Chapter 472: The Whip of the River of Darkness

Su Che knew that the clashing of the two shadows, though seemingly intense, was merely an appetizer—neither of them had shown their true abilities.
Yet Su Che and Lao He still felt that the mysterious black shadow couldn’t possibly be the true Shadow God. After all, an immortal’s strength shouldn’t be so weak.
Think about it—if it were truly a battle between two great immortals, someone as insignificant as him, a Yuan Ying, standing nearby would be torn to pieces by even the slightest gust of wind. There would be no time to stand by and watch casually.
Just then, the two shadows were about to collide again. Suddenly, one of them sprouted dense spikes all over its body, each over two feet long.
Boom!
In this collision, the shadow without spikes was instantly pierced by dozens of spikes from the other side. Then, a cold laugh was heard, filled with clear triumph.
“Damn it!”
Su Che immediately realized that the pierced shadow was his own, because even if it had the upper hand, it wouldn’t have made such a laugh.
Swish swish…
The spikes that had pierced the shadow transformed again, stretching into dozens of black ropes. Like serpents, they swiftly tied the two shadows tightly together, seemingly making it impossible for them to break free.
Could it be that the mysterious black shadow intended to devour and merge with his own shadow?
As Su Che’s heart tightened with worry, he saw the shadow entangled with the mysterious black shadow suddenly vanish.
Subconsciously looking down, he saw the shadow return to his feet, turning into a normal shadow cast on the ground—just like a human’s normal shadow.
Then, the shadow swiftly left his body again and resumed fighting against the mysterious black shadow.
Su Che realized that his shadow could escape any constraints from the mysterious black shadow by returning to its original form—a kind of cheating tactic. But such behavior might provoke the mysterious black shadow’s…
Sure enough, as Su Che was thinking this, the mysterious black shadow in the air suddenly turned its head, its eyes glowing fiercely as it glared at Su Che and said harshly, “If that’s the case, I’ll take care of you first!”
What?
Su Che’s face paled, and he cried out in his heart: What does your previous fight have to do with me?
Of course, many things in the world make no sense—every temple has ghosts who died unjustly.

Su Che acted swiftly. Before the mysterious shadow could attack him, he dived into the Mi Xian Realm that had been placed in front of him all along. The Mi Xian Realm was the best refuge at this stage, and Su Che almost always carried it with him. This was also the main reason why, despite knowing that the Shadow Clan had dozens of powerful cultivators at the Lian Xu stage, Su Che still dared to accompany the shadow to venture into Holy Shadow City. Su Che’s sudden disappearance stunned the mysterious shadow for a moment. Seizing this opportunity, another shadow pounced from behind, wrapped its arms around the mysterious shadow, and bit down on its neck. “Damn you!” The mysterious shadow cursed loudly and struggled desperately to get free from the bite. But the shadow held on tightly, swinging back and forth in the air without releasing its grip. It was likely absorbing some kind of energy from the other party while biting. “It just bit right away?” Hidden at the entrance of the Mi Xian Realm, Su Che could see this scene and couldn’t help but exclaim, “This isn’t a battle between strong fighters at all—it’s like two wild dogs fighting!” Lao He laughed heartily, “It’s interesting! I think it’s even more entertaining than the battles between those powerful cultivators. Such a scene is truly rare.” It was indeed rare, as the scene ended in the blink of an eye. Bang! It was unclear what kind of power the mysterious shadow unleashed, but it sent Su Che’s shadow flying away. He touched his neck. Though he said nothing, his eyes flashed with anger. Whoosh whoosh whoosh… A black airflow suddenly formed around the mysterious shadow. Though it seemed unremarkable, it shocked Su Che greatly. Through the entrance of the Mi Xian Realm, Su Che’s consciousness probed beyond that black airflow and realized it wasn’t an airflow at all, but a vast black river of unknown length, with a width of thousands of zhang. It wasn’t just a description or a metaphor! Cultivators’ consciousnesses could pierce through obstacles invisible to the naked eye and see the true nature of things. Both Su Che and Lao He were certain that this winding river, at least three thousand li long, truly existed. It had simply been transformed into this form through some kind of mystical spell. To the naked eye, it looked like a black rope less than a hundred zhang long. Logically speaking, it was similar to how a small storage ring could hold an entire mountain inside it.

Moreover, even a fool could guess that those black river waters were nothing ordinary—hard to say just how terrifyingly powerful they were.
Swish!
The mysterious shadow used this black river as a whip, creating streaks of whip-like movements that formed nooses, rushing toward the shadow.
The shadow was also very cautious about this whip formed from the black river, dodging left and right, clearly afraid of being touched by it.
“This is crafted from the waters of the Hellish Nether River, designed to capture souls. Even if a true immortal from the Immortal Realm is caught by it, their vital spirit will be washed away by the waters of the Nether River,” said the mysterious shadow darkly. “Now, I give you two choices: either submit and merge with me to ascend to a higher form of existence, or let the waters of the Nether River erase your soul and destroy you completely. Although devouring you without a soul would be far less effective, it would still be a tremendous boon for me after millions of years.”
Faced with this threat, Su Che’s shadow couldn’t speak, but it opened its mouth wide, showing clear biting motions—clearly signaling, “It should be me who devours you!”
“Stubborn and seeking death!”
The mysterious shadow cursed angrily. Swish swish swish—the whip of the Nether River became even faster and stretched hundreds of feet in an instant, swirling in the air and blocking all escape routes in front of and behind the shadow.
The whip of the Nether River, made from the waters of the Hellish Nether River, could change its length at will—stretching to three thousand miles to encircle the entire Holy Shadow City.
“The situation isn’t good, master,” muttered Old Black. “That shadow’s cultivation level is clearly much higher than ours. It can already use a whip of the Nether River; who knows what other magical treasures it might bring next. As for our shadow, it’s empty-handed, with no teeth to bite anything at all.”
Su Che was also deeply worried, but he could only comfort himself by thinking, “Our shadow isn’t stupid. Knowing how powerful the opponent is, it hasn’t surrendered or fled—there must be other abilities it hasn’t used yet.”
To be honest, Su Che had originally planned to take the chance to help his shadow, but after hearing that the whip of the Nether River could even wipe out the vital spirit of a true immortal from the Immortal Realm, he realized that even a drop or two of those waters would be devastating to him.
How could he help it?
It would only make things worse.