Chapter 320: Interrogating Taiwu

The internal space of Jufu was square, with a length and width of about 500 li each. For a top-tier Dao artifact, such a size was not particularly large, but as the entrance to a sect, it was more than sufficient to accommodate hundreds of thousands of disciples. Su Che had witnessed Jufu’s terrifying speed in absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, so it could easily support hundreds of thousands of disciples practicing within it. With such a personal space, he could now better conceal the existence of the Immortal Prison Pagoda. Even if he had to capture thousands or tens of thousands of beings in front of others, he wouldn’t need to worry anymore.

Another advantage of Jufu’s internal space was that Su Che himself could enter it, which made it more convenient than the current state of the Immortal Prison Pagoda. After claiming Jufu as his own, Su Che naturally wanted to know what treasures or riches were hidden within the palace. The answer he received was this: When the super sect of Jufu was on the verge of collapse, its desperate master distributed all the treasures in the sect to the elders and disciples, so that they wouldn’t flee empty-handed and in dire straits.

More importantly, the master of Jufu wasn’t sure if he could escape the combined pursuit of over a hundred Yuan Ying ancestors. If he failed, all the treasures in Jufu would fall into the hands of the enemies. It was better to give them to his own people instead. Moreover, by then, the master of Jufu had given up hope—he was willing to abandon Jufu itself, let alone care about other so-called treasures, regarding them as worthless. As a result, only a large number of spirit stones used to maintain defensive barriers remained in Jufu; nothing else was left—truly “empty.”

Su Che wasn’t disappointed by this answer. Having obtained Jufu, this ultimate defensive treasure, he should be content. Excessive greed would only make him despise himself…

After claiming Jufu as his own, Su Che’s next concern was the matter of Master Huaguang. Through mental communication, he spoke to the spirit of Jufu and Master Huaguang, saying, “Elder Huaguang, I once said something to you before. Perhaps you didn’t take it seriously or pay attention. I said there is a place where, through another method, your lifespan can be extended—living another few hundred years wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Really?” The spirit of Jufu was first surprised and quickly asked, “Master Tianyu, if that’s truly possible, it would be wonderful.”

Hua Guang Zhenren, who had long viewed life and death indifferently, appeared quite calm as he replied in a low voice, “My wish is fulfilled; I have no regrets even in death. As for the rest, you decide what to do.”
Su Che added, “But once you go there, it’s possible you won’t be able to return to the cultivation world for decades. This must be made clear in advance.”
“Why?” asked the Spirit of the Wealthy. “Is that place very far away?”
“Not far, but it’s quite special. Once you enter, it will be very difficult to get out,” Su Che replied vaguely.
Regarding the secrets of the Immortal Prison, Su Che didn’t want the Spirit of the Wealthy to know too much. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust it, but out of caution—now wasn’t the right time.
To give the most pessimistic example: if the Spirit of the Wealthy learned about the secrets of the Immortal Prison now, and one day Su Che failed to protect it and it was taken away by someone else, who then forced it to pledge loyalty anew, the Spirit of the Wealthy might reveal its secrets to its new master.
As a vessel spirit, its way of showing loyalty was unique—its loyalty to the new master was the highest. These were objective laws that couldn’t be judged as right or wrong.
Only when Su Che had enough confidence in his own strength to fully protect the Spirit of the Wealthy, ensuring nothing could go wrong, would it be appropriate to reveal the secrets of the Immortal Prison Pagoda to it.
After hearing Su Che’s explanation, the Spirit of the Wealthy replied, “Not being able to leave for decades isn’t a big deal. As long as I can stay alive, that’s fine.”
Hua Guang Zhenren was the sole descendant of the Wealthy Palace’s master, so the Spirit of the Wealthy cared deeply about his life and death.
“It doesn’t matter,” Hua Guang Zhenren nodded gently and said with a smile, “I’ve said before—I’m not afraid of death, let alone continuing to live.”
The matter was settled like this. However, Su Che wasn’t in a hurry to send Hua Guang into the Immortal Prison, as he still had over a decade left to live.
Meanwhile, inside the Immortal Prison, Lao He had already controlled Tai Wu’s injuries. His Yuan Ying and Yuan Shen powers were also sealed under several barriers to prevent him from acting recklessly due to excitement upon entering the prison.
Tai Wu had regained consciousness and had been fed healing pills by Lao He. He lay there like a corpse.
Lao He removed a storage ring from his hand and quickly emptied all of his possessions.
The personal wealth of a Yuan Ying ancestor must be enormous—there were over 1,300 high-quality spirit stones alone, further expanding Su Che’s wealth.

There were also hundreds of pills of the ninth rank and above, and tens of millions of lower-grade spirit stones, piling up to form a small mountain. Most astonishingly, he possessed a vast number of magical artifacts—over a hundred precious artifacts and more than two thousand spiritual artifacts, making him like a warehouse of magical treasures. The reason was simple: Tai Wu, who was in the early Yuan Ying stage, was a master alchemist. He could easily craft all magical artifacts below the level of spiritual treasures. In fact, in the cultivation world of Qi Yuan Star, Tai Wu was considered the highest-ranked master alchemist. Only cultivators at the Hua Shen stage who could craft spiritual treasures could be called master alchemists. Unfortunately, the current cultivation world simply couldn’t obtain the rare materials needed to craft such treasures. Thus, all the spiritual treasures in use today were ancient treasures passed down from ancient times, especially the Dao artifacts. Tai Wu originally had two spiritual treasures: one was a medium-grade spiritual treasure, the Tian Jing Magic Shield, which had been completely shattered by Su Che using the power of Heavenly Might in the Wind and Thunder Desolate Land. The other was his main weapon, the Tai Wu Divine Blade—a top-grade spiritual treasure that remained intact. Su Che would surely confiscate it. The Tai Wu Divine Blade was still hidden inside Tai Wu’s body. If Lao Hei didn’t want to kill Tai Wu, he would have to hand it over voluntarily to obtain this supreme artifact. “Once you’re here, you’ll never be able to leave,” Lao Hei threatened, stepping on Tai Wu’s charred and withered thigh. “Be honest and hand over the Tai Wu Divine Blade, and you might live a little more comfortably.” “Scaring me?” Severely injured, Tai Wu could barely speak. “Tian Yu wouldn’t dare kill me. Sooner or later, he’ll release me unharmed. Otherwise, it will bring catastrophic disaster to the Tian Xuan Sect.” “What disaster?” Lao Hei sneered. “The Tian Xuan Sect and the Tai Yi Gate have long been enemies. War is inevitable anyway. Your life isn’t worth anything to them.” “That’s not what I mean.” After all, Tai Wu was an experienced Yuan Ying cultivator who paid no attention to Lao Hei’s terrifying appearance. He replied in a low voice, “All actions taken by the Tai Yi Gate are carried out under the orders and instructions of the emissaries from the higher realms. The Tian Xuan Sect may oppose us, but they can’t truly kill us Yuan Ying cultivators. Otherwise, they’d be completely at odds with the emissaries from the higher realms… The complexities involved are beyond your understanding as younger generations.” “Very well, then I’ll ask you…” Following his words, Lao Hei asked, “What is the real purpose of those so-called emissaries from the higher realms in causing chaos in this cultivation world?” “That’s not something you should know.” Tai Wu’s reply was firm. Yet, through mind-reading, Lao Hei still managed to discern his thoughts.

“To find that black pagoda-shaped magical artifact! The cultivation realm of Qiyuan Star must be thrown into utter chaos so that the messengers from the Spirit Realm will have the authority and reason to open a passage to the lower realm, descending to search for that black pagoda in person…”
Indeed, that’s the case!
At this point, Su Che and Lao He officially confirmed that the ultimate goal of chaos in the cultivation realm was to facilitate those from the Spirit Realm to descend and search for the Immortal Prison Pagoda.
After that, Lao He asked more questions about the “black pagoda,” but Tai Wu only knew the general outline; the messengers from the Spirit Realm didn’t go into detail.
The powerful figures in the Spirit Realm had made promises to sects like Taiyi Gate: once they descended, they would grant these sects abundant cultivation resources, even guaranteeing that meritorious members could advance from the Yuan Ying stage to the Hua Shen stage, or from the Jin Dan stage to the Yuan Ying stage.
Moreover, in the future, when Tai Wu and the others ascended to the Spirit Realm, they would be given a promising future…
Faced with such temptations, the elders of sects like Taiyi Gate could hardly refuse, especially the promise of advancing from Yuan Ying to Hua Shen and then ascending to the Spirit Realm—this was an unimaginable gift and reward.
After all, among a hundred people at the Yuan Ying stage, it might not even be possible to produce one who reaches the Hua Shen stage. With the scarcity of resources in the cultivation realm today, the rare treasures that could help late-stage Yuan Ying cultivators advance to Hua Shen stage had long since disappeared.
Achieving a success rate of 30% in advancing to the Hua Shen stage was already extremely difficult.
And worst of all, each person only had one chance to attempt this transition; failure meant certain death, with no exceptions.
Therefore, most late-stage Yuan Ying cultivators would only dare to attempt the transition when their natural lifespan was nearing its end. Success was good, but failure meant death, with no significant loss or regret.
After fully understanding the situation, Su Che became calm, no longer needing to guess randomly. If that was the case, they would just deal with things as they came—see what happened.
Sensing his master’s intent, Lao He extended his sharp claws and gently pierced Tai Wu’s abdomen, saying harshly, “You have two choices: either hand over Tai Wu’s Divine Blade voluntarily, or I’ll kill you and pull it out along with your Yuan Ying.”
“Dare you kill me?” Tai Wu was still skeptical.
“I’m not from the Tianxuan Sect—why wouldn’t I dare?”
Lao He smirked darkly, and with a thrust, his claws penetrated more than two inches into his abdomen.
“Ah!”

Tai Wu let out a scream of agony. Inside the Immortal Prison, the pain was amplified a hundredfold, making it even unbearable for an ancient being like him.
“Wait! Hold on, just a moment…”
Tai Wu urgently begged for mercy, realizing that this ferocious monster, like a demon king, didn’t seem to be bluffing—it might actually do as it said and extract his Yuan Ying.
To this day, Tai Wu still wasn’t fully aware of his true situation, let alone what kind of special space Tian Yu had trapped him in…