Chapter 553: Journey to the Spirit Realm

Ten years in the outside world meant a thousand years had passed within the Wheel of Time. After a thousand years of cultivation, Su Che indeed achieved the cultivation goal he had set out to achieve, successfully reaching the middle stage of Lingxu. Once he understood the purpose of the Immortal Prison Pagoda, Su Che found his life’s goal—what could also be called firm conviction in his path. Thus, advancing to the middle stage of Lingxu was merely a small step upward, making it quite easy.

Moreover, over these thousand years, the Immortal Prison had accumulated an immense amount of Shadow Soul energy. No matter how much Su Che consumed or squandered, it would never run out. The Shadow Soul energy of hundreds of billions of beings to sustain just one person—rather than an immortal—was more than sufficient.

By utilizing the pure soul energy transformed from his innate shadow abilities, Su Che continuously strengthened his primordial spirit. Although its strength had not yet reached the level of the Tribulation Phase, it was already very close. Clearly, it was his cultivation of true essence that was holding him back; otherwise, his overall cultivation speed could have increased several times, even by a dozen times.

During this time, Tian Yin had also advanced to the early stage of Lingxu. Her progression was extremely smooth, beyond imagination. This was because her path was very clear—namely, the Great Path of Sound!

In the realms of immortals and mortals, perhaps no one else could surpass Tian Yin in the realm of sound, as she mastered the fundamental power of sound and reached the highest level of understanding in this area.

Although she was a human cultivator in this life, Tian Yin only needed to transform her mastery of the fundamental power of sound into an understanding of the “Great Path of Sound.” Then, there would be no barriers to her cultivation path, and it would surely go smoothly.

It takes tens of thousands of years for mortal cultivators to achieve immortality, while those who are reincarnated as immortals can return to the immortal realm in less than a thousand years—this is precisely why.

Immortals and mortals, whether in terms of starting point or process, are not on the same level at all.

When the time came, Su Che and Tian Yin were transported out of the Wheel of Time by the Sky-Devouring Rat. This showed that the Sky-Devouring Rat was also highly principled in its actions. If a thousand years was agreed upon, it would be exactly a thousand years—without any delays or small favors like giving a few extra years.

“Although you are my successor, our fate together ends here!”

Still in front of that Cloud Temple, the giant head of the Sky-Devouring Rat appeared high in the sky. Su Che had never seen its true form. At parting, the Sky-Devouring Rat roared, “From now on, I won’t help you in anything. Even if we meet again by fate, we’ll be strangers. Su Che, we owe each other nothing. What do you think?”
“Okay, senior. We owe each other nothing.”
Hearing this, though somewhat disappointed, Su Che could only nod and say, “But I’ll always remember all the help you’ve given me.”
“Remember it? Nonsense!”
Unexpectedly, Su Che’s sincere thanks only earned the Sky-Devouring Rat’s disdainful look. “What annoys me the most is your human ways of doing things. Just like the laws of heaven, full of constraints, restrictions, and coercion—no freedom at all… So, don’t try this on me!”
Su Che replied with a smile, “Expressing gratitude is also my freedom.”
“Get lost!”
With a fierce roar, in the blink of an eye, Su Che and Tianyin found themselves in the vast void, completely leaving behind the Sky-Devouring Rat’s domain.
This starry expanse was empty, with nothing but distant stars. Up close, nothing could be sensed. Su Che and Tianyin had no way of knowing whether the Sky-Devouring Rat’s domain was still nearby or had vanished millions of miles away.
“The first rat in the world, and its personality is such a freak?”
Su Che shook his head helplessly, still having many things he wanted to say to that rat. For example: Where did the other Desolate God Rat that had followed him all along go?
“He’s not that strange,” Tianyin said with a smile. “Not to mention those ancient demon gods who live as long as heaven and earth, even some minor immortals in the immortal realm have far more peculiar personalities.”
Su Che nodded silently, still pondering the words “we owe each other nothing” the Sky-Devouring Rat had said earlier.
“The Sky-Devouring Rat probably means that by helping the Witch God return and break through the heavenly barrier, it led to the destruction of Qi Yuan Star, which in effect freed its own domain. Then, by rescuing me from the siege by those in the Spirit Realm, it considered its debt repaid. That’s what it means by ‘we owe each other nothing.’”
“In fact, I saved it unintentionally, and I even gained a lot from it. All things considered, I still owe it more!”

“Even though he despises human principles of conduct, I still need to keep this kindness in mind. If there’s a chance in the future, I must repay it…” After thinking about these things, Su Che summoned Heng Yi from the Immortal Prison and had him control a top-tier Dao artifact to head to the entrance of the Spirit Realm beyond trillions of light-years. The next stop was the Spirit Realm! According to the Swallowing Sky Rat’s judgment, the ‘Grafted Divine Stone’ needed to open the fifth layer of the Immortal Prison could only be obtained in the Spirit Realm. Moreover, Su Che estimated that some conditions required to open the sixth layer in the future would also have to be met there. Logically, since Su Che had already reached the Refining Void stage, the conditions for opening the sixth layer should have been revealed by now. Yet, within the hundreds of years in the Time Wheel, the Immortal Prison Pagoda had shown no signs of activity. Su Che and Lao He guessed that since the fifth layer hadn’t even been opened yet, the conditions for the sixth layer were even less likely to appear. Su Che wasn’t in a hurry himself, as he hadn’t finalized the functions for the sixth layer yet—he still had several options under consideration. He decided to wait until the fifth layer was opened and then decide its functions based on actual needs. The function of the fifth layer was to extract prisoners’ divine powers or skills and transform them into Su Che’s own strengths. He was very eager for this. “Let’s calculate—twelve years have passed since the Witch God broke through the sky barrier. Of course, I’m referring to the time flow in this outer universe…” Inside the Giant Wealth Palace, Su Che said to Tian Yin, “I wonder how large the gap leading to the Spirit Realm has become after twelve years?” “It will exceed your imagination,” Tian Yin replied with a mysterious smile. “How about we make a bet? Within three hours, you’ll definitely know the answer.” “Three hours?” Su Che was slightly stunned and muttered, “According to the star map, we’re dozens of trillions of light-years away from that gap. It would take at least a month to reach it by flying. Could it be that the gap has already expanded this far?” “I won’t tell you!” Tian Yin said playfully. “Answer me first—do you dare make a bet with me?” “I don’t dare!” Su Che replied immediately. “You have ten thousand times more experience in such matters. Betting against you means certain loss.” “No, you have to bet,” Tian Yin pleaded. “Alright, I bet you’re right.” “No, that’s cheating!”

Last time, Su Che hinted to Tian Yin that their relationship didn’t need to be so seamless, meaning they should be young lovers rather than a couple who had been together for tens of thousands of years; they should relax and not always have to be so in sync. Sometimes, bickering and arguing between spouses is also a form of fun…
Tian Yin’s reply, “Don’t regret it,” meant: If I relax, I’ll be terrifying!
Sure enough, from then on, Tian Yin truly let go. Often, she acted like a teenage girl—playful, willful, and affectionate.
It wasn’t pretense; she was fully enjoying the happiness that a woman should have under the care and affection of her beloved.
Due to Su Che’s stubborn behavior, the bet wasn’t fulfilled this time. Yet, as Tian Yin had predicted, after just over two hours of flight, Heng Yi saw the edge of that enormous spatial gap in the starry sky.
This proved that in just twelve years, the spatial gap between the Spirit Realm and the Cultivation Realm had expanded to a radius of dozens of millions of miles. Moreover, this expansion rate would continue to increase exponentially over time until the two realms were completely merged.
“Good thing,” Su Che thought. “This saves us at least a month’s journey.”
Within the thousand years in the Time Wheel, Heng Yi, Lin Feng, and Miao Li also practiced in the Immortal Prison World for a full thousand years. Among the three, only Heng Yi succeeded in advancing to the later stage of Lingxu.
Miao Li could have done it too, but reconstructing his physical body inevitably affected his cultivation, so he was behind Heng Yi by a step and would need several more decades to reach the later stage of Lingxu.
As for Lin Feng, advancing to the later stage of Lingxu seemed distant, as his current mid-stage Lingxu cultivation was achieved through some rapid methods, which would bring many disadvantages to his future practice.
The blame for this could be attributed to his deceased father, but it was impossible to hold him accountable.
At that moment, Su Che, Tian Yin, and Heng Yi were at the edge of the spatial crystal wall gap, floating in mid-air. Even from hundreds of thousands of miles away, they could clearly see the strange distortion of space at the gap’s edge.
Beyond this enormous gap lay the Spirit Realm, which had existed for millions of years but was about to become history.

“Master, although the Spirit Realm is still under the ravages of the Witch Clan’s army, and cultivators at the Refining Void stage and above are all in fear and unlikely to bother us, in such a chaotic and disorderly environment, anything can happen, so we must be extra careful…”
Heng Yi carefully offered various suggestions. After all, having lived in the Spirit Realm for thousands of years, he could certainly serve as a guide.
After patiently listening to his advice, Su Che first nodded in agreement, then smiled arrogantly: “We’ve already defeated several powerful beings at the Great Vehicle stage. What’s there to fear in this Spirit Realm where everyone is in fear and hiding?”
Let’s set off!
To the Spirit Realm!