Chapter 443: Su Che’s Shadow

From a distance of a thousand zhang away, Su Che used his spiritual sense to see that cave.
The stone walls of the underground labyrinth were covered with numerous holes, but in this area, there was only that solitary cave, which already seemed extremely unusual.
Before understanding the situation better, Su Che didn’t dare approach rashly. He stood at a distance of a thousand zhang and observed silently for a long time…
Yet, he sensed no danger at all, nor did he detect any form of energy inside the cave.
The Desolate God Rat had said that “a terrifying force filled it,” but Su Che didn’t feel anything like that at all.
“What’s going on? Could it be that only soul-based creatures can sense it?”
So, Su Che asked the Nether Ghost Emperor to select a Ghost Guard in the Qi Cultivation stage, erase all memories related to the Immortal Prison, and release it from there.
Normally, despite having some of its memories erased, this Ghost Guard should have obeyed Su Che’s orders. But as soon as it appeared, it froze mid-air, motionless.
Su Che deliberately gave it an order to flee in the opposite direction of the cave, but the Ghost Guard remained still.
In just a few breaths, it completely ignored Su Che’s command and flew toward the cave, entering it at a speed far beyond its normal flying capacity.
Su Che’s spiritual sense and Lao Hei’s detection abilities could only track it to a depth of over twenty zhang inside the cave before losing all contact with it.
It seemed as if it had been instantly swallowed by some force, disappearing without a trace.
And Su Che and Lao Hei couldn’t sense this force at all—this was the most eerie part.
The unknown is the most terrifying. Faced with such a situation, no matter how brave Su Che was, he wouldn’t recklessly dive into the cave to take risks.
Originally, Su Che’s plan was merely to take a look and figure out what kind of properties and characteristics the force mentioned by the Desolate God Rat had. After that, he would leave immediately to consult Tian Yin or Yu Qing about it.
Tian Yin was the reincarnation of a great shaman, while Yu Qing was even more mysterious. Both of them had been experienced figures in their past lives; perhaps they would know something about this kind of energy.
But now, neither he nor Lao Hei could detect anything, yet that cave could clearly swallow his ghost servant…

At that moment, Lao He was worried that Su Che might not be able to resist his curiosity and decide to enter the cave to explore. He hurriedly said, “Master, please don’t go in! I have a bad feeling… How about we come back and check in a while? Maybe it will create more Heavenly Ghosts. We can capture them alive and feed them to the Nether Ghost Emperor for fusion.”
“I wouldn’t go in even if you didn’t say anything. I’m not that stupid.”
Su Che thought to himself, “Perhaps we can’t sense it at all. That’s already a very obvious trait. If we tell Tian Yin or Yu Qing, they might be able to figure out the answer.”
“Yes, Master. Let’s leave this place quickly,” Lao He urged again. “I don’t know why, but my whole body is covered in goosebumps. I feel really bad.”
But Su Che wasn’t as nervous as Lao He. He continued, “Your idea earlier was quite good. We can feed it a few souls first. Soon, it’s likely to create more Heavenly Ghosts.”
For the Nether Ghost Emperor, the more Heavenly Ghosts it fused, the stronger his own body would become, allowing him to carry more soul energy to assist Su Che in battle.
So, Su Che gave instructions to the Nether Ghost Emperor in his mind, asking him to select a few deserving souls, erase their memories, and send them out of the Immortal Prison.
Just like before, as soon as these souls emerged, they flew into that cave in just a few breaths and disappeared without a trace.
“Let’s go, let’s go.”
Su Che stopped being stubborn and finally decided to leave.
“Thank goodness, thank goodness…” Lao He kept rejoicing that his master hadn’t gone in there. He kept urging softly, “Hurry up, let’s go…”
Su Che turned and left, following the markers he had made earlier to exit this enormous underground cave complex.
Along the way, everything went smoothly, with no more obstacles or dangers. Lao He’s heart, which had been in his throat, finally settled down.
However, even with Lao He’s extremely special detection ability, he failed to notice that as Su Che left, something completely transparent emerged from that mysterious cave—like a stealthy figure—following closely behind Su Che.
As Su Che moved forward, this figure got closer and closer. Before reaching halfway, it was already just an inch away from Su Che, almost clinging tightly to his back as it followed him along…
Neither Lao He nor Su Che sensed anything at all; they were completely unaware.

In the winding underground caves, Su Che walked on until he suddenly stopped and instinctively glanced back…
Of course, it was just an instinctive reaction, meaningless in reality, as the labyrinth was pitch black with no light—only his spiritual sense could help him see around. Even when he looked back, all he could see with his eyes was endless darkness.
The reason Su Che did this was simply because…
“Master, what’s wrong?” Lao He asked immediately.
“Nothing.”
Su Che shook his head and thought to himself, “I suddenly felt like something was following me, but I couldn’t see anything. It’s probably just stress—some psychological illusion.”
Lao He scanned the surroundings carefully but found nothing and replied, “There’s nothing, master. Nothing at all. But we’d better leave here quickly.”
Su Che nodded silently and continued on.
The shadow following closely behind him still moved in step with him…
“Strange…”
After walking for a while longer, Su Che shook his head and muttered, “I keep feeling like something is following me. This paranoid feeling used to happen to me when I was a child before becoming a patrol officer—just scaring myself. Since entering the realm of cultivation, it hasn’t happened again…”
Still, Su Che managed to exit the caves smoothly, once again seeing the blue sky and bright sunlight, without encountering any further dangers or obstacles.
But this was just on the surface. In reality, the moment Su Che stepped out of the caves, the invisible shadow following him vanished into his own shadow and disappeared completely.
From that moment on, Su Che no longer felt the strange sensation of something following him.
“The feeling under the sunlight is the best!”
Su Che took a deep breath and sighed. He definitely didn’t want to enter any underground caves again in the short term…
Under the sunlight, Su Che didn’t realize that his shadow had become slightly darker than usual. But since the change was so slight, no one would notice.
Besides, shadows change constantly with the surrounding light—too varied to describe, and any change is normal. Surely, no one in the world pays constant attention to their own shadow.
After reemerging into the daylight, Su Che first went to Wuji Gate and found Tian Yin, telling her about the characteristics of that mysterious cave.
“I don’t know.”

Tianyin shook her head and said, “I’ve never seen or heard of such a thing. The world is vast and full of wonders; no one can know everything… But since that cave is so strange and you’re currently in a critical phase of the great migration, it’s best not to provoke it.”
“Okay.”
Su Che nodded, exchanged a few words with her about the migration of the Wuji Sect, then took his leave.
He then sent a message to Yu Qing and arrived before him half an hour later.
He received almost the same answer to the same question.
Yu Qing also said, “I’m not sure. It sounds very strange. There are always some unsolved mysteries in the world. Unless necessary, it’s best not to try to solve them out of curiosity… If I were you, I’d stay away from it. Excessive curiosity isn’t a good thing.”
“Alright!”
Su Che made up his mind and humbly accepted the advice from Tianyin and Yu Qing. He decided to forget about that mysterious cave!
The shadows on the ground swayed slightly, as if saying, “I’m sorry, it’s already too late!”
After that, Su Che returned to Tianxuan Sect to continue overseeing the sect and constantly receiving messages from his subordinates, remotely directing the entire large-scale migration plan on Qiyuan Star.
During this time, Su Che also began the long journey of integrating the bones of the demon gods.
At the current integration rate, it took two days to fully integrate one bone of a demon god into his body. It was hard to say how long it would take to integrate millions of them.
As his cultivation strength improved and his understanding of the inheritance deepened, the integration speed would surely increase gradually. If it took two days to integrate one now, perhaps in a few years, he could integrate hundreds or even thousands in a single day…
Half a month passed…
One month passed…
Two months…
Powerful subordinates like Linfeng and Taixu would occasionally visit Tianxuan Sect. Along with their personal Dao instruments, they were taken by Su Che to the Immortal Prison. There, under Lao Hei’s instructions, they arranged towns, villages, countless creatures, and vegetation from the Dao instrument spaces in different locations within the Immortal Prison.
There were already over a million cultivators stationed in the Immortal Prison, ready to help countless beings rebuild their homes and cultivate fields for them.

This massive relocation truly broadened the eyes of the common people. A village with hundreds of households they lived in was completely moved away by celestial masters using powers that could move mountains and overturn seas. All the villagers simply needed to stand in the village or in their own yards to watch the spectacle, without having to abandon their ancestral homes or old houses…
Removing a village from the earth and placing it in a Dao instrument space carried around was something even Yuan Ying cultivators could do. Thus, the first group of people to be relocated were able to keep their homes.
The village remained the same, and the neighbors were still the same, but after the relocation, the fields outside the village, the landscape, and the environment were definitely completely different.