Chapter 441: The Ghost Rat

Something was emerging from that pile of bone fragments. Su Che was extremely tense, on high alert…
Whoosh!
A small head appeared among the debris—a blood-red head with dark red eyes…
Soon, its somewhat plump, round blood-red body was fully revealed—it was a giant red rat.
Not including its tail, its body alone was over ten feet long. If not for its blood-red color, which made it look terrifying, its chubby, clumsy appearance might have even been quite cute.
But Su Che knew this could never be a cute creature; it might pose a great danger to him.
“Squeak… squeak…”
The giant red rat stared at Su Che and made a few noises.
Su Che remained motionless, as he had no idea what it meant.
“Squeak… squeak…”
Its dark red eyes darted around, as if examining him from head to toe.
Buzz…
Su Che deliberately activated his Power of Destruction, emitting a faint hum to warn it, “I am the heir of the Power of the Heaven-Devouring Rat. If you are its skeletal guardian, then there should be no conflict between us, right?”
“Squeak!”
This time, the giant red rat suddenly let out a shrill scream and rushed at Su Che at an incredible speed, almost as fast as light.
“Ah! This is…”
Su Che didn’t have time to dodge. A flash of panic crossed his mind before it pounced on him.
Though panicked, Su Che still thought the protective layer of Power of Destruction covering his body would effectively block it. But unexpectedly, instead of working, it seemed to have the opposite effect—sucking the huge rat entirely into his body in an instant.
“A ghost has possessed it!”
Su Che was shocked and realized that this rat, though seemingly solid, was actually in a spiritual form. It had managed to deceive his senses and Lao Hei’s detection abilities.
It was too late to say anything now. The ghost in rat form had successfully possessed him. All that remained was to hope that the Soul-Calming effect of the Immortal Prison Pagoda could drive it away, suppress it, or even trap it inside the Immortal Prison.
“Master, don’t worry. With the Immortal Prison here, no one can possess your body,” Lao Hei said confidently, as such situations were precisely when his role became crucial.

Back in the day, when Su Che was still in the Foundation Establishment stage, he encountered the Great Array of Ten Thousand Ghosts in the Jinghun Bell Market within the Ten Thousand Ghosts Sect. The souls of hundreds of cultivators at that stage were devoured by countless evil ghosts, while Lao He took advantage of the situation to capture thousands of souls as easily as picking fruits. So today, with both Su Che and Immortal Prison having grown significantly, could they handle such a rat-like ghost?

“Squeak squeak squeak…” After successfully possessing him, the rat-like ghost rushed into Su Che’s mind, searching everywhere for his soul. It was still unclear whether it had malicious intentions to seize his body or some other scheme. However, after searching thoroughly, it couldn’t find Su Che’s soul. Anxious, the ghost kept squeaking frantically as it darted around in Su Che’s mind.

Buzz… A black pagoda appeared out of nowhere, suddenly blocking the rat-like ghost’s path.

“Squeak squeak squeak…” Finally seeing something in this otherwise empty mental space, the ghost seemed greatly pleased and rushed headlong toward the black pagoda.

“It seems this rat-like ghost is only strong in power but lacks wisdom—far inferior to those eight heavenly ghosts earlier,” Su Che observed calmly through mental introspection. The more things happened within his own body, the less Su Che needed to worry about; Lao He would handle it.

“Little rat!” Lao He’s loud voice suddenly rang out, “I’ve had a lot to do with rats in my life, so you’d better come over obediently!” As he spoke, a translucent giant hand emerged from the black pagoda—much larger than the rat-like ghost, likely big enough to capture it in one move. Yet the ghost’s combat instincts were sharp; it instantly teleported away and then shot two red beams from its eyes at Immortal Prison Pagoda.

“Huh?” Lao He was taken aback and laughed, “Little thing, you’re quite smart. You even know to attack the pagoda itself instead of my illusory hand.”

Whoosh! Whoosh! The two red beams struck Immortal Prison Pagoda instantly. Buzz… The pagoda simply rotated half a turn and easily deflected them, as if it were just being tickled. Immortal Prison handled it effortlessly, but Su Che grew anxious. After all, it was those very red beams that had turned one of his Golden Core cultivators to ashes. Now, with the rat-like ghost inside his mind, if it kept firing such beams around, might it destroy his own head as well…

Hiss hiss hiss hiss…
The rat ghost kept teleporting around, simultaneously firing those destructive red beams at the Immortal Prison Pagoda. It seemed to know that Su Che’s soul must be hidden within this pagoda; if it could shatter it, the soul would surely appear.
“Not bad, not bad—quite powerful indeed,” Old Black laughed heartily, as if this were his own game, and now it was his turn to play.
Su Che carefully sensed the red light emitted by the rat ghost. After a while, he finally understood: “So this is the true power of destruction. My own Destruction Fist was used in such a clumsy manner—the attack lacked focus, resulting in massive waste of energy… But how can one use one’s eyes to emit such destructive light?”
At this thought, Su Che became envious. Imagine—if his own eyes could emit destructive light, he could kill enemies with just a glance. What an amazing feeling that would be…
…
Old Black continued to battle the rat ghost back and forth. His two translucent hands, like arms growing from the Immortal Prison Pagoda, swayed rapidly, trying to capture the rat ghost.
The rat ghost also kept firing destructive beams, determined not to stop until the pagoda was shattered. At the same time, it kept teleporting, skillfully dodging Old Black’s hands.
In fact, Old Black wasn’t limited to this clumsy method of capture. He wanted to capture it alive to uncover the true secrets of the Sky-Devouring Rat’s burial site. For now, he didn’t want to use the pagoda’s refining power to turn it into nothingness.
Moreover, both Su Che and Old Black guessed that since this rat ghost appeared in the burial site, it must have some connection to the Sky-Devouring Rat, so they couldn’t simply kill it.
After a long struggle, Su Che noticed that the destructive light emitted by the rat ghost always hit the Immortal Prison Pagoda accurately, not scattering around as he had feared—otherwise, it might have destroyed his own head. This showed that it didn’t want to harm his physical body; its target was only his soul…
“Take over my body and be reborn?”
Su Che began to ponder various possibilities: “Could this be a plan set up by the Sky-Devouring Rat all along? Becoming its successor isn’t just a lie—it’s to trick me into handing over my body so it can take over and return to the world?”
As soon as this idea arose, he dismissed it immediately.

“It can’t be! You have to know how powerful its heart is—even now, it could easily take care of me. Why go to such trouble?”
With various suspicions in mind, Su Che silently watched as Lao He captured the mouse spirit. Suddenly…
With a whoosh, the Immortal Prison Pagoda instantly sprouted dozens of thick arms, with dozens of giant hands reaching out to grab the mouse spirit.
Throughout that entire time, the mouse spirit had been fighting against Lao He’s two hands, developing the misconception that the pagoda only had two arms. Now, faced with dozens of grasping hands, it was momentarily stunned, seemingly unsure where to teleport to avoid them.
Taking advantage of this brief moment, one of the giant hands snatched it up in an instant. With a whoosh, it was dragged straight into the Immortal Prison without pause.
“Haha, little fool! Who told you I only have two hands?”
Lao He’s triumphant laughter echoed in Su Che’s ears.
At first, Lao He had deliberately delayed things to deceive the enemy, creating the illusion that he only had two hands. Once the right opportunity arose, he could transform into dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of arms.
“If I didn’t use a little trick, this little thing would really be hard to catch,” Lao He laughed. “Master, look! It’s already inside the Immortal Prison, yet it still refuses to behave.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh…
The mouse spirit, trapped in the first layer of the Immortal Prison, though its strength was suppressed a hundredfold, still possessed the ability to teleport. It began scurrying around and teleporting haphazardly within the prison.
As the ruler of this space, how could Lao He allow such chaos? With a mere thought, he could use the power of the Immortal Prison to pull it right in front of him from anywhere.
“Little thing, what exactly do you want?” Instead of speaking aloud, Lao He communicated with it through telepathy and could also read its thoughts.
“Squeak squeak squeak squeak…”
The mouse spirit continued to squeak chaotically. Su Che didn’t know whether Lao He could discern its thoughts.
“Master, its thoughts are very simple. It just desires to have a body—one that has inherited the power of the Heaven-Devouring Rat,” Lao He reported. “Other than that, its mind is completely blank, as pure as a sheet of paper, with only instincts for survival and combat. It doesn’t even know how it came into existence.”

“It needs a body, one that has inherited the power of the Sky-Devouring Rat… Its mind is completely blank…”
Su Che’s heart stirred, and he immediately said, “Don’t we have just such a body here?”