Chapter 225: A Powerful Underling

Su Che entered the Ghost Realm Hall on the second floor of the Immortal Prison. There, to his surprise, the hundreds of ghost soldiers and guards he had seen before were all greatly weakened, reduced to the lowest level of spirits.
“Master,” said the Ghost Emperor, rising from his throne on the royal platform. As the ruler of the Ghost Realm, he could sense the master’s presence.
“Why have these spirits become like this?” Su Che asked in confusion.
“Reporting to the master…”
The Ghost Emperor explained in detail, “Today, seeing the master in trouble, I was extremely anxious but powerless to do anything due to my weak strength. In desperation, I prayed to the heavens, hoping to gather all the forces of the Ghost Realm to help the master fight against external enemies.”
“I kept praying, and gradually, a Heavenly Ghost Pearl formed in my mind…”
As he spoke, a dark-colored pearl appeared between his eyebrows.
“Master, this ‘Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl’ is a gift from the heavens. It can draw and borrow the strength of all spirits in the Ghost Realm, gathering them together so that I can possess sufficient combat power in a short time.”
“So it’s borrowed power…” Su Che asked, “Does that mean I have to return all that power afterward?”
“It’s not necessary to return it, but the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl cannot store this power for long,” the Ghost Emperor explained. “This power will gradually dissipate and eventually merge back into the entire Ghost Realm.”
“Then it still needs to be returned. Borrowing and returning—once that’s established, borrowing more becomes easy…”
Su Che nodded inwardly. “Even if it’s only temporary borrowing, it’s like having a powerful underling. I can deploy them in critical moments without any delays.”
Thinking further, he asked, “Is there a limit to the capacity of the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl?”
His question implied that if there was no such limit, then by keeping tens of thousands of ghost generals in the Ghost Realm and borrowing their powers all at once in a critical moment, the Ghost Emperor would be invincible.
Of course, Su Che also believed this was just a “delusional fantasy.” Everything in the world has its limits of capacity or endurance, though these limits can be gradually expanded through cultivation.
Reaching success overnight is unlikely!
Sure enough, the Ghost Emperor replied, “The capacity limit of the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl is not yet known. But there is definitely a limit to the power I can bear myself. My body cannot withstand too much strength.”
“Hmm, I see.”

Su Che nodded inwardly and asked again, “Then, you should also be able to cultivate, right?”
“Yes, I can practice the path of ghosts to strengthen myself, but I currently don’t have any suitable cultivation methods,” replied the Ghost Emperor respectfully.
“It’s okay. I’ll find a way to solve the problem of cultivation methods for ghosts,” Su Che said gently. “Today, it was thanks to your presence that I was able to escape in time. Thank you.”
“I dare not accept such praise from my master!”
The Ghost Emperor quickly knelt down, not daring to accept such direct gratitude from his master.
“Get up,” Su Che said in a gentle tone.
“Thank you, master.”
After standing up, the Ghost Emperor added, “Master, when you help me search for cultivation methods for ghosts, it would be best to focus on those that are particularly effective at ‘refining the ghostly body.’ The more solid my body becomes, the more power it can hold…”
The more power it can hold, the stronger its combat strength. Su Che naturally understood these principles, so he remembered all the details the Ghost Emperor had mentioned.
The Ghost Emperor’s path of cultivation was very different from ordinary cultivation methods. In simple terms, his goal was to transform himself into a ‘container’—the larger the capacity, the more power he could draw upon, and thus the stronger his combat strength would be.
One day, achieving what Su Che had just imagined—“uniting the power of all ghosts within one body”—was not impossible either.
With a clear vision for the future, the key was to figure out how to make it happen. Finding suitable cultivation methods for ghosts was also included in Su Che’s immediate plans.
Even now, Su Che still found it hard to believe: “I never expected that the most powerful subordinate would turn out to be the less prominent Ghost Emperor of the Netherworld… It seems that every layer of the Immortal Prison has its own significance that cannot be underestimated.”
With this in mind, Su Che grew eager to unlock the third layer of the Immortal Prison. “If everything goes as planned, on the day I advance to the Golden Core stage, the method to unlock the third layer will appear on its own…”
Of course, the conditions required to unlock the third layer would surely become more difficult than before. Su Che was already prepared for this.
At that moment, the Ghost Emperor reported again, “Master, the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl has begun to lose its power. Should we return the power to the ghost servants?”
“Yes.”
With his master’s approval, the Ghost Emperor gave a low command. The Heavenly Ghost Pearl hanging above his forehead spun rapidly, and hundreds of light gray streams of energy rushed out of it, spreading in all directions to return to their respective owners, pouring into the souls beneath the platform.

The strength of those spirits began to soar rapidly, quickly returning to their original levels. Even Su Che’s ten ghost servants had regained their strength at the late Foundation Establishment stage.
“This is truly…”
As the master of the Immortal Prison, Su Che himself found this scene utterly bewildering—completely illogical!
“Could it be that the internal space of the Immortal Prison is completely free from the laws of the normal world? It forms its own system, its own realm… Within its world, there are its own set of rules.”
It was only now that Su Che began to realize that perhaps the Immortal Prison wasn’t some ‘heaven-defying’ artifact after all, but rather a world in itself—one that didn’t need to defy anything!
“But how could such a treasure be created? How could the laws of the normal world allow its existence?”
No matter how much he thought about it, Su Che still found it hard to explain. Perhaps it was because he was just a frog in a well, not high enough to fully understand what the ‘laws of the world’ really entailed…
Immortal Prison Pagoda, who exactly are you?
Filled with endless questions, Su Che’s mind withdrew from the Immortal Prison. By then, his vital energy had returned to normal, and his complexion had once again turned rosy.
Shui Yue, who had been observing silently, was secretly amazed: “How can he have so many secrets? He clearly expended a great deal of vital energy, yet he recovered so quickly. Even taking immortal pills couldn’t achieve such speed!”
Shui Yue was truly curious about this eldest disciple of the Tianxuan Sect.
Su Che opened his eyes and his first words were, “Is being a solitary cultivator interesting?”
“What do you mean?”
Shui Yue was puzzled. He couldn’t figure out why he would ask such a question.
“It seems you know a lot about my sect. After all, your talent is quite good, and you’re already at the Golden Pill stage—fully qualified to join the Tianxuan Sect. So why remain a weak solitary cultivator?”
Su Che smiled and explained, “It was just a casual question. No need to overthink it.”
“A solitary cultivator also has its advantages. At least they’re more free,” Shui Yue replied softly, though his words sounded somewhat insincere.
As cultivators, their understanding of ‘freedom’ is surely very different from that of ordinary people. Ordinary people have short lives and weak strength, yet they bear immense pressures of survival. Trapped under numerous constraints, their minds yearn for the kind of freedom that allows birds to fly high in the sky.

Cultivators are not bound by such constraints and thus pay little attention to so-called freedom. As long as they can continuously improve their cultivation and reach higher and higher levels of power, losing a bit of freedom doesn’t matter much.

Su Che took out several bags of spirit stones, containing 200,000 spirit stones in total, and handed them all to Shui Yue. Since a reward of 200,000 spirit stones had been agreed upon in advance, and according to Su Che’s principles, he certainly wouldn’t go back on his word.

Although Shui Yue didn’t seem to have done much—only managing to stop Cui Lingzi, who was at the early Golden Core stage—her help was extremely valuable to Su Che. In the situation just now, if there had been another Cui Lingzi, it might have been the final straw that forced Su Che to lose that pill furnace. Compared to a top-grade spiritual treasure like a pill furnace, 200,000 spirit stones were nothing. Even 20 million spirit stones wouldn’t be enough to buy such a treasure.

Shui Yue didn’t show any modesty. After taking the spirit stones, she congratulated Su Che once again. She wasn’t stupid either—she clearly knew that pill furnace must be extraordinary, likely a primordial rare treasure of the spiritual treasure level. It was completely justified for her to earn 200,000 spirit stones; in fact, under those circumstances, demanding 500,000 spirit stones wouldn’t have been excessive either…

After that, Su Che took out another 10,000+ spirit stones and gave them to the two inner sect disciples of Tianxuan Sect who were at the Foundation Establishment stage, instructing them to distribute 100 spirit stones each among all the junior disciples present, ensuring everyone got their share.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Tianyu!”

The over a hundred disciples of Tianxuan Sect who received the spirit stones lined up in front of Su Che, bowed, and thanked him in unison. Su Che nodded with a smile and said loudly, “Thank you all for your dedicated efforts in protecting us just now. Everything is now under control. Go and continue your training, being careful!”

“Yes, Senior Brother!”

The disciples bowed and dispersed. Many of the outer sect disciples left with smiles on their faces, forming groups to praise Senior Brother’s generosity…

100 spirit stones was equivalent to ten months’ worth of salary for an outer sect disciple, making it a significant reward for them.

He who has the right has many allies; he who lacks the right has few. For Su Che, having acquired a spiritual treasure pill furnace, it would be unreasonable not to show gratitude to these disciples who truly supported him. Otherwise, not only would it be unfair, but his reputation would also suffer.

As their master had said, heaven watches what people do. If you are stingy with others, heaven will also be stingy with you…

After saying goodbye to Su Che, Shui Yue did not return to her own paradise but flew in the direction of Tianxuan Sect. She wanted to go there to find someone and inquire about Master Tianyu, trying to learn as much as possible about this person before making a decision.
“For now, it seems he is someone who keeps his promises and is generous. If that’s the case, partnering with him for that task might give us a chance of success…”
Shui Yue thought silently as she flew.