Chapter 454: Near Desperation

What kind of strength does one possess in the later stages of the tribulation? The disparity in strength was so vast that Su Che couldn’t even estimate just how powerful those in the later stages were. All he could be sure of was that there was no need for them to intervene—anyone in the early stages of the tribulation could easily eliminate the over twenty people in the Void Refinement stage present, as well as himself and Tianyin, leaving none to escape.

On top of that, Lin Feng’s father, Lord Lintian, was a renowned celestial lord in the Spirit Realm, just one step away from the Great Vehicle stage. How could he possibly escape against such a figure?

“The situation today… unless a miracle occurs, it seems…”
Su Che sighed inwardly, admitting that it wasn’t them underestimating him—it was him underestimating them. He had thought he could roam freely for decades before the return of the Witch God. But as soon as he stepped outside, they blocked his path, plunging him into utter desperation.

How could he overcome this predicament?

Fei Yun still had some residual power from her immortal essence, but over the past eight years, she had failed to find a way to cultivate it. She could only use the ordinary cultivation methods of the mortal world to merge her own true essence with the immortal essence, creating tiny amounts of immortal essence power—yet with little effect, showing no significant improvement. It was clear she was no match for those in the later stages of the tribulation. Even if she were to help, she would only be another casualty!

Use the Immortal Realm? Su Che knew well that any scheme was meaningless against overwhelming strength. The moment he took action, Lord Lintian could instantly kill him, leaving no chance to manipulate that intangible Immortal Realm.

Moreover, the Heart of the Sky-Devouring Rat hadn’t left Qi Yuan Star with Su Che. No matter how much he persuaded it, it refused to leave the Stormy Desolation of the Wasteland God Valley. It seemed to be guarding something or waiting for something there.

It was a pity it had no means of communication, so Su Che couldn’t uncover its secrets or figure out how to help it.

Before leaving Qiyuan Star, the giant heart had only given Su Che a hundred drops of the Demon God’s true blood, intended to help him better integrate the Demon God’s bones. At this moment, using these drops of Demon God’s true blood to deal with a super powerhouse in the later stages of tribulation transformation was extremely unrealistic. After all, Su Che had no idea how to simultaneously unleash the energy contained in those hundred drops.

Moreover, if he were to unleash all of them at once, even without anyone else attacking, Su Che himself would be blown to pieces by the immense energy…

Thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind, but Su Che still couldn’t figure out any way to resolve this crisis.

What to do?
What on earth should he do?

“I really can’t think of any good solution…” Old Black also sighed gloomily, “The master is right. In this situation, unless a miracle happens, it’s almost certain we’re doomed!”

Just as he was thinking this, a miracle occurred!

Unfortunately, it seemed this miracle belonged to the other side.

Huh! Huh! Huh!

Three more figures appeared beside Lord Lintian.

Seeing these three figures, Lin Feng, who had just regained his normal expression, turned pale with fear again and quickly sent a message to Su Che: “Master, this is bad! These three are all Heavenly Kings of the Spirit Realm, long-time friends of my father, all at the later stages of tribulation transformation.”

“What?”

Su Che’s emotions could no longer be described as shock: “Three more Heavenly Kings in the later stages of tribulation transformation?”

“It’s over, completely over.” In the Immortal Prison, Old Black was utterly despondent. He sat down on the ground, pounding it fiercely and cursing loudly, “One of us is already doomed, and now three more have arrived… Could it be that heaven really intends to exterminate my master’s family?”

Four Heavenly Kings, all in the later stages of tribulation transformation!

What’s going on?
Heaven wants to destroy me!

Su Che laughed in fury: “I never thought I had such influence that four Heavenly Kings would personally descend to the mortal world just for me. It’s a great honor to be valued so highly by Su!”

“That’s true. Just based on that, you indeed have reason to be proud,” Lord Lintian said with a smile, nodding slightly.

A gray-haired Heavenly King standing to his left then shouted, “Tian Yu, considering your innate talent, which is truly precious, and since we all value talent and can’t bear to see you die, we hope you’ll surrender and come with us to the Spirit Realm. From now on, if you cooperate willingly, you might still be able to save your life and continue your cultivation path.”

“Cooperate willingly?”

Su Che said with a smile, yet some doubts arose in his heart. He then asked loudly, “With the Four Heavenly Lords here, capturing me is just a matter of thought. Why waste words trying to persuade me to surrender? If you have the time, why not just act directly?”
The white-haired Heavenly Lord’s expression turned cold, and he shouted again, “I’m giving you a chance. You refuse it—stupid fool seeking your own death!”
“Huh?”
In the Immortal Prison, Lao Hei and the White Old Demon also grew suspicious: “So much nonsense usually means… it’s a sign of being strong on the surface but weak inside!”
“Could it be that these four are all fake, not real Heavenly Lords descending to the mortal world?”
For a moment, all three—master and servants—had such suspicions.
Such guesses suddenly filled Su Che and the others with boundless hope. It was very possible…
But as soon as hope emerged, it was shattered by ruthless reality.
Thousands of feet away, the other three Heavenly Lords glanced at Lord Lin Tian. Lord Lin Tian nodded lightly, slowly raised his right hand, and waved it casually in Su Che’s direction.
Whoosh…
An invisible force rushed toward them. As it approached within a hundred feet, it suddenly transformed into a translucent, sky-covering giant hand, reaching out to capture Su Che and the others.
The hand descended slowly, but with each instant, it emitted tens of millions of imperceptible, mysterious tremors.
Buzz buzz buzz…
These tremors created an invisible field that enveloped hundreds of miles of space. Not only Su Che and the others but also the bearded cultivator Tai Hong and over twenty other Void Refining cultivators behind them became stiff and unable to move.
At this moment, time seemed to stand still. Su Che and the others felt as if they had even lost the ability to breathe. Let alone using supernatural powers to resist—it was extremely difficult even to move their eyes.
“Amazing… terrifying!”
Su Che felt as if his thoughts and consciousness were frozen and restrained. The quick thinking he once had had now turned him into a slow, rigid fool.
Was this the true strength of a Heavenly Lord in the later stages of tribulation in the spiritual realm?
A mere grab, and there’s no resistance possible.
With his thoughts controlled and his mind slowed down by tens of thousands of times, what means could he possibly use to resist?
At this moment, Su Che didn’t even have time to employ any self-saving tactics. He could only watch helplessly as the giant hand descended, ready to capture them all.
“It’s over!”

Lao Hei, though inside the Immortal Prison, was not affected. Yet he could sense the situation his master was facing at that moment: “The disparity in strength is too great; there’s no chance of luck. This time, we’re truly doomed!”
The sky-covering hand slowly descended, only a few dozen feet away from Su Che and the others. With its fingers closed, it could engulf them all…
At this nearly desperate moment, Su Che’s shadow suddenly disappeared—once again!
In this region of the galaxy, hundreds of millions of miles away, there was another sun burning fiercely—the very red sun that usually illuminated Wu Huang Star.
The sunlight shone directly down. Though it couldn’t illuminate the entire starry sky, it still created strong shadows. Thus, everyone’s shadow cast on their flying talismans was extremely clear.
But at this moment, Su Che’s shadow was truly gone. Yet, in such a critical situation, no one had the leisure to notice this.
The sky-covering hand was already half-closed. In the next instant, it could swallow Su Che and the others up, but it suddenly stopped abruptly.
Whoosh!
It halted abruptly!
The invisible oppressive force also vanished instantly, allowing Su Che and the others to regain their mobility.
“Your shadow…”
After breaking free, Tian Yin was the first to notice that Su Che’s shadow had disappeared again, so he quickly sent a message to warn him.
Su Che looked down and indeed, his shadow was gone!
At that moment, when he glanced at the four Lords of Lin Tian across from him, he saw their figures flickering and shaking strangely, as if the reflections in a mirror were disturbed by external forces, causing distortions and flickers…
“Projections!”
Lin Feng and Jing Lan Shan, along with their three other subordinates at the Refining Void stage, suddenly realized what was happening and reported to Su Che, “Master, these four Lords of Lin Tian haven’t come to the cultivation world in their true forms. These are just their projections.”
“Projections?”
Su Che asked in confusion, “Do you mean the Great Projection Art, one of the Three Thousand Great Paths?”
“That’s right!”
Lin Feng replied, clearly excited, “I’ve only heard that with this great art, one can create a projected body hundreds of millions of miles away, or even across realms. It’s said that depending on the mastery of this art, the strength of the projected body should be between 10% and 50% of the original body’s strength.”
“Did your father, Lord of Lin Tian, know this great art?” Su Che asked further.
“He didn’t,” Lin Feng replied, shaking his head. “I don’t know how their projections are created, but their true forms must still be in the Spirit Realm.”
“Projected bodies…”

Su Che nodded slightly, his gaze fixed on the four people led by Lord Lintian, who were thousands of feet away. At this moment, their figures had become much fainter, as if some force was sucking away their energy, causing instability and massive loss of energy. The expressions on Lord Lintian and his companions were also extremely tense; they had no time to focus on capturing Su Che and the others, as they were desperately trying to stabilize their own energy and prevent further loss of projected energy. “Is something eating away at our projected bodies?” After all, they were all superpowers in the later stages of tribulation, so Lord Lintian and his companions were not panicked but instead searched the surroundings with confusion… Nothing, there was nothing at all! In the void where the four of them were, no unusual things could be found…