Chapter 608: A Pinhole

Having captured five beings at the Mahayana stage and seventeen at the Tribulation stage, Su Che now had a group of powerful subordinates. Logically, this should have been a cause for celebration, but for some reason, Su Che felt an inexplicable sense of unease.
Such a feeling often signaled trouble approaching, and it wasn’t anything particularly mysterious. Not only did highly skilled cultivators possess this instinctive awareness, but many seasoned veterans in the mortal world who constantly operated on the edge of danger also had such instincts.
“What else could possibly happen?”
Su Che frowned slightly, rapidly considering various possibilities, yet he couldn’t think of any other troubles that might arise after dealing with Lu Hao’s group.
“Master, something seems to be wrong with the Demonization Passage…”
Lao He suddenly reported, “I can’t pinpoint exactly what’s changed, but something just feels off.”
Su Che’s heart skipped a beat as he hurried back to the special space where the silver sphere was located.
He had planned to use that demonized energy to advance to the Mahayana stage. If something went wrong now, that would be…
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
Su Che moved at top speed through the buildings of the Thunder God Temple. Fortunately, having been there for over three years, along with Lao He’s detection abilities, he was already very familiar with the interior layout, so there was no risk of getting lost—or taking any unnecessary detours.
In just over a dozen breaths, Su Che returned to the circular arch. He saw that the huge stone wall he had placed there to block the arch was intact, showing no signs of damage.
On the stone wall, Su Che had also set up some subtle, nearly invisible marks. If someone used a wall-penetrating spell to get inside, these marks would disappear.
“The marks are still there, intact—no one must have entered…”
Su Che shifted the stone wall slightly outward, creating a narrow gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.
After entering, he returned to the silver sphere that enclosed the spatial passage. After a thorough inspection, he couldn’t detect anything amiss, but Lao He said, “That’s right—there has indeed been a significant change!”
“What change?”
As he asked, Su Che remained highly vigilant, with powerful techniques like Extreme Fire Cutting, Light of Destruction, and Flashing Shadows all ready to deal with any unexpected developments…

Lao He replied immediately, “The corrupted energy has become many times denser. The transparent electric lights on the silver sphere can no longer eliminate it in time!”
“Oh?”
Su Che’s brows immediately furrowed…
After cultivating in this special space for over three years, Su Che was extremely familiar with this silver sphere. The space passage it enclosed was constantly emitting corrupted energy outward, but because it was sealed inside the silver sphere, only a very small amount of energy could seep out.
The purpose of those translucent electric lights was to eliminate this leaked corrupted energy. It could be said that a balance was maintained between the two, ensuring not a single trace of corrupted energy escaped this special space.
Previously, the Immortal Prison Pagoda was able to absorb this corrupted energy because Su Che was too close to the silver sphere, unknowingly suffering from its corruption. To this day, Su Che still couldn’t detect the existence of this corrupted energy—only Lao He could sense it.
Therefore, although Lao He said the corrupted energy had become many times denser, Su Che felt nothing. This was precisely what made such corrupted energy so terrifying—even those at the Great Vehicle stage could be corrupted unknowingly.
“Why would the corrupted energy suddenly become so dense just after leaving for a short while? What connection does this change have with the appearance of Lu Hao and the others?”
Although Su Che couldn’t figure out the answer, he realized he seemed to be trapped in some kind of conspiracy, with everything he was doing under the scheming of someone or some force.
“Is it the Witch God plotting against me? After all, I came to Thunder Star entirely because of the Witch God’s guidance…”
“But the Witch God is such a formidable figure. I’m as insignificant as an ant in front of him. Is it really necessary for him to go to such lengths to scheme against someone like me?”
“Even if the Witch God cares about my fate, he doesn’t need to resort to any conspiracies. A simple, open-plan scheme would be enough to make me willingly join the Witch Clan. This isn’t difficult at all for his wisdom!”
“I’m not even on his level. There’s really no need to scheme against me… Right, Lao He?”
“Yes, master.”
Although Lao He had always had a low opinion of the Witch God, he had to admit that Su Che’s analysis made sense. From any perspective, the Witch God had no reason to scheme against Su Che.

The differences in identity, status, and strength between the two sides were enormous. A minor figure like Su Che was not worth the Witch God’s effort. If he really wanted to, he could simply flick his fingers to force Su Che to submit or even prevent him from ever rising again.

However, Lao He reminded him, “Master, don’t underestimate yourself. Perhaps the Witch God has already predicted that your future achievements could be limitless, and that you will eventually reach a level comparable to his. So, if he doesn’t want to get rid of you, he will plant many clues in advance, making you unknowingly owe him a great deal of favor, which he can then demand back in multiples later on—kind of like an early investment. I think he definitely has such plans!”

“More or less.”

Su Che nodded in agreement, also believing that the Witch God shouldn’t be his enemy.

At this point, Su Che promptly corrected the topic, “We’re drifting further from the main subject. This isn’t the time to discuss these things… Lao He, can you figure out why the demonic energy suddenly became so intense?”

Lao He chuckled and said, “I’ve been searching while chatting with you. So far, I haven’t found an answer.”

“Be more focused!”

Unlike him, Su Che wasn’t carefree. He stopped chatting and ordered Lao He to concentrate on finding the cause.

After a few moments, it seemed Lao He had made a discovery. He said to Su Che, “Master, go around to the other side of the sphere!”

Su Che immediately did as he was told and went to the other side of the silver sphere.

“I found it! It’s right here!”

Through mental guidance, Lao He pointed out an extremely tiny change on the silver sphere to Su Che.

On the giant sphere with a diameter of a hundred zhang, there was a hole as small as a needle’s eye—so tiny it was barely noticeable. Fortunately, it was detected thanks to Lao He’s special sensing ability; Su Che’s divine sense would likely not have been able to spot it.

“Wasn’t there such a pinhole before?” Su Che asked immediately.

“Absolutely not!” Lao He replied firmly. “Master, don’t underestimate this pinhole. It’s precisely because of this unremarkable hole that the space-sealing formation has a flaw, causing the leakage of demonic energy to increase by hundreds of times.”

“Could a pinhole appearing out of nowhere be man-made?”

Suspicion arose in Su Che’s mind. “Could the arrival of Lu Hao and the others be a trick to lure me away, so that someone could sneak in and destroy the sealing formation?”
“Possible!”

Lao He first nodded, then scratched his head and cursed, “But who would be so careless? What exactly do they want?”
Su Che understood that Lao He’s cursing meant: If someone intended to destroy the sealing formation, they should shatter the silver sphere completely to fully expose the spatial passage—how satisfying that would be! Creating such a tiny pinhole indeed seemed rather careless…
“Lao He, shouldn’t we plug this pinhole first?” Su Che wondered in his heart.
“Why plug it?”
Lao He chuckled. “I was worried I didn’t have enough demonic energy to absorb. Now, all this leaked demonic energy can be stored in the Immortal Prison to create more colorful spiritual fruits.”
Previously, the demonic energy in this space had been extremely thin and constantly being destroyed by transparent electric light, so Lao He could absorb very little.
Even so, Su Che didn’t dare destroy the silver sphere, fearing it might trigger unpredictable disasters and bring more karma and sins upon himself.
Now, since this pinhole wasn’t created by him, even if some disaster occurred, he wouldn’t have to bear the consequences. On the contrary, if he absorbed plenty of this demonic energy, he might even gain merits.
Of course, this wasn’t Su Che’s idea—it was Lao He’s. As he always said: The villains, scumbags, and bastards—all those roles are for me; the master, of course, is always glorious and holy…
Well, putting aside the matter of absorbing demonic energy for now, who exactly created this pinhole?
Su Che deliberately muttered, “Who could be so careless as to create such a tiny pinhole?”
Whom was this question directed at?
The person it should be directed at!
It was just a test from Su Che, but unexpectedly, someone answered right away.
A deep voice, with no clear direction or source, echoed around them. It wasn’t loud but carried a chilling tone: “Then tell me, how big should it be to not be considered careless?”
“Someone really is here!”
Su Che was secretly shocked. This person’s invisibility ability could even deceive Lao He’s detection techniques—most likely one of the Three Thousand Great Arts, the ‘Great Invisibility Art’.
Though shocked, he remained calm on the surface. Without turning his head, he continued to stare at the pinhole and asked in a deep voice, “What benefit does destroying this sealing formation bring you?”
The voice retorted, “You’ve been staying here for a long time. What benefit can this kind of demonic energy bring you?”

It seems to mean: What’s the benefit for you? Well, the same goes for me!