ghost servants, armed with ghostly weapons, bombarded Wu Shuang relentlessly, but they couldn’t break through her water-based defenses. All their attacks were blocked by a translucent water barrier, serving only to harass her slightly.
“There’s a way!”
Su Che also felt a heavy pull on his end. It seemed the bronze treasure gourd was in a tug-of-war with the Four Seas Pearl—the gourd trying to pull it over, while the Pearl struggled desperately.
On the surface, it seemed evenly matched, but anyone with eyes could see that the bronze treasure gourd held a clear advantage, like a rough man violently pulling at a delicate girl, while the girl could only cling tightly to a pillar and cry out in desperation…
Many Golden Core elders pointed at the bronze gourd from afar, discussing fervently:
“A spiritual treasure! It’s definitely a spiritual treasure!”
“It must be at least a mid-grade spiritual treasure to possess such power.”

“However, Su Che still hasn’t fully understood the properties of this spiritual treasure. His control techniques are crude and brutish, lacking any skill at all.”
“Yes, this kind of tug-of-war is like that of uncivilized mountain brutes—extremely reckless…”
Although these elders were not at the later stage of the Golden Core realm, they were all quite old, even older in terms of spiritual age than Venerable Xuanji. Their experience and wisdom were certainly beyond what the mere 20-year-old Su Che could compare to.
Still, the few Golden Core disciples in the audience were also deeply alarmed. They quickly rehearsed in their minds how they would resolve such a situation if their own spiritual treasures encountered the same predicament…
On the stage, Wushuang’s expression changed drastically as he felt the spiritual connection with the Four Seas Pearl growing weaker, at risk of breaking at any moment.
“No! It’s impossible! The Four Seas Pearl is my life spiritual treasure; it can’t just be taken away like this. Come back, come back, Four Seas Pearl! Return to me!”
Puff!
Seeing the Four Seas Pearl about to slip from his control, in his desperation, Wushuang spat out a mouthful of his life essence, which was instantly absorbed by the Pearl.
The nearly severed spiritual connection immediately stabilized, but it was still under the pulling force from the other side, preventing Wushuang from bringing the Pearl back into his body.
At this moment, all of Wushuang’s focus was on the Four Seas Pearl. Aside from his internal vital energy continuing to flow normally to maintain basic defenses, he had no time to unleash other powers or spells to deal with Su Che.
On Su Che’s side, he had just felt like he was about to take control of the Four Seas Pearl, but Wushuang’s spittle of life essence had reversed some of the disadvantage. Who knew how much more life essence she still had to spit out…
“Lao Hei, take control of the gourd.”
“Okay!”
Boom!
Su Che released the Asura Demon Body once again, handing the bronze gourd to Lao Hei.
Lao Hei was mentally connected to Su Che, acting as one with him in many ways. Any spiritual treasure that Su Che could control, Lao Hei could as well.
The appearance of the Asura Demon Body once again sparked discussions among the spectators:
“Good heavens! Senior Su has released another spiritual pet. It seems to be an underground Asura. Am I not mistaken?”
“That’s right, it’s an Asura!”
“An Asura should possess the strength of the Golden Core realm. Senior Su should have released it earlier—why go through all that trouble?”
“What do you know? This is just a puppet. It’s already quite good to have the strength of the middle stage of Foundation Building.”
Su Che’s continuous display of his hidden cards amazed everyone, once again proving that he truly possessed the extraordinary ability to control all kinds of spirits—beasts, demons, ghosts, heavenly demons—nothing was beyond his control.

What an incredible talent! Once he reaches the Golden Core stage in the future and can command hundreds of spiritual pets with Golden Core strength, wouldn’t he be invincible in the world? Many outer sect disciples speculated this way. However, the experienced Golden Core elders believed that every ability has its limits and cannot be extremely extraordinary; Su Che’s ability was no exception. Indeed, only Su Che himself knew best that his ability wasn’t as exaggerated as everyone thought. The Snake Woman was his friend; the little dragon had been afflicted with a “subjugation spell” during its fetal stage; as for Old Black, there was no need to explain; commanding spirits was also a function of the Netherworld… Apart from these coincidences, if he really tamed a monster above level two, how could he possibly know anything about beast control? At this moment, with the Asura Demon Body controlling the bronze gourd, its restraining power over the Four Seas Pearl didn’t weaken at all, allowing Su Che to step back and focus on dealing with Wu Shuang. Seeing this, some people in the audience grew tempted: “A spiritual treasure that can be controlled by a puppet means that if it falls into my hands, I can also command it at will…” Though they thought this, whether they would have the courage to target Su Che later was another matter. If Su Che truly achieved invincibility and earned the title of top heir to the true teachings, he would become the top priority for cultivation and protection by the Tianxuan Sect. Who else in the sect would dare to touch him? On the arena, Su Che, acting as if nothing had happened, slowly moved to Wu Shuang’s other side, about twenty zhang away, and said to her, “Senior Sister Wu Shuang, it’s not unfair if one treasure loses to another. Just now, your Four Seas Pearl gave me a hard time. Now, it’s my turn to turn the tables, right?” These weren’t just empty words; they were also verbal attacks meant to shake her resolve, adding to her troubles. Wu Shuang was in an extremely passive situation, with all her focus on the Four Seas Pearl. The slightest lapse could cost her her life treasure. At this point, she had completely shut down her spiritual senses, able only to glance at Su Che’s movements out of the corner of her eye, not daring to distract herself by talking to him. Su Che added, “Senior Sister, I have another supernatural ability. Let me show you.” Wu Shuang panicked: Did he have another ability? This panic wasn’t a big deal, but the Asura Demon Body across from her roared like a ferocious beast, suddenly increasing the pulling force of the bronze gourd significantly. Wu Shuang let out a muffled groan, blood seeping from the corners of her mouth. Her panic earlier had made her unstable, causing the Four Seas Pearl to be pulled far away, and the spiritual connection became precarious once again.

In a critical moment, Wushuang opened her mouth, intending to spit out her lifeblood again. Though this would severely weaken her vital energy, it was still better than having her life treasure taken away. But just as she opened her mouth and before her lifeblood could be spat out… A blue light flashed! “I’ve been waiting for the moment when you’d spit out your blood!” Su Che fully activated Soul Seize, which was by no means the ‘another divine ability’ mentioned earlier. On the arena, it was all about truth and falsehood, reality and illusion…