Chapter 451: Mid-Stage Yuan Ying

The tens of millions of miles of star journey that followed were extremely smooth, without any further setbacks, and those strange shadows didn’t appear to cause trouble either.
After arriving at Wu Huang Star, Su Che greeted the several elders of the Wu Huang tribe before flying out alone and landing on the plain, waiting quietly for Tian Yin’s message.
Before long, Tian Yin appeared before him, shook her head slightly at Su Che, and transmitted a message: “They don’t know either.”
What this meant was that Su Che had deliberately left alone earlier so that Tian Yin could ask the tribe elders if they knew anything about the supernatural abilities related to those shadows.
Such matters had to be kept secret from one’s own shadow—it was best not to let it know that one was trying every means to deal with it.
Although he received a negative answer now, Su Che wasn’t disappointed; in fact, it was within expectations. After all, if even the great shaman Tian Yin didn’t know something, it was normal for just a tribe elder to be unaware.
Since Wu Huang Star was still under the blockade of the Five Elements Star Locking Formation, sunlight couldn’t penetrate. Throughout the planet, there was only a dim, diffused light created by the Wu tribe using special methods. The shadows on the ground were very faint, but it was still possible to see that Su Che’s shadow was darker than Tian Yin’s.
To avoid his shadow causing embarrassing situations again, Tian Yin had to stay far away from Su Che. After landing on Wu Huang Star, the distance between them remained at over ten zhang.
It had to be said that this was also quite puzzling…
But for now, neither Su Che nor Tian Yin had any way to solve this problem.
The question was: What can you do to your own shadow?
Tie it up? Lock it away? Get rid of it?
Obviously, none of these were possible!
Several days passed in this tense atmosphere, but surprisingly, everything remained calm, and Su Che’s shadow never caused any trouble again. Gradually, Su Che and Tian Yin got used to it and began to cultivate or busy themselves with their own tasks…
As for Su Che, aside from regular cultivation and continuously integrating more Demon God Bones, construction was in full swing within the Immortal Prison. Unlike the demolition efforts on Qi Yuan Star earlier, the Immortal Prison was filled with construction and creation everywhere.
In his spare time from cultivation, Su Che would occasionally work with Lao He to use his mental power to create the natural environment of the Immortal Prison world.

The location of Tianxuanzong is at the very heart of the Immortal Prison World. The appearance of its mountain gates remains similar to before—composed of continuous mountains—but the overall layout is more rational. The position of each peak is carefully chosen, and together, these thousands of peaks form a natural grand formation. Combined with the protective mountain formation, its defensive capabilities are even greater than before.

Normally, in the Immortal Prison World, Tianxuanzong wouldn’t need any defensive formations to protect its gates. With Su Che and Lao He, the two supreme guardians representing the laws of the Immortal Prison World, no one could do anything harmful to Tianxuanzong.

However, Su Che didn’t want them to know too much about the Immortal Prison World, nor did he want Tianxuanzong’s disciples to develop a carefree sense of dependence, losing their sense of crisis and urgency.

Without pressure, there is no progress. The situation of twenty-eight super sects and forces competing and restraining each other on Qiyuan Star would continue in the Immortal Prison World as well. Su Che wouldn’t let Tianxuanzong unify the entire cultivation realm; he would only let it become the strongest sect.

After all, there was really no need for a grand unification. The entire Immortal Prison World belonged to him, so it made no difference to him. But for the tens of millions of cultivators within it, a competitive relationship was the healthiest and most rational way to survive.

As for those three cultivators at the Lingxu stage, they had been locked up alone somewhere in the Immortal Prison Space. Their injuries were not treated, and their Yuan Ying was completely sealed.

These three were true cultivators at the mid-Lingxu stage, far different from that fake mid-stage cultivator from before. Their cultivation strength surpassed Su Che’s by two major realms and seven minor levels. For now, it was impossible to transform their souls, so they could only be suppressed in this way.

In other words, if Su Che wanted to turn them into his loyal servants, he needed to advance to the mid-Yuan Ying stage as soon as possible.

Just like that, two months passed in the blink of an eye. One day, as Su Che woke up from cultivation, he found that his shadow was gone—completely vanished!

Under the light in his cave, there was nothing at his feet, no trace of his shadow at all.

For a person to have no shadow was undoubtedly an extremely strange feeling, as if a part of his body was missing…

“Without a shadow, am I still me?”

Su Che instinctively touched his chest, arms, cheeks—everything was completely normal, truly present. The few subordinates released from the Immortal Prison could also see that he truly existed before them, but they had no shadows.
Strange!
Was there anything stranger in this world?
“What kind of divine power or spell caused this?” Su Che was utterly puzzled.
Since he couldn’t figure it out, he decided not to think about it. At least he was still alive.
So, after today’s training, Su Che’s thoughts turned once again to the Immortal Prison, helping Old Black build mountains, rivers, forests, grasslands, and vast farmlands to sustain hundreds of millions of people…
When training ended the next day, Su Che opened his eyes and immediately noticed that his shadow had returned!
“It’s back?” Su Che said in a dull, helpless voice.
The shadow on the ground even nodded.
“Where did you go off to? I feel like you’ve gotten darker…” Su Che asked softly.
This time, the shadow showed no reaction again; it followed Su Che’s every move, its movements returning to normal.
“Sigh!”
Other than a sigh, Su Che didn’t know what else to do.
Tian Yin was right—he had encountered some strange things…
Two months later, his shadow disappeared again, but it returned the next day, clearly darker this time.
Another two months passed, and the same thing happened again.
Although Su Che couldn’t figure out why it did this, he was sure it wasn’t for good—likely it had infiltrated someone else’s shadow to steal or plunder something from them.
Life? Soul? Energy within the body?
Who knows…
…
On Witch Yellow Star, eight years passed peacefully and safely. This time, Tian Yin advanced to the middle stage of Yuan Ying half a month earlier than Su Che. Whether it was Su Che deliberately letting her do so or not, once she advanced, Su Che then entered seclusion to advance as well, emerging successfully in just half a month.
Middle stage of Yuan Ying!
The first thing to do after reaching the middle stage of Yuan Ying was to send those three Refining Void cultivators who had been “severely injured” for eight years to the fourth floor of the Immortal Prison for soul transformation. In less than ten hours, all three were transformed.
Old Black was right—so long as the gap between realms didn’t exceed two major levels and six minor levels, soul transformation would be extremely easy and smooth.

After the transformation was complete, these three unfortunate subordinates at the Refining Void stage were finally allowed to have their injuries treated. Eight years of suffering were indeed a truly unbearable experience.

After advancing and emerging from seclusion, Su Che stood before Tian Yin. However, what Tian Yin focused on was not his appearance or cultivation level, but rather the shadow beneath his feet.

Under the dimly diffused light of Wu Huang Star, everyone’s shadow was very faint, except for Su Che’s, which was pitch black—so dark it was terrifying. Even a fool could tell it was extremely abnormal.

Feeling Tian Yin’s gaze, Su Che shook his head with a bitter smile. “Yes, it’s getting worse and worse.”

“It’s okay,” Tian Yin whispered telepathically. “At least it hasn’t hurt you yet.”

“Yes,” Su Che nodded in reply. “I’ve already gotten used to it and become numb. Let it be. Sooner or later, the truth will come to light.”

Tian Yin silently observed the changes in Su Che after his advancement. After a moment, she said softly, “I’m quite sure it’s no match for you.”

Su Che grinned, not feigning modesty, as it was an obvious fact. Although both of them were at the mid-Yuan Ying stage, over these eight years, Su Che had fused more than 15,000 pieces of Demon God bones, making his Destruction Art extremely powerful. He was confident that a single punch unleashed by him could reduce any late-Yuan Ying cultivator to ashes.

And this was only with over 15,000 pieces of Demon God bones. If he were to fuse a million pieces, Su Che couldn’t even imagine how powerful his Destruction Art would become.

It was a pity that his understanding of the power of destruction hadn’t improved much. He still hadn’t mastered that destructive light emitted from the Desolate God Rat; he could only unleash it through crude energy techniques.

Perhaps he needed to fuse more Demon God bones and receive more inheritances to truly master this power?

“In the blink of an eye, eight years have passed…”

Su Che murmured, “I wonder what kind of place Qi Yuan Star has become now. What have those people in the Spirit Realm done during this time?”

Eight years later, Su Che’s strength had grown significantly. Besides his personal improvement, he now had four powerful subordinates at the mid-Refining Void stage, as well as a Desolate God Rat that was at least at the late Transcending God stage.

With factors like Feiyun and Mianxianjing, there should be no force in the cultivation realm capable of harming Su Che. Even in over a year when he heads to Mulan Star to meet up with the Master of Juechen Valley again, Su Che is full of confidence and unafraid.
Tianyin, having heard him talk about the “Master of Juechen Valley” on Mulan Star, asked, “Are we leaving now?”
“Yes!” Su Che nodded. “Living so comfortably on Wuhuang Star for these eight years has made my bones weak. It’s time to travel around and visit all the nearby cultivation planets. I just don’t know if they’ve suffered the calamity of the Master of Juechen Valley’s corruption.”
Su Che plans to find the Master of Juechen Valley and fulfill his promise from years ago, then, among the vast stars, search for the Wu clan’s inhabited planets with Tianyin to amass wealth and strengthen his Immortal Prison World.