Chapter 424: Xuansha Sect

In the main hall of the Xuansha Sect’s leader, Su Che met his three subordinates, along with the sect leader and two other Yuan Ying elders.
“Where is Long Li?” Su Che asked deliberately.
The three of them shook their heads. The sect leader replied, “Master, I just sent him a message. He should arrive soon. Please wait a moment.”
“He won’t make it,” Su Che said, shaking his head. “Take me to his residence.”
“Yes,” the sect leader replied with a bow.
The layout of Xuansha Sect’s entrance was very similar to that of Tianxuan Sect—also composed of countless mountains. As a Yuan Ying elder, Long Li surely had his own giant peak.
At that moment, his cultivation cave was empty; even his personal concubine had disappeared without a trace.
Su Che and his men searched the entire peak but found no trace of him—or rather, no corpse.
“Someone infiltrated Xuansha Sect and assassinated Long Li. He’s dead,” Su Che said gravely.
“What? Brother Long Li is dead?”
The sect leader and the two other Yuan Ying elders were shocked. Though their souls had been altered to make them Su Che’s servants, they still retained independent thoughts and memories, as well as their brotherly bonds. Naturally, shock and grief were inevitable.
They believed Su Che without doubt. One of the Yuan Ying elders, suppressing his grief, asked respectfully, “Master, do you know when Brother Long Li was killed?”
“The assassination likely happened half an hour ago, but his death occurred just twenty minutes ago,” Su Che replied in a low voice.
“Then the murderer might still be inside the sect, hiding somewhere?” the sect leader asked urgently.
“Possible,” Su Che nodded. “But since this person could capture Long Li silently, his skills are formidable. With Xuansha Sect being so large, it won’t be easy to find him.”
“Master, shall we activate the mountain protection array immediately to trap him inside the sect, then search slowly?” the sect leader suggested.
“No need,” Su Che shook his head. “It’s not worth wasting so many spirit stones to capture one person, especially since it may not even work.”
Su Che had experienced being trapped inside the Lingyao Mountain’s protection array. He knew better than anyone how difficult it was to find someone skilled at disguise within such a vast sect complex.

“Let’s go back to the Patriarch’s Hall. I have an even simpler method to try—maybe it will work,” Su Che said again.
“Yes,” the three subordinates replied in unison.
The four of them returned to the Patriarch’s Hall. Through the main control device of the protective array, Su Che transmitted his image and voice to various locations inside the Xuansha Sect’s entrance.
“If you’re Yu Qing, come to the Patriarch’s Hall to find me; if you’re not, you can still come to me, because as long as you can catch me, you’ll be done for good…”
Su Che’s image and voice appeared in every corner of the entrance area—in fact, anyone outside could see them.
Regardless of what the murderer might think upon seeing this, over three hundred thousand disciples of the Xuansha Sect were stunned: “Isn’t that Tian Yu, the new leader of the Tianxuan Sect? How could he appear inside our sect’s entrance and use the protective array to spout such nonsense? What’s going on? Could it be that the Patriarch and the three Supreme Elders have already been taken by him…”
Thus, countless loyal disciples rushed toward the Patriarch’s Hall, driven by their determination to protect the sect and save their ancestral masters.
They didn’t think much about it—since the ancestral masters were under control, going there was just asking for death, like moths flying into flames…
Of course, many others adopted a wait-and-see attitude or even tried to flee at the first sign of trouble, thinking that under Tian Yu’s leadership, the nine great ancestral masters of the Tianxuan Sect had already taken control of their sect’s Patriarch’s Hall, and disaster had struck the Xuansha Sect…
Using the surveillance function of the protective array, Su Che pointed at the disciples gathering from all directions and said to his three subordinates, “It’s these loyal people who deserve special cultivation by the sect. In my view, a person’s heart matters more than their innate talents.”
“Yes, master. We’ll remember that,” the three leaders of the Xuansha Sect replied with bows.
Tap, tap, tap, tap…
The leaders of the Xuansha Sect quickly performed dozens of hand gestures on the main control device of the protective array, and soon an invisible barrier enveloped the tens of thousands of square feet surrounding the Patriarch’s Hall.
This invisible barrier had neither defensive nor isolating functions—it only served to record information. Any disciple of the Xuansha Sect who entered the barrier would have their identity jade card or talisman recorded by the protective array. In the future, these disciples would receive special cultivation from the Xuansha Sect as a reward for their loyal and fearless devotion to the sect.

Although the Xuansha Sect belongs to the demonic path, it doesn’t mean that all cultivators of the demonic path are malicious; there are also those who are admirable. When over ten thousand disciples gathered in front of the sect master’s hall, the Xuansha Sect master and the two Yuan Ying elders slowly stepped out, soothing them with kind words and expressing sincere gratitude. “The supreme leader of the Tianxuan Sect came to our sect as a guest and made a bet, claiming that our Xuansha Sect is part of the demonic path and has few loyal followers. Even if they knew our sect was in trouble, few disciples would dare to come to help. So, they tested us in this way…” Following Su Che’s instructions, the Xuansha Sect master gave this explanation. Though it seemed like a silly game, no one dared to criticize them. In the minds of these lower-level cultivators, every word and action of the Yuan Ying elders carried deep meaning, far beyond what appeared on the surface—something ordinary people could never fully understand. “I’m very pleased. In less than fifteen minutes, over twelve thousand disciples have arrived here, proving to the supreme leader of Tianxuan that although our Xuansha Sect is part of the demonic path, we still have so many loyal people!” The Xuansha Sect master bowed deeply to the thousands of disciples: “On behalf of all the sect’s ancestors, I thank you.” “We dare not accept such praise!” “Sect master, this is only what’s right!” “We swear to defend our sect’s dignity to the death!” The over ten thousand disciples gathered on the mountain top knelt down together. At this moment, united as one, their loyalty to their sect grew even stronger. Many wished they could drag Tian Yu, who was inside the hall as a guest, out and beat him up for looking down on their Xuansha Sect… Inside the hall, Su Che smiled, completely unfazed by their anger. As a disciple of Xuansha, one should act this way—even if they moved to the Immortal Prison in the future. Su Che had already decided that even if there were trillions of beings in the Immortal Prison world in the future, he wouldn’t establish any religious beliefs to persuade those beings to worship him. The future Immortal Prison world would be a completely free world, where countless beings could choose how to grow and develop. He wouldn’t interfere even if they wanted to establish their own sects, worship certain immortals, or adore certain gods. I am the Heavenly Dao, controlling everything—I don’t need anyone’s worship or belief. As the creator of a world, I am already supreme and should be above such things…

Thousands of disciples gathered at the mountain top, and outside the sect master’s hall, it was extremely lively. But inside the hall, only Su Che was alone, sipping tea. Or rather, it seemed like he was alone…

Suddenly, a voice rang in Su Che’s ear, “So, you mean you were one step ahead of me?”

Yu Qing!

It was indeed him!

Su Che smiled silently. He would never mistake Yu Qing’s voice.

On the table lay a set of extremely delicate tea sets, but there were only two teacups, both with their rims facing up.

Su Che picked up the teapot and poured tea into the empty cup across from him, then said with a smile, “Senior Yu Qing, it’s been a long time since we last drank tea together.”

A few moments later, Yu Qing appeared from his hidden state and sat down across from Su Che. He took a sip from his teacup and said, “The succession ceremony of the Tianxuan Sect must have been quite lively, right?”

“It was just so-so,” Su Che shook his head lightly. “If it weren’t for ulterior motives, I wouldn’t have made it such a grand affair.”

“Ulterior motives?”

Yu Qing began to ponder, lowering his gaze…

After several years apart, his appearance hadn’t changed much, but his cultivation level was now the same as Su Che’s—both at the early Yuan Ying stage. Moreover, Su Che could keenly sense that a faint demonic aura still lingered around him. Could it be that his demonic calamity hadn’t been completely resolved?

Su Che didn’t want to play tricks in front of him, so he said straightaway, “There’s no need to hide it from you. My plan is to secretly control the entire cultivation world of Qiyuan Star. So far, aside from those five super forces that didn’t go to the Tianxuan Sect to celebrate, the other twenty-three super sects are already under my control. Your guess was right, Senior—I did take control of the Xuansha Sect one step ahead of you.”

“So, Long Li, whom I killed just now, was already one of your subordinates?” Yu Qing frowned slightly.

“It doesn’t matter,” Su Che said with a smile. “Those so-called subordinates were all forcibly transformed. I have no feelings for them. Losing one or two won’t bother me.”

“That’s good,” Yu Qing nodded and smiled faintly. “It seems we’ve both changed a lot.”

“A little change isn’t a problem,” Su Che said earnestly. “As long as our positions don’t conflict. Senior Yu Qing, even if I had to go against the whole world, I wouldn’t fear it. But what worries me most is ending up on opposing sides from you.”

“I don’t want that either.”

Yu Qing’s arched eyebrows slightly rose—a habitual expression he used when forcing himself to relax. “Then let’s roughly discuss each other’s goals, so we can have a clear idea in advance and avoid conflicts down the road.”
“Okay, I’ll go first.”
Su Che took the initiative to speak. “For now, those people in the Spirit Realm are my greatest threat. I must prevent them at all costs from opening a passage to the lower world, which is why I’ve secretly taken control of the seven major sects in the Chaos Faction…”
Su Che believed that his efforts to stop the opening of the passage to the lower world were no longer a secret. Even if he didn’t say anything, Yu Qing’s wisdom would likely uncover it, so it was better to be honest.
It would be best to get a definite answer today as to whether they were enemies or friends.