Chapter 496: My Path, My Choice!

After two and a half years of seclusion, on this day, Su Che slowly opened his eyes and let out a sigh of slight regret.
Everything has an end; the Great Void State eventually dissipated, which was inevitable. Yet, the rare spiritual pleasure he had experienced was truly hard to leave behind.
No matter how much time had passed outside, to Su Che, it felt like just an instant.
“How much time has passed?” Su Che asked himself.
“Two and a half years!” Lao He replied in a deep voice.
“Two and a half years have flown by…”
It seemed only then that Su Che fully regained his senses. He realized that, unbeknownst to him, he had already advanced to the Divine Transformation stage.
From the mortal realm to the divine realm, his primordial spirit had matured, allowing him to enter the second stage of the cultivation path!
“I’ve already reached Divine Transformation?” Su Che was quite surprised. He wondered, “I didn’t even notice at all.”
“Master, you were immersed in the transcendent Great Void State. In fact, you reached Divine Transformation half a year ago,” Lao He reported truthfully.
“If I reached Divine Transformation half a year ago, then haven’t I gone through the tribulation yet?” Su Che was even more astonished.
“No,” Lao He shook his head. “Your heavenly tribulation hasn’t arrived yet. It’s unclear whether the rules of the world have changed, making Divine Transformation no longer require tribulation, or if your transformation process is extremely special and eliminates the need for tribulation… For now, the true reason remains unknown.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
Su Che nodded slowly. Filled with joy at his advancement, he paid no further attention to this matter. “The benefits brought by the Great Void State far outweigh enduring a few tribulations…”
“But Master, our situation is extremely dire!” Lao He warned gravely, his face grim.
“How so?”
Su Che frowned, immediately thinking of the situation he feared the most. “Could it be that those guys have trapped us again?”
“Yes, Master. Look…”
Lao He immediately transmitted a series of mental images to Su Che—images seen through the spiritual connection between the servants and the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison, via the eyes of people like Heng Yi.
Flash after flash…
As the images kept appearing in his mind, Su Che’s expression grew increasingly grim. Eventually, he laughed out of anger and hatred:
“Great, my reputation really is huge!”

“Over sixty years in the Mahayana phase, over a hundred years in the Tribulation phase, over a thousand years in the Void Refinement phase… With such a lineup, what chance do I have to survive? What other options do I have?”
“Lao Hei, tell me, what other options do I have?”
In the face of absolute power, all strategies are nothing but jokes; in such a situation, no matter how wise one is, it’s impossible to come up with any clever solution.
Still, Su Che held onto a glimmer of hope, hoping that during his seclusion, Lao Hei and the White Old Demon would remain conscious. More than two years was enough time for them to devise various solutions. Even if they weren’t effective, it would still be far better than him, who had just “woken up.”
Lao Hei replied immediately, “Master, over these two years, we’ve racked our brains countless times, considering every possible option you might have—of course, including the powers of Xiao Hei and Shadow. We’ve also come up with various strategies, but in the end, the results are still…”
Lao Hei sighed heavily, “The opponent is far too strong, with far too many members, far beyond our capacity to handle. We really can’t think of any effective solution. Master, I’m incompetent; I’m truly sorry for letting you down.”
“No, it’s not your fault. No one is to blame!”
Su Che waved his hand, sighing inwardly, “It can only be said that we underestimated the abilities of Mahayana cultivators. Even Tian Yin, that great shaman from her past life, wasn’t very familiar with their capabilities… Those who don’t know are not to blame; none of us are at fault.”
To be honest, the people around Su Che were either not advanced enough to understand the powers of Mahayana cultivators or too advanced to truly comprehend them.
Take Tian Yin, for example. In her past life, she was a supreme great shaman. To her, Mahayana cultivators in the mortal world were nothing but ants, easily crushed at will. Moreover, as a shaman, she had no interest in delving into the utterly weak abilities of those cultivators.
Thus, before entering seclusion, none of Su Che’s companions expected that someone would find them so quickly in the vast cosmos. They thought that only extreme bad luck could lead to encountering them by accident.
“We weren’t running around everywhere; we were just hiding somewhere and cultivating in peace. How could we expect to be found like this?”
“Master, I think if we want to survive, we must use the third gift given to you by the Witch God in advance.”

Lao Hei said in a grave tone, “It’s been just over two years since we sent a plea to the Witch God through the Witch God’s Order. He should still be in the Spirit Realm. With his abilities, if he truly wants to save you, he can arrive here in the blink of an eye. Master, I’ve racked my brains for over two years—this is the only way I can think of to escape. There’s no other solution!”
“That’s right!”
Su Che also perked up, exclaiming in his heart, “There’s another Witch God’s Order we can use—I almost forgot about it.”
Faced with so many powerful warriors at the Great Vehicle stage, Tribulation Crossing stage, and Void Refining stage, even though Su Che had just woken up from meditation, he realized that even if his strength were multiplied tenfold, it wouldn’t be enough to overcome the crisis at hand.
In short, only power from the Immortal Realm could resolve this situation.
And the only force from the Immortal Realm he could reach out to was the Witch God.
Swish!
Without hesitation, Su Che immediately summoned Tian Yin from within the Palace of Great Wealth.
Over these two years, Tian Yin had also been in seclusion within the Wealth Space, striving to reach the later stage of the Nascent Soul realm, and she was completely unaware of what was happening outside. It was only after Su Che explained the situation that she realized its severity.
At this moment, she looked grave, her brows deeply furrowed. First, she apologized softly to Su Che, “I’m sorry. My experiences from past lives couldn’t help you and ended up putting you in such a predicament.”
“Don’t say that,” Su Che quickly waved his hand. “Even if you were a great witch in your past life, you weren’t an all-knowing god. There are always things you don’t know. Let’s not blame ourselves. What matters now is, do you think the Witch God will help me if I ask him for aid?”
After thinking for a moment, Tian Yin shook her head. “No! Unless you’re willing to become a true member of the Witch Clan, he’ll most likely ignore you, acting as if he never received your plea. After all, the agreement was that he would only save you once after you entered the Immortal Realm.”
At that point, Tian Yin said in a low voice, “The Witch God never does anything pointless. Every word he speaks and every action he takes has a reason, is calculated, and serves to lay the groundwork for the future.”

Next, Tianyin silently spoke through telepathy, “I even suspect that these Mahayana-level powerhouses were deliberately sent over from the Spirit Realm by the Witch God… I may not know much about ordinary cultivators in the mortal world, but I’m one of those who knows the Witch God best.”
Su Che, of course, didn’t question Tianyin’s judgment. He asked via telepathy, “Why would the Witch God do this to me? Is it to force me into a desperate situation so that I willingly become a Witch Clan member? Am I such an insignificant person worth such calculations?”
“Worth it!”
Tianyin nodded seriously. “Su Che, don’t underestimate yourself. Back then, when you were just a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I already saw potential in you. Now, you’ve even helped the Witch God complete his plan to break through the Heavenly Barrier. His vision must be far more long-term and profound than mine. Su Che, I’m sure the Witch God is indeed planning something for you, but fortunately, his plans stem from valuing you, not fearing you…”
“Well, even if he values me that much, does he really have to want me to become a true Witch Clan member before he’ll help me?” Su Che asked eagerly.
“I’m sure that if you agree to his conditions, he will definitely come to your aid,” Tianyin nodded. “But if you just ask for help simply, I can’t be 100% certain whether he’ll save you. You’ll have to try to find out.”
“Okay!”
It was just a try, so Su Che had no hesitation. He took out the Witch God’s Token and sent a mental call while saying aloud, “Witch God, it’s Su Che. I’m currently surrounded by dozens of Mahayana-level cultivators and many other cultivators. I’m in a desperate situation and hope to receive your help. Witch God…”
With each repetition of these words, Su Che waited patiently for a moment. If there was no response, he would repeat it…
After five attempts, still no response. Su Che shook his head with a wry smile and said to Tianyin via telepathy, “As you predicted, he must be pretending not to receive it and ignoring me.”
Tianyin nodded silently, merely watching Su Che.

To be honest, from Tianyin’s personal perspective, she actually preferred Su Che to become a witch, so that she could regain her status as a great witch as well. Then, the two of them could live together carefree for the rest of their lives. Even if they couldn’t achieve true immortality, being able to spend millions of years together with their soulmates would be sufficient without any regrets.

Yet, despite these thoughts, Tianyin wouldn’t let her own desires influence Su Che’s life choices. In this life, as a human woman, she would follow the tradition of going wherever her partner went. No matter which path he chose, she would just follow him.

“Become a witch?”

Holding the Witch God’s Token, Su Che murmured to himself, “At least for now, I’m still not willing to give up!”

“I don’t believe that this is the end of my path as a human. No, it definitely isn’t!”

“I don’t believe that without the Witch God’s help, I can resolve today’s crisis…”

“I, Su Che, am the master of the Immortal Prison and its creator. I have my own path to follow, and I shouldn’t compromise on a future designed for me by others.”

“My path should be chosen by me…”

As he thought these thoughts, Su Che seemed to regain that transcendent feeling from his Great Void state. He smiled and turned to Tianyin, saying, “Those guys have been waiting for me outside for over two years. Anyway, I should meet them at least once.”

Tianyin nodded gently, her calmness tinged with gentle warmth. As long as she was with him, no matter what challenges lay ahead, it didn’t matter.

Let men handle their own matters. All she needed to do was follow him.

“Let’s go!”

Full of determination, Su Che took Tianyin’s smooth and soft hand, smiled, and said, “Let’s not let others look down on us. We’ll go meet them now!”