Chapter 389: I Am the Demon

“Be extremely careful with this person; take strict precautions,” Tian Yin warned solemnly. “Try not to have too much contact with him, because he will never keep his word and could strike from behind at any moment.”
“I know,” Su Che nodded. “Let’s stabilize him for now. We can discuss the deal in ten years. But I’ve still learned a trick from him…”
Su Che then shared his plan.
Two hours later, Su Che left Wuji Gate and returned to Tianxuan Sect after flying for just over half an hour. Back on Xuanyu Peak, he rested for two days, meeting several senior disciples including the sect leader, but he didn’t tell them anything about his entire journey to Mulan Star. Some things were beyond their comprehension, and not knowing them kept them out of trouble.
After just two days of rest, Su Che set out to carry out his plan—to eliminate all the Yuan Ying cultivators in the Chaos Faction. He had an intuition that this needed to be done as soon as possible; the sooner, the better, otherwise unforeseen situations might arise. It was now a critical stage where both sides were racing against time…
This time, Su Che didn’t tell anyone and disguised himself, using his disguise skills to the fullest. Even if he stood in front of Tianxuan Sect’s senior Yuan Ying cultivators, they wouldn’t recognize him. The mission required strict secrecy—everyone, even his own people, had to be deceived. He claimed he was going into seclusion for cultivation, but in reality, he had already slipped away from Tianxuan Sect. Riding a treasure-grade flying sword, he flew slowly for nearly a day before entering the territory of Taiyi Gate.
Su Che had told Tian Yin that he had learned a technique from the Master of Juechen Valley—a method to gradually eliminate those Yuan Ying cultivators in the Chaos Faction and turn them all into his servants. The plan was to infiltrate Taiyi Gate, capture the sect leader alive, send him to the fourth layer of Xianyu Prison, and alter his soul. Once that was done, the rest would be easy.
Although Taiyi Gate had lost two major Yuan Ying cultivators, Tai Hao and Tai Wu, this didn’t change its status as the leader of the Chaos Faction. According to Su Che, this was because Taiyi Gate possessed a special treasure that allowed it to communicate with the Spirit Realm to some extent—a significant advantage among all sects.

After taking care of the Patriarch of Taixu, he made him send messages to those Yuan Ying cultivators in the Chaos Faction, luring them to Taiyi Gate under the pretext of a gathering—just like the possessed ones in Juechen Valley, gradually eroding them. Their numbers would keep decreasing, while his loyal servants would grow in number. Even if it wasn’t possible to eliminate them all, a few left behind wouldn’t cause much trouble. The cultivation world of Qiyuan Star couldn’t possibly fall into chaos, and those in the Spirit Realm wouldn’t have any reason to open a passage to the lower world… Thus, the most crucial person in this plan was the Patriarch of Taixu. Everything starts with difficulty—catching this old fox alive was the toughest first step. The same method used last time to infiltrate Lingyao Mountain and capture Lu Changqing should be employed: first, capture a disciple of Taiyi Gate, impersonate him to enter the mountain, then use disguise techniques step by step until he can get close to the Patriarch of Taixu… The initial infiltration was easy. After waiting for a short while within Taiyi Gate’s territory, he encountered a disciple in the later stages of the Foundation Building phase passing by. Like shooting a bird with a bow from hundreds of feet away, Su Che used a “low-dose” soul capture spell, causing the man to plummet from the sky and become a prisoner of the Immortal Prison. By assuming that man’s appearance, Su Che successfully infiltrated Taiyi Mountain, but as just a disciple, he couldn’t casually meet the supreme Patriarch of the sect. “At least one of the core elders in the later stages of the Golden Core phase is needed to find an excuse to meet Taixu.” As Su Che pondered which target to choose, he suddenly said in his mind, in unison with Lao Hei, “Haoyuan!” Haoyuan, the head of Taiyi Gate’s Battle Hall, had once issued a warrant for Su Che’s arrest on Aurora Island, forcing Su Che to flee hundreds of miles and nearly losing his life even before reaching his own sect. Later, when the two met in the floating city of the demon race, Su Che had said to him, “I will reach the Yuan Ying stage before you, and then I will definitely come to find you.” Now was the time to fulfill that promise. It wasn’t easy to meet the Patriarch as a disciple, but getting close to a core elder wasn’t a problem. Taiyi Gate’s layout featured five mountains surrounding a spiritual lake, with the underground spiritual vein beneath the lake. The five mountains formed a Five Elements formation, and the Battle Hall was located on the Golden Spirit Mountain within it. In the Battle Hall’s grand hall, filled with an aura of martial might, Yuan Hao was meditating. This state wasn’t for cultivating true energy but rather a form of spiritual cultivation.

Simply put, it was to elevate one’s spiritual realm in order to rid oneself of the mental demon that Su Che had planted in him earlier. That tiny demon was extremely stubborn. Especially, every astonishing achievement or glorious success Su Che accomplished would, once heard by Yuan Hao, strike at his heart like heavy blows, further deepening the demon’s corruption and invasion of his inner world. Unless he could see through everything—including his desire to ascend to the Yuan Ying stage—and even disregard life and death, becoming desire-free with a pure mind. It was easy to say, but incredibly difficult to do. How could one truly disregard the pursuit of cultivation power and the desire for immortality?

“That Tian Yu has already ascended to Yuan Ying and could come for me at any moment, just like he did to Master Tai Hao and Uncle Tai Wu, to take me as well…”

Similar worries would occasionally arise in his mind. Su Che’s image weighed heavily on his chest like a massive boulder, making breathing difficult. At that moment, Yuan Hao, who was in meditation, heard faint footsteps outside the hall. He walked to the door but stopped—no one spoke. Yuan Hao knew it was one of his trusted subordinates bringing news, but seeing he was meditating, the person dared not disturb him. If he remained unresponsive, the person would quietly leave on their own. This indicated that the matter to be reported was likely personal, not a major issue for the sect.

“Enough for today. All this meditation hasn’t seemed to serve any purpose…”

Yuan Hao sighed inwardly. Without opening his eyes, he said in a deep voice, “Speak if you have something to say.”

The person standing outside was his top confidant, ‘Zhe Qiu’, who was in charge of intelligence matters. It was he who had gathered all information about Su Che and was also responsible for capturing hundreds of members of the Su family. As a result, Su Yunshan, the previous head of the Su family and Su Che’s great-uncle, suffered from a vicious soul-searching technique, damaging his brain and causing him to lose all memories. To this day, he still had the intelligence of a child and couldn’t even put on socks on his own…

In recent years, Zhe Qiu had had a hard time too, as he too had developed a mental demon, one planted by Su Che. That day in the External Affairs Hall of Tianxuan Sect, Su Che had said, “If even one person from the Su family suffers misfortune, the day I, Su Che, look down on you all, I will become the demon in your hearts! If I become that demon, you will be barred from the path to immortality in this life and beyond, trapped in eternal suffering, becoming ghosts or slaves, never seeing light or sky, serving as penance in the netherworld…”

Zhe Qiu remembered these words well, deeply etched in his mind.

Now, Su Che has become a great cultivator at the Yuan Ying stage, standing high above those at the Golden Core stage, and has successfully turned into the demon in the hearts of these people. If he harbors old grudges, it’s very likely that they will, just as he said, be forever cut off from the path of immortality and unable to enter reincarnation…

Even when he was still at the Golden Core stage, he was able to kill his two uncles, Tai Hao and Tai Wu. Now that he’s at the Yuan Ying stage, what could there be he can’t do?

Both Tai Hao and Zhe Qiu knew that their only hope for survival was for the emissaries of the Spirit Realm to descend to the mortal world as soon as possible and completely eliminate Su Che. Then, all the inner demons would naturally dissipate.

At that moment, Zhe Qiu reported outside the hall, “I report to the Great Lord. Wu Yi, a true disciple of Mu Ling Mountain, is waiting outside. He says he has important matters to discuss with you.”

“What matters?” Hao Yuan asked casually.

Zhe Qiu replied, “He didn’t go into details. He was very secretive, only saying it’s related to Tian Yu from Tian Xuan Sect. He’s just learned a major secret about Tian Yu, and it also has a slight connection to you, Great Lord.”

“Oh?” At the mention of “Tian Yu,” Hao Yuan’s eyes twitched, and his mind became chaotic. It seemed the meditation he had done earlier was completely in vain.

“Then let him in,” Hao Yuan said in a low voice.

The true disciples of Tai Yi Sect also held high status. If they came with requests, Hao Yuan couldn’t simply refuse them without reason. Besides, Wu Yi had said this matter was related to both Tian Yu and himself, so Hao Yuan couldn’t help but feel curious.

Zhe Qiu then left, and shortly after, brought Wu Yi, a true disciple in the later stages of the Foundation Establishment stage, into the hall.

“Disciple Wu Yi, salutes Uncle Hao Yuan,” Su Che said, bowing as a disciple should. Although there were only Hao Yuan and Zhe Qiu in the hall, dealing with just two Golden Core cultivators would surely be extremely easy. Yet, this place was still Tai Yi Mountain, under the surveillance of the mountain protection array. Any unusual activity could alert the sect leader, so even the smallest matters needed to be handled carefully.

It didn’t matter. It was just a bow. Later, once he was in the Immortal Prison, he could be forced to kowtow a hundred times without any problem. Of course, Su Che wasn’t someone with such a narrow mind.

Tai Hao nodded gently, his tone quite kind. “Nephew Wu Yi, you’ve come to see me. What matters?”
“I already told Uncle Zhe Qiu. This matter is related to Tian Yu from Tian Xuan Sect, and it also has a slight connection to you, Uncle…”

Su Che repeated what he had said earlier, adding in a mysterious tone, “Personally, I believe this matter will bring considerable benefits to you, Master, even a great opportunity. That’s why I came to report it. Of course, it’s also to seek some rewards for myself…” At this point, Su Che glanced at Zhe Qiu, signaling to Hao Yuan that this was a serious matter that shouldn’t be heard by others. Zhe Qiu, being very smart and perceptive, immediately offered to leave; Hao Yuan nodded slightly in approval. This kind of awareness is basic common sense for subordinates—if they overhear confidential information they shouldn’t, their superiors might find an opportunity to silence them. Zhe Qiu was well aware that, though he was a trusted subordinate of Senior Brother Hao Yuan, he couldn’t expect 100% trust from him…