Chapter 552: Advancing to the Realm of Refinement

What is good, and what is evil?
At the critical moment of approaching the Realm of Refinement, this question had troubled Su Che for over a month. The more he thought about it, the more complicated and confusing it became.

Su Che also understood the principle that “the greatest truth is simplest.” To find his own path, he needed to clarify complex issues and strive for simplicity. His current state clearly didn’t allow that.

Sometimes, a sense of sudden enlightenment seemed just within reach, as if it could be grasped with a single stretch of the hand. Yet the more persistently he tried to attain it, the more this already vague enlightenment would vanish, taking a long time to reappear.

The “enlightenment” Su Che desperately wanted seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with him, refusing to show itself…

Tian Yin certainly knew the confusion Su Che was facing at this stage, but such matters were best left unsaid. One had to find and ponder their own path. Advice from others often had the exact opposite effect.

“Don’t rush. You can’t force this. Take your time.”

Tian Yin could only repeatedly offer such advice. In fact, as a great shaman in her past life, she had no experience or insights into the path pursued by human cultivators. The ways of growth for shamans and humans were completely different.

Su Che himself didn’t want to force anything either. Yet, unable to resolve this question, he felt a constant discomfort, as if something was stuck in his throat. His mind and thoughts were beyond his control—he would constantly dwell on these matters whenever he calmed down.

“I’m getting stuck in a dead end!”

Su Che realized his current state was very poor.

That day, as he continued to ponder the distinction between good and evil, growing increasingly irritable and unable to control himself, suddenly, the Immortal Prison Pagoda in his mind began to rotate slowly. Unusually, it sent Su Che a relatively clear message.

Previously, if the Immortal Prison Pagoda had any messages or instructions, they were conveyed to Su Che through Lao Hei, who served as its spirit guardian. It was the first time it had communicated directly with Su Che.

“What?”
“Is it like this?”
“So that’s how it is!”

Su Che, who had been sitting in meditation, suddenly jumped up, shouting in his heart, “Is this the purpose and meaning of the Immortal Prison Pagoda’s existence?”

“I understand!”
“I get it now!”

Su Che laughed loudly a few times, but then his expression suddenly turned grave, as if his mental state had gone wrong, appearing quite strange.

He stood there in a daze for a long time before Su Che solemnly said to Lao He in his heart, “Lao He, I’ve finally found my path!”
“Great, great!”
Lao He didn’t know what the Immortal Prison Pagoda had just said to Su Che, nor did he understand what his master’s path was. But none of that mattered. What was important was that his master had finally emerged from confusion and misunderstandings and figured things out.
“Can I use this to advance to the Refining Void stage now?”
“Yes!” Su Che replied in his heart, “Finally, I can…”
Over the next three days, Su Che appeared extremely calm and relaxed. Most of the time he spent in the garden, sitting in a wicker chair drinking tea and playing chess, relying solely on his own skills without cheating by using the chess masters in the Immortal Prison.
His opponent must have been Tian Yin, so Su Che lost miserably.
During those three days, Su Che hardly spoke, and Tian Yin didn’t ask any inappropriate questions. Both of them remained quiet, like an old couple who had been together for tens of thousands of years—no need for words or even eye contact; everything just happened naturally…
It wasn’t until the morning of the third day that Su Che smiled at her and said, “Actually, we won’t need such tacit understanding for hundreds of years, right?”
Tian Yin tilted her head, looking oddly playful as she said, “Well then, just make sure you don’t regret it.”
“I won’t regret it. I like it.”
Su Che laughed heartily, waved his hand, turned around, and casually said, “I’m going into seclusion.”
He was about to enter seclusion to advance to the Refining Void stage.
In fact, thanks to the endless nourishment from the Shadow Soul Energy, Su Che’s primordial spirit had already reached the middle stage of Refining Void. As long as he fully understood and embraced this “principle” and decided to devote everything to it, including his primordial spirit, he could transform this seemingly intangible principle into tangible power—a higher level of strength.
Some called this power the power of nature, some the power of heaven and earth, and others the power of rules.
Everyone had a different understanding of the Dao, but in short, this was the initial stage of understanding, mastering, and applying the Dao: the Refining Void realm!
Five years passed in a flash. One day, Su Che emerged from seclusion with a calm demeanor, seemingly a bit different.
Tian Yin, who had already advanced to the middle stage of Transforming Spirit, immediately stepped forward, her expression serious as she reached out and demanded, “Congratulations on your successful advancement! Hand over the gift!”

Su Che was slightly taken aback and casually asked, “Since it’s to congratulate me, it should be you giving me a gift as a celebration. Why is it me giving one to you?”
“I, the great Witch of Heavenly Sound, when I utter words of congratulations, they are the best gift possible. You should feel extremely honored and thus give me a return gift.” Heavenly Sound tried to hold back her laughter, obviously excited and pleased by his successful advancement.
“Shared joy, shared joy!”
Su Che stepped forward, pulled her into his arms, and whispered in her ear, “I, the Creator Lord, allowing you to share this joy with me is the best return gift. But since you look especially beautiful today, I’ll give you one more small gift…”
With that, he lowered his head and forcefully kissed her red lips.
Heavenly Sound let out a soft moan and punched him on the back, unsure whether she was satisfied with this extra gift from him…
Early Stage of Refining Void!
After five years of seclusion, Su Che successfully advanced to the early stage of Refining Void, entrusting his essence, ideals, life goals, and everything else to his own path—what he understood as the mission and purpose of the Birth of the Immortal Prison.
It turned out that there was no separation between the Immortal Prison Pagoda and this universe; instead, they were extremely closely connected, like mother and child…
Having overcome the realm barrier and advanced to the Refining Void stage, the cultivation process once again returned to its monotonous and repetitive routine, day after day, year after year…
One year in the outside world equaled a long hundred years within the Wheel of Time.
After reaching the Refining Void stage, the difficulty of cultivation increased sharply. Normally, it took about five hundred years to advance from the early to the middle stage of Refining Void. It took a thousand years to advance from the middle to the late stage, and another thousand years or so to reach the ultimate state. In total, it took around three thousand years to reach the next higher stage, the Tribulation Stage.
Generally, there was little difference between geniuses and mediocrities. Those who could cultivate to the Refining Void stage were already geniuses on the path of immortality. As for the mediocres, they would have exhausted their lifespan during the Nascent Soul or Divine Transformation stages and perished, reaching the end of their immortal journey in this life.
Therefore, it was almost impossible for Su Che to reach the late stage of Refining Void using the remaining eight hundred years within the Wheel of Time, even with many advantages others didn’t have. It was simply unrealistic.

Reaching the middle stage of refining the void was the cultivation goal Su Che had set for himself earlier, and it seems there should be no problem now…