Chapter 33: The Name of the Immortal Prison

Su Che believed that the precious spiritual herbs in the secret cave dwelling could make Han Youming’s father stand out among the inner disciples, even giving him a chance to compete for the status of a true disciple. Undoubtedly, those herbs would have the same effect on him as well. He only wondered how much of the herbs Han Youming’s father had used and how much was left.

There was no need to ask Han Youming—Lao He already knew the answer. “Master, judging from his father’s last words, more than half of the spiritual herbs in the secret cave dwelling remain. The exact amount is unknown.”

“More than half left—is that not quite good?” Su Che was overjoyed. He estimated in his mind, “My cultivation talent isn’t particularly outstanding, but it’s not terrible either. With those herbs, I should be able to stand out among the inner disciples. As for becoming a true disciple, I can’t even think about it for now!”

The entire Tianxuan Sect had only a hundred true disciples, and this number could never increase. Only when individual true disciples died for some reason or were eliminated due to poor performance would one or two extremely precious spots become available.

It was said that in the past decade, there had only been two such vacancies. The top fifty outstanding inner disciples were all fiercely competing for these two spots, including Senior Yu Qing, who had helped Su Che greatly.

“Five years from now, a competition among inner disciples will be held. Only the top two in overall performance will be able to compete for the two spots as true disciples…” Su Che sighed inwardly. “As it stands, I’m still at the lowest level of Qi Cultivation. I definitely won’t be able to participate in this competition!”

“Not necessarily, master,” Lao He said loudly to encourage him. “With Lao He helping you, anything is possible!”

“Alright,” Su Che laughed, but took it as a joke and didn’t take it seriously.

For a newcomer who had just entered as an outer disciple to compete for a true disciple spot in five years was nothing but delusion!

First, he had to stand out among two hundred thousand outer disciples to become one of the inner disciples. Next, he needed to rapidly improve his strength and become one of the best among them, at least making it into the top fifty of the inner disciple rankings to have any chance…

How could he accomplish all this in five years?!

Su Che wasn’t short-sighted or lacking in ambition, but he certainly wouldn’t indulge in such unrealistic delusions.

Lao He could sense Su Che’s thoughts. Not knowing where he got his confidence, he still clamored, “Master, don’t underestimate me, nor yourself. With the Black Tower Prison in our hands, who knows if we can truly create a miracle in five years?”
“The Black Tower Prison, creating a miracle…” Su Che murmured. “Is this Black Tower talisman really just a prison?”
“Who knows? Anyway, this pagoda is by no means ordinary!” Lao He slapped his forehead. “That’s right, master—shouldn’t we give this pagoda a name? If we keep calling it ‘Black Tower’ over and over, won’t it get upset?”
Su Che wasn’t sure if it would get upset, but there was no doubt that treasures had spirits! He clearly remembered that even before Lao He was born, the Black Tower could communicate with him through subtle means.
“We indeed should give it a name.”
Currently, its lowest level served as a prison capable of locking away cultivators… So, let’s call it ‘Immortal Prison’.
“Immortal Prison! Lao He, what do you think of the name Immortal Prison?”
“It’s great, master! The name Immortal Prison sounds magnificent and suits it well.” Lao He nodded in satisfaction. It was just unclear whether his low-level spirit could represent the Black Tower’s will.
As they spoke, Su Che’s mental vision revealed that the two doors at the bottom of the Black Tower were glowing. On the originally empty door panels, two dark gold characters appeared.
Immortal Prison!
One door had the character “Immortal” added to it, and the other had “Prison.” The black door panels and dark gold characters exuded a solemn and imposing aura, filled with murderous intent! This meant the Black Tower talisman had also accepted Su Che’s name. From now on, it would be called “Immortal Prison.”
“Immortal Prison!” Su Che’s spirit soared, his emotions surging. Unreasonably, his ambition flared. He shouted inwardly, “Great! With Immortal Prison in our hands, we must achieve the impossible. I’ll give it my all—participate in the inner sect competition in five years, outshine all rivals, and attain the true inheritance, so as to live up to the name ‘Immortal Prison’!”
“That’s right, master! That’s exactly what we should do!”
Lao He roared triumphantly, scaring Han Youming, who was crouched on the ground, into trembling. He wondered, “Such a terrifying demon still has a master. Who is his master?”
Bang!
To his surprise, nothing in Han Youming’s thoughts could escape Lao He’s notice. Lao He kicked him ten feet away, causing him to let out another pitiful wail.

“Lord of the Immortal Prison, what kind of status is that? How could a mere prisoner like you guess it?” Lao He glared with his blood-red eyes and bared his fangs, as if determined to devour Han Youming alive before stopping.

“I dare not, I dare not! I wouldn’t dare,” Han Youming kowtowed repeatedly, wailing inwardly, “The thoughts in my head just arise on their own. Often, I have no control over them!”

“Lao He, stop torturing him,” Su Che said, feeling pity, to Lao He. “The secret herb garden he revealed is already a great achievement. If that natural cave herb garden truly exists and its spiritual herbs can help me, then we can reward him in the future.”

“That’s true,” Lao He scratched his head thoughtfully. “When there are too many prisoners, a reward and punishment system must be established.”

“Hmm, you handle these matters as you see fit.”

Su Che believed that although the first level of the Immortal Prison was a prison, it should still be a place governed by rules and logic. Those who merited rewards should be rewarded, and those who made mistakes should be punished. Only then could the prisoners have rules to follow and a future to look forward to, allowing their true value to be recognized. After all, the prisoners of the Immortal Prison were also an important asset he possessed, which needed to be utilized wisely.

Later, through Lao He, Su Che learned that the Han brothers had always kept the secret of the hidden herb garden to themselves, never revealing it to anyone else. It was because their cultivation talents were rather average, and despite years of effort, they hadn’t succeeded in using risky methods to infiltrate the hidden cave and steal those spiritual herbs…

Their approach was not only risky but also short-sighted—stealing the herbs meant fleeing immediately, even risking capture and pursuit by the Tianxuan Sect. As a formal disciple of the Tianxuan Sect, Su Che certainly wouldn’t resort to such a crude strategy. Moreover, collecting all those precious herbs at once meant they couldn’t be turned into pills in a short time. No matter how well they were stored, the herbs’ medicinal properties would gradually fade, which was undoubtedly a waste.

Su Che believed in taking a steady approach—finding a way to obtain a position to oversee the herb garden, just like the Han brothers’ father, who had an advantage due to his proximity. By entering the hidden cave regularly according to his needs at different stages, he could collect the herbs without wasting them…

“I need to find out what conditions are required to get a position managing the forbidden herb garden,” Su Che pondered. “It’s not convenient to ask Lei Xiao about this now. I’ll have to be patient and talk to him in a few days.”

In the following two days, Su Che helped the Lei siblings gather enough ‘Earth-Stealing Poison Vines’ and ‘Wind Spirit Grass’. Of course, he also collected a dozen or so ordinary spirit herbs of little value, which earned him a few hundred points in sect contribution points. Until Su Che and his two companions left the Yinwind Gorge and returned to Xuanji City outside the Tianxuan Sect’s gates, they never encountered the man with the birthmark, Han Zuo Jing, or others. They also had no idea what Han Zuo Jing was thinking about being unable to get in touch with his brother. Su Che guessed that, in the short term, Han Zuo Jing would still linger in the Yinwind Gorge and Xuanji City, unwilling to leave. One reason was that his biological brother was missing, and the other was that he would never easily give up on the secrets of the hidden herb garden. “I must raise my cultivation level to the third layer of Qi Training within half a year, and then find a way to capture Han Zuo Jing and bring him to the Immortal Prison, so as to keep the secrets of the hidden herb garden from leaking out!” This small goal Su Che set for himself was aimed at capturing Han Zuo Jing, as he always adhered to one principle: Only a secret known only to oneself can truly be considered a secret!