Chapter 377: Mutual Deception

When Su Che and Gachi exchanged communication spirit talismans, Yan Gu noticed that Gachi’s state was extremely abnormal, completely unlike his usual personality.
Lao He said, “No matter what kind of soul he is, as long as he’s still a Rat at the Yuan Ying stage, it makes no difference to me. We eat meat, not some soul or nonsense.”
Su Che exchanged a few casual words with Gachi. It was their first meeting, so there was no way they could discuss anything substantial. After that, Gachi turned and left.
That night, with a thorough plan in place, Su Che prepared to take action. Based on Gachi’s various characteristics, Lao He believed it wouldn’t be too difficult to find Gachi’s room inside the Jue Chen Valley’s entrance.
Less than fifteen minutes after leaving his room, something interesting happened.
Whoosh!
A communication spirit talisman suddenly flew over. Su Che caught it with his hand—it was the same talisman he had sent earlier. The message read: Gachi wanted to visit him!
Truly, when one intends to kill a tiger, the tiger too may wish to harm a person… Both sides were clearly scheming against each other.
“Good. Go back!”
Su Che immediately returned to his room, made all the necessary preparations, and sent a reply to Gachi: Welcome to visit.
Before long, someone knocked on the door. Using his spiritual sense, Su Che saw that there were two people outside—Gachi and a human cultivator in the early Yuan Ying stage.
As Su Che went to open the door, he thought to himself, “Two people is a bit tricky. It’s not hard to capture them, but doing it silently will be quite difficult.”
Yuan Ying cultivators were no easy opponents. By using his strongest control techniques, Su Che might be able to immobilize one of them, preventing them from fighting back and thus avoiding much noise. But with an extra person, even a single powerful spell could blow up the entire room, alerting everyone around.
“I’ll see first. If things go wrong, I’ll give up this chance and just visit Gachi’s room myself later.”
By the time he opened the door, Su Che had already made up his mind.
“Fellow Xuan Yu, I’m sorry for the intrusion…” Gachi’s smile seemed friendly, but in Su Che’s eyes, it was clearly malicious.
Su Che politely invited them in, and the three sat down.
“This is my friend as well, Fellow Lian Qiu,” Gachi introduced the human cultivator who came with him.
The middle-aged cultivator named Lian Qiu had a square face and a robust build, appearing very imposing.

The two formally exchanged greetings, exchanging pleasantries for a while before finally getting to the point.
“The reason I’ve come to visit Daoist Xuan Yu is that a tremendous opportunity lies right before us. However, since both of us are not strong enough, we plan to find an ally.”
Gachi spoke in a mysterious tone, whispering, “This ally should ideally be at the early Yuan Ying stage. Daoist Xuan Yu is the perfect candidate. I just wonder if you’re interested in this great opportunity.”
“Collaboration is quite common in the cultivation world, but I must weigh whether I can handle such an opportunity,” Su Che replied tactfully.
In other words, it was inevitable that Gachi would have to explain the details of the collaboration before Su Che could make a decision.
“What do we at the Yuan Ying stage care most about?” Gachi asked himself and answered, “Of course, it’s to advance to the Hua Shen stage someday. But few can make that leap. In the entire cultivation world of Mu Lan Star, it’s rare to see someone reach Hua Shen—less than one in ten thousand. How could it easily fall to us?”
“Oh?” Su Che pretended to show some interest and asked, “Could the opportunity Brother Gachi mentioned be related to advancing to the Hua Shen stage?”
“That’s right.”
Gachi nodded. “This is extremely important. I hope Daoist Xuan Yu can promise me that once you know about this, whether you agree to join us or not, you won’t reveal it to anyone else.”
“Of course,” Su Che nodded. “Since Brother Gachi values me so highly, how could I do such an unfilial thing?”
“Then good…”
Gachi first exchanged a glance with Lian Qiu, who nodded in agreement, before continuing to Su Che, “Why can Jue Chen Valley produce a Hua Shen practitioner every two or three generations and maintain its status as the top sect in Mu Lan Star for tens of thousands of years?”
Su Che nodded silently; he certainly knew—Gachi was referring to that extremely mysterious forbidden valley within Jue Chen Valley.
“That’s right! The secret lies in that valley!” Gachi lowered his voice and leaned forward, as if trying to get closer to reveal the greatest secret of Jue Chen Valley.
Sitting nearby, Lian Qiu moved his fingers slightly, seemingly ready to act…
Swish!
In that instant, another person suddenly appeared in the room. Gachi and Lian Qiu were shocked. They soon realized that a powerful late Yuan Ying practitioner had appeared out of nowhere—Yan Gu!

Su Che had anticipated that Gachi and the other would use some kind of dark magic against him, so he didn’t hesitate to take action first by unleashing Flaming Bones. While the two opponents were stunned, a blue light flashed between Su Che’s brows, shooting like a beam of light straight at Lian Qiu’s forehead. The soul-seizing power unleashed from such close range had no dispersion or waste, with its full force concentrated on the opponent’s vital spirit. Both Su Che and Lian Qiu were in the early stages of the Yuan Ying phase; even if Lian Qiu possessed soul-stabilizing artifacts, it was believed he could only hold Su Che in place for a brief moment. As expected, Lian Qiu was stunned and couldn’t determine how long he would be immobilized. Blindness! The blue light vanished in an instant, and Su Che, without pause, showed a grim expression as he sacrificed 90% of his life force to unleash a curse that caused complete blindness. “Ah!” The sudden onset of utter darkness made Gachi let out a scream as he instinctively lunged back at Su Che’s location in retaliation. It was a hasty strike born of instinct, not a powerful spell or technique—just a casual burst of true vital energy, without even time to summon any artifacts. Whoosh… Su Che also didn’t use any protective barriers and braved the strike with his own defensive energy, producing a muffled thud, as if hitting a thick mattress. To avoid causing too much noise, Su Che treated himself like a punching bag, using gentle force to cushion the opponent’s attack. Pfft! Su Che was immediately injured, with a mouthful of blood shooting like an arrow straight at Gachi’s face. Under normal circumstances, Su Che wouldn’t be so vulnerable—being struck barehanded by Gachi’s true vital energy would at most cause some shock, not result in bleeding injuries. But remember, Su Che had just unleashed a blindness curse, sacrificing 90% of his life force. No matter how fast or much life force Old Hei could infuse, it couldn’t be replenished in an instant. At a moment when only 10% of his life force remained, he was naturally at his most fragile. Crack! The blood arrow spat out by Su Che hit Gachi right in the face. Gachi was now completely blind, having lost all vision, consciousness, and sensitivity—only touch, taste, smell, and hearing remained. Yet in high-level combat, these four senses were almost useless. The attack techniques used by Yuan Ying cultivators were incredibly fast, far exceeding the speed of sound and smell. By the time you heard or smelled something, alas, touch would already have taken effect. Having his nasal bone pierced by a sharp blood arrow, the sensation of touch must have been unbearable.

Gachi collapsed backward as a blood hole appeared in his nose. Of course, he had protective energy around him, so it was just a minor injury—nothing severe enough to pierce his skull. At that moment, overwhelmed by utter darkness and fear, he completely ignored the pain from the arrow in his nose. The strong impact nearly knocked him off his seat, forcing him to lie face up.

On the other side, as soon as Su Che unleashed his blinding technique, Yan Gu had already taken action. Following the mental commands from his master, Yan Gu emerged from the Immortal Prison without pause and attacked Lian Qiu, who was under the influence of the soul-possessing attack. Unlike Gachi and Lian Qiu, Yan Gu had been fully armed inside the Immortal Prison, ready for battle. His two hands were equipped with massive claws—both powerful and top-tier attack artifacts. He went all out from the very first strike.

Though it was a full-force attack, it wasn’t a brute-force assault. To reduce the shockwave and avoid creating too much noise, Yan Gu swung his right claw, transforming it into a huge blue dragon claw. With a snap, he seized Lian Qiu and squeezed tightly!

“Ahh!” Lian Qiu let out a strange scream. His eyes bulged as the immense pressure inside his body nearly forced his eyeballs out of their sockets. The chaotic contents in his stomach almost caused him to suffer an embarrassing situation.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Lian Qiu’s bones were completely shattered by that single squeeze. There was already a huge gap in strength between the early and late stages of the Yuan Ying cultivation level, not to mention one being prepared and the other unprepared. Even if Lian Qiu’s bones were crushed, it wouldn’t be a fatal injury—he could still unleash all his techniques and spells using his internal vital energy.

Yan Gu was well aware of this and would never underestimate his opponent. Before Lian Qiu could resist, he swung his left claw, sending a golden eagle claw flying through the air…

Snap!

It hit Lian Qiu right on the back of the head. That single strike finished him off completely. Though he wasn’t dead, he was in a deep coma, completely paralyzed.

That was also the moment Gachi was hit in the nose by the blood arrow and collapsed backward.

Pfft! Yan Gu, having lived for hundreds of years and possessing vast combat experience as an experienced Yuan Ying cultivator, used that fraction of a second to control Lian Qiu while suddenly shaking his head and spitting out a black metal sphere. This metal sphere was his secret weapon. Throughout his life, he had used it to ambush countless enemies up close. Everyone who had seen it—except Su Che and Lao He—had died.

Snap!

With his eyes blind as if he were deaf, Gachi, who was completely blind, couldn’t even dodge a blood arrow, let alone a mid-grade spiritual treasure controlled by someone in the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase. A bullet hit his forehead, and he collapsed unconscious without uttering a sound. The big rat in the Yuan Ying phase had finally been caught—Layer Four of the Immortal Prison would be activated soon! “Good!” Su Che smirked, stood up abruptly, and said to Yan Gu, “Not bad, really excellent! The later stages of the Yuan Ying phase are indeed extraordinary.” “Thank you, master, for your praise,” Yan Gu replied respectfully.