Chapter 398: Something’s Going Wrong

“There’s only half a month to prepare…” Su Che murmured.
“Master, I reckon this Spirit Realm envoy is under quite a lot of pressure too—someone higher up must be urging him as well.” Tai Xu’s thoughts matched Su Che’s earlier judgment: “Previously, when he communicated with me, he would never bother saying so much nonsense. It seems he’s really in a hurry now.”
Su Che responded with a nod, thinking to himself, “The two sects on Qi Yuan Star that can communicate with the Spirit Realm—Tai Yi Gate and Wan Gui Sect—are both under my control, which cuts off other sects’ channels to the Spirit Realm. Even if something goes wrong while capturing the remaining four sect leaders tonight, it won’t matter much. After all, no matter how many cultivators at the Yuan Ying stage there are, they can’t compete with a powerful cultivator at the Lian Xu stage. Even if they surround him, it won’t constitute an effective obstacle.”
This principle is like a group of cultivators at the Zhu Ji stage attacking one at the Yuan Ying stage—no matter how many there are, they’re just sending themselves to death and can’t stop the Spirit Realm envoy from delivering a fatal blow to Su Che.
“Master, in my opinion, the only force on Qi Yuan Star that might be able to counter the Spirit Realm envoy could be that giant heart in Wind and Thunder Desolate Land,” Lao He suggested. “If all else fails, lure the envoy to the Heart of the Sky-Devouring Rat. With its power, we might even be able to kill that damned envoy outright.”
“That’s a viable plan.”
Su Che nodded in agreement and added, “However, when dealing with an extremely powerful enemy, having just one strategy isn’t enough. We need to prepare several plans to ensure we’re prepared for anything.”
“I can’t think of any other methods,” Lao He said, shrugging helplessly.
“Yes, it’s indeed hard to come up with other solutions.”
Su Che also shook his head silently.
Next, the capture plan must continue. Still wearing the guise of Tai Hua, Su Che, along with Tai Xu and Wan Gui, went to the room of Jun Sha, the leader of the Holy Sword Demon Sect.
Jun Sha had been filled with joy and anticipation at the prospect of receiving rewards from the Spirit Realm. Though he was curious upon seeing these three people arrive together, he remained unguarded, lacking the caution shown by the old demon Wan Gui back then. To be honest, he never imagined that Tai Xu and Wan Gui would team up to scheme against him—no amount of wisdom could have led him to such a possibility.
With a smile, Jun Sha invited the three “fiendly gods” into his room. He guessed that Tai Xu, Tai Hua, and Wan Gui had come to see him, most likely regarding the rewards from the Spirit Realm—definitely good news!

When dealing with someone completely unprepared, no strategy is needed at all. As soon as Jun Ka’s bottom touched the chair, Su Che used his blinding technique to send him into the world of darkness. The rest followed the usual routine: after over forty infant slaves joined forces to suppress him, Tai Xu and Wan Gui used psychological tactics, under the pretense of being messengers from the Spirit Realm, demanding that Jun Ka give up resistance and swear loyalty to them. It must be said that this tactic was indeed effective. Under suppression, Jun Ka’s thoughts were exactly the same as Wan Gui’s had been an hour earlier—he also believed that opposing the messengers from the Spirit Realm meant certain death, and only by completely submitting and swearing loyalty could he save his life. If he had known the real mastermind was Tian Yu from Tianxuan Sect, he would never have surrendered so easily. After dealing with Jun Ka, Su Che didn’t involve him in the subsequent capture plan but ordered him, “Return to the Holy Sword Demon Sect immediately. Take care of the two Yuan Ying elders in the sect, as well as the leaders of several major sects in its jurisdiction, and bring them all to me.” Jun Ka, whose soul had been altered, had no objections to this order. After bowing deeply, he took the command and left. As for how he would complete the task, Su Che didn’t care. A leader at the later stage of Yuan Ying cultivation who couldn’t even handle such a simple task could only be called “useless.” After all, the people he was tasked with spying on were all subordinates or followers who obeyed him without any defenses. With just a pretext, a close-range ambush would suffice to take control of them. The next target was chosen to be the leader of Tianxin Pavilion! Once again, Su Che, Tai Xu, and Wan Gui went to the leader’s residence, planning to use the same tactics they had used to capture Jun Ka. But after knocking several times, there was no response from inside—the person wasn’t there? Tai Xu used his hidden strength to break down the door, and indeed, the room was empty. “Could he have gone to Haotian’s place?” Tai Xu guessed softly. “Possible,” Wan Gui nodded. “Tianxin Pavilion has always had a good relationship with Lingyao Mountain. Maybe those two old guys got together again.” “It’s hard for us to act if they’re together,” Su Che said. “Let’s capture Blood God first!” Tai Xu and Wan Gui agreed, so the three went to Blood God’s sacred hall. Strangely, after knocking several times, there was still no response. When they broke down the door, the room was also empty, with no sign of anyone. “Where did they go? Could they all be at Haotian’s place?” Su Che blurted out.

“No way!” Tai Xu said firmly, “Tian Xin and Hao Tian absolutely would never mix with that witch, Blood Goddess. They can sit together during the gatherings of the seven sect leaders, but privately, none of us want anything to do with that woman.”
Su Che nodded silently. After a brief thought, he said, “Alright, Tai Xu, go check on Hao Tian first. If he’s not there either, then something’s wrong.”
“Okay.”
Tai Xu replied and turned to leave.
In less than fifteen minutes, Tai Xu returned, shaking his head and sighing, “As the master predicted, Hao Tian is also not there. I also went to the sect leaders’ hall just now and used the surveillance capabilities of the protective array to search, but found no trace of them. It’s highly likely they slipped away secretly and left Tai Yi Gate.”
Su Che frowned and said in a low voice, “Where did things go wrong? How did they figure out our plan in advance? What’s the issue?”
“It should be…”
Tai Xu, Wan Gui, and the old demon Bai from Immortal Prison almost said in unison, “The Demon Lord of Illusions!”
Su Che nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Our operations have always been very secretive; there can’t be any loopholes or flaws. The only unpredictable factor is that mysterious Demon Lord of Illusions who keeps delaying his arrival. How much do you know about her?”
“Very little.”
Tai Xu and Wan Gui shook their heads at the same time. “Each generation of the Demon Lord of Illusions looks the same. We can’t even be sure whether the previous generation has passed away or if the current one is the new leader. The succession of the Demon Lord of Illusions never involves any ceremonies, so very little is known about them.”
Hearing this reply, Su Che felt somewhat disappointed. After all, he had Meng Liu, a Golden Core elder of the Demon Lord of Illusions, imprisoned in his Immortal Prison. Yet even she only had a superficial understanding of past leaders, not much better than Tai Xu and Wan Gui.
“Why could that Demon Lord of Illusions see through my capture plan? How much does she know about me?”
Many suspicions arose in Su Che’s mind, and he made her his top target. If anyone else could be ignored, she alone had to be captured as soon as possible to uncover everything thoroughly.
At that moment, Tai Xu added, “It is said that the Demon Lord of Illusions places a celestial-level insider in every major sect. I guess Tian Xin, Hao Tian, and Blood Goddess received messages from a celestial-level insider within Tai Yi Gate, which allowed them to escape in time.”

“Then why did this Heavenly-level insider only inform the three from Tianxin and not Jun Ka and Wan Gui?” Su Che raised doubts. “I can’t believe that the Demon Cult Leader knows so clearly that Jun Ka and Wan Gui have just become my subordinates. If that’s the case, then this Demon Cult Leader is truly terrifying.”
“That’s impossible!” Tai Xu shook his head. “No matter how powerful she is, she can’t reach such a level. I guess it might be that on our way to Jun Ka’s room, that insider saw us from afar and didn’t dare get closer to Jun Ka’s residence, so he went to inform the three from Tianxin instead…”
“That must be it,” Wan Gui nodded. “There’s no other reasonable explanation.”
Su Che remained silent, inwardly furious. The first half of the capture plan had gone extremely smoothly, but unexpectedly, it was ruined by that Demon Cult Leader just halfway through.
So, Su Che said coldly to Tai Xu, “I demand that you find that Heavenly-level insider before dawn!”
“Yes, master.”
Tai Xu could sense the master’s anger and quickly replied, “This shouldn’t be hard to investigate. If that insider could see us from afar, it means he was in the vicinity earlier. I’ll go investigate right away.”
“Arrest any suspicious person without further questioning and bring them to me,” Su Che said with a cold gaze.
The Heavenly-level insiders of the Demon Cult were said to have never been exposed in tens of thousands of years. Tonight, Su Che intended to break this legendary tradition.
It was better to execute the wrong person than let a suspect go. Any suspicious person should be imprisoned in the Immortal Prison. If they could still keep even a hint of secret under Lao Hei’s mind-reading skills, that would be strange!
Wan Gui stood aside, not daring to make a sound. When Su Che got angry, as a servant, he was deeply afraid, fearing reprimand from his master.
This sense of fear penetrated his soul, and no matter how high his spiritual cultivation reached, it couldn’t be changed.
“Wan Gui,” Su Che called softly.
“Here I am, master,” Wan Gui replied with a bow.
“Go back to the Wan Gui Sect,” Su Che said indifferently. “You don’t need to be involved in matters here. Go back to the sect—do you still need me to tell you what to do?”
“I understand everything, master. I won’t disappoint you,” Wan Gui hurriedly assured.
“Go then.”
Su Che waved his hand and turned to head to the inner hall of the Taiyi Gate to wait for news.

Wan Gui’s mission was almost identical to Jun Sha’s—that is, to deal with the three Yuan Ying senior disciples within the sect one by one, as well as the Yuan Ying sect leaders of several large sects under their jurisdiction. Additionally, Wan Gui had one more task: to guard carefully the ancient treasure in the Wan Gui Sect that could communicate with the Spirit Realm, ensuring that no one could use this treasure to send messages unfavorable to Su Che to the Spirit Realm.