Chapter 438: Strange Ghosts

Su Che had clearly put those three Yuan Ying-stage subordinates in the Immortal Prison to protect them. So why did he release more than a dozen Zhu Ji-stage prisoners instead?
Su Che believed that these Zhu Ji-stage prisoners were the real scapegoats!
The dark red ghosts in the underground labyrinth had an unimaginable ability to possess others, making them extremely terrifying. Since he couldn’t think of a way to counter their possession tactics for now, there was no need to sacrifice his Yuan Ying-stage subordinates needlessly. It was better to let them possess these Zhu Ji-stage scapegoats.
These Zhu Ji-stage prisoners had also been subjected to soul slavery, leaving no possibility of escape. Moreover, as they were only at the Zhu Ji stage, even if possessed by those ghosts, they wouldn’t be able to exert much strength.
Su Che could come up with such a strategy in such a short time—his thinking and reaction speed were truly remarkable. Indeed, this approach made sense.
Yet even so, Su Che underestimated the intelligence of these ghosts. They let out eerie cackling noises, completely ignoring those Zhu Ji-stage scapegoats, as if mocking Su Che’s naive idea.
The other six ghosts arrived almost simultaneously, surrounding Su Che from all directions, clearly vying to possess him.
Su Che was secretly nervous but neither avoided nor dodged. His confidence came from having two safeguards: first, his intuition that the Power of Destruction would be useful; second, the Immortal Prison suppressing their souls, which made possession by spirit artifacts extremely unlikely.
Huh…
The six ghosts rushed at him all at once, indistinguishable in sequence. But…
Boom, boom, boom, boom…
Though formless, they seemed like six giant elephants crashing into an impregnable wall, producing deafening noises.
The thin layer of Power of Destruction surrounding Su Che’s body acted as that unshakable wall, blocking all six ghosts and sending them flying dozens of feet away.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh…”
The six ghosts screeched in confusion, seemingly unable to understand why this happened.
At the same time, Su Che thought to Lao He, “Hundreds of years ago, that old monkey and his eleven friends went on an expedition. Three escaped alive, while eight died here… Could these eight ghosts be their transformed souls?”

“Most likely, that’s the case,” Lao He replied in a deep voice. “Within this underground labyrinth, there must be some unknown and peculiar forces at work—it’s not just a simple burial ground for the Sky-Devouring Rats. Master, should we retreat for now and bring Lin Feng here? With his assistance, our chances of success will be even higher.”
“No need.”
Su Che immediately rejected the idea. “This place is extremely eerie. I feel that even if Lin Feng were here, he would suffer a great loss. I don’t want to lose another subordinate at the Refinement Void stage for nothing.”
Su Che thought that despite Lin Feng’s cultivation at the Refinement Void stage, being in the burial ground of the Sky-Devouring Rats, his strength might not be as effective as his own Destruction Power.
“We can’t retreat just like this!”
Su Che was determined. “I won’t become timid just because I have a few subordinates. I won’t think of retreating at the slightest difficulty and send them to take risks. No, I won’t choose such a path of growth.”
“Yes,” Lao He nodded. “Master makes sense.”
The master and his subordinate exchanged thoughts at lightning speed. Meanwhile, the two Yuan Ying subordinates that had already been possessed by ghosts let out beast-like roars and attacked Su Che.
Perhaps because they had just taken possession and couldn’t fully control those bodies, they couldn’t unleash any magical spells. Their attacks were merely pure energy projection—simple, direct, but limited in power.
Even so, Su Che didn’t want to engage in a pointless fight. He immediately activated his top-grade Dao artifact, the flying sword, to dodge, while simultaneously unleashing dozens of Destruction Fists to attack the six ghosts that hadn’t been possessed.
Since they couldn’t penetrate the protective layer created by the Destruction Power, might attacks using the same energy type be effective?
Boom, boom, boom…
The two ghosts closest to him didn’t have time to dodge. Their seemingly formless phantom bodies were struck hard by the Destruction Power. The other four ghosts reacted quickly, teleporting far away to avoid the attacks.
“Ughhh…”
The two struck ghosts let out agonizing screams, seemingly feeling pain as well.
“It works!”
Su Che was delighted. “I knew it—here, the Destruction Power will definitely be useful.”
Snap, snap, snap…
Su Che dodged the attacks of the two possessed ghosts while continuously striking the other six with his Destruction Fists.
“Waaah…”

Eerie screams filled the underground labyrinth. The two ghosts attacking Su Che roared like thunder, while the shrieks of the six ghosts under Su Che’s attack were utterly terrifying… In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Destruction Fists were thrown, with each ghost taking at least a dozen hits.

“Master, these attacks are indeed effective,” Lao He reported cheerfully. “I can sense that the ghost that took the most hits has become noticeably fainter.”

“Is that so?”

Su Che was also energized. Lao He’s detection abilities were far more precise than those of cultivators in certain aspects. At least at this moment, Su Che himself found it difficult to discern any changes in those six ghosts. Since it worked, they should continue!

Boom, boom, boom… After hundreds more consecutive punches from the Destruction Fists, Su Che could even determine through his own divine sense that one of the ghosts’ dark red figure had indeed faded significantly. This indicated that the power of destruction might eventually reduce it to nothingness.

Suddenly, Lao He said, “Master, don’t kill them. Is it possible to capture them alive?”

“Why do you want to capture them alive?” Su Che asked.

“Just now, I had an idea. Since these ghosts are of the ghostly kind, I wondered if they might be useful to the Nether Ghost Emperor.”

Lao He replied, “So, I sent their images to the Nether Ghost Emperor. He took just one look and was overjoyed, saying they would be extremely beneficial to him…”

Hearing this, Su Che immediately divided his attention. While continuing to fight the ghosts, he focused his thoughts on the Nether Ghost Realm on the second floor of the Immortal Prison and asked, “Nether, what benefits will these ghosts bring you?”

“Master, these are all Heavenly Ghosts!” the Nether Ghost Emperor replied excitedly. “They’re supposed to be Heavenly Ghosts that should never appear in the mortal world!”

As he spoke, the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl in his mind appeared, and he added, “If I merge these Heavenly Ghosts with myself, I can truly combine them with the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl. Then I can absorb any amount of ghostly power. As long as there are enough spirits in the Ghost Realm, I might even be able to gather enough power to rival a great cultivator at the Refining Void stage…”

The Nether Ghost Emperor was utterly loyal to Su Che and had long felt ashamed for his weak strength, unable to help his master. So, faced with such good news, he was so excited that he could hardly speak coherently.

With the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl, the Ghost Emperor could theoretically borrow the soul powers of all spirits in the Nether Ghost Realm temporarily, amplifying his strength by hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times.

But due to his extremely limited capacity, despite possessing a wonder like the “Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl,” he couldn’t fully utilize its true power. At present, even with the immense spiritual energy temporarily borrowed from the Nether Ghost Emperor, his strongest strength was still only at the late Golden Core stage—far too weak to leave the Immortal Prison to help Su Che fight the enemies.

Yet now, the Nether Ghost Emperor suggested that if he could devour those eight external Heavenly Ghosts, he would gain a true Heavenly Ghost body that could merge closely with the Pearl, potentially allowing his capacity to hold spiritual energy to become almost infinite. If there were tens of millions of spirits in the Nether Ghost Realm, and at a critical moment the Emperor could gather all of their spiritual energy into himself, he might achieve a power surpassing the Transcendent God stage and rivaling the Refining Void stage!

“Great!” Su Che exclaimed inwardly. Such good news was not only exciting for the Nether Ghost Emperor but also a huge surprise for him as well. If things could go as the Nether Ghost Emperor said, it meant he would have two subordinates at the Refining Void stage—Lin Feng and the Ghost Emperor—along with factors like Fei Yun and the Mi Xian Realm, which should be enough to protect himself against three or five Refining Void-level beings from the Spirit Realm.

“Those eight Heavenly Ghosts must be captured alive!” At this moment, Su Che’s gaze toward them had completely changed, as if he were staring at a vast fortune…

As for why they had mutated into Heavenly Ghosts—beings that shouldn’t exist in the mortal world—inside this underground labyrinth was something that needed to be explored later.

“But how can I capture them alive?” Su Che had reduced the frequency of his punches and weakened the power of his Destruction Force, fearing he might injure the ghosts before capturing them.

Boom! Suddenly, a powerful strike came at him. Although Su Che had weakened his attack, one of the possessed spirits seemed to have taken control of the body, wielding an intermediate-grade Dao artifact—a octagonal war hammer—that emitted dazzling light as it rushed toward Su Che.

The attack was extremely sudden, and Su Che’s position was restricted by several other spirits, leaving him with little room to dodge. If it had been just a gust of energy, he could have dodged easily, but now facing the divine power unleashed by the intermediate-grade Dao artifact, he could only rely on his own defenses.

Buzz… A bronze bell appeared above Su Che’s head, its design somewhat similar to the Bell of Heavenly Sounds.

It is a top-tier defensive Dao artifact. Su Che felt it was similar to the Bell of Heavenly Sound, which is why he chose it as a temporary defensive treasure. In the future, once he regained his wealth and could even upgrade it, it would still be his top choice.

Dang!

A clear bell sound resounded throughout the area, completely blocking the attack from the ghost. The power of a mid-tier offensive Dao artifact was not enough to penetrate the defenses of a top-tier one. Su Che remained unharmed, but he was still quite troubled.

Because…

Dang!

Another bell sound came as another possessed ghost took control of the body just a moment later and launched a fierce attack at Su Che.

The ghost also wielded a mid-tier Dao artifact—ones that Su Che had generously given to his subordinates to enhance their ability to protect him. Now, they had instead become powerful weapons against him…