Chapter 467: The Stubborn Shadow

Climbing towering mountains step by step, even with unlimited stamina, it would still take most of a day. During this time, Su Che’s shadow remained extremely calm, walking slowly beside him, unhurried and composed, which greatly reassured Su Che. To avoid alerting anyone, Su Che kept his consciousness sealed, relying solely on Lao Hei’s detection abilities to ensure they wouldn’t be noticed by those at the Refining Void stage.

Finally, they arrived at the Holy Shadow Heavenly Palace. At the summit stood a vast complex of buildings. Before entering the outermost hall, Lao Hei said, “Master, as expected, there are many experts here. In that side hall to the left, dozens of beings at the Transcending Gods stage and five at the Refining Void stage are gathered together, seemingly holding some kind of coronation ceremony for a woman at the Nascent Soul stage.”

“Five at the Refining Void stage…” Su Che nodded inwardly. “If it weren’t for having heard Ying Wanqi’s detailed description, I might have thought this was the Spirit Realm rather than the Cultivation Realm.”

“Yes,” Lao Hei chuckled. “I had the same feeling the moment I saw them.”

By now, the three of them had reached the hall’s door, ten zhang high. From here onward, all Shadow Clan pilgrims entering the hall had to kneel and bow three times every three steps. After getting up, they would take three more steps, kneel again, and bow three times more—repeating this cycle to show their devotion.

To be honest, Su Che would feel extremely frustrated doing this. No matter how great that “Holy Shadow Immortal” might be, he wasn’t greater than Su Che. Why should he bow to him? But since this mission was to fulfill his shadow’s needs, he could only force himself to endure this frustration.

The problem was, Su Che could endure it, but his shadow couldn’t…

In front of the hall door, when Su Che and Ying Wanqi knelt for the first time, they saw that the shadow remained a foot above the ground, motionless. Within dozens of zhang around them, everyone was kneeling, yet it stood tall—extremely conspicuous.

“What are you doing…?”

Su Che was instantly annoyed. He thought to himself, “For your sake, I, the Lord of the Immortal Prison, have to lower myself by three zhang, while you stand out like a crane among chickens, your presence still so extraordinary.”

Su Che quickly waved at his shadow, signaling it to consider the bigger picture and endure for now. The dead came first—kneeling a few times for someone who was already gone didn’t matter much…

But the shadow ignored him completely, not even bending its waist slightly.

In just these brief moments, its unusual behavior successfully attracted the attention of all the Shadow Clan members around, including dozens of guards from the Holy Shadow Heavenly Palace. With that, Su Che saw no need to pretend to be pious any longer; he simply stood up, standing as straight as a shadow. Share hardships together and face them together. What else could they do…?

“Ullala…”

Immediately, several guards rushed forward, pointing at Su Che and the shadow and shouting loudly. Even though Su Che still couldn’t understand the language of the Shadow Clan, he could guess that they were surely scolding them for their extreme disrespect and ordering them to kneel and pay homage right away.

“Master…”

Ying Wanqi looked troubled, wanting to convey something to Su Che through telepathy, but thinking that it was too late to say anything now. They had agreed beforehand to infiltrate the Holy Shadow Heavenly Palace, but their current actions clearly showed they intended to attack forcefully, with no intention of “infiltrating” at all.

“Ying Wanqi, don’t stand up. Just stay hidden in the crowd and observe,” Su Che hurriedly instructed him telepathically.

Ying Wanqi’s strength was too low. If a fight broke out, even a slight collision would result in his death. It was safest for him to continue pretending to be a pious member of the Shadow Clan.

Chirping and shouting—there were no longer just the shouts of those guards. The Shadow Clan pilgrims kneeling on the ground were also loudly condemning Su Che and the shadow, saying such extreme disrespect deserved immediate capture and imprisonment for reform…

Those guards only had the Golden Core cultivation level, and the pilgrims around them also had low cultivation levels, posing no threat to Su Che and the shadow. But the problem was that if they continued to delay like this, it would surely alert the group of great cultivators at the coronation ceremony in the side hall, who were at the Divine Transformation and Void Refinement stages, just dozens of feet away.

“Maybe we should retreat first and find another way to get in?” Su Che transmitted to the shadow.

The shadow showed no reaction, remaining motionless.

Ullala…

The guards, armed with identical halberd magic weapons, stepped forward, clearly ready to punish Su Che and the shadow.

Anyway, Su Che couldn’t tolerate these insignificant people acting arrogantly in front of him. He was about to unleash his energy to drive them away, but once again, his shadow moved first.

The shadow vanished, and immediately, shadows of the guards holding their halberds appeared beneath their feet.

“Ah!”

Regardless of race, the screams are extremely similar. At this moment, including those guards and the hundreds of pilgrims around them, everyone saw the shadow on the ground. Although they were called the “Shadow Clan,” once they saw their own shadows, they would show extreme terror—a rather contradictory feeling. Thud… Several guards fell to the ground at the same time, limp and trembling violently, just like Ying Wanqi had done before. Through these two attacks, Su Che could confirm that the Shadow Clan would not kill innocents recklessly, but if someone showed hostility first, then the shadows would certainly not be polite with them. Whoa… Chaos immediately ensued outside the main hall. Hundreds of pilgrims fled in all directions, terrified—this scene resembled nothing like that of cultivators; instead, it was like a sudden murder in a secular market, with unarmed civilians in utter panic trying to escape. Whoosh… Soon after, dozens of powerful spiritual auras swept in—clearly, the great cultivators at the Transcendence and Void Refinement stages in the side halls had noticed the chaos. Sensing these auras, Su Che remained calm, as he had expected this. Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish… A total of forty-two cultivators at the Transcendence stage and five at the Void Refinement stage rushed out from the side halls, lining up in several rows on the platform outside the hall door. They were all out! The originally panicked hundreds of pilgrims, upon seeing them, seemed to find their leaders and knelt down in unison, calling out a certain title. Su Che had heard this title from Ying Wanqi—Shadow Clan members above the Transcendence stage were collectively referred to as “Elders of the Holy Envoys.” But at this moment, those dozens of Elders of the Holy Envoys showed no regard for the pilgrims; their gazes were fixed on Su Che’s shadow. Although they wore masks and their facial expressions were invisible, Su Che could clearly tell that their eyes were filled with shock. Extreme shock! Clearly, his own shadow had had a profound impact on them. In other words, they must recognize his shadow… At this moment, Su Che’s gaze also fell on his own shadow, his mind filled with doubts: “What exactly are you? What do you want?”