Chapter 569: Just a Group of Young People

In the blink of an eye, Su Che had stayed in the Prime Minister’s residence for three days. These three days were quite peaceful. Princess Aoqing, the young girl, was also very sensible. Despite having many doubts in her heart, she would come to see Su Che once a day, just to check if he had escaped. Other than that, she didn’t disturb him much.

Su Che understood that these past days must have been extremely difficult for her, as she was constantly caught between hope and suspicion—nothing could describe it better than saying time seemed like years.

But on the fourth day, someone came to cause trouble.

In a rush, a large group of people, including Princess Aoqing, flooded into the courtyard where Su Che was temporarily staying. There were men and women, a total of twenty-five people, all looking young regardless of age. Judging from their clothing, they seemed to be the sons and daughters of the Prime Minister’s family—Princess Aoqing’s cousins.

Before they even spoke, Su Che could guess that they must have heard someone “claiming” to be able to revive Aoqing’s mother. They all came with distrust, determined to cause trouble.

As soon as she saw Su Che, Princess Aoqing hurriedly sent a message to explain, “I told them not to disturb you, but there are too many of them. They refuse to listen…”

Princess Aoqing was also worried, fearing that this might affect Su Che’s attempt to revive her mother. Although she was a princess and the emperor’s niece, her status was higher than that of her cousins, they were in the majority and all insisted they had encountered a swindler and needed to verify it to prevent their sister from being deceived.

Her cousins also had good intentions, and Aoqing didn’t want to be too harsh and damage their sibling relationship, so she tried to stop them but failed.

“It’s okay,” Su Che said gently, smiling at her. Of course, he wouldn’t get angry over such a trivial matter.

For some reason, the more complicated the situation, the more Princess Aoqing felt that Su Che’s smile was sincere, filled with tolerance, warmth, and understanding, which instantly calmed her and increased her trust in him.

“Is he that big swindler?” One of the cousins, probably used to being harsh and rude, immediately labeled Su Che as a “big swindler” without any introduction.

Su Che didn’t respond, pretending not to know who she was referring to, thinking to himself, “In the Prime Minister’s residence, surely there should be someone who knows manners.”

Not bad. As expected, a young man with a steady demeanor stepped forward, bowed to Su Che, and said loudly, “I am Zheng Lingrui, the fourth brother of Ao Qing. May I ask your name?”
“My name is Feng Sha.”
Of course, Su Che couldn’t reveal his true name. Whether it was his dao name ‘Tian Yu’ or his real name ‘Su Che’, both could cause a huge stir in the Spirit Realm and lead to endless complications. So, he used the name of an old enemy.
“Fellow Daoist Feng Sha.”
Zheng Lingrui, Ao Qing’s fourth brother, said in a deep voice, “Isn’t this joke a bit too much? Ao Qing is too young and naive. You shouldn’t exploit her longing for her mother to deceive her.”
His words were direct but not rude. As an elder brother, he indeed had the responsibility to protect and care for his sister, which Su Che could accept.
Therefore, Su Che maintained a gentle tone and expression, with a slight smile, and replied softly, “Brother Zheng, you misunderstand. I never intended to deceive Princess Ao Qing. On the contrary, I’m moved by her longing for her mother. To be honest, it’s clearly impossible to truly revive her mother, Princess Daiyun. But I can use that remaining trace of spirit to recreate someone who resembles Princess Daiyun extremely well.”
“Nonsense!”
Before Zheng Lingrui could respond, a dandy with a strong scent of rouge rushed forward and shouted, “Complete nonsense! How can just a trace of spirit recreate a living person? Do you think we’re fools? Even those at the Great Vehicle stage can’t do such a thing. How can you? Don’t tell me you’re a true immortal sent down to save us from suffering.”
“That’s right!”
The sharp-tongued young lady from earlier cried out, “He must have ulterior motives for sneaking into our prime minister’s residence. Even if he can’t get anything out of it, he probably wants to steal something. Such a person should be caught immediately and imprisoned for thorough interrogation. He must be a repeat offender—who knows how many people he’s deceived!”
Chatter filled the air as several others joined in, demanding severe punishment for Su Che, turning the courtyard into a chaotic mess.
“Stop it! He’s my guest. How can you do this…” Princess Ao Qing tried to plead for Su Che, but was pulled aside by her two sisters, who began what they thought were gentlepersuasion.
Faced with their united condemnation, Su Che wasn’t angry or irritated. Instead, he calmly sat down and slowly enjoyed his tea ceremony.

By the pond in the courtyard, there was a set of stone tables and chairs. Just now, Su Che had been sipping tea here.
This action, though seemingly arrogant, made some people immediately quiet down.
These descendants of the Zheng family, called princes and princesses, were actually cultivators in their dozens or hundreds of years old. In particular, Ao Qing’s fourth brother, Zheng Lingrui, had an age beyond a thousand years and was already at the middle stage of the Transformation God realm.
All of them were quite old; they couldn’t be stupid enough to fail to see the situation. Su Che’s calm demeanor meant he must have a plan and didn’t care about others’ accusations or exposures.
At this moment, some even thought, “Could it be that this person is an enemy of our Zheng family? Taking advantage of the Prime Minister’s household’s weakness, he deliberately mixed in, aiming to avenge himself? His real purpose isn’t fraud but to start a massacre…”
Su Che slowly finished his cup of tea, then took out the necklace from the Immortal Prison and sent it to Princess Ao Qing’s hand, several zhang away, using his true vital energy. He said to her, “I’ve retrieved that fragment of the divine spirit. Here’s your necklace back… It’s too late to say anything now. You can only wait patiently for the outcome in over ten days.”
Su Che’s actions were both to prove to her that he had no intention of stealing her precious magical necklace and also because things had already gone too far to reverse—there was no time left for regret.
Princess Ao Qing took the necklace in a daze and immediately realized that the fragment of her mother’s divine spirit was indeed gone. It felt as though the only hope for her mother’s resurrection was now in Su Che’s hands. If she angered him, he might simply crush all her hopes with a slight twist of his fingers…
“Please, stop causing trouble!”
Princess Ao Qing stared blankly at the necklace in her hand, her voice extremely low—far from that of a teenage girl. It wasn’t loud, but everyone could hear it clearly, carrying an undeniable sense of authority.
After all, as a princess, even her brothers and sisters had to show her respect in very formal occasions. This was a characteristic of the imperial traditions of the Middle Tang Dynasty. Even among cultivators, they had to always remember the differences in status.
Everyone in the courtyard fell silent. A few people showed awkward expressions, as if they had meant well but were treated as fools.

Actually, everyone knows it well—there are few who truly care about Aoying. Most people just have their own ulterior motives. This is a characteristic of wealthy and powerful families, and cultivators are no exception.

Zheng Lingrui wanted to say a few more polite words, but at Su Che’s cold glance, he felt a terrifying fear and forced back the words that were on the tip of his tongue. This was because Su Che’s glance had released a trace of devastating power; though it couldn’t directly harm anyone, it could make them feel this extremely terrifying force of destruction through their eyes.

“Thank you very much, brothers and sisters, for your concern. Let’s leave it at that. No matter what the outcome is, Aoying accepts it.”

At this moment, Princess Aoying seemed to have aged by dozens of years, completely losing her previous lively and mischievous demeanor. Although this change was only temporary, Su Che still felt quite sorry for her.

“At sixteen, there’s no need to be so sensible. It’s the old her who’s more adorable,” Su Che thought to himself.

Since Princess Aoying had spoken so seriously, the young masters and ladies of the Zheng family didn’t dare stay any longer. They turned and left in a rush. Though some glared at Su Che angrily before leaving, it was more like thunder with little rain.

“I’m sorry for disturbing you,” said Princess Aoying, who seemed depressed, before leaving as the last one.

However, Su Che knew that although it seemed he was the only one left in the courtyard, there was actually another observer hiding in the shadows who hadn’t left.

“As a Great Perfection-stage powerhouse, hiding like this might be beneath your status, wouldn’t it?” Su Che said softly to the empty courtyard, holding his teacup.

“You actually discovered me. Master Tianyu is truly extraordinary—no wonder he’s the one who triggered the great calamity and completely destroyed the Spirit Realm.”

A faint voice came from somewhere into Su Che’s ears. To be honest, Su Che couldn’t determine where the person was hiding. It was only through his keen intuition and Lao Hei’s detection abilities that he vaguely sensed someone was watching him, and that person’s hiding place was definitely no more than 500 feet away.

Of course, intuition isn’t always reliable, and Su Che wasn’t entirely sure. That last statement was just a test, and the other party actually responded.

“A Great Perfection-stage powerhouse—should it be Prime Minister Zheng Yunze?”

Su Che first guessed the other person’s identity in his mind before saying, “With the threat from the Witch Clan right at hand, Lord Left Prime Minister still stays in his residence. Such courage is truly admirable.”
“There’s no such thing as courage. I’m just worried about my children at home, so I occasionally come back to check on them. By chance, I was fortunate enough to meet Master Tianyu today.”
Before he could finish speaking, Lord Left Prime Minister Zheng Yun already appeared in front of Su Che and sat down on the stone bench across from him.
Faced with a Great Perfection-stage powerhouse, Su Che showed no fear at all. He calmly poured him a cup of tea and said softly, “There’s no need to worry. Out of respect for Ao Qing, even if your children show me any disrespect, I won’t harm them. Rest assured.”
The fact that he could say such things meant Su Che had already placed himself on the same level as these Great Perfection-stage powerhouses. In his eyes, those people were merely juniors.