Chapter 520: Conditions to Unlock the Fifth Layer

Realizing that this mysterious old man might be an ancient demon god, Su Che and the others, along with Princess Xueyu, understood why he had devised such cruel and heartless games. In his eyes, humans were merely extremely inferior creatures, no different from insects, fish, birds, or beasts. It was like a mischievous child flooding an ant nest with urine—not out of cruelty, but simply for fun. As he himself said, it was purely for entertainment!
So, was it time for the top ten winners to receive their rewards?
It seemed so!
Su Che felt a flash before being transported to a highly special space. Tianyin, who had been standing hand in hand with him moments ago, was no longer by his side.
This special space wasn’t very large, about a hundred feet in diameter, resembling a sealed chamber entirely composed of dark gray energy. Inside, there was nothing but a faintly visible pattern on the ground beneath his feet, which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be extremely complex scales.
“Is this one of the spaces within the Time Wheel?”
Su Che guessed that there must be more than one such small space inside the Time Wheel. The top ten winners likely each had their own enclosed space, with the speed of time flowing differently depending on the reward. Here, one year in the outside world equaled a hundred years inside; for Tianyin, it was one year outside corresponding to ninety years inside; and for third-place Hengyi, it was eighty years…
“There’s nothing to say—just focus on cultivating!”
Faced with an irresistible force, resistance meant self-destruction. Moreover, this time-related reward was incredibly precious to him, so Su Che saw no reason to resist. He had to obey! He must obey willingly!
Immediately, Su Che also felt that his cultivation level had returned to the initial stage of the Transformation God phase, with all seals being lifted in that instant. That made sense—cultivation was impossible while under seal.
“It feels so good to have the seals removed and my true cultivation level restored!”
Su Che exhaled in genuine relief. He could also imagine how unbearable it must have been for those like Princess Xueyu, who were at the Great Vehicle stage and had had three entire major realms and eight minor levels sealed—those feelings must have been…

He didn’t want to think about these useless things anymore! Su Che took out a cushion and sat cross-legged in the very center of this space. Instead of immediately entering the meditative state required for cultivation, he had another task to carry out—activating the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison! Reaching the Divine Transformation stage meant it was time to unlock the fifth layer, though certain conditions still needed to be met. Just as Su Che had woken up from his seclusion to strive for Divine Transformation, the first message he received was that he was trapped by nearly two thousand powerful cultivators from the Spirit Realm, including over sixty at the Mahayana stage. With such a situation, there was no time for him to ask Lao He about unlocking the fifth layer. Later, trapped in this strange space and involved in a game orchestrated by the mysterious old man, he faced continuous crises and couldn’t afford to inquire about it either. Now, at last, he could settle down and study it properly. “Master, when you first unlocked the fourth layer of the Immortal Prison, you clearly stated that the function of the fifth layer would be related to the skill of extracting prisoners…” Lao He spoke slowly, “Obviously, the Immortal Prison Pagoda agreed to your request. The function of the fifth layer is exactly what you wanted.” Su Che nodded inwardly and then asked, “So, what conditions are needed to unlock the fifth layer?” “This time it’s quite difficult. Four conditions must be met,” Lao He listed them seriously one by one. “First, a special magical artifact with similar functions is needed, to be given to the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison for absorption and integration. Even a one-time-use item will do.” “Second, you, the master, must contribute all your Great Plundering Techniques, which also need to be integrated by the fifth layer.” “Third, as usual, I must also reach the strength of the Divine Transformation stage.” “Fourth, a natural treasure is required—something called a ‘Grafting Divine Stone’ or an ‘Alternative Divine Stone’. There might be many names for it in the universe, but I already know what it looks like. Once I see it, I’ll be able to recognize it.” “That’s all four conditions. Master, what do you think of the difficulty?” Su Che nodded inwardly and replied, “Yes, it’s indeed quite difficult.” Su Che had long known that although the Immortal Prison Pagoda was magical, it couldn’t create things or functions out of nothing. Sufficient raw materials had to be provided.

Firstly, a special artifact similar to this one, one that can extract others’ divine spells or certain skills, is undoubtedly the most important condition. Take the ancient weapon-refining talisman obtained earlier as an example—although it’s a one-time-use item, as long as it has this function, the Immortal Prison can devour and integrate it to turn it into its own permanent ability. Secondly, it makes sense that the Immortal Prison demands that I contribute the Great Plundering Art. The Great Plundering Art is, after all, one of the great paths; it allows one to forcibly seize others’ possessions, lives, souls, and even fate. To extract a skill that a prisoner is proficient in from the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison, a suitable method is needed, and the Great Plundering Art is just that method. As for the third point, regarding Lao Hei’s strength improvement, Su Che asked, “So, if you want to advance to the Divine Transformation stage this time, do you still need to undergo the fifth species fusion?” “No need!” At the mention of this, Lao Hei beamed with joy, his mouth stretching to his ears. “This time, I finally don’t have to fuse with any demons or rats anymore. I estimate that with the willpower of all beings in the Immortal Prison world, I’ll be able to reach the Divine Transformation stage in a few years. Haha, the willpower of all beings is truly amazing—it’s finally freed me from this sea of suffering.” By “sea of suffering,” Lao Hei naturally meant having to fuse with a rat every time, something he always harbored resentment and sorrow over… “That’s good.” Hearing this, Su Che also felt much relieved. If another fusion were needed, the most difficult part would be finding a domain demon at the Divine Transformation stage. Such a highly powerful demon surely couldn’t be found in the cultivation world, as the laws of heaven and earth impose many restrictions on extremely evil creatures like demons. To find a demon more advanced than Old Demon Bai, one would have to go to the terrifying Demon Domain, specifically its core area. That place is absolutely a forbidden zone for all life in the world; even cultivators at the Great Vehicle stage wouldn’t dare to take risks there. “Thankfully, I don’t have to go to such a place…” Su Che was secretly glad. As for the fifth point, whether it’s what Lao Hei called “grafting the divine stone” or “replacing the divine stone,” Su Che guessed, “Just from these names, it’s clear that the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison not only needs the ability to extract prisoners’ skills but also must have the ability to graft these skills onto me. That’s probably why such a natural treasure is needed.” “Yes, master.”

Lao He replied, “This kind of stone is probably also a natural divine artifact, surely extremely rare. I even doubt whether such things exist in the mortal world.”
Lao He said this because over the years, Su Che had visited more than a dozen primitive resource planets inhabited by witch tribes, acquiring countless resources, yet never finding a single such stone.
Lao He’s memory was vastly different from that of humans. If anything entered the Immortal Prison from the outside world, he would definitely remember it clearly. If he said it wasn’t there, then it certainly wasn’t among the cultivation resources stored within the Immortal Prison.
Su Che murmured, “In that case, among the four conditions to unlock the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison, this stone is the most difficult to obtain.”
“Yes,” Lao He replied. “This kind of thing can only be encountered by chance; who knows when or where it can be found?”
“No matter how difficult it is, we must do everything possible to get it!”
Su Che was determined. “The ability to extract others’ skills is practically beyond imagination. Anyone else might not even dare to think about it. But we can not only think about it—we already know how to do it. It’s just a stone; we can definitely find it.”
Su Che believed that this skill-extraction ability would become a powerful tool for him even in the Immortal Realm in the future. Moreover, he had once made a grand vow to master all three thousand great paths.
Since he had set such a goal for himself, he must strive for it and never back down due to any difficulties.
After discussing the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison, Su Che remembered something else and asked urgently, “By the way, Lao He, I’m currently in the special space of the Time Wheel. A hundred years pass here, but only one year passes outside… So, whose time does the time in the Immortal Prison world sync with?”
“It syncs with your thoughts, master,” Lao He replied with a smile. “Although the Immortal Prison world claims to be an independent realm with no connection to the outside world, your thoughts must enter the Immortal Prison at any time during your cultivation. As its ruler, your thoughts determine everything. You’ve spent a hundred years in the Time Wheel, so your thoughts must have also experienced a hundred years. Therefore, the time in the Immortal Prison is also a hundred years.”
“I see…”
Su Che didn’t fully understand, as the concept of time was indeed too profound. Perhaps only those who truly mastered the Great Time Art could truly comprehend the meaning of ‘time’…

However, since the old man had said that he was the ruler of the Immortal Prison, and that the passage of time within the Immortal Prison would synchronize with the speed of time in his own space, it meant that if he spent a hundred years in seclusion cultivating, the creatures in the Immortal Prison would also go through a hundred years of life…
“Doesn’t this mean that once I finish my cultivation, my parents from the Su family in the Immortal Prison will have died of old age?”
Su Che suddenly realized a rather serious problem: First, he couldn’t enter the Immortal Prison; second, within the private realm controlled by the mysterious old man, he didn’t dare to release his parents from the Immortal Prison either… With these two factors combined, didn’t it mean that his parents wouldn’t even get to see him once before they died?