Chapter 378: The Fourth Layer of the Immortal Prison

Things went much smoother than expected. Without causing much commotion, Gachi and Lian Qiu were captured alive. As for the screams they had emitted earlier, they were completely blocked by the isolation barrier already in place inside the room and couldn’t reach the outside.

The smoothness of everything was somewhat unexpected. It could be said that Su Che had underestimated the strength of Yan Gu. In Su Che’s mind, those at the later stages of the Yuan Ying phase posed no threat to him, so he unconsciously underestimated them. Little did he know that Yan Gu’s cultivation level was considered a peak state in the cultivation world.

Once Gachi and Lian Qiu were taken into the Immortal Prison, Lao He was eager to proceed with the fourth fusion. However, he noticed that the life forces of these two prisoners were strange, different from those of normal beings.

As the ruler of the Immortal Prison, Lao He had complete control over every plant and creature within it. After observing carefully, he reached out into the void toward Gachi’s head and roared, “What the hell is this? Get out!”

Whoosh!

A red light shot out from Gachi’s forehead and headed straight for Lao He’s forehead.

“Dream on!”

Lao He chuckled. With just a thought, he used the spatial energy within the Immortal Prison to halt the red light mid-air. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a red, strange insect, about the size of a normal man’s index finger—headless and tailless, resembling a soft-bodied leech-like creature.

“Haha, Master, look! It’s this little thing living inside Gachi’s head that’s caused his personality to change drastically, as if he’s become a different person,” Lao He said to Su Che, pointing at the insect.

“What is this?” Su Che found the insect extremely disgusting; just looking at it made his heart feel uneasy.

“A demonic worm.”

Bai Lao Mo stepped forward, stared at the insect, and reported to Su Che, “Master, this is a type of worm used to control others. Once infected by this evil spell, any creature loses its self-control completely and transforms into a high-level possessed being. It can interact with people normally, with nothing seemingly amiss—almost like a puppet possessed by our extraterrestrial demons.”

“Someone has placed demonic worms on them,” Su Che thought. “So, the demonization crisis on Mu Lan Star isn’t that simple—it’s being manipulated from behind?”

“I believe it’s possible…”

Elder White Demon utilized his extensive experience and imagination to hypothesize, “There was an ancient demon race that, for some reason, fell into the core of Mu Lan Planet and slept for countless years. However, natural disasters caused by the planet’s gravity disturbed them, awakening them. They then released massive amounts of primal demonic energy, aiming to transform all living beings on Mu Lan Planet into various demonic servants under their control—what we call those possessed by demons.”

Su Che thought to himself, “Since he can use demonic parasites to control Yuan Ying cultivators, it means his true form might also be lurking among those Yuan Ying cultivators we’ve seen, right?”

“Yes, master, that’s very likely,” nodded Elder White Demon. “Gachi and Lian Qiu probably plotted against you because they thought you had just reached the Yuan Ying stage, with limited strength, making it easier for them to take control of you and turn you into another high-level possessed being.”

“Hmm, that’s probably the case…” Su Che agreed in his mind.

After discussing it briefly, the group put the matter aside for now, as there were more important matters at hand.

The demonic parasite residing in Gachi’s brain was pulled out by Lao Hei. Although Gachi wasn’t completely dead, he was in a comatose state. As long as he was still breathing and his life force hadn’t completely vanished, he could be used for fusion.

One rat in the middle stage of Yuan Ying, one extraterrestrial demon in the early stage of Yuan Ying—so, which human in the Yuan Ying stage to choose?

Originally, it was planned to use Chen Xu from Lingyao Mountain, but today, it needed to be adjusted. There was no point wasting Chen Xu, a living person. Instead, another comatose person, Lian Qiu, could be used.

Lian Qiu’s condition was the same as Gachi’s. After the demonic parasite in his brain was removed, he was also in a brain-dead state. He was handed over to Lao Hei for the fourth fusion, which was a way to make use of waste without any loss.

Without further delay, they started immediately!

“Fusion!”

With Lao Hei’s roar, Gachi, Lian Qiu, and the demon separated from Elder White Demon all turned into purple crystal statues, which then completely disintegrated and merged into Lao Hei’s body.

After a dozen breaths, the fusion was complete, and Lao Hei successfully advanced, his appearance changing once again.

This was because Gachi was a noble-blooded Blue-Scaled Rat, whose true form was a large rat without fur, covered entirely in scales—or rather, it resembled a pangolin more.

As a result, the fused Lao Hei no longer had fur but was covered in scales all over his body.

A demon king covered head to toe in dark golden scales naturally appeared extremely majestic and menacing, far more impressive than before, even hiding its originally ugly features.
“Haha…”
Lao He laughed triumphantly, slapping his chest with his massive claws, producing a deep, heavy metallic sound, like a hammer striking iron.
It was easy to imagine that with the enhanced power of chaos within his body, the defensive strength of these scales must be super powerful and extraordinary.
Yet, Lao He still sighed softly, “It’s a pity. No matter how strong my true form is, it’s useless—I still can’t go out of the Immortal Prison to fight alongside my master against the enemies.”
“It’s okay,” Su Che reassured him. “The Immortal Prison world will soon become incredibly vast. As its ruler, if you don’t have enough strength, how can you keep control of more and more prisoners who will become stronger over time?”
Lao He forced a smile, still hoping that one day he could leave the Immortal Prison and fight side by side with his master to face all dangers together…
But now wasn’t the time for such reflections—the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison could be unlocked soon.
All three conditions were met: the purple jade statue, thirty thousand flowers of temptation, and Lao He completing his fourth fusion.
“Immortal Prison, unlock the fourth layer!”
At Su Che’s command, with a thunderous roar that shook the heavens and earth, the first layer of the Immortal Prison began its third expansion…
When the second layer was unlocked, the space expanded tenfold, from an original area of a hundred miles to a thousand miles. When the third layer was unlocked, it expanded twentyfold, from a thousand miles to two hundred thousand miles. So, how much would it expand this time?
This expansion took longer. After fifteen minutes, the space finally settled, and Su Che and Lao He got the answer—fiftyfold!
The area expanded from two hundred thousand miles to one million miles. Just in terms of land area, it was no smaller than the cultivation realm of Qi Yuan Star.
“A vast world spanning one million miles!”
Su Che was extremely excited and couldn’t help but exclaim in his heart, “A world spanning one million miles—entirely mine! Just think, how big will this world become when the fifth layer is unlocked?”
Conservatively estimated, the next expansion would likely be a hundredfold, resulting in an ultra-large world spanning one hundred million miles—equivalent to a hundred times the size of the cultivation realm of Qi Yuan Star.
For a person to possess such a vast world—no matter who it was, other than Su Che, they would surely be incredibly excited and satisfied, right?

“The space of the first layer of the Immortal Prison has expanded to a scale of one million li. How to build this world has become the next step—a matter that requires careful attention,” Su Che thought to himself.

Elder White Demon had already flown high into the sky and looked into the distance, but he couldn’t see the edge of this world at all. Out of curiosity, he asked, “Master, your world must have just been upgraded, right? Could you tell your subordinate how large it has become?”

“It’s currently one million li in diameter,” Su Che replied. “Next, it should be able to reach hundreds of millions of li.”

“It’s already one million li in diameter?”

Elder White Demon was shocked. He really hadn’t expected that just one upgrade could increase the size of his master’s world by fifty times.

“Can it reach hundreds of millions of li next time? The master is not even thirty years old! This is incredible… truly incredible…” The usually experienced Elder White Demon stammered in astonishment.

From this moment on, his loyalty to Su Che became completely unwavering. He was determined to follow Su Che no matter what, without hesitation.

Although the Demonic Gods outside were extremely evil, they were by no means fools. Especially an old demon like Elder White Demon, who had lived for countless years, his wisdom far surpassed that of ordinary people. He knew better than anyone how to weigh pros and cons and calculate gains and losses.

Following Su Che was the greatest opportunity he could ever have in this life—worth more than becoming an immortal or a god!

In the outside world, even if one became an immortal, they would be just a minor immortal; even if they became a god, they would be just a tiny god. But if they followed Su Che, when his world evolved into a grand universe, a senior subordinate like himself would have an unimaginable future…

“To rule over the entire Heavenly Demon Realm? The Ancestor of All Demons?”

Elder White Demon’s heart was filled with endless longing.

“Master, do you know what the function of the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison is?” Old Black asked mysteriously.

“A place to lock you up,” Su Che replied irritably.

Needless to say, it must be a soul-slavery space that allows one to have many loyal subordinates. But exactly how many “many” could that be? That was what Su Che was eager to know at that moment.

“Let’s go take a look!”

Whoosh!

Su Che’s mind merged with Old Black’s as they entered the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison.

The space of this layer appeared quite peculiar. Unlike the boundless Ghost Realm of the second layer and the Pill Realm of the third layer, its diameter was only a mere thousand zhang, resembling a giant, completely enclosed spherical chamber.

Inside the chamber, there was a deep gray mist, with black air currents flowing back and forth within it.

“A soul enslavement space doesn’t require much space,” Lao He stopped being mysterious and reported truthfully, “If the master wants to transform someone into their subordinate, they can be sent to the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison, where they can be transformed there. There’s no limit to the number of slaves—provided the master isn’t bothered, even creating trillions of slaves is possible.”
“Great!” Su Che was overjoyed. “No limit on the number—this is the best news ever! Send over all the criminals at the Yuan Ying stage in the Immortal Prison and start soul transformation immediately!”
“Understood!”
Lao He immediately obeyed. With a thought, he sent over those four criminals at the Yuan Ying stage—Yan Gu, Tai Wu, Yan Lin, and Chen Xu—at the same time.
As soon as they entered this soul enslavement space, Yan Gu and the others seemed to fall into a coma instantly, showing no reaction at all. They floated quietly in the gray mist, as if in deep sleep.