Chapter 254: One Man to Hold the Pass

Inside the grand hall, Shui Yue had yet to find the right way to receive the sect’s inheritance. It wasn’t because she was too stupid or panicked—she simply couldn’t find anything of special significance in the vast hall. She kept the key in her hand and tried various methods to activate it, but to no avail. Even as she spread her consciousness, she found no grooves where the key could be inserted.

Su Che stood in front of the hall’s door, sensing that many figures were approaching. He was quite anxious, but he didn’t rush Shui Yue, as there was nothing wrong with her approach. If it were him, he would also have to search slowly.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…

Several figures arrived almost simultaneously at the open space in front of the sect leader’s hall. Among them were Yan Ming, Mu Yu, several treasure hunters from Floating Abyss Island at the early Golden Core stage, and two newcomers at the middle stage of Golden Core. In total, there were twelve people—three at the late Golden Core stage, two at the middle stage, and seven at the early stage… Perhaps more people were on their way.

Faced with such a strong lineup, Su Che’s pressure was imaginable.

Outside the hall, Yan Ming received a secret message from Cang Jiuzi, learning that Su Che was the real mastermind behind everything. The Snake Woman and the Ghost Emperor seemed to be mere followers. He then bowed and said, “Esteemed fellow cultivator, thank you for opening this ancient site, allowing us to finally witness the treasure’s emergence as we wished.”

“You’re welcome,” Su Che replied in a gentle tone. If they were polite, he couldn’t be rude in return.

“I want to know if our companions from Floating Abyss Island are in your hands,” Yan Ming asked further.

“That’s correct,” Su Che nodded. “I just arrived at the Sky Abyss Sea when I was chased by your group. Your presence poses a huge obstacle to me… That’s why.”

“Are they still alive?” Mu Yu suddenly asked. She was only really concerned about Hua Yu; the others didn’t matter to her at all.

“They’re all alive, except for this Yang Sen,” Su Che said, glancing at the headless corpse on the ground. His tone turned colder. “From this moment on, if anyone tries to break into this hall, I won’t hold back—life or death doesn’t matter.”

Yan Ming and the others didn’t know what Su Che was protecting inside the hall, as their consciousnesses were blocked by the barrier and they couldn’t see Shui Yue inside. Moreover, since both Shui Yue and the Snake Woman wore very similar white long dresses, they mistook the Snake Woman, Night Blue, for Shui Yue, thinking she was the woman who entered the ancient site with Su Che first.

For this very reason, Yan Ming and the others were so patient in talking to Su Che, not rushing to take action.
Shui Yue inside the hall was also well aware of the immense pressure Su Che was under and couldn’t help but convey her guilt through telepathy: “Senior brother, I’m sorry. It’s been so long, yet I still haven’t discovered anything.”
“No need to rush. Take your time.”
Su Che knew he couldn’t blame her, as even Lao He’s detection abilities had yielded nothing. So he comforted her, “Don’t worry. With me guarding here, no one will be able to enter the hall.”
Su Che’s strong confidence calmed Shui Yue down, allowing her to focus on examining every detail of the hall…
In truth, Su Che’s confidence wasn’t as strong as it seemed on the surface. He had no certainty about whether he could hold off intruders and could only do his best.
At that moment, Yan Ming asked again, “Fellow cultivator, what’s your intention by guarding this place?”
But Su Che answered off-topic: “The secret ruins of Tianya Hai Ge cover such a vast area with so many buildings. Why do you insist on causing me trouble? Why must you fight over this hall? It would be better to use that time searching for the Transmission Pavilion or the sect’s treasure vault.”
“How ridiculous!”
Cang Jiu Zi sneered, “Do you think we’re fools? This is the sect leader’s hall, the most important place in the sect. Your insistence on guarding it only proves that the real treasures are inside!”
Cang Jiu Zi believed that since Su Che had the ability to open the ruins, it meant he knew more about Tianya Hai Ge than they did. Seizing the treasures from him was the wisest move.
So he said to Yan Ming and the others, “Stop wasting words with him. Let’s attack together, take him down, and interrogate him thoroughly. All the answers will surely be revealed.”
Yan Ming and the others nodded…
“Is it time to act?”
Su Che smiled faintly, sticking to the principle of striking first. With a twist of his wrist, a bronze treasure gourd appeared in his left hand.
Whoosh…
Flames erupted everywhere.
“Golden Crow Heavenly Fire!”
Yan Ming and the others, being experienced treasure hunters, immediately recognized it as level-seven Golden Crow Heavenly Fire—extremely powerful and deadly.
The fierce flames descended upon them, forcing Yan Ming and the others to retreat outside the range of the flames.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
The pale golden flames leaped and danced within twenty zhang of the hall’s entrance, as if determined to burn everything in the world to ashes.
Just how powerful was level-seven Heavenly Fire?

Even though Su Che specialized in fire elements, he wouldn’t dare enter this sea of flames with his physical body, unless he activated the defensive power of the Star Emperor Compass, which would allow him to endure inside the heavenly flames for a while. Inside the Bronze Treasure Gourd, although there were more powerful eighth-level Yin-Yang flames, ninth-level Yang flames, and tenth-level Yin flames, they were all just small clusters of fire seeds and had not yet developed into large flames that could be used to counter the enemy. For now, only the Golden Crow Heavenly Flame had the largest reserve inside the gourd. However, relying solely on the Golden Crow Heavenly Flame to stop Yan Ming and the others was certainly unrealistic; it could only serve to disrupt them to some extent. Swish! Swish! Swish… Yan Ming and the others quickly deployed various defensive tactics, aiming to charge straight into the flames and capture Su Che as soon as possible. “Charge!” With a sharp shout, the twelve of them rushed into the flames of the heavenly fire, unleashing a barrage of attack spells and divine powers at Su Che. Great Fire Control Art! Suddenly, Su Che activated the Great Fire Control Art, doubling the power of the Golden Crow Heavenly Flame, making the fire even more intense and its color much darker… “Ah!” Someone immediately screamed as they were scorched by the suddenly doubled-power flames. Two explorers in the early Jin Dan stage who specialized in wood elements retreated hastily, fleeing from the flames. Wood elements had the weakest resistance to fire, and their vital energy was almost completely ignited. The others were also shocked by this sudden change; they quickly strengthened their defenses, knowing their own attack spells would be affected. Destruction! Su Che threw a punch, its powerful destructive force nullifying all the spells that rushed toward him. Then, boom! Another punch of destruction. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom… One punch after another, the punches of destruction erupted at an incredible frequency. By now, the top-grade spiritual treasure, the Sumeru Divine Seal, had stored an immense amount of vital energy, allowing Su Che to unleash such attacks over a thousand times in a row. This was the source of Su Che’s confidence—so long as his vital energy lasted, the destruction would continue. As long as the destruction continued, they would never be able to get through. With the eighth-level heavenly flames burning and the fierce punches of destruction, the ten people charging forward could only temporarily avoid them, retreating to the sides and behind. Two explorers in the early Jin Dan stage were hit by the destructive force, their protective layers shattered, and then burned by the eighth-level heavenly flames—what a torment… In panic, they tried to exit the flames to take cover, but Su Che, who was quick-witted, noticed them immediately. Soul Capture! Swish! Swish! Two blue beams of light shot out.

The two unprepared early-stage Golden Core cultivators immediately experienced turmoil in their spiritual cores and collapsed into the flames. Losing their consciousness, they had no way of diverting their vital energy to maintain their defenses. With crackling sounds, their last layer of defense was pierced by the heavenly fire. As the fire touched their bodies, intense pain set in, and they quickly regained consciousness—only to realize it was already too late. The power of level eight heavenly fire could instantly melt even lower-grade spiritual artifacts. Without any defenses, their flesh and blood surely couldn’t compare to the durability of such artifacts, so… Ah, ah—two brief, agonized screams, and in an instant, they turned to ashes. Though their death wasn’t painful, the most tragic part was that their spiritual cores didn’t even have time to escape before being reduced to nothingness by the fierce flames. This was utter destruction, the most terrifying form of death, with even the chance of reincarnation burned to ashes. Boom, boom, boom… Su Che launched over thirty Destruction Fists and used two Soul Seizures, successfully driving back Yan Ming and the others, even killing two of his rivals. However, releasing Destruction Fists at such a frequency caused severe damage to himself as well. Imagine—each punch consumed two-thirds of his internal energy, causing his body to instantly shrink before being filled again by the energy stored in the Xumi Divine Seal. Within just a few breaths, his body would go from shriveled to full before shrinking again… Such extreme fluctuations repeated over thirty times would surely kill an ordinary person many times over; even for a Golden Core cultivator, the damage would be severe. In the Immortal Prison, Lao He also wasn’t idle. He poured a great deal of life force into Su Che’s body to repair his severely injured internals. So, what kind of feeling was this kind of trauma for Su Che? If someone had their skin peeled off, exposing their bloody muscle tissue, and then saltwater was poured on them for disinfection—what would that feel like? Su Che’s injuries were not on the surface but deep within his body. Moreover, it wasn’t just one specific part or organ that was damaged, but rather widespread internal damage. The pain was indescribable—far worse than being torn apart or pierced by hundreds of thousands of steel needles. At this moment, Su Che stood at the entrance of the hall, holding his ground. On the surface, he appeared as calm as a mountain, but in reality, the more composed he seemed, the more intense the pain became. It would have been better to go mad and continuously unleash Destruction Fists, using the unbearable pain to drive himself into a frenzied state, thereby ignoring the pain altogether.

This brief peace now has become a prolonged torment…