Chapter 276: Changes in Life

With this, there were now two Holy Demon Battle Puppets—one controlled by Lao He, capable of delivering its fullest combat power; the other could be handed over to any ghost in the Ghost Realm to control. Though it wouldn’t be as agile as Lao He, it could still handle tasks requiring maximum attack or defense.
“By then, along with sixteen Ghost Kings in the late Golden Core stage, as well as the Snake Woman, Ghost Emperor, and Fire Crow, the scale of the Immortal Prison Team will be truly enormous.”
Su Che eagerly anticipated it in secret. “Oh, and there’s also the little dragon after swallowing the Dragon Pearl. Once it wakes up, it will surely rise to the third-level demon beast…”
The little dragon was still asleep, but judging from changes in its aura, it should wake up in three to five months.
In the Immortal Prison, there was another sleeping demon beast—the Barren God Rat, which had received the mysterious blood inheritance alongside Su Che in the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land of the Barren God Valley.
This large rat had been asleep for over two years with no signs of waking. Su Che knew this was because the energy of that drop of mysterious blood was extremely powerful; digesting and absorbing it might take ten or eight years, or even longer.
Not to mention that rat—even Su Che himself had only received one-tenth of the mysterious blood inheritance so far. This showed just how formidable that ancient demon god had been…
The next day, the internal sect competition continued, with the top ten contenders to be determined on the central arena.
The matches would surely become increasingly exciting, but for Su Che, battles at this level were merely entertainment with little appeal.
The Tianxuan Sect’s protective formation reverted to its first state, or semi-activated mode. This meant the eleven Yuan Ying cultivators who had been transported away yesterday now had another chance to infiltrate the sect. However, Su Che and the five elders agreed they wouldn’t dare to come again.
Yuan Ying cultivators were extremely cautious after experiencing the power of the Tianxuan Formation—how could they risk it again?
Indeed, no more infiltrators appeared throughout the day. That day, the top ten internal sect disciples were successfully determined, including Mu Yun from Tianji Peak, Hua Lu from Tianlu Peak, and Zhen Lan from Tianwu Peak—people Su Che was quite familiar with.
Four years ago, on the internal sect disciples’ ranking list, Yu Qing was fifth, Hua Lu sixth, Zhen Lan seventh, and Mu Yun eighth…
Back then, when Su Che met them in the Demon Sealing Realm, he was just a minor cultivator at the second level of Qi Cultivation. He had to respectfully address them as senior brothers and sisters.

To this day, on the arena of the Competitive Peak Center, Hua Lu, Zhen Lan, and Mu Yun have, after numerous battles, unsurprisingly maintained their positions in the top ten. Yet, they must receive the awards personally from “Senior Brother Tianyu.”
The once insignificant figure has now become the senior brother… Such is the way of the world—things are unpredictable!
The rewards for the top ten are all the same: each person receives a top-grade spiritual artifact, one hundred mid-grade spiritual stones, twenty thousand sect contribution points, and the opportunity to publicly challenge the true disciples.
Of course, the real rewards are the two spots for true disciples that will be determined over the next two days.
On the arena, Su Che handed out the prizes one by one to his junior brothers and sisters. When it came to Mu Yun, who ranked third, Su Che said gently, “Congratulations, Sister Mu Yun. You’ve made great progress.”
Four years ago, she had ranked eighth on the inner sect rankings, but that was just a comprehensive assessment. Only by passing today’s arena battles could she prove her true strength.
“Thank you, Senior Brother Tianyu.”
Receiving the prize from Su Che, Mu Yun must have felt deeply moved. That weak young boy from the Sealing Demon Realm was now the top true disciple admired by hundreds of thousands of disciples, and it was said that he was even the designated next sect leader…
At this moment, Mu Yun felt as if she were in a dream. It seemed that the person she had met in the Sealing Demon Realm wasn’t him at all… Back then, because of the few high-grade spiritual talismans he had contributed, she had even promised to remember this favor. But in the blink of an eye, he had reached such a lofty position that it was unattainable.
There would never be a chance to repay that favor…
When it was Hua Lu’s turn, ranked fifth, Su Che also handed him the prize and congratulated him, but then said through telepathy, “Junior Brother Hua Lu, I hope from now on you’ll show more wisdom and less petty scheming. Within our sect, a person’s character is also very important.”
“Yes, Senior Brother Tianyu,” Hua Lu replied with utmost respect, “I will surely keep this in mind!”
Before this, although there had been no direct conflicts between Hua Lu and Su Che, Hua Lu had repeatedly appeared before Su Che at inappropriate times and places.
Hua Lu himself understood that Senior Brother Tianyu had every reason to resent him and the ability to make his life miserable—something he could easily do given his current status. Yet, the senior brother showed great tolerance and never troubled him in any way. Today’s advice further proved that he disdained to target someone as insignificant as him.

At this moment, Hua Lu also realized something: “In the future, the entire sect will belong to him. If I still want to make a name for myself in Tianxuan Sect, I really need to completely change my character…”
Eighth place went to Zhen Lan from Tiannwu Peak.
When Su Che stood in front of Zhen Lan holding the prize, this former female disciple from Tiannwu Peak who had once made things difficult for him felt uneasy—she wondered if Senior Brother Tianyu would embarrass her in public.
“Congratulations, Sister Zhen Lan. I hope you’ll keep up the good work,” Su Che said, offering just a routine remark; he really had nothing more to say to her.
As the top direct disciple of Tianxuan Sect and its future leader, Su Che didn’t want to dwell on past matters with anyone. Unless someone committed an unforgivable mistake—like Chen, the manager of Xuanji Peak’s medicinal herb garden, who had tried to assassinate him several times—such a person must be punished. Even just for plotting against his peers, he deserved punishment, though Su Che hadn’t yet found the time to deal with him.
At least the top ten inner sect disciples had reached the early stage of the Foundation Establishment phase; among the hundred direct disciples, more than a dozen were still in that same stage.
Over the next two days, the strongest among the inner sect disciples would compete fairly against the weakest among the direct disciples in ten matches.
Of course, this was all about the sect, and personally, Su Che wasn’t directly involved.
The only small regret Su Che had about this inner sect competition was that Linglong remained so unmotivated, still at the peak of the Qi Cultivation stage. With his strong support, she could have easily reached Foundation Establishment and even strengthened her skills enough to secure a spot as a direct disciple. But Linglong deliberately waited until after the competition to start Foundation Establishment, unwilling to join the ranks of direct disciples and become one of the lowest-ranked, facing constant pressure from competition and elimination.
In her words, “My personality simply isn’t suited to being a direct disciple. It’s fine to just reach Foundation Establishment and then Core Formation quietly, becoming a mediocre Golden Core elder and living leisurely in the sect for hundreds of years until death. Isn’t that a good life?”
Everyone has their own aspirations—there’s no need to force them. Su Che understood this and would only take good care of her without pressuring her in any way.
…
Two days passed in a flash. In the end, Hong Li from Xuan Yuan Peak, who ranked first among the inner sect disciples, and Mu Yun from Tianji Peak, who ranked third, were fortunate enough to secure those two spots as direct disciples.

Xuan Yuan Feng Hong Li’s victory was entirely expected. Having topped the Inner Sect rankings for a long time, he had already reached the mid-stage of the Foundation Establishment phase four years ago, so it was no surprise that he could defeat any disciple in the early stage of the same phase.

Mu Yun from Tian Ji Feng’s victory was somewhat unexpected. As Su Che said, she had indeed made great progress over these four years.

The Inner Sect competition came to a successful conclusion, though Yu Qing was not seen during this period. Su Che wasn’t disappointed by this, as Senior Brother Yu Qing was clearly like a dragon in the sky—such a “small pond” as the group of direct disciples simply couldn’t contain him. It was even possible that by the time he returned to the sect, he might already be one of the Supreme Elders…

“Senior Brother Yu Qing’s progress won’t be much slower than mine,” Su Che had always had this intuition.

Five days later, Ling Yao Shan and Wan Gui Zong sent their negotiators, demanding that Tian Xuan Zong release their Yuan Ying ancestors.

Tian Xuan Zong put forward some nominal demands, and after several rounds of negotiations—less than a month in total—they managed to send Ji E Lao Gui and Chen Xu Lao Zu out of the sect unharmed.

All the high-ranking figures in the cultivation world knew that the idea of the seven major sects jointly attacking Tian Xuan Zong was utterly impossible. The chaotic times in the cultivation world had just begun, and at present, there was no absolutely invincible force capable of destroying a super sect with a ten-thousand-year legacy in an instant.

Tian Xuan Zong was enjoying great fortune and was on the path to revival. Everyone wondered whether, in a few months, it would see the glorious scene of seven Yuan Ying ancestors gathered in one hall.

During this period, Su Che led a very regular life: after three days of intense cultivation, he would spend one day handling various affairs related to Xuan Ji Feng and Xuan Yu Feng.

Su Che found that dealing with sect affairs could refine his temperament and state of mind. A person’s state of mind was most directly related to their life experiences. The more experiences one had, the more mature their thoughts became, and the more insights they gained—thus, their state of mind naturally improved…

Gradually, Su Che became accustomed to, and even enjoyed, making decisions. Because before making each decision, he had to weigh pros and cons, distinguish right from wrong, and gain some life insights from each matter, which was no less valuable than the gains from fighting a battle.

In this way, seven months passed in the blink of an eye. One day, while sitting in the Xuan Ji Hall discussing affairs with two Golden Dan Elders, Su Che suddenly sensed something…

“Could it be…”

Su Che moved swiftly, rushing out of the grand hall and standing at the highest point of Mysterious Peak, gazing in the direction of Tianfeng, where the sect leader was located, over two thousand li away. It seemed as though all the spiritual energy of the Tianxuan Mountain Range was converging there. Such an extraordinary phenomenon would surely disrupt the normal cultivation of everyone in the sect, but it was worth it! For it meant that someone had successfully reached the stage of embryo formation and was now at the final stage of absorbing all spiritual energy from the world. “Who is it? The sect leader, or Grandmaster Qiuyue?” Su Che transformed into a beam of light and flew toward Tianfeng.